Political news

• Labour Says It Will Take 200 Years To Make Train Stations Disability-Friendly

  04-08-2017 23:01
  
  It would take more than 200 years for all train stations to be made accessible for disabled people, according to new analysis by Labour.
  Official figures show just 493 stations out of 2,557 around the UK - less than 20% - have step-free access to all platforms.
  Despite claims by the government that it is “committed to ensuring that disabled people have equal access to transport services and opportunities to travel”, the number of fully accessible stations has increased by just
  
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• Irish PM: No economic border after Brexit

  04-08-2017 21:22 via bbc.co.uk
  Leo Varadkar calls for "unique solutions" to preserve the relationship between the UK and the EU.
  
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• Charlie Gard Medic Condemns 'Soap Opera' That Led To Great Ormond Street Hospital Abuse

  04-08-2017 21:20
  
  A clinician who treated Charlie Gard has said the baby’s last days were turned into a “soap opera” with him being kept alive for people such as Donald Trump and the Pope.
  Writing anonymously for The Guardian, the medic said they were part of the team of 200 nurses, doctors and consultants who cared for the terminally ill boy in intensive care, the Press Association reports.
  The 11-month-old was at the centre of a legal battle between his parents, who wanted to take their son to
  
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• Martin Rowson on Donald Trump’s Russia links – cartoon

  04-08-2017 19:50
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• Grenfell Tower: local people should be on inquiry panel, bishop says

  04-08-2017 19:36
  Bishop of Kensington says inquiry chair should set up panel to represent local community as consultation period closes
  A panel of people drawn from the local community should be appointed to advise the chair of the Grenfell Tower inquiry, according to the bishop whose diocese covers the building where the deadly inferno took place.The bishop of Kensington said that judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick should establish a panel that would “represent the local community and win their confidence”
  
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• Suicidal Teen Whose Case Prompted Judge Sir James Munby To Warn Of 'Blood On Our Hands', Now Has Care Placement

  04-08-2017 19:10
  
  A suicidal teen, whose lack of care prompted a High Court judge to condemn the shortage of treatment for mentally unwell children, now has a “safe and appropriate” place to be treated.
  Sir James Munby, the president of the court’s family division, warned on Thursday we would have “blood on our hands” if no care could be found for the 17-year-old when she was released from a secure unit.
  He said he felt “shame and embarrassment” that he “can do no m
  
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• NHS finds bed for teenager at risk of suicide

  04-08-2017 18:50
  Girl, 17, to be placed in undisclosed low secure unit after senior judge warned country would have ‘blood on our hands’ if she were not moved for treatment
  The NHS has found a hospital to look after the suicidal 17-year-old girl whose plight led a judge to warn that the country would have “blood on our hands” if a bed could not be located. Dr Mike Prentice, NHS England’s medical director for its north of England region, said: “Following extensive assessments,
  
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• New campaign urges Labour to back free movement

  04-08-2017 18:43 via bbc.co.uk
  Some MPs and union leaders say Labour should support continued free movement after Brexit.
  
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• Irish taoiseach urges Northern Ireland to back staying in single market

  04-08-2017 18:12
  Leo Varadkar tells unionists in Belfast it will be easier to protect union with Britain if UK keeps close relationship with EUIreland’s prime minister has told unionists in Northern Ireland that it will be easier to protect the union they support with Britain if the UK stays in the European single market.The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said that rather than pressing the EU for special status for Northern Ireland post-Brexit, it would be better if the entire UK remained inside a customs union
  
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• UK car industry facing an 'utterly demoralising' Brexit

  04-08-2017 18:01
  Leaving the EU will reverse the progress made in past decades and may wipe out small suppliers, says Britain’s motor societyAs the latest car figures show that uncertainty over Brexit is helping to drag down sales, motor manufacturers fear the industry’s revival over the past couple of decades could be put at risk by Britain’s departure from the European Union.Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), said: “A lot of people have
  
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• Just about managing? For these Tory failures, life is sweet | Marina Hyde

  04-08-2017 17:07
  Underachievers like Nick Timothy and the Camerons may have wreaked havoc, but they’re doing just fine – and want you to read all about itIt feels fitting that Nick Timothy’s big pitch was to the “just about managing”. I am just about managing not to shriek with laughter at news that Theresa May’s recently departed chief of staff is back already, to write a weekly column in the Daily Telegraph and a monthly one in the Sun. I know! What month? February 2035? I t
  
