Political news

• ‘Status quo’ Brexit transition plan reflects cabinet power grab

  27-07-2017 22:48
  What seemed unacceptable a few weeks ago is looking like government policy
  
  Read more

• Brexit: UK-EU freedom of movement 'to end in March 2019'

  27-07-2017 22:32 via bbc.co.uk
  EU workers who move to the UK will have to register after Brexit, the home secretary says.
  
  Read more

• Philip Hammond seeks ‘off-the-shelf’ Brexit transition

  27-07-2017 22:31
  Chancellor tells business leaders he is aiming for quick agreement
  
  Read more

• Hammond seeks ‘off-the-shelf’ Brexit transition

  27-07-2017 22:31
  Chancellor tells business leaders he is aiming for quick agreement
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Theresa May 2.0 and her cabinet have reset the government

  27-07-2017 22:30
  The UK prime minister has bounced backfrom her election humiltation
  , writes Sebastian Payne
  
  Read more

• Grenfell Tower: Corporate manslaughter considered by police

  27-07-2017 22:12 via bbc.co.uk
  Council chiefs are told police have "reasonable grounds" to suspect the offence may have been committed.
  
  Read more

• Steve Bell on where the UK stands with Brexit – cartoon

  27-07-2017 21:25 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Met says council may have committed Grenfell manslaughter

  27-07-2017 21:02
  Kensington & Chelsea notified police have ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect crime
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Grenfell council ‘may have committed corporate manslaughter’

  27-07-2017 21:02
  Met says it has ‘reasonable grounds’ for charges over tower fire
  
  Read more

• Brexit Briefing: Would EU Eat It?

  27-07-2017 20:27
  
  You can sign up for this briefing by clicking here, and you’ll receive it straight to your inbox every Thursday afternoon.
  If you like what you read, make sure you subscribe to our Commons People podcast here for even more analysis about what goes on in Westminster. 1) The UK Press Totally Embarrassed Liam Fox This Week 
  Liam Fox must have felt like a child being embarrassed by his parents in front of his new cool friends this week.
  There he was in Washington on Mo
  
  Read more

• UK’s most-packed train: 640 seats for 1,366 passengers

  27-07-2017 20:00
  Daily Southern service from East Grinstead to London Bridge claims unwanted title
  
  Read more

• Nearly 1,400 crowd daily on to UK’s most packed train

  27-07-2017 20:00
  East Grinstead to London Bridge service carried almost double available seats
  
  Read more

• Labour demands inquiry into privatisation of NHS-owned recruiter

  27-07-2017 19:45 via theguardian.com
  Party argues NHS Professionals, which helps NHS England avoid gaps in rotas and saves £70m per year, should be kept in public hands Labour is demanding an inquiry into the privatisation of a government-owned NHS recruitment firm that saves hospitals £70m a year.NHS Professionals helps the health service in England tackle its staffing crisis by arranging for doctors and nurses on its books to cover potentially harmful gaps in rotas.Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Grenfell Fire: Police Say There Are Grounds For Corporate Manslaughter Charges Against Council

  27-07-2017 19:40
  
  Police have announced that there are grounds for corporate manslaughter charges over the Grenfell Tower fire.
  Police have written to residents of the tower to say Kensington & Chelsea Borough Council and the tenant management organisation that ran the block on its behalf, “may be guilty” of the offence.
  Eighty people are believed to have died in the blaze on June 14.
  The Metropolitan Police said its conclusion was based an “initial assessment” of all the information i
  
  Read more

• Winds in Hastings favour a Labour victory at next election

  27-07-2017 18:45
  The opposition has the home secretary’s constituency in its sights
  
  Read more

• Meet The Protesters Who Are Spending Their Summer Fighting Fracking

  27-07-2017 18:28
  
  Dozens of anti-fracking protesters are spending their summer blockading sites by chaining themselves to fences, laying in roads and climbing on vehicles. 
  Environmental campaigners, including some local councillors, are targeting several shale gas “exploration” points across Lancashire because they say the government is failing to listen to residents. 
  Activists from the Reclaim The Power lobby group holed up in their cars with concrete tubes on their arms on Thursday
  
