Political news

• Toyota Warns Brexit Jitters Mean It Could Move Jobs Out Of UK

  12-09-2017 23:51
  
  Toyota has warned Brexit uncertainty may force the Japanese carmaker to move some production out of the UK amid fears quitting the single market will disrupt free trade on the continent.
  In a blow to the Government, one of the firm’s executives signalled the shifting tone from ministers over the direction of Brexit and the timetable for quitting the European Union had prompted jitters.
  The Liberal Democrats seized on the shock interview, arguing the UK was heading for a “car-cra
  
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• Government wins committee change vote

  12-09-2017 23:47 via bbc.co.uk
  Opposition MPs said the motion was a "constitutional outrage" but it was backed by 320 to 301.
  
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• Government Wins Crunch Vote To Stack Committees In Theresa May's Favour

  12-09-2017 23:43
  
  Theresa May has won a crunch vote to engineer Tory majorities on key government committees. 
  MPs voted late on Tuesday on a motion by Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom which sought to make sure that “where a committee has an odd number of members, the government shall have a majority.”
  Despite the vast majority of opposition MPs of all parties voting against the plans and attempts to amend the motion by the Greens and Lib Dems, it was passed by 320 votes to 301.
  The new rules will
  
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• Hammond tries to keep EU friction at acceptable levels in Lords outing | John Crace

  12-09-2017 23:13
  All he wanted, the chancellor told peers, was for everything to stay the same until someone came up with something betterMidway through his appearance before the House of Lords select committee on economic affairs, Philip “Lurch” Hammond dodged a question on how the economy was coping with artificial intelligence – “Not very well, since you mention it, now we have a Maybot in charge of the country” – to insist that his main focus was on Brexit. “The quic
  
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• Brexit: Next round of talks delayed a week 'for consultation'

  12-09-2017 22:59 via bbc.co.uk
  The latest negotiating round is postponed by a week to give both sides "flexibility to make progress".
  
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• Murdochs' Sky bid isn't the slam dunk it looked a month ago | Nils Pratley

  12-09-2017 22:00
  21st Century Fox could be facing a lengthy wait with the Competition and Markets Authority wading into unfamiliar watersThe Murdochs, as the Labour MP Tom Watson gleefully noted, will be furious. In a one-dimensional fight at the Competition and Markets Authority over media plurality, the Murdoch clan would start as heavy favourites to get 21st Century Fox’s bid for full control of Sky over the line. That is because the BBC and ITN, on most measures of audience reach, would still be bigger
  
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• Ministers face hard decisions to allow for higher pay

  12-09-2017 21:56 via ft.com
  Estimated cost of £4.1bn a year if public sector pay increases in line with inflation
  
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• Philip Hammond backs status quo for Brexit transition deal

  12-09-2017 21:45 via ft.com
  UK chancellor expects interim arrangement to include single market and customs union
  
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• Len McCluskey: unions ready to defy law over public sector pay cap

  12-09-2017 21:15
  Unite leader says illegal strike would mean people following in footsteps of historic figures such as Mandela and GandhiLen McCluskey has threatened to break the law over the government’s failure to scrap the public sector pay cap for all workers, claiming that anyone who is prepared to do so would be following in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and the suffragettes.After Jeremy Corbyn and a succession of union leaders criticised an offer from ministers to increase pay only
  
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• Brexit transition deal should look like status quo, says Hammond

  12-09-2017 20:58
  Chancellor says he does not want to see UK business have to deal with more than one shift in relationship with EUPhilip Hammond has made clear that the Brexit transitional deal that the government is seeking will “look a lot like the status quo” as ministers attempt to minimise the impact on British business. Related: Theresa May faces multiple rebellions over EU withdrawal billContinue reading...
  
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• Chancellor Philip Hammond sets date for next Budget

  12-09-2017 20:54 via bbc.co.uk
  Philip Hammond says he will deliver his next Budget on Wednesday 22 November.
  
