Political news

• Labour Pledges Rights For EU Nationals And UK Workers, With Parliament Veto On Brexit

  24-04-2017 23:04
  
  A Labour government would bring in new laws to protect the rights of workers and EU nationals under Brexit - and give Parliament a possible veto on any deal with Brussels.
  Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer will seek to heal the party’s wounds over the issue with a general election pledge to “reject a reckless Tory Brexit”.
  With Labour constituencies split between areas that voted Leave and Remain in last year’s EU referendum, Starmer will argue that he would get a bet
  
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• Marine Le Pen Temporarily Steps Down As Front National Leader To Widen Support

  24-04-2017 22:22
  
  Far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen says she is temporarily stepping down as Front National leader in what is seen as an effort to avoid her party’s label scuppering her chances of victory.
  The announcement means Le Pen will still advance to the presidential run-off on May 7 with Emmanuel Macron, but not under the party’s banner.
  The FN was founded by her father, Jean Marie, in 1972, and Le Pen has attempted to de-toxify the party’s racist, anti-Semitic image in recen
  
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• Lawyers accused of ‘false’ Iraqi torture claims

  24-04-2017 22:17 via ft.com
  Firm did not disclose detainees’ militia membership in case against British army
  
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• Ukip seeks relevance with hardline stance on Islam

  24-04-2017 20:48 via ft.com
  ‘Integration agenda’ imitates Le Pen tactics in change of tack after Brexit victory
  
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• UKIP donor Arron Banks will not contest Clacton seat

  24-04-2017 20:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Arron Banks says it would be "wrong" for him to stand against local party councillor Jeff Bray.
  
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• May resists cutting students from migration target

  24-04-2017 19:41 via ft.com
  Prime minister keen to ensure universities take only ‘brightest and best’
  
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• May defies excluding students from migration target

  24-04-2017 19:41 via ft.com
  Prime minister keen to ensure universities take only ‘brightest and best’
  
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• Ukip Donor Arron Banks Accused Of 'Chickening Out' After Ditching Clacton Election Bid

  24-04-2017 19:37
  
  Ukip donor Arron Banks will NOT stand to be an MP in the Essex seaside town of Clacton just days after signalling he would run.
  The multi-millionaire diamond mine-owning insurance tycoon who has bankrolled Ukip and played a key role in Brexit - funding the Leave.EU campaign - said he wasn’t going to “leap over” the most likely local candidate for the party.
  Banks was inspired to stand as part of his ongoing feud with Douglas Carswell, the ex-Tory-turned-Ukip MP for the constit
  
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• Election 2017: Which MPs are standing down, and who might be standing?

  24-04-2017 19:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Who is joining George Osborne in stepping down as an MP, and who plans to return?
  
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• Tim Farron Refuses Again To Say If He Thinks Gay Sex Is A Sin

  24-04-2017 19:15
  
  Tim Farron has again refused to answer whether he believes gay sex is a sin or not.
  The Lib Dem leader,who is a committed Christian, has been under pressure to clear up his view on LGBT rights.
  “I am not going to give you an answer to that question,” he told Sky News’ Darren McCaffrey on Monday afternoon when asked.
  “One’s personal faith is one’s personal faith. What counts is your actions and beliefs in politics.”
  Farron was pressed on the issue as he l
  
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• Eastwood calls for talks 'pause' until after election

  24-04-2017 19:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  'Give up the pretence of negotiations,' says the SDLP leader on attempts to restore power-sharing.
  
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• Britain’s energy market is faulty but not broken

  24-04-2017 19:02 via ft.com
  Number 10 should exhaust all options before giving up on competition
  
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• General Election 2017: Energy bill cap 'will hit consumers'

  24-04-2017 18:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tory plans for a cap on household energy bills will "stop competition", warns one provider.
  
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• NI budget may impose 2.5% education cut

  24-04-2017 18:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  James Brokenshire publishes indicative figures for a budget he will impose if there is no Stormont deal.
  
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• Government seeks clear air plan delay

  24-04-2017 18:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK government may face legal action after seeking to delay publishing its plan to tackle air pollution until after the general election.
  
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• Clock ticking

  24-04-2017 18:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  What will snap election mean for a host of government bills yet to be approved by Parliament?
  
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• Macron shows how talent can trump the zeitgeist

  24-04-2017 18:35 via ft.com
  For liberals the way back to power can happen in a flash with a class act
  
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• 'Getting radical'

  24-04-2017 18:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UKIP searches for a new unique selling point after Theresa May steals a march on Brexit.
  
