Political news

• Jeremy Corbyn vows to 'fight every seat in every corner' of Scotland

  23-04-2017 23:00
  
  Labour leader to present policies including raising minimum wage and asking firms to recognise unions Jeremy Corbyn will take his upbeat campaign message to Scotland on Monday, promising to “fight for every seat in every corner of these isles”.Labour has just one MP at Westminster representing a Scottish constituency, Edinburgh South, after the party’s vote in the north collapsed in 2015. Continue reading...
  
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• General Election: Leanne Wood decides against MP bid

  23-04-2017 22:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Plaid Cymru leader had suggested she could stand against Chris Bryant in the Rhondda.
  
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• Blair urges voters to back any anti-Brexit party

  23-04-2017 21:52
  Former Labour prime minister’s intervention enrages leftwing activists
  
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• The Guardian view on generational inequality: a country fit for all ages | Editorial

  23-04-2017 20:56
  
  In 2010 David Willetts illuminated the equality divide between young and old. Since then things have only got worseSeven years ago, a new set of contour lines emerged in our understanding of inequality in Britain. The publication of The Pinch by David Willetts has shaped the way we map, measure and articulate inequality: not just in terms of the gap between the rich and the poor, but in terms of the divide between the young and the old.Lord Willetts’ arguments have since become well rehear
  
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• Corbyn hits back at Blair after former PM's call to put party allegiances aside

  23-04-2017 20:54
  
  Blair’s call for voters to consider backing Conservatives or Lib Dems to maximise MPs willing to vote against ‘hard Brexit’ seen as unhelpful by party figuresJeremy Corbyn hit back at Tony Blair after the former Labour prime minister advised voters to consider backing Conservative or Liberal Democrat candidates in June’s general election, if they promise to have an open mind about the terms of the final Brexit deal.
  As Labour embarks on a tough election campaign, Blair ur
  
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• French Elections: Emmanuel Macron And Marine Le Pen Set To Make It Through To Second Round

  23-04-2017 20:21
  
  Far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist frontrunner Emmanuel Macron look poised to move to the second and final round of the French presidential election, according estimation polls after voting closed.
  A poll by Ipos Mori put Macron, the head of En Marche!, on 23.7 per cent with the National Front leader on 21.7 per cent. The official result is not expected until later on Sunday night.
  The result, if it plays out as stands, represents a seismic shift in the French political lands
  
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• Emmanuel Macron And Marine Le Pen To Go Head-To-Head In French Presidential Run-Off

  23-04-2017 20:21
  
  Far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist frontrunner Emmanuel Macron will move to the second and final round of the French presidential election in a historic shake-up of French politics.
  With 97 percent of votes counted, the Interior Ministry said Macron, the head of En Marche!, had nearly 23.9 per cent, against Le Pen’s 21.4 percent.
  The result represents a seismic shift in the French political landscape, with neither of the candidates from the mainstream left Socialists or the r
  
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• Emmanuel Macron And Marine Le Pen Set To Reach French Presidential Run-Off

  23-04-2017 20:21
  
  Far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist frontrunner Emmanuel Macron look poised to move to the second and final round of the French presidential election, according estimation polls after voting closed.
  A poll by Ipos Mori put Macron, the head of En Marche!, on 23.7 per cent with the National Front leader on 21.7 per cent. The official result is not expected until later on Sunday night.
  The result, if it plays out as stands, represents a seismic shift in the French political lands
  
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• Martin Rowson on Labour's battle for the general election – cartoon

  23-04-2017 20:14
  
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• We want a great leader to save us. But people are where the power is | Zoe Williams

  23-04-2017 19:53
  
  The focus on Jeremy Corbyn’s personal qualities is unrelenting. But this emphasis obscures what’s really broken in our political systemAccustomed to muttering about the darkness of the times, I sometimes forget how bizarre they are: the speed of events under the self-styled “stable” Conservatives gives everything a psychedelic feel. We have a Tory PM standing with a message that best resembles the BNP manifesto circa 2005, and a Labour challenger launching with a line on
  
