Political news

• Jeremy Corbyn Vows To Block Theresa May's 'Sweetheart' Trade Deal With Donald Trump

  23-08-2017 23:55
  
  Jeremy Corbyn pledged to thwart Theresa May’s “sweetheart deal” with the US on trade as he savaged President Donald Trump for failing to condemn white supremacists.
  In stark contrast to May’s muted reaction, Corbyn challenged Trump to call out the racism of America’s burgeoning neo-Nazi movement and tell his country: “We are one nation”.
  Speaking exclusively to HuffPost UK in Stornoway on Wednesday, the Labour leader said he was “appalled” by
  
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• Jon Snow Warns Brexit And Donald Trump Distracted Journalists From Issues Around Grenfell

  23-08-2017 21:08
  
  Jon Snow has said journalists were too distracted by Donald Trump and the “political flatulence” of Brexit to focus on the issues surrounding the Grenfell fire, an event that “haunted” him more than wars he has covered.
  The veteran newscaster noted the growing risk of fire in the tower block was foretold “not by any journalist but in a blog by the leader of an action group for those who lived in the tower”.
  The 24-storey tower was gutted by fire in June, killi
  
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• Britain 'could remain under direct control of European court for years'

  23-08-2017 21:02 via theguardian.com
  Scale of Theresa May’s climbdown shown as Britain faces having to implement ECJ rulings on key issues such as immigrationBritain could remain under the direct control of the European court of justice for years after Brexit, it has emerged, and still be forced to implement the court’s rulings on vexed issues such as immigration.The expanding scale of the prime minister’s climbdown over her promise to “take back control of British law” was revealed as the government p
  
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• Steve Bell on the UK’s Brexit negotiations – cartoon

  23-08-2017 21:01 via theguardian.com
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• Britain sends £9m to Libya to fight terror threat and migrant crisis

  23-08-2017 20:34 via theguardian.com
  Boris Johnson announces aid package, which includes £4m to remove improvised explosive devices, during trip to TripoliBoris Johnson has announced a £9m aid package for Libya to help deal with the problems of migrants risking their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean and a growing threat of terrorist groups from the war-stricken country.The foreign secretary announced the extra funding as he made his second trip to Tripoli in just four months, where he visited UK naval officers tr
  
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• UK paves way for compromise over ECJ jurisdiction post-Brexit

  23-08-2017 20:14
  UK position paper concedes Luxembourg could still have impact on Britain after 2019
  
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• EU nationals deportation letters an 'unfortunate error', says May

  23-08-2017 20:13 via theguardian.com
  Home Office mistakenly sent up to 100 letters to EU citizens telling them to leave UK or face removalTheresa May admitted the Home Office made an “unfortunate error” when it mistakenly sent up to 100 letters to EU nationals living in the UK ordering them to leave the country or face deportation.The prime minister was forced into the statement after it emerged that a Finnish academic working in London had highlighted the warning letter she had received, which told her to leave the UK
  
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• EU citizen detention letters sent in error

  23-08-2017 20:08 via bbc.co.uk
  A Finnish academic, who has the right to live in the UK, was told she had a month to get out.
  
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• The Guardian view on UK Brexit policy: this time the lady is for turning | Editorial

  23-08-2017 20:05 via theguardian.com
  The government’s latest position paper abandons the fantasy that Britain can go it alone. Not before time, ministers are having a close encounter with realityThe orthodoxy says that few things are more humiliating for a leader than a U-turn. That’s especially true in the Conservative party, where the ghostly voice of Margaret Thatcher in 1980 – “You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning” – still echoes in the Central Office rafters. Sometimes,
  
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• The Guardian view on the northern powerhouse: back on | Editorial

  23-08-2017 20:02 via theguardian.com
  As Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, convenes a northern council in Leeds, Theresa May heads to Teesside. It looks as if the battle for northern England has begunTheresa May sped to Teesside on Wednesday afternoon to launch the South Tees Development Corporation, a 25-year regeneration project backed by Ben Houchen, the new Conservative mayor of Tees Valley. It cannot have been coincidence that hours earlier in Leeds there was a gathering of an embryonic northern council of regional po
  
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• David Davis to avoid putting Brexit payment on table in Brussels

  23-08-2017 19:09 via theguardian.com
  Secretary for exiting EU will refuse to disclose Britain’s financial obligations in next round of talksDavid Davis will refuse to reveal any details about what Britain could pay towards a Brexit bill when European Union exit talks resume next week, it has emerged, a choice certain to inflame tensions with Brussels.The Brexit secretary has conceded that Britain has “obligations” from its 44 years of EU membership, but will not say anything about what they might be when he meets
  
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• Daniel Kammen's Resignation Letter To Donald Trump Contains Hidden Message

  23-08-2017 18:33
  
  A science envoy for the Department of State who resigned his post in response to Donald Trump’s “attacks on core values of the United States” included a none-to-subtle hidden message in his letter.
  Daniel Kammen, a professor of energy at the University of California, Berkeley, cited the President’s reaction to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, calling his response “consistent with a broader pattern of behaviour that enable
  
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• Labour MP faces backlash over women-only carriages idea

  23-08-2017 18:30 via bbc.co.uk
  A Labour MP faces a backlash after saying the move could create "safe spaces" on public transport.
  
