Political news

• Local elections 2018: How to cast your vote

  02-05-2018 23:46 via bbc.co.uk
  As voters in England go to the polls in local elections, here's how to cast your vote.
  
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• Local elections 2018: What can't you do in a polling station?

  02-05-2018 23:45 via bbc.co.uk
  Voters in England are off to the polls for local elections. But what can and can't you do?
  
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• Sajid Javid Joins Brexiteers To Halt Theresa May’s Customs Plan

  02-05-2018 23:41
  Theresa May’s Brexit ‘war cabinet’ has failed to reach agreement on Britain’s customs arrangements after Brexit - with the Prime Minister facing resistance from senior members of her top team to the plans.The Prime Minister has now asked officials to draw up “revised proposals” after the ‘hard Brexiteers’ had the upper hand and her inner circle was unable to unite behind one of the two options on the table.Even new Cabinet minister Sajid Javid, who
  
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• Cambridge Analytica shuts down and blames ‘media siege’

  02-05-2018 22:26 via ft.com
  Firm at heart of major political campaigns hit by crisis over data leaks
  
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• Sajid Javid joins hard-Brexiters to derail PM on customs plan

  02-05-2018 22:18
  Inner cabinet fails to agree stance as home secretary opposes May’s proposalSajid Javid has joined hard-Brexiters to voice strong doubts about the prime minister’s favoured customs plan as her Brexit inner cabinet broke up without agreement on the government’s negotiating stance.Just days after replacing Amber Rudd as home secretary in the wake of the Windrush crisis, Javid staked out his independence from Theresa May by suggesting her favoured model of a “customs partner
  
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• Steve Bell on Rees-Mogg's Brexit missive to the PM – cartoon

  02-05-2018 21:59
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• Lord Patten says Brexit policy 'clueless and delinquent'

  02-05-2018 21:42 via bbc.co.uk
  Lord Patten warns peers of blundering into NI politics "with a can of petrol and a box of matches".
  
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• MPs vote against Windrush disclosures

  02-05-2018 21:36 via bbc.co.uk
  MPs vote against an opposition motion calling on the Home Office to reveal papers on Windrush migrants.
  
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• Government suffers 10th Lords defeat on EU withdrawal bill – as it happened

  02-05-2018 21:23
  The House of Lords has backed a move to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of IrelandJeremy Hunt launches inquiry into 450,000 missed breast cancer screenings
  PMQs verdict: Corbyn delivers broad attack but May scores on detailEarly evening summary 8.22pm BST This live blog is now closing down. 8.00pm BST In the Lords vote (see: 7.02pm), an analysis of the division list showed 19 Tory rebels backed the amendment, voting against the government. They included the former
  
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• In Brexit stronghold of Havering, immigration is less of an issue now

  02-05-2018 21:14
  Local election Labour candidates say crime and housing have moved up the list of concernsLast summer a row erupted over Havering council’s plan to split from the rest of London. The motion, tabled by a Ukip councillor and dubbed “Hexit”, was an attempt to solve the east London borough’s so-called “identity crisis”.“It was laughed out of the chamber,” says Fay Hough, the 30-year-old Labour candidate for the Rainham & Wennington ward in the upcom
  
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• MPs prepared to force Channel Islands and Isle of Man to reveal firms' owners

  02-05-2018 21:10
  Backbenchers behind tax haven vote want crown dependencies to also adopt measures MPs are prepared to look at ways of forcing the crown dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man to introduce public registers of company ownership if they are not willing to, in the wake of this week’s decision by parliament to insist that the overseas territories do so.Andrew Mitchell, a Conservative, and Labour’s Margaret Hodge want ministers to tell the crown dependencies to fall in lin
  
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• Tory ministers revolt against May over EU ‘customs partnership’

  02-05-2018 20:50 via ft.com
  Balance of power on Brexit ‘inner cabinet’ shifts with arrival of Sajid Javid
  
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• Tory ministers revolt against May on idea of ‘customs partnership’

