Political news

• Barcelona Becomes Latest European City To Suffer Vehicle Terror Attack After Las Ramblas Incident

  17-08-2017 23:49
  
  What we know so far:Incident happened around 5pm local time on Las Ramblas, ​​a busy tourist area
  Authorities have confirmed there are least 13 people dead and more than 100 injured
  Islamic State claims responsibility
  Two people have been arrested, Catalonia’s regional president has said
  Police in Barcelona have said the incident is ‘most likely’ a terror attack
  Van crossed central promenade of the Rambla de Canaletas and crashed into a kiosk
  Metro stations are clos
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on A-levels: another misdirected reform | Editorial

  17-08-2017 20:54
  Michael Gove wanted to make exams more rigorous. He should have concentrated on widening opportunity for all school leaversMichael Gove, now environment secretary, arrived at the Department for Education at the start of the 2010 coalition with a closely worked blueprint for raising academic standards. Mr Gove long ago moved on, but his reforms have now reached fruition in the first set of results of his “more rigorous” A-levels. A core group of 13 of the most academic subjects &ndash
  
  Read more

• How to turn Britain’s universities into comprehensives | Sonia Sodha

  17-08-2017 19:39
  A more localised system with less academic selection might be better and cheaperIs it worth it? That’s the question many young people starting university this autumn have to grapple with, in a way previous generations haven’t. Young people now graduate with an average debt of more than £50,000, which three quarters of them will never pay off. So the vast majority will spend most of their working lives effectively paying an extra 9p of income tax for every pound they earn over &
  
  Read more

• Jeremy Corbyn urges PM to rethink terms of Grenfell fire inquiry

  17-08-2017 18:45
  Labour leader writes to Theresa May to express concerns that priority is to avoid criticism for social housing policy issuesJeremy Corbyn has said he is deeply concerned that the Grenfell fire inquiry will not examine the wider implications of social housing policy and urged Theresa May to look again at the terms of reference.The inquiry’s terms of reference, published last week, mean it will not look at the social and political conditions around the blaze, including the provision and stat
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Mental health services patchy, says PM

  17-08-2017 18:44 via bbc.co.uk
  Theresa May says the UK's mental health services are "patchy" and has told Newsbeat she's going to review them.
  
  Read more

• Grenfell fire: Jeremy Corbyn urges PM to widen probe

  17-08-2017 18:15 via bbc.co.uk
  Jeremy Corbyn fears PM is trying to avoid criticism by excluding 'social and political issues'.
  
  Read more

• Theresa May Hopes To 'Avoid Criticism' By Limiting Grenfell Inquiry, Says Jeremy Corbyn

  17-08-2017 18:04
  
  Jeremy Corbyn has written to Theresa May to demand a “clear, independent and thorough” public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire. 
  The Labour leader lambasted the limited scope of the inquiry and said the Prime Minister’s aim was “to avoid criticism” rather than “secure justice for Grenfell survivors”. 
  Corbyn said the terms of reference of the inquiry - which were announced this week by inquiry head Sir Martin Moore-Bick - left him &ldq
  
  Read more

• Judge dismisses Northern Ireland same-sex marriage cases

  17-08-2017 17:38 via bbc.co.uk
  Belfast's High Court rules against two challenges to Northern Ireland's ban on same-sex marriage.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• You can be a Tory moderniser without stealing ideas from Labour | Kate Maltby

  17-08-2017 17:03
  The party needs unapologetic free marketeers who also embrace cosmopolitan Britain. What it doesn’t need is Jacob Rees-Mogg as leader
  There is no deeper indication of a political party in grip of breakdown than the suggestion it might turn to Jacob Rees-Mogg as its saviour.For any readers still blissfully unaware, Rees-Mogg is the pin-striped, Trump-backing opponent of gay marriage and abortion who notoriously took his former nanny on the campaign trail. (His eldest son, at nine, accompani
  
  Read more

• Universities offer 'extraordinary returns' - minister

  17-08-2017 17:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Universities Minister Jo Johnson says higher education remains good value for money.
  
  Read more

• Enfarage: the Movie – will the Bad Boys of Brexit ever make it to the big screen?

