Political news

• Private landlords turning away Universal Credit claimants in droves

  17-10-2017 22:29
  
  Sixty-nine per cent of estate agents contacted said they had no landlords who would accept Universal Credit claimants
  
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• Neo-Nazi And National Front Organiser Kevin Wilshaw Quits The Far Right After Coming Out As Gay

  17-10-2017 22:22
  
  A well-known neo-Nazi and National Front organiser has come out as gay and opened up about his Jewish heritage after peddling hate for more than 40 years. 
  Despite being active within white supremacist groups as recently as the start of this year, Kevin Wilshaw announced he now is quitting the far-right after being subjected to abuse over his sexuality. 
  He told told Channel 4 News: “On one or two occasions in the recent past I’ve actually been the recipient of the ve
  
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• Steve Bell on Boris Johnson and Foreign Office questions – cartoon

  17-10-2017 21:42
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• With evidence of a failing Brexit, who needs prophecy? | Rafael Behr

  17-10-2017 21:35
  It’s tempting for remainers to predict doom, but much better to judge the project against all of the leavers’ broken promisesProphets of doom are not much fun to be around. Nobody wants a “Jeremiah next door”, which is how the Daily Mail recently described Philip Hammond’s relationship to Theresa May. The chancellor was accused of spooking the prime minister with Old Testament fire-and-brimstone economic forecasts. His refusal to spread the Good News about Brexit wa
  
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• Donald Trump is ripping up the alliances that keep the world safe. We must defend them | Natalie Nougayrède

  17-10-2017 20:24
  From the Iran deal to Unesco, the US president is undermining global cooperation. The fallout could be catastrophic, and Europe will not be immuneFive months ago, Donald Trump’s national security adviser HR McMaster penned a column attempting to persuade the world that “America first” did not mean “America alone”. Last week Trump took two decisions that landed the US in a strikingly lonely position: he pulled his country out of Unesco, and took a massive swipe at th
  
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• The Guardian view on the Brexit talks: it’s the economy, stupid | Editorial

  17-10-2017 20:13
  The economic skies are darkening over Britain. Theresa May has little alternative but to make concessions that will protect UK jobs and businessesWhen she became prime minister in 2016, Theresa May gave the impression of knowing exactly what kind of Brexit she wanted. In speeches and interviews, she made clear that Brexit was about breaking with the EU in line with the referendum, taking control of national borders, leaving European institutions including the court of justice, becoming a global
  
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• Woman Reveals How Five-Week Universal Credit Wait Almost Drove Her To Suicide

  17-10-2017 20:01
  
  A woman has revealed how a five-week wait to access benefits through the new Universal Credit almost drove her to suicide. 
  Maria Amos was left with no gas or electricity and no money to buy food when her seasonal job came to an end and she was told she would have to wait for more than a month before receiving any government cash. 
  The 56-year-old, from Wirral, Merseyside, told HuffPost UK she was so desperate she took the decision to end her own life - but was stopped from doing so by
  
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• UK accuses EU of deliberately stalling Brexit talks

  17-10-2017 19:59
  Comments by minister raise tensions ahead of Brussels summit
  
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• UK to begin registering EU nationals for 'settled status' by end of 2018

  17-10-2017 19:48
  Amber Rudd says Home Office’s default position will be to accept applications from 3 million EU citizens living in BritainThe registration of 3 million EU nationals in Britain will begin by the end of next year with the “default position” of the Home Office to accept applications, the home secretary has told MPs.Amber Rudd said 1,200 extra staff were to be recruited by next April to provide an “easy access” registration process she promised would be “completel
  
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• Home Office seeks 1,200 immigration workers before Brexit

  17-10-2017 19:35
  Rudd sets out plans for mass registration of 3m EU nationals in UK
  
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• Boris Johnson Attacks Corbyn Over 'Russia Today' - Weeks After His Own Father Was On The TV Channel