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• Steve Bell on the public sector pay cap – cartoon

  12-09-2017 20:46
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• The Guardian view on the European Union: sticking together | Editorial

  12-09-2017 20:38
  With public trust in the EU rising, the mood on the continent is upbeat. While challenges remain, the bloc is moving forward with an agenda that Brexit Britain cannot ignoreNot all that long ago the European Union seemed to inspire doubt not hope: a project reaching its 60th anniversary looked to many as if it might be heading for its death bed, or at least the emergency room. The eurozone, some said, would soon crumble as a result of faulty construction and rash policies. A populist wave was ce
  
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• No 10 faces backlash from Labour and unions over public sector pay cap lift

  12-09-2017 20:26
  Jeremy Corbyn says Tories are trying to divide and rule workers as prison officers and police dismiss pay rises as insufficientTheresa May’s government faces months of strife over public sector pay after a decision to lift the 1% annual cap on increases was met with derision from Labour and renewed threats of strikes by trade unions.
  Following months of pressure over the issue, Downing Street simultaneously announced above 1% pay rises for police and prison officers in the last of the 2017
  
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• Low-quality university courses urged to cut fees

  12-09-2017 20:25 via ft.com
  Hammond looking at student finances ahead of autumn Budget
  
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• Kay Burley Grills Tory Nick Hurd Over Police Pay Cap

  12-09-2017 20:23
  
  The Tory Minister for Policing took a bruising on Sky News this evening when discussing the Government’s decision to ditch its 1% cap on pay for all public sector workers.
  Host Kay Burley pulled no punches and left Nick Hurd scrambling for answers he did not have as he was pushed on pay cuts vs pay freezes and recruitment.
  The Cabinet has agreed that police would get 2% and prison officers 1.7% in 2017/18, and declared that “more flexibility” would be shown to millions of other
  
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• Hammond eases public sector pay cap, but the squeeze goes on

  12-09-2017 20:22
  The chancellor insisted police and prison officers’ rises will come from existing budgets – and they are well below inflationPhilip Hammond’s re-emergence as a power in the cabinet can be seen clearly as the battle rages inside government over the thorny question of public sector pay.There may have been a green light from No 10 to rip up the current cap and give the police and prison officers a 1% rise plus a 1% bonus for 2017-18, but the Treasury has made sure the bonus is not
  
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• Murdochs' Sky takeover bid to be referred to competition watchdog

  12-09-2017 20:21
  Culture secretary says she is minded to refer £11.7bn deal to regulator over media plurality and broadcasting standards
  The Murdochs face the biggest investigation into their record as media owners since the Leveson inquiry after the culture secretary said their proposed £11.7bn takeover of Sky should face a further six-month inquiry.Karen Bradley surprised MPs by announcing that she was minded to refer 21st Century Fox’s planned takeover of Sky to the Competition and Markets A
  
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• Public sector pay cap to be lifted

  12-09-2017 20:19 via bbc.co.uk
  The first award above the 1% cap will go to police and prison officers in England and Wales.
  
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• Hammond says he wants EU transition that looks 'a lot like the status quo' – as it happened

  12-09-2017 20:09
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Jeremy Corbyn’s speech to the TUC and Philip Hammond’s evidence to a Lords committeeHammond’s evidence to Lords committee - SummaryAfternoon summary 7.08pm BSTTrade unions are far and away the biggest voluntary and democratic organisations in the country. They are the roots and the lifeblood of our party. You are abused by the powerful and your rights are attacked -including by this government
  
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• Henry VIII powers and parliamentary sovereignty | Letters

  12-09-2017 19:49
  Statutory instruments canbe amended or repealed, unlike EU legislation, writes J Cameron SmithStatutory instruments are not quite the archaic devices they are being portrayed as (Report, 12 September). They are regularly used to make adjustments to the law. Around 3,500 of them are created in a normal year. Parliament can debate and reject them, although it is admittedly a rather cumbersome process. But whatever legislation is created, whether by act of parliament or SI, can later be amended or
  
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• Harriet Harman hits out at unions for backing decriminalised sex work

  12-09-2017 19:49
  Labour MP says Aslef and GMB are ‘legitimising exploitation’ by calling for sex workers to be given full legal protectionHarriet Harman has accused two major unions of “legitimising exploitation” after they backed the decriminalisation of sex work.Aslef and the GMB will on Wednesday urge the Trades Union Congress conference to decriminalise prostitution, claiming it would improve safety for the thousands of men and women who work in the sex industry. The unions want the T
  
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• Academics urge SNP to back ban on under-18s in military combat roles

  12-09-2017 19:30
  Letter to Guardian from 52 signatories asks party members to back conference motion, saying UK breaches international normsMore than 50 academics have called for the Scottish National party to support a ban on all under-18s taking combat roles in the armed forces after a motion was watered down by MPs.In an open letter to the Guardian, 52 specialists in military affairs, international relations and political science said the UK was in breach of international norms on recruiting 16- and 17-year-o
  
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• Anna Soubry: If White British Community Learned More From Muslims Then UK Would Be A Better Country

  12-09-2017 19:17
  
  If white Britons learned more from the Muslim community the UK would be a better country, according to Conservative MP Anna Soubry.
  Speaking at an Eid-ul-Adha celebration event in Parliament, the former minister praised the success of Halimah Khaled - the first person of colour and first Muslim to be elected mayor in her Nottinghamshire constituency- and said lessons could be learned from her positive engagement with the largely white community.
  ″I can report happily that it is not a prob
  
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• Hurricane Irma has devastated British territories – so why such little aid? | Rupert Jones

  12-09-2017 19:14
  The £32m pledged by the UK government is a drop in the ocean. If Britain wants to distance itself from perceived tax havens, now is hardly the timeHurricane Irma, now seemingly in its final throes, has shattered Caribbean islands for which the UK is ultimately responsible. The government now appears to be taking that responsibility more seriously: the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson said he will spend the coming days visiting the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Anguilla, two of the Briti
  
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• Labour seeks to derail tuition fee rise

  12-09-2017 19:13 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour is forcing a vote by MPs in a bid to prevent an increase in tuition fees in England.
  
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• Flashpoints ahead

  12-09-2017 18:51 via bbc.co.uk
  A majority of MPs have backed the bill's broad principles, but a number of contentious issues remain.
  
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• Brexit bill faces 136 amendments

  12-09-2017 18:28 via ft.com
  MPs table 59 pages of amendments to the key EU withdrawal bill
  
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• 'Last Night In Sweden' Is Destroying Donald Trump And Alt-Right's Narrative

  12-09-2017 18:25
  
  A crowdfunded book and exhibition is aiming to set the record straight after Donald Trump’s inflammatory - and false - comments about Sweden earlier this year.
  ‘Last Night in Sweden’ showcases the “true and candid” reality of life in a country that is regularly held up by a xenophobic fringe - and the President of the USA - as an example of nation crumbling under the pressure of immigration.
  Trump used a Florida rally in February to shed light on a terrible ter
  
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• UK Ports Can't Deal With Even 'Minutes' Of Customs Checks Post-Brexit, Philip Hammond Reveals

  12-09-2017 18:13
  
  Britain’s ports would grind to a halt after Brexit if lorries had to spend just “minutes” undergoing customs checks, Philip Hammond admitted today.
  The Chancellor made the dire warning of the UK’s preparedness for life outside the EU’s customs union as he admitted there would be “significant disruptions to patterns of movements” at Dover if no Brexit deal was reached with Brussels.
  Appearing before the Lords Economic Affairs Committee this afternoon, Ha
  
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• Rebel MPs propose 136 changes to Brexit repeal bill

  12-09-2017 18:03 via ft.com
  Tories and Labour join forces to seek amendments over withdrawal from EU
  
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• Ministers asked to intervene in Edinburgh luxury hotel dispute

  12-09-2017 18:02
  City councillors reject plans to build ‘six-star’ hotel around grade-A listed Royal High School after conservationists’ objections
  The developers hoping to build a luxury hotel in one of Edinburgh’s most famous buildings have asked Scottish ministers to intervene after their plans were rejected by councillors.Urbanist Hotels and Duddingston House Properties want to build a “six-star” hotel in and around the former Royal High School, a grade A-listed neoclassic
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn attacks bosses over 'gig economy'

  12-09-2017 17:44 via bbc.co.uk
  The Labour leader tells the TUC conference that short-term contracts cause people "continuous worry".
  