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• Barack Obama's Birthday: 8 Of The Best Donald Trump Burns By White House Photographer Pete Souza

  04-08-2017 16:51
  
  Former President Barack Obama turns 56 today, so people are giving him a lot of birthday love on Twitter.Happy Birthday President Barack Obama !
  We love you, we MISS YOU and we are oh so grateful for everything you've done for us. Keep Smiling ! pic.twitter.com/ahRbFh5v3i— Cassandra Hogan (@Hogan80Hogan) August 4, 2017@BarackObama HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR PRESIDENT!!!! May your daybe filled with joy. We miss ur steady hand and leadership. God Bless You. — Illinois (@zipillinois) August 4, 2
  
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• Making Sense Of The Donald Trump-Russia Mess

  04-08-2017 16:49
  
  The beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency has been clouded by an ever-evolving scandal around potential collusion between his campaign and Russia. All told, there are five investigations into the matter, and from what we can tell publicly, none appears close to reaching a conclusion.But they do appear to be heating up. On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that special counsel Robert Mueller had assembled a grand jury in the Trump-Russia probe, escalating
  
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• UK judges rule DWP wrong to deny appeals over refused benefits

  04-08-2017 15:11
  Department for Work and Pensions unlawfully stopped people going to tribunal to challenge refusals, judges sayThe Department for Work and Pensions has been unlawfully stopping people going to tribunal to appeal against decisions to refuse them benefits, three senior judges have ruled.The upper tribunal found it was wrong for the DWP to refuse claimants the right to appeal if they took more than a month to ask for a review of the benefit decision.Continue reading...
  
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• UK Must Listen To Views Of Irish PM On Brexit, Campaigners Say

  04-08-2017 14:54
  
  The government must sit up and take notice of the Irish prime minister’s wish for the UK to stay in the single market after Brexit, campaigners say.
  In a major speech in Belfast on Friday, taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Britain’s vote to leave the EU represented “the biggest challenge in our generation” and that life in Northern Ireland would be impacted in every way by Brexit.
  “If the UK does not want to stay in the single market, perhaps it could enter into a deep f
  
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• Lord Sugar: Theresa May would be fired on The Apprentice

  04-08-2017 14:32 via bbc.co.uk
  PM's "poor" election performance would have led to her being kicked off The Apprentice, peer says.
  
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• US surgeon may be forced to quit UK because of visa nightmare

  04-08-2017 14:25
  Patrick Thies, his British wife and their three children are living apart because of ‘absolutely extraordinary’ Home Office decisionsAn NHS specialist, his British wife and their three young children have been stranded on opposite sides of the Atlantic because Britain won’t let the couple’s two adopted children into the UK.Patrick Thies, an American orthopaedic surgeon, may now have to give up his job in Birmingham and return to the US despite the NHS spending £20,0
  
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• Week in Review: Everywhere you look the impact of austerity is there to see

  04-08-2017 14:23
  
  Austerity is destroying our public services
  
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• Irish PM calls for EU-UK customs union as clock ticks on border

  04-08-2017 13:45 via ft.com
  Leo Varadkar warns of Brexit dangers on first official visit to Northern Ireland
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Urged By Allies To Commit Labour To Keeping Free Movement Of People

  04-08-2017 13:20
  
  Allies of Jeremy Corbyn including MPs, MEPs trade union leaders and senior Momentum figures have called on the Labour leader to commit to maintaining the free movement of people between the UK and EU.
  During the election campaign Corbyn said free movement would end after Brexit.
  But today leading figures including former shadow cabinet minister Clive Lewis, Tottenham MP David Lammy and Manuel Cortes, the general secretary of the TSSA union, said Labour should change its position.
  In an ope
  
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• London should lead in showing electric cars will not tackle air pollution

  04-08-2017 13:10
  The government’s new strategy does not go far enough in recognising fewer vehicles, not just cleaner ones, are the answer With more and more of the world’s population living in cities, we need to get urban transport right. That means making sure that people and goods can move around easily and cheaply. It also means ensuring that city transport systems don’t damage people’s health, as diesel and to a lesser extent petrol are currently doing in London and other UK cities.C
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn's Pledge To Abolish Tuition Fees Slammed As 'Regressive' Over Potential Tax Hike

