Political news

• Jeremy Corbyn Demands Theresa May Put An End To Medical Tests For Trans People

  18-07-2017 23:41
  
  Theresa May is under pressure to change equality law so trans people are not forced to undergo medical tests to prove their gender identity. 
  Jeremy Corbyn said the Prime Minister could offer the DUP - who have failed to back same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland - a free vote on the legislation to get it through Parliament.
  He also called on her Government to offer a formal apology to men with historical gay sex convictions - going further than the posthumous pardon they were granted in Ja
  
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• BBC admits only one-third of its stars are women

  18-07-2017 23:13 via ft.com
  Broadcaster reveals gender gap as it prepares to publish salaries of top presenters
  
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• Divisions exposed over £66bn Brexit divorce bill

  18-07-2017 23:04
  
  Second day of talks in Brussels sees British side ask detailed questions on how to pay for unwinding 44 years of EU membershipDivisions over the UK’s Brexit divorce bill were laid bare on Tuesday as British negotiators pushed back against a mooted €75bn (£66bn) Brexit charge-sheet.On the second day of detailed Brexit negotiations, the British team peppered the Brussels side with questions over how to pay for unwinding 44 years of the UK’s European Union membership.Continue
  
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• Theresa May sacking ministers 'would get MPs' support'

  18-07-2017 23:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A senior backbencher backs the PM as she tries to restore discipline to her cabinet after leaks.
  
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• Home Office volunteers no data on EU migrants in work

  18-07-2017 22:53
  
  Lady Williams refused to say if government made use of EU rules that allow expulsion of European workers if not working or seeking workA Home Office minister has refused to say whether the British government has ever made use of EU-wide immigration rules that allow people to be expelled from a country if they are not working or actively seeking employment.
  Lady Susan Williams admitted that the UK’s interpretation of the European directive governing the free movement of workers was “m
  
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• Questions loom for ex-HS2 chief on redundancy payouts

  18-07-2017 22:30 via ft.com
  Simon Kirby faces scrutiny over £1.76m ‘enhancements’ as NAO reveals figures
  
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• Former HS2 chief faces questions over redundancy payouts

  18-07-2017 22:30 via ft.com
  Simon Kirby was at helm when publicly funded regime was proposed that cost £1.76m
  
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• Steve Bell on infighting in the Conservative party – cartoon

  18-07-2017 21:49
  
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• Corbyn Boost As Labour Members Given More Control Of Parliamentary Candidate Selections

  18-07-2017 21:37
  
  Jeremy Corbyn’s drive to get more Labour members involved in the selection of Parliamentary candidates has been given a major boost by the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC).
  At its meeting on Tuesday, the NEC voted for a new system of local selection panels designed to give more of a say to the rank and file in key seats and to curb centralized control by the party’s HQ and regions, HuffPost UK has learned.
  Under the new rules, all party members will be allowed
  
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• In David Davis, Britain has put a schoolboy in charge of the moon landings | Rafael Behr

  18-07-2017 21:32
  
  Not all the early signs point to the Brexit secretary being a reckless bluffer who is wildly out of his depth. But most of them do• Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnistOne definition of an ideologue is a person who responds to the collision of opinion with reality by insisting that reality must yield.There are times when stubbornness is admirable, when formidable obstacles must be overcome by transcendent principle. Without that idea, Mahatma Gandhi would have bowed to British colonial rule.
  
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• The Guardian view on England’s prisons: a national humiliation | Editorial

  18-07-2017 21:14
  
  Not one of England’s young offenders institutions is safe. Prison officers are routinely assaulted. Inmates are self-harming and committing suicideNelson Mandela once observed: “No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.” Most of us will never find out what life is like in prison, but the official version is that conditions behind bars in England and Wales are grim and getting worse. There have been, says the prison inspectorate, startling increases in vio
  
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• Tom Watson paves way for Jeremy Corbyn to push Labour reforms

  18-07-2017 21:00
  
  Deputy leader stays away from national executive committee as party seeks to ease divisions after better-than-expected election performanceLabour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, stayed away from a crucial meeting of the party’s ruling body in a show of deference to Jeremy Corbyn, privately telling the Labour leader that he would no longer stand in the way of party reform.Watson is understood to believe that the general election result, in which Labour outperformed expectations, had give
  
