Political news

• Kezia Dugdale: Nicola Sturgeon Is Lying Over Private Claims Labour Will Drop Opposition To Scottish Independence

  06-06-2017 23:18
  
  Very interesting. @kezdugdale told @NicolaSturgeon that @scottishlabour could stop opposing independence because of Brexit. #ScotDebates pic.twitter.com/rxu43HtRvU— Paul Aitken (@mrpaulaitken) June 6, 2017
  Kezia Dugdale has accused Nicola Sturgeon of lying over claims she privately told her Scottish Labour could drop its opposition to independence.
  In the final Scottish leaders’s debate before the general election, the First Minister claimed Dugdale suggested her party’s positi
  
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• Theresa May ramps up anti-terror rhetoric in final election push

  06-06-2017 22:29 via ft.com
  PM seeks to quell criticism over security as confident Tories target Labour heartlands
  
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• UK intelligence was warned about London Bridge attackers

  06-06-2017 22:10 via ft.com
  Critics question whether police and security services let terrorists slip through net
  
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• Gower Constituency, South Wales, Could Return To Labour Following Shock 2015 General Election Result

  06-06-2017 21:12
  
  Under the UK’s first-past-the-post electoral system, the old adage ‘every vote counts’ can sometimes ring hollow. But in the south Wales constituency of Gower, it’s actually true. A Labour stronghold for more than a century, Gower turned Blue in 2015 by the smallest majority in the General Election - just 27 votes.
  Located on the south Wales coast, the constituency spans 128 square miles and has a voting population of about 62,000. Having returned a Labour MP at
  
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• Theresa May Vows To Tear Up Human Rights Laws To Tackle Islamist Terrorism

  06-06-2017 20:29
  
  Theresa May is vowing to tear up human rights laws that stand in the way of her fight against terrorism.
  In a speech this evening, the Prime Minister called for greater powers to restrict the movement of terror suspects - even if authorities are unable to convince a judge the measure is needed.
  May also called for longer prison sentences for people convicted of terrorist offences and promised to make it easier to deport foreign terrorists back to their home countries.
  It has been suggested the T
  
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• UK Election Countdown: If . . .

  06-06-2017 20:10 via ft.com
  2 days to go: Labour’s prospects on Thursday
  
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• Theresa May campaigns in Labour heartland in show of confidence

  06-06-2017 19:46 via ft.com
  PM’s eleventh-hour tour underlines hopes of big majority despite struggling campaign
  
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• Labour scrambles to win waverers in the north of England

  06-06-2017 19:42 via ft.com
  Ukip’s collapse makes seats such as Hartlepool unpredictable
  
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• How Labour and Conservative election policies compare

  06-06-2017 19:29 via ft.com
  What the UK’s main political parties promise to do if they win
  
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• Steve Coogan Backs Jeremy Corbyn As He Prepares To Speak At Labour Rally

  06-06-2017 19:27
  
  Steve Coogan has endorsed Jeremy Corbyn for Prime Minister, urging people to ‘vote Labour and change your future’ this week.
  Blogging exclusively for HuffPost UK, the actor and comedian accused the Conservatives of ‘taking the piss’ and said the Labour leader had shown ‘an authenticity we are not accustomed to seeing in successful politicians’.
  He attacked the ‘billionaires who own our print media’ and said Theresa May had appeared ‘weak and
  
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• Theresa May's Forgotten Pledge: How Does The UK Get More White Working Class Boys Into University?