  17-10-2017 19:32
  
  Boris Johnson has attacked Jeremy Corbyn for his links to ‘Russia Today’ – just weeks after his own father and a string of Tory MPs appeared on the TV channel.
  The Foreign Secretary told the Commons that it was “an absolute scandal” that Labour MPs were “continuing to validate and legitimate” the “propaganda” put out by the Moscow-backed station.
  But his attempt to criticise the Labour leader backfired spectacularly when it emerged that his
  
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• Anthony Scaramucci's Firm Deletes Outrageous Poll About The Holocaust

  17-10-2017 19:18
  
  The new ‘media venture’ run by Donald Trump’s former communications chief has deleted a poll asking readers how many Jews they thought had been murdered during the Holocaust after sparking outrage.
  Anthony Scaramucci’s The Scaramucci Post, which was launched in September, was accused of pandering to Holocaust deniers by asking its 24,000-plus Twitter followers this question on Tuesday morning: 
  Around 6 millions Jews were systematically murdered during the
  
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• Inflation is back. And this time the effects could be much worse | Patrick Collinson

  17-10-2017 19:02
  Consumer prices are at a five-year high – and rising. If you’re young, you may be OK. For the rest of us, it could be a nightmareIn 1972 my father bought a home on the south coast of England for the shockingly high price of £11,500. His mortgage was £8,000, or a little under three times his salary. Within a few years, galloping inflation had sparked the near collapse of the British economy, a run on sterling, and an IMF bailout. Yet by 1980 the ravages of runaway 1970s pr
  
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• UK faces jump in Islamist terror threats, says MI5 head

  17-10-2017 19:01
  Tech groups under growing pressure to crack down on extremism online
  
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• Davis and Rudd contradict each other over whether 'no deal' Brexit 'unthinkable' - Politics live

  17-10-2017 18:43
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including David Davis’s Commons statement on Brexit and Boris Johnson taking Foreign Office questionsBoris Johnson at Foreign Office questions - SummaryDavid Davis’s Commons statement on Brexit - SummaryAfternoon summary 5.41pm BST 5.23pm BSTSpeaking at a news conference in Luxembourg, Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has denied that the EU is to blame for the slow pace of the Brexit tal
  
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• Coup for Anas Sarwar As Big City Mayors Back MSP For Scottish Labour Leader

  17-10-2017 18:29
  
  Anas Sarwar has won the support of two big city mayors in his bid to become Scottish Labour Leader. 
  In a sign the race could be a close-run affair, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and his Liverpool counterpart Steve Rotheram have thrown their weight behind the Glasgow MSP to succeed Kezia Dugdale.
  Most significant is securing the backing of Rotheram, a well-known ally of Jeremy Corbyn who most expected to back left-winger Richard Leonard.In their statement, the Manchester and Liverpool mayor
  
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• Irish central bank warns of Brexit no-deal disruption

  17-10-2017 17:59
  Papers show deep concern in Dublin for change to rules that underpin trade
  
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• After five rounds of Brexit talks, David Davis runs out of bluster | John Crace

  17-10-2017 17:51
  The Brexit secretary could barely bring himself to look at the opposition as he reported back on negotiationsSame time, same place, same speech. The humiliation is now almost complete. Five times David Davis has come back to the Commons to report on the progress of his talks with Michel Barnier, and on each occasion the Brexit secretary has had little to say. In the early days, he used to claim that the lack of progress was a sign of how much progress had been made, but now he has lost the will
  
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• Theresa May should resist the temptation of a ‘no deal’ Brexit

  17-10-2017 17:49
  The UK prime minister will face calls to walk out of talks, writes Sebastian Payne
  
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• Boris Johnson Calls Labour MPs On Kremlin-Backed Russia Today A 'Scandal'

