Political news

• George Osborne racks up almost £1m for public speaking

  14-04-2017 23:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Sacked chancellor earns £150,000 from making speeches to university, asset management firm and Hungarian central bankGeorge Osborne is close to earning £1m for making speeches since being sacked as chancellor. His latest entry on the MPs’ register of interests shows he is set to be paid more than £150,000 for talks delivered last month.He had already declared expected earnings of £786,450 for a series of speeches since losing his cabinet job when Theresa May took of
  
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• How long can the UN endure the shame of chemical attacks on Syrian citizens? | Jean-Marc Ayrault and Boris Johnson

  14-04-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  We fully support the Khan Sheikhun inquiry – but the UN has a moral duty to uphold the prohibition of such weapons and ensure they aren’t used againHorror and death: this is the fate of Syria’s children under Bashar al-Assad. On 4 April, two aircraft took off from Shayrat, a regime-run, Russian-supported airbase. It seems highly likely that they bombed civilians in Khan Sheikhun with murderous gas. What followed is too grim to describe. Painful, indiscriminate and long-lasting
  
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• Martin Rowson on Trump dropping a bomb in Afghanistan – cartoon

  14-04-2017 21:09 via theguardian.com
  
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• Zero-hours contracts: firms could be forced to pay more for short notice

  14-04-2017 20:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Government’s employment tsar suggests firms pay premium rate if they call upon workers contracted to be on standby for workBusinesses who employ people on zero-hours contracts could be forced to pay a premium rate for short-notice work, the government’s employment tsar has said, in an effort to stop “lazy” employers exploiting staff.Matthew Taylor was appointed by Theresa May last October to review employment practices in the light of concerns about the precarious nature
  
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• The Guardian view on the 4 May elections: Labour’s route to credibility | Editorial

  14-04-2017 18:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Devolved power is where the opposition can show it is serious about governmentBritish politics is suffering from a solidarity deficit. That isn’t to say we have become a meaner nation, nor that fellow-feeling is in decline. Those things are hard to quantify. It is, however, reasonable to posit that trust in politicians to mediate between competing interests, to pool and reallocate resources, has slumped in recent decades. Confidence in the welfare state is also slipping. The NHS still enjo
  
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• Work review eyes pay premium for zero-hours contracts

  14-04-2017 17:32 via ft.com
  Stopping ‘lazy’ bosses shifting risk to employees a priority in Matthew Taylor report
  
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• Premium wage for flexible working, review proposes

  14-04-2017 17:32 via ft.com
  Stopping ‘lazy’ bosses pushing risk onto workers a priority in Matthew Taylor report
  
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• Higher minimum wage proposed for zero hour workers

  14-04-2017 17:32 via ft.com
  Stopping ‘lazy’ bosses shifting risk to employees a priority in Matthew Taylor report
  
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• Fox insists on full UK trade role in EU until Brexit

  14-04-2017 17:32 via ft.com
  Trade secretary says Britain cannot be excluded from ‘sensitive’ trade talks
  
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• A new feminist statue is a great idea. Shame they picked the wrong feminist

  14-04-2017 17:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Although it is right to commemorate outside Parliament the fight for women’s votes, the choice of person is an act of historical airbrushingThere are rather too many statues in Britain, and for the most part they honour individuals more than the movements and values they were meant to represent. They can sentimentalise the past by setting it in stone or bronze. As a biographer, I prefer to rake over the past so that we might learn from it – and be better equipped to deal with th
  
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• Why was Jeremy Corbyn posing next to a toilet?

  14-04-2017 16:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A picture of Jeremy Corbyn wearing goggles next to a toilet raises eyebrows on social media.
  
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• May’s warm message of hope, crisps and chocolate

  14-04-2017 16:17 via ft.com
  Inspired by a chance holiday encounter, the prime minister addresses the nation
  
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• Marshal law: Theresa May dons hi-vis vest to help out at race

  14-04-2017 15:49 via theguardian.com
  
  PM has marshalled at the Maidenhead Easter 10 charity run for years, but this time found herself posing for more selfies than everAs the bank holiday weekend finally arrived, following a fraught week of worrying about Syria, Russia and Boris Johnson, Gibraltar and Donald Tusk, French elections, German explosions and Donald Trump’s mother of all foreign policy U-turns, any prime minister could be forgiven for yearning for a sofa, a gin and tonic and a box set.Instead Theresa May strode out
  
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• DUP expects 'creeping direct rule' if Northern Ireland talks fail

  14-04-2017 15:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Democratic Unionists believe James Brokenshire will not call fresh elections if power-sharing negotiations break downThe Democratic Unionists have said they do not expect fresh elections in Northern Ireland if negotiations aimed at restoring power-sharing government fail, as political parties prepare to enter a final round of post-Easter talks.A senior DUP negotiator said they believed the secretary of state James Brokenshire’s preferred option was the partial transfer of some devolved gov
  
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• Disability benefits: PIPs assessment firms 'to get extra £200m'

  14-04-2017 15:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ministers accused of "rewarding failure" as figures suggest PIPs assessments cost more than expected.
  
