Political news

• Theresa May to offer stronger protection for EU citizens in Florence speech

  21-09-2017 23:55 via ft.com
  PM calls for EU to be ‘imaginative and creative’ in finding Brexit solutions
  
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• Theresa May offers stronger protection for EU citizens in Florence speech

  21-09-2017 23:55 via ft.com
  PM calls for EU to be ‘imaginative and creative’ in finding Brexit solutions
  
  Read more

• Theresa May Will Appeal For 'Imagination' From EU Leaders To Rescue Stalling Brexit Talks

  21-09-2017 23:31
  
  Theresa May will urge EU leaders to be “imaginative and creative” about a future trading deal with the UK in an appeal for progress on the stalling Brexit talks.
  The Prime Minister will use a speech in Florence to remind the EU it is in “all of our interests” for the negotiations to succeed, ahead of the remaining 27 countries deciding whether to agree to move to the next stage of talks in October.
  Her words will come just a day after the EU’s chief negotiator warn
  
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• Government to pay £1.1m for Sir Edward Heath inquiry

  21-09-2017 21:16 via bbc.co.uk
  The former prime minister, who died 12 years ago, has been the subject of a two-year inquiry.
  
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• Ben Jennings on Theresa May's Brexit speech in Florence – cartoon

  21-09-2017 21:10
  Continue reading...
  
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• Theresa May to offer stronger protection for EU citizens

  21-09-2017 20:38 via ft.com
  Move on expat rights in Florence speech to try and end Brexit stalemate
  
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• Educating the young about trade unions | Letters

  21-09-2017 20:38
  Mary Sawyer of Unite in Schools says that educating students about the vital role of unions in an increasingly casualised world of work is essentialMichael Heaton (Letters, 17 July) called for the “basics of workers’ rights and the law” to be “explained to everyone before they start working”. For several years now at Unite in Schools we have run sessions with students and school leavers at hundreds of schools all over the country. We demystify trade unions, explain
  
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• Barnier tells May UK will have to obey EU rules during transition - politics as it happened

  21-09-2017 20:28
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happenMichel Barnier’s speech - SummaryAfternoon summary 7.28pm BSTWe’re going to close this blog for today. Thanks so much for joining us and for all your comments. Join us again tomorrow, which is set to be an interesting day with Theresa May making a landmark speech on the Brexit negotiations in Florence.6.58pm BSTThe Guardian has published an obituary for Sir Teddy Taylor, the former Tory MP and one of the most pr
  
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• Facebook strategist rejects PM's claim over extremist material

  21-09-2017 19:49
  Counter-terrorism expert says that, contrary to Theresa May’s assertion, technology companies are treating the problem of terrorist content seriouslyFacebook’s senior counter-terrorism strategist has dismissed Theresa May’s demand that the company should go “further and faster” to remove material created by terrorists and their supporters, describing the claim that it does not do enough as unhelpful.Artificial intelligence programs are being created to identify such
  
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• Sir Teddy Taylor, former MP and Eurosceptic, dies aged 80

  21-09-2017 19:37 via bbc.co.uk
  The Tory Eurosceptic began his political career in Glasgow and became MP for Southend East in 1979.
  
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• Sir Teddy Taylor obituary

  21-09-2017 19:28
  Conservative MP and Europhobe whose record of dissent confined him to the backbenches for most of his long parliamentary careerThe former Conservative MP Sir Teddy Taylor, who has died aged 80, was not just a Eurosceptic but a Europhobe; almost a single-issue politician defined by his passionate and lifelong opposition to the European Union. Admirers warmed to his eloquent, quickfire attacks on the European project, but to others he seemed obsessive, and in 1996 he admitted: “I am the bigg
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn: Labour is now the mainstream, with Tories in disarray

  21-09-2017 19:23
  Exclusive: Labour leader says his party goes into its conference preparing for another election and with plans to unseat several ministers Jeremy Corbyn has accused Theresa May of presiding over “a government in disarray” and declared that the Labour party, revitalised under his leadership, now represents the mainstream of British politics.Speaking before his party’s first conference since the Conservatives lost their majority, Corbyn said Boris Johnson’s recent Brexit in
  
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• Almost 10,000 EU health workers have quit NHS since Brexit vote

  21-09-2017 19:16
  Staff losses will intensify recruitment problems at health service, which now has 40,000 vacant nursing postsAround 10,000 EU nationals have quit the NHS since the Brexit referendum, it has emerged.NHS Digital, the agency that collects data on the health service, found that in the 12 months to June, 9,832 EU doctors, nurses and support staff had left, with more believed to have followed in the past three months. Continue reading...
  
