Political news

• 'It's A Legacy Jo Would Be Proud Of': Brendan Cox Praises Great Get Together Success

  18-06-2017 23:01
  
  ”My friend Jo loved a party.  And she loved boats.  So it’s only right that we should all drink beer and get on a boat.”
  Wirral South MP Alison McGovern addresses a crowd bathed in afternoon sunlight on Liverpool’s waterfront on Saturday afternoon.
  She is hosting one of the 120,000 events being held across the country as part of the Great Get Together, in memory of fellow Labour politician Jo Cox.
  There’s a performance by the Liverpool Signing Choir - who
  
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• Grenfell Tower Fire: Kensington And Chelsea Council Sidelined After Relief Effort 'Not Good Enough'

  18-06-2017 21:20
  
  Kensington and Chelsea council has been sidelined in leading the response to the Grenfell Tower fire amid criticism it was failing the survivors of the disaster.
  Just hours after the leader of the Conservative-controlled authority toured TV and radio studios to defend the “effective” response, it was announced the new Grenfell Fire Response Team had been set up.
  The team now leading efforts to re-house and provide support to victims is a coalition of central government, the British
  
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• Council sidelined in Grenfell Tower response as leader refuses to quit

  18-06-2017 21:13
  
  Responsibility for taking care of survivors transferred to new response team after criticism of Kensington and ChelseaKensington and Chelsea council has been relieved of responsibility for taking care of the survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster. The work is being handed over to a new Grenfell fire response team, made up of representatives from central government, the British Red Cross, the Metropolitan police, London-wide local and regional government and the London fire brigade. The move co
  
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• Britain is leaving the EU – just as Europe is on the up | Natalie Nougayrède

  18-06-2017 20:52
  
  Merkel and Macron are planning for a ‘golden decade’ and won’t let Brexit negotiations derail themThat Helmut Kohl, the man who oversaw the reunification of Germany and was for so long a giant on the European stage, should die on the eve of negotiations leading to Britain’s withdrawal from the EU seems symbolic. The former German chancellor made the best of the extraordinary circumstances and public mood that followed the collapse of communism and the opening up of easter
  
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• A democratic Brexit can only be achieved with cross-party consensus | Letters

  18-06-2017 20:37
  
  Readers Dick Taverne, Keith Richards, Paul Daly, Alexandra Runswick and Molly Scott Cato debate the options for Britain’s relationship with the European UnionThe favourite solution for a soft Brexit is now apparently the Norwegian model. But, as Donald Tusk told us, there will in the end be only two real choices: a hard Brexit or remain. Ian Rutledge (Letters, 14 June) reminds us that the Norwegian option will not satisfy the concerns of those who voted leave. It means accepting the free m
  
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• Martin Rowson: the Brexit negotiations begin – cartoon

  18-06-2017 20:25
  
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• Sadiq Khan leads mourners at St Clements church service

  18-06-2017 20:05
  
  After days as a makeshift warehouse for the Grenfell Tower relief effort, worshippers returned to church for Father Robert Thompson’s sermon For days it has been a makeshift warehouse for the relief effort, a place of shelter for the traumatised, destitute and grieving and a focal point for visiting dignitaries and politicians. On Sunday, in the forbidding shadow of Grenfell Tower, the church of St Clements and St James became a place of worship once more.Local residents and people from el
  
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• Philip Hammond pushes to put business at heart of Brexit

  18-06-2017 20:03
  UK will leave single market but on ‘a slope not a cliff edge’, says chancellor
  
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• Grenfell Tower Residents To Be Paid £5,500 This Week After Homes Destroyed

  18-06-2017 19:47
  
  Residents whose homes were destroyed in the Grenfell Tower fire will receive a Government down-payment of at least £5,500 from Monday, Downing Street has announced. 
  The money comes from the £5 million government emergency fund previously announced, and support workers will help those who need it access it.
  No 10 said the £500 cash payment is already being handed out and further payments will be available tomorrow from the Westway Centre and the nearby post office in Porto
  
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• Kensington council sidelined after faltering Grenfell relief effort

  18-06-2017 19:37
  Chief executives from across London authorities to lead operations
  
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• Jo Swinson rules out bid for Liberal Democrat leadership

  18-06-2017 19:34
  
  East Dunbartonshire MP was favourite to succeed Tim Farron but says she will fight for Lib Dem deputy leadership insteadJo Swinson, the former equalities minister and previously the bookmakers’ favourite for the Liberal Democrat leadership contest, has announced that she will not be a candidate in the election to replace Tim Farron.Instead Swinson will run for the party’s deputy leadership, she announced in a blog post for Lib Dem Voice. Continue reading...
  
