Political news

• Best days ahead?

  03-06-2018 22:47 via bbc.co.uk
  A survey for the BBC asked if England was better now or in the past and what makes someone English.
  
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• Police facing surge in extremists released from jail, analysis finds

  03-06-2018 21:00
  Warnings over threat posed by large number of convicted terrorists due for release Police and security services face a surge in the number of convicted terrorists released from prison, Guardian analysis has shown, prompting warnings over the unique threats posed by extremists back on the streets. More than 40% of the sentences for terrorism offences handed down over a 10-year period will have been served by the end of the year, figures compiled by the Sentencing Council show. Continue reading...
  
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• MPs call on May to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland

  03-06-2018 20:34
  Cross-party group of backbenchers demand emergency debateA cross-party group of backbench MPs will seek to ramp up pressure on Theresa May to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland on Monday, as they demand an emergency debate on the issue.Campaigners have been pressing for the government to liberalise the abortion law there after a historic referendum in the Republic of Ireland last month backed reform, and a number of current and former ministers have expressed support. Continue reading...
  
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• 24-hour news has cut politicians' shelf life, says Gordon Brown

  03-06-2018 19:33
  Former PM says politicians now get about six years at the top, because voters get boredThe age of 24-hour news has brought about the end of long political leaderships, the former prime minister Gordon Brown has said, estimating that a politician’s time at the top is now no more than six years.
  Brown told the Hay literary festival in Wales that invasive modern media meant the public got sick of politicians more quickly. Continue reading...
  
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• Brexiters hit back at no-deal 'armageddon' warning

  03-06-2018 19:19
  Whitehall advice predicting food and fuel shortages dismissed as ‘hysterical’Brexiters have hit back at leaked Whitehall advice warning of food and fuel shortages if Britain leaves the EU without a deal, with the Conservative backbencher Jacob Rees Mogg calling it “project fear on speed”.As Theresa May’s ministers prepared to return to Westminster after the Whitsun recess with the cabinet still deadlocked over customs arrangements, a fresh row broke out over the ris
  
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• The Guardian view on ‘no deal’: no dice | Editorial

  03-06-2018 19:02
  Leaked reports from David Davis’s department detail the catastrophic possible consequences of daring the EU to call Britain’s bluffIn the months after the referendum Mrs May came up with two slogans: “Brexit means Brexit” and “No deal is better than a bad deal”. One was obviously tautologous waffle and the other was just as obviously untrue. Now that both have been abandoned, we can see that untruths are sometimes better or at least more informative than
  
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• Sadiq Khan faces prospect of Tory rival amid growing pressure

  03-06-2018 19:00
  The London mayor is beset with concerns about knife crime, transport and housing Sadiq Khan faces the prospect of a Conservative challenger from September at a time when there are concerns about knife crime, questions about Transport for London’s finances, and uncertainty about how far the capital’s mayor is able to address the housing crisis.Khan has completed more than half his term of office and while there is widespread support for his “London United” response to last
  
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• London mayor urges MPs to back peers' changes to Brexit bill

  03-06-2018 19:00
  Sadiq Khan says Commons vote on EU withdrawal bill most important since Iraq warThe London mayor has called on MPs from all parties to set aside their political careers and consider supporting soft Brexit Lords amendments as they return to the Commons in votes that he said were as significant as those that took Britain into the Iraq war.Sadiq Khan in effect added his voice to those calling on Jeremy Corbyn to oppose Britain’s departure from the single market as he said MPs should “be
  
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• Brexit Britain should be a rule-taker on goods, but not services

  03-06-2018 19:00 via ft.com
  There is no point in diverging from Brussels regulations for the sake of it
  
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• Jeremy Thorpe and juries cross-examined | Letters

  03-06-2018 18:57
  Dr Jonathan Rogers on the veil of secrecy that was drawn over the British jury system in the wake of the former Liberal party’s leader’s acquittalIt was interesting to read Geoffrey Robertson’s account of the aftermath of Jeremy Thorpe’s trial (Here’s another Thorpe scandal – its chilling legacy in law, 2 June). He states that section 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 is “still on the statute book”, but in England and Wales the provision was repe
  
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• From last year’s shock election came opportunity. What a terrible waste | Matthew d’Ancona

  03-06-2018 18:56
  In the 12 months that have followed, none of the major parties has seized the moment. Their failure may yet cost us dearOn Thursday 8 June 2017, not long after 10pm, I officially resigned as a member of the Amalgamated Union of Political Prophets, Seers and Soothsayers. The BBC’s general election exit poll showed that, far from “crushing the saboteurs”, Theresa May had somehow contrived to wipe out the Conservative majority she had inherited from David Cameron the previous July
  
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• Nicola Jennings on Brexit 'armageddon' – cartoon

  03-06-2018 18:40
  Continue reading...
  
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• Alastair Campbell grilled by daughter on feminism live on air – video

  03-06-2018 18:04
  Alastair Campbell is challenged by his daughter Grace for calling women ‘birds’. Campbell received the surprise call from his daughter as he was sitting in for Nigel Farage on LBC on SundayCampbell's daughter tackles him on air for 'calling women birds' Continue reading...
  
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• Dockless bike companies want right to operate across London

  03-06-2018 17:57 via ft.com
  Ofo and Mobike want standard regulation throughout the city
  
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• Campbell's daughter tackles him on air for 'calling women birds'

  03-06-2018 17:49
  Grace Campbell phones radio show to tell former Labour spin doctor he is not truly a feministThe former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell was grilled live on air by his daughter over his supposed feminism. The New Labour strategist, who was sitting in for Nigel Farage on LBC, was debating feminism when Grace Campbell called in to query some of his behaviour towards women. Continue reading...
  