  Read more

• Business slams ‘ridiculous’ timing of EU migration report

  27-07-2017 18:18
  Committee due to report back just six months before Britain leaves union
  
  Read more

• Bank of England names Dave Ramsden as new deputy governor

  27-07-2017 18:05
  Chief economic adviser to the Treasury takes charge of markets and banking
  
  Read more

• Defend Europe C-Star Crew Arrested For Alleged People Smuggling

  27-07-2017 17:56
  
  The crew of a boat chartered by a far-right group to monitor people-trafficking in the Mediterranean has been arrested - for people-trafficking.
  The C-Star, hired by the ‘identitarian’ group, Defend Europe, was stopped yesterday in the port of Famagusta, Cyprus, after at least 20 Sri Lankan nationals were found on board.
  Today the ship’s crew and owner, Sven Tomas Egerstrom, appeared in court charged with preparing and circulating false documents.C-Star gemisi kaptan
  
  Read more

• Student immigration data are ‘potentially misleading’

  27-07-2017 17:29
  Watchdog says abuse of visas likely to be lower than previously thought
  
  Read more

• Corbyn wants a hard-right Brexit. Progressives must fight back, not follow | Vince Cable

  27-07-2017 17:25 via theguardian.com
  The Labour leader’s 1970s-style thinking on Europe has no place in today’s politics. Brexit is too important to be dictated by tribalism• Vince Cable is leader of the Liberal DemocratsIt is a paradox not lost on many Labour MPs that while their leader is to the left even of Michael Foot, he has collaborated with the right more than any Labour leader since Ramsay MacDonald. Jeremy Corbyn’s insistence that Brexit means leaving the single market and customs union – unpi
  
  Read more

• Brexit: David Davis plays down trade talks delay claims

  27-07-2017 17:22 via bbc.co.uk
  The Brexit secretary is confident that EU withdrawal negotiations will continue as planned.
  
  Read more

• Donald Trump's Transgender Military Ban Prompts Fierce Backlash

  27-07-2017 16:42
  
  President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will no longer allow transgender people to serve “in any capacity” in the military was met with immediate condemnation and backlash.
  The reaction from military members, the transgender community as well as the wider public has been strong, with protests organised in New York within hours of Trump making the statement on Twitter.Many organisations have been voicing their frustration through emotive tweets, including progressive U
  
  Read more

• Boris Johnson thanks Julie Bishop for compression tights gift – video

  27-07-2017 16:37 via theguardian.com
  UK foreign secretary thanks the Australian foreign minister for giving him some compression tights for his running. Bishop is a keen runner and Johnson points out that the tights are Hugh Jackman’s preferred brandBoris Johnson: Trump is harder on Russia than ObamaContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Labour talks about student debt - but crisis debt is what really counts

  27-07-2017 16:33
  
  It's not just student debt that needs writing off. People in debt because of welfare cuts and austerity need their debts written off too.
  
  Read more

• Sajid Javid Tells Councils They Must Foot The Bill For Fire Safety Work On Tower Blocks

  27-07-2017 15:48
  
  Councils and housing associations will have to stump up the cash to fund fire safety work on tower blocks, Sajid Javid confirmed today as he wrote to authorities across the UK.
  In a letter sent to council and housing association chiefs across the country, the Local Government Secretary said the individual authorities must pay for safety work, and should do so out of their existing funds.
  Javid goes on to say the Department for Communities and Local Government would “discuss” concern
  
  Read more

• Decriminalisation Of Homosexuality: Poll Finds Nearly Half Of Tory Voters Think Gay Sex Is Unnatural

  27-07-2017 15:46
  
  Almost half of Tory voters still believe gay sex is “unnatural” 50 years after homosexuality was decriminalised, a new poll has claimed. 
  According to the YouGov survey, 49% of people who backed the Conservative Party in the General Election do not believe gay sex is natural, compared to 23% of Labour voters and 19% of Lib Dem supporters. 
  The research comes on the same day that Theresa May admitted the Conservatives had been “wrong” about LGBT+ issues in the p
  