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• Archaic tax may be answer to Church of England’s repair bill prayers

  23-04-2017 19:44
  
  However, confusion over chancel repairs liability – which dates back to Henry VIII – ensures only insurers selling cover winThe growing repair bill faced by the Church of England has an answer when its accountants consider how to keep the rain from damaging ancient parish churches.Extra funds can be found from a charge on local residents known as the chancel repairs liability that affects as many as 40% of England’s homes. This archaic rule, which dates back to Henry VIII&rsquo
  
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• May should drop the state pension ‘triple lock’

  23-04-2017 19:25
  The UK prime minister has the electoral freedom to tackle policy injustices
  
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• Tony Blair Says Consider Voting Tory Or Lib Dem Where They Oppose Hard Brexit

  23-04-2017 19:16
  
  Tony Blair says people should consider voting for Conservative or Liberal Democrat candidates at the general election if they oppose hard Brexit.
  The ex-Labour Prime Minister has urged voters to set aside party loyalty in an effort to block “Brexit at any costs” that will happen if Theresa May wins a “steamroller election”.
  Blair, who also hinted he was tempted to return to frontline politics as an MP, argued it was more important to “return as many members of parl
  
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• Corbyn casts doubt on renewing Trident

  23-04-2017 19:12
  Labour forced to clarify its commitment to nuclear deterrent
  
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• Ukip Candidate Compares Her Sexual Attraction To Gorillas To Being Gay

  23-04-2017 18:18
  
  On Saturday, a Ukip candidate for a council seat in Scotland went viral after saying she would like to see the death penalty reintroduced in the form of the guillotine.
  But Gisela Allen expressed even more unconventional views when she was contacted by the Sunday Herald newspaper for a follow-up story, telling the newspaper that she finds gorillas “very attractive” - and that this somehow supports argument about why gay people should not “come out”.
  The views of the 84-y
  
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• How much does a general election cost the parties?

  23-04-2017 18:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Adam Fleming looks back on what the last General Election campaign cost.
  
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• Sir Philip Green could still lose knighthood, says MP

  23-04-2017 17:54
  
  A year after BHS collapse, Labour’s Frank Field says retail tycoon’s settlement with Pensions Regulator is ‘inadequate’Sir Philip Green has been warned that he could still be stripped of his knighthood and faces further questions from MPs, one year after the collapse of BHS.The veteran Labour MP Frank Field said Green had not done enough to keep his title amid lingering concerns over the £363m settlement struck between the retail tycoon and the Pensions Regulator. C
  
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• Energy bills: what's the difference between Tory cap and Miliband freeze?

  23-04-2017 17:08
  
  As newspapers alter their views on energy market intervention, consumers must work out what it would mean for themIt’s not what you know but who you know. To prove the aphorism, compare the response to Theresa May’s promise to cap energy bills, and the furore over Ed Miliband’s pledge to do something very similar four years ago. When the former Labour leader called for a 20-month price freeze in the face of rising gas and electricity costs, he was ridiculed. “Back to the
  
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• Sunday Show Round-Up: Labour's Nuclear Confusion and Tim Farron's Silence On Gay Sex

  23-04-2017 17:00
  
  The Andrew Marr Show
  Ukip leader Paul Nuttall was up on the first Marr since the election was called.
  With Ukip needing some new policies now Brexit is on its way, Nuttall set out why he would ban Muslim women from wearing the full-face veil in public.Muslim women need to fully integrate into British society "and you can't do that hiding behind a veil" says @paulnuttallukip #marr pic.twitter.com/Ovk6UrWOIa— The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) April 23, 2017
  Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood appe
  
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• Liberal Democrats promise second Brexit referendum

  23-04-2017 16:24
  Party manifesto to offer voters chance to remain in EU if final deal unsatisfactory
  
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• London-born children of EU couple win residency a week after refusal

  23-04-2017 15:54
  
  Home Office U-turn on application comes after Guardian report on plight of children whose parents have lived in UK for decadesTwo children who were born in London to an EU couple have been told they can stay in the country after all. The news comes a week after they were told by the Home Office that their application for permanent residency cards was refused.Officials performed a swift U-turn on their botched decision after a Guardian report on 13 April on the childrens’ plight went viral.
  