  06-06-2017 19:17
  
  When she became Prime Minister in July 2016, Theresa May stood on the steps of No.10 Downing Street and set out her own personal mission for changing Britain.
  She talked about helping ‘ordinary working families’, the gender pay gap, the dominance of private schools in public life, mental health and racial inequalities in the criminal justice system.
  But also among her list of the ills afflicting the country was this line: “If you’re a white, working-class boy, you’r
  
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• Britain’s missing election debate on the economy

  06-06-2017 18:54 via ft.com
  A soft Brexit is the best way to insure the UK against economic shocks
  
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• Tactical Voting Spreadsheet Website Makes Last Ditch Attempt To Make People Swap Votes

  06-06-2017 18:30
  
  The tactical voting website that began life as a humble spreadsheet has been crowdfunding to raise money to target voters in key marginal seats.
  In 2015, three quarters of votes were ‘wasted’, that is, they did not actually contribute to electing an MP.
  With just two days to go before General Election polls open, a progressive campaign called Unite Against The Tories has raised over £1,000 to pay for ads on Facebook to encourage vote swapping.
  Vote
  
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• Postal Votes Go Missing In Plymouth, Including In Two Crucial Tory-Labour Marginals

  06-06-2017 18:26
  
  Hundreds of postal votes have gone missing in Plymouth, which includes the most marginal seat in the region.
  The Tories held Plymouth Sutton and Devonport by just 500 votes in 2015 and now hundreds of people have reported not receiving their ballots ahead of Thursday’s election.
  Plymouth City Council has been forced to resend 370 postal votes and said it was “urgently” investigating with Royal Mail. The BBC’s Martyn Oates said: “In the case of Plymouth Sutton a
  
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• Donald Trump's Tweets About Qatar Could Be His Most Dangerous Yet

  06-06-2017 18:25
  
  The President tweets, the press reports, the world reacts - it’s a now-familiar cycle that has, in little over four months, covered everything from Russia through to Snoop Dogg.
  But today is different.
  In one tweet Donald Trump made a major US foreign policy decision that will have global implications and fundamentally shift the balance of power in the Middle East.
  Here’s some background to the crisis from the Associated Press:
  WHY IS THE LITTLE PENINSULA NATION OF QATAR IMPORTA
  
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• The network that remains at the heart of UK Islamist extremism

  06-06-2017 18:11 via ft.com
  Cold war allies al-Muhajiroun broke the bargain and turned on their host
  
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• Election 2017: Boris Johnson accuses Corbyn of siding with Britain's enemies – politics live

  06-06-2017 16:59 via theguardian.com
  
  All the day’s politics news as campaign enters final days before 8 June pollThe Snap: sign up for our daily election email – and read today’sLondon Bridge attacks – latest developmentsJeremy Corbyn: ‘Me, unpatriotic? That’s complete nonsense’Boris Johnson’s anti-Corbyn speech - Summary and analysis 3.59pm BSTI’m afraid we have had to close comments again. I’m sorry about that. The London Bridge attack, and the news from Paris that has j
  
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• Labour dominating Twitter discussions, researchers say

  06-06-2017 16:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Labour makes up 62% of specific party references on platform, while proportion of links to professional news sites rises – but so do those to fake newsContent about Labour is dominating Twitter in the run-up to the general election, according to a new study from the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute. The researchers, who have been tracking the changes in activity over time, looked at traffic on Twitter over the final week of May to identify trends around political engagement,
  
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• Is there a magic money tree? Yes children, there is. But that’s the wrong question | Ellie Mae O’Hagan

  06-06-2017 16:41 via theguardian.com
  
  Theresa May knows that the issue isn’t whether we can grow money or not (we can), it’s that it’s then given to banks rather than nursesI know this election has been moving quickly, but can we all just go back in time for a moment? I’d like to revisit that extraordinary moment on Friday evening during BBC Leaders’ Question Time when Theresa May told a nurse who hadn’t had a pay rise for eight years that “there is no magic money tree”.Leaving aside t
  
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• Reality Check: Does the weather affect election turnout?

  06-06-2017 16:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Other factors are more important than the weather in determining whether or not people vote.
  
