Political news

• Boost northern transport spending, business leaders tell Grayling

  21-08-2017 22:31 via ft.com
  separate Employers say north-south divide in investment severely limits regional economy
  
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• A rebooted Northern Powerhouse fits Theresa May’s objectives

  21-08-2017 22:30 via ft.com
  Join region’s cities and they will attract global interest, writes George Osborne
  
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• Why Is Big Ben Going Silent For Four Years? A Guide To Why Britain Is Losing It

  21-08-2017 19:27
  
  Big Ben has gone silent for what will be the longest period in its 157-year history.
  Britons are meant to be reluctant to show emotion but at midday on Monday, when the bell rang for the last time for four years, one MP shed a tear. He was at a vigil - yes, a vigil - where politicians, tourists and media gathered and some had what one convenor called “heads bowed and hope in our hearts”.
  It follows an explosion of outrage in the press. The Daily Mail called it a “death kne
  
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• Why Is Big Ben Going Silent For Four Years? A Guide To The Issue That Made Britain Lose It

  21-08-2017 19:27
  
  Big Ben has gone silent for what will be the longest period in its 157-year history.
  The British are meant to be reluctant to show emotion but at midday on Monday, when the bell rang for the last time for four years, one MP shed a tear. He was at a vigil - yes, a vigil - where politicians, tourists and media gathered and some had, as one convenor described it, “heads bowed and hope in our hearts”.
  It follows an explosion of outrage in the press. The Daily Mail called it a &
  
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• Britain’s one-sided special relationship with America

  21-08-2017 18:55 via ft.com
  The UK has little to show for its flattery of President Trump
  
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• Why your electric car could blow a fuse

  21-08-2017 18:36 via ft.com
  National Grid warns about energy supply for electric cars
  
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• Cambridge University Press makes U-turn on China censorship

  21-08-2017 18:27 via ft.com
  Publisher accused of bowing to Beijing by blocking 300 articles reverses course
  
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• May shelves plan for crackdown on high pay

  21-08-2017 18:26 via ft.com
  Aide confirms proposed binding votes on remuneration likely to be dropped
  
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• MPs farewell Big Ben's hourly chimes, not with a bong but a whimper | John Crace

  21-08-2017 17:36 via theguardian.com
  As bell is silenced for four years of restoration, even Labour’s Steve Pound finds it hard to muster a melodromatic tearIn nomine Patris... Bong... et filii... Bong... et Spiritus Sancti... Bong. Shortly before midday, a small crowd of journalists had gathered outside the members’ entrance to the houses of parliament to observe a couple of MPs stand with heads bowed before Big Ben. After the last rites of 12 final bongs, the bell would go quiet for four years while restoration work w
  
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• Prime minister turns on charm to shore up her leadership

  21-08-2017 17:21 via ft.com
  May hosts MPs at Chequers ahead of the Tory party conference
  
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• Big Ben falls silent for repairs

  21-08-2017 17:19 via bbc.co.uk
  A crowd watches as the famous clock's Great Bell is switched off for repairs set to last until 2021.
  
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• Britain First's Jayda Fransen Tweets Video Of Mostack Claiming It's Migrants Rioting

  21-08-2017 16:34
  
  Jayda Fransen has tweeted a shocking video of “migrants in Spain attacking tourists and locals”.
  Only it isn’t.VIDEO: Migrants In Spain Attack Tourists And Locals!For More Great Videos Please LIKE/FOLLOW This Page! pic.twitter.com/Eu8N2htG3b— Jayda Fransen (@JaydaBF) August 20, 2017
  The Britain First leader is correct on one count - the video was shot on the Spanish island of Ibiza. 
  But the footage actually shows UK rapper, MoStack, defending himself with a broom as
  
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• Defend Europe's Mission Suspended After Libyan Coast Guard Tells Them Where To Go

  21-08-2017 16:13
  
  On Saturday Defend Europe held a press conference in France to announce the temporary suspension of their “successful” mission, an event slightly marred by the absence of their ship’s crew who were (and still are) stranded off the coast of Malta.
  Undeterred, spokesmen for the group spent 20 minutes detailing their accomplishments, building upon what appeared to be a productive final week in which they made “new friends” in the form of the Libyan Coast Guard. A
  
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• Economist Who Claims £135billion Hard Brexit Boost For UK Guilty Of 'Violence To Basic Facts Of Economic Life'

  21-08-2017 16:12
  
  Claims that UK will be £135billion a year better off after Brexit are “laughable”, according to a former top Government economist.
  Jonathan Portes, former Chief Economist at the Cabinet Office, tore apart suggestions from anti-EU academics the UK is set for a huge boost after Brexit. 
  The claims were made by the Economists for Free Trade group, which also predicts an eight per cent fall in prices in the event of a Hard Brexit if the Government were to quit the EU wit
  