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• Working mothers face pay and childcare challenges, reports find

  23-04-2017 15:46
  
  Rising cost of childcare, especially in big cities such as London, means some families effectively ‘pay to work’, says IPPRWhether it’s the gender pay gap, a lack of promotion opportunities or the demand from retailers to work longer shifts – often standing at checkouts for 10 hours straight – life can be tough for women in the shop trade.For mothers it can be even worse, whatever industry they choose and in whichever part of the country they look for work. Continue
  
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• Zen-like Jeremy Corbyn avoids firm answers but he's not the only one | John Crace

  23-04-2017 15:08
  
  Labour leader deflects Andrew Marr’s questions with the meditative approach of a yoga teacher realigning his chakras “I’m fed up and I’m angry,” Jeremy Corbyn told the Andrew Marr Show. He didn’t sound particularly fed up or angry. He sounded more like a yoga teacher on a meditation retreat in Mallorca who wanted everyone to stop being so stressed out. Marr didn’t want to chill. He’d been watching the clock tick ever nearer to midnight as Kim Jong-
  
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• Labour Says It Does Back Trident After Jeremy Corbyn Suggests It Could Be Scrapped

  23-04-2017 14:52
  
  Labour today sought to play down suggestions from its own leader that renewing the UK’s nuclear weapon defences would not be in the election manifesto.
  Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Corbyn – a lifelong campaigner against nuclear weapons - claimed the party was having a “discussion” about whether renewing Trident should be in Labour’s election manifesto.
  Within hours, Labour’s press office issued a statement saying the party still supported re
  
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• General election 2017: Corbyn says Labour nuclear policy still 'under discussion'

  23-04-2017 14:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Labour leader says "all aspects" of defence are up for review but the party insists it still backs Trident.
  
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• Sir Paul Marshall on backing Brexit

  23-04-2017 14:26
  Hedge fund chief wants industry to find its voice in debate on how to leave the EU
  
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• General election 2017: Tony Blair says Brexit stance more important than party

  23-04-2017 14:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The former prime minister urges voters not to elect candidates who "back Brexit at any cost".
  
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• Labour repeats backing for Trident after Jeremy Corbyn casts doubt on it

  23-04-2017 14:09
  
  Party moves to put a stop to speculation after leader says Labour government would review policy on nuclear deterrentLabour has moved hastily to shut down speculation that it could withdraw support for Britain’s nuclear deterrent, after Jeremy Corbyn appeared to leave open the idea that renewing Trident could be left out of the party’s manifesto.Labour issued a statement on Sunday saying: “The decision to renew Trident has been taken and Labour supports that. We also want Brita
  
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• Tories accused of stealing Labour's energy price cap promise

  23-04-2017 13:26
  
  Conservative manifesto will include cap on energy bills in echo of Ed Miliband’s 2015 election pledgeTheresa May should give Labour a round of applause for highlighting the scandal of rip-off gas and electricity bills, the former shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint has said after senior Conservatives confirmed their manifesto will include an energy price cap.Capping utility bills was a key policy in Labour’s 2015 general election manifesto, but was rubbished by David Cameron as ev
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn: I Might Not Allow A Drone Strike On Isis Leader

  23-04-2017 13:25
  
  "I'm no supporter or defender of ISIS in any way" says @jeremycorbyn #marr pic.twitter.com/xQt6asEvOD— The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) April 23, 2017
  Jeremy Corbyn today refused to say if he would sanction a drone strike on the leader of so-called Islamic State if he became Prime Minister.
  In an interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show this morning, the Labour leader said he would want to know what could “be achieved” by ordering a drone strike if the intelligence servic
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn: I want to achieve a nuclear free world – video

  23-04-2017 13:23
  
  Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Jeremy Corbyn says he want to achieve a nuclear-free world and adhere to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The Labour leader’s comments come in response to questions about what he would instruct Britain’s nuclear submarines to do in the event of nuclear war
  Jeremy Corbyn casts doubt on Labour support for Trident
  Continue reading...
  
