Political news

• Labour’s Brighton Pavilion Backdrop Mistaken For A Mosque By Angry Twitter

  25-09-2017 22:18
  
  The Labour Party is holding its annual conference in the seaside city of Brighton, a long-standing destination for party political jamborees.
  It’s been a fascinating few days so far, marked by the rise of the party’s left-wing, Corbyn worshipping and dodging Brexit, the biggest political issues facing the UK.
  Below is party veteran Dennis Skinner on the main conference stage knocking it out of the park as he hailed this year’s manifesto “the best since the Second World Wa
  
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• How the £60bn PFI market fell out of favour

  25-09-2017 20:54
  Schemes fund bridges, toll roads and hospitals from Manchester to Mumbai
  
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• Financial export success falls out of favour

  25-09-2017 20:54
  PFI schemes fund bridges, toll roads and hospitals from Manchester to Mumbai
  
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• Labour Can Win Overall Majority By Shifting To The Left In Scotland - Top Pollster

  25-09-2017 20:38
  
  Labour could win huge swathes of seats in Scotland and be “in overall majority territory” if it shifts to the left, a top pollster has said. 
  Damian Lyons Lowe, chief executive of Survation - the only polling company to accurately predict the General Election – said if a fresh vote was held tomorrow the SNP would regain six seats in Scotland as Nicola Sturgeon was enjoying a Brexit boost.
  But he said Scottish Labour will be “toast” if it fails to shake off its
  
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• Uber accuses TfL of ‘not giving it a chance’ to fix problems

  25-09-2017 20:00
  London’s City Hall lays blame on Uber, saying it ‘pursued path of non-cooperation’
  
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• EU asks UK for more progress before talks on Brexit transition

  25-09-2017 19:38
  Michel Barnier rejects Theresa May’s request for fast-tracked transition agreement
  
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• Brussels rejects call for speedy talks on transition

  25-09-2017 19:38
  Barnier insists on progress on financial settlement, Ireland and citizens’ rights
  
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• Brexit: Davis sees 'no excuse for standing in way of progress'

  25-09-2017 18:21 via bbc.co.uk
  David Davis says the UK has made "concrete proposals" as EU's Michel Barnier says clock is ticking.
  
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• Momentum steals limelight from Labour conference

  25-09-2017 18:15
  Grassroots group earns grudging respect from even its opponents in UK’s opposition party
  
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• GMB Union Leader Who Fought Uber Now Urges Public To Boycott Addison Lee, Ryanair, Amazon, Starbucks

  25-09-2017 18:08
  
  The leader of the trade union which stood up to Uber in London has urged the public to boycott taxi firm Addison Lee, as well as Ryanair, Amazon and Starbucks.
  GMB general secretary Tim Roache stepped up his attack on “unscrupulous” bosses after Addison Lee lost a court ruling that could force it to recognise its drivers as employees and pay them minimum wage and holiday pay.
  Central London Employment Tribunal ruled that three drivers, who claimed they earned the equivalent of about
  
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• North Korea Says Donald Trump's Latest Twitter Attack Is A 'Declaration Of War'

  25-09-2017 17:24
  
  North Korea’s foreign minister said US president Donald Trump’s latest statement was “a declaration of war” against his country.
  Speaking in New York on Monday, Ri Yong Ho said North Korea has the right to shoot down US warplanes as part of its right to self-defence under the United Nations charter.
  In his most recent outburst, Trump said North Korea “won’t be around long” as he renewed his “Rocket Man” jibe aimed at Kim Jong-Un. Just he
  
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• North Korea Says Donald Trump's Latest Attack Represents A 'Declaration Of War'

  25-09-2017 17:24
  
  North Korea’s foreign minister said US president Donald Trump’s latest statement was “a declaration of war” against his country.
  Speaking in New York on Monday, Ri Yong Ho said North Korea has the right to shoot down US warplanes as part of its right to self-defence under the United Nations charter.
  In his most recent outburst, Trump said North Korea “won’t be around long” as he renewed his “Rocket Man” jibe aimed at Kim Jong-Un. Just he
  
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• Sadiq Khan Demands Standing Ovation For London's Emergency Services

  25-09-2017 17:10
  
  Sadiq Khan demanded a standing ovation for emergency service workers today after “one of the darkest times in London’s recent history”.During an emotional speech at the Labour Party conference in Brighton, the Mayor of London paid tribute to who rushed to help when the Grenfell Tower fire broke out and as the capital endured four terror attacks.The Labour mayor said the city had seen “too much horror, too much suffering, too much loss” before he took aim at Tory aus
  
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• John McDonnell 'would bring existing PFI contracts in-house'

  25-09-2017 16:55 via bbc.co.uk
  Shadow chancellor John McDonnell says "wasteful" contracts will be brought back into public sector.
  