  17-10-2017 17:47
  
  Boris Johnson accused Labour MPs who appear on the Kremlin-backed Russia Today channel of “legitimising propaganda” - and Labour MPs lined up to agree with him. 
  Shadow ministers appeared on the Kremlin-backed on RT - which has breached broadcasting rules on 14 occasions - more than 26 times since Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party. 
  The Foreign Secretary called it a “scandal”, telling the Commons: “If you study the output of Russia Today (…)
  
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• Andrew Neil Takes Aim At The Left And Labour Over Anti-Semitism

  17-10-2017 17:06
  
  Andrew Neil has launched a blistering attack on left-wing politics for letting anti-Semitism flourish.
  In a speech at a dinner held by the Holocaust Education Trust in London, the BBC presenter claimed that the left “gets away with it in the way that the anti-Semitism of the far right is not allowed to get away with it”.
  He said: “Now serious academic studies illustrate what I mean or provide the evidence. The study by the University of Oslo concluded that in Europe, the main r
  
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• OECD urges UK to seek ‘closest possible’ relationship with EU

  17-10-2017 17:03
  Paris-based organisation says reversal of Brexit would have positive impact on growth
  
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• Amber Rudd Says A No Deal Brexit Would Be 'Unthinkable'

  17-10-2017 17:00
  
  Amber Rudd has said it would be “unthinkable that there would be no deal” between the UK and the EU as yet another Cabinet split on Brexit emerged.
  The Home Secretary told a committee of MPs on Tuesday that while it was right for government to “make plans just in case” Brexit talks fail it was “highly unlikely”.
  Her comments came moments after Brexit Secretary David Davis told the Commons a no deal option had to be kept on the table.
  Davis also accused the EU
  
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• 'Face Reality!' Tories Turn On Each Other Over 'No Deal' Brexit Warnings

  17-10-2017 16:46
  
  Tory MPs were urged to face “reality” about the impact of ‘no deal’ on the UK by their own colleagues during a spiky Commons clash.
  Anti-Brexit Tory MPs Anna Soubry and Nicky Morgan delivered heckles to Leave campaigners in their own party as MPs debated the progress of the UK’s exit from the EU.
  Sitting in the back row of the Government benches, the pair took on former Cabinet minister Owen Paterson and ex-Pensions Minister Shailesh Vara after an update on the neg
  
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• Democracy counts: why the average political party lasts for only 43 years

  17-10-2017 16:25
  Britain has a tradition of long-established political groupings – but in other democratic countries, the left, right and centre constantly reinvent themselves. Vive la change?England’s – later Britain’s – parliamentary system has been around in some form since at least the 13th century. So it ought not to come as a surprise that our political parties have proved to be unusually durable, too.After all, the Conservative party emerged in its modern
  
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• From the continent, remainers’ sudden love for the EU looks like plain hypocrisy | Ragnar Weilandt

  17-10-2017 16:06
  Having sneered at the project for decades, many members of the anti-Brexit brigade are now draped in EU flags. Is this any better than those who voted out?If Britain’s remainers feel at home in the EU, they have a funny way of showing it. From a continental perspective, the undying love some remainers have been professing for Europe ever since the Brexit referendum is puzzling. Because for decades, politicians and commentators in Britain either ignored, misrepresented or sneered at the Eur
  
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• Two-child limit on benefit claims to be challenged in court

  17-10-2017 15:40
  Campaigners are granted permission to apply for judicial review of policy, which stops benefits being paid for more than two childrenThe government is facing a high court challenge to its two-child limit on benefit claims, the basis for the hugely controversial “rape clause” policy, it has emerged.
  Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) said it had been granted permission to seek a judicial review of the limit, which stops child tax credits or universal credits being paid for more than tw
  
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• New Bank of England members not ready for rate rise

  17-10-2017 15:12
  Dave Ramsden and Silvana Tenreyro cast doubt on possible rate rise next month
  
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• Reversing Brexit Would Give 'Significant' Boost To UK Economy, OECD Think Tank Suggests