  02-05-2018 20:50 via ft.com
  Balance of power on Brexit committee shifts with arrival of Javid
  
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• Cambridge Analytica To Shut Down After Facebook Scandal

  02-05-2018 20:23
  Scandal-hit political analysis firm Cambridge Analytica is closing down.The move comes after the company admitted making mistakes over the misuse of data harvested from Facebook accountsSCL Group, parent company of Cambridge Analytica, is closing in the wake of rising legal costs in the Facebook investigation and loss of clients.“The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company’s customers and suppliers,” the company’s statement said.“As a re
  
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• Tory MPs Block Release Of Windrush Papers From When Theresa May Was Home Secretary

  02-05-2018 20:16
  Conservative MPs have blocked attempts to get Home Office documents relating to the Windrush scandal released to Parliament.The Tories voted down a Labour motion calling for the handing over of all papers, correspondence and advice relating to the debacle - including emails and text messages - from 11 May 2010 up to 1 May 2018.If the move had been successful, it would have shown exactly what Prime Minster Theresa May knew about the scandal and when during her six years as Home Secretary.But the
  
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• Brexiteers tell Theresa May to drop customs partnership plan

  02-05-2018 19:39 via bbc.co.uk
  Senior ministers have met to try to thrash out the UK's new customs arrangements post-Brexit.
  
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• The Guardian view on May’s immigration regime: unjust, inhumane and incompetent | Editorial

  02-05-2018 19:35
  Changing language and personnel is not enough. It is time for a full inquiry and an end to the ‘hostile environment’Theresa May has made a fourth attempt to draw a line under the Windrush scandal and its brutal exposure of the incompetence, dishonesty and above all the cruelty of her government. It is as cynical as the previous attempts, and should prove similarly unsuccessful.At first, the prime minister hoped that ignoring the problem would make it go away. Then, as the outrage gre
  
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• Why do Conservative Eurosceptics fear a ‘customs partnership’?

  02-05-2018 19:33 via ft.com
  European Research Group issues 30-page document arguing against idea
  
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• We won’t have a hard Brexit. There aren’t enough MPs to back it | Martin Kettle

  02-05-2018 19:30
  The issue need not bring down Theresa May’s government, but Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sabre-rattling is a bluff she will have to callWith the wonderful benefit of hindsight, the great moments of political choice can take on a deceptive inevitability. Yet in real time, these moments that make or break governments – such as Sir Robert Peel’s repeal of the corn laws, which split the Tories for a generation – are more typically the hard-fought climax of processes that follow a
  
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• Former minister makes first speech as independent MSP

  02-05-2018 19:27 via bbc.co.uk
  Former minister Mark McDonald, who now sits as an independent MSP, gives his first Holyrood speech in six months.
  
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• Commons Speaker faces growing pressure over bullying claims

  02-05-2018 19:08 via ft.com
  Downing Street says allegations against Bercow ‘should be properly investigated’
  
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• Blah, blah, blah. Has PMQs ever felt so utterly pointless? | John Crace

  02-05-2018 18:34
  With Jeremy Corbyn failing to score easy goals on Windrush and the customs union, it was not even a hostile environmentIf we’re very lucky we’ll soon wake up to discover the past two years has been like the series finale of Dallas in which everything that had happened in previous episodes had merely been a bad dream. But until then we have to assume that the political leaders we have are real and treat them as such. Something that is getting harder by the day as they find new ways of
  
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• I Left The EDL After A Former Jihadist Showed Me How Wrong Hate And Division Is

  02-05-2018 18:24
  I don’t regret joining the EDL.It’s a bad group: it’s divisive, bitter, selfish, sometimes even boring. But it’s made me who I am: someone who spends every day challenging all types of extremism. It’s made me someone who can make a difference.My hometown is Lowestoft, in Suffolk. When I was growing up, nearly everyone in my area was white. That’s probably still true today. I lived on a council estate and left school at 16 to work long hours in a chicken factor
  
