Political news

• Government won't create new pet theft law

  02-07-2018 22:59 via bbc.co.uk
  MPs' pleas for harsher penalties for the "cruel and devastating crime" are rejected.
  
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• Tory differences over UK's post-Brexit future spill into the open

  02-07-2018 22:23
  No 10 suggests new customs model has been produced ahead of cabinet away dayTheresa May came under pressure to spell out her new “third way” customs proposals on a day when Conservative differences over the country’s post-Brexit future spilled into the open ahead of a crucial cabinet summit.
  Downing Street indicated it had produced a fresh model for the UK’s post-Brexit trading arrangements but would not supply details ahead of Friday’s Chequers away day with some c
  
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• Maybot launches PM VR to construct alternate Brexit reality | John Crace

  02-07-2018 21:30
  Prime minister constructs a safe space where she can finally be in charge and showcase her new 3D customs modelWhen all else fails, just make it up. Right now, not even Theresa May wants to be Theresa May. Some might argue she never did. Just about everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong. Most of it of her own making. There is no area of the government that is running effectively and with the prime minister’s personal authority utterly diminished by her own incompetence, the cabinet
  
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• May close to lifting fuel duty freeze to help meet NHS promises

  02-07-2018 20:59
  Exclusive: Ministers also considering end to cap on alcohol taxes to boost public spending and cut deficitThe government is close to lifting its eight-year long freeze on fuel duty to raise billions of pounds to help meet pressure from cabinet ministers to boost public spending while also continuing to reduce the deficit.An inflation-linked increase would raise £800m extra for Treasury coffers next year – and billions more over subsequent years – to help pay for Theresa May&rsq
  
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• Theresa May keeps cabinet in dark over customs plan for Brexit

  02-07-2018 20:48 via ft.com
  Eurosceptics fear new policy will be rehashed version of previous proposals
  
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• Mining group ENRC begins appeal in pivotal legal privilege case

  02-07-2018 20:21 via ft.com
  SFO inquiry has implications for companies that carry out internal investigations
  
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• Mining group begins appeal in pivotal legal privilege case

  02-07-2018 20:21 via ft.com
  SFO inquiry has implications for companies who carry out internal investigations
  
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• Boris Johnson backs Rees-Mogg over his controversial 'threatening PM' Brexit article – as it happened

  02-07-2018 19:40
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May’s statement to MPs on the EU summit and BrexitDowning Street lobby briefing - SummaryLunchtime summaryAfternoon summary 6.40pm BST Monday’s TELEGRAPH - Mogg: Give us a real Brexit or face coup #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/yzhbSv0RspIn relation to the point that he makes about the EEA, I have been clear from the start that is one of the things that the European commission had sugg
  
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• The Guardian view on the NHS at 70: your health service needs you | Editorial

  02-07-2018 19:34
  Britain’s healthcare system faces huge challenges. It will take more than public affection to ensure it survivesAneurin Bevan, the Labour health minister who created the NHS 70 years ago this week, said that providing free healthcare funded by general taxation as a right was “the most civilised step any country had ever taken”. To modern ears the phrase sounds quaint, but the service continues to be an object of veneration. The Conservative politician Nigel Lawson once called i
  
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• MPs press for new inquiry into UK role in rendition and torture

  02-07-2018 19:07
  Foreign Office minister says government will give decision on judicial inquiry within 60 daysThe UK government will give “careful consideration” to calls for a renewed judge-led inquiry into the country’s involvement in human rights abuses after 9/11, the Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan told MPs on Monday.
  He made the pledge after two reports published by parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC) laid bare the extent of British involvement in rendition an
  
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• Martin Rowson on Theresa May's latest Brexit proposal – cartoon

  02-07-2018 18:20
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• Mexico’s narco nightmare will not be ended by an amnesty for traffickers | Ed Vulliamy

  02-07-2018 18:19
  The new president has vowed to tackle the country’s terrible drugs-related violence. Europe and the US must now do their bitMexico sees itself today on the brink of change. The new president, the silver-haired Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has a mandate to renew the country’s politics, awarded to him by a people exasperated with poverty, outrageous inequality and corruption in daily life, and pervasive, brutal violence.López Obrador’s accession follows the b
  
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• EU students get post-Brexit fees promise

  02-07-2018 18:07 via bbc.co.uk
  EU students starting in British universities in the first year after Brexit will pay the same fees as home students.
  
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• Greens announce three sets of contenders for leadership contest

  02-07-2018 17:01
  Joint ticket of Jonathan Bartley and Siân Berry favourite to lead after Caroline Lucas steps downThree sets of contenders have put themselves forward to become the next leaders of the Greens, it was announced on Monday, with the joint ticket of Jonathan Bartley and Siân Berry seen as the strong favourite to take over in the absence of Caroline Lucas.
  Lucas, the party’s sole MP and best-known figure, has spent two years as joint leader with Bartley, a councillor in Lambeth, sout
  
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• Ditching Theresa May will not change the political reality

  02-07-2018 16:12 via ft.com
  All the talk of leadership challenges ignores three fundamental problems
  
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• Scottish government plans restrictions on sugary and fatty foods

  02-07-2018 15:28
  Ministers to tackle obesity by targeting sale, advertising and promotion of unhealthy foodsThe Scottish government is preparing for sweeping restrictions on sugary and fatty foods including ice-creams and takeaway meals to cope with surging rates of obesity.
  Ministers in Edinburgh outlined plans on Monday for strict restrictions on the sale, advertising and promotion of unhealthy foods that in some cases go further than proposals by health ministers in England. Continue reading...
  
