Political news

• May appoints new peers despite calls to trim House of Lords

  18-05-2018 23:16 via ft.com
  Nine Tories appointed as critics say consensus on cutting back is being undermined
  
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• Windrush scandal: arrest of vulnerable 62-year-old is 'outrageous'

  18-05-2018 19:49
  MP David Lammy said the man had no knowledge of the alleged offence 20 years agoLabour MP David Lammy has accused the government of “outrageous” insensitivity after a vulnerable Windrush citizen was arrested for an alleged criminal offence 20 years ago after a Home Office meeting.The 62-year-old man, who has asked to remain anonymous, came to the UK from Jamaica in 1976. He was arrested earlier this week when he went to get his biometric card at Lunar House, the Home Office visas and
  
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• UK in new crackdown on tax avoidance by contractors

  18-05-2018 19:48 via ft.com
  Treasury proposes to move against bogus self-employment in the private sector
  
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• PM backs investigation into Bercow's alleged 'stupid woman' remark

  18-05-2018 19:03
  Theresa May’s spokesman says ‘unacceptable’ comment must be looked at if complaint madeTheresa May has said there should be an investigation if a complaint is made over allegations that John Bercow, the House of Commons Speaker, called Andrea Leadsom a “stupid woman” in heated exchanges after prime minister’s questions.The prime minister’s spokesman said: “We’ve seen the alleged remarks and clearly the prime minister thinks they are unaccepta
  
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• Pickles and Lilley among former Tory ministers to get peerages

  18-05-2018 18:59 via bbc.co.uk
  Sir Eric Pickles and Peter Lilley are among nine Tories nominated to be elevated to House of Lords.
  
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• May names nine new Tory peers to bolster party after Brexit defeats

  18-05-2018 18:42
  Timing of announcement prompts claims that No 10 is using royal wedding to hide itTheresa May has on the eve of the royal wedding nominated nine new Tory peers, including the former cabinet ministers Sir Eric Pickles and Peter Lilley and handed one to Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party as she tries to bolster her party’s fragile position in the House of Lords.Four other former Tory MPs are to be elevated to a chamber which has defied May’s government on 15 occasions o
  
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• For the UK to survive, it needs to be less London-centric    

  18-05-2018 18:18 via ft.com
  More care and attention is needed to protect Britain’s other political union
  
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• Welsh Tories urge parties to oust Labour

  18-05-2018 18:17 via bbc.co.uk
  Welsh Tory leader tells party conference that cooperation is key to ending Labour rule in Wales.
  
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• My fellow Tories, I’m afraid the crash generation just doesn’t trust us | Ruth Davidson

  18-05-2018 18:02
  Polls showing many young people won’t vote Conservative can be reversed – but the party must work harder to achieve thatExamine the headline figures of the political views of under-40s in the UK today – and weep, fellow Conservatives. New polling conducted by YouGov for the Centre for Policy Studies has revealed that nearly half of 18- to 24-year-olds say there is zero chance of them ever voting Tory. Among under-40s as a whole, those who say they are certain to vote Conservati
  
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• Ruth Davidson: Tory party must embrace more liberal outlook

  18-05-2018 18:00
  The Scottish Conservatives leader says younger voters see the party as anathemaMy fellow Tories, I’m afraid the crash generation just doesn’t trust usConservatives must embrace a more open, liberal outlook in order to win over younger voters who see the party as anathema, says the leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson.Writing in the Guardian, Davidson argues: “The crash generation simply don’t trust the motivation of the right. Given the hand they’ve be
  
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• Speaker John Bercow facing new outburst claims

  18-05-2018 16:32 via bbc.co.uk
  John Bercow's office says "strong views" were expressed amid claims he was rude about a female minister.
  
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• UK railways prove less profitable than private operators once hoped

  18-05-2018 16:27
  Collapse of East Coast franchise prompts questions about position of other firmsThe bad bet at the heart of East Coast rail franchise collapseThe East Coast has once again proved that the railway from Scotland to London is not lined with gold for private operators. This week’s collapse of the Virgin Trains East Coast (Vtec) franchise marks the third time in a little more than a decade that a train company operating on that line has failed to meet its contractual obligations. The decision t
  
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• PM attacks Labour's Welsh schools record

  18-05-2018 15:36 via bbc.co.uk
  Theresa May says the Welsh Government should follow England's lead on school reforms.
  