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• Tories Suspend Council Candidate After He Claimed 'Country Got Knickers In Twist' Over Racist Comment

  02-05-2018 18:08
  A would-be Tory councillor has been suspended after he appeared to suggest the UK “got its knickers in a twist” over an MP’s use of the racist term “n*****”. Hugh Sach, who was vying to get elected to Fareham Borough Council, has denied he wrote the 2017 Facebook post about Tory MP Anne Marie Morris’ racist outburst.Morris was suspended after HuffPost UK exclusively revealed how she described a no-deal Brexit as a “real n*****r in the woodpile&rdquo
  
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• Dating Without A Voice: 'I Don’t Have The Ability To ‘Chat Up’ A Woman'

  02-05-2018 18:06
  Dating is difficult for most of us. What do you say to chat someone up? What do you wear on the first date? How long is an acceptable length to time to wait before you ask for their Wi-fi password the morning after the night before? But, speaking from the personal experience of a bloke with a disability and no voice, I think that the dating game is much harder for people like me. After all, I’m 37 years old and have only had three serious relationships. And it’s not from a lack
  
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• Cate Blanchett Says Harvey Weinstein Acted Inappropriately Towards Her And Hopes He Goes To Jail

  02-05-2018 18:01
  Cate Blanchett has spoken out about her experiences with Harvey Weinstein, claiming that the movie producer did act inappropriately towards her. The actress has worked with Weinstein on numerous occasions, including ‘The Aviator’, which he was a producer on, and the Oscar-winning ‘Carol’, which was distributed by The Weinstein Company. During a new interview with Variety, Cate answered the question of, ‘Did he ever sexually harass you or act inappropriately?’,
  
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• Sajid Javid Echoing Slave Owners With His 'Compliant' Immigration Policy, Claims David Lammy

  02-05-2018 17:57
  Sajid Javid is using the language of slave owners and fascists by insisting illegal immigrants should be subject to a “compliant environment”, a Labour MP has claimed.In a passionate speech during a debate on the Windrush scandal on Wednesday afternoon, David Lammy launched an attack on the new Home Secretary’s choice of language when it comes to immigration issues.In his first Commons outing as Home Secretary on Monday, Javid said he was going to move away from the phrase &ldq
  
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• What Women Mean When We Say 'Men Are Trash'

  02-05-2018 17:54
  If you listen carefully on any given day, you’ll hear the words ‘men are trash’ like a gentle hum vibrating across the globe. An anthem if you will. A call to arms and a battle cry. A sign of solidarity even. Enter any room, social event, dinner party, creative gathering and you’ll hear the phrase from at least one corner of the room, and you’ll naturally gravitate towards that group of women because you immediately know you’ve found your tribe. It’s bas
  
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• What 'Men Are Trash' Actually Means

  02-05-2018 17:54
  If you listen carefully on any given day, you’ll hear the words ‘men are trash’ like a gentle hum vibrating across the globe. An anthem if you will. A call to arms and a battle cry. A sign of solidarity even. Enter any room, social event, dinner party, creative gathering and you’ll hear the phrase from at least one corner of the room, and you’ll naturally gravitate towards that group of women because you immediately know you’ve found your tribe. It’s bas
  
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• Running Was My Saviour During Post-Natal Depression

  02-05-2018 17:43
  After longing to be a mum for so long, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t fit in to motherhood. It felt like other women embraced it so easily in comparison. Battling with my own emotions left me in an extremely dark and lonely place. I suffered in silence for a long term with what I now know as post-natal depression.Everything came to a head in one pivotal moment. I remember the moment clear as day and it still haunts me - I was driving home from my spinning class, which I d
  
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• The Local Elections Are A Chance To Bring Much-Needed Trans Voices Into Our Politics

  02-05-2018 17:42
  At the 2014 local elections in Islington, I was proud to be elected to represent my community and to help make a difference for local people.It was an incredible privilege to receive the support of my neighbours, in the community I have called home for more than 20 years, and it meant all the more to me as an openly trans person.I’m what you might describe as a ‘reluctant politician’. I never thought I’d stand for election, let alone win. But my career in the NHS and my p
  
