Political news

• Kezia Dugdale Resigns As Leader Of The Scottish Labour Party

  29-08-2017 23:57
  
  Kezia Dugdale tells BBC Scotland's Brian Taylor it is time to "pass the baton on"https://t.co/H82IILaDr4 pic.twitter.com/E7UPvhNS2w— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) August 29, 2017
  Kezia Dugdale has resigned as leader of Scottish Labour, saying it is time to “pass on the baton” to someone else.
  Dugdale, who is leaving the position with immediate effect, threw her weight behind Owen Smith when he challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership and has faced criticism from left
  
  Read more

• Theresa May’s Japan trip ‘prepares ground’ for trade deal

  29-08-2017 23:36 via ft.com
  Premier to travel with executives from cyber security, software and defence industries
  
  Read more

• Kezia Dugdale: Best thing is to pass Labour baton on

  29-08-2017 23:35 via bbc.co.uk
  Kezia Dugdale resigns as leader of Scottish Labour, saying it is time to "pass on the baton" to someone else.
  
  Read more

• May heads to Japan aiming to allay Brexit fears and lay basis for trade deal

  29-08-2017 23:30
  UK delegation is planning to base deal on EU-Japan trade agreement, but Vince Cable has criticised that proposal as ‘staggering’Theresa May will have to allay Japanese fears about the impact of Brexit on business when she flies to the country on Wednesday for a three-day trip billed as a visit to lay the groundwork for a new trade deal, but likely to be dominated by North Korea.Speaking before the trip, the prime minister said the UK government was seeking a free trade deal based on
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Ben Jennings on Donald Trump and tropical storm Harvey – cartoon

  29-08-2017 21:18
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Rupert Murdoch-Owned Sky Makes Snap Decision To Take Fox News Off Air In UK

  29-08-2017 21:07
  
  Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson has poured scorn on Sky’s snap decision to take Fox News off air in the UK. 
  21st Century Fox, owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, said the channel was being withdrawn as it was not commercially viable and that the decision was not related to Fox’s takeover bid for Sky.
  But Shadow Culture Secretary Watson heaped criticism on the move, saying Fox “clearly thought it was easier to pull it from the UK altogether than to clean up its act.&rdqu
  
  Read more

• Davis wants legal clarification from EU over Brexit payout

  29-08-2017 20:58
  British negotiators said to have asked EU officials about legal principles Brussels believes should be used to calculate exit billDavid Davis’s negotiating team is demanding legal clarification from Brussels officials over its demands that the UK pay a substantial financial settlement as part of the process of quitting the European Union. A senior government source said British negotiators have peppered EU officials with queries about the legal principles Brussels believes should be used t
  
  Read more

• Theresa May accused of backtracking on boardroom excess

  29-08-2017 20:56 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour and trade unions say the prime minister has "watered down" plans to tackle corporate excess.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• UK universities chief pushes back against fees and pay critics

  29-08-2017 20:54
  Alistair Jarvis dismisses attacks on tuition fees and executive pay, saying they are based on misinformation and malice
  Critics of British universities including Andrew Adonis are peddling “misinformation, muddled argument and even a little malicious intent,” according to the head of a group representing UK vice-chancellors.Alistair Jarvis, the newly appointed chief executive of Universities UK, did not name the former education minister directly but his call for institutions to figh
  
  Read more

• The four key proposals in May’s boardroom overhaul

  29-08-2017 20:20 via ft.com
  The prime minister’s original plan to tackle corporate excess has been watered down
  
  Read more

• Labour’s new soft Brexit policy could create electoral problems | Letters

  29-08-2017 20:16
  Readers including Arthur Scargill respond to Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to change tack on BrexitThe publicity now given to the decision of Her Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition to start opposing the government on Europe is indicative of its curious failure to do so hitherto (Report, 28 August). Labour’s new policy of a very soft Brexit is to be welcomed, but for all the advocates of such a policy there is the huge question mark hovering overhead – why advocate adhering to the
  
  Read more

• Corporate governance reforms can be effective

  29-08-2017 19:54 via ft.com
  The UK’s new proposals need thorough implementation and proper policing
  
  Read more

• Conservatives come together to sell a Brexit transition

  29-08-2017 19:25 via ft.com
  With Theresa May a more peripheral figure, a coalition of Remainers and Leavers aims to delay the full liberation from Brussels
  
