Political news

• Theresa May Under Fire For Refusing To Say She'd Vote For Brexit In Fresh Referendum

  10-10-2017 22:15
  
  A leading conservative commentator has said Theresa May is “unfit” to be Prime Minister after refusing to say she would vote for Brexit if there was a fresh referendum today.
  Speaking on LBC radio on Tuesday afternoon, the Prime Minister was pressed by presenter Iain Dale on whether she would switch the Remain vote she made in 2016 now that she was leading the UK out of the European Union. 
  She replied: “Well, I voted Remain for good reasons at the time, but circumstances
  
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• Catalan President Carles Puigdemont Signs Declaration Of Independence, But Will Seek Talks With Madrid

  10-10-2017 20:54
  
  The president of Catalonia has signed a document to declare independence from Spain, but the result of a controversial referendum has been put on hold in the hope of finding a solution through negotiation with Madrid.
  On Tuesday evening, Carles Puigdemont said he has a mandate to declare independence but proposes waiting “a few weeks” to encourage dialogue.He said: “I assume the mandate that Catalonia should become an independent state in the form of a republic...I propose sus
  
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• Brexit: Farmers' Incomes Will Be Slashed By Half If 'No Deal' With Brussels, Study Finds

  10-10-2017 20:44
  
  British farmers’ incomes will be halved if Theresa May fails to get a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, the agricultural industry’s own statutory advisory body has warned.
  In a stark message, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) forecast that farm incomes will plunge if the UK decides to unilaterally open its doors to low-cost foreign food importers.
  The board, which works under the auspices of Environment Secretary Michael Gove’s DEFRA department, said
  
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• Theresa May silent on how she would vote in second Brexit poll

  10-10-2017 20:24 via ft.com
  Radio interview risks upsetting both camps and re-opens issue of EU citizens’ rights
  
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• North Korea Hacks US-South Korean War Plans That Includes Kim Jong-Un Assassination

  10-10-2017 20:20
  
  Hackers from North Korea are reported to have stolen a large amount of military documents from South Korea, including a plan to assassinate North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un.
  Rhee Cheol-hee, a South Korean Democratic Party representative, said the information was stolen from his country’s defence ministry, citing information from unnamed defence officials, Yonhap News reported.
  The contents of about 80% of the data have not yet been identified, Yonhap reported, citing Rhee,
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon rallies SNP with call for public energy company

  10-10-2017 20:17 via ft.com
  Scottish first minister puts independence drive on back burner
  
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• Home Office will fail post-Brexit immigration challenge, MPs told

  10-10-2017 19:41 via ft.com
  Task requires huge increase in staff, training and technology, say former officials
  
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• Home Office cannot cope with Brexit challenge, say former officials

  10-10-2017 19:41 via ft.com
  Huge increase in staff, training and technology required
  
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• Theresa May Refuses To Guarantee Rights Of EU Citizens If There Is No Brexit Deal

  10-10-2017 19:22
  
  Theresa May has refused to guarantee the right of EU citizens to remain in the UK if she fails to secure a Brexit deal with Brussels.
  Speaking on LBC radio on Tuesday afternoon, the prime minister admitted “we don’t know what’s going to happen” to British citizens living in Europe in a no deal scenario.
  May also refused to reveal which way she would vote if another EU referendum was held today. “I voted ‘Remain’ for good reasons at the time,”&
  
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• Scottish independence slips into hibernation

  10-10-2017 19:20 via ft.com
  The SNP would be wise to turn its attention to pressing domestic issues
  
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• Brussels warns Brexit talks heading for point of no return

  10-10-2017 19:19 via ft.com
  UK Treasury starts drawing up plans for emergency ‘no-deal’ spending
  
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• Race Disparity Audit Sees Campaigners Demand End To 'Discriminatory' Mental Health Diagnosis

  10-10-2017 18:56
  
  Activists have called for a reform of “discriminatory” mental health diagnosis techniques after a major audit of race inequality indicated that black and mixed race women are more likely to suffer from mental health issues. 
  In the initial findings of the audit, launched by the government on Tuesday, data suggested significantly higher levels of “common mental disorders” among women from some ethnic groups.
  But race equality campaigners allege that this is down
  
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• Universal credit, SNP conference and the Green party – Politics Weekly podcast

  10-10-2017 18:46
  Heather Stewart is joined by Patrick Butler, Deven Ghelani and Chris Goulden to discuss the acceleration in the rollout of universal credit. Plus we hear from Severin Carrell at the SNP conference and the Green party co-leader Jonathan BartleyUniversal credit – the government’s flagship welfare policy – gets a major new rollout across the country this week. But is it fit for purpose? Could it end up harming the people it is supposed to help? And how did a system meant to simpli
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon Mocks Theresa May With Box Of Strepsils As She Outlines Bold Green Vision For Scotland

  10-10-2017 18:40
  
  SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon took a moment to mock Theresa May before unveiling a string of ambitious eco policies for Scotland at her party conference speech. 
  The First Minister held up a box of Strepsils and, referencing May’s disastrous conference speech in which the PM lost her voice, told delegates in Glasgow: “At the risk of tempting fate, I’ve come prepared.”
  Sturgeon went on to reveal the Scottish Government would set up a publicly-owned, not-for-profit green
  