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• Macron’s success could prove mixed blessing for UK

  24-04-2017 18:29 via ft.com
  Politicians welcome centrist’s rise but expect him to drive hard bargain on EU exit
  
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• Macron’s rise could prove mixed blessing for UK

  24-04-2017 18:29 via ft.com
  Politicians welcome centrist’s success but expect him to drive hard bargain on EU exit
  
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• Lib Dems Target Pro-Brexit Labour MP Kate Hoey In Remain Voting Vauxhall

  24-04-2017 18:29
  
  Tim Farron has said if Donald Trump can become president of the United States, then the Lib Dems can unseat pro-Brexit Labour MP Kate Hoey in Vauxhall as “anything can happen in politics” now.
  Hoey is defending a sizable 12,708 majority in the south London seat. However 79% of her constituents voted ‘Remain’ at the EU referendum.
  The Lib Dems are running an explicitly pro-EU general election campaign and have their eyes set on unseating pro-Brexit MPs including Hoey.
  At
  
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• Party-by-party: Brexit

  24-04-2017 18:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The issue of Brexit looms large over the general election - here's where the parties stand.
  
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• 'Children Are Being Poisoned Now!' Fury As Tories Delay Publishing Air Quality Plan

  24-04-2017 18:12
  
  The Tories were today accused of allowing children and pregnant women to be poisoned by toxic fumes by refusing to publish a long-awaited plan to improve air quality.
  Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom this afternoon told MPs her proposals for tackling nitrogen dioxide levels would not released until after the election – despite the Government being ordered by the High Court to publish it by 4pm this afternoon.
  Leadsom claimed the plan has been written, but was being held back as it wou
  
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• Ex-Plaid Cymru leader seeks to return as Ynys Mon MP

  24-04-2017 18:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ieuan Wyn Jones was previously in Parliament between 1987 and 2001.
  
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• UK Election Countdown: the enemy defeats itself

  24-04-2017 18:01 via ft.com
  45 days to go: Ukip and Labour fill the void
  
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• General election: Sturgeon says PM called early poll because of worries over electoral fraud charges - Politics live

  24-04-2017 17:44
  
  As parties here digest the lessons of the French election, Labour prepare for defence flak and the Tories take a leaf out of the book of MilibandThe Snap: sign up for the daily election briefingLunchtime summary 4.44pm BSTNicola Sturgeon has alleged that Theresa May called the snap election in part because she feared that numerous Tory MPs would be prosecuted for fraud over their election expenses, claiming the Tories may have “bought” the 2015 election.Speaking at the Scottish TUC c
  
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• Tories To Replace Labour As Biggest Party In Wales - Shock ITV Wales/YouGov poll

  24-04-2017 17:36
  
  Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour are set to be toppled by the Tories as the biggest party in Wales, according to a shock new poll.
  The ITV Wales/YouGov survey puts the Conservatives on 40% to Labour’s 30%, a finding that would make Theresa May’s party the dominant force in the country for the first time in nearly 100 years.
  Plaid Cymru are unchanged on 13%, but UKIP’s vote has collapsed from 13% to 6% since January.
  Labour are down three points, but the Tories have soared by
  
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• Ukip Accused Of 'Full Throttled Islamophobia' Over Burka-Banning 'Integration Agenda'

  24-04-2017 17:35
  
  Ukip has been accused of “full throttled Islamophobia” over its new “integration agenda” that includes a pledge to ban the Muslim face veil.
  The agenda also calls for girls at risk of female genital mutilation to undergo annual medical checks and grooming to be made a hate crime if the victim and perpetrator are different races - a reference to the Rotherham grooming scandal that energised the Far Right since it was exposed.
  At the event to launch the agenda, which descen
  
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• Lib Dem membership tops 100,000 after snap election call

  24-04-2017 17:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Leader Tim Farron says the party is the only one opposing Theresa May's "hard Brexit".
  
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• Election 2017: Corbyn urges Scottish voters to reject 'vicious' Tories

  24-04-2017 17:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Jeremy Corbyn tells voters that the general election will be "the people versus the powerful".
  
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• Tories hire Jim Messina for general election

  24-04-2017 16:55 via ft.com
  Data expert ran Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign
  
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• Conservatives hire Messina for UK general election

  24-04-2017 16:55 via ft.com
  Data expert ran Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign
  
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• Conservatives hire Messina for general election

  24-04-2017 16:55 via ft.com
  Data expert ran Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign
  
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• Labour attacks delay to air pollution plan

  24-04-2017 16:53 via ft.com
  Leadsom under fire for using purdah election rules to defer publication
  
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• Delay to UK air pollution plan comes under fire

  24-04-2017 16:53 via ft.com
  Ministers ask courts to extend deadline owing to snap election purdah rules
  
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• Delay to air pollution plan comes under fire

  24-04-2017 16:53 via ft.com
  Ministers ask courts to extend deadline owing to snap election purdah rules
  
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• UKIP: Full face veils are 'barrier to integration'

  24-04-2017 16:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UKIP's proposed ban on full veils worn by some Muslim women has "great public support", it claims.
  