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• Henry VIII powers and public sector pay – Politics Weekly podcast

  12-09-2017 17:43
  Anushka Asthana is joined by Ian Dunt, Rowena Mason, Jill Rutter and Randeep Ramesh to discuss the Henry VIII powers in the EU withdrawal bill and government plans to ease the public sector pay freezeThe first major piece of Brexit legislation to test the government’s strength in the Commons passed its second reading this week after a late-night parliamentary session. But talk of a working Brexit majority was soon cut short as MPs on all sides queued up to table amendments to the EU withdr
  
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• TUC conference delegates break into Jeremy Corbyn chant – video

  12-09-2017 17:39
  The Labour leader is met with cries of ‘oh, Jeremy Corbyn’ after his speech to the Trades Union Congress annual conference in Brighton on Tuesday. The chant became famous during the general election campaign earlier this year and is often deployed during Corbyn’s public appearances
  Len McCluskey: we could break law to strike
  Continue reading...
  
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• Amazon 'pays 11 times less corporation tax than traditional booksellers'

  12-09-2017 17:35
  New report follows recent evidence that a Bedford branch of Waterstones pays business rates 17 times higher than a nearby business unit of the web giantThe UK’s bookshops pay 11 times what Amazon does in corporation tax, according to a report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research.The Bookselling Britain report was unveiled at the Booksellers Association’s annual conference in Birmingham on Tuesday, revealing that bookshops contribute an estimated £540m to the UK e
  
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• Boris Johnson flies to Caribbean amid criticism over UK response

  12-09-2017 17:34
  Foreign secretary to visit British territories devastated by Hurricane Irma with government under fire over aid effortBoris Johnson, the UK foreign secretary, has bowed to political pressure to fly to the Caribbean to visit the British territories devastated by Hurricane Irma amid continuing criticism of the government’s response to the disaster.The Foreign Office said Johnson would spend “the coming days” in the Caribbean to see UK’s relief effort first-hand, less than a
  
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• Women Have Pointed Out Some Major Flaws With This Hillary Clinton-Inspired Hashtag To 'Amplify Women'

  12-09-2017 17:29
  
  A US TV writer’s social media campaign to support women and pay homage to Hillary Clinton has spectacularly backfired after he was accused of sexism.
  In a Twitter thread, Steve Marmel, who has worked on animated shows such as The Fairly OddParents and Family Guy, explained to his followers that he was only going to retweet women on the day Clinton released her newest book, What Happened, on her unsuccessful presidential campaign run against Donald Trump.Tomorrow, On 9/12, I will only
  
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• With this fetish for tickbox targets, no wonder Britain is losing teachers | Tricia Bracher

  12-09-2017 17:26
  A rigid and sterile culture is driving educators out of schools but ministers have closed their eyes to the crisisThe sociologist Helmut Schoeck described the “Spartan complex”, in which primitive man, envious of the apparently luxurious lot of his children, seeks to impose hardship upon the next generation in order that they may suffer as he did. As children across Britain settle into new classrooms with their new teachers, it is a useful idea to keep in mind. How else to explain th
  
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• Joyless, Insecure Jobs Damaging Brits' Mental Health, Says Jeremy Corbyn

  12-09-2017 17:17
  
  Joyless, insecure jobs are “worsening” the mental health crisis engulfing the UK, Jeremy Corbyn has said. 
  The Labour leader said so-called gig economy jobs were a “source of continuous worry and insecurity” for millions of people and were “in part” responsible for Brits’ mental wellbeing. 
  Speaking at the TUC annual conference in Brighton, Corbyn cited a Manchester University study, which found having no job was better for your mental he
  
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• British soldiers in court charged with terrorism offences

  12-09-2017 17:14 via ft.com
  Lance corporal and private accused of belonging to far-right neo-Nazi group
  
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• No Holyrood consent for Brexit bill 'at this time'

  12-09-2017 16:54 via bbc.co.uk
  The Scottish government will not put forward the EU Withdrawal Bill for Holyrood's consent in its current form.
  