  17-10-2017 14:37
  
  Britain’s economy would get a “significant” boost if Brexit was reversed in a second EU referendum, a leading global think tank has suggested.
  The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also warned that the UK’s growth would be hit hard if it quits the European Union without a trade deal.
  In its latest assessment of the UK economy, the OECD projected growth of just 1% for 2018 and forecast that things would get even worse if a “disorderly Bre
  
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• It’s all about the money

  17-10-2017 14:25
  Everyone in the EU wants the British to pay up for Brexit
  
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• Boris Johnson Again Told To Resign For Joking About 'Dead Bodies' In Libya

  17-10-2017 13:43
  
  Boris Johnson is facing new calls to resign after he again rejected demands to apologise for making a joke about “dead bodies” in Libya getting in the way of British business investment.
  The foreign secretary on Tuesday morning told MPs was actually his critics who were guilty of “trivialising the reality” of the situation in the North African country that has suffered a bloody civil war.
  SNP MP David Linden said: “As foreign secretary, he’s meant to be
  
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• Rising star: Ruth Davidson to appear on Great British Bake Off

  17-10-2017 13:32
  Scottish Conservative leader will take part in charity special of Channel 4 programme to raise money for Stand Up to CancerFresh from packing them in at the Conservative party conference, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson’s profile is set be further raised with an appearance on a celebrity episode of The Great British Bake Off.
  Davidson, beloved by the party faithful for overseeing a remarkable revival in Conservative fortunes in Scotland, will take part in a charity special of th
  
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• Britain is the party holding Brexit talks back

  17-10-2017 12:59
  Negotiations have still not moved on to discussing a post-Brexit transition period
  
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• Tom Watson Goes On Hunger Strike In Solidarity With Guantánamo Prisoners

  17-10-2017 12:49
  
  Tom Watson has gone on hunger strike to show solidarity with two Guantánamo Bay detainees being “slowly starved to death” by Donald Trump. 
  The Deputy Labour Leader has declared nothing but water will pass his lips because detainees Ahmed Rabbani and Khalid Qasim have gone without food for 26 days. 
  Watson demanded Theresa May use her influence to “save the lives” of Rabbani and Qasim, and has asked others to join him in his hunger strike.Prisoners i
  
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• British MEPs who voted to delay trade talks 'facing witch-hunt'

  17-10-2017 12:40
  European parliament’s Brexit coordinator attacks David Davis for calling for MEPs to be sacked ‘in national interest’Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, has condemned David Davis for running a “witch-hunt” against British MEPs who recently voted in favour of delaying trade talks because of insufficient progress in the negotiations.
  Davis, the UK’s Brexit secretary, has called – with the support of Theresa May – for
  
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• Trapped in an immigration nightmare: How a single Home Office error threw a couple's life into chaos

  17-10-2017 12:19
  
  It has never been easier to fall in love with someone of another nationality - and never been harder to start a life together.
  
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• Hillary Clinton Defends Theresa May Against Sexist Attacks On Her 'Kitten Heels'

  17-10-2017 12:17
  
  Theresa May is judged more “harshly” than male British politicians because she is a woman, Hillary Clinton has said.
  The former presidential candidate told BBC Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour on Tuesday that she “absolutely” had sympathy with the prime minister for the way she was branded “robotic” or “awkward”.
  “There is a really predominant double standard for women in politics. We are judged so much more harshly and with little margin
  
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• Britain urged to raise tax on self-employed and cut pension benefits

  17-10-2017 12:06
  Higher productivity key to improvement in UK living standards, says OECD
  
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• BBC Presenter Gives Brexiteer Dan Hannan History Lesson Over Britain's Colonial Past

  17-10-2017 11:51
  
  TV historian Dan Snow has blasted a leading Brexiteer for ignoring Britain’s colonial past in a row over free trade.
  Tory MEP Dan Hannan claims Britain became the “wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth” when it abolished trade tariffs in from the 1840s onwards.
  In his article for the Telegraph, Hannan dismisses the suggestion that Britain’s empire-building – which saw more than 400million people under its control in the 19th century – played a signific
  