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• Sadiq Khan to address Labour conference, Corbyn confirms

  21-09-2017 18:59 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour leader says the London mayor will speak in Brighton, after reports he would not get a slot.
  
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• Brexit Briefing: Speech Impediment

  21-09-2017 18:52
  
   
  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) Boris Got The Attention He’d Been CravingHe’d been quiet recently, but Boris Johnson made sure he was front and centre of British politics last week with a 4,000 word article on Brexit
  
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• Last-Minute Labour Conference Shake-Up Avoids Sadiq Khan Snub - But Still No Slot For Andy Burnham

  21-09-2017 18:44
  
  Sadiq Khan will speak at Labour conference as part of a last-minute shake-up of the agenda - but his Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham will not. 
  Senior figures from Jeremy Corbyn’s team confirmed the London Mayor has a slot on the bill at next week’s conference in Brighton, following weeks of criticism the powerful city mayors were being sidelined. 
  HuffPost UK understands Burnham is still being kept off the bill, however, despite the Greater Manchester Mayor warning th
  
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• Absence Of Women On Welsh Select Committee Was 'Admin Error', MP Says

  21-09-2017 18:14
  
  A total absence of women on a select committee was down to an administrative error, an MP has said.
  Labour’s Anna McMorrin, who was elected in Cardiff North for the first time in 2017, was told she would become a member of the Welsh Affairs selection committee back in July - but due to a processing mistake she was left off the list.
  The committee was one of two with no female members - along with science and technology - a situation many MPs said was “unacceptable”.
  McMorrin,
  
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• Theresa May can’t outsource counter-terrorism to Silicon Valley | Alia Brahimi

  21-09-2017 17:38
  Will a reduction of extremist content online really reduce the terror threat while catastrophic conditions persist in Syria, Iraq and Libya?Theresa May called on technology companies to go “further and faster” in taking down extremist content at the UN on Wednesday. “Ultimately it is not just the terrorists themselves who we need to defeat,” the British prime minister said. “It is the extremist ideologies that fuel them.”The proliferation of extremist material
  
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• EU tells Britain to 'settle the accounts' and speed up Brexit progress

  21-09-2017 17:30
  Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier says he asks why there is still major uncertainty over UK’s approach on key issuesThe EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has issued a fresh warning that Britain must “settle the accounts” and speed up the pace of negotiations if it wants a free trade deal when it leaves the bloc. Related: Article 127: the obscure clause that could deliver a soft Brexit | Jonathan LisContinue reading...
  
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• Irish border data underlines huge task facing Brexit negotiators

  21-09-2017 16:53
  Official analysis shows scale of potential disruption from hard border, finding there were more than 110m crossings last yearThe scale of the difficulties facing Brexit negotiators in disentangling the border between Britain and Ireland has been highlighted by new data showing there were more than 110m border crossings between the two last year.An official analysis by British and Irish statisticians found there were an estimated 375,900 Irish-born people living in the UK and 277,200 UK-born peop
  
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• What to expect

  21-09-2017 16:37 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour is meeting in Brighton for its first conference since its surprise general election result.
  
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• Battersea Launches Search For Its 2017 'Purr Minister' - The Best Cat In Westminster

  21-09-2017 16:35
  
  It’s the election everyone has been waiting for - Battersea Dogs and Cats Home has launched its search for the best cat in Westminster.
  While Whitehall moggies Larry and Palmerston already spend a lot of time in the spotlight in their chief mouser roles, the rescue they both came from wants to give other political pets a chance to shine.
  MPs and peers are being urged to put their furry friends forward for Purr Minister 2017 - a glittering accolade swiped last year by Pixie and Smudge, own
  
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• A new cycling law won't make roads safer and could postpone laws that could | Peter Walker

  21-09-2017 16:35
  Of the about 400 pedestrians killed a year in the UK an average of just two are hit by a bike. Enforcing speeding limits on the other hand could help prevent 250 deathsSo there is to be an “urgent” review into whether the law should be changed to target dangerous cycling. This follows a campaign by Matt Briggs, whose wife, Kim, was killed when she was struck by a bike ridden by the now-jailed Charlie Alliston.The first thing to stress is that I understand completely why Matt Briggs f
  
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• Anti-Semitic abuse vote from Labour's national executive committee

  21-09-2017 16:31 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour's NEC passed a proposal for tougher action against anti-Semitism, to be put to next week's conference.
  