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• Security Cooperation With The EU Still At Risk In Brexit Talks, Confirms Theresa May

  06-06-2017 16:34
  
  Theresa May is refusing to take security cooperation with the EU off the table in the Brexit negotiations, despite the recent terrorist attacks to hit the UK.
  The Prime Minister today stood by her words in the Article 50 letter to the EU in March, which stated that if no trade deal was reached after Brexit “the fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened.”
  When the letter was delivered, the EU reacted with anger to the perceived threat, and Downing Street was forced to reass
  
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• Grime Artist Chozen On How He Changed His Life

  06-06-2017 16:30
  
  Ricardo Marinoni changed his circumstances by making changes in his life, and is calling on his community to do the same by voting. 
  The London-born rapper, aka Chozen, showed promise as a professional football player but was drawn to music from a young age.It was the murder of a 15-year-old on the Clapham estate he grew up on that gave him the drive and determination to succeed.
  “You’re not promised tomorrow so you’ve got to make the most of it.”Chozen is the frontm
  
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• Who can I vote for? Search for your UK election candidates

  06-06-2017 16:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Enter your postcode to find out all you need to know about who’s standing in your constituency in the 2017 electionUse our search widget to find essential information about any seat you’re interested in. Search by constituency name or postcode to find out the last general election result in 2015, how the area voted in the EU referendum in 2016, which candidates are contesting the seat this time and which parties might particularly be targeting it.Continue reading...
  
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• Climate change is real. So why won’t the right admit it? | Marcus Nield

  06-06-2017 16:13 via theguardian.com
  
  From hard Brexiters to Donald Trump, nationalists who deny the existence of manmade global warming will eventually have to face the factsAround 97% of climate scientists confirm the existence of manmade global warming, and public opinion is steadily catching up. In the UK, a recent poll suggested 84% of British people want Theresa May to “convince Trump not to quit” the Paris climate agreement. According to a survey spanning 40 nations, 78% of people support their country joining the
  
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• Boris Johnson: 'Corbyn has been soft on terror for 30 years' – video

  06-06-2017 15:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Foreign secretary gives election campaign speech in Durham, saying Labour leader has sided with UK’s adversaries, arguing a Corbyn Brexit negotiating team would be ‘eaten for breakfast’, and defending Conservatives’ record on police numbersGeneral election 2017 – live updatesContinue reading...
  
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• Failure to fly: what happened to Farron's Lib Dem fightback?

  06-06-2017 15:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Lib Dem leader’s plan to attract the 48% appears to be faltering, but party insists its highly targeted campaign could still pay offIn the glow of the afternoon sun on the Thames, a Liberal Democrat and an anti-Brexit campaigner stood, beaming, at the prow of a boat. George Turner, the Lib Dem candidate for Vauxhall, and Gina Miller were attempting a pastiche of an infamous shot from the EU referendum campaign, where Labour’s Vauxhall MP, Kate Hoey, sat aboard the so-called Brexit fl
  
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• Theresa May Finally Calls Donald Trump ‘Wrong’ To Feud With Sadiq Khan After London Bridge Attack

  06-06-2017 15:32
  
  Theresa May has finally criticised Donald Trump for calling Sadiq Khan  “pathetic” over his response to the London Bridge attack.
  Politicians condemned Trump for attacking Khan after the incident, that saw three jihadis go on a stabbing rampage on Saturday night, killing seven and injuring 48.
  His tweet took Khan’s comment that Londoners had “no reason to be alarmed” about the increased police presence out of context.At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in
  
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• City Academy Hackney Secondary School Forced To Reduce Lessons By 30 Minutes Every Day To Cope With Tory Cuts

  06-06-2017 15:23
  
  A high performing academy in one of Britain’s poorest neighbourhoods is being forced to reduce the length of its school day due to Tory cuts, HuffPost UK can reveal.
  The City Academy in Hackney, east London, is to slash half an hour from its daily lesson time from September to ease staff costs.
  The school, which was second in the country in 2014 for student progress, will start its lessons 20 minutes later and end them 10 minutes earlier.
  Instead of starting at 8.25am, pupils will be taugh
  