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• Exclusive: Priti Patel insists UK's aid influence is 'massive'

  18-06-2017 19:22
  
  Development secretary says she’s fed up with the myth she sits there ‘writing cheques for North Korea’ and announces aid packages for Somalia and EthiopiaBritain’s foreign aid minister, Priti Patel, has told the Guardian she is fed up with the myth that all she does is sit at her desk “writing cheques to North Korea”, in her most robust response yet to critics of the foreign aid budget.On a surprise visit to drought-stricken east Africa on Saturday, Patel, the
  
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• Jo Swinson Will Not Stand As Lib Dem Leader, Even Though Most Men Would 'In A Shot'

  18-06-2017 19:18
  
  Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson will not stand as leader of the party after Tim Farron resigned, even though she thinks most men in her position would “in a shot”.
  Swinson, who was equalities minister in the coalition with the Tories and was re-elected as an MP in the recent election, was seen as one of the frontrunners to take the helm along with ex-ministers Vince Cable, Ed Davey and Norman Lamb.
  Swinson said being leader of a political party “should not be done simply to ach
  
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• Theresa May: safe for now, but credibility damaged beyond repair

  18-06-2017 19:12
  
  There are stories of an imminent leadership challenge, but senior Tories have dismissed the notion, and there is no obvious successorTheresa May will face parliament this week reasonably confident that speculation about an imminent leadership challenge remains unfounded, but knowing that her long-term credibility with her party has been damaged beyond repair.The concept of a “worst week ever” is something of a cliche for political leaders, but few have seen their stock plummet so qui
  
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• Pain without gain: the truth about austerity | Phillip Inman

  18-06-2017 18:54
  
  The Conservative project has left productivity and prosperity in tatters while plunging us into ever more debtThere are few people in the developed world who still cling to the maxim that “home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as it is founded on borrowing and debt”.
  These days we can’t afford to take the same view as Helmer, the husband in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, one of literature’s most cautious budgeters.Continue reading...
  
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• May faces critical week as doubts about her future grow

  18-06-2017 18:42
  PM’s immediate prospects may hang on DUP deal and Queen’s Speech performance
  
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• UK business groups plead for economy to be put first in Brexit talks

  18-06-2017 18:38
  
  Prioritise early agreement on rights of EU and UK citizens, and transition period preserving access to single market, Theresa May toldBritain’s biggest business groups have made a joint plea to the government to put the economy first in Brexit talks and to secure a transitional deal that preserves access to the European single market.The five lobby groups, including the British Chambers of Commerce and the CBI, have also called on ministers to prioritise an early deal on guarantees for EU
  
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• Have the Tories learned nothing about compassion? | Matthew d’Ancona

  18-06-2017 18:27
  
  The response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy represents a far more serious challenge to the party than the election resultPhilip Hammond’s television appearances on Sunday reminded me of Nigel Lawson’s deadly critique of Margaret Thatcher in a landmark interview with Brian Walden in 1989. The difference is that this chancellor is still in post. But his stiletto blade was no less sharp.Theresa May’s supporters had feared that Hammond would subvert the prime minister’s positi
  
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• Disagreement is the essence of liberalism

  18-06-2017 18:25
  Religious or not, politicians must accept those who think differently
  
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• Hammond looks to ease austerity after ‘hearing the message’

  18-06-2017 18:07
  Chancellor says he has flexibility but UK must still live within its means
  
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• Brexit talks begin: the key negotiators

  18-06-2017 18:01
  A handful of officials will spearhead the unwinding of UK membership
  
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• Brexit talks: what to expect on day one

  18-06-2017 18:00
  Start of negotiations to focus on building trust rather than engaging on detail
  
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• Philip Hammond damns the Maybot with faint praise

  18-06-2017 17:18
  
  The chancellor didn’t skewer the PM with the reckless abandon of his predecessor, but he was equally devastatingPhilip Hammond blinked uneasily. He doesn’t cope well with daylight at the best of times, and certainly not after a prolonged period of darkness. But with the empathy update of the Maybot still experiencing teething problems – her handlers are still trying to work out if she was decommissioned entirely – someone from the Conservative front bench had to be sent o
  
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• Philip Hammond hints government will ease up on austerity

  18-06-2017 16:49
  
  Chancellor says Tories ‘not deaf’ to election result, and left open possibility of raising taxes to fund more generous spendingThe chancellor, Philip Hammond, hinted on Sunday that the government would ease up on its austerity programme, saying the Conservatives were “not deaf” to the message delivered by the election result.In interviews in which he also criticised Theresa May’s team for sidelining him during the election campaign, Hammond said that he accepted tha
  
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• There is scant chance Theresa May will go soft on Brexit

