Political news

• Child spies used only when very necessary, says Downing Street

  20-07-2018 21:30
  Theresa May’s spokeswoman defends practice revealed by House of Lords committeeDavid Davis, the Tory former cabinet minister, has branded recruitment of child spies “morally repugnant”, as he led politicians and human rights groups in condemnation of police and intelligence agencies’ use of the tactic.The recruitment of children as so-called covert human intelligence sources (CHIS) emerged this week after a House of Lords committee raised the alarm over proposals to loose
  
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• Michel Barnier raises concerns over UK's latest Brexit plan – video

  20-07-2018 20:44
  The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, raised serious concerns about Theresa May's white paper after a meeting of the EU27 member states on Friday. May wants an unprecedented customs system where the UK would collect EU duties, while having the freedom to set different tariffs on goods destined for the British market. Barnier said this 'facilitated customs arrangement' raised practical, legal, economic and budgetary questionsMichel Barnier dismisses Theresa May's Brexit white paper de
  
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• Martin Rowson on Donald Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin – cartoon

  20-07-2018 19:52
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• Britain’s elderly deserve better care and funding

  20-07-2018 19:37 via ft.com
  The government must prioritise reform of social care for older people
  
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• Barnier adopts conciliatory tone over Ireland

  20-07-2018 19:31 via ft.com
  May calls on EU to ‘evolve’ backstop as border comes to dominate talks
  
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• Damian Hinds pledges to help teachers overwhelmed by excessive workload

  20-07-2018 19:14
  Education secretary says more will be done to tackle stress that is driving qualified staff awayThe education secretary, Damian Hinds, has admitted too many teachers in England are being overwhelmed by excessive workloads and has pledged to do more to relieve the causes of stress that have been pushing qualified staff out of the classroom.The move came as Hinds argued that schools were on a par with the NHS as a “special case” for extra government spending, as behind the scenes negot
  
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• North West to test EU citizens ‘settled status’ scheme

  20-07-2018 19:10 via ft.com
  Up to 4,000 hospital and university staff will be invited to participate
  
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• The will of the people? These Brexit ideologues are destroying democracy | Jonathan Freedland

  20-07-2018 18:39
  The Vote Leave scandal and the sharp practice in parliament last week show the Brexit process is harming key institutionsFirst, a confession. One that relates to the current threat facing our democratic way of life and which involves a decision I made nearly 15 years ago. It turns on the unlikely name of Brian. In January 2004, I covered for this newspaper the publication of the Hutton report into one of the most vexed aspects of the Iraq war: the death of the scientist and w
  
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• Barnier dismisses Theresa May's Brexit white paper demands

  20-07-2018 18:19
  EU’s Brexit negotiator raises concerns over smuggling, red tape and competitionThe EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has forensically picked apart Theresa May’s white paper after a meeting of the EU27, warning that the prime minister had failed to offer Brussels a firm basis for the negotiations.In a reflection of the widespread concern about the stability of May’s premiership, Barnier said he would be polite, but went on to illustrate in stark terms how the U
  
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• Business wants EU migration ‘on the table’ in Brexit talks

  20-07-2018 17:55 via ft.com
  CBI urges Dominic Raab to make concessions to secure positive trade deal
  
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• Revealed: Tory donors who paid £7m to socialise with May

  20-07-2018 17:31
  Jacob Rees-Mogg’s business partner, Brexit backers and wife of Putin minister among benefactorsJacob Rees-Mogg’s business partner, a string of Brexit backers and the wife of a former senior minister to Vladimir Putin are among the Conservative donors who have paid more than £7m to socialise with Theresa May since the general election.Eighty-one party benefactors have paid a total of £7.4m to the Conservative party for access to the prime minister at dinners, lunches after
  
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• Amid all the sound and fury, Britain remains an enchanted isle

  20-07-2018 17:04 via ft.com
  Sometimes it pays to be reminded of what makes life here worth living
  
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• Michel Barnier questions Theresa May's Brexit White Paper

  20-07-2018 16:35 via bbc.co.uk
  EU's negotiator says UK plan for a future trade relationship runs risk of weakening single market.
  
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• Luis Walker reads Theresa May reply to Orkambi request

  20-07-2018 16:35 via bbc.co.uk
  An eight-year-old wrote to the prime minister asking for Orkambi drug to improve his lungs.
  
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• There is no honour in ‘honour killings’, only male shame | Naz Shah

  20-07-2018 16:32
  The global scale of gendered violence, FGM or forced marriage is staggering. The Honour Her campaign deserves your supportSaturday 14 July marked the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Honour Based Violence, a day established to commemorate the birthday of Bradford-born Shafilea Ahmed, murdered by her parents in a so-called honour killing in 2003. It took nine years to bring her killers to justice. And today marks the second anniversary of the brutal rape and murder of my constituent
  
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• Breaking vote pairs has dire consequences, says Michael Heseltine

  20-07-2018 16:30
  Peer voices concern as PM insists breach of Commons convention was honest mistakeBreaking House of Commons voting conventions has “appalling consequences for the management of government”, Michael Heseltine has warned, as Theresa May continued to insist this week’s breach of pairing rules was an honest mistake.Lord Heseltine, who was a cabinet minister when John Major’s government was defeated over the Maastricht treaty, said he was deeply concerned at the idea of May pus
  
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• 'Forces of darkness have taken over': Soubry accuses May of capitulating to hardline Brexiters

