Political news

• May grants Hammond free hand on tax to fund £20bn NHS boost

  18-06-2018 22:30 via ft.com
  ‘Nothing off table’ with last year’s Tory manifesto tax pledges in jeopardy
  
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• Capita wins controversial MoD outsourcing contract

  18-06-2018 21:50 via ft.com
  Outsourcer will run British military fire and rescue services globally but faces questions from union
  
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• Theresa May ready to ditch tax pledges to pay for NHS funding plans

  18-06-2018 20:59
  Sources suggest manifesto vows will be dropped with PM under pressure to cost her planTheresa May is prepared to tear up the Tories’ tax pledges from last year’s general election to pay for her NHS funding plans, as she comes under growing pressure to explain how she will find the money. Related: The Guardian view on the NHS cash plan: the Brexit dividend claim is a lie | EditorialContinue reading...
  
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• Tory MP’s pants are on fire over upskirting issue | John Crace

  18-06-2018 20:54
  Christopher Chope should admit he has lost the argument over the private member’s billIf you are forced to issue a statement over the weekend to clarify you are not a pervert, it is safe to say you’ve probably lost the argument. It was like this, the Tory backbencher Christopher Chope explained. Nobody was more opposed to the practice of upskirting than him. Except the other 649 MPs in the Commons. And everyone else in the country apart from a few perverts.So when he had effectively
  
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• Peers defeat government on Brexit 'meaningful vote' with increased majority - as it happened

  18-06-2018 20:29
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May’s speech on the NHS and the Lords debate on the EU withdrawal billNew Lords defeat for government on Brexit ‘meaningful vote’ amendmentJeremy Hunt’s morning interviews - SummaryAfternoon summary 7.29pm BST We’re going to close down our live coverage for the evening. Thanks for reading.If you would like to read more on tonight’s government defeat in the Lords, my co
  
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• US rights campaigners apologise over listing UK group as Muslim extremists

  18-06-2018 20:16 via ft.com
  Southern Poverty Law Center pays $3.3m to Quilliam Foundation
  
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• Queen's nephew and an anti-skunk activist seek election to Lords

  18-06-2018 20:08
  Pair are among 19 hereditary peers seeking to fill seat of Earl Baldwin of BewdleyThe Queen’s nephew, an anti-skunk campaigner and a 24-year-old graduate are among those seeking election to the Lords as hereditary peers, according to the latest ballot in the house.Nineteen applicants are seeking to fill a slot in the House of Lords after the retirement of the crossbench peer Earl Baldwin of Bewdley. Only other hereditary crossbench peers can vote in the byelection, a system that the Electo
  
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• The NHS crisis will go on: this is a plan that no one believes in | Polly Toynbee

  18-06-2018 19:53
  The £20bn Theresa May pledged will vanish before our eyes. It’s a standstill budget from a paralysed governmentIt’s quite an achievement to spend £20bn and leave nobody satisfied. The NHS in England is not celebrating: this is not feast after famine. The Tory right is indignant about unspecified tax rises to pay for it, or – total anathema – spendthrift borrowing for current spending. Austerity is not over, Theresa May says firmly, so all the other starved dep
  
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• New Lords defeat for government on Brexit 'meaningful vote' amendment

  18-06-2018 19:52
  Landslide vote by peers, including 22 Tory rebels, sets up another Commons showdownThe government has been defeated in a landslide Lords vote which will set up another Commons showdown over an amendment to give MPs a “meaningful vote” even if the government fails to reach a Brexit deal.The House of Lords voted in favour of a new amendment, devised by Tory MP and pro-EU rebel Dominic Grieve and tabled by Viscount Hailsham, by a significantly bigger margin than the last time the issue
  
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• Brexit setback for May as Lords back ‘meaningful vote’ for MPs

  18-06-2018 19:51 via ft.com
  Strong upper house majority sets up a decisive battle in Commons
  
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• Cannabis oil: cabinet appears divided as Hunt calls for review

  18-06-2018 19:49
  PM appears to be at odds with health secretary, who says government has not got law right on medicinal use of substanceTheresa May appears at odds with senior cabinet ministers after playing down the prospect of a full-scale review into the medical use of cannabis oil, despite Jeremy Hunt admitting that the government had not got the law right.The health secretary said he backed the use of the substance and called for a swift legal review after an emergency licence was provided to Billy Caldwell
  
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• The Turkish fighter jet deal is stalled, and so is UK defence

  18-06-2018 19:36 via ft.com
  Britain needs to put on a better defence planning show
  
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• The Guardian view on the NHS cash plan: the Brexit dividend claim is a lie | Editorial

  18-06-2018 19:13
  Theresa May is pandering to her pro-Brexit supporters. The important public finance issue, which is unresolved, is whether to raise taxes or abandon austerity – or bothWhen she was interviewed on Sunday’s BBC One Andrew Marr programme, Theresa May knowingly and dishonestly suggested that leaving the European Union was the central dynamic behind her new NHS spending pledges. Having started by saying she was determined to secure the NHS’s future, she immediately invoked the shodd
  
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• Plan to ban UK petrol diesel and hybrid cars watered down to ‘mission’