  Read more

• Donald Trump Warns North Korea 'All Options Are On The Table' After It Fires Missile Towards Japan

  29-08-2017 19:21
  
  Donald Trump has warned North Korea “all options are on the table” after the regime fired a ballistic missile towards Japan.
  Trump, who previously warned “fire and fury” would rain down on the isolationist dictatorship, said it had “signalled its contempt for its neighbours”.
  The missile, which was fired at around 6am local time on Tuesday, prompted text warnings to locals in Hokkaido, in Japan’s north, to take shelter in basements or strong structures.T
  
  Read more

• UK must decide how to react to US strike on North Korea, warns thinktank

  29-08-2017 19:16
  Choice by Theresa May to stand with Donald Trump could have as big an impact as British support of US in Iraq war, says defence expert Theresa May urgently needs to establish how the UK will react to a US request for political support for military action against North Korea, a leading figure at a security thinktank has warned.Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, said the prime minister must commission a study to decide the British response, as when th
  
  Read more

• Britain’s global ambitions remain tied to Europe

  29-08-2017 18:55 via ft.com
  The UK’s relationship with Brussels will define its international trade
  
  Read more

• The 392 steps to talk Brexit in Brussels

  29-08-2017 18:29 via bbc.co.uk
  A big team of UK officials are in town for the Brexit negotiations.
  
  Read more

• May accuses North Korea of 'reckless provocation' with missile test - Politics live

  29-08-2017 18:17
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happenFrances O’Grady’s Today interviewNo 10 lobby briefing - SummaryMore than 70% find Brexit ‘exit bill’ of £30bn unacceptable - pollAfternoon summary 5.15pm BSTThese proposals are just more crony capitalism from the Tories, who once again prop up the rigged system for the few at the expense of the many. The Tory plan is a fraud, watering down an original promise to increase workers’ voice to
  
  Read more

• None of UK’s Brexit policy papers is ‘satisfactory’ warns Juncker

  29-08-2017 17:58 via ft.com
  British negotiators at latest talks say commission president is too downbeat
  
  Read more

• Iain Duncan Smith warns over cuts to marriage guidance support

  29-08-2017 17:56 via bbc.co.uk
  Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith says reducing counselling support would be a "retrograde step".
  
  Read more

• 'Tory Momentum' Mocked Mercilessly Within Minutes Of Its Twitter Launch

  29-08-2017 17:55
  
  Tory activists have tried to launch their own version of Momentum - and almost instantaneously it was widely mocked on social media. 
  Activate is described as an independent, grassroots campaign to “engage young people with conservatism” and its first tweet was a meme of the character Admiral Ackbar saying “It’s a trap”. Welcome to Activate UK. #activateuk #meme #retweet #rt pic.twitter.com/PEqbyjjA4Q— Activate UK (@ActivateBritain) August 28, 2017
  W
  
  Read more

• Oxford professor in Trump donation row defends resignation

  29-08-2017 17:45
  Prof Bo Rothstein says he has been inundated with messages of support after stepping down from Blavatnik school
  A Swedish academic who resigned his Oxford professorship over the support given to Donald Trump by one of the university’s key patrons says he has had hundreds of messages of support and a job offer from another leading institution. Prof Bo Rothstein said he had no regrets about his decision to stand down as the Blavatnik chair of government and public policy – a post named
  
  Read more

• Boris Johnson is not solely responsible for UK’s diplomacy ills

  29-08-2017 16:43 via ft.com
  The foreign secretary has had little success in the past year, writes Sebastian Payne
  
  Read more

• Should companies be forced to put workers on boards? | Frances O’Grady and Sam Bowman

  29-08-2017 16:28
  Was Theresa May right to U-turn on her guarantee? The TUC’s Frances O’Grady and the Adam Smith Institute’s Sam Bowman go head to head Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Brexit: Labour shifting in right direction, says MP Jo Stevens

  29-08-2017 16:07 via bbc.co.uk
  Jo Stevens had quit as shadow Welsh secretary in protest at an order to back the Article 50 bill.
  
