Political news

• Conservative Party Promises Energy Price Cap On Default Tariffs

  08-05-2017 23:42
  
  The Conservative Party has confirmed it will deliver an energy price cap to tackle spiralling household bills if it wins the election.
  The proposed cap would apply to default tariffs – or so-called standard variable tariffs – which around 17 million households are on against prices rising by more than 150% over the last fifteen years.
  The Tories said the cap will be set by energy regulator Ofgem, and follows the cap on prices for customers with pre-payment meters, which was introduc
  
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• Simon Danczuk could stand against Labour after quitting party

  08-05-2017 23:21
  
  Labour fears split vote if former Rochdale MP runs against Tony Lloyd, who is viewed as a ‘toe-the-line establishment candidate’ by the Danczuk campSimon Danczuk is contemplating standing as an independent candidate in Rochdale against the Labour candidate Tony Lloyd in the upcoming general election, a friend has told the Guardian.
  The former Labour MP, who resigned from the party on Monday, is consulting local supporters after the former Manchester police and crime commissioner Lloy
  
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• Rochdale general election: Tony Lloyd chosen for Labour

  08-05-2017 22:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tony Lloyd is named Labour's candidate for Rochdale while former MP Simon Danczuk resigns from party.
  
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• Party leaders to take part in BBC election programmes

  08-05-2017 21:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A seven-way live debate and Question Time specials feature in the BBC's election line-up.
  
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• Martin Rowson on the French election result – cartoon

  08-05-2017 21:10
  
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• General election 2017: Tim Farron responds to Vince Cable recording

  08-05-2017 20:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Vince Cable and Sarah Olney were recorded discussing their support for a Labour candidate.
  
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• Facebook employs ex-political aides to help campaigns target voters

  08-05-2017 20:06
  
  Roles for former Conservative and Labour figures prompt fears firm ‘whispering in ears’ of parties to aid micro-targeting of usersFacebook has stepped up attempts to build its influence as a political tool by giving jobs to former senior Conservative and Labour campaign officials.The Guardian has learned Facebook’s recruits have inside knowledge of how the major parties’ general election campaigns are likely to work. They include a former Downing Street adviser to David C
  
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• General election ‘two-horse race’ in Scotland

  08-05-2017 19:23
  
  Scottish Tory leader declares ‘game on’ to SNP, sidelining Labour
  
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• Deep divisions at Labour headquarters hit UK election hopes

  08-05-2017 19:14
  Bad blood between Jeremy Corbyn’s team and longstanding officials creates solemn mood
  
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• Deep divisions at Labour headquarters hit election hopes

  08-05-2017 19:14
  Bad blood between Jeremy Corbyn’s team and longstanding officials creates solemn mood
  
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• General election 2017: Former Labour MP Simon Danczuk quits party claiming it has 'lost touch with reality' – as it happened

  08-05-2017 19:04
  
  All the day’s campaign news, as Conservatives needle at EU ‘meddling’, Macron win stokes Brexit anxiety, and Farron admits to Thatcher posterThe Snap: sign up for our daily election email – and read today’sTheresa May’s speech and Q&A - Summary and analysisAfternoon summary 6.04pm BST 5.48pm BSTSimon Danczuk, who was told last week that he could not stand again as a Labour candidate in Rochdale because he is still suspended from the party over allegations
  
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• General election: Labour 'would axe NHS parking charges'

  08-05-2017 18:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Jeremy Corbyn says a Labour government would make car parking free at all NHS hospitals in England.
  