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• 'City will have to launch Brexit plans if there is no transitional deal'

  18-07-2017 20:56
  
  FCA chief warns that firms will have to take action at end of year, as Wall Street bank Citi is tipped to announce Frankfurt moveMajor City firms will start implementing their Brexit contingency plans at the end of the year unless there is an agreement about the UK’s transition terms for exit from the EU, according to the City regulator.Financial Conduct Authority chief executive Andrew Bailey said City firms were getting near to the point where they would have to take steps to move staff
  
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• Theresa May And Her Cabinet Smile For Official Photo As Civil War Rages

  18-07-2017 20:38
  
  Theresa May has posed for an official photo with her new Cabinet for the first time since the election, after she urged them to be united and stop sniping at each other in the press.
  The infighting among the Tories has worsened since they lost their majority in the June snap election, culminating in a series of attacks on ministers seen to be candidates to replace the fatally weakened May.
  Things have got so bad that MP Charles Walker, vice-chair of backbenchers’ body The 1922 Committee, s
  
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• How to beat the ticking Brexit clock: let British business leaders do the talking | Miriam González Durántez

  18-07-2017 20:08
  
  The Legatum Institute, a global thinktank, is steering the UK in its negotiations. It seems to have precious little experience of dealing with the EU - so much for taking back control• Miriam González Durántez is a former EU trade negotiatorThe Brexit secretary, David Davis, last week convened 33 UK business leaders to Chevening: a place I know well, as it was the grace-and-favour house that my husband, Nick Clegg, used when he was deputy prime minister. The setting was partic
  
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• Where the Conservatives should look for inspiration | Letters

  18-07-2017 19:42
  
  The German version of conservatism provides a model, says John Veit-Wilson; while Derrick Joad suggests Michael Oakeshott should be essential readingKate Maltby’s analysis of the Conservative party’s disarray (My party has gambled away its reputation, 17 July) fails to see that its neoliberals are the equivalent of what the Trotskyists were in the Labour party of the past. Neoliberals are an entryist group standing for a body of economists’ ideas that can’t be implem
  
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• The case for (and against) moving parliament out of London | Letters

  18-07-2017 19:42
  
  Readers including Lord Greaves and Baroness Stowell agree with Simon Jenkins that moving parliament out of the capital is well worth considering, though David Lowry sounds a note of cautionAll Simon Jenkins’ arguments for moving parliament – and power – to the north of England are spot on (A parliament that listens has to get out of London, 17 July). But for just five years? That will really make no difference to what he calls the “greatest handicap on the political
  
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• A dip in UK inflation calls for caution on rates

  18-07-2017 19:14 via ft.com
  It is hard to imagine businesses picking up the slack left by consumers
  
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• Female MPs urge May to review Brexit team's gender balance

  18-07-2017 19:00
  
  Brexit will affect whole population yet there is only one woman in the core negotiating team, Labour MPs sayTheresa May has been urged to review the gender balance of the government’s EU negotiating team in a letter signed by 56 female Labour MPs who say: “Brexit is now becoming just another job for the boys.”The signatories – including Seema Malhotra, Yvette Cooper, Harriet Harman and Labour’s women and equalities minister, Sarah Champion – argue that leaving
  
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• Theresa May told to sack disloyal ministers by backbench MPs

  18-07-2017 18:57
  
  Backing comes after prime minister reads riot act to senior ministers following series of leaks aimed at discrediting Philip HammondTheresa May should sack any disloyal ministers found to have leaked private details from cabinet or plotted against her leadership, the powerful 1922 Committee of backbenchers has said.Three senior members of the group, which represents rank and file MPs, said May had their full support to reestablish discipline in her top team and rejected the idea of a leadership
  
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• Freewheelin’ Phil faces down the real opposition – his own party | John Crace