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• Everything you need to know about the UK's 2017 general election

  24-04-2017 16:30
  
  When do the polls open, how can I vote and what will the election result mean for Brexit?Latest general election newsTheresa May announced a snap election in a surprise statement outside Downing Street last Tuesday, arguing that at a time of “enormous national significance” there should be unity in Westminster, but instead there was division. “The country is coming together, but Westminster is not,” the prime minister told the nation. MPs voted overwhelmingly, by 522 vote
  
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• Corbyn rules out anti-Tory pact at Scottish trade union conference

  24-04-2017 16:24
  
  Speaking to the Scottish Trades Union Congress, the Labour leader said unions were ‘our family’ and promised a £10 minimum wage • General election 2017 - live coverageJeremy Corbyn has again dismissed speculation of a formal anti-Tory pact at Westminster, after urging Scottish trade unionists to back Labour at the next election.In a hastily arranged speech to the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) annual conference, the Labour leader said he believed the only deal his p
  
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• Phil Hogan hopes UK stays in customs union

  24-04-2017 16:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Some of the "crazier ideas" on Brexit seem to be receding, says the European agriculture commissioner.
  
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• Britain First Celebrates St George's Day By Inventing Word That Already Exists

  24-04-2017 15:55
  
  Self-declared party of patriots, Britain First, celebrated St George’s Day by doing what it does best - cocking things up.
  Leader Paul Golding proudly declared on Twitter that he had “coined a new term” to mark the 23rd April. Today I coin a new term: ANGLOPHOBIA. Bigotry and hatred towards the English. Rampant amongst the Left and political class.— Paul Golding (@GoldingBF) April 23, 2017
  ANGLOPHOBIA - has a nice ring to it.
  Unfortunately it’s had a nice
  
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• Battleground seats

  24-04-2017 15:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Where do the Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems have to fight hardest to win the general election?
  
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• UKIP burka ban: Muslim veil women 'easy scapegoats'

  24-04-2017 15:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sahar Al-Faifi says it is a "false narrative" to suggest wearing a face veil is a security risk.
  
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• John Fraser obituary

  24-04-2017 14:43
  
  Long-serving Labour MP for Norwood in south London who campaigned against the misuse of the ‘sus’ lawsIt was his knowledge and profound understanding of his constituency and its inhabitants that singled out John Fraser, the former Labour MP for Norwood, who has died aged 82, in his long parliamentary career. Born and brought up in south London himself, he lived and worked there throughout his life, and every speech he made during 33 years in the House of Commons, much of it spent on
  
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• Downing Street silent as political leaders back Macron for French president

  24-04-2017 14:27
  
  Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens and the SNP have indicated support for centrist candidate over the far-right Marine Le Pen• Live coverage: Macron and Le Pen progress to runoff on 7 MayDowning Street is refusing to back the French centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron in his runoff against the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. Theresa May invited Macron to Downing Street during his campaign visit to the UK in February, prompting criticism from the Front National leader. Continue
  
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• What Macron means for Brexit

  24-04-2017 14:26 via ft.com
  There are several reasons why his election could make matters tougher for EU talks
  
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• Scottish Tories back in contention 20 years on from New Labour rout

  24-04-2017 14:20
  
  With party on brink of Westminster revival under Ruth Davidson, the main political dynamic in Scotland is now SNP v ToriesFor the first time in decades, Scotland’s Tories have a confident gleam in their eyes. Almost exactly 20 years after being wiped from Scotland’s electoral map by New Labour in 1997, losing all its MPs, the party is on the brink of a Westminster revival.The first Scottish opinion polls published since Theresa May announced the snap election suggest the Scottish Tor
  
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• Ukip Policy Event Ends With Questions Over Beekeepers' Rights And Paul Nuttall Fleeing Journalists

  24-04-2017 14:10
  
  Ukip’s first event of the election campaign has seen the party deny they want to ban beekeepers from wearing protective gear and Paul Nuttall run away from journalists.
  The party told reporters it would stand on a platform that included banning the Muslim face veil at a policy announcement in London on Monday - one of a range of policies that Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas condemned as “full-throttled Islamophobia”.
  When one journalist asked if this would extend to bannin
  
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• Paul Nuttall dodges questions on whether he will stand in election

  24-04-2017 14:01
  
  Ukip leader shuts himself in hotel room under questioning after unveiling policies attacked as ‘full-throttled Islamophobia’• General election 2017 – live updatesThe Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, has given the strongest hint yet that he may not stand in the June election, as the party launched an Islam-focused policy blitz that also suggested mandatory medical checks be introduced for girls at risk of female genital mutilation. Related: General election: Ukip accused of 'full
  
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• General election: Labour backs Trident renewal, Nia Griffith says

  24-04-2017 13:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Shadow defence secretary says Labour backs Trident despite Jeremy Corbyn saying he would never use it.
  
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