  17-08-2017 17:00
  Nigel and chums have already broken America, or at least Fox News. But they need to conquer Hollywood. The role of a lifetime beckons for CumberbatchWhat happens when you put it all on red and it comes up white supremacy? These are testing times for the self-styled “Bad Boys of Brexit”, as Nigel Farage and his entourage – the Enfarage – find themselves increasingly out of their depth in That America. Can it really be just nine months since they were photographed like gorm
  
  Read more

• Northern Ireland judge rejects two challenges to same-sex marriage ban

  17-08-2017 16:42
  Mr Justice O’Hara says it does not violate rights of LGBT couples and it is up to Stormont assembly to decide social policyTwo court challenges against the same-sex marriage ban in Northern Ireland have been dismissed.Mr Justice O’Hara rejected both cases, insisting it did not violate the rights of LGBT couples. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• ScotRail Slammed For 'Torturous' Anti-Loitering Devices Aimed At Young People

  17-08-2017 16:40
  
  Anti-loitering devices which emit a piercing sound only young people can hear were installed in train stations without a risk assessment. 
  ScotRail is under fire for agreeing to place the “absolutely torturous” devices - nicknamed “mosquitos” - which make a sound only audible to those under 25, at two of its stations.
  The operator said they were aimed at cutting anti-social behaviour after the RMT union said staff had encountered a “surge in violence” at
  
  Read more

• Labour MP Says Her Constituents Are Crying Themselves To Sleep Over Brexit Uncertainty

  17-08-2017 16:38
  
  A Labour MP says some of her constituents are so worried about Brexit they are “literally crying themselves to sleep”.
  Chi Onwurah claims the government’s failure to set out a proper plan for the UK’s exit from the EU has left both people and businesses in her Newcastle constituency facing huge uncertainty.
  The former shadow business minister has submitted Parliamentary questions on what action Theresa May’s cabinet will take to make sure Britain retains and attrac
  
  Read more

• Sajid Javid says Jeremy Corbyn 'wrong to sack Sarah Champion'

  17-08-2017 16:37
  Communities secretary defends Labour MP who quit over Sun piece on British Pakistani men, as Corbyn says she left of her own volitionThe communities secretary, Sajid Javid, has defended the Labour MP Sarah Champion, who resigned from the frontbench after she said in an article in the Sun that Britain had “a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls”.Champion resigned as shadow minister for women and equalities, having earlier said her words had been “
  
  Read more

• Jeremy Corbyn: I don't think you can label a whole community

  17-08-2017 16:23 via bbc.co.uk
  Jeremy Corbyn denies that he sacked Sarah Champion following her article on child abuse.
  
  Read more

• Brexit trade talks may be reduced to as little as 10 months

  17-08-2017 14:32
  UK ministers admit slow progress on negotiations over withdrawal may hinder move on to crucial second phase of talks
  Britain may not start negotiating its future trade relationship with the EU until the end of the year, ministers are admitting privately.Originally it was hoped that phase two of the Brexit talks – covering a future trade deal, not just the withdrawal arrangements – would start after October, but ministers involved in the talks now think this timetable could slip. Cont
  
  Read more

• Former May adviser Nick Timothy calls student fees 'a Ponzi scheme'

  17-08-2017 14:23 via bbc.co.uk
  Theresa May's former chief of staff says the system is 'unsustainable' and should be reformed.
  
  Read more

• We demand a parallel Grenfell inquiry to fix our broken housing system | Katya Nasim

  17-08-2017 14:18
  The terms of the public inquiry will frame the tragedy as an outlier. The fire must be seen in the context of decades of privatisation, deregulation and housing cuts• Katya Nasim is a campaigner with the Radical Housing NetworkThe terms of the Grenfell Tower public inquiry were announced on Tuesday, two months on from the horrific fire. Knowing what the inquiry will cover should be the start of the road to justice for those who were affected, and to preventing such a tragedy from happening
  
  Read more

• Andrew O’Hagan’s romantic view of Scottish independence is nonsense | David Torrance

  17-08-2017 13:54
  The London-based novelist’s sudden conversion to the pro-independence cause is based on woolly thinking – as is his nostalgic take on ScotlandFor years, the novelist Andrew O’Hagan has kept quiet about Scotland. While almost every other writer, artist and poet weighed into the independence debate, he kept his own counsel. Instead he did what he’d “been taught to do in a Scottish primary school 40 years ago – watch, listen, and learn”. Related: I voted fo
  
  Read more

• Khan and Burnham face cut from Labour conference lineup

  17-08-2017 13:31
  London and Manchester metro mayors may not get speaking slots as leadership pushes for more member participation
  The city mayors Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham could lose their speech slots at the Labour party conference this year under a stripped-back speaking programme that will prioritise party member debates.Khan, who has previously criticised Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, gave a powerful speech last year under the theme of “Labour in power” which was seen by many as a warning t
  