  18-06-2017 16:46
  The UK prime minister’s stance has not budged since the election, writes Sebastian Payne
  
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• Sunday Shows Round-Up: Grenfell Tower, Brexit And 'Small Brained' Tories

  18-06-2017 16:33
  
  The Andrew Marr Show
  The Grenfell Tower tragedy and the start of the Brexit negotiations dominated the Sunday Shows. Up first on Marr was Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer.
  After trying to find some difference between Labour and the Tories’ policies on Brexit, Marr hit gold when Sir Keir said he wanted to see staying in the customs union kept on the negotiation table.Do Labour want Britain to stay in the single market after Brexit? #marr pic.twitter.com/RyeTp4XfdE&mda
  
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• The Grenfell protesters are right. Red tape saves lives | Chi Onwurah

  18-06-2017 15:02
  
  Activism following events such as the Grenfell fire is not deplorable, as the Telegraph suggests, but essential. Historically, political response to needless death has advanced societySince the Grenfell Tower fire, I have gone to bed and woken up thinking about the building, the people who lived in it, why and how so many died. On Saturday morning, I woke up to a headline in the Telegraph, claiming that the inferno was being “hijacked” by political activists. And it made me stop thin
  
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• Business bodies come together in call for softer Brexit

  18-06-2017 14:29 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Five major business bodies send a Brexit deal wish-list to Business Secretary Greg Clark.
  
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• Grenfell Tower Cladding 'Was Banned In UK', Chancellor Philip Hammond Tells Andrew Marr

  18-06-2017 14:28
  
  The cladding used on Grenfell Tower was banned in the UK, Philip Hammond has said.
  The external material used on the 24-storey building has been widely blamed for helping to fuel the fire which engulfed the tower shortly after 1am on Wednesday.
  Speculation is mounting over how such “flammable cladding” could have been used on the Lancaster West Estate building.
  The Chancellor revealed on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “My understanding is that the cladding in question, this
  
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• Philip Hammond says Britain will leave Europe’s single market

  18-06-2017 13:59
  Treasury wants significant transition to allow business to adapt to life outside EU
  
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• Labour says emergency house seizure laws could ease Grenfell Tower crisis

  18-06-2017 13:37
  
  John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn say government should consider pushing through legislation to allow requisition of propertiesGrenfell Tower fire – latest updatesLabour has urged the government to consider emergency legislation to ensure property can be requisitioned to house the families made homeless by the Grenfell Tower fire.John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said councils already had the power to requisition property, using compulsory purchase orders, to find places for people to
  
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• Diane Abbott returns to Labour front bench after bout of ill-health

  18-06-2017 13:36
  
  Shadow home secretary stepped down temporarily late in election campaign after her type 2 diabetes became ‘out of control’Diane Abbott has returned to her role on the Labour front bench after temporarily stepping down from her position before the general election because of ill health.
  Jeremy Corbyn confirmed that Abbott, one of his closest allies, had returned as shadow home secretary following her brief replacement by the former shadow Home Office minister Lyn Brown in the final da
  
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• The onus is on business to stand up for wealth creation

  18-06-2017 13:14
  Political parties used to make the case for enterprise. How long ago that feels
  
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• Grenfell Tower Survivors Getting Just £10 From Local Council, Reveals Volunteer

  18-06-2017 12:14
  
  Survivors of the Grenfell fire are being given just £10 by authorities despite more than £3million being donated to relief funds, according to a volunteer.
  Nisha Parti, a film producer who has been helping organise help for victims of the fire in Kensington, revealed the local council is giving the measly sum to survivors when they are checked in to hotels.
  That is despite charitable donations exceeding £3million, and the Prime Minister pledging £5million through an emerg
  
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• Grenfell Tower fire: Government staff sent in to Kensington and Chelsea Council

  18-06-2017 11:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The move follows criticism of the local council's response to the Grenfell Tower fire, in which at least 58 people are believed to have died.
  
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• How the electoral map of Britain has changed

  18-06-2017 11:02
  Regional differences in vote share add another aspect to the election results
  
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• Michael Gove and the DUP getting into bed? Now that’s sordid | Stewart Lee

  18-06-2017 11:00
  
  The potential alliance between the Tories and the reactionary Northern Irish party shows how deeply this country is in the mireWith counterintuitive brilliance, the Conservatives have assembled a cabinet full of the same ashen-faced misfits voters already rejected. They have wrecked a failing pub in an insurance flood and rebuilt it, not as flats or a leisure centre, but as an identical failing pub.Johnson, Hunt and Gove. It’s as if DC Comics, having mislaid Batman, Superman and Wonder Wom
  
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• Labour party still sits precariously despite election gains

  18-06-2017 10:57
  Next election will be fought in marginals hanging by just tens and hundreds of votes
  
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• Brexit: 2018 Queen's Speech cancelled by government

  18-06-2017 09:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The government says the unusual move will give MPs more time for the "substantial" Brexit legislation.
  