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• 5 Donald Trump U-Turns In The Last Two Days

  14-04-2017 13:58
  
  President Donald Trump is abruptly reversing himself on key issues - five in the last 48 hours.
  And for all his usual bluster, he’s startlingly candid about the reason: He’s just now really learning about some of them.
  “After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy,” the president said after a discussion with Chinese President Xi Jinping that included his hopes that China’s pressure could steer North Korea away from its nuclear efforts.“I f
  
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• Loss of Middlesbrough council seat again casts doubt on Corbyn’s leadership

  14-04-2017 13:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Party loses Coulby Newham seat to the Conservatives in Middlesbrough, a traditional Labour strongholdThe Conservatives have won a council seat in Middlesbrough, usually considered a Labour stronghold, sparking a row among MPs about whether Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership is undermining support in the party’s heartlands. Related: Most of Labour's support is down to Corbyn, Diane Abbott saysContinue reading...
  
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• Fifty years on: A turning point in history

  14-04-2017 13:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Alan Cumming & Ian McKellen read from the parliamentary speeches that helped alter law on homosexuality.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Blamed As Middlesbrough By-Election Sees Tories Take Labour Seat

  14-04-2017 11:54
  
  A Labour MP has blamed Jeremy Corbyn and “the far Left” for the party’s loss of a council by-election to the Tories in its north east heartland.
  Tom Blenkinsop, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, hit out after the Conservatives took the seat of Coulby Newham in Middlesbrough for the first time in nearly 18 years.
  The result saw Jacob Young take 38% of the vote (an increase in 8.3% since 2015) ahead of Labour candidate Annalise Higgins, who received 35.5%, in a drop
  
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• The bombing of Afghanistan shows the US is led by a one-man wild card | Simon Jenkins

  14-04-2017 10:45 via theguardian.com
  
  First Syria, now Afghanistan – obscene and pointless bombings. But Donald Trump has tasted the sweet cup of war and no one seems able to control himBombs are the fool’s gold of war. Imprecise, expensive and cruel, their strategic utility diminishes the farther they fall from a politician’s desk. The US, with Britain in tepid accord, has been bombing unstable Muslim states for 16 years and has delivered nothing but death and anarchy. But the bombs have warmed the souls of succes
  
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• Brexit will be disastrous for women unless we fight the rollback of our rights | Sophie Walker

  14-04-2017 10:01 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Taking back control’ has come to mean allowing politicians to make decisions behind closed doors. From equal pay to welfare, women will be most affectedWhen people look back at the political upheaval on both sides of the Atlantic in 2016, two words will come to sum up the aftermath of “old politics” more than anything else: executive control. In the era of unexpected consequences, the most unexpected of all is that voters who acted to take back control from politicians h
  
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• Profit on disability benefit?

  14-04-2017 09:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Two private companies who carry out assessments for PIP will be paid more than contract
  
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• Theresa May must now build the cabinet she really wants | Martin Kettle

  14-04-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Having distanced herself from the Cameron era, she can shuffle the pack, and deliver the social change that she promised, and that Brexit demandsAfter exactly nine months as prime minister, Theresa May commands British politics to a degree few would have predicted when she took office. The latest Guardian-ICM opinion poll gives the Conservatives an 18-point lead over Labour. In next month’s local elections, the Conservative party is predicted to make a net gain of around 50 seats &nda
  
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• SNP looks to take control of Glasgow from Labour

  14-04-2017 06:31 via ft.com
  Nationalist majority on city council would have far-reaching consequences for Labour
  
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• Misunderstood

  14-04-2017 04:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Key points from the House of Commons Library's 50-page statistical guide to 25- to 34-year-olds.
  
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• Labour would change law on High Street bank closures

  14-04-2017 03:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The party says it's a move to protect local communities, but the Tories claim it will mean extra debt.
  
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• Heathrow third runway: Councils spent £350,000 on legal action

  14-04-2017 01:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Four councils near Heathrow spent £350,000 on legal fees challenging the planned third runway.
  
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• New Calls To Protect EU Citizens' Brexit Rights As Number Of Europeans Working In Parliament Revealed

  14-04-2017 01:01
  
  Ministers are facing fresh calls to protect the post-Brexit rights of EU citizens as new figures revealed that 195 European nationals work in the UK Parliament.
  In answer to Freedom of Information requests, the House of Commons said that it employs 137 EU nationals (including Irish citizens), while the House of Lords said it employed 58.
  In total, some 5.7% of the 2,795 members of staff who work in Parliament - passholders ranging from kitchen staff to policy advisers and researchers - are citi
  
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• Labour plans to halt 'epidemic' of high street bank closures

  14-04-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Shadow chancellor John McDonnell says party will introduce stricter rules about the axing of branchesLabour has pledged to tackle what it calls an epidemic of high street bank closures by only permitting branches to be shut after a local consultation and with the permission of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).Under a policy to be outlined by the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, the party would replace the current guidance system over closures, called the access to banking protocol, which
  
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