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• Donald Trump Joked Mike Pence Wants To 'Hang All Gay People'

  17-10-2017 11:44
  
  Donald Trump regularly mocks his Vice-President’s religious beliefs according to in in-depth profile published this week and once told a legal scholar during a discussion on gay rights that he wants to “hang them all”.
  The Vanity Fair article gives a remarkable insight into Michael Pence, a man who publicly appears quiet and affable but is reported to be deeply ambitious and calculating.He is well-known for being religiously conservative but a “longtime associate&rdq
  
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• Boris Johnson Blocking Brexit Talks From Progressing, Says Angela Merkel Ally

  17-10-2017 11:34
  
  Boris Johnson is preventing Brexit talks from progressing, a close ally of Angela Merkel has said.
  Michael Fuchs, the vice chairman of the German chancellor’s CDU party, said the foreign secretary was blocking Theresa May from agreeing to pay the EU a financial settlement it would accept. 
  “I think Theresa May has to come up with fair proposals. At the moment it is not really that much. But I know there are internal problems. Whatever she’s offering, Boris Johnson is sayin
  
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• Hate Crime Reports Rose By 29% In Year Of Brexit Vote, Home Office Reveals

  17-10-2017 10:49
  
  The number of hate crimes recorded by police surged after the Brexit referendum to be 29% higher than the previous year, the biggest increase ever recorded.
  Police recorded 80,393 offences in 2016/2017, the Home Office revealed on Tuesday in figures that provide the first national picture of the number of incidents since the June referendum, in whose wake racist hate crime was reported to have risen.
  The increase is the biggest since the annual reports began in 2011/12.
  The peak came in July 201
  
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• Peers could be restricted to 15 years in Lords in drive to cut numbers

  17-10-2017 10:25
  Report on reducing membership also expected to recommend new appointments on ‘two out, one in’ basisNew peers could be restricted to sitting in the House of Lords for 15 years rather than being given life peerages, and appointed only on a “two out, one in” basis under plans to slash their number in the upper house.A report by the Lord Speaker’s committee is due to be published this month on reducing membership of the house, which has more than 800 peers who have no
  
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• The Waugh Zone Tuesday October 17, 2017

  17-10-2017 10:12
  
  1. ACCELERATOR PEDDLE
  Theresa May’s working ‘dinner’ with Brussels chiefs was more of a ‘high tea’, given it took place at 6.30pm local time, way before any self-respecting European would deign to dine. It ended with a swift joint statement from the PM and Jean-Claude Juncker that told us very little other than a willingness to “accelerate” Brexit talks in coming months.
  It seems EU chiefs were a bit bemused by the whole event. The word ‘accelerat
  
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• Have you spotted any anti-EU slogans?

  17-10-2017 09:15
  Whether it’s stickers on cars heading to the continent, or Jean-Claude Juncker costumes for Guy Fawkes night or Halloween, let us know if you’ve spotted any anti-EU products or literature
  As Theresa May heads to Brussels for a diplomacy blitz to try to convince key EU figures to move negotiations along, the odd sign of frustration with the Brexit process has been spotted this side of the channel. Related: Brussels trip by PM fails to unblock stalemate as both sides harden stanceConti
  
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• UK to tighten foreign investment rules on security concerns

  17-10-2017 09:08
  Takeovers of small businesses to be scrutinised under new government proposals
  
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• UK aims to tighten takeover rules on smaller defence companies

  17-10-2017 09:08
  Tech to be included in proposed interventions based on national security needs
  
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• Steve Bell's If … Philip Hammond and the cloud of uncertainty

  17-10-2017 07:00
  Continue reading...
  
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• UK media warns data rules are being used to stifle journalism

  17-10-2017 05:01
  News organisations concerned over attempts to remove articles from archives
  
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• UK media warn data rules used to stifle journalism

  17-10-2017 05:01
  News organisations concerned over attempts to remove articles from archives
  
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