Political news

• Millions of families on brink face deepest benefit cuts in years

  10-03-2018 23:00
  New study confirms that the poorest are being hit hardest by continuing austerityFamilies struggling to make ends meet will be hit by the biggest annual benefits cut for six years, according to a new analysis that exposes the impact of continuing austerity measures on the low paid.Chancellor Philip Hammond is preparing to give a stripped-down spring statement on Tuesday, where he is expected to boast of lower than expected borrowing figures. He will use them to suggest Britain has reached a &ldq
  
  Read more

• Sikh Student 'Told To Leave Rush Late Bar In Mansfield Because Of Turban'

  10-03-2018 22:50
  A Sikh student has said he is “heartbroken” after being asked to leave a bar in Mansfield because he was wearing a turban.Amrik Singh said he was told on Friday night that he was not allowed to stay in Rush Late Bar, in Nottinghamshire, because he refused to remove his religious headware.After the student, who recorded his conversation with staff, said that his turban is a religious requirement, he was told: “I didn’t think you were allowed to come in a pub and drink anyw
  
  Read more

• Labour pledges no purge of staff after bitter battle to fill top party post

  10-03-2018 22:00
  Contest for job of general secretary widens rift between Unite and MomentumAllies of Jeremy Corbyn’s preferred candidate to run the Labour party are attempting to calm concerns that her arrival will see a “clearout” of staff deemed insufficiently supportive of the Labour leader.Senior backers of Jennie Formby, the Unite union’s former political director and the frontrunner to become Labour’s new general secretary, are trying to reassure party staff that there are no
  
  Read more

• West Ham Match Against Burnley Descends Into Chaos As Fans Storm Pitch, Police Investigating

  10-03-2018 21:27
  Police are investigating allegations of assault after a Premier League football match descended into chaos on Saturday when fans stormed the pitch.The Football Association has “strongly condemned” the crowd disturbances during West Ham’s match against Burnley this afternoon.Scotland Yard has received two allegations of assault and West Ham said it has launched a “full and thorough investigation” into today’s events. During the match, which the Hammers los
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• ‘Astonished’ MPs told £817m has gone unspent in housing budget

  10-03-2018 20:35
  Ministers face demand for urgent answers over return of cash to TreasuryMPs are demanding an urgent explanation from ministers after being told that £817m allocated for desperately needed affordable housing and other projects in cash-strapped local authorities has been returned to the Treasury unspent.The surrender of the unused cash has astonished members of the cross-party housing, communities and local government select committee at a time when Theresa May has insisted housebuilding is
  
  Read more

• Time Is Running Out To Save Thousands Of Rohingya Refugees From Imminent Landslides And Flood Disaster

  10-03-2018 20:13
  Even before visiting the Bangladesh/Burma border area last week, my work as a member of the House of Commons International Development Committee meant I knew a fair amount about the scale of the Rohingya crisis. But nothing quite prepares you for the enormity of the humanitarian emergency that you see for yourself when you go there and which could, within weeks, still claim the lives of thousands of those who have managed to survive and escape the ethnic cleansing taking place in Burma/Myanmar i
  
  Read more

• Sergei Skripal: Russia links attempted murder to deaths of Kremlin enemies

  10-03-2018 19:29
  Embassy issues provocative tweet as Cobra meeting hears that case involves 250 counter-terror police and 200 witnessesRussia stepped up its war of words with Britain on Saturday as its embassy in London linked the attempted murder of double agent Sergei Skripal to the deaths of three exiled enemies of the Kremlin.The provocative move came as the home secretary, Amber Rudd, chaired a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee into how the investigation into the attack on Skripal and his daughter, Y
  
  Read more

• Don’t look to Len McCluskey and his sorry ilk to defend workers’ interests | Nick Cohen

  10-03-2018 19:01
  Never have our trade unions been so feeble, a reflection of their leaders’ contempt for their membersWe ought to be living in a stirring age of worker resistance. About four-fifths of the population think stronger trade unions are needed to shift the balance of power in the workplace. The settled opinion of the nation is that managers and rentiers are pocketing undeserved riches while millions live on low pay and at the mercy of their whims.All politics is underlaid by the hard fact that w
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Scottish Labour leader shifts party to the left

  10-03-2018 18:43 via ft.com
  Spring conference overshadowed by divisions over Brexit
  