  20-07-2018 15:56
  Former Conservative minister says Jacob Rees-Mogg’s faction is ‘now running Theresa’The Conservative rebel Anna Soubry has accused Theresa May of capitulating to “the forces of darkness” in her party and warned that, as a result, she and her fellow soft Brexiters may not back the final deal the prime minister obtains from Brussels.The former minister accused Jacob Rees-Mogg’s faction of pursuing a hard Brexit that would cost “hundreds of thousands of job
  
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• Post-Brexit registration process for EU citizens to be trialled in August

  20-07-2018 15:46
  Test phase will launch in three Liverpool universities and 12 NHS trusts in the north-westThe government is looking to recruit up to 4,000 EU citizens for a live trial of its post-Brexit registration process next month.It will launch the test phase on 28 August in three Liverpool universities and 12 NHS trusts in the north-west of the country. It will mark the beginning of a three-year programme to register the estimated 3.8 million EU citizens settled in the UK under EU freedom of movement rule
  
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• To break the Irish backstop deadlock, May needs her biggest fudge yet | Marley Morris

  20-07-2018 15:29
  It would heap huge pressure on her Chequers plan. But the alternative is crashing out of the EU with no deal at allTheresa May’s speech in Belfast today has put the thorny issue of the Irish “backstop” back at the heart of the Brexit negotiations. Despite all the focus on ministerial resignations and parliamentary turmoil this week, it is the backstop – more than any other issue – that threatens a complete breakdown in the Brexit talks.The backstop – agreed in
  
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• Labour’s code of conduct isn’t antisemitic – it’s a constructive initiative | Brian Klug

  20-07-2018 15:04
  Critics are preoccupied with the minutiae of the language, but it should be an adaptable living documentWhen two emotive issues collide, the seas of language are liable to run high. This is what happened when Labour announced its new code of conduct on antisemitism. At the heart of the debate lies the conundrum: how to deal with antisemitism while at the same time protecting free speech in debate over Israel and Palestine? It is a question that troubles people of goodwill on every side.In this d
  
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• The other Brexit question

  20-07-2018 14:39 via ft.com
  How should the UK address the failures of its domestic economic model?
  
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• May’s Brexit plan lost in translation

  20-07-2018 14:25 via ft.com
  Botched document underscores perception of British as lazy and inward looking
  
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• Ireland open to new proposal on Brexit border

  20-07-2018 14:14
  Irish minister speaks after Theresa May tells summit EU must drop ‘unworkable’ planThe Irish government has said it is open to the possibility of a fresh proposal for a deal on the border issue, but will only consider a new plan if it is better than the one on the table.The Irish finance minister, Paschal Donohoe, was speaking hours after Theresa May demanded the EU abandon its stance and “evolve its position” to include a guarantee there would be no border in the Irish S
  
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• 'We're the opposition': Rees-Mogg and his European Research Group

  20-07-2018 14:03
  As Theresa May limps off to recess, the hard-Brexit group is already spoiling for the next fightAs Theresa May and her weary MPs limp towards the summer recess this week, battered by late-night dramas and torn loyalties, only one faction in the bitterly divided Conservative party appears emboldened and ready for the next fight: Jacob Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group (ERG). Funded partly by contributions from MPs’ taxpayer-funded office expenses, and with its own spinners and de fa
  
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• Labour accuses PM of 'blatantly untrue excuses' in chief whip pairing row

  20-07-2018 13:53 via bbc.co.uk
  Theresa May insists her chief whip made an "honest mistake" when he told an MP to break a vote pact.
  
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• What will happen if the UK crashes out in a no-deal Brexit?

  20-07-2018 13:51 via ft.com
  Sudden rupture from the EU likely to affect almost every part of life
  
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• UK steps up doomsday planning for no-deal Brexit

  20-07-2018 13:51 via ft.com
  M26 motorway in Kent may become a lorry park to cope with Dover chaos
  
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• Britain steps up doomsday planning for no-deal Brexit

  20-07-2018 13:51 via ft.com
  Sudden rupture would affect almost every part of life
  
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• MPs criticise head of public prosecution's criminal case failures

  20-07-2018 13:18 via bbc.co.uk
  The head of public prosecutions is criticised for her handling of issues around disclosing evidence.
  
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• Theresa May says EU must 'evolve' its Brexit position

  20-07-2018 13:11 via bbc.co.uk
  The UK and EU agree there should be no hard border post-Brexit, but are at odds on how to achieve it.
  
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• Let’s take back control from this authoritarian Tory government | Owen Jones

  20-07-2018 12:36
  The morally repugnant treatment of Jo Swinson is yet another example of Conservative disdain for democracySo now we know what “take back control” means: a cynical, shameless power grab by the Conservative party. Remember all that dewy-eyed rhetoric about restoring the sovereignty of Britain’s parliament? Let me shock you: I’m starting to think it might have been a con. Related: Jo Swinson pairing row: Conservatives admit chief whip asked MPs to break arrangementsContinue
  
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• Cameroon’s Schools Are Under Attack, And The UK Can Help Stop It

  20-07-2018 12:22
  
  Strong ties between Cameroon’s English-speaking region and the UK could help calm conflict in the region
  
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• When would means wouldn't, I fear we're all being gaslighted | John Crace

  20-07-2018 12:12
  It’s not just MPs who need more holiday time to work out what Donald Trump really meansOn days like this in parliament, the job of a sketch writer becomes straight reportage. First came the news that the prime minister was planning to bring recess forward by five days in the misguided hope that her Tory MPs would go back to their constituencