Political news

• Theresa May Accused Of 'Rigging Parliament' With New Move To Give Tories Majority On Legislation

  07-09-2017 22:02
  
  Theresa May has been accused of “rigging” Parliament to defy the result of the general election and give Tory MPs majority control over all legislation.
  In what Labour called “an unprecedented power grab” ahead of Brexit and beyond, the Government is trying to give itself the power to dominate every bill committee from now until 2022.
  A controversial new motion tabled by Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom seeks to ensure that Conservatives have a majority on all standing comm
  
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• Hurricane Irma: UK increases relief fund to £32m

  07-09-2017 21:44 via bbc.co.uk
  The prime minister defends the government's response following criticism it was "sorely lacking".
  
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• Tories turn up pressure on Theresa May over EU withdrawal bill

  07-09-2017 21:40 via theguardian.com
  MPs coordinate efforts to limit Henry VIII powers by forcing government to make concessions or risk humiliating defeatTheresa May appears likely to be forced into an early tactical retreat over the European Union withdrawal bill, as Conservative MPs from both sides of the referendum divide flex their muscles.During a bruising debate in the House of Commons lasting almost five hours on Thursday, David Davis, the Brexit secretary, indicated he was willing to accommodate improvements to the key pie
  
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• Jean-Claude Juncker questions ‘stability’ of Brexit chief David Davis

  07-09-2017 21:31
  EU president’s remarks escalate Brexit tensions with Britain ahead of summit
  
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• Transition deal keeping UK in EEA is worst of all worlds, says David Davis

  07-09-2017 20:31 via theguardian.com
  Brexit secretary says ministers considered staying in Efta temporarily but it would be ‘more complicated and less beneficial’A Norway-style transitional deal that keeps the UK in the European Economic Area would be the “worst of possible worlds”, the Brexit secretary, David Davis, has said.
  Speaking ahead of the debate on the EU withdrawal bill on Thursday afternoon, Davis said the government had considered the benefits of retaining membership of the European Free Trade A
  
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• The Guardian view on the Irish border: the UK’s Brexit blind spot | Editorial

  07-09-2017 20:23 via theguardian.com
  The UK government’s lack of practical solutions reflects a more profound failure to see how its actions are viewed from overseasTwo weeks before last year’s EU referendum, Sir John Major and Tony Blair appeared together at an event in County Derry to warn that Brexit could undermine the foundations of peace in Northern Ireland and sabotage relations with the Irish Republic. Such a sombre note struck by two former prime ministers should have resonated long and loud. It did n
  
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• Martin Rowson on Theresa May, Brexit and the winds of change – cartoon

  07-09-2017 19:59 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
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• Brexit Briefing: A 'Withdrawal (Of Democracy) Bill' Special

  07-09-2017 19:49
  
   
  You can sign up for this briefing by clicking here, and you’ll receive it straight to your inbox every Thursday afternoon.
  If you like what you read, make sure you subscribe to our Commons People podcast here for even more analysis about what goes on in Westminster. 
  1) The Government Is Taking Back Control In The Most Draconian Way Possible It’s taken 45 years, but the day many Brexiteers never thought they would see is here. Today (Thursday), MPs be
  
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• Immigration and the UK’s post-Brexit economy | Letters

  07-09-2017 19:39 via theguardian.com
  David Reed says deterring EU migrants could benefit British workers but devastate the economy; Emma Gee says the contribution of non-EU immigrants to the UK coffers should not be overlooked; while Stephen Games writes that morally it is low-skilled foreign workers whom the UK should encourage to comeThe immigration strategy discussed in the leaked Home Office document could be as beneficial to British workers as the Black Death (Revealed: Tories’ Brexit plan to deter EU migrants from Brita
  
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• 'The great repeal bill'? It's no biggie, says David Davis | John Crace

  07-09-2017 19:31 via theguardian.com
  Of course two days for the second reading is enough, says the Brexit secretary, why can’t everyone just trust him? It’s hard not to feel a little sorry for David Davis. While most of his cabinet colleagues are on an extended sabbatical for the foreseeable future as the government tries to disentangle itself from the EU, the Brexit secretary is being forced to work around the clock.If it wasn’t bad enough spending most of Tuesday afternoon updating the house on his lack of progr
  
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• MPs debate EU withdrawal bill as Barnier says UK's Brexit plans for Ireland unacceptable - Politics live

  07-09-2017 19:29 via theguardian.com
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Brexit questions in the Commons and MPs debating the EU (withdrawal) billCommons Brexit questions - SummaryBarnier says UK’s Brexit plans for Ireland unacceptableEU withdrawal bill debates - Highlights from the openingAfternoon summary 6.29pm BST 6.27pm BSTAndrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, has confirmed that the debate will be extended on Monday.Colleagues across the House have asked for the secon
  
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• Hurricane Irma: Petition To Rename Storm To Ivanka Gains Thousands Of Signatures

  07-09-2017 19:23
  
  A petition to rename Hurricane Irma to Hurricane Ivanka has taken the internet by storm.
  The social networking site Care2 created a petition calling on the World Meteorological Association to change the name of the devastating category 5 storm, which has left at least 10 people dead as it pummels across the Caribbean, to that of President Donald Trump’s daughter.
  The petition letter explains the reason for the proposed name change is to “put pressure on members of Trump’s
  
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• Hurricane Irma: 'UK doing all it can to help British territories victims'

  07-09-2017 18:54 via bbc.co.uk
  Military personnel are being sent to storm-hit British territories, the UK's defence secretary says.
  
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• Proposals to increase number of female MPs in Commons rejected

  07-09-2017 18:34 via theguardian.com
  Government dismisses all six proposals by women and equalities committee because of ‘additional regulatory burden’ on partiesThe government has rejected all six proposals to give parliament more equal female representation, prepared by the Commons’ women and equalities committee, including fines for parties that do not select enough women as candidates.The women and equalities committee chair, Maria Miller, said the response showed a lack of ambition by the government, which sh
  
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• Pro-leave MPs prepare public statement insistent on hard Brexit

  07-09-2017 18:25 via theguardian.com
  Letter planned for publication in a Sunday newspaper criticises Labour position and calls for complete exit from single marketPro-leave MPs are preparing to launch a public fightback against a soft Brexit, gathering signatures for a letter insisting Britain must be “well and truly out” of the European Union in March 2019.Change Britain, the campaign group that evolved out of Vote Leave and has in the past received the backing of the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has gathered up t
  
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• EU 'worried' by UK's Irish border proposals

  07-09-2017 18:19 via bbc.co.uk
  Michel Barnier says Northern Ireland cannot be a "test case" for future customs arrangements.
  
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• The Brexit leak shows a government on collision course with the NHS | Ben Howlett

  07-09-2017 18:15 via theguardian.com
  The scheme to cut immigration is at odds with the need to fill 176,000 health and care vacancies. For the sector to survive, its workers must be given special statusThe leaked 82-page government Brexit-immigration report should ring alarm bells for the NHS as it tackles the greatest workforce crisis in the health service’s history. The Home Office proposes measures to reduce the number of lower-skilled EU migrants by offering them residency for a maximum of only two years, whereas those in
  
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• Ministers reject fines for parties missing women MP targets

  07-09-2017 18:11 via bbc.co.uk
  The government is accused of "lacking ambition" after rejecting recommendations to boost women MPs.
  
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• Plots, leaks and Brexit tweaks – Politics Weekly podcast

  07-09-2017 17:52 via theguardian.com
  Heather Stewart is joined by Owen Jones, Rowena Mason, Anand Menon and Alan Travis to discuss a leaked government document on how to manage post-Brexit EU migration. Plus we hear from Alison McGovern on her campaign to keep Britain in the single market and from Jessica Elgot on how Brexit has brought a new breed of rebellious MPsAfter a summer of tetchy exchanges between the government and Brussels, parliament returns with masses of complex Brexit legislation and not much time to pass it. This w
  
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• UK backtracking on Brexit divorce bill, says Michel Barnier

  07-09-2017 17:47 via theguardian.com
  ‘There is a problem of confidence here,’ says EU’s chief negotiator, as he expresses disappointment with latest round of talksThe EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has said the UK appears to be going backwards on agreeing a Brexit financial settlement, as hopes of an autumn divorce deal hit rock bottom.Speaking as the EU published its latest Brexit position papers, Barnier said he was disappointed with the UK position he had heard at the latest round of negotiations.
  
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• Brexit: Davis and Starmer clash over key legislation

  07-09-2017 17:46 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour says the bill is a "power grab" - but David Davis accuses them of "cynical" blocking tactics.
  
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• Nigel Farage to address far-right rally in Germany

  07-09-2017 17:34 via theguardian.com
  Former Ukip leader was invited to speak at event held by AfD party by the granddaughter of Hitler’s finance ministerFormer Ukip leader Nigel Farage will appear at a rally held by Germany’s far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) inside a renaissance fortress in Berlin on Friday.The South East England MEP will appear at the Spandau Citadel in the west of the German capital to talk about “developments in the European Union, Brexit, direct democracy” and &ldqu
  
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• Labour leader mixes grime, veganism, Stormzy and politics

  07-09-2017 17:29 via bbc.co.uk
  Jeremy Corbyn presented Stormzy with a music award, where the singer called the PM a paigon, making some reach for their urban dictionary.
  