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• Ministers deny suppressing report on foreign funding of extremism

  06-06-2017 15:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Boris Johnson and Amber Rudd say Home Office report, understood to focus on Saudi Arabia, was never intended for publicationGeneral election 2017 – live updatesBoris Johnson has said it is right to raise questions about foreign funding of radicalisation in the UK, including with Saudi Arabia, and insisted the government is not suppressing a delayed Home Office report on the issue. The foreign secretary and Amber Rudd, the home secretary, have said the Home Office report was never intended
  
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• Cambridge: 'Scrapping tuition fees is attractive ... if it can be costed'

  06-06-2017 15:06 via theguardian.com
  
  In the run-up to the election, six Guardian reporters are writing from constituencies across the country to find out what matters to you and those in your area. In the fourth dispatch from Cambridge, Amelia Gentleman and photographer Antonio Olmos find that students are sceptical of big promisesIf Labour were to win the election, Harry Robson, Tom Jelly, and Oliver Kontkanen, all first-year students at Cambridge University, would stand to benefit to the tune of £9,000 each, because of the
  
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• UK election dominated by two main parties

  06-06-2017 15:03 via ft.com
  Polling suggests Labour and Conservatives will win 80% of votes
  
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• Labour and Conservatives on course to win 80% of votes in election

  06-06-2017 15:03 via ft.com
  Polling suggests the age of two-party politics is far from over in Britain
  
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• Clive Lewis: 'Corbyn has shown the audacity of hope can work' – video

  06-06-2017 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Labour’s candidate for Norwich South, Clive Lewis, tells Owen Jones he believes the surge in support for Jeremy Corbyn shows that his party and the British public are realising there can be another way. The former shadow defence secretary says Theresa May’s campaign has been arrogant and offered the British public a ‘thin gruel of hopelessness’An extended version of this interview is available on Owen Jones’s YouTube channelContinue reading...
  
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• Theresa May’s dilemma over Donald Trump

  06-06-2017 14:53 via ft.com
  US president’s recent actions make it more difficult to maintain warm ties
  
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• Why the UK election matters to rest of the world

  06-06-2017 14:45 via ft.com
  Poll in G7 economy will affect investors, trading partners and allies
  
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• It's not the economy, stupid – Election Daily podcast

  06-06-2017 14:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Owen Jones and Jonathan Freedland are joined by Zoe Williams to discuss why the economy has played such a limited role in this election. Plus: London mayor Sadiq Khan becomes the latest target of Donald Trump’s Twitter feedElections in Britain and elsewhere are usually fought primarily on the economy – the line from Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign, “it’s the economy, stupid,” has become a political cliche. But in the 2017 election, interrupted twice by te
  
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• Religious conservatism doesn’t make a terrorist. But crime and exclusion can | Z Fareen Parvez

  06-06-2017 14:37 via theguardian.com
  
  I’ve spent years conducting research in devout Salafi communities. Theresa May’s focus on ideology as a means of tackling terror could backfireIn her comments in the aftermath of last weekend’s attacks in London, Theresa May suggested a new direction in the struggle against terrorism. Insisting that “things need to change”, she pointed to the problems of “segregated, separated communities” and “too much tolerance of Islamist extremism”.It is
  
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• Greg Knight's bizarre Tory campaign video delights viewers

  06-06-2017 14:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservative MP’s Alan Partridge-esque delivery and local radio-style jingle are a unique contribution to election campaignGreg Knight, the Conservative candidate for East Yorkshire, has launched one of the most unexpected video hits of the general election campaign. The 51-second clip mixes his awkward delivery of Theresa May’s campaign lines with a jaunty jingle at the end, which really must be heard, as the camera zooms in on a poster inexpertly sticky-taped to the wall.The video
  
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• Conservative MP Greg Knight's unusual campaign video

  06-06-2017 14:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Watch the Tory candidate for East Yorkshire’s clip with the sound on to see why it’s gone viral Greg Knight’s bizarre Tory campaign video delights viewersContinue reading...
  