  18-07-2017 18:52
  
  The government may be on its last legs, but after seeing off his cabinet rivals the chancellor has never felt better Freewheelin’ Phil couldn’t keep the smile off his face at Treasury questions. With his cabinet rivals having tried and failed to get rid of him over the weekend in a series of briefings and counter-briefings, he was now pretty much untouchable. The Maybot may still have been nominally in charge, but she was prime minister in name only. She had no real power. Certainly
  
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• Ukip Frontrunner Will Not Make Anti-Islam Candidate His Deputy Should He Win Leadership

  18-07-2017 18:40
  
  The frontrunner in the Ukip leadership race will not make anti-Islam candidate Anne Marie Waters his deputy should he win the contest, HuffPost UK has been told.
  London Assembly member Peter Whittle was reported to be considering the appointment to ensure he had the support of a wave of new members inspired to join the party by Waters anti-Islam rhetoric.
  HuffPost UK revealed that 18 of Ukip’s 20 MEPs are prepared to quit the party should Waters win the leadership or become deputy, and me
  
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• Tories refuse to deny Rupert Murdoch role in Michael Gove's cabinet return

  18-07-2017 18:36
  
  Labour pressed Theresa May about ‘deeply worrying allegation’ that media mogul influenced decision to make Gove environment secretaryThe government has refused to deny that Rupert Murdoch asked Theresa May to reappoint Michael Gove to the cabinet or face a bad press in his newspaper titles, insisting that cabinet roles are selected on “merit and experience”. Related: Gove, Johnson and Cameron: the boys are back in town | Marina HydeContinue reading...
  
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• Watchdog to draw on police evidence in HBOS probes

  18-07-2017 18:07 via ft.com
  Financial Conduct Authority says it will use information obtained in fraud inquiry
  
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• Theresa May given green light by Tory MPs to sack disloyal cabinet ministers - Politics live

  18-07-2017 17:46
  
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happenLunchtime summaryAfternoon summary 4.46pm BST 4.38pm BST Continue reading...
  
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• Delivery Drivers Too Scared To Work After Dark Because Of Acid Attacks

  18-07-2017 16:57
  
  Delivery drivers are too scared to work after dark because of the rise in acid attacks, HuffPost UK was told today as hundreds of moped riders descended on Parliament.
  The drivers spoke of being held at knife point by armed gangs as they called on the Government to do more to make the streets safe.
  Figures obtained by the BBC revealed acid attacks had increased 175% between 2012 and 2017 - with 208 occurring in London alone last year.Last Thursday, five people were sprayed with acid in a wave o
  
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• MPs To Hold Emergency Debate On Government Plans To Increase Tuition Fees Following Demands By Labour

  18-07-2017 16:21
  
  MPs will debate Tory plans to increase tuition fees in an emergency three-hour session tomorrow following demands from Labour. 
  Speaker John Bercow agreed to shadow education secretary Angela Rayner’s call, saying the “important” issue deserved “urgent consideration”. 
  In April, universities were given permission to increase tuition fees year-on-year in line with inflation until 2020, with students set to be charged £9,250 from September. 
  The H
  
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• What the Tories don’t understand about Momentum | Erika Uyterhoeven

  18-07-2017 16:20
  
  We have shown how a combination of technology and passion can have a game-changing influence on elections. It’s not something the Tories will replicate easily• Erika Uyterhoeven is the digital officer for Momentum and a former Bernie Sanders organiserIt is almost a platitude to say that the innovative use of new technology is central to 21st-century political campaigning. Indeed, the immense power of digital media (social and traditional), more immediate forms of communication and the
  
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• Nurses And Teachers Should Automatically Get Pay Rises Just Like MPs Do, Ministers Told

  18-07-2017 15:52
  
  Public sector workers should be given pay rises in the same way that MPs do, ministers have been told.
  Labour has demanded the government lift its 1% cap on wages and backbencher Diana Johnson today said the government should automatically accept the recommendation of public sector pay review bodies.
  The call came as Chief secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss was asked to tell Philip Hammond to apologise for reportedly claiming workers in the public sector were “overpaid”.type=type=R
  
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• Donald Trump's Latest Obamacare Disaster Explained For Brits