  Read more

• Sergei Skripal Poisoning: More Than 240 Witnesses Identified In 'Substantial' Investigation

  10-03-2018 18:02
  The Home Secretary has revealed the scale of the counter terrorism investigation into the Russian spy poisoning, identifying more than 240 witnesses and 200 pieces of evidence.Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain in a “critical” condition, Amber Rudd said on Saturday, while Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who is still “seriously ill” after being first on the scene following the attack, has said he “does not consider himself a hero”.Rudd chaired a
  
  Read more

• Sergei Skripal Poisoning: More Than 200 Witnesses Identified In 'Substantial' Investigation

  10-03-2018 18:02
  The Home Secretary has revealed the scale of the counter terrorism investigation into the Russian spy poisoning, identifying more than 200 witnesses and 240 pieces of evidence.Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain in a “critical” condition, Amber Rudd said on Saturday, while Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who is still “seriously ill” after being first on the scene, has said he “does not consider himself a hero”.Rudd chaired a meeting of the govern
  
  Read more

• Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: question over delay in return of jailed British-Iranian

  10-03-2018 17:46
  Richard Ratcliffe asks foreign secretary why his wife is not back in UK after he received positive messages from Iran The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian dual citizen jailed in Iran for spying, has called on the foreign secretary to explain why she has not returned to Britain. Richard Ratcliffe said it was not clear what was delaying a return to the UK for his wife, who was convicted in 2016 and sentenced to five years in jail, after the head of the prison where she was
  
  Read more

• Damian Hinds blames staff turnover for school funding pressure

  10-03-2018 16:33
  School leaders express disbelief at education secretary’s attempt to put responsibility on teachers
  The education secretary faced discontent from headteachers in England over school funding as he sought to win over the profession by promising to reduce their workload and avoid introducing new exams or major reforms.In his first major speech since taking over the role in January, Damian Hinds acknowledged to the Association of School and College Leaders annual conference on Saturday that fu
  
  Read more

• Theresa May Protects DUP From Free School Meal Cuts Set To Hit England's Universal Credit Claimants

  10-03-2018 16:32
  Theresa May’s alliance with the DUP is facing fresh criticism after it emerged that the Government is set to protect Northern Ireland from free school meal cuts due to be imposed on poor children in England.Labour is staging a last-gasp Parliamentary vote next week to block changes to universal credit benefit thresholds that could see up to a million English youngsters denied eligibility for a free hot lunch.The cuts planned for England stand in sharp contrast to the situation in Northern
  
  Read more

• Why Donald Trump Might Want To Stop Bragging About The North Korea Talks

  10-03-2018 15:31
  For at least two decades, leaders in North Korea have been seeking a personal meeting with an American president. The rhetoric since Donald Trump took office made the likelihood of this happening an every-increasing distant reality - until now. The US President has derided Kim Jong-Un as a “maniac,” referred to him as “little rocket man” and threatened in a speech last year to “totally destroy” North Korea, a country of 26 million peop
  
  Read more

• Damian Hinds to cut workload to tackle teacher shortage

  10-03-2018 13:18 via bbc.co.uk
  Education secretary promises to make teaching more attractive - but faces challenges over funding.
  
  Read more

• Jim Davidson Admits Regret Over Using Homophobic ‘Shirt Lifter’ Slur

  10-03-2018 12:42
  Jim Davidson has admitted that the homophobic language he’s used in the past was a “mistake”.During an appearance on ‘Piers Morgan’s Life Stories’, which will air on ITV tonight (10 March), the 64-year-old comedian says he regrets using the gay slur ‘shirt lifter’ during an appearance on ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ in 2007.At them time the star was criticised after using the offensive phrase in front of fellow contestant Brian Dowling, who i
  
  Read more

• UK politics podcast

  10-03-2018 11:26 via ft.com
  Salisbury under attack and Hammond's offer on financial services
  
  Read more

• Liz Hurley’s Model Nephew Stabbed In ‘Brutal’ London Attack

  10-03-2018 11:11
  Liz Hurley’s model nephew is recovering after being stabbed in a London street.The actress is reported to have dashed back from the US after Miles Hurley was repeatedly knifed in Battersea, south London.The 21-year-old was attacked alongside another man in Nine Elms just before 9pm on Thursday after a row with a stranger.Liz took to Twitter to share the heartbreaking news, thanking fans for their support in what she described as an “appalling time” for the family.She wrote: &ld
  