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• Conservatives promise to cap energy prices

  23-04-2017 13:20
  Centrica’s operating profits could take a £332m hit from intervention in gas market
  
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• Tim Farron Again Refuses To Say Gay Sex Is Not A Sin

  23-04-2017 12:42
  
  .@LibDems leader @timfarron responds to "ludicrous" claims that he is a homophobe #Peston pic.twitter.com/ut7fzVjw5g— Peston on Sunday (@pestononsunday) April 23, 2017
  Lib Dem leader Tim Farron was branded “pretty offensive” today as he again refused to say whether he believed gay sex is a sin.
  Farron, who is a committed Christian, repeatedly dodged the question during an appearance on ITV’s Peston on Sunday.
  The Lib Dem leader repeated the assertion he made in the House
  
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• Ukip to campaign to ban burqa and sharia courts, says Paul Nuttall

  23-04-2017 11:37
  
  Party leader tells Andrew Marr the security situation means ‘you need to see people’s faces’ and that it ‘is all about integration’Ukip will push to ban the burqa and sharia courts, Paul Nuttall has said, although he denied the Eurosceptic party was reinventing itself as an anti-Islam party.In a BBC interview, Ukip’s leader also refused to confirm whether he would stand in the 8 June election, having been defeated in the Stoke-on-Trent Central byelection weeks
  
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• General election 2017: Jeremy Corbyn 'fed up with state of UK'

  23-04-2017 11:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says he is "angry and fed up" with the current state of the UK.
  
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• General election 2017: Women's Equality Party leader to challenge MP Philip Davies

  23-04-2017 11:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sophie Walker accuses Philip Davies of misogyny but he calls her plans "extreme political correctness".
  
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• The poor get poorer and the rich won’t admit it | David Mitchell

  23-04-2017 11:00
  
  Labour’s John McDonnell has put a £70,000 price tag on wealth. So why are we all so desperate to be included in the ‘squeezed middle’?People don’t want to be rich any more. It’s a world turned upside down. Genies are having to completely rethink their planning strategies in anticipation of an era of altruistic lamp-rubbers. Suddenly they’ve got to find a way to make wishing for world peace turn round and bite you on the arse.“I’m thinking may
  
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• UKIP leader Nuttall on banning full-face veils

  23-04-2017 10:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Paul Nuttall, the leader of UKIP, says he wants to ban full-face veils claiming they hinder integration.
  
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• General election 2017: Labour wants four new bank holidays

  23-04-2017 10:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  They would be on each nation's patron saint day - 1 March, 17 March, 23 April and 30 November.
  
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• Labour plans four new bank holidays – one for each UK patron saint

  23-04-2017 09:07
  
  Jeremy Corbyn says Labour government would seek to create public holidays on 1 and 17 March, 23 April and 30 NovemberA Labour government will seek to create four new UK-wide bank holidays on the patron saint’s day of each of the home nations, Jeremy Corbyn has announced. The Labour leader said the move would bring together England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, while giving workers a well-deserved break. Related: Tim Farron’s pledge to voters: Lib Dems won’t make coalit
  
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• Why I marched for science

  23-04-2017 08:24
  
  Science will not make moral and political choices for us, or tell us what our goals should be. But it will help delineate the possibilities for achieving themLike many others, I marched for science on Saturday 22nd April. I also spoke at the rally in Parliament Square, London, along with several excellent and varied speakers. We all had our own take on what we were there for, and why it was important, as did our fellow marchers and speakers around the world. This is the gist of what I said.I am
  