  18-07-2017 15:04
  
  Donald Trump has been dealt another major blow in his much-vaunted promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, a central pledge of his election campaign.
  To the British observer accustomed to the NHS, the notion of replacing laws that help to insure the poor by taxing the better off appears at first to be a callous example of rich Republicans looking after their rich friends.
  But it’s not quite that simple.
  What Is Obamacare?
  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obama
  
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• Students 'Voting Twice' In General Election 'Unlikely To Have Impacted Outcome'

  18-07-2017 15:00
  
  An election analyst has cast doubt over claims that some Tory politicians could have lost their seats in the General Election due to double-voting by students. 
  Last night, the Electoral Commission highlighted “troubling” reports that a number of people voted twice in the election, saying evidence had emerged of people admitting to the offence online. 
  More than 1,000 emails were sent to the watchdog by members of the public over the issue, while 38 MPs also complained abou
  
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• The left doesn't have a misogyny problem, men have a misogyny problem

  18-07-2017 14:41
  
  If we really want to tackle online abuse we must look at the roots of it: male aggression
  
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• Surprise drop in UK inflation is good news for consumers | Larry Elliott

  18-07-2017 14:40
  
  Fall means the squeeze on real incomes will be less severe – and removes the threat of an interest rate rise Rising inflation has been one of the big economic stories of the past year. The depreciation of sterling after the EU referendum has made the things Britain imports, such as clothes and food, dearer and the cost of living has risen steadily as a result.The drop in the annual inflation rate to 2.6% in June was a welcome surprise. Two years ago, inflation was zero; in the month of the
  
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• Theresa May calls for unity after battles between ministers

  18-07-2017 14:34 via ft.com
  Rivals jockey for position as Brexit row threatens to consume government
  
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• Preserving peace in Ireland after Brexit

  18-07-2017 14:29 via ft.com
  The Republic and UK’s membership of EU was key to success of truce
  
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• Theresa May Tells Her Cabinet To Stop Brexit In-Fighting And Take Their Jobs 'Seriously'

  18-07-2017 14:06
  
  Theresa May has warned her squabbling Cabinet that they need to end their in-fighting over Brexit and take their jobs “seriously”.
  The Prime Minister told her top ministers “there is a need to show strength and unity as a country - and that starts around the cabinet table”.
  Her opening words at the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday followed days of bitter rows and leaks that saw Chancellor Philip Hammond come under vicious attack from colleagues.
  One minister has even ac
  
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• Philip Hammond Denies Being 'Enfeebled' Following Cabinet Leaks Against Him

  18-07-2017 13:37
  
  Philip Hammond has denied being “enfeebled” by a series of cabinet leaks including the claim he said public sector workers were overpaid.
  The chancellor has blamed the briefings against him on rival ministers opposed to his desire for a so-called soft Brexit.
  One ministerial colleague accused Hammond of trying to “f*** up” the process of leaving the EU.
  Another senior Tory hit back and told HuffPost UK Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are “dangerous and deranged&rdqu
  
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• Wishy-washy and full of fluff – the Taylor review offers little | Jason Moyer-Lee

  18-07-2017 13:27
  
  Workers will see few benefits, thanks to the review’s lack of substance and outright errors. And one of the proposals is potentially disastrous• Jason Moyer-Lee is general secretary of the IWGB unionLast week the Taylor review of modern employment practices released its findings to great fanfare. Intended to address, among other things, the widespread deprivation of employment rights in the gig economy, the review’s recommendations fell far short of expectations.At the Independe
  
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• Dominic Cummings: the ‘career psychopath’ who thinks David Davis is ‘as thick as mince’

  18-07-2017 13:23
  
  The man who helped stab Boris Johnson in the back during his Tory leadership bid is now believed to be helping stab another potential leadership contender in the backName: Dominic Cummings.Age: 45. Continue reading...
  
