Political news

• Back me on Brexit bill or undermine EU talks, May tells Tory MPs

  11-06-2018 23:01
  Vote on knife-edge as PM makes plea to 1922 Committee over Lords amendments Theresa May has issued a final plea to Conservative Brexit rebels not to undermine her negotiating clout with Brussels by voting against the government on the EU withdrawal bill as it returns to the House of Commons on Tuesday.The prime minister faces a knife-edge result on an amendment to give parliament a meaningful vote on the final deal as Tory remainers threatened to support the change, brought in by peers, and Labo
  
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• It’s Brexit crunch time. Theresa May’s no-deal disaster is not an option | Keir Starmer

  11-06-2018 23:00
  This is the most important Brexit week since article 50. All MPs – Tories included – must back the Lords’ amendments to the withdrawal bill• Keir Starmer is a Labour MP and shadow secretary of state for exiting the EUTheresa May has just faced yet another torrid period of Tory revolts over her Brexit strategy. David Davis was on the verge of resignation. Government MPs were publicly rejecting her customs backstop fudge. And Boris Johnson became so exasperated that he was t
  
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• Nigel Farage interviewing Arron Banks on LBC – as it happened

  11-06-2018 22:11
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happenEU withdrawal bill: full list of proposed amendments
  Lunchtime summaryAfternoon summary 9.11pm BST Arron Banks, the financial backer of the unofficial Brexit campaign, says there was possibly collusion between Russia and the Trump or Brexit campaigns “at a low level”. But he denies taking money from Moscow and says the recent newspaper article have been part of a “campaign to smear anyone involved in the B
  
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• Arron Banks' Russia links being examined 'very seriously' by UK

  11-06-2018 22:10
  Ministers trying to establish if democracy was undermined during Brexit campaignHome secretary Sajid Javid has said that Arron Banks’s Russian connections are being examined “very seriously” by two ministers in two departments who want to establish if there was an attempt to undermine parliamentary democracy during the Brexit campaign. Javid’s unexpected intervention came on the eve of what is expected to be a stormy select committee meeting in which the Brexit-backing ty
  
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• Brexit donor in combative mood as Commons committee awaits

  11-06-2018 21:10 via ft.com
  Arron Banks denies improper Russia links and vows to go head to head over ‘fake news’
  
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• Brexit donor in combative mood ahead of grilling by MPs

  11-06-2018 21:10 via ft.com
  Arron Banks denies improper Russia links and vows to go head to head over ‘fake news’
  
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• Hanger-on May is no more than a bit player at the G7 summit | John Crace

  11-06-2018 20:54
  Donald Trump and the other world leaders found little time for the prime minister in CanadaFour years ago the G8 became the G7 when Russia was kicked off the top table after its invasion of Crimea. Sometime over last weekend’s summit in Quebec the G7 became the G6 + 1. Fed up with Theresa May’s inability to make up her mind whether to sack several members of her cabinet – let alone come up with anything remotely coherent on Brexit – the other members of the G7 unilaterall
  
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• Pro-Brexit Labour MPs expose rift over EEA membership

  11-06-2018 20:28
  MPs dispute benefits of staying in European economic area before vote in CommonsLabour’s divisions over Brexit have been exposed afresh, as MPs from leave constituencies hit back against the idea that membership of the European economic area (EEA) is the best outcome for Britain.
  Keir Starmer addressed a backbenchers’ meeting on Monday night, followed by what MPs described as a forceful display of unity from backbenchers and shadow ministers in support of the party’s official p
  
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• Profile: Isabel Oakeshott and The Bad Boys of Brexit

  11-06-2018 19:48
  Journalist at centre of storm over leaked emails linking Brexit campaign donor with Russian officialsIsabel Oakeshott – a long-standing Brexit supporter who has close links to the Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft – has, by her own admission, been aware of emails linking Arron Banks to Russian officials and businessmen since the end of last year.“It was always my intention to publish this information,” Oakeshott has insisted, in the face of accusations she chose to sit on
  
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• MPs need a meaningful vote on the Brexit deal

  11-06-2018 19:41 via ft.com
  The House of Commons has an opportunity to reassert its primacy
  
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• Theresa May faces 48 hours of Brexit votes

  11-06-2018 19:32 via ft.com
  Prime minister pleads with rebels not to tie her hands on negotiations
  
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• Martin Rowson on the Trump-Kim summit – cartoon

  11-06-2018 19:28
  Continue reading...
  