  18-06-2018 19:04 via ft.com
  Environmentalists dismayed by retreat from ‘Road to Zero Strategy’ to eliminate pollution
  
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• Aviation industry: EU blocks talks to avert 'no-deal' Brexit crisis

  18-06-2018 18:20
  After Brexit UK-made parts for planes could be no longer valid and pilot licences could be defunctThe European commission is refusing to agree to any back-channel discussions between UK and EU aviation agencies to avert a crisis in the event of a “no-deal” outcome to Brexit.Attempts by the aerospace industry to persuade Brussels to start contingency talks to ensure Europe’s planes keep flying and the aerospace industry can function effectively have apparently been rebuffed by t
  
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• UK opens new national treatment centre for wounded soldiers

  18-06-2018 18:11 via ft.com
  £300m Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre has lab to 3D print new limbs
  
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• Martin Rowson on Theresa May's NHS funding pledge – cartoon

  18-06-2018 17:58
  Continue reading...
  
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• Brexit deal unlikely until year-end as officials revise expectations

  18-06-2018 17:38 via ft.com
  Concern as timetable slips over Irish border and political disarray at Westminster
  
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• Trains begin running again in Lake District

  18-06-2018 17:33 via ft.com
  Heritage company replaces suspended Northern services after MP’s appeal
  
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• Lakeland trains look to past to get back on track

  18-06-2018 17:33 via ft.com
  Heritage company replaces suspended Northern services after MP’s appeal
  
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• UK government's £20bn NHS pledge

  18-06-2018 17:04 via ft.com
  MPs fear cash increase will be funded through borrowing and tax rises
  
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• UK to unveil details of plans for EU citizens who wish to remain

  18-06-2018 16:57
  Ministers planning to publish ‘statement of intent’ on settled status scheme for UK’s 3.4 million EU citizensThe UK government will this week unveil the first details of the “settled status” immigration scheme that will apply to Britain’s 3.4 million EU citizens if they want to stay in the country after Brexit.It is planning to publish a “statement of intent” on Thursday, which will be the first sight of the registration system that the former home
  
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• Theresa May says Treasury will set out NHS funding details

  18-06-2018 16:11 via ft.com
  Prime minister repeats that ‘Brexit dividend’ will partly fund health service
  
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• A bout of Brexit cynicism infects Theresa May’s healthcare plan

  18-06-2018 15:12 via ft.com
  This may be the moment when the UK prime minister abandons hope of changing the debate
  
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• A bad case of Brexit cynicism infects May’s NHS plan

  18-06-2018 15:12 via ft.com
  This may be the moment when the prime minister abandoned hope of changing the debate
  
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• A bad bout of Brexit cynicism infects Theresa May’s health plan

  18-06-2018 15:12 via ft.com
  This may be the moment when the UK prime minister abandons hope of changing the debate
  
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• Grieve steps up the pressure on May

  18-06-2018 14:44 via ft.com
  Pro-Europeans thought they had done a deal with PM for a meaningful vote
  
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• Westminster's private members club: Analysis of peers shows the need for urgent change

  18-06-2018 14:38
  
  The Lords are more than a constitutional quirk and they're now coming under some much-needed scrutiny.
  
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• May’s NHS speech gives few details on funding pledge

  18-06-2018 14:20 via ft.com
  Notion of ‘Brexit dividend’ to fund spending has drawn widespread criticism
  
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• Protester hangs knickers outside office of MP who blocked upskirting bill

  18-06-2018 13:43
  Christopher Chope’s Westminster office door draped with bunting made from women’s underwearProtests against the Conservative MP Christopher Chope, who blocked a bill to make upskirting a specific criminal offence, have extended to parliament, where a mystery dissenter draped a string of women’s pants across his office door.
  Four pairs of lacy knickers were pinned together and taped to the door like bunting on Monday; a suspender belt and another pair of pants were attached, but
  
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• Fred Atkinson, economist, 1919-2018

  18-06-2018 12:07 via ft.com
  Civil servant played a key role in UK economic policy in the 1960s and 1970s
  
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• Rebels vs government: Extra time with the highest possible stakes

  18-06-2018 11:23
  
  This week's battle over the meaningful vote is a decisive moment in the Brexit process, but Tory rebels might be about to make a serious error
  
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• Dimbleby is a reminder of what there is to celebrate in the BBC

  18-06-2018 10:52
  
  A chance to remember what is marvelous about BBC Question Time
  
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• Cartoon: June 18

  18-06-2018 03:00 via ft.com
  Brexit and the legendary British backstop
  
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• BBC Trending

  18-06-2018 02:21 via bbc.co.uk
  "Philip Cross" has made thousands of Wikipedia edits. But he's been accused of bias against anti-war activists.
  
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• ‘No deal’ Brexit would cost UK households £1,000 a year

  18-06-2018 01:03 via ft.com
  Whatever deal is struck with EU, costs will rise and profitability will fall, study finds
  
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• Theresa May faces Tory backlash over £20bn NHS pledge

  18-06-2018 00:05 via ft.com
  MPs fear increased cash will be funded through borrowing and tax rises
  
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