  Read more

• NUJ Admits Its General Secretary Was Being Paid Less Than Her Deputy

  10-03-2018 11:05
  The National Union of Journalists has revealed details of a major gender pay discrepancy at the highest levels of its organisation in an edition of its monthly magazine devoted to the “growing fury over pay bias”.Under the seemingly positive headline of “NUJ leader gets 23% pay increase”, the short article details the salary increase of the group’s General Secretary, Michelle Stanistreet.It reads:“Michelle Stanistreet NUJ general secretary, has had a 23 p
  
  Read more

• Gender Pay Gap Of NUJ's Michelle Stanistreet Addressed In Union's Monthly Magazine

  10-03-2018 11:05
  The National Union of Journalists has revealed details of a major gender pay discrepancy at the highest levels of its organisation in an edition of its monthly magazine devoted to the “growing fury over pay bias”.Under the seemingly positive headline of “NUJ leader gets 23% pay increase”, the short article details the salary increase of the group’s General Secretary, Michelle Stanistreet.It reads:“Michelle Stanistreet NUJ general secretary, has had a 23 p
  
  Read more

• Why Is There Plastic In Tampons?

  10-03-2018 10:01
  Your time of the month can be fraught with discomfort and the environmental impact of your tampon is likely to be the furthest thing from your mind.But on UK beaches there are nine plastic tampon applicators found per kilometre, according to the Women’s Environmental Network. Single-use plastics are common across popular tampon brands in applicators, packaging and even inside the tampons. The plastics that are found include both polyethylene, the most common form of plastic, and polyp
  
  Read more

• Former miners wrongly told they owe thousands in tax

  10-03-2018 09:43 via bbc.co.uk
  Pensioners were told they owed as much as £50,000 after a letter was issued in error.
  
  Read more

• Daily Acts of Feminism: 5 Practical Ways To Support Women Everyday

  10-03-2018 09:01
  To mark International Women’s Day 2018, HuffPost UK has been considering the practical ways you can support women. Because while it’s great joining in the conversation and showing your support on 8 March, we can also make a real difference by actively backing women - personally and professionally - every single day.Making a habit of championing and empowering women can involve actions as small as congratulating a female colleague for a piece of work they’ve done, to s
  
  Read more

• Women Are 'Walking Taller' In City Where Cat-Calling Is A Crime

  10-03-2018 08:01
  Women are “walking taller” in a city where cat-calling and wolf-whistling are now against the law, campaigners say. For the last 18 months, police in Nottinghamshire have been recording incidents of street harassment as hate crime, in conjunction with Nottingham Women’s Centre and Nottingham Trent University.Women who experience unwanted advances, comments and gestures are urged to report incidents to officers, who can take action against the perpetrators and, where p
  
  Read more

• Career Advice To My Younger Self: 'Sometimes You Have to Go Sideways To Go Up'

  10-03-2018 08:01
  To celebrate International Women’s Day, women are sharing career advice. Here, we talk to HS1 chief exec Dyan Crowther. Catch-up with Katie Piper, entrepreneur Lana Elie, Google’s Marily Nika and MP Chi Onwurah.“Don’t try to be a man,” advises Dyan Crowther, 54, the first ever female managing director in UK rail history and currently the chief executive for HS1 high-speed rail, in charge of major international stations including St Pancras,
  
  Read more

• Theresa May is 'anti-police', says Liberal Democrat Ed Davey

  10-03-2018 07:00
  Party’s home affairs spokesman steps up attacks on PM over policing cuts before conference speechThe Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Ed Davey, has accused Theresa May of “bashing the police” as he sought to paint his party as the natural defenders of law and order.As Lib Dem members gather for their spring conference in Southport, Davey will use a speech on Saturday to step up the party’s attacks on the government over police cuts. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Salisbury under attack and Hammond's offer on financial

  10-03-2018 05:08 via ft.com
  The attempted murder of an ex-Russian spy in Salisbury has shocked the country.
  
  Read more

• Call for ‘free movement’ of racehorses after Brexit

  10-03-2018 05:00 via ft.com
  Industry wants free cross-border travel for British, Irish and French thoroughbreds
  
  Read more

Follow @political_UKnws on Twitter!