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• UK calls for frictionless trade after Brexit

  21-08-2017 15:09 via ft.com
  Position paper outlines four key principles for the upcoming negotiations
  
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• Britain starts to set out its Brexit stall

  21-08-2017 15:08 via ft.com
  The UK is suddenly looking a little more prepared and engaged for talks with EU
  
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• Big Ben chimes for the last time before £29m refurbishment

  21-08-2017 15:01 via ft.com
  Hundreds gather for symbolic moment as MPs press for famous bell to keep ringing
  
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• Brexit: UK publishes more EU negotiation plans

  21-08-2017 14:55 via bbc.co.uk
  The UK sets out plans for goods and services after Brexit as it seeks to push EU into trade talks.
  
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• Tough questions

  21-08-2017 14:41 via bbc.co.uk
  Public inquiries are long, complex procedures but they can arouse fierce passions.
  
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• Stormont talks: Sinn Féin proposes resumption date

  21-08-2017 14:26 via bbc.co.uk
  Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill calls for negotiations to restart but the DUP calls her proposal a "stunt".
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon Praises Aamer Anwar After Post-Barcelona Attack Abuse From Far-Right

  21-08-2017 14:19
  
  Nicola Sturgeon has condemned far-right figures after they targeted a human rights lawyer caught up in the Barcelona terror attack with a torrent of online abuse.
  The Scottish First Minister praised Aamer Anwar’s “dignity” in contrast to the “hatred” displayed by hundreds of trolls, many of whom were responding to a tweet from Tommy Robinson.The far right abuse that @AamerAnwar has suffered since the Barcelona attack is sickening. His dignity stands in con
  
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• Final Big Ben chimes for now

  21-08-2017 13:52 via bbc.co.uk
  This is the moment Big Ben chimed for the last time before major restoration work starts.
  
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• Grenfell Council Leader Offers Advice On How To Make Cuts In 'Final Insult' To Victims

  21-08-2017 13:47
  
  The council leader who presided over the Grenfell Tower disaster offered paid “advice” on public sector cutbacks - and tried to “whitewash” his CV in the process. 
  Nick Paget-Brown resigned as leader of Kensington and Chelsea council after the authority’s woeful response to the deadly inferno drew widespread criticism. 
  He has remained a councillor but has attracted fresh ire from survivors and rival politicians after advertising his own company - NPB Cons
  
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• Offensive tweet councillors reinstated by Scottish Conservatives

  21-08-2017 13:37 via bbc.co.uk
  The two Conservative councillors had made offensive posts on Twitter before being elected.
  
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• Labour MP Sheds Tear As Big Ben Chimes For The Final Time Before It's Silenced For Four Year Maintenance

  21-08-2017 13:00
  
  A Labour MP wiped a tear from his eye today as Big Ben chimed for the final time for almost four years, ahead of major refurbishments to one of Britain’s most iconic landmarks. 
  MPs bowed their head in tribute to the 157-year-old bell as it sounded out across London at midday.  
  Labour MP Stephen Pound, who was part of a gathering of “like-minded traditionalists” from the Commons who stood with heads bowed “but hope in our hearts”, wiped a tear from
  
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• Big Ben Chimes For The Final Time Before It's Silenced For Four Year Maintenance Project

  21-08-2017 13:00
  
  A Labour MP wiped a tear from his eye today as Big Ben chimed for the final time for almost four years, ahead of major refurbishments to one of Britain’s most iconic landmarks. 
  MPs bowed their head in tribute to the 157-year-old bell as it sounded out across London at midday.  
  Labour MP Stephen Pound, who was part of a gathering of “like-minded traditionalists” from the Commons who stood with heads bowed “but hope in our hearts”, wiped a tear from
  
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• Daniel Hannan Thinks Dead Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman Should Play Steve Bannon

  21-08-2017 11:57
  
  Brexiteer Daniel Hannan thinks the dead actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is still alive and should play Steve Bannon, according to a tweet he hastily deleted. 
  The Oscar-winning Capote actor passed away from a drug overdose in 2014 in an event widely-reported across news and show business outlets. 
  A candlelit vigil was held near the 46-year-old’s Manhattan home, Broadway dimmed its lights in tribute and Hollywood superstar Cate Blanchett even dedicated her BAFTA award to Seymour Hof
  
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• Spain dealt with the Barcelona attack with dignity - if only the UK could follow their example

  21-08-2017 11:47
  
  If British politicians have nothing sensible to say after a terror attack they should keep quiet
  
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• June poll was 'hold your nose election,' says vote reform campaign

  21-08-2017 11:33 via bbc.co.uk
  Tactical voting reached new heights as voters tried to game a broken system, reform campaigners say.
  