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• Mr P and the May Team loyally acclaim their Supreme Leader

  08-05-2017 18:37
  
  There was not an unfamiliar face in sight on the Harrow industrial estate, just Team Theresa candidates clapping and beamingThe Conservative party is dead. Long live Team Theresa.The May Team rose as one as Patrick McLoughlin, aka Mr P, the Team Theresa chairman, led the applause while the Supreme Leader made her way to the centre of the near-empty main hall in the Dhamecha Lohana community centre on a Harrow industrial estate. Mr P clapped loudest and longest, turning purple with the fervour of
  
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• May’s foreign policy cannot be judged by its electoral effect

  08-05-2017 18:32
  For the rest of the world, the UK election is a non-event
  
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• Paul Nuttall Gets Two Dedicated BBC Shows Ahead Of The Election - But The Greens Have None

  08-05-2017 18:25
  
  The BBC is under-fire after handing two 30 minute election specials to Ukip leader Paul Nuttall – despite the party having no MPs and getting a hammering in the local elections.
  The broadcaster has revealed details of its election coverage, including a half-hour programme dedicated to Nuttall answering questions from an audience in Bristol at 10.30pm on Sunday June 4 – just 4 days before the election.
  Nuttall will also be given a 30 minute grilling by the BBC’s top interviewer
  
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• 50 MPs back fight to divest parliament pension fund of fossil fuels

  08-05-2017 18:25
  
  Cross-section of MPs urge £612m pension fund to show greater leadership and “take climate change seriously”A campaign calling on parliament’s £612m pension fund to divest from fossil fuels has won the backing of 50 MPs from across the UK’s main political parties.The Divest Parliament campaign has announced it has secured support from a cross-section of MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, SDLP and Plaid Cymru, who are all urging the Parli
  
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• Northern Ireland’s DUP looks to regain footing in UK election

  08-05-2017 17:45
  Arlene Foster says surge of support for Sinn Féin was a ‘wake-up call’
  
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• What you need to know about the general election on 8 June

  08-05-2017 17:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK will have a general election on 8 June. Here's what you need to know.
  
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• Straight outta Chingford: Iain Duncan Smith rap-battles Diane Abbott

  08-05-2017 17:12
  
  Former Tory leader uses Eminem lyrics to attack shadow minister who stumbled over policy costingsThe former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has used lyrics by the rapper Eminem to mock Labour’s Diane Abbott in one of the most unlikely putdowns of the election so far.The former work and pensions secretary fluently recited words from Eminem’s Lose Yourself on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, in the latest Conservative jibe at last week’s stumbling interview by the shadow h
  
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• Immigration: Tories to keep 'tens of thousands' target

  08-05-2017 17:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Theresa May says she still wants to see annual numbers fall to "sustainable" levels below 100,000.
  
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• General election 2017: Welsh Labour campaign launched

  08-05-2017 16:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Carwyn Jones says the Welsh campaign for the general election should focus on the party's record in Wales.
  
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• Emmanuel Macron's Victory Could Be Good News For Brexit Talks, Experts Say

  08-05-2017 16:48
  
  The new French president has called Brexit a “crime” but his election could be good news for British negotiators, experts suggest.
  Emmanuel Macron previously said leaving the EU would mean Britain’s “Guernseyficiation” and an advisor already has warned he will be “tough” in the talks.
  He is expected to try and lure London’s financial sector to Paris and may renegotiate the treaty allowing UK border controls in Calais.
  As if to underscore his positi
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Speech Hijacked By 'Wenger Out' Protest

  08-05-2017 16:46
  
  Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign stop in Leamington Spa this afternoon was hijacked by two protesters demanding Arsenal sack manager Arsene Wenger.
  As the Labour leader encouraged local voters to back his party on June 8, two men held up  signs demanding “Wenger Out” behind him.
  The signs stayed in place for quite some time until presumably the protesters were persuaded to stop by the event organisers - or their arms got tired.Corbyn, the MP for Islington North, is a keen fan
  
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• Weighing in on politics: Bodybuilders talk votes

  08-05-2017 16:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Bodybuilders and a personal trainer in Huntingdon on what is important to them in the general election.
  
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• General election 2017: Voting in local and national elections

  08-05-2017 16:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The local elections saw Conservatives make gains, but will this affect how votes are cast on 8 June?
  
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• General election 2017 campaign headlines and highlights

  08-05-2017 16:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Some of the filling in an election sandwich looking at what politicians have been up to on the campaign trail.
  