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• Age of May, Corbyn, Cable, Churchill, Merkel and Putin

  21-09-2017 16:28 via bbc.co.uk
  The average age of the three biggest UK-wide party leaders now 67.
  
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• Theresa May to make ‘constructive’ offer to EU on Brexit

  21-09-2017 16:13 via ft.com
  Prime minister briefs cabinet colleagues ahead of keynote speech in Florence
  
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• Italy PM to meet Barnier before May’s Florence address

  21-09-2017 15:40 via ft.com
  Rome session comes as Downing St attempts to sidestep EU’s Brexit negotiator
  
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• Labour party's tensions between left and right in focus in Brighton

  21-09-2017 15:31
  New-found dominance of the left marks huge turnaround for a constituency party long dominated by the right in city hosting conferenceGreg Hadfield is as well placed as anyone to offer up a judgment on the upheaval in the Brighton Labour party over the past year, having been in the thick of it. He was overwhelmingly elected secretary of the constituency party in July last year, but the election was declared void five days later and he found himself suspended five months after that.But that was th
  
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• UK to diverge from EU on financial services rules after Brexit

  21-09-2017 15:29 via ft.com
  Ministers say long term competitive advantage for sector involves discrete regulation
  
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• An insurgent force for good – that’s our vision for the Green party | Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley

  21-09-2017 15:21
  Our party conference will address the political challenge of how to collectively design a future where we can all thrive – and have a larger lifeThe hurricanes battering the Caribbean are a deadly reminder of the immense force of nature. They show with stark clarity what happens when those with the most power fail to protect those with the least, and when those with the greatest ability to tackle the growing threat of climate breakdown shirk their responsibility to those who face its worst
  
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• The wrong sort of voter? There’s no such thing, AC Grayling | Giles Fraser: Loose canon

  21-09-2017 14:48
  Grayling revives a fear of the mob that’s as old as Plato. Brexit convinced our elite that ordinary people were not intelligent enough to know what’s best for themPlato famously insisted that the ideal society should be run by philosophers. Just as the master of a ship must be an expert in the craft of navigation, so too the master of the good society must be an expert in the craft of good governance. And just as you shouldn’t allow any old Tom, Dick or Harry to become the mast
  
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• Sadiq Khan to speak at Labour conference after party rethink

  21-09-2017 14:33
  London mayor initially denied chance to address the floor when leadership decided to allow more time for members to speakSadiq Khan has finally secured a speaking slot at Labour conference next week after a party committee overruled a previous decision that he would be blocked from the programme.The London mayor will now have to start writing a last-minute speech after the conference arrangements committee (CAC) managed to secure him a slot. Continue reading...
  
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• UK businesses book out Labour conference event

  21-09-2017 14:26 via ft.com
  Executives eager to discover what a Corbyn government would mean for them
  
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• A focus on competitiveness

  21-09-2017 14:07 via ft.com
  Saudi Aramco will test the financial regulator’s City of London policies
  
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• Article 127: the obscure clause that could deliver a soft Brexit | Jonathan Lis

  21-09-2017 13:58
  For MPs concerned about the impact on the economy, article 127 on EEA exit is an opportunity: if parliament wishes to avoid hard Brexit, it could be keyAs the government continues its mission to pull Britain out of the single market at apparently any cost, the last hope for remainers and soft Brexiters could lie in the least glamorous and most surprising of places: article 127 of the 1994 European Economic Area (EEA) agreement. This obscure legal clause could, indeed, be all that stands between
  
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• Martin Amis: Brexit 'a denial of British decline'

  21-09-2017 13:39 via bbc.co.uk
  Novelist Martin Amis says he's as depressed as his friend Ian McEwan about Brexit
  
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• Guy Verhofstadt Ridicules Boris Johnson For Attacking Young People Who Want To Be European

  21-09-2017 13:33
  
  Guy Verhofstadt has ridiculed Boris Johnson for talking “nonsense” after the foreign secretary accused young British people who wanted to keep their European identity of having “split allegiances”.
  The European Parliament’s lead Brexit spokesman told the Irish parliament on Thursday morning it was possible for people to “feel English, British and European at the same time”.
  Johnson used his lengthy column in The Daily Telegraph last week to attack
  
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• Russell Brand: If I helped Jeremy Corbyn that's great

  21-09-2017 13:29 via bbc.co.uk
  Comedian and actor Russell Brand on the rise of the Labour leader and why the UK voted for Brexit.
  