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• Hedgehogs: Thousands sign petition over rat trap threat

  18-05-2018 15:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Hedgehog lovers are worried that a rat trap, licensed by the government in England, could harm their spiky friends.
  
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• Ex-Russian double agent Sergei Skripal released from hospital

  18-05-2018 14:38 via ft.com
  London has blamed Moscow for the nerve agent poisoning attack
  
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• Did the Lords overstep the mark on Brexit?

  18-05-2018 14:11 via ft.com
  The latest government defeat over Withdrawal Bill has aroused the wrath of Brexiters
  
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• Foreign students: Home Office axes 'unusable' survey

  18-05-2018 14:01 via bbc.co.uk
  Anyone could fill in the official study, which, some academics said, uses "loaded, them and us" questions.
  
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• Week in Review: Reluctant royalists hide from royal weddings

  18-05-2018 12:25
  
  Spare a thought during this period for the smallest, most hard-done by minority: reluctant constitutional monarchists.
  
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• Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe: 'When we see more young men we have seen more crime'.

  18-05-2018 11:58 via bbc.co.uk
  Former Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has said that in some areas where there are more young men, there can be more crime.
  
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• Fear of Sinn Féin role 'behind devolved EU powers stance'

  18-05-2018 11:09 via bbc.co.uk
  Scotland's Brexit minister says a fear of Sinn Féin means the government do not want to devolve EU powers.
  
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• Welsh UKIP leader 'amicable' with Hamilton

  18-05-2018 10:48 via bbc.co.uk
  Caroline Jones vows to work with the former Tatton MP who she deposed as UKIP assembly leader.
  
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• Brexit border plan 'must be longer-term' says Tony Lloyd

  18-05-2018 10:42 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour's Northern Ireland spokesman wants a general election if longer term arrangements are not agreed.
  
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• The Politics.co.uk Podcast - the Five Star Movement

  18-05-2018 10:05
  
  Politics.co.uk editor Ian Dunt is joined by Italian freelance journalist Francesco Zaffarano and Miriam Sorace, LSE fellow in EU Politics at the European Institute, to discuss the Italian Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle) and how the populist party came to be.
  
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• Afghanistan: UK considers sending more troops

  18-05-2018 08:51 via bbc.co.uk
  The defence secretary believes the UK should increase its military presence, the BBC understands.
  
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• Stalled Stormont

  18-05-2018 07:32 via bbc.co.uk
  After the incinerator ruling, will civil servants be stymied on policy such as pay, buses and the NW 200.?
  
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• Irish abortion referendum: Religious leaders' views

  18-05-2018 07:26 via bbc.co.uk
  Catholic, Protestant and Muslim leaders share their stance on the upcoming Irish abortion referendum.
  
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• Listen: Britain and EU fall out over Galileo

  18-05-2018 06:00 via ft.com
  Bitter row breaks out between Brussels and the British government over Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system
  
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• 'Impossible to ignore'

  18-05-2018 04:30 via bbc.co.uk
  How the former Liberal leader's extraordinary life still resonates in one small corner of England.
  
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• Ballots sent out in SNP deputy leadership race

  18-05-2018 01:24 via bbc.co.uk
  Ballots are being sent out in the contest to elect a replacement for Angus Robertson as SNP deputy leader.
  
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• PM set to nominate 10 Tory peers after string of Brexit defeats

  18-05-2018 01:22
  Labour peer Lord Adonis criticises plan as desperate attempt by May to boost fragile position in upper chamberTheresa May is expected to approve the creation of about 10 Conservative peers and at least one for the Democratic Unionist party, perhaps as early as Friday, in an attempt to improve her position in the House of Lords, which has voted 15 times against her government over Brexit.The elevations were immediately criticised by the high-profile remain Labour peer Lord Adonis as a desperate a
  
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• Grenfell: Abbott and Raab on cladding ban

  18-05-2018 00:04 via bbc.co.uk
  Diane Abbott asks the housing minister if he would live in a house with combustible cladding, after Grenfell.
  
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