  Read more

• Neo-Nazi Christopher Cantwell Cries In Video After Appearing In Vice News Documentary

  17-08-2017 13:29
  
  A white nationalist who attended the far-right rally in Charlottesville and was filmed saying the killing of 32-year-old Heather Heyer was “more than justified” has released a tearful video voicing his fears of arrest. 
  Christopher Cantwell featured heavily in Vice News’ documentary on Saturday’s march in which he makes bravado-laden statements such as:I'm carrying a pistol, I go to the gym all the time - I'm trying to make myself more capable of violence.A
  
  Read more

• Has anyone bothered to ask what the EU gets out of all this?

  17-08-2017 12:41
  
  The longer we insist on thinking only about ourselves, the less able we are to get what we want
  
  Read more

• Row over Jo Swinson election spending in East Dunbartonshire

  17-08-2017 12:39 via bbc.co.uk
  The SNP and Lib Dems trade barbs over Jo Swinson "living dangerously close" to campaign spending limits.
  
  Read more

• Now NHS cuts are stripping basic medicines from the poor | Polly Toynbee

  17-08-2017 12:23
  The government tries to deny cuts exist. But some hapless GPs are being forced to stop providing everyday medications to those unable to pay for themThe retreat of the health service is stealthy and haphazard, as a creeping postcode lottery of cuts gradually erodes the “national” in NHS. IVF, hip and knee operations are being cut back randomly in some regions. In some places patients can only get one cataract fixed: seeing with one eye is enough. Related: Leak shows 'devastating' imp
  
  Read more

• Former Theresa May aide attacks tuition fees 'Ponzi scheme'

  17-08-2017 11:53
  Universities minister defends fees after Nick Timothy, who quit PM’s office after election, launches wholesale assaultThe universities minister has defended tuition fees after one of Theresa May’s former chiefs of staff described them as an “ultimately pointless Ponzi scheme” that needed a radical overhaul.Nick Timothy, who was May’s most influential policy adviser until he resigned after the general election, used his new column in the Daily Telegraph to launch a w
  
  Read more

• The Conservatives’ solution for unaffordable care? No care | Barbara Keeley

  17-08-2017 11:32
  Seventy thousand older people with complex needs left to fend for themselves: Tory apathy on social care funding could turn a crisis into a catastrophe• Barbara Keeley, Labour MP for Worsley and Eccles South, is shadow minister for social care and mental healthDespite evidence that life expectancy may be stagnating, the century-long rise should be a cause for celebration. However, for too many people – unsure whether they will be able to afford the care they may need or to plan for th
  
  Read more

• No, Sarah Champion hasn't been hounded out of her job for speaking the truth

  17-08-2017 11:16
  
  Champion's comments were racist, of course she had to go
  
  Read more

• Pest control costs soaring as MPs battle mice and moths

  17-08-2017 11:14 via bbc.co.uk
  Parliament is spending more on pest control measures but MPs have been banned from bringing in cats.
  
  Read more

• Sarah Champion Should Not Have Lost Job Over Rape Article, Says Sajid Javid

  17-08-2017 11:01
  
  Labour MP Sarah Champion should have kept her job in the shadow cabinet, communities secretary Sajid Javid has said.
  Champion resigned as shadow women and equalities secretary yesterday following criticism for a column she wrote in The Sun which warned Britain has a “problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls”.
  She later sought to distance herself from the article and claimed it had been altered.
  But The Sun countering that the column was approved by the MP
  
  Read more

• EU citizens will not need visas to visit UK after Brexit, say sources

  17-08-2017 09:51
  Post-Brexit system will allow EU citizens to enter freely, but to work they will need to comply with new immigration restrictionsEU citizens will be free to visit the UK after Brexit without having to obtain visas, it has emerged.Whitehall sources confirmed reports that plans for a post-Brexit immigration system, due to be published later this year, would allow EU citizens to enter the UK freely. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Protesters Illuminate Charlottesville During Candlelight Vigil

  17-08-2017 09:44
  
  A new light illuminated Charlottesville on Wednesday, when thousands of people assembled on the University of Virginia campus for a candlelight vigil. The peaceful gathering was in protest of the weekend violence that broke out after white supremacists stormed the campus with Tiki torches.
  Demonstrators on Wednesday swayed with their candles as they sang, “This Little Light of Mine” and the American classic, “This Land Is Your Land.” At one point, people chanted,&nbs
  