  04-08-2017 12:37
  
  Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge to abolish tuition fees and ambition to “deal with” historic debt has been slammed as “regressive” by a think tank who say the move would hit the poorest the hardest.
  According to the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) - a free market think tank co-founded by Margaret Thatcher - the party’s plan would see poor non-graduates subsidising students who will go on to earn £9,500 a year more. 
  The amount Labour has pledged to spend is
  
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• Boris Johnson And Michael Gove Should Be In Prison For Brexit 'Lies', Says Lord Sugar

  04-08-2017 12:05
  
  Boris Johnson and Michael Gove should be thrown in prison for the “lies” told during the EU referendum, Lord Sugar has said.
  The independent peer, who quit the Labour Party in 2015, said today he would be willing to serve as Theresa May’s Brexit negotiator.
  Asked by BBC Radio 5′s Emma Barnnett whether the foreign secretary and environment secretary should be in jail for promising more money for the NHS while campaigning to Leave the EU, Lord Sugar said: “Absolutely
  
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• Glitches with key free childcare website probed

  04-08-2017 11:56 via bbc.co.uk
  Committee chairman demands answers over glitches with crucial website for new childcare schemes.
  
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• Labour MPs ask Corbyn to commit to free movement post-Brexit

  04-08-2017 11:53
  David Lammy, Clive Lewis and trade unionists sign open letter saying migrants are not to blame for falling wagesA band of Labour MPs and trade unionists are calling for Jeremy Corbyn to commit to defending free movement when the UK leaves the EU, highlighting the party’s split over the issue.Clive Lewis, an ally of Corbyn, has joined David Lammy and Geraint Davies in signing a open letter in support of letting UK and other EU citizens continue to live and work across the bloc without barri
  
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• MPs declare Wimbledon and Glastonbury tickets

  04-08-2017 11:50 via bbc.co.uk
  Commons Speaker John Bercow received two tickets for the Royal Box at Wimbledon worth £8,590.
  
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• Rise in Living Wage may have to wait, say small firms

  04-08-2017 11:38 via bbc.co.uk
  Uncertain economic growth means rises to the National Living Wage may have be delayed, says the FSB.
  
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• The fight for Chingford: Is Labour on track to unseat IDS?

  04-08-2017 11:02
  
  The changing face of his constituency could force out one of the left's hate figures
  
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• Without Irish unification, a hard Brexit is impossible | Simon Jenkins

  04-08-2017 10:57
  Any additional border controls would further isolate the north’s struggling economy. The DUP must fight for a single market and open bordersIs Northern Ireland the poison pill of hard Brexit? The visit of the new Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, to Belfast today is remarkable. This is not just for the astonishing sight of a southern politician who believes passionately in gay rights visiting the still conservative north – given how long the south’s reactionary Catholicism ha
  
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• Getting the Conservatives behind cannabis

  04-08-2017 10:49
  
  The Conservatives seem unmovable on drug reform - but there are arguments which could shift their position
  
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• The Internet Is Having A Dairy Good Time With Trump’s ‘Local Milk People’

  04-08-2017 10:14
  
  If President Donald Trump honours a refugee resettlement agreement with Australia, he’s pretty sure the newcomers “are not going to be wonderful people who go on to work for the local milk people.”
  That’s what the president told Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in January, according to reproductions of transcripts published by the Washington Post on Thursday.
  [LIKE: TrumpWatch - our new Facebook page dedicated to keeping an eye on Trump]
  Turn
  
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• North of England cities get £15m 'cultural powerhouse' boost

  04-08-2017 09:51 via bbc.co.uk
  The Culture Secretary Karen Bradley says the money will be given "to develop inspirational projects".
  
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• These Donald Trump Tweets About Barack Obama’s Holidays Didn’t Age Well

  04-08-2017 09:47
  
  Throughout former President Barack Obama’s time in office, then-reality TV star Donald Trump often mocked him for taking vacations. But now, Trump is set to head out on one of his own.
  On Friday, he’ll head to his New Jersey golf course for a 17-day trip, according to The Associated Press. This comes on top of the many other weekends he’s spent either there or at his Florida resort. In fact, he’s already outpaced Obama in time spen
  
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• UK pledges £100m to global polio fight

  04-08-2017 09:18 via bbc.co.uk
  The money is part of a bid to eradicate polio worldwide by 2020.
  