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• Ukip Promises 'Senior Member' From Far Right AfD Will Address Its Torquay Conference

  25-09-2017 16:40
  
  A “senior member” of the German far right AfD party will address Ukip’s conference, the party has announced, as ties between the two grow stronger.
  The AfD will send someone to address the Torquar event on Friday, Ukip said, just before the party announces its new leader, amid fears it could be the hardline, anti-Islam candidate Anne Marie Waters.
  AfD won 12.6 percent of the vote on Sunday and stands to take around 90 seats in the Bundestag, the first far right party to re
  
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• John McDonnell’s spending pledge borrows from New Labour

  25-09-2017 16:30
  The shadow chancellor promises more funds but fudges the politics, writes Sebastian Payne
  
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• Here's What Life Is Like For Some Of The People Donald Trump Just Banned From The US

  25-09-2017 16:22
  
  Human rights groups have slammed Donald Trump for his latest travel ban after the president slapped new restrictions on citizens from North Korea, Chad and Venezuela. 
  The proclamation by Trump yesterday means that eight countries are now on the United States’ travel ban list, joining five previously-restricted Muslim-majority countries. 
  The president’s first two travel orders sparked widespread condemnation and protests, as well as an on-going legal challenge. 
  But
  
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• New beat

  25-09-2017 16:08 via bbc.co.uk
  What is it like to be a direct entry police superintendent after 30 years in a different job?
  
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• 'You're Fired!' Watch As Dennis Skinner Lays Into Journalist

  25-09-2017 15:51
  
  Left-wing firebrand Dennis Skinner launched a passionate attack on the media today as he blasted vain and conceited journalists.
  Fresh from a well-received speech to delegates at Labour’s conference in Brighton, HuffPost UK caught up with the Bolsover MP as he walked round the exhibition hall.
  Skinner – known for his fiery rants at Tory MPs – did not hold back as he was quizzed on Labour’s plan to end PFI contracts if it wins power at the next election.
  The 85-year-old ha
  
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• Dennis Skinner's Labour Conference Speech Gets Standing Ovation

  25-09-2017 15:36
  
  Dennis Skinner was given a standing ovation at the Labour Conference on Monday after a rousing speech in front of the party faithful.
  The 85-year-old showed no signs of slowing down as he blasted zero-hours contracts and painted a rosy picture of Britain in 1945 when he “went down the pit and I worked with displaced persons”.
  Skinner said the Labour 2017 manifesto was “the best since the Second World War” and pushed for the Government to borrow more money to fund public
  
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• Labour party threatens to nationalise PFI contracts

  25-09-2017 15:26
  Shadow chancellor tells conference: ‘We’ll bring contracts and staff back in-house’
  
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• John McDonnell Conference Speech Snap Verdict: Big Mac Fries New Labour’s Private Sector Love Affair

  25-09-2017 15:04
  
  For a full 10 years in the Nineties and Naughties, Monday used to be Gordon Brown Day at Labour conference, as the Chancellor’s “big clunking fist” dominated the economic policy landscape. Now, Monday is Big Mac Day, and John McDonnell certainly went large as he fried New Labour’s love affair with the private sector.
  When McDonnell praised the Bakers’ Union ‘McStrikers’ in the conference hall, pausing to deliver them an ovation, his words were a very sh
  
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• What the German election means for the UK

  25-09-2017 14:42
  Merkel’s weakened position is unlikely to help May’s push for a softer line on Brexit
  
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• John McDonnell pledges shake-up of PFI at Labour conference

  25-09-2017 14:23
  Shadow chancellor vows to renationalise rail, water and energy
  
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• Grenfell Survivors Forced To Use Foodbanks As Council Accused Of 'Unprecedented Incompetence'

  25-09-2017 14:23
  
  Grenfell survivors have been forced to use foodbanks, Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad has revealed. 
  Speaking at a Labour Party fringe in Brighton, Dent Coad railed against Kensington and Chelsea council for “unprecedented incompetence” in failing to care for those affected by the fatal tower block blaze. 
  She said a “computer glitch” left one family unable to get cash from the council, meaning they had to go to a food bank to eat. 
  One disabled woman, she sai
  