  Read more

• Nick Timothy, Theresa May's Former Chief Of Staff, Slams Tuition Fees As A 'Pointless Ponzi Scheme'

  17-08-2017 09:20
  
  Theresa May’s former chief of staff has slammed university tuition fees as a “pointless Ponzi scheme”, calling for “radical” change to the system. 
  Speaking on A Level results day, when thousands of teenagers will find out if they have been accepted into university, Nick Timothy said tuition fee debt was “blighting young people’s futures”. 
  After the coalition government radically increased tuition fees to £9,000 in 2010 - sparking
  
  Read more

• Fox News Host Cries Because Conversation On Race Makes Her ‘Uncomfortable’

  17-08-2017 09:20
  
  Fox News host Melissa Francis broke out in tears on Wednesday defending President Donald Trump’s comments doubling down on blaming “both sides” for violence at the weekend rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.
  “I am so uncomfortable having this conversation,” Francis told co-hosts on Fox News’ “Outnumbered” as she fought back tears.
  “I know what’s in my heart and I know that I don’t thi
  
  Read more

• Mike Pence Says He ‘Stands With The President’ On Charlottesville

  17-08-2017 08:56
  
  Vice President Mike Pence says he is standing by Donald Trump in regards to the president’s contentious comments in a Tuesday press conference. Trump said “both sides” were to blame for the violence that ensued at a white nationalist-run rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend.
  At a press conference on Wednesday, a reporter asked Pence three questions, all of which he effectively dodged. The first question was whether Pence agreed with Trump that th
  
  Read more

• Sadiq Khan And Andy Burnham Face Axe From Labour Conference As Corbyn Gives Members More Say

  17-08-2017 08:00
  
  Jeremy Corbyn and his closest allies are to be given “starring” roles at the Labour party conference - but city mayors Andy Burnham and Sadiq Khan face being left off the speaker list, HuffPost UK has been told.
  Corbyn and four Shadow Cabinet ministers will be given the prime speaking slots at the gathering in Brighton next month, while delegates will also get more time to debate key issues.
  The leader, plus Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry
  
  Read more

• Labour accuses culture secretary over BBC and Ofcom 'interference'

  17-08-2017 08:00
  Tom Watson says Karen Bradley should not have asked media regulator to set more quotas for BBC contentLabour has accused the government of interfering with the independence of the BBC and Ofcom after the culture secretary demanded that the media regulator should scrutinise the broadcaster more closely.Tom Watson, Labour’s shadow culture secretary, said Karen Bradley had made a “serious mistake” by writing to Ofcom to call for the media regulator to set more quotas for the BBC&r
  
  Read more

• UK fracking may produce less fuel than claimed, says geologist

  17-08-2017 07:01
  Prof John Underhill argues that geology is fundamental but has been forgotten in assessments of UK’s shale gas capabilityFracking for oil and gas in the UK may produce much less fuel – and profits – than has been mooted, according to research based on seismic imaging of the country’s underlying geology.Most of the areas in which deposits of onshore “unconventional” gas and oil are likely to be found were affected by tectonic activity along the Atlantic plate a
  
  Read more

• Steve Bell’s If ... Donald Trump reassures the nation

  17-08-2017 07:00
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Dwindling fuel duty sparks interest in road pricing

  17-08-2017 06:02
  Efficient engines and switch to electric threaten investment in transport network
  
  Read more

• Critics point to flaws in UK’s post-Brexit trade plans

  17-08-2017 05:01
  David Davis says mooted 2-3 year ‘interim’ transition avoids cliff-edge scenario
  
  Read more

• Critics point to flaws in Davis’ post-Brexit trade plans

  17-08-2017 05:01
  UK government says mooted 2-3 year ‘interim’ transition avoids cliff-edge scenario
  
  Read more

• Legislation needed to tackle UK power price rises, regulator warns

  17-08-2017 05:00
  Ofgem’s Dermot Nolan has faced criticism for not being tough enough on energy giants
  
  Read more

• Scots and Welsh environment ministers meet over Brexit

  17-08-2017 01:14 via bbc.co.uk
  Scottish and Welsh environment ministers are to meet in Cardiff to co-ordinate opposition to the UK government's Brexit legislation.
  
  Read more

Follow @political_UKnws on Twitter!