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• Theresa May is circling the Brussels sky and low on fuel. Time to buckle up | Rafael Behr

  11-06-2018 19:24
  A soft Brexit was effectively signed off six months ago. But there’s still time for the PM to play a decent last handA lot of confusion arises from the way “Brexit” has come to describe two very different things. It can be heroic liberation from foreign control – a common British definition. Or it can be the task of dismantling the UK’s membership of the European Union, in which heroism plays no part. That is how it is generally understood abroad.They sound the same
  
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• The Guardian view on the Brexit bill debates: crash bang wallop | Editorial

  11-06-2018 19:18
  The Commons debates on the EU withdrawal bill ought to be the high point of the argument about Brexit. Instead much of the debate is implodingIn an ideal democracy, it might be possible to treat the process that begins on Tuesday in the House of Commons as a worthy culmination of the long debate on Britain’s relationship with Europe after Brexit. For two days, MPs will examine many of the most difficult questions raised by Brexit as they look in detail at the Lords’ amendments to the
  
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• Highly skilled migrants still face deportation despite Sajid Javid promise

  11-06-2018 19:07
  Home secretary had said policy refusing leave to remain over tax errors would be pausedHighly skilled migrants are still being dragged through the courts under threat of deportation from the UK for making minor and legal amendments to their taxes, despite a government promise that cases would be paused.Opposition MPs have said the continuation of the process “smacks of a government department unjustly and incorrectly misusing a draconian power” and “shamelessly ruining innocent
  
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• Let’s have the full Brexit for political and economic renewal | Letters

  11-06-2018 19:02
  Chris Bickerton et al urge a clean break from the EU, Eric Goodyer says Labour MPs should support both Keir Starmer’s proposal and the Lords amendment to rejoin the EEA, Chris Farrands offers association as a way for the Tories to clarify their position, and John Airs says it is dangerous for Labour to alienate leave votersWe write to express our dismay at parliament’s pursuit of “Brexit in name only”. In June 2016 the majority of voters backed the demand to “take b
  
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• Theresa May says G7 summit with Donald Trump was 'difficult'

  11-06-2018 18:58
  PM to stand by communique agreed with other leaders that US later disavowedTheresa May has said the G7 summit where leaders clashed repeatedly with Donald Trump was “difficult”, but the UK intended to fully honour its commitment to the joint statement that the US has since disavowed.Speaking in the House of Commons, the prime minister said Britain would abide by the final communique signed by leaders in Quebec, which was dramatically abandoned by the president after the summit.Contin
  
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• Nigel Farage wary of new Ukip leader's hard-right stance

  11-06-2018 18:45
  Ex-leader and senior figures concerned after Gerard Batten backed Tommy RobinsonSenior Ukip figures including Nigel Farage have expressed disquiet at the hard-right direction chosen for the party by its leader, Gerard Batten, and his open support for the jailed anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson.While Farage did not openly criticise Batten, the former party leader told a meeting of Ukip activists that being seen as opposing all Islam and backing Robinson was a political mistake. Continue reading
  
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• Brexit tribes: how the Commons camps are likely to vote

  11-06-2018 17:17
  From Tory loyalists to the remain rearguard, we analyse the factions before the EU withdrawal bill voteThe parliamentary arithmetic is tight ahead of crucial votes on the EU withdrawal bill. Government and opposition whips will need to keep track of a number of different groups in order to predict any unexpected upset. Continue reading...
  
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• MPs and peers call for judge-led inquiry into UK rights abuses

  11-06-2018 17:04
  All-party parliamentary group on rendition says this is only way to establish the truthAn all-party group of MPs and peers has written to Theresa May demanding a judge-led inquiry into the UK’s role in human rights abuses since September 11.
  Denouncing what they described as “Britain’s disgraceful involvement in rendition and torture”, the group said this was the only way to establish the truth about who was responsible for abuses. Continue reading...
  
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• Jaguar Land Rover to move UK production of Discovery to Slovakia

  11-06-2018 16:41
  Hundreds of jobs could be at risk but Solihull plant to be upgraded for electric modelsBritain’s biggest car manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover, is to transfer all production of its Land Rover Discovery model from the West Midlands to a plant in Slovakia, potentially putting hundreds of jobs at risk.A spokesman for JLR said the Slovakian plant had been developed over several years and the latest move was unconnected to the Brexit headwinds that led to it announcing 1,000 UK jobs would go in A
  
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• Home Office rejects more than 2,300 visa applications for doctors

  11-06-2018 15:51 via ft.com
  Restrictive Tier 2 visa regime means thousands of skilled workers are being turned away
  
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• Brexit timetable under pressure with EU rejection of backstop plans

  11-06-2018 15:09 via ft.com
  ‘Key questions unanswered’
  