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• Policy goes here: a Tory leaflet template and other election gaffes

  02-05-2018 17:30
  Who would want to make campaign leaflets knowing social media users are ready to pounce?Every election agent’s dread is that their local election campaign material might make the headlines for all the wrong reasons. On the eve of polling day, here are some of the howlers pushed through letterboxes in the areas of UK that will be voting.Pride of place must go to the Conservatives in Ilford, who managed to print out and deliver the template for their leaflet, without adding in any of their p
  
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• The Red Dead Redemption 2 Trailer 3 Has Arrived, Watch It Here

  02-05-2018 17:29
  Rockstar Games has released a brand-new trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2, the highly-anticipated sequel to the original of the same name.The game, set at the very end of the period known as the Wild West, focuses on a criminal gang led by a man called Dutch.Dutch featured as the main villain in the 2010 original as you hunted him down as the ex-outlaw John Marston.Red Dead Redemption 2 is the prequel to that story and looks to document the rise of Dutch’s gang and then potentially the bet
  
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• Humour Is Civilised Aggression: Why Michelle Wolf Was Right

  02-05-2018 17:23
  Humour is civilised, especially when it’s pointed. When we (or most of us anyway) stopped the monkey business of using physical power to step on the heads of others to get to the top, or alternatively grooming them to gain favour, we started using language, creativity, and intellect instead. While the President of the United States has not yet achieved the developmental milestone of post-primate behaviour (he just stopped short of eating the dandruff he wiped from Macron’s shoulder),
  
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• Breast Cancer Symptoms, Diagnosis And Treatment Explained: Not Everyone Develops A Lump

  02-05-2018 17:20
  It’s thought one in eight women and one in 870 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. While it’s well-known that a lump in the breast could be a sign of the disease, there are many lesser-known symptoms that women (and indeed, men) should be aware of, as treatment is more successful if it’s detected early.SymptomsCancer Research UK’s health information officer, Fiona Osgun, said: “A lump isn’t the only symptom of breast
  
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• As the BNP vanishes, do the forces that built it remain?

  02-05-2018 17:04
  With the far-right party’s last councillor retiring in Lancashire, its fall from grace is complete - but local voters do not appear to have changed their mindsUnder normal circumstances, the retirement of a local councillor would not make national news, let alone prompt the release of a commemorative tea towel. Related: 'Austerity is causing huge damage': readers on the England local electionsContinue reading...
  
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• Doctors Mock Up Theresa May's 'Go Home' Vans To Protest Home Office Use Of NHS Data

  02-05-2018 16:43
  A replica of Theresa May’s controversial ‘go home’ vans has been used by doctors protesting the government’s use of NHS data in immigration probes.Dozens of healthcare professionals, including GPs, nurses and midwives, picketed the Home Office on Wednesday as part of a campaign to end a memorandum of understanding between the government and NHS Digital. It allows officials investigating illegal immigration to request confidential details obtained via medical records,
  
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• Theresa May cannot solve her customs union conundrum

  02-05-2018 16:34 via ft.com
  The UK prime minister does not have a Commons majority for either of her solutions
  
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• As Someone Who Identifies As Pansexual, This Is What Janelle Monáe Coming Out Means To Me

  02-05-2018 16:26
  Janelle Monáe is the name on everybody’s lips at the moment. Following the release of ‘Dirty Computer,’ her brand new visual-concept album (defined as an ‘EMOTION PICTURE’ – think Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade,’) she has recently appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, coming out to the world as Pansexual for the first time. But what does it mean for us when a celebrity comes out as queer - especially the kind of queer that maybe not ever
  
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• Breast cancer IT error may have cut short lives of up to 270 women

  02-05-2018 16:24 via ft.com
  Health secretary says estimated 450,000 women not called in for final scan
  