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• EU Brexit negotiator attacks Boris Johnson's 'old-fashioned' views on identity

  21-09-2017 13:26
  Guy Verhofstadt responds to UK foreign secretary’s criticism of young voters who feel allegiance to EuropeThe European parliament’s Brexit negotiator has launched a scathing attack on Boris Johnson, saying his recent criticism of young voters who feel allegiance to Europe was “old-fashioned” and “nonsense”.Guy Verhofstadt told a special meeting of three committees in the Irish parliament that it was perfectly possible to feel European while at the same time fe
  
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• All The Best Jokes About Donald Trump's Made-Up 'Nambia'

  21-09-2017 13:23
  
  Donald Trump managed to offend an entire continent during a speech at a UN lunch with African leaders when he praised health care advancements in the non-existant country of Nambia.Trump, at a lunch with African leaders, refers to the non-existent country of "Nambia." pic.twitter.com/N8megnC1Xi— David Mack (@davidmackau) September 20, 2017
  The mystical place quickly began trending on Twitter as users set about bringing their wittiest jokes to the table.
  Here are some of the best:Can't
  
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• House of Lords rejects 'couch potato peers' allegation

  21-09-2017 13:13 via bbc.co.uk
  The House of Lords dismisses the Electoral Reform Society's allegations of a "something for nothing culture".
  
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• Labour will hold a winning card if it harnesses the potential of its members | Emina Ibrahim

  21-09-2017 12:53
  It’s right that members should get more of a say in choosing leadership candidates. To win an election, the party must be inclusive and empoweringDemocracy is widely viewed as the only legitimate form of government. We all so often praise democratic organisations and pour scorn on centralised elites. It is an idea that is seen as a universal good. Except, for some reason, within the Labour party, where efforts to democratise internal elections have proved to be somewhat controversial.With
  
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• With a liar like Boris Johnson as foreign secretary how can Europe trust Britain? | Joris Luyendijk

  21-09-2017 12:33
  The UK depends upon its reputation for honesty, fairness and respect for the law. Johnson’s Brexit bill pronouncements are testing anglophiles’ patienceTo get a sense of where the UK’s reputation in the rest of Europe is heading, go to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) website and type in the name of the British foreign minister. Then think of what an ordinary German reader will make of these search results:“How Boris Johnson makes a fool of himself in an interview
  
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• Nationalisation

  21-09-2017 12:17 via bbc.co.uk
  Jeremy Corbyn may have put the nationalisation debate back on the table, but what might it mean in practice?
  
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• May's Florence speech can't hide her Brexit indecision

  21-09-2017 12:01
  
  The government's incompetence has been on full display in recent weeks
  
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• Remove society’s safety net and what do we get? Disabled toddlers in dirty clothes | Frances Ryan

  21-09-2017 11:40
  The coalition government abolished the social fund in 2013. People such as Kirsty and her family now have to fend for themselves in a crisisThe new washing machine sitting in Kirsty’s kitchen is worth its weight in gold. In their council house in Manchester, Kirsty, 25, is caring for her two young boys – four-year-old disabled Keaton and three-year-old Braydon. Keaton was born with end-stage renal failure and it’s gruelling on him and the family: years of dialysis, multiple ope
  
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• Bespoke or off-the-peg

  21-09-2017 11:29 via bbc.co.uk
  There's more and more talk about a Brexit transition period - but no agreement what it might look like.
  
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• May humiliated on world stage as Brexit bites

  21-09-2017 11:20
  
  May's speech to an empty UN hall showed how much Britain's status in the world has fallen
  
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• Samim Bigzad: Asylum seeker criticises home secretary

  21-09-2017 10:38 via bbc.co.uk
  Amber Rudd is criticised by an asylum seeker flown to Afghanistan against a High Court order.
  
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• Spinning the numbers: How politicians pull the wool over your eyes

  21-09-2017 10:21
  
  Your guide to deciphering the truth from the spin
  
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