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• May and Corbyn to appear on BBC Question Time election special

  08-05-2017 15:37
  
  Prime minister and Labour leader will appear one after the other after BBC says it does not want to ‘embarrass’ May by featuring empty chairTheresa May and Jeremy Corbyn will appear one after the other on a BBC Question Time general election special, in a compromise deal agreed after the prime minister refused to take part in head-to-head debates. The two main party leaders will answer questions from a TV studio audience in York in a programme hosted by David Dimbleby. It matches a s
  
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• Marine Le Pen Backer Places Bet Then Tries To Claim Son Hacked His Account

  08-05-2017 15:02
  
  A Marine Le Pen fan has claimed he lost £500 when his underage son placed a bet on her victory without his knowledge - despite much evidence to the contrary.
  The saga at first appears to be a cautionary tale in leaving unattended computers around children.
  Enter our protagonist, Colin Johnson, a self-declared “bad boy of BREXIT!” who goes by the dubious Twitter handle of @WollyGogg.My 13 year old has used my account @Ladbrokes - what is your customer service number? Need i
  
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• UK election: Can Lib Dems come back?

  08-05-2017 14:30
  Liberal Democrats hope to use Brexit to make gains in the West Country
  
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• UK election: Bath battleground

  08-05-2017 14:30
  Liberal Democrats hope to use Brexit to make gains in the West Country
  
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• Not too fast on migration, Theresa May

  08-05-2017 14:27
  UK needs to be realistic about how quickly it can transform immigration system
  
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• Theresa May sticks to 100,000 a year net migration target

  08-05-2017 13:53
  Sustainable level means ‘tens of thousands’, prime minister says
  
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• Donald Trump's Golf Courses 'Funded By Russia' According To Writer James Dodson

  08-05-2017 13:48
  
  Donald Trump’s golf courses were funded in part by Russian money despite the President repeatedly denying any financial links to the country, according to a respected sports writer.
  James Dodson, in an interview with Boston radio station, WBUR-FM last week, recalled a visit to Trump National Golf Club Charlotte in North Carolina in 2014 as a guest of the President and his son, Eric.
  Dodson said: “Trump was strutting up and down, talking to his new members about how they were part of
  
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• Hartlepool: angry voters make fertile ground for Ukip

  08-05-2017 13:37
  
  In the run-up to the general election, six Guardian reporters are embedded in constituencies across the country to find out what matters to you and your area. In the first of our Voices and votes series, Josh Halliday talks to residents in Hartlepool who feel abandoned by Labour and could seek solutions elsewhereIt emerged out of the mist like a “giant modernist cathedral” in the middle of the North Sea. Hundreds in Hartlepool stood transfixed as the world’s biggest ship, the P
  
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• General election 2017 poll tracker: who is in the lead?

  08-05-2017 13:36
  
  Find out what the pollsters are expecting on 8 June as Theresa May seeks to turn an opinion poll lead into an increased majority. We’re compiling daily updates from all the main polling firms and tracking the trendAfter 2015, Brexit and Trump can we still trust opinion polls?Continue reading...
  
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• General election: UKIP want 'one in, one out' migration

  08-05-2017 13:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The number of people arriving in the UK will not exceed those leaving under UKIP's plans.
  
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• Theresa May Asks Voters To Give Her As Big A Mandate As Emmanuel Macron

  08-05-2017 12:36
  
  Emmanuel Macron's victory shows why I need a strong mandate, Theresa May says https://t.co/2bFlrPwvVd #GE2017 pic.twitter.com/otrABrf30d— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) May 8, 2017
  Theresa May has said she needs as big a mandate as Emmanuel Macron in order to have a “strong” position in the Brexit negotiations.
  Macron won 66% of the vote to Marine Le Pen’s 33% yesterday to become the next French president.Speaking in Harrow, north west London, this morning, May said des
  
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• Theresa May: We'll stick to 'tens of thousands' migration target

  08-05-2017 12:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Theresa May tells the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg that the Conservatives will continue to try to cut net migration to "the tens of thousands".
  