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• Jared O’Mara, the pub-owning first-time MP who won Nick Clegg’s seat

  18-06-2017 09:00
  
  O’Mara’s defeat of Nick Clegg was among the biggest shocks of the election. Here, Sheffield Hallam’s first Labour MP, a local bar owner who has cerebral palsy, talks about his historic winOn the night of the election, Jared O’Mara, the Labour candidate for Sheffield Hallam, arrived at the count at 1.30am. Contrary to popular belief, he was not wearing a suit bought just moments before from Tesco, but a pair of his own jeans and a blazer on loan from his father. Hallam, af
  
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• What the sale of the Times to Murdoch can teach us today

  18-06-2017 08:00
  
  The story of how Roy Thomson came to lose the Times is an instructive tale about the formation of the media landscape to this general electionIn a curious way, it’s events almost four decades old that have huge relevance now as we snap and snarl over the media lessons of this election. Events recorded in the obit columns rather than on any front page.Sir Gordon Brunton, dead at 95, was consigliere to Roy Thomson as the genial Canadian bought the Times and Sunday Times. But, as Brunton&rsqu
  
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• Did you hear the one about the inequality and the thinktank?

  18-06-2017 08:00
  
  The Resolution Foundation’s forthcoming research into the socioeconomics of Britain is, unfortunately, likely to be no laughing matterThere’s a joke, beloved of American economists, that has a chief executive, a member of the conservative Tea Party movement and public-sector employee sitting at a table eyeing a plate of 12 biscuits.The chief exec grabs 11 of them, before turning to the Tea Party member and warning: “You better watch him. He wants your cookie.” Contin
  
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• Brexiters have voted for a poverty even worse than austerity

  18-06-2017 08:00
  
  With living standards already stagnating or declining, the remorseless reaction of the international markets to the referendum vote is starting to make itself feltWhen I suggested before the election that an ideal outcome would be a hung parliament and a coalition to think again on Brexit, I was certainly not thinking of the DUP. But, as Harold Macmillan once said: “Here we are, and the question is: where do we go from here?”It seems to be generally agreed that the election result bo
  
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• Brexit talks, Paris Air Show

  18-06-2017 07:01
  
  Daniel Garrahan previews some of the big stories in the week ahead
  
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• Big business leaders press Theresa May to rethink hard Brexit

  18-06-2017 05:48
  
  Senior figures from across industry say PM did not secure mandate in election to leave the single marketSenior business figures have heaped further pressure on Theresa May to change course for a softer Brexit in the wake of the election, amid fresh warnings of the impact of immigration controls and leaving the single market.Stuart Rose, the Tory peer and chairman of online grocer Ocado, who backed Remain, said the election had been a “proxy re-referendum” against hard Brexit. Karan B
  
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• Thousands flock to Great Get Together events celebrating life of Jo Cox

  18-06-2017 01:11
  
  Anniversary of Labour MP’s murder marked with street parties, picnics and gatherings in churches, mosques and synagoguesOn a hot summer day, we can usually be relied upon to moan about the weather. Yet as splashes of sunshine turned into a minor heatwave yesterday, there were few grumbles from the thousands, perhaps even millions, of people who turned out to celebrate togetherness in memory of the late MP Jo Cox.People gathered in parks for fun days and picnics, shared a drink and a chat o
  
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• Labour did well, but it still has a long way to go | David Blunkett

  18-06-2017 01:05
  
  Supporters must not forget that its general election success was not a victoryEight weeks ago in this newspaper, I laid out an argument as to why those who were sceptical about Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership should pull together and support Labour candidates across the country.Like so many others, I thought we were in for a heavy defeat and that unity was the only way to save the Labour party from a catastrophic wipeout. I was wrong. Continue reading...
  
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• Grenfell Tower: a tragedy waiting to happen? – cartoon

  18-06-2017 01:05
  
  David Simonds on the terrible Kensington fire Continue reading...
  
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• Fears grow for reciprocal rights of EU citizens and Britons abroad

  18-06-2017 00:19
  
  On eve of Brexit talks, Brussels officials suspect that Theresa May’s ‘generous offer’ will fall shortTheresa May’s promised “generous offer” on EU citizens’ rights at the start of the Brexit talks this week will fall short of protection of the status quo, meaning a difficult start to the negotiations, officials in Brussels fear.The British government is yet to provide any documents relating to its proposal regarding the 3.1 million EU citizens livi
  
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