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• Corbyn’s young fans could sway UK election — but will they vote?

  06-06-2017 14:17 via ft.com
  The turnout of 18 to 24-year-olds is an important factor in an unpredictable race
  
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• 'Completely different' danger level: what are anti-terror options now?

  06-06-2017 14:02 via theguardian.com
  
  Do security services need new powers or extra resources? A look at options including Tpims, tagging and mass surveillanceBritain’s head of counter-terrorism policing, Mark Rowley, has said a radical change of strategy is needed to halt jihadi terror attacks because there is now a “completely different level” of danger.“In nine weeks, we’ve had five plots foiled and three successful attacks. That is completely different to anything we have seen for a long time,&rdquo
  
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• 'Strong and stable blah blah blah': your alternative general election posters

  06-06-2017 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From Tory bingo to magic money trees, we share some of our readers’ alternative election posters Share your alternative election posters Continue reading...
  
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• Third London Bridge attacker named as Italian of Moroccan descent

  06-06-2017 13:51 via ft.com
  Youssef Zaghba was stopped in Bologna last year and was on Italian intelligence radar
  
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• Privatised water costs consumers £2.3bn more a year, study says

  06-06-2017 13:51 via ft.com
  Greenwich university finds renationalisation would save each household in England £100 a year
  
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• Only half of under-30s expected to vote in UK general election

  06-06-2017 13:42 via ft.com
  Survey casts doubt on surge in support for Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn at the polls
  
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• If Trump visits, let’s greet him with the chorus of mocking middle fingers he deserves | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

  06-06-2017 13:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Benny Hill music, inflatable chodes, kazoos? Now Trump’s insulted Sadiq Khan, let’s get truly British and welcome the US president with a festival of piss-takingDoes there remain a single potential act of idiocy that, by this point, would surprise any of us were it committed by Donald Trump? Trump’s latest attempts to smear the London mayor, Sadiq Khan – while the latter leads our city through the aftermath of a painful terrorist attack – are simultaneously beyond t
  
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• 'Chilling' Lobbying Act stifles democracy, charities tell party chiefs

  06-06-2017 13:05 via theguardian.com
  
  More than 50 charities say they have changed key messages during election campaign due to ‘unreasonable and unfair’ restrictions Charities have been forced to change their key messages to the public during the general election because of the “chilling” effect of the controversial Lobbying Act, a group of leading UK organisations has warned.Democratic debate on some of the biggest issues in the election campaign has been stifled by the law, a group of more than 50 charitie
  
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• What is tactical voting and will it matter in the UK election?

  06-06-2017 13:00 via ft.com
  Strategy was used often in the 1990s to defeat Conservatives but can backfire
  
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• Is Tatler really getting chummy with Jeremy Corbyn? | Anne Perkins

  06-06-2017 12:49 via theguardian.com
  
  The society magazine is featuring the Labour leader as a secret toff – but this isn’t an outbreak of Corbyn fandom, it’s a cry of class betrayalTatler, the magazine that has a talent for spotting trends and, like all self-sustaining posh organisations (see Eton, for example) a gift for reinvention, has discovered Jeremy Corbyn. Its online edition is casting the Labour leader as a secret toff. Could this be an endorsement? Is Corbynmania such a thing that Tatler is reassuring re
  
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• Cassetteboy Vs Theresa May Is Brutal And Just In Time For The General Election

  06-06-2017 12:44
  
  Cassetteboy has been very quiet lately - the last we heard of them was their take on Brexit via The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
  So it is with great relief we inform you they are still going strong and have released a special song for Theresa May just in time for the General Election.Set to Diana Ross’s ‘I’m Coming Out’, it’s as good as you’d hoped.
  If you like that then make sure you check out the video-editing duo’s take on Jeremy Hunt below.-- This
  
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