  Read more

• Boris Johnson: Trump is harder on Russia than Obama

  27-07-2017 14:56 via theguardian.com
  At event in Sydney, UK foreign secretary backs US president’s handling of ‘Russia problem’ and seeks to allay Brexit fearsBoris Johnson, the British foreign secretary, has defended Donald Trump’s handling of relations with Russia, saying the US president has taken a more uncompromising approach towards the Kremlin than Barack Obama.Johnson, speaking in Australia on Thursday, voiced strong support for the way Trump had handled what he termed “the Russia problem&rdquo
  
  Read more

• Anthony Scaramucci Makes Extraordinary Phone Call To CNN To Rant About White House Leakers

  27-07-2017 14:52
  
  Donald Trump’s new communications director has escalated his bizarre media interactions by phoning CNN to attack his colleagues, live on air, for leaking to the press.
  The day after his extraordinary interview on Newsnight, Anthony Scaramucci decided to pick up the phone and tell the world that Trump’s staff includes people who think it is “their job to save America from this president”.Scaramucci: I don't like the activity that's going on in the WH. I don't like what the
  
  Read more

• Ukip leadership hopeful gets help with campaign from ex-BNP member

  27-07-2017 14:24 via theguardian.com
  Jack Buckby is barred from joining Ukip but has been assisting anti-Islam candidate Anne Marie WatersOne of the frontrunners for the Ukip leadership is being assisted in her campaign by a far-right former BNP member.Jack Buckby previously stood for parliament for another extremist group that campaigns openly against Islam. As a former BNP member, he is barred from joining Ukip, but has been helping the campaign of Anne Marie Waters, who is standing for the latter’s leadership on a predomin
  
  Read more

• Early talks on post-Brexit trade deal 'increasingly unlikely'

  27-07-2017 14:11 via theguardian.com
  Michel Barnier, EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, says lack of clarity from Britain means autumn trade talks are unlikely to happenThe Brexit negotiations are faltering and the UK government’s hopes of opening talks on a future trade deal with the EU this autumn look increasingly likely to be dashed, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has reported back to the bloc’s member states.In the starkest sign yet of the parlous state of the negotiations, Barnier told ambassado
  
  Read more

• Amber Rudd on immigration policy 'implementation phase'

  27-07-2017 14:08 via bbc.co.uk
  Amber Rudd says there will be an "implementation phase" for new migration policy post-Brexit.
  
  Read more

• The banks reveal their hands on coping with Brexit

  27-07-2017 13:46
  Public declarations have started on where to move future pan-EU business
  
  Read more

• Patrick O'Flynn quits UKIP front bench over party's direction

  27-07-2017 13:35 via bbc.co.uk
  A leading UKIP member resigns from the party's front bench over concerns about its direction.
  
  Read more

• EU nationals can register to enter UK during Brexit transition

  27-07-2017 13:07 via theguardian.com
  Amber Rudd reassures businesses after junior minister’s statement that freedom of movement will end in 2019 EU nationals will still be able to come to the UK during a transitional period after Brexit but will have to go through a “registration and documentation” process, Amber Rudd has said.
  The home secretary reassured businesses that there will be “no cliff-edge” in the migration system when the UK officially leaves, after Brandon Lewis, her junior minister, said
  
  Read more

• UK businesses criticise ‘ridiculous’ timing of EU migration report

  27-07-2017 12:57
  Migration Advisory Committee is not due to report back until September 2018
  
  Read more

• Labour softens stance on staying in single market after Brexit

  27-07-2017 12:49 via theguardian.com
  Keir Starmer and John McDonnell say they want to keep options open after Jeremy Corbyn seemed to rule out membershipTwo senior Labour figures, Keir Starmer and John McDonnell, have indicated they want to keep open the options of the UK staying in the single market and customs union in comments that appear to soften the party’s stance on Brexit.Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, stressed that the party’s objective was tariff-free access to the single market and no new red tape at t
  
