Political news

• Brexit: Queen to give Royal Assent to Article 50 bill

  15-03-2017 23:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Royal Assent on Thursday will clear the way for Theresa May to formally start talks to leave the EU.
  
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• Davis admits UK has not assessed impact of Brexit without deal

  15-03-2017 23:00
  
  Article 50 bill set for royal assent on Thursday
  
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• Analysis: Winners And Losers From Philip Hammond's Budget Fiasco On Tory 'Black Wednesday'

  15-03-2017 22:33
  
  When Theresa May summoned Philip Hammond to No.10 Downing Street just after 8am, it was clear that his ‘White Van Man’ tax rise was on the menu. And the Prime Minister was going to eat it for breakfast.
  The timing was uncanny. Almost exactly to the minute, one long week ago, the Chancellor was being lauded by the Prime Minister as he presented his Spring Budget to the entire Cabinet.
  Colleagues had banged their desks in approval, while May congratulated Hammond for keeping “a
  
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• Did Obama Wiretap Donald Trump? House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes Says No

  15-03-2017 21:38
  
  The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has said there is no evidence to back up the President’s explosive claim that Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower.
  Representative Devin Nunes said if the accusation made was to be taken literally “then clearly the President is wrong”.
  He added: “I don’t believe Trump Tower was tapped. We don’t have any evidence that that took place.“In fact, I don’t believe, in the last week of time, peopl
  
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• Dutch Elections: Far-Right's Geert Wilders Defeated, Exit Poll Suggests

  15-03-2017 21:34
  
  The march of the Far-Right in Europe appears to have been halted in its tracks as Netherlands’ main exit poll indicates Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom has been easily defeated.
  The Ipsos poll suggests Prime Minister Mark Rutte has won the Dutch elections, with his party gaining 31 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament, compared to 19 seats for 3 other parties, including that of Wilders.
  For Wilders, the poll was a test whether his fiery nationalist rhetoric caught the
  
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• Fox attacks student inclusion in migration stats

  15-03-2017 19:57
  Cabinet minister is latest to criticise Theresa May on issue
  
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• Philip Hammond has made the wrong U-turn

  15-03-2017 19:55
  The UK government’s climbdown on national insurance puts politics over good policy
  
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• SNP call for new independence referendum – Politics Weekly podcast

  15-03-2017 19:41
  
  Anushka Asthana hears from the SNP’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson on his party’s call for a new independence referendum. Plus Severin Carrell, Ewen MacAskill and Anne Perkins discuss its impact on the government’s Brexit talksSubscribe and review: iTunes, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast & Stitcher and join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterNicola Sturgeon has stunned Westminster with calls for a new Scottish independence referendum. Continue reading...
  
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• MoD to clash with defence sector over profit cut

  15-03-2017 19:06
  Fallon announces lower starting point for allowable profit on ‘single-source’ contracts
  
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• Police forces pass election spending files to CPS

  15-03-2017 18:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Twelve police forces ask prosecutors to consider charges over Conservative campaign spending.
  
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• Eleven Police Forces Send Files To Crown Prosecution Service Over Tory Election Expenses

  15-03-2017 18:47
  
  The Crown Prosecution Service has received files from 11 police forces over allegations that the Conservatives broke campaign spending laws at the last election, a spokesman said.
  Officers are looking into whether strict spending limits in key seats were breached during the Tory “battle bus” campaign.
  The CPS confirmed receipt of files from police forces in: Avon and Somerset
  Cumbria
  Derbyshire
  Devon and Cornwall
  Gloucestershire
  Greater Manchester
  Lincolnshire
  Metropolitan
  
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• Self-employed relieved but wary of Hammond switch

  15-03-2017 18:33
  Sole traders fear they could be hit with other tax rises to make up Treasury losses
  
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• Hammond scraps tax rise on self-employed

  15-03-2017 18:30
  National insurance shift major blow to chancellor just days after Budget
  
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• Brexit Uncertainty Prompts Villagers In Pencaitland, East Lothian, To Show Solidarity With EU Nationals

  15-03-2017 18:23
  
  A tiny Scottish village is showing solidarity with EU nationals, who face an uncertain future thanks to Brexit.
  Jim Fraser, a 59-year-old market researcher who has lived in Pencaitland, East Lothian for around a decade, was “in shock” in June at the referendum result.
  Fraser, who is pro-EU and pro-independence, took his nine-year-old daughter Cissy to a pro-EU demonstration in nearby Edinburgh the day after the vote, where she carried a placard saying “This Is Europe”.&nb
  
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• Budget retreat sows seeds of doubt in Tory ranks

  15-03-2017 18:08
  Backbenchers seize on failure to read small print and heed warnings on NICs
  
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• Hammond’s embarrassing U-turn adds to list of Budget retreats

  15-03-2017 18:06
  From disability benefits to the pasty tax, chancellors have been left eating their words
  
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• U-turn over Budget plan to increase National Insurance

  15-03-2017 18:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The controversial change affecting self-employed people broke a Conservative manifesto commitment.
  