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• When Nigel Farage met Julian Assange

  23-04-2017 08:00
  
  Why did Ukip’s ex-leader want to slip in unnoticed to meet the WikiLeaks chief at the Ecuadorian embassy?On 9 March 2017, an ordinary Thursday morning, Ian Stubbings, a 35-year-old Londoner, was walking down the street near his office in South Kensington when he spotted a familiar face. He turned and saw a man entering the redbrick terrace which houses the Ecuadorian embassy, where the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been holed up since 2012. And the familiar face? It was Nigel Farage
  
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• Want to ‘bring the nation together’? Have a leaders’ TV debate

  23-04-2017 08:00
  
  For all their weaknesses, face-to-face showdowns at election time are national events that cut through partisanship. Prime ministers should not avoid themLast year’s American presidential plus this year’s Dutch, French and German elections all have one thing in common. TV debates are a necessary, normal part of the electoral scenery, an underpinning to public engagement and understanding. Did Mark Rutte defeat Geert Wilders in Holland’s screen battle, defending the centre groun
  
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• Danger ahead for European press

  23-04-2017 08:00
  
  As press prize celebrations die down, it’s time to reflect on the threat looming over journalistic freedom in many countries on the continentA final word on the European Press Prize as, awards delivered, a new season begins. The winners were all terrific. Congratulations to your Serbian investigators, young Romanian reporters, digital wizards from Bellingcat. Congratulations to three sensational writers from Stern and Spiegel. (Gosh! the Germans still invest mightily in good journalism). A
  
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• Women’s Equality party leader seeks backing for a clear run to beat ‘misogynist’ MP

  23-04-2017 07:59
  
  Sophie Walker’s challenge to Tories’ Philip Davies comes as ‘progressive alliance’ gathers support in key marginal seatsShe is the leader of the Women’s Equality party (WEP), a new political force committed to furthering the cause of gender equality, but which has yet to make inroads electorally.He is a Tory MP who tried to derail a bill to protect women against violence, and told a conference hosted by an anti-feminism party that “feminist zealots really do w
  
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• A hasty election before Britain sees the hard truth of Brexit

  23-04-2017 07:59
  
  Of all the reasons for Theresa May to go for an immediate vote, the clearest is that the future prospects for Britain are darkening all the timeMy friend Paul Whitehouse told me the news in my local cafe. At first I thought he was practising a sketch for a re-run of the much-missed Fast Show.Sadly, he wasn’t. Theresa May’s repeated denials of an intention to call a snap election had gone the way of so many of her inconsistent and often fatuous pronouncements. There was going to be an
  
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• UK politicians preach own brands of Christianity

  23-04-2017 06:21
  Spiritual matters spill out into the normally secular sphere of the general election
  
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• Theresa May: Smaug, the snap-election dragon – cartoon

  23-04-2017 01:05
  
  Chris Riddell on the prime minister’s surprise call for a mandate Continue reading...
  
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• On paper, Theresa May can’t lose – but no election is risk free | Robert Ford

  23-04-2017 01:05
  
  The divisions caused by Brexit cut across party lines and make this election unpredictableAfter the Brexit referendum, the Brexit election. Less than a year after the historic vote to end Britain’s membership of the EU, and less than two years after her party secured an unexpected parliamentary majority, Theresa May is seeking another mandate from the country – to deliver on the fundamental change demanded a year ago. The announcement on Tuesday caught many unawares, but the logic of
  
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• How May kept her secret – and left rivals scrambling

  23-04-2017 01:05
  
  The PM brilliantly outwitted her opponents after weeks of denying she was going to go to the countryOn the Thursday before Easter, Westminster journalists were invited to bring their children to No 10 Downing Street for an Easter egg hunt. Gold chocolate eggs of all sizes were hidden in the flowerbeds. There was much excitement as the young guests tore around the lawns in pursuit of the hidden treasure. But for the parents, the occasion lacked one vital element. “There were loads of e
  
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