  Read more

• Brexit weekly briefing: Labour performs U-turn while EU eyes bill

  29-08-2017 16:03
  Price of divorce settlement continues to be main stumbling block as Brexit negotiations recommence, while Labour has change of heart on single marketWelcome to the Guardian’s weekly Brexit briefing, a summary of developments as the UK heads to the EU door marked “exit”. If you would like to receive it as a weekly early morning email, please sign up here.You can listen to our latest Brexit Means podcast here. Also: producing the Guardian’s independent, in-depth journalism
  
  Read more

• Activate: Tories mimic Momentum with grassroots campaign

  29-08-2017 15:45
  New group draws inspiration from Labour as it tries to engage young people in politics, but launch on social media has been widely mockedA new Conservative grassroots campaign inspired by Labour’s Momentum movement will attempt to engage more young people in rightwing politics, though the group’s launch has been widely mocked on social media.Activate, which aims to “engage young people with conservatism”, has close links with senior party activists, and is chaired by form
  
  Read more

• I voted Labour for a softer Brexit. Now, I might get one | Isaac Qureishi

  29-08-2017 15:23
  The party had struggled to differentiate itself from the Tories on Brexit, so I’m delighted with Keir Starmer’s announcementWalking to the polling station on 8 June this year, I knew there was only one party I could vote for. I was brought up in Bradford, a city famous for its industrial heritage and a history of immigration. As a third-generation half-Pakistani, my life has been undeniably shaped by my ethnic makeup, and having moved to London in 2011 to read Russian and Spanish at
  
  Read more

• Labour’s deft move on Brexit

  29-08-2017 14:41 via ft.com
  Policy shift puts Corbyn in better position to divide the Tories at Westminster
  
  Read more

• No 10 insists early talks on post-Brexit trade deal are possible

  29-08-2017 13:42
  Downing Street reaffirms desire to begin trade talks despite dismissal of idea by European commission presidentDowning Street has said the government will not back away from its demand to kick off negotiations on a post-Brexit trade deal as soon as possible – even though the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, flatly dismissed the idea on Tuesday. Related: UK's Brexit papers are not satisfactory, says European commission president - Politics liveContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Arnold Schwarzenegger fronts £42m PPI claims campaign

  29-08-2017 13:30 via ft.com
  Terminator star’s broad appeal will ‘cut through noise’, says regulator
  
  Read more

• Arnold Schwarzenegger fronts £42m campaign to encourage PPI claims

  29-08-2017 13:30 via ft.com
  ‘Broad appeal’ of Terminator star will ‘cut through noise on PPI’ says UK regulator
  
  Read more

• Please, Theresa, sack Boris Johnson. Britain needs leaders not clowns | Owen Jones

  29-08-2017 13:21
  Brexit is the most important point in our postwar history, and our foreign secretary commands no respect in Europe. Enough is enoughPlease, Theresa May, for the sake of our country’s future, sack Boris Johnson. His continued presence as foreign secretary is a national humiliation. The influence of a leftwing Guardian columnist over the prime minister is, to put it mildly, rather limited. It is up to Conservative members and supporters to come to the conclusion that Johnson’s continue
  
  Read more

• Unite asks barrister to examine worker blacklisting collusion claims

  29-08-2017 13:17
  Union chief Len McCluskey instructs barrister to compile report on claims that officials passed information to blacklistersBritain’s biggest trade union has commissioned a barrister to examine allegations that union officials colluded with a covert blacklisting operation financed by major firms to prevent certain workers from being employed. The move has been ordered by the head of Unite, Len McCluskey, and follows calls by blacklisted workers to set up an independent inquiry into the clai
  
  Read more

• Neo-Liberal MPs Have Grenfell Victims' Blood On Their Hands, Says Labour's Chris Williamson

  29-08-2017 12:52
  
  Politicians who back neo-liberalism have “blood on their hands” when it comes to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, a Labour shadow minister has declared.
  Chris Williamson, one of Jeremy Corbyn’s most loyal supporters, said the economic policies which “afflicted” successive Tory and Labour governments led “directly” to the blaze – which killed at least 80 people in June.
  The Shadow Fire Minister has led calls from his party to widen the scope of the inqu
  
  Read more

• Juncker warns UK none of its Brexit papers are ‘satisfactory’

  29-08-2017 12:30 via ft.com
  EU chief adds to pressure on London as third round of negotiations turns hostile
  
  Read more

• Labour has to be bolder on Brexit: our economy depends on it | Seb Dance

  29-08-2017 12:02
  Any desire for a clean break with the EU is pure Tory fantasy. Jeremy Corbyn must defend access to the single market and customs union permanently• Seb Dance is a Labour MEP for LondonLabour’s commitment to retaining Britain’s membership of the single market and the customs union during any post-Brexit transition is a brave and welcome move. It is overwhelmingly in our national economic interest. That Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised for it by Nigel Farage – a man who has
  