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• Labour Pledges To End NHS Hospital Car Parking Charges By Hiking Taxes On Private Healthcare

  08-05-2017 12:28
  
  Labour has pledged to scrap hospital car parking charges by increasing taxes on private healthcare if the party gets into government.
  Announcing the plans, leader Jeremy Corbyn said patients, visitors and staff at hospitals across England should not have to pay because ‘Labour created the NHS to be free at the point of use’.
  The move has been praised by children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent, who said just half of English hospitals currently offer free parking for young cancer
  
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• Labour Pledges To End NHS Hospital Car Parking Charges

  08-05-2017 12:28
  
  Labour has pledged to scrap hospital car parking charges if the party gets into government.
  Announcing the plans, leader Jeremy Corbyn said patients, visitors and staff at hospitals across England should not have to pay because ‘Labour created the NHS to be free at the point of use’.
  “Labour will end hospital parking charges, which place an unfair and unnecessary burden on families, patients and NHS staff. Hospital parking charges are a tax on serious illnesses,” he added
  
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• More Than A Third Of Those On Sunday Times Rich List Are Tory Donors

  08-05-2017 12:05
  
  More than a third of the 100 richest people in Britain are also Tory donors, new analysis has revealed.
  The Sunday Times has published its annual rich list and 35 of those featured - who have a net worth of £123 billion - have collectively given £19 million to the Conservatives since 2001.
  Since the 2015 election, 12 have handed over more than £1.3 million and since Theresa May entered 10 Downing Street, three have given more than £180,000.
  The PM has said
  
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• Emmanuel Macron has no interest in ‘hard Brexit’, adviser says

  08-05-2017 11:35
  Jean Pisani-Ferry has been tipped as a possible EU ‘sherpa’ for French president-elect
  
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• Britain views Macron as a tough Brexit negotiating partner

  08-05-2017 11:35
  May urges voters to give her as strong a mandate as French president-elect
  
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• 'Brexit election'

  08-05-2017 11:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Britain had a choice about whether to have an EU referendum - so why wasn't it talked about more?
  
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• Greens urge Labour to join anti-Conservative alliance

  08-05-2017 11:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Greens urge Jeremy Corbyn to discuss ways of developing left and centre left progressive alliances.
  
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• In the face of defeat, the Corbyn faithful stand firm

  08-05-2017 10:49
  
  There was no sign of despair at this Corbyn rally at the weekend
  
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• Who Is Brigitte Trogneux, Emmanuel Macron's Wife? France's New First Lady To Take On Education Role

  08-05-2017 10:37
  
  Brigitte Trogneux, France’s soon-to-be First Lady, is expected to take on a prominent role championing education and working for disadvantaged children when her husband takes office as President.
  Although she will have staff and a budget at her disposal she will not be paid - a hangover of the political downfall of François Fillon who stands accused of paying his wife for a “fake job”.
  Penelope Fillon has been charged with embezzlement of public funds and aggravated
  
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• Tory Manifesto 'Will Repeat' Pledge To Cut Net Migration To Under 100,000 A Year

  08-05-2017 10:12
  
  Theresa May’s flagship pledge to cut net migration to under 100,000 a year is to be repeated in the Tory general election manifesto.
  The Prime Minister has decided to readopt the promise, even though it has never been met since it was first set in 2010, in a bid to reassure voters that she wants to curb the number of people coming into the UK.
  Recent statistics put the figure net migration figure at 273,000, and several ministers have been pushing for the target to be amended to reflect t
  
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• Iain Duncan Smith Raps Eminem Lyrics To Attack Diane Abbott On GMB

  08-05-2017 10:08
  
  The General Election continued in much the same mad vein it has been fought with so far on Monday, as Iain Duncan Smith rapped Eminem lyrics to attack Diane Abbott.
  The former Tory leader and Work and Pensions Secretary recited a passage from ‘Lose Yourself’ from the Good Morning Britain sofa where he was appearing on TV. 
  Yes really.Urged on by GMB host Piers Morgan to repeat the lyrics he reportedly first referenced during a commercial break, Duncan Smith rose to the challenge
  
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• Green Party: Let's do 'grown up politics'

  08-05-2017 09:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The co-leader of the Green Party says the left should come together to defeat the Tories.
  
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