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• NFL Protest: Players Explain Why They Took The Knee Or Linked Arms In Defiance Of Donald Trump

  25-09-2017 14:03
  
  NFL players have stood in solidarity ahead of their games in defiance of Donald Trump’s anti-protest criticism of athletes who kneel during the national anthem.
  Protests took place on Sunday at games across the US as well as in the UK where 27 players from the Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens took a knee ahead of their game at Wembley stadium - the most ever in a single NFL game, according to the Guardian.
  Players choosing to kneel on the ground instead of standing durin
  
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• AfD Policies That Will Alarm You - From Its Hostility To Islam To Why It Thinks Equal Pay Is 'Propaganda'

  25-09-2017 13:38
  
  The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party won around 90 seats in Germany’s Bundestag, with 12.6 percent of the vote in Sunday’s poll,the first far right group to enter the national parliament since 1945. 
  It was a remarkable rise for a party that was founded just four years ago.
  Some of its policies echo other more mainstream eurosceptic parties in other countries: an end to the Euro, fewer immigrants and a stronger military.But the party’s rhetoric is further right
  
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• Labour Would Scrap Tory PFI Deals, John McDonnell Tells Labour Conference

  25-09-2017 13:30
  
  Labour would scrap Tory private-finance deals for all public services, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has declared.
  Unveiling the surprise announcement at the party’s conference in Brighton, McDonnell vowed that no new PFI contracts would be agreed and existing ones would be brought “in-house”.
  However, the party was accused of blurring its pledge when it put out a press release after the speech saying that current deals would be ‘reviewed’ and brought back into t
  
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• Decoding Labour's Brexit position part 12,675

  25-09-2017 13:27
  
  Starmer's speech contained a lot of waffle but there were some crucial points
  
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• Theresa May’s choice is more binary than she admits

  25-09-2017 13:24
  Britain can either have its cake, or eat it
  
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• 'Disgraceful' Anti-Corbyn MPs Using Brexit As An Excuse To Undermine The Labour Leader, Conference Told

  25-09-2017 12:57
  
  Pro-EU MPs were accused of using Brexit as “disgraceful” attempt to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership during a fiery debate at Labour’s conference.
  Darryl Telles, a delegate from Hove, delivered a dressing-down to anti-Brexit campaigners in a passionate speech from the podium on Monday morning, as he urged members to respect democracy and accept the referendum result.
  But pro-EU campaigners fought back, with one member taking to the stage to accuse the party of lettin
  
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• 9 Times John Prescott's Sweary GMB Interview Was The Best TV Of 2017

  25-09-2017 12:33
  
  Lord Prescott has given one of the most entertaining interviews of recent times on Good Morning Britain, swearing three times as he fended off questions about the Labour Conference, strikes and Brexit.
  Hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid were reduced to hysterics multiple times during the fiery 15 minute encounter.
  But it wasn’t all chummy - Lord Prescott swore repeatedly, jabbed his finger in anger and even brought up the touchy subject of phone tapping
  Here are 9 incredible highlights an
  
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• 13 Times John Prescott's Sweary GMB Interview Was The Best TV Of 2017

  25-09-2017 12:33
  
  Lord Prescott has given one of the most entertaining interviews of recent times on Good Morning Britain, swearing three times as he fended off questions about the Labour Conference, strikes and Brexit.
  Hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid were reduced to hysterics multiple times during the fiery 15 minute encounter.
  But it wasn’t all chummy - Lord Prescott swore repeatedly, jabbed his finger in anger and even brought up the touchy subject of phone tapping
  Here are the highlights...
  Meanwhil
  
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• Revealed: Draft Labour NEC Statement On Brexit

  25-09-2017 12:21
  
  Allies of Jeremy Corbyn have moved to defuse Labour’s internal row over Brexit by drawing up a statement aimed at uniting the party’s different wings.
  A draft statement by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC), leaked to HuffPost UK, sets out plans for tariff-free trade with the EU and attacks the Tories for ‘whipping’ up anti-migrant sentiment.
  The statement, a version of which was emailed to members of the NEC in the early hours of Monday, was design
  
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• The Lib Dems have learned nothing

  25-09-2017 11:33
  
  The Lib Dems need to acknowledge just how bad their coalition deal was
  
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• Labour's Angela Rayner: Becoming A Teenage Mum Saved Me

  25-09-2017 11:04
  
  Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner says becoming a mum at 16 “saved her” and her tough upbringing meant she often went hungry at school.
  The Ashton-under-Lyne MP opened up about her struggles in early life at a Labour conference fringe event, hosted by Times Red Box editor Matt Chorley.
  She admitted when she told her parents she was pregnant with son Ryan at just 16, “they never expected me to amount to anything”.
  “I grew up on a council estate, my mum and da
  