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• Donald Trump Asked Mexico To Stop Publicly Refusing To Pay For His Wall

  04-08-2017 09:11
  
  President Donald Trump repeatedly asked his Mexican counterpart, Enrique Peña Nieto, to stop publicly refusing to pay for the border wall that was a central Trump campaign promise, according to a transcript published by The Washington Post.
  In a phone call on 27 January Trump described his signature campaign issue as the “the least important thing we are talking about,” while adding “politically [it] might be the most important.” The US preside
  
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• Revealed in the Trump-Turnbull transcript: five things we knew and one we didn't | First Dog on the Moon

  04-08-2017 08:52
  The leaked transcript of the conversation between Donald Trump and Malcolm Turnbull reveals many things, some of which we already knewSign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and printsContinue reading...
  
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• RBS plans move to Amsterdam for post-Brexit EU hub

  04-08-2017 08:44
  Bank reports first half-year profit for three years but says it is being investigated for possible money laundering rule breachesRoyal Bank of Scotland is considering using Amsterdam as its post-Brexit EU hub and has revealed it is being investigated for potential breaches of money laundering rules. The the 71% taxpayer-owned bank made the announcements as it reported its first half-year profit for three years. The £939m profit compares with a £2bn loss a year ago, although the chief
  
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• Refugee children 'could be separated from their families after Brexit'

  04-08-2017 08:00
  Unicef’s UK boss says definition of ‘family’ in immigration law must be widened so orphans can be reunited with relativesRefugee children could be permanently separated from their families unless the government includes family reunification in post-Brexit immigration law, the head of Unicef UK has warned. Related: Injured, hunted, lost: mapping journeys of refugee children aiming for UKContinue reading...
  
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• Northern Irish unionist parties alienating young Protestants, study says

  04-08-2017 08:00
  Study shows pro-unionist Protestants aged under 40 turned off by ultra-conservative attitudes on gay rights and abortion Younger pro-union Protestant voters in Northern Ireland are increasingly turned off unionist politicians due to their parties’ social conservatism on issues such as gay rights and abortion, according to a post-election survey.While support among Protestants aged under 40 for staying in the UK remains solid at 82%, a majority of them no longer vote in elections for the No
  
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• Are we in for a fishy deal? – Brexit Means podcast

  04-08-2017 08:00
  Jon Henley and his team of experts dive into the murky waters of the UK fishing industry, one of the loudest voices for the leave campaign. What is the future of fisheries now that just over half of us voted out of the EU? Could we go it alone or are we heading for a fishy deal?Subscribe to us on iTunes, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Soundcloud and Acast and join the discussion on Facebook, Twitter and emailFishing is not a big industry: it represent less than 1% of the UK’s GDP. But it is a big Br
  
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• Britain couldn’t leave the single market if it tried | Andrew Adonis

  04-08-2017 07:00
  The UK has not negotiated an international trade deal in decades – we simply lack the capacity to negotiate bespoke deals. It’s folly to even tryThe civil service prides itself on being able to deliver the crazy and impossible, if ministers so ordain. It even managed to introduce a poll tax for Margaret Thatcher, and to somehow keep it going for three years in the face of riots. But it’s increasingly clear that Brexit may be an impossibility too far, even for Whitehall’s
  
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• The uncomfortable truth of UK infrastructure plans

  04-08-2017 06:00 via ft.com
  From HS2 that benefits the few to Hinkley Point and its radioactive finances
  
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• Business group urges cabinet to agree on Brexit transition

  04-08-2017 02:20 via bbc.co.uk
  The Institute of Directors called on the cabinet to stop "dancing around the edges" of Brexit.
  
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• HMRC under fire over childcare website failings

  04-08-2017 01:09 via ft.com
  MPs demand answers after tech problems leave parents struggling to access provision
  
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• End Brexit squabbles and nail down transitional deal, IoD urges ministers

  04-08-2017 01:01
  Business leaders warn of pressing need for government to agree plan to minimise risks of chaotic, cliff-edge departureMinisters need to stop feuding and agree now on the shape of the transitional deal Britain wants to bridge the gap between leaving the EU and finalising its future relationship with the bloc, business leaders have warned.“There is an urgent need for government to engage properly on the most imminent risk to business from Brexit: what happens, or doesn’t, on Brexit day
  
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