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• UK highlights racial inequalities in pioneering audit

  10-10-2017 18:32 via ft.com
  Official research shows large disparity in arrest rates and civil service employment
  
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• Brexit Talks Set For Two More Months Of Stalemate, EU Chief Reveals

  10-10-2017 18:22
  
  Brexit talks could stall for a further two months the EU revealed today, undermining Theresa May’s claim she had moved the negotiations forward.
  European Council President Donald Tusk announced this afternoon he hoped the preliminary stage of the talks would be completed by December.
  The original timetable planned for the negotiations on citizens’ rights, the financial settlement and the Northern Ireland border to reach “sufficient progress” by the end of the October rou
  
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• NHS Has Not Been Asked To Plan For No Deal Brexit, Bosses Admit

  10-10-2017 17:40
  
  The NHS has no contingency plan in place for a no deal Brexit, bosses have admitted.
  Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, told Parliament’s health select committee the service had not been asked by the government to examine the potential impact of the UK leaving the EU without a trade deal in place.
  It comes as health secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed the NHS pay cap will be lifted, but was unable to rule out cutting health services to pay for increases to pay.
  Stevens said he did
  
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• Race Disparity Audit: Nine Statistics That Reveal Britain's Starkest Racial Inequalities

  10-10-2017 17:20
  
  Figures showing black men are nearly three times more likely to be arrested than white men, and black children three times more likely to be excluded from school, have been revealed in the Government’s first ever audit on race disparity.
  The troubling findings highlight the “uncomfortable truths” about racial inequality in areas including criminal justice, education and health.
  Prime Minister Theresa May has said the review’s purpose is to “shine a light o
  
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• Home Office 'Cannot Cope' With Brexit, Warns Former Immigration Enforcement Chief

  10-10-2017 17:00
  
  The Home Office cannot cope with Brexit unless the government gives the department more money, the former director of immigration enforcement has warned.
  David Wood, who stepped down from the post in 2014, said Conservative austerity measures which had seen resources at the department slashed would need to be reversed. 
  Appearing before the Commons home affairs committee on Tuesday afternoon, he was asked of the Home Office could deal with the immigration changes that Brexit would cause on
  
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• Home Office 'Can Not Cope' With Brexit, Warns Former Immigration Enforcement Chief

  10-10-2017 17:00
  
  The Home Office can not cope with Brexit unless the government gives the department more money, the former director of immigration enforcement has warned.
  David Wood, who stepped down from the post in 2014, said Conservative austerity measures which had seen resources at the department slashed would need to be reversed. 
  Appearing before the Commons home affairs committee on Tuesday afternoon, he was asked of the Home Office could deal with the immigration changes that Brexit would cause on
  
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• Legalise Cannabis Campaigners Spark Up Outside Parliament

  10-10-2017 16:44
  
  Cannabis was smoked just yards from MPs today as campaigners called for the drug to be legalised for medicinal use.
  Activists from the United Patients Alliance held a ‘cannabis tea party’ outside Parliament to highlight how the drug acts as pain relief for those with chronic and fatal illnesses.
  Currently, cannabis is banned from being used for medicinal purposes with the exception of a spray called Sativex.
  A number of activists sparked up joints as Labour MP Paul Flynn explained wh
  
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• Race Audit Highlighting Inequality Dismissed As 'Vacuous Guff'

  10-10-2017 15:55
  
  Theresa May’s racial disparity audit which details levels of inequality in the United Kingdom has been dismissed as “vacuous guff”.
  A new government Ethnicity Facts and Figures website published on Tuesday highlighted how people of different races are treated in areas including health, education, employment and the criminal justice system.
  But Labour said what really mattered was tackling inequalities not just listing them.
  Dawn Butler, the Shadow Secretary of State for Women
  
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• SNP Calls For Public Funding To The Monarchy To Be Slashed Because Ordinary People 'Are Being Shafted'

  10-10-2017 15:41
  
  Public funding for the Monarchy should be slashed because “ordinary people are being shafted by a rich elite”, the SNP has said. 
  Delegates at the party conference in Glasgow overwhelmingly backed a motion for the Sovereign Grant Act to be repealed and for the money to be spent on the “wider public good” instead. 
  Julie Hepburn, the SNP’s political education convener, said the Sovereign Grant is “basically the equivalent of the Royal Family winning t
  
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• Uber 'Testing Limits' On Driver Hours Amid Fears Over Safety

  10-10-2017 15:35
  
  Uber is testing the ability to log drivers out of its app if they have been working for more than 12 hours in a single day, as it battles to convince regulators it is a safe operator.
  The global ride-hailing app revealed the development plans during testimony in front of MPs on Tuesday as part of a probe into the so-called gig economy.
  Andrew Byrne, Uber’s head of public policy in Britain, said: “At the moment we call people if they are working long hours.
  “But we are... testi
  
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• Britain’s ‘heroic timeline’ to introduce new customs regime

  10-10-2017 15:31 via ft.com
  Government faces having to make major changes to how UK border operates in just two years
  