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• Liam Fox hails Britain's arms exports at opening of weapons trade show

  12-09-2017 16:53
  International trade secretary says UK should celebrate being global leader at DSEI event in London dogged by protestsThe international trade secretary, Liam Fox, has mounted an unabashed defence of Britain’s arms industry on the opening day of one of the world’s biggest weapons trade exhibitions.Ignoring the large-scale protests outside the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) event at ExCel centre in the Docklands, east London, Fox hailed the UK arms export sector for
  
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• May Scraps Public Sector Pay Cap After Warnings From DUP MPs To Back Hard-Pressed Staff

  12-09-2017 16:40
  
  The Government caved to pressure to end the public sector pay freeze after the DUP made clear it was on the side of nurses, midwives and other workers, HuffPost UK can reveal.
  Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MPs signalled to ministers that they were going to back a Labour motion on Wednesday, which urges Theresa May to “end the public sector pay cap in the NHS”.
  May lost her Commons majority in the general election and is being propped up in power by a deal with the Northern Ireland
  
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• Theresa May faces multiple rebellions over EU withdrawal bill

  12-09-2017 16:31
  Conservative MPs back series of changes aimed at softening Brexit plan, raising possibility of defeats for PMTheresa May will face multiple rebellions over her EU withdrawal bill next month, as Conservative MPs table amendments aimed at softening the government’s Brexit plan. Tory MPs will challenge the use of Henry VIII powers, call for a vote on the final terms of Brexit and demand the retention of the charter of fundamental rights.Nine Conservative MPs, including Nicky Morgan, Dominic G
  
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• Birmingham council leader resigns over handling of bin strike

  12-09-2017 16:06 via ft.com
  John Clancy concedes he made mistakes in 10 week strike by rubbish collectors
  
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• I know the ‘great repeal bill’ has its flaws. But we need cooperation to improve it | Caroline Flint

  12-09-2017 16:01
  Although I campaigned for remain, I recognise that managing migration will require a tailor-made solution for the UK. And we need a legal basis for that• Caroline Flint is Labour MP for the Don ValleyIt seems I have adopted a rather controversial view about Brexit: that, perhaps, all the partisans – leavers and remainers – should bury our differences and work together. That’s proving more difficult than it should be. No one in politics likes to concede defeat, particu
  
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• Michael Fallon Says There Is No Plan For A 'No Deal' Brexit, But Brexit Department Says There Is

  12-09-2017 15:26
  
  Michael Fallon is facing demands to explain why he today said the government had no plan for what to do it ended up securing “no deal” with the EU - despite the Brexit department having previously insisted it did.
  The defence secretary told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme this morning:“We are working for a deal. We are not planning for no deal. We are working flat out for a deal.”But in August, Boris Johnson was slapped down by the Department for Exiting the Eur
  
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• 'So much for taking back control': readers on the EU withdrawal bill

  12-09-2017 15:24
  As the Brexit bill passed its first parliamentary hurdle, readers share their views on a bill described as ‘not fit for purpose’ by Sir Keir StarmerThe EU withdrawal bill passed its first Commons hurdle late on Monday night, with Theresa May hailing the vote as a “historic decision to back the will of the British people”. Related: Brexit bill: senior Conservatives warn May after vote for second readingContinue reading...
  
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• Unite boss calls for co-ordinated pay strikes

  12-09-2017 15:21 via bbc.co.uk
  Unite boss Len McCluskey says co-ordinated public sector strikes on pay are "very much on the cards".
  
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