  Read more

• We need to talk about the UK’s aid budget

  27-07-2017 12:20
  
  Supporters of Britain's foreign aid spending must critique it themselves to protect it from right-wing attacks
  
  Read more

• Decriminalisation Of Homosexuality: 50 Years After 1967 Act, Here Are 5 Obstacles To Equality That Persist

  27-07-2017 12:03
  
  The 1967 Sexual Offences Act decriminalised sexual acts between men in private. It received Royal Assent 50 years ago today. 
  The comments made during the parliamentary debate on the 1967 act before shows how far attitudes towards LGBT people had to come.Even Roy Jenkins, the liberal home secretary lauded for pushing the reform, told parliament homosexuality was a “grave disability” that leaves people carrying “a great weight of loneliness, guilt and shame” and rende
  
  Read more

• Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis Refuses Over Five Times To Say When Tories Will Hit Migration Target

  27-07-2017 11:57
  
  Conservative immigration minister Brandon Lewis today refused over five times to promise the government would meet its migration target by 2022.
  Theresa May’s general election manifesto committed her to reducing annual immigration to below 100,000 people per year.“It is our objective to reduce immigration to sustainable levels, by which we mean annual net migration in the tens of thousands, rather than the hundreds of thousands we have seen over the last two decades.”But quizz
  
  Read more

• Theresa May: Tories have been wrong on gay rights in the past

  27-07-2017 11:22 via theguardian.com
  Prime minister says she is proud of party’s role on gay rights in recent years but understands it may face ‘scepticism’Theresa May has said the Conservative party has been “wrong” on gay rights in the past, although she said she was proud of the role it had played in recent years. The prime minister made the statement in an article for the website PinkNews to mark 50 years since the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• 17 from '17: Paul Williams Thinks Too Much Foreign Aid Cash Is Spent On British Contractors

  27-07-2017 10:58
  
  The 2017 General Election saw 92 MPs elected to the Commons for the very first time. In a series of exclusive interviews, HuffPost UK is speaking to new MPs from the Conservatives, Labour, SNP and Lib Dems. This week, it’s Stockton South’s Paul Williams. 
  MPs are often lambasted for never having had a real job. That is not a criticism anyone can throw at Stockton South’s new Labour MP Paul Williams. 
  He is a practising GP, chief executive of a GP federation
  
  Read more

• UK to sail new aircraft carriers through contested Asian waters

  27-07-2017 10:31
  Deployment aimed at testing China’s claims unlikely to take shape before 2020
  
  Read more

• New UK carriers to sail through disputed Asian seas

  27-07-2017 10:31
  Deployment aimed at testing China unlikely to take place before 2020
  
  Read more

• 'Free movement will end spring 2019'

  27-07-2017 10:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Brandon Lewis clarifies the government's position on freedom of movement
  
  Read more

• Tories 'wrong' on gay rights in past, Theresa May says

  27-07-2017 09:01 via bbc.co.uk
  Theresa May said there would be "justifiable scepticism" about her own position, given her voting record.
  
  Read more

• 'Clueless' Sajid Javid Did Not Know His Minister Had Replied To Councils Asking For Fire Safety Cash

  27-07-2017 08:00
  
  Sajid Javid has been branded “clueless” after yet more evidence emerged of Government incompetence in response to the Grenfell tragedy.
  Earlier this week it was revealed the Local Government Secretary told MPs no councils had asked for extra cash to increase fire safety measures in tower blocks - despite at least ten authorities having made such a request.
  The Sun reported that Housing Minister Alok Sharma - who was sitting next to Javid in the Commons as he gave the incorrect infor
  
  Read more

• Steve Bell’s If ... on the predictions of mystic Vince Cable

  27-07-2017 07:10 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• A Brexit transition is only half an answer

  27-07-2017 06:01
  The mantra that the UK wants a ‘deep and special’ relationship with the EU is empty
  
  Read more

• Scaramucci: '100%' on UK/US trade deal

  27-07-2017 03:23 via bbc.co.uk
  The new White House communications director tells BBC Newsnight that there will "100%" be a trade deal with the UK.
  
  Read more

Follow @political_UKnws on Twitter!