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• The Waugh Zone Monday September 25, 2017

  25-09-2017 10:26
  
  1. IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR
  When the Momentum email arrived in inboxes of tens of thousands of Labour members late on Saturday night, anti-Brexit campaigners knew the game was up. Proving just how dominant it now is in the party, the grassroots movement told supporters not to pick controversial motions backing indefinite EU single market membership or free movement of migrants.
  So, here we are at a Labour conference and the big issue of our generation, Brexit, will be debated - but 
  
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• John McDonnell Says Labour Decision Not To Hold Conference Brexit Vote Is 'Democracy At Work'

  25-09-2017 10:20
  
  John McDonnell has defended the Labour Party’s decision not to hold a meaningful Brexit debate and vote at this year’s party conference in Brighton as “democracy at work”.
  The shadow chancellor this morning said it had been up to party members to decide whether to hold a vote on Labour’s position, not the leadership.
  It came after Labour’s election campaign coordinator Andrew Gywnne told HuffPost UK internal arguments over Brexit could tear Labour apart if it
  
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• Theresa May's 'hostile environment' turns doctors into immigration guards

  25-09-2017 10:14
  
  New NHS charging rules will see vulnerable people being denied vital care
  
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• Donald Trump Slaps Restrictions On North Korea As He Extends Controversial Travel Ban To Eight Countries

  25-09-2017 09:29
  
  Donald Trump has slapped new travel restrictions on citizens from North Korea, Venezuela and Chad, expanding his controversial travel ban to eight countries. 
  Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia remained on the list of affected countries in a proclamation issued by the president on Sunday night, while restrictions on citizens from Sudan were lifted. 
  Iraqi citizens will not be subject to travel prohibitions but will face enhanced scrutiny or vetting, Reuters reported. 
  The meas
  
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• Jared Kushner Used Private Email Account To Conduct White House Business

  25-09-2017 09:00
  
  Jared Kushner has been using a private email account to conduct official business - essentially the same thing Donald Trump repeatedly said Hillary Clinton should be jailed for during last year’s election campaign.
  The President’s son-in-law and close adviser used it to exchange messages with other administration officials, alongside an accredited White House account, Politico reported on Sunday.
  Politico said the emails included correspondence about media coverage, event planning an
  
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• UK businesses want answers on Brexit deal

  25-09-2017 05:02
  Executives on FT City Network express frustration at slow progress
  
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• HS2 warns it will not ‘work properly’ without Crossrail 2

  25-09-2017 05:02
  Overcrowded Euston could become choke point without new London link
  
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• FT City Network transcript: Business voice has to get better at getting its views across

  25-09-2017 05:02
  What are the prospects of a decent Brexit outcome?
  
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• FT City Network transcript: Business voice has to get better at being heard

  25-09-2017 05:02
  What are the prospects of a decent Brexit outcome?
  
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• The Government Is Making 'Staggering Cuts' To Addiction Services, Labour's Jon Ashworth Says

  25-09-2017 01:01
  
  Labour has accused the government of “dismantling the country’s public health system” after shocking figures revealed two thirds of councils have slashed their addiction prevention budgets this year. 
  Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth, who will appear alongside comedian Russell Brand at a party conference event discussing addiction and mental health, said some of the most vulnerable members of society are being failed. 
  The Leicester MP, who is himself the child o
  
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• Naomi Klein To Address Labour Party Conference With Praise For 'Transformative' Jeremy Corbyn

  25-09-2017 01:01
  
  Naomi Klein will address Labour’s annual conference in Brighton on Tuesday as the party’s guest international speaker.
  Ahead of her speech, the left-wing Canadian author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine said Jeremy Corbyn had “showed the world that a bold, transformative platform has the power to reshape the political map”
  “British voters will see for themselves that forming a Labour government rooted in that hopeful and urgent vision is not only possibl
  
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• Donald Trump Says His Criticism Of NFL Has 'Nothing' To Do With Race

  25-09-2017 00:24
  
  President Donald Trump insists his criticism of US NFL players who kneel during the national anthem is not racial in nature, despite the act being a protest against police brutality across the country.
  “This has nothing to do with race. I’ve never said anything about race,” Trump told reporters in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Sunday.
  He added: “I think the owners should do something about it. It’s very disrespectful to our flag and our country.” 
  
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