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• Grenfell Tower To Be Covered Up As Debris Continues To Fall From Charred Block

  18-07-2017 13:21
  
  The burnt-out shell of Grenfell Tower will be covered up in November to protect the people who live nearby from falling debris. 
  North Kensington residents say their children live in fear of the charred tower block which “creaks and groans” late at night. 
  People have been calling for the building to be masked from view since the inferno killed at least 80 people more than a month ago. The Grenfell Response newsletter has now confirmed there will be three stages of the
  
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• Real progress will be when we don't have to celebrate a woman being cast as the Doctor

  18-07-2017 13:12
  
  One woman in fifty years isn't political correctness gone mad, or going too far. It's barely even starting
  
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• Court rules civil service redundancy payment cuts unlawful

  18-07-2017 12:59
  
  Decision on changes to compensation scheme ruling likely to leave government open to legal challenges from public sector workersA controversial cut to redundancy payments for civil servants has been successfully challenged in the high court, leaving the government open to hundreds of claims for compensation.The civil service compensation scheme was slashed by ministers in November, reducing redundancy pay and early access to pensions for thousands of public sector workers. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Dramatic decline’ in English jail conditions alarms watchdog

  18-07-2017 12:53 via ft.com
  Damning report by inspector says there are particular problems in youth prisons
  
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• Now we find out the real cost of austerity – our lives cut short | Owen Jones

  18-07-2017 12:50
  
  Cuts have almost certainly halted a rise in life expectancy. Our social order is bankrupt. We don’t just need a new government, we need a new way to organise society• Owen Jones is a Guardian columnistAn ideologically driven programme of cuts is almost certainly robbing us of life. Consistently rising life expectancy should be something we all take for granted. The UK, after all, is one of the wealthiest societies that has ever existed in human history. There are continuing dramatic i
  
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• Government departments 'failing to monitor' how £12bn foreign aid is spent

  18-07-2017 11:56
  
  Watchdog says departments at risk of ‘rushing’ through aid payments because they lack staff to cope with increase in funds Overseas aid of more than £12bn is not being properly monitored against the government’s goals, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found.Funding is being channelled more widely through Whitehall, but no department is in charge of measuring how well the money is being used, the National Audit Office (NAO) said in a report [pdf] on Tuesday.Continue
  
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• Flawed predictions

  18-07-2017 11:29 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Newsnight's editor assesses why so many people underestimated Labour's vote at the general election.
  
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• Storm Don Is Forming In America And It's Providing A Lot Of Donald Trump Jokes

  18-07-2017 11:02
  
  Americans are currently being warned about the formation of Storm Don in the Atlantic Ocean - but they don’t seem to be taking it too seriously over on Twitter.
  The National Weather Service issued warnings for the tropical storm, which is likely to bring heavy rain and higher gusts of wind, for Grenada as well as a watch for Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Lucia.
  But if the storm’s namesake President Donald Trump is anything to go by, residents don’t seem
  
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• Rudd tells Tory MPs to get on with jobs amid infighting over May

  18-07-2017 10:52
  
  Home secretary insists cabinet is working well amid reports of feuding and letter of no confidence in PMThe home secretary, Amber Rudd, has told her Conservative colleagues to get on with their jobs as the infighting within the party intensified.Tuesday brought more reports of briefing and counter-briefing by cabinet colleagues and news of a letter of no confidence in the prime minister having been drawn up. Continue reading...
  
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• Sean Spicer On Donald Trump Jr's Russia Meeting Contradicts President

  18-07-2017 10:35
  
  Sean Spicer has directly contradicted President Trump by insisting last summer’s meeting between Don Jr and a Russian lawyer was solely about adoption.
  Speaking at an off-camera White House press briefing (the last one to be held on-camera was 29 June), the Press Secretary said: There was nothing as far as we know that would lead anyone to believe that there was anything except for discussion about adoption.Only there is. Quite a lot in fact.
  First of all there’s the email Don J
  
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• Grenfell Protest To Demand Snap Local Election At Kensington Town Hall

  18-07-2017 10:09
  
  Fears are mounting that the first council meeting since the Grenfell Tower disaster could be abandoned because of protests. 
  All members of Kensington and Chelsea Council will meet on Wednesday for the first time since the disaster claimed the lives of more than 80 people.
  But councillors who presided over the blaze and its aftermath will face crowds of protesters calling on them to resign and trigger a snap local election.  
  Councillors had previously tried to ban journalists and the
  
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