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• The Conservatives’ calling of ‘Peak Corbyn’ is just self-soothing

  11-06-2018 14:42 via ft.com
  With clever targeting, Labour can emerge as the largest party even if its vote shrinks
  
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• Conservative predictions of Jeremy Corbyn’s decline are premature

  11-06-2018 14:42 via ft.com
  With clever targeting, Labour can emerge as the largest party even if its vote shrinks
  
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• Why the meaningful vote matters

  11-06-2018 14:20 via ft.com
  Withdrawal bill battle is all about parliamentary process — but it has big implications
  
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• Rees-Mogg: no need for customs checks at Dover in no-deal Brexit

  11-06-2018 14:18
  Legal experts dismiss Tory MP’s vision, saying it would breach WTO rulesJacob Rees-Mogg has said that there would be no need for customs checks at Dover on EU imports in the event of a no-deal Brexit, suggesting that any delays for exports to Europe would be France’s responsibility.Related: 'Catastrophic' no-deal Brexit a real possibility, says Vince CableContinue reading...
  
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• UK to apply to stay in European standards system after Brexit

  11-06-2018 13:58 via ft.com
  Move follows business warnings that creating UK benchmarks would increase costs
  
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• Brexit amendments: Time for parliament to take back control

  11-06-2018 13:18
  
  Downing Street has only ever really had three arguments to keep its MPs in line, none of which make any sense.The government does not own the Brexit mandate and the public deserve MPs who have made basic efforts to guide the process in the event of executive failure.
  
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• EU withdrawal bill: full list of proposed amendments

  11-06-2018 12:50
  How MPs vote on amendments could significantly shape how Brexit proceeds
  The EU withdrawal bill returns to the Commons on Tuesday for the first of two sessions in which MPs will consider amendments imposed by the Lords, and another set of fresh amendments. The amendments being considered are listed in number order. It has not yet been decided when they will be voted on. Continue reading...
  
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• 'Catastrophic' no-deal Brexit a real possibility, says Vince Cable

  11-06-2018 12:45
  Lib Dem leader urges Theresa May to stand up to hardline Brexiters in her own party A “potentially catastrophic” no-deal Brexit is becoming ever more possible, Vince Cable has warned, saying that if this happened it would be an unprecedented policy disaster.As the Liberal Democrats prepare to fight the Lewisham East byelection on Thursday on a platform of guaranteeing a referendum on any eventual deal, the party leader said the longer the government appeared deadlocked over Brexit, t
  
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• British campaigners file US lawsuit against firms controlled by Arron Banks

  11-06-2018 12:38
  Case filed in a Mississippi court alleges data mined in UK was illegally sent abroad by two of Banks’s companiesA British public interest group has filed a lawsuit in a Mississippi court against two companies controlled by Arron Banks, the pro-Brexit donor, following allegations that the firms may have violated UK data protection rules in an attempt to sway the 2016 vote to leave the EU.Fair Vote Project, a British activist group that is campaigning for changes to UK election rules, has la
  
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• Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and the route to trade mayhem

  11-06-2018 12:13 via ft.com
  Both men believe that tiresome details can be left for underlings to sort out
  
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• North of England leaders demand more control over rail network

  11-06-2018 11:43
  Local politicians and business chiefs warn train ‘fiasco’ of recent weeks could be repeatedA group of business leaders and politicians have urgedthe government to give the north of England control over its rail system following weeks of train chaos.A letter signed by the leaders of most northern councils, tourist bosses and business people including Gary Neville – warns the government that the “current fiasco” could be repeated if Transport for the North (TfN), whic
  
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• Commons showdown: The two clauses to watch in this week's Brexit fight

  11-06-2018 09:42
  
  Most of this week's battle will be noise, but amendments 49 and 95 could be key to the long game.
  
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• May seeks united Tory front as Commons votes test Brexit strategy

  11-06-2018 05:00 via ft.com
  Attempts to overthrow peers’ amendments to withdrawal bill will be hard-fought
  
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• May seeks united Conservatives as Brexit strategy tested by Commons

  11-06-2018 05:00 via ft.com
  Attempts to overthrow peers’ amendments to withdrawal bill will be hard-fought
  
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• Confusion and inertia block progress over tower fire safety

  11-06-2018 05:00 via ft.com
  Thousands still live in unsafe buildings a year after Grenfell
  
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• Rich pensioners hoard cash and reject urge to spend

  11-06-2018 01:01 via ft.com
  Baby boomers likely to pass down large bequests, study shows
  
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• Local councils urge Westminster to match EU investment

  11-06-2018 01:01 via ft.com
  Housing warning as LGA calls for equivalent funding after Brexit
  
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