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• Online Hate Crime To Be Taken As Seriously As Threats Made 'Offline', New CPS Guidelines Recommend

  21-08-2017 10:35
  
  A Labour MP who has been the victim of online abuse, receiving death threats, anti-Semitic and violent comments, has welcomed new guidelines saying that hate crime perpetrated on social media must be taken as seriously as “offline” offences.
  Luciana Berger said that online abuse can have a detrimental impact on the lives and mental health of those who are targeted on social media.
  Her comments come as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) releases guidelines taking into account the inc
  
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• Boris Johnson Aide Ridicules MPs Who 'Mourn' Silencing Of Big Ben

  21-08-2017 10:27
  
  Boris Johnson’s Parliamentary aide has ridiculed fellow MPs who plan to ‘mourn’ Big Ben’s final bongs before it falls silent for four years.
  Tory MP Conor Burns, who is the Foreign Secretary’s Principal Private Secretary, suggested that those who intended to ‘bow’ their heads at noon on Monday were political has-beens and dismissed the whole row as “nonsense”.
  “When you see the footage [on Monday] of our colleagues who gather at the fo
  
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• Breitbart News Forced To Apologise After Mistaking Footballer For Migrant On A Jet-Ski

  21-08-2017 09:32
  
  Right-wing news site Breitbart has been forced to apologise after using a picture of a former-Arsenal striker to illustrate a story about migrants travelling from Morocco to Spain.
  German international Lukas Podolski appeared in a piece titled ‘Spanish Police Crack Gang Moving Migrants on Jet-Skis’, appearing to be overjoyed at arriving in Europe and flashing a V sign.Will somebody tell Steve Bannon and the other geniuses at @BreitbartNews that the guy on the picture is Ger
  
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• Brexit: UK hopes of autumn trade talks 'will be dashed', says Slovenian PM

  21-08-2017 08:37 via theguardian.com
  Miro Cerar says after opening talks the two sides are too far apart on citizens’ rights, financial settlement and the Irish borderThe British government’s hopes of opening discussions on a future trade relationship this autumn will definitely be dashed by the European Union due to the slow progress of Brexit negotiations, one of 27 prime ministers who will make the decision has said.Miro Cerar, the prime minister of Slovenia, revealed in an interview with the Guardian that it had pro
  
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• Why the UK is struggling with poor infrastructure

  21-08-2017 05:04 via ft.com
  A lack of political vision and funds are holding back a much-needed overhaul
  
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• Infrastructure upgrades blighted by lack of funds

  21-08-2017 05:04 via ft.com
  Strategy should focus more on long term to encourage private finance
  
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• UK General Election 2017: 1.8 million Scots votes 'wasted'

  21-08-2017 01:05 via bbc.co.uk
  Two-thirds of Scottish votes were wasted in June as they had no impact on the result, a study says.
  
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• Loss of local UK newspapers ‘undermining democracy’

  21-08-2017 01:01 via ft.com
  London Assembly concerns over councils’ own ‘news’ publications
  
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• Labour Would Have Won General Election If UK Had Ditched 'Broken' Electoral System

  21-08-2017 01:01
  
  Jeremy Corbyn could be Prime Minister if the UK had ditched first-past-the-post (FPTP) and introduced the same electoral system as Scotland. 
  A study of the general election by the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) also found huge swathes of Labour strongholds would be held by the Conservatives if Westminster adopted a proportional representation (PR) system. 
  But the ERS said Westminster’s “broken” FPTP elections are more like lottery than a real choice and millions of
  
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• Labour Would Have Won General Election If UK Ditched 'Broken' Electoral System

  21-08-2017 01:01
  
  Jeremy Corbyn would be Prime Minister if the UK had ditched first-past-the-post (FPTP) and introduced the same electoral system as Scotland. 
  A study of the general election by the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) also found huge swathes of Labour strongholds would be held by the Conservatives if Westminster adopted a proportional representation (PR) system. 
  But the ERS said Westminster’s “broken” FPTP elections are more like lottery than a real choice and millions of
  
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• Conservatives were just 533 votes from Commons majority

  21-08-2017 01:01 via ft.com
  Study highlights weaknesses of first-past-the-post voting system
  
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• Davis proposes post-Brexit dispute mechanism on EU relations

  21-08-2017 01:00 via ft.com
  Government to look at precedent of European Free Trade Association court
  
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• Davis proposes new post-Brexit mechanism to oversee EU relations

  21-08-2017 01:00 via ft.com
  Government to look at precedent of European Free Trade Association court
  
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