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• Javid attacks Lush’s #spycops campaign but ignores victims like me | Alison

  03-06-2018 17:42
  The home secretary is happy to tweet, but when we asked to meet him we heard nothing• Alison is a pseudonym for one of eight women who successfully took legal action against the Metropolitan police over the conduct of undercover officersThe Lush #spycops campaign, launched last week, is the latest – and arguably the most successful – attempt to draw this ongoing police scandal to the public’s attention. Its aim is to put pressure on the home secretary to restore public con
  
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• UK Supreme Court to rule on Northern Ireland abortion law

  03-06-2018 17:40 via ft.com
  Theresa May already under pressure from party members to act on legislation
  
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• Minister breaks rank on Northern Ireland Troubles investigations

  03-06-2018 17:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood says there should be a limit on soldiers' liability.
  
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• Dearth of black students admitted to Cambridge revealed by FOI request

  03-06-2018 16:57 via ft.com
  One in 5 colleges admits fewer than 10 black students over 5-year period
  
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• Grenfell: Calls to waive VAT on removal repairs

  03-06-2018 15:58 via bbc.co.uk
  Scotland's housing minister does not want the Treasury to profit from cladding removal work.
  
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• Abortion will prompt nationalists to vote DUP claims Foster

  03-06-2018 15:34 via bbc.co.uk
  But Sinn Fein says its policy on abortion will not lead to supporters switching parties.
  
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• Jonathan Aitken to be ordained as a deacon

  03-06-2018 14:31
  Former Conservative minister became a Christian while in prison for perjuryJonathan Aitken, the former Conservative cabinet minister who served a prison sentence for perjury, is to be ordained and plans to work as an unpaid prison chaplain.Aitken became a Christian while serving a prison sentence for perjury in 1999 after lying on oath in a libel case against the Guardian. Continue reading...
  
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• UK will review Tier 2 visa system, says Sajid Javid

  03-06-2018 14:01 via ft.com
  New home secretary will look at problems with skilled workers and students
  
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• Sajid Javid pledges 'fresh look' at migration rules

  03-06-2018 13:52 via bbc.co.uk
  Rules on skilled workers and foreign students will be looked at again, the home secretary says.
  
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• Replace May with Gove to sort out Brexit, Tory donor urges

  03-06-2018 12:20
  Government should be bolder in talks with Brussels, Leave campaign backer Crispin Odey claimsMichael Gove should be installed as the new Tory leader because Theresa May has shown that she cannot “carry Brexit through”, a major party donor has publicly warned.In a stark sign of the frustration among prominent Brexit supporters over the government’s handling of negotiations with the EU, Crispin Odey, a hedge fund manager who backed the Leave campaign, said he believed the environ
  
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• Does Javid back migration target?

  03-06-2018 11:49 via bbc.co.uk
  The home secretary is asked by the Andrew Marr whether he is committed to reducing net migration to "tens of thousands".
  
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• Michael Gove’s hot air will eventually choke us all | Stewart Lee

  03-06-2018 11:00
  The environment secretary’s assurances about the UK’s toxic air pollution do not inspire confidenceIn January, a sulphurous cloud of French pollution drifted across from France to further stink out vast areas of Surrey, its stench so powerful that it overwhelmed the natural foul odours of Eric Clapton, who dwells silently in the hideous region, a subterranean blues truffle.It was as if the smelly Gallic gas glob did not respect international borders, and had imagined it could just bl
  
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• An island nation, but never alone | Will Hutton

  03-06-2018 10:00
  In an exclusive extract from a new book, Will Hutton and Andrew Adonis argue that the UK has been entwined with Europe for centuries, whatever Leavers claimThe Brexit charge is that the European Union has become an overbearing political project threatening British sovereignty and values. Britain, so the story runs, is an exceptional country with an exceptional history, exceptional institutions and an exceptional destiny. For Europeans inured to political instability and bloodshed, supranational
  
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• The EU’s problem is the same as Britain’s: austerity

  03-06-2018 08:00
  The addiction to economic pain is shared by Brussels and by Tories who see in Brexit a renewed ‘Thatcher revolution’George Soros is right: Europe faces an existential crisis, not least because of an addiction to austerity that has certainly contributed to Italy’s summer of discontent. This makes it all the more urgent that the time-and resource-consuming wastefulness of Brexit be brought to an end, and the sooner the better. There are huge problems facing Europe: in addition to
  
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• Calls for Stormont flags body to be suspended

  03-06-2018 07:06 via bbc.co.uk
  Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionist Party say the panel should be suspended until Stormont is restored.
  
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• A Very English Scandal, a timeless portrayal of the human heart | Rachel Cooke

  03-06-2018 07:06
  The Jeremy Thorpe affair holds valuable lessons on love and loss for our timesIt was, perhaps, entirely predictable that in the days before A Very English Scandal began on BBC One, certain people were mad keen to talk about the events that inspired it. A particular kind of newspaper columnist is always waiting for the moment when he can regurgitate chunks of the hefty political biographies he has read, polish to a gleam the hoariest of his tearoom anecdotes. What was far more surprising was the
  
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• Can Jeremy Corbyn restore Labour’s working class vote?

  03-06-2018 06:00 via ft.com
  For more than a century Mansfield’s Pleasley pit supplied coal to the UK and votes to the Labour party. Then in 2017 the area elected a Conservative
  
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• Teacher recruitment agencies face fees crackdown

  03-06-2018 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  The move follows the education secretary's promise to help schools cut unnecessary costs.
  
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• Jeremy Thorpe scandal: Suspect might not be dead, police say

  03-06-2018 00:52 via bbc.co.uk
  Police may have wrongly assumed the man supposedly tasked with killing the MP's gay lover was dead.
  
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