  Read more

• Boris Johnson Ridiculed As 'A Joke' By Trump White House, EU Diplomats And UK Officials

  29-08-2017 11:56
  
  Boris Johnson is seen as a “joke” by EU diplomats, his own civil servants and even the Trump White House, it was claimed today.
  The Foreign Secretary faced multiple attacks - including claims that intelligence chiefs didn’t trust him with secrets - after a former senior Whitehall chief Lord Kerr said he lacked respect in America and Europe.
  Johnson risked fresh irritation among allies of Theresa May last week as he used a trip to Libya to ridicule her decision to call a snap ge
  
  Read more

• Boris Johnson Ridiculed As 'A Joke' By Trump White House, EU Diplomats

  29-08-2017 11:56
  
  Boris Johnson is seen as a “joke” by EU diplomats, his own civil servants and even the Trump White House, it was claimed today.
  The Foreign Secretary faced multiple attacks after a former senior Whitehall chief Lord Kerr claimed he lacked respect in America and Europe.
  Johnson risked fresh irritation among allies of Theresa May last week as he used a trip to Libya to ridicule her decision to call a snap general election.
  But he faced embarrassment himself as MPs, ministers and offic
  
  Read more

• EU's Brexit negotiator tells UK to speed up and 'get serious'

  29-08-2017 11:11
  Michel Barnier urges Britain to start ‘negotiating seriously’ as third round of talks with David Davis beginsThe EU’s chief negotiator on Britain’s exit from the bloc is concerned about the progress of discussions and has urged the UK to start “negotiating seriously”, as the third round of talks with the UK’s Brexit secretary, David Davis, began in Brussels.Michel Barnier said he welcomed the British government’s position papers, which he said had
  
  Read more

• Tories Have 'Bottled It' Over Reforming Company Boardrooms, Warns Top Trade Unionist

  29-08-2017 10:55
  
  Theresa May has “bottled it” when it comes to serious reform of company board rooms, trade union chief Frances O’Grady claimed today as she slammed the Government’s “feeble” plans.
  Ministers have announced measures designed to reign in reckless behaviour by company directors, but watered down plans to give workers a voice in the boardroom and shareholders an annual vote on executive pay.
  Instead, companies will have to reveal how much their chief executive is
  
  Read more

• A citizens' assembly could help settle the big Brexit questions

  29-08-2017 10:10
  
  It's time for the public to have a say on Brexit negotiations
  
  Read more

• Profiting from Brexit: UK sealmaker benefits from devalued pound

  29-08-2017 08:44 via ft.com
  Weaker sterling more than offsets risk of WTO tariffs, says UK manufacturer
  
  Read more

• Queensferry Crossing lit up ahead of opening

  29-08-2017 07:46 via bbc.co.uk
  Nicola Sturgeon turned on the lights marking the handover of the new bridge to the Scottish government.
  
  Read more

• May’s corporate governance reform ‘feeble’, says TUC

  29-08-2017 01:04 via ft.com
  Unions and opposition parties dismiss proposals but finance sector is more welcoming
  
  Read more

• Lack of skilled EU workers 'could choke UK growth post-Brexit'

  29-08-2017 01:01
  Manufacturers demand clarity on reciprocal rights of EU and UK workers, after job applications from EU fallManufacturers are demanding that the government provide urgent clarity on the future of EU workers’ rights, warning they will face shortages of skilled staff if they cannot recruit from Europe after Brexit. EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, said a quarter of the firms it represents had seen job applications from the EU fall and 16% had seen more European workers quit since t
  
  Read more

• Donald Trump Admits Pardoning Sheriff Joe Arpaio During Hurricane As Ratings Would Be 'Far Higher'

  29-08-2017 00:04
  
  Donald Trump has defended his decision to pardon the controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, and signalled he made the announcement as Hurricane Harvey struck America because “ratings would be far higher”.
  The US President linking the disaster to his own impact on TV is likely to draw criticism, and comes as thousands of people awaited rescue on Monday as heavy rains poured into the area surrounding the nation’s fourth-largest city.
  Over 30 inches of rain have fal
  
  Read more

Follow @political_UKnws on Twitter!