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• Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn begins tour of Scottish seats

  23-08-2017 18:21 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has begun his five-day visit with a trip to the Western Isles.
  
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• About 100 EU nationals told to leave Britain — by mistake

  23-08-2017 18:07
  Home Office letters raise questions about ability to handle Brexit migration changes
  
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• Motorist would not have landed cyclist's 'wanton and furious driving' charge

  23-08-2017 18:02 via theguardian.com
  Charlie Alliston should have had a front brake but 18mph is a cautious speed and double standards are at work hereA heavy-handed prosecution against a cyclist for manslaughter has failed but a charge of “wanton and furious driving” has succeeded.In 2016 more than 400 pedestrians were killed on UK roads. Each a terrible tragedy to those involved and almost all avoidable. One of these casualties, Kim Briggs, died after a collision between herself and a teenage cyclist, Charlie Alliston
  
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• Judge condemns Amber Rudd for ignoring orders to release torture victim

  23-08-2017 17:49 via theguardian.com
  Home secretary has failed to adequately explain delays in freeing asylum seeker from detention, says high court judgeA high court judge has said she is “deeply concerned” about the behaviour of Amber Rudd for failing to release a survivor of torture from detention despite repeated court orders requiring her to do so.On Wednesday Mrs Justice Nicola Davies DBE presided over an emergency high court hearing to examine the home secretary’s delay in releasing an asylum seeker who had
  
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• Boris Johnson: Libya is terror fight front line

  23-08-2017 17:45 via bbc.co.uk
  The UK foreign secretary pledges £9m to tackle people trafficking and terrorism during a visit.
  
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• Amber Rudd To Be Hauled Before MPs After Home Office Wrongly Threatens To Deport EU Nationals

  23-08-2017 17:45
  
  Home Secretary Amber Rudd will be dragged before MPs to explain why EU nationals were sent letters incorrectly threatening them with deportation.
  The error came to light after a Finnish academic who has lived in the UK with her British husband for most of the last ten years posted on Facebook that she was told she had a month to leave the country or face being booted out.
  Eva Johanna Holmberg said whole episode had aged her “at least 5 years” in less than a week, and she is now &ldq
  
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• Three reasons remainers should stop calling for a second referendum on Brexit | Denis MacShane

  23-08-2017 17:35 via theguardian.com
  Focusing on another vote means the real work of grassroots campaigning and persuasion hasn’t taken placeWith a monotonous regularity, calls for a second referendum are now the default setting of those who oppose the Brexit line of the government, Ukip, and the official leadership of the Labour party. They began with a giant rally in London not long after the Brexit plebiscite. Since then, political leaders from Sadiq Khan to Vince Cable can always command a headline by calling for a second
  
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• Ministers accused of treating north with contempt

  23-08-2017 17:32
  Ire at Grayling for suggesting improving transport not up to central government
  
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• Brexit: Theresa May says UK leaving EU court's jurisdiction

  23-08-2017 17:30 via bbc.co.uk
  A new government paper does not rule out a post-Brexit role for the court in settling disputes.
  
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• Andy Burnham: North 'needs transport investment now'

  23-08-2017 17:22 via bbc.co.uk
  Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham made the comment as leaders gather at a summit in Leeds.
  
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• Why GCSE results will be different this year

  23-08-2017 17:20
  More challenging grading system is designed to address ‘dumbing down’ of UK education
  
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• Number of EU citizens detained in UK up by 27%, figures show

  23-08-2017 17:19 via theguardian.com
  Home Office statistics also show sixfold increase since 2009 in those held for suspected immigration offencesThe number of EU citizens detained for suspected immigration offences has risen by 27% in the past year alone, Home Office figures have revealed.The statistics emerge after the Home Office admitted mistakenly sending out 100 letters to a number of EU nationals living in the UK, telling them that they had to leave the country or face deportation.Continue reading...
  
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• Reality dawns on Britain over the ECJ’s post-Brexit role

  23-08-2017 17:14
  The government is yet to take tough decisions on the future relationship it wants
  
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• North should 'take control' of transport, says Grayling

  23-08-2017 16:52 via bbc.co.uk
  Transport Secretary Chris Grayling's comments spark an angry reaction from council leaders.
  