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• Free school and Conservative education policies under Michael Gove

  07-09-2017 17:29 via bbc.co.uk
  The Conservatives embarked on a reform of education policy in England, bringing in free schools and changing exam marking.
  
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• Keir Starmer Tears Apart David Davis's Brexit Bill, Calls It 'Extraordinary Power Grab'

  07-09-2017 17:26
  
  Keir Starmer has demonstrated how the Great Repeal Bill would effectively give the Government power over virtually every aspect of the lives of British citizens.
  The Labour Shadow Brexit Secretary and QC branded the proposed Conservative legislation a “huge power grab” by ministers that would “reduce MPs to spectators”.
  In a speech that forensically dissected David Davis’s Bill detailing how Britain will leave the EU, the former Director of Public Prosecutions descr
  
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• Keir Starmer Tears Apart Brexit Bill, Calls It 'Extraordinary Power Grab'

  07-09-2017 17:26
  
  Labour’s Keir Starmer has demonstrated how the Great Repeal Bill in its present form would effectively give the Tories power over virtually every aspect of the lives of UK citizens.
  The Shadow Brexit Secretary branded the proposed legislation a “huge power grab” by ministers that would “reduce MPs to spectators”.
  In a speech that forensically dissected David Davis’s bill, Starmer described the use of so-called “Henry VIII powers” as &ldqu
  
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• Labour Accuse Philip Hammond Of 'Boasting' About His Wealth To Tory MPs

  07-09-2017 17:14
  
  Labour has blasted Philip Hammond as “shameful” for “boasting” that he and fellow Tory MPs did not have money troubles.
  The Chancellor made the comments as he addressed the Conservatives’ backbench 1922 Committee on Wednesday, before asking for ideas on how to help the younger generation.
  Hammond, who is reported to be worth in excess of £8million, reportedly told his colleagues that unlike younger voters, they did not have to worry about mortgage paymen
  
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• The disestablishment of the church is now necessary and inevitable | Giles Fraser: Loose canon

  07-09-2017 16:50 via theguardian.com
  Now over half the UK population have no religion, it’s time the church stopped being courtiers of the establishment and reclaimed its counter-cultural voiceThe Church of England is woefully unprepared for the ideological winter that is to come. For too long we have been made content by feeding off the crumbs left out for us by the establishment. We have become its pet. And it has made us lazy. Housetrained. Safe. The Bible uses a different image: if salt has lost its saltine
  
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• Sir Edward du Cann obituary

  07-09-2017 16:29 via theguardian.com
  Controversial Conservative MP and businessman who was once a contender for the party leadershipEveryone has their moment. Edward du Cann, who has died aged 93, had his after the second general election in 1974. Although he had never held cabinet office, he was for a brief period a serious candidate for the leadership of the Conservative party. It was Du Cann himself, for reasons that were never quite clear, who withdrew on the grounds that his wife would not enjoy being married to a party leader
  
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• Juncker questions ‘stability and accountability’ of UK’s Davis

  07-09-2017 16:22
  EU president’s remarks escalate Brexit tensions with Britain ahead of summit
  
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• May refuses invitation to address European parliament in public

  07-09-2017 16:10 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: PM’s decision described as ‘yet another own goal’ as minutes of Brussels meeting reveal low opinion of David DavisTheresa May has caused further ill will in Brussels by rejecting an invitation to address the European parliament in public, EU sources have said, instead insisting she will only talk to its leaders behind closed doors.The prime minister had been asked by the parliament’s president, Antonio Tajani, to speak to a full session of the chamber to explai
  
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• Problem gambling is soaring. Labour is right to pledge radical reform | Matt Zarb-Cousin

  07-09-2017 16:02 via theguardian.com
  The promise to ban football shirt sponsorship is a good start to tackling this crisis, but cross-party action to mitigate the suffering of addiction is urgently neededWhen Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson was challenged on Newsnight last week about his party’s role in liberalising gambling, he signalled a long-awaited shift in Labour’s philosophical approach to how it should be regulated, away from the “growth” orientated framework introduced by Tony Blair that has
  
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• Parliament could get greater Brexit oversight, says Davis

  07-09-2017 15:26
  Government seeks to head off a rebellion by centrist Tory MPs
  
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• Davis seeks to head off party rebels with Brexit oversight offer

  07-09-2017 15:26
  Government seeks to head off a rebellion by centrist Conservative MPs
  
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• A cold shower for British business

  07-09-2017 15:09
  3 developments this week have created confusion and alarm over Brexit
  
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• Ukip donor attempts to unseat 'Brexit saboteurs' Rudd and Hammond

  07-09-2017 15:05 via theguardian.com
  Arron Banks writes to constituents to say home secretary and chancellor are among cabal of MPs attempting to ‘overturn the wishes of the 52%’Nigel Farage’s leading backer has written to constituents of Amber Rudd and Philip Hammond urging them to deselect the cabinet ministers because they are “damaging the prospect of a successful Brexit”.The letter from Arron Banks, published below, accuses Rudd, the home secretary, and Hammond, the chancellor, of being part of a
  
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• Taboo subject?