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• London’s single market access will end with Brexit

  15-03-2017 17:56
  There will be no back door into the EU for financial institutions in the City
  
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• Budget U-Turn Leaves Tory MPs Who Defended National Insurance Rise Swinging In The Wind

  15-03-2017 17:31
  
  Tory MPs who enthusiastically lent Philip Hammond their support for his decision to break the party’s manifesto and increase National Insurance have now been left swinging in the wind after the chancellor performed a sharp u-turn on the policy.
  Speaking in the Commons today, Sir Desmond Swayne highlighted the situation many Conservatives now find themselves in.
  “As a slavish supporter of the government I am in some difficultly,” he told Hammond.
  “Because my article robust
  
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• MP Des Swayne asks to 'recant' after National Insurance article

  15-03-2017 17:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sir Des Swayne has just written a newspaper article backing the now-ditched National Insurance rise.
  
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• A chance to see inside Parliament without visiting

  15-03-2017 17:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A virtual tour of Parliament launches, enabling people to experience the famous building in all its glorious 360 degrees.
  
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• SNP calls on PM to reach Brexit agreement with Scotland

  15-03-2017 17:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The SNP's Westminster leader calls on the PM to reach agreement with Scotland on membership of the single market.
  
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• Hammond: BBC's Kuenssberg spotted broken NI manifesto pledge

  15-03-2017 16:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The chancellor reveals who noticed that his national insurance hike broke a manifesto promise.
  
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• A record breaker

  15-03-2017 16:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Philip Hammond's National Insurance U-turn may be the quickest ever - here are the other contenders.
  
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• 'Laura Kuenssberg Was First To Notice We'd Broken Manifesto Pledge' Claims Philip Hammond

  15-03-2017 16:50
  
  Chancellor Philip Hammond today claimed BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg was the first person to notice his tax hike breached the Tory manifesto.
  Speaking in the Commons this afternoon, the Chancellor said the journalist “raised the issue of the manifesto” after he had delivered his Budget last Wednesday.
  Labour’s Yvette Cooper described the claim as “astonishing”, while the SNP’s Alex Salmond joked that Kuenssberg should be added to the Cabinet to help g
  
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• Liam Fox Slapped Down By No.10 After Revealing 'Ongoing Argument' In Cabinet Over Including Students In Immigration Figures

  15-03-2017 16:27
  
  Downing Street has slapped down Liam Fox after he admitted there is an “ongoing argument” within government over whether students should be included in immigration figures.
  The International Trade secretary today suggested he believed Theresa May was wrong to include people who come to study in the UK in the numbers.
  He told the Lords international relations committee today he had made his views known to Home Secretary Amber Rudd “in private”.
  The prime minister has
  
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• Liam Fox Admits To 'Ongoing Argument' In Cabinet Over Including Students In Immigration Figures

  15-03-2017 16:27
  
  Liam Fox has admitted today there is an “ongoing argument” within government over whether students should be included in immigration figures and suggested he believed Theresa May was wrong to do so.
  The International Trade secretary said told the Lords international relations committee today he had made his views known to Home Secretary Amber Rudd “in private”.
  The prime minister has said she remains committed to reducing immigration to the tens of thousands - a tar
  
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• John McDonnell says NI U-turn 'shocking and humiliating'

  15-03-2017 16:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The shadow chancellor responds to the decision to scrap a planned National Insurance rise.
  
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• Hammond: sober image, risk-taking past

  15-03-2017 15:34
  Philip Hammond’s CV stretches from discos and cars to medical devices, property and consulting
  
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• John McDonnell Makes Fun Of Theresa May For Laughing Like A 'Feeding Seal'

  15-03-2017 15:32
  
  John McDonnell has accused Theresa May of laughing like a “feeding seal”, as he made fun of the prime minister for performing a fast u-turn on a key Budget measure.
  Speaking in the Commons today, the shadow chancellor said Philip Hammond’s Budget, delivered only last week, was now in “chaos” after he ditched a planned rise in National Insurance in the face of a Tory rebellion.
  “It is shocking and humiliating. The chancellor has been forced to come here to reve
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Derided For Failing To Land Fatal Blow On Tories Over Major Budget U-Turn

  15-03-2017 15:29
  
  Jeremy Corbyn sparked fury and complaints of presiding over one of the biggest missed opportunities in House of Commons history for his response to a massive Budget U-turn by the Tories.
  There was huge pressure on Corbyn to score an open goal when he sparred with Theresa May at Prime Minister’s Questions today.
  Just 20 minutes before they met, the Government announced it was dropping a rise in National Insurance after a rebellion by Tory MPs who complained it breached the party’s 20
  
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• Theresa May announces National Insurance rise U-turn

  15-03-2017 15:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Theresa May announces National Insurance rise U-turn at Prime Minister's Questions.
  