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• I know May is desperate. But prosecco parties for Tory MPs won’t save her | Peter Bradshaw

  23-08-2017 16:45 via theguardian.com
  There is logic to the PM plying backbenchers with booze at Chequers. But once the democratic fizz dies down, they won’t remember anything she saidAs our long, cold summer crawls off somewhere to expire, a Mike Leigh-style nightmare is unfolding at the highest reaches of the British political establishment. Theresa May is reportedly having a series of “prosecco and canapé” receptions at Chequers, the prime ministerial country retreat in Buckinghamshire, to schmooze backbe
  
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• Chris Grayling accused of 'passing the buck' on northern transport

  23-08-2017 16:28 via theguardian.com
  Minister’s call for region to sort out its own transport problems is an abdication of responsibility, northern leaders sayThe transport secretary has been accused of an “abdication of responsibility” after telling the north of England to sort out its own transport problems.Chris Grayling angered business and political leaders in the region by writing an article for the Yorkshire Post saying “the success of northern transport depends on the north itself”. Continue re
  
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• Donald Trump's Leadership Compared To Rise Of The Nazis By Ex-US Ambassador Peter Westmacott

  23-08-2017 16:09
  
  Donald Trump’s leadership has been compared to the rise of the Nazis by the former British ambassador to the US.
  Sir Peter Westmacott, who left Washington in January 2016, tweeted to say Trump’s presidency had “shades of 1933 Germany” - the year Hitler came to power.
  He also said the president’s behaviour was “an invitation to autocrats without America’s checks and balances to play the same game more dangerously”.Westmacott, who was succeeded by th
  
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• EU nationals: did you receive a letter threatening deportation?

  23-08-2017 16:06 via theguardian.com
  The Home Office mistakenly sent out up to a hundred letters to EU nationals telling them to leave the country or face deportationThe Home Office apologised after it accidentally sent letters to EU nationals living in the UK telling them they could be deported.
  A Finnish academic, Eva Johanna Holmberg, published one of the letters on social media. In response, the government admitted it had sent letters telling people to leave UK or face removal. It could not confirm how many went to EU nationals
  
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• Donald Trump May Have Early-Onset Dementia Says Republican Strategist Ana Navarro

  23-08-2017 15:57
  
  CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Ana Navarro said there may be only one explanation for President Donald Trump’s attack-filled speech in Phoenix on Tuesday night.
  She wrote on Twitter: 
  Only possible defensible explanation for Trump's disgusting, unpresidential, narcissistic behavior, would be early-on-set dementia. Maybe.— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) August 23, 2017Navarro broke ranks with her party last year, slamming Trump and e
  
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• John Redwood and Chuka Umunna clash over European Court of Justice

  23-08-2017 15:54 via bbc.co.uk
  Chuka Umunna clashes with John Redwood over whether European judges will still have a say in UK law after Brexit.
  
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• Grenfell Tower management to be removed - Theresa May

  23-08-2017 15:53 via bbc.co.uk
  Theresa May says survivors and local residents were "pleased" to hear the body is to lose its powers.
  
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• Grenfell Tower's Tenant Management Organisation Stripped Of Its Responsibility, Theresa May Announces

  23-08-2017 15:35
  
  The organisation in charge of managing Grenfell Tower will be stripped of its responsibility for the Lancaster West Estate where the charred high-rise sits, the Prime Minister has said.
  The Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) has been heavily criticised for failing to respond to residents’ concerns both before and after the devastating blaze, which killed at least 80 people.
  Now - ten weeks after the fire - the Prime Minister has also confirmed residents’ suspicions that Kensington
  
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• Labour MP Laura Pidcock Vows She Will Never Be 'Friends' With Tory MPs

  23-08-2017 15:34
  
  A newly-elected Labour MP has vowed she will never be friends with any Conservative colleagues in Parliament - because they are “the enemy” of women and the working class.
  Laura Pidcock, seen as one of Jeremy Corbyn’s rising stars, said she had “absolutely no intention” of ever befriending members of Theresa May’s party in the Commons and would not “hang out with Tory women” in Parliament.
  The 29-year-old MP for North West Durham impressed Labour
  
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• Independent Scotland would need to cut deficit, says Sturgeon

  23-08-2017 15:25 via theguardian.com
  Data shows country spent £13.5bn more than it raised in taxes last year, a gap of 8.3%, compared to UK’s 2.4%Nicola Sturgeon has said an independent Scotland would face tough economic challenges after data showed the country spent £13.5bn more than it raised in taxes last year.The first minister confirmed that if voters backed independence in the near future, Scotland would need a dramatic improvement in its finances to bring its current spending deficit of 8.3% down to 3%, the
  
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• What is the European court of justice and why does it matter?