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• Rees-Mogg, Brexit and the ghost of Peel

  02-07-2018 14:52 via ft.com
  Arch Leavers inside and outside the cabinet do not like Mrs May’s approach one bit
  
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• UK nuclear cleanup contract back in public hands after £122m bill

  02-07-2018 14:25
  Botched tender was for the disposal of materials at 12 UK sites including DungenessThe UK government has been forced to take a multibillion-pound nuclear cleanup contract back into public ownership, after a botched tender to the private sector landed the taxpayer with a £122m bill.The government will take over the decommissioning of Britain’s 12 Magnox sites, including the former nuclear power stations at Dungeness in Kent and Hinkley Point in Somerset.Continue reading...
  
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• The Brexit compromise is coming - prepare yourself for the cry of treachery

  02-07-2018 14:11
  
  The end of Brexit negotiation stages can be viewed in the not-too-distant horizon
  
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• Everything you need to know about Ricin

  02-07-2018 12:49
  
  The substance is more complicated than news coverage has made out
  
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• Court to hear Brexit challenge by 97-year-old WW2 veteran

  02-07-2018 12:30
  Expatriate Britons claim they were unfairly deprived of their right to vote in EU referendumA challenge against the legality of the EU’s Brexit negotiations brought by a 97-year-old British veteran is to be heard by five judges at the European court of justice this week.Harry Shindler, who lives in Italy, and 12 other Britons who live in various member states, will argue that the 2016 referendum was discriminatory and illegal because they – and more than 1 million other British expat
  
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• UK's latest Brexit proposal is unrealistic, say EU officials

  02-07-2018 12:27
  EU sources who have seen drafts of white paper say proposals would never be acceptedA draft of Theresa May’s Brexit plan has already been dismissed as unrealistic by senior EU officials, who say the UK has no chance of changing the European Union’s founding principles.The prime minister is gathering her squabbling ministers at Chequers on Friday for a one-day discussion to thrash out the UK’s future relationship with the EU. But EU sources who have seen drafts of the long-await
  
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• US defence secretary intervenes in UK military budget row

  02-07-2018 11:43
  James Mattis hints Britain could be replaced by France as Washington’s closest ally The US defence secretary, James Mattis, has made a surprise intervention in the row over UK defence spending by warning France could replace the UK as Washington’s closest military ally in Europe.In a leaked letter to the British defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, Mattis expressed concern the UK’s military power was at risk of erosion and compared the UK unfavourably with France, which Mattis
  
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• May to float third Brexit customs model at Chequers meeting

  02-07-2018 09:51
  PM expected to ask ministers to choose between Norway-style partnership and Canada-style trade dealDowning Street has produced a third possible model for the UK’s post-Brexit customs arrangements, which will be among issues discussed by the cabinet at a crunch meeting at Chequers on Friday. Related: May's cabinet still squabbling as Chequers Brexit meeting loomsContinue reading...
  
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• Theresa May prepares to confront cabinet over Brexit customs plan

  02-07-2018 09:40 via ft.com
  Move is latest attempt to try to unite feuding ministers
  
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• UK ministers to fund Saatchi campaign for Tunisian government

  02-07-2018 09:00
  Critics dismiss project as PR campaign designed to support country’s contested policies The British government is paying M&C Saatchi to run a media campaign for the Tunisian government in an attempt to win voters over reforms that have sparked some of the largest protests in the north African state since the Arab spring.The advertising agency – known for its punchy political advertising for the Conservative party – has been hired to run a campaign “targeted towards th
  
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• May's cabinet still squabbling as Chequers Brexit meeting looms

  02-07-2018 08:16
  Ministers will meet on Friday to discuss the UK’s future relationship with the EUTheresa May’s squabbling cabinet have abandoned all pretence of unity ahead of Friday’s crunch meeting at Chequers, with the housing minister, James Brokenshire, conceding there are strong views on either side.Ministers will gather for a day-long discussion at the prime minister’s country retreat to thrash out what they believe should be Britain’s future relationship with the EU27. Cont
  
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• Roma communities fear deportation in post-Brexit Britain

  02-07-2018 07:00
  Charities warn that many lack documentation required to gain settled status Roma living in the UK are at risk of deportation following Brexit, charities have said, as they warn that many will be unable to provide the necessary documentation to be granted settled status.Last month, the home secretary, Sajid Javid, said that EU nationals would be asked to answer “three simple questions” in an online form to continue living in the UK once it has left the EU.Continue reading...
  
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• Infrastructure decisions are too politicised say investors

  02-07-2018 01:01 via ft.com
  Study reveals frustration at delays resulting from departmental wrangles
  
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