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• Race Disparity Audit Reveals Majority Of People In England Feel British Regardless Of Ethnicity

  10-10-2017 14:22
  
  The majority of people living in England feel strongly British regardless of their ethnicity, a major audit into race inequality has revealed. 
  A website launched by the government today showing how life can differ depending on race - apparently the first of its kind in the world - claims that almost every ethnic group in the England feels a strong sense of British identity. 
  Overall, 85% of the 7,343 people polled felt strongly that they belong to Britain. 
  But despite large dis
  
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• Boris Johnson and the dilemma of a dissident in your top team

  10-10-2017 14:10 via ft.com
  The foreign secretary would not survive undermining his leader in the business world
  
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• Mhairi Black Lashes Out At Jeremy Corbyn In Fiery Speech At SNP Conference

  10-10-2017 13:29
  
  SNP firebrand Mhairi Black has laid into Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn saying she is “disappointed” he didn’t pledge to reverse all Tory austerity. 
  The Paisley and Renfrewshire South MP called the UK a “sinking ship” and she is “so disappointed” in Corbyn for pledging to keep Trident, “turning a blind eye” to Welsh Labour hiking up tuition fees in Wales and planning to scrap just £2bn of Theresa May’s £9bn worth of cuts
  
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• What next for the Greens?

  10-10-2017 11:47 via bbc.co.uk
  Conference mood is optimistic despite a poor general election and Labour encroaching on its turf.
  
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• It's no surprise that black and asian women are hit hardest by austerity

  10-10-2017 11:28
  
  New report reveals the poorest BAME women are set for big drop in living standards
  
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• Retailers Warn (Again) Of Consumer Chaos After Brexit

  10-10-2017 11:24
  British retailers have warned once more that shelves could run bare and the consumer economy thrown into turmoil if no trade deal is struck with the EU after Brexit.
  Helen Dickinson, of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents UK retailers, responded to Theresa May’s trade plan to highlight the “cost” of a so-called “no-deal scenario” on imports and customs.
  She said:“The UK’s future trade policy is the most significant aspec
  
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• Overcoming loneliness: A refugee's journey

  10-10-2017 11:07
  
  From uncaring asylum officers to an indifferent or hostile media, Britain can be a cold place to seek refuge
  
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• The Waugh Zone Tuesday October 10, 2017

  10-10-2017 10:18
  
  1. END GAME
  Theresa May hosts another Cabinet today and after a week of talk of plots, reshuffles and Brexit backsliding, there will be more than a few anxious looks around the coffin-shaped table. Try as she might to get back onto her ‘burning injustices’ agenda, Brexit continues to dominate the domestic scene as she struggles with the perception she is held hostage by her warring fellow ministers and backbenches alike.
  May’s Commons statement yesterday was notable for severa
  
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• Kellyanne Conway Mocked For 'Completely Bonkers' Stance On Donald Trump's Tweets

  10-10-2017 10:06
  
  Kellyanne Conway has said Senator Bob’s Corker’s tweet calling the White House an “adult day care centre” was “incredibly irresponsible”.
  Appearing on Fox and Friends, she also implied it could hurt the US’s world standing as “world leaders see that”.
  At this point it should hardly need pointing out that Conway works for President Donald Trump who during his brief time in office has tweeted such gems as...
  Threatening A Country With
  
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• Mum Of Sophie Lancaster And Educating Manchester Star Among No2H8 Crime Awards Finalists

  10-10-2017 08:01
  
  The mum of Sophie Lancaster, a schoolboy TV star and a police detective dedicated to ending forced marriage are among those who will be honoured at an awards ceremony for those who fight hate crime.
  Winners of the #No2H8 Crime awards, supported by HuffPost UK, will be announced at a ceremony in London on Tuesday evening.
  Among the finalists are Sylvia Lancaster, who founded a charity in memory of daughter Sophie, who was killed in 2007 because of the way she dressed; and Jack Stanley, a schoolb
  
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• UK to delay selling down RBS stake until US case settled

  10-10-2017 05:07 via ft.com
  About £3bn in shares could be sold once bank clears mis-selling fine hurdle
  
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• NHS future precarious, says regulator

  10-10-2017 02:11 via bbc.co.uk
  Staff shortages and rising demand means standards are likely to slip, says England's regulator.
  
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• UK must take action on racial disparity, says Theresa May

  10-10-2017 02:07 via bbc.co.uk
  An audit of how public services treat ethnic minorities and white working class people is to be released.
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon to promise childcare provision 'unmatched' in UK

  10-10-2017 01:05 via bbc.co.uk
  The first minister will commit to funding an expansion of free childcare provision in Scotland by 2020.
  
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• Austerity Research Shows BME Households And Women Are Worst Hit - Proving Theresa May's Warning Right

  10-10-2017 01:02
  
  Years of Conservative-led austerity have had a “devastating” impact on black and minority ethnic (BME) women and households, the Government has been warned by a new report.
  The research found the poorest black households stand to lose an average of £8,400 a year - a fall in living standards of nearly a fifth - between 2010 and 2020.
  It calculated how cuts to services and benefits have hit households of different racial makeups since 2010 and projected where they would
  
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