  07-09-2017 14:53 via bbc.co.uk
  Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has stirred up controversy over his view on abortion.
  
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• Facebook Says Russian-Linked Accounts Paid For Ads During 2016 Presidential Election

  07-09-2017 14:41
  
  Facebook has revealed that hundreds of fake accounts most likely run from Russia spent around £75,000 on ads to stir up divisive issues during the 2016 US Presidential Election.
  Although the amount is tiny compared to the total spent on advertising during the period (£1.07 billion), the revelations could have serious ramifications for the social media giant, international relations and Donald Trump’s presidency. 1) The Campaign Could Have Been Hugely Influential 
  
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• Tory MPs issue Brexit transition warning

  07-09-2017 14:34 via bbc.co.uk
  The letter warns the UK government not to stay in the single market after March 2019.
  
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• Is Britain expecting the impossible? Brexit Means... podcast

  07-09-2017 13:53 via theguardian.com
  ‘Nobody said it would be easy,’ says David Davis. We discuss what has been making life difficult for the Brexit secretary this weekSubscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Soundcloud and Acast and join the discussion on Facebook, Twitter and emailIt has been quite a week in Brexitland. First, there was that daggers-drawn press conference from Michel Barnier and David Davis in Brussels, which seemed to show the two sides have never been further apart. Continue reading..
  
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• Shipping bosses: two-year Brexit transition will not be long enough

  07-09-2017 13:14 via theguardian.com
  Industry leaders will tell Theresa May that new customs system must continue to ensure frictionless tradeShipping and port bosses will warn Theresa May that a two-year transition period after Brexit will not be long enough to ensure “frictionless” trade continues in Dover and other British docks.David Dingle, the chairman of Maritime UK, which represents marine and shipping industries, said he was “very nervous” about the future and concerned the government was putting &p
  
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• Labour MP stuck in lift on way to vote

  07-09-2017 13:05 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour's Ann Clwyd says she was prevented from voting last night because she got stuck in a lift on the parliamentary estate.
  
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• UK government 'willing to make EU withdrawal bill concessions'

  07-09-2017 12:55 via theguardian.com
  First secretary of state Damian Green stresses importance of bill passing and says ministers will listen to ‘reasonable points’Theresa May’s deputy has signalled that the government is prepared to make concessions on its EU withdrawal bill to head off a Tory revolt over concerns it gives ministers too much power. The first secretary of state, Damian Green, also sought to reassure businesses that have reacted with alarm to a leaked draft of immigration plans proposing time-limit
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn's plea for Rohingyas to Aung San Suu Kyi

  07-09-2017 12:52 via bbc.co.uk
  The Labour leader calls on the de facto leader of Myanmar to defend human rights for the Rohingya Muslims.
  
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• The paradoxes of UK immigration plans

  07-09-2017 12:23
  Leaked memo confirms the emerging shape of Brexit
  
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• Theresa May 'Misquoted' Peers And Ignored 'Profound Concerns' About Her Brexit Bill

  07-09-2017 11:48
  
  Theresa May has been ticked off by an influential peer for wrongly claiming a Lords committee “endorsed” her Brexit approach when in fact it raised “profound concerns”. 
  Baroness Taylor, chair of the House of Lords Constitution Committee, said not only had the Prime Minister “misquoted” the group’s report in the House of Commons, but key recommendations to limit the so-called Henry VIII powers were “ignored”. 
  The committee’s
  
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• Privatisation of NHS temporary staff agency halted

  07-09-2017 10:49
  Government stops sale of NHS Professionals as financial performance improves
  
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• Van Rompuy: 'Zero' chance of EU trade talks in October

  07-09-2017 10:28 via bbc.co.uk
  Former president of the European Council responds to David Davis' hopes for EU trade talks
  
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• Damian Green Says Leaked Brexit Immigration Plans 'Not Government Policy'

  07-09-2017 10:23
  
  Damian Green has dismissed reports he has misgivings about Theresa May’s post-Brexit immigration plans as “nonsense”.
  Proposals to force a cut in low-skilled migrants from Europe, leaked to The Guardian, suggest offering EU migrants residency for a maximum of only two years.
  The first secretary of state said the plans were “not government policy”.
  According to The Daily Telegraph, Green, the first secretary of state, and Home Secretary Amber Rudd have reservations
  
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• Hostile environment 2.0: Post-Brexit migration plans are all too familiar

  07-09-2017 10:13
  
  New, cruel policies are about to be delivered by a department prone to incompetence
  
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