  23-08-2017 14:35 via theguardian.com
  Brexit policy paper leaves open possibility of Europe’s highest court retaining say on UK law. What does this mean for Britain?The Luxembourg-based court of justice of the European Union is the highest court in Europe. Panels of judges from member states sit to interpret whether EU law is being fairly applied and can issue binding rulings over national courts.Continue reading...
  
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• The government's new Brexit position paper is actually pretty good

  23-08-2017 14:27
  
  This time Westminster is right and Brussels is wrong
  
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• Where is Boris Johnson on the world stage?

  23-08-2017 14:22
  Many former Whitehall leaders feel UK has lost the diplomatic clout it once possessed
  
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• Theresa May softens stance on ECJ jurisdiction in UK after Brexit

  23-08-2017 14:14
  Latest UK paper concedes Luxembourg could still have impact on Britain after 2019
  
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• James Clapper Says Donald Trump's 'Scary And Disturbing' Phoenix Rally Doesn't Bode Well

  23-08-2017 14:09
  
  The former US Director of National Intelligence has given a damning appraisal of Donald Trump’s bizarre rally last night in Arizona and questioned his fitness to be President.
  James Clapper, who has served every Commander-in-Chief since JFK through to Barack Obama, described the 77-minute rambling speech as “scary and disturbing”.
  Speaking to CNN, he said:James Clapper, former director of national intelligence, says he questions President Trump's fitness for office https:/
  
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• Justin Trudeau's Panda Cub Cuddle Has Been Recreated... In Butter

  23-08-2017 14:08
  
  Many look at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s twinkle-in-his-eye smile and think butter wouldn’t melt - especially that time he cuddled two panda cubs at Toronto Zoo.Today I had the pleasure to unveil the names of @TheTorontoZoo’s panda cubs! Say hello to Jia Panpan & Jia Yueyue: pic.twitter.com/iFCAlID7bc— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) March 7, 2016
  But now, maybe it can - after the adorable moment, which went viral in 2016, was ‘immortalised’
  
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• Labour MP says 'merit' in women-only train carriages

  23-08-2017 13:54 via bbc.co.uk
  Shadow minister Chris Williamson calls for consultation two years after Jeremy Corbyn drops policy.
  
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• Big UK firms face 2018 slowdown amid Brexit uncertainty, study finds

  23-08-2017 13:54 via theguardian.com
  Profit growth at largest companies is expected to decline as some put plans on hold or move operations elsewhere in EUThe long-term effects of the Brexit vote on the economy will become clear next year when profit growth at some of the UK’s largest companies is expected to drop considerably, according to a new study.
  An analysis of forecasts for 2018 gives a grim view on the future for some of the UK’s biggest companies, with expectations that there will be a marked slowdown. Continu
  
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• Grenfell Tower: PM pleased with residents meeting

  23-08-2017 13:42 via bbc.co.uk
  Grenfell residents welcomed the removal of the tenant management organisation Theresa May says.
  
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• Shadow minister faces backlash over women-only train carriage idea

  23-08-2017 13:25 via theguardian.com
  Chris Williamson criticised for saying there is ‘merit’ in exploring idea as way of cutting number of sexual assaults on public transportShadow minister Chris Williamson has been criticised by female colleagues and union chiefs for suggesting there was “merit” in introducing women-only train carriages to help cut the number of sexual assaults on public transport.Williamson, the shadow fire minister, said he was open to the idea first proposed by Jeremy Corbyn when he was
  
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• I resigned over vice-chancellors’ pay. Students in debt deserve a fairer deal | Darren Jones

  23-08-2017 13:24 via theguardian.com
  I left the University of Bath’s advisory board because high executive salaries are driving inequality. The public sector must lead the way in tackling it• Darren Jones is the Labour MP for Bristol North WestI have always thought that education should be free. For Britain to become the template of modernity in a fast-changing globalised world, we need a highly skilled and educated workforce. So asking young people to take on huge amounts of debt to help secure our collective future see
  
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• Air quality concerns prompt car scrappage schemes

  23-08-2017 13:19
  Ford is latest group to offer consumers discount deals if they ditch old vehicles
  
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• EU Judges Could Still Overrule UK Courts After March 2019, Government Suggests

  23-08-2017 13:05
  
  The UK could still follow rulings from European judges after Brexit as part of an interim deal, it has been suggested.
  The latest document from the Government shows the UK is prepared to work with the EU to create a legal framework to solve disputes after March 2019.
  It is understood officials at the Department for Exiting the EU are open to the idea of allowing the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to continue to overrule UK law during this “interim period.”
  Prime Minister Theresa Ma
  
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