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• Scotland leaving EU no matter what - PM

  15-03-2017 14:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Theresa May says Scotland will leave the EU regardless of whether or not it votes for independence.
  
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• UK is 'complicit' in starvation of children in Yemen

  15-03-2017 14:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Former DFID secretary Andrew Mitchell says the UK is "part of the problem" in Yemen, given its role in the Saudi-led coalition.
  
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• A slowburn start to Brexit talks

  15-03-2017 14:19
  One reason negotiations are likely to initially move slowly is because EU governments will need to agree a common negotiating line
  
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• Brexit: Donald Tusk warns UK against 'no deal threat'

  15-03-2017 13:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK and Europe can remain "close friends in the future" the European Council president says.
  
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• Davis admits UK has not assessed Brexit without deal

  15-03-2017 13:41
  MPs told British businesses face possible tariffs and non-tariff barriers
  
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• Brexit Secretary David Davis Loses His Temper At SNP MP For 'Political Rammy'

  15-03-2017 13:40
  
  A fiery spat erupted in Parliament on Wednesday as the Brexit Secretary appeared to lose his temper at a critical Scottish MP.
  David Davis accused Joanna Cherry of “doing very well” at “reducing” his appearance at the Brexit select committee to a “political rammy” for the SNP.
  The two sparred when Cherry asked Davis whether he would publicly respond to the Scottish Government’s White Paper on Brexit, which was published in December. The document, au
  
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• Philip Hammond scraps tax rise on self-employed

  15-03-2017 13:27
  National insurance move is one of the biggest Budget reversals in modern UK history
  
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• Budget U-Turn As Chancellor Scraps National Insurance Hike On Self-Employed

  15-03-2017 12:45
  
  Chancellor Philip Hammond today scrapped plans to increase National Insurance rates for millions of self-employed workers.
  The u-turn comes just a week after Hammond announced the plans in his first Budget - prompting dismay from backbenchers and large sections of the press.
  In a letter to Tory MPs this morning, the Chancellor said the rise was being scrapped ahead as it breached a manifesto pledge not to increase National Insurance.
  Hammond wrote: “In light of what has emerged as a clear
  
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• UK has not assessed no-deal Brexit

  15-03-2017 12:42
  David Davis confirms tariffs but says ‘it is not as frightening as some people think’
  
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• David Davis Reveals Government Has Not Studied Economic Impact Of Leaving EU With No Trade Deal

  15-03-2017 12:26
  
  Brexit secretary David Davis has revealed the government has not made an assessment of the economic impact on the UK of leaving the EU without a trade deal.
  Theresa May has said that “no deal” with Brussels on a future trading relationship is “better than a bad deal”.
  The failure to strike a deal would leave the UK trading with the EU on World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms which could mean the imposition of tariffs and border checks. 
  Labour said the government was
  
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• Jobless rate down but wage growth slows

  15-03-2017 12:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Job generation remains strong but there are concerns over slowing pay growth.
  
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• Brexit bill to get Royal Assent

  15-03-2017 11:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Brexit Secretary David Davis is grilled by MPs about the UK's preparations for leaving the EU.
  
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• Surrey council 'sweetheart deal': Leader David Hodge 'to stay'

  15-03-2017 10:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  David Hodge has faced calls to step down amid claims he was given 'special access' to ministers.
  
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• The Game Theory of Brexit

  15-03-2017 10:38
  
  A classic economic game offers a hint of what Britain's chances are in the negotiations to come.
  
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• Scottish Independence Referendum Poll Shows Support For Leaving UK Is Higher Than Ever

  15-03-2017 09:31
  
  Support for Scottish independence is higher than ever - but it still seems a Yes vote is far from certain.
  According to the latest ScotCen Scottish social attitudes survey there is a “much higher” level of support for independence “than ever existed beforehand”, but a YouGov poll published on Wednesday suggests this support is still not enough to see Scotland leave the United Kingdom. 
  The ScotCen survey, according to the Press Association, recorded support for
  
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• 'Don't bag up dog poo in countryside', MP urges owners

  15-03-2017 09:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  MP Anne Main says dog mess in countryside should be "flicked into undergrowth" not placed into bags.
  
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• The Waugh Zone March 15, 2017

  15-03-2017 09:24
  
  The five things you need to know on Wednesday, March 15…
  1) SCOTCH CORNER
  Another week, another PMQs. Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May have plenty to spar over, from schools and NHS funding to Brexit. But will the SNP’s Angus Robertson, who often has the most pointed questions, be the main ‘leader of the Opposition’ in today’s session?Nicola Sturgeon’s gamble on Monday in signalling a fresh independence referendum certainly caught some ministers by surprise. An
  
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• Punk FT: defusing the Brexit time-bomb

  15-03-2017 07:54
  
  The tough battle looming over the EU and UK separation process
  
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