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• ‘The Wright Stuff’ Host Matthew Wright Explains His Reason For Quitting The Channel 5 Show

  02-05-2018 16:07
  Matthew Wright has revealed his reasons for quitting ‘The Wright Stuff’ after 18 years, explaining his decision during Wednesday’s (2 May) episode. Channel 5 announced Matthew’s departure a day prior, revealing that the show will carry on airing, potentially under a different name. Speaking to regular panellist Anne Diamond, he said: “You know better than most, the demands of getting up for a daytime show.”“I’m not going to equate it with digg
  
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• Theresa May announces Windrush inquiry

  02-05-2018 16:05 via ft.com
  UK prime minister clashes with Jeremy Corbyn over errors
  
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• Syria war: MoD admits civilian died in RAF strike on Islamic State

  02-05-2018 16:04 via bbc.co.uk
  RAF drone strike hit a man on a motorbike when he crossed a target area in Syria at the last minute.
  
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• MPs raise bullying claims with Bercow

  02-05-2018 16:02 via bbc.co.uk
  The Speaker is asked in the Commons about accusations of bullying made by his former private secretary.
  
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• The Government's Tax Haven Climbdown Means We're One Step Close To Fairness

  02-05-2018 16:01
  The news on Tuesday afternoon and evening was full of a UK Government climbdown on tax havens. Amid the Parliamentary drama and the claims and counter claims, what was it that actually happened? Why yesterday’s result mattersLet’s be clear. Yesterday’s result was a huge moment in the global fight for tax justice and transparency that has been waged by NGOs such as Tax Justice Network, Christian Aid, Transparency International and Global Witness for around 15 years. The glo
  
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• Facebook's 'Clear History' Tool Is A Basic Requirement For Your Online Privacy

  02-05-2018 15:56
  Facebook has unveiled its latest, and perhaps most powerful, privacy tool in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.It’s called ‘Clear History’ and in much the same way that you can delete your browsing history on Safari or Chrome it allows you to delete all the extra data that Facebook has on you even when you’re not logged in.“This feature will enable you to see the websites and apps that send us information when you use them, delete this information from you
  
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• PMQs: Rudd and May on threats to UK security

  02-05-2018 15:48 via bbc.co.uk
  Amber Rudd asks about the work of counter terrorist and emergency services in keeping the UK safe from terrorists.
  
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• Ironman Athlete Sharon Lang's Friends To Hold Tribute Run After Her Death In Marbella

  02-05-2018 15:47
  Friends of a Plymouth woman who died during a gruelling Ironman race in Marbella will run her “favourite route” on Sunday in tribute. Sharon Lang was competing in the 40-44 age group of the Ironman 70.3 Marbella on Sunday when she was found face down in the Mediterranean during the 1,900 metre (1.18 mile) opening swim.Attempts to resuscitate Lang were unsuccessful and she is said to have remained unconscious until she died on Monday at the Costa del Sol Hospital. Her death is be
  
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• Customs row punctures 'have-cake-and-eat-it' Brexit fantasy

  02-05-2018 15:37
  Focus on customs has cast doubt on PM’s compromise approach to EU exitAmid fierce cabinet squabbling over the minutiae of customs policy, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture: a battle to decide what kind of country the UK will be after Brexit.On the face of it, Wednesday’s Brexit sub-committee meeting provided little in the way of enlightenment. Downing Street once again deferred a decision over which of two customs proposals the UK will take into the next phase of negotiatio
  
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• Vegan Chocolate: Worth The Money Or A Choc Horror?

  02-05-2018 15:28
  What do you want from a chocolate bar? The milky creaminess that so perfectly compliments a cup of tea? The glorious spike of artificial sugars to see you through a mid-afternoon slump? Or maybe you just want it served to you in unlimited and vast quantities.Well, if you’re after the first two, Hotel Chocolat’s latest supermilk vegan chocolate bar is not for you - it features neither milk nor processed sweeteners, instead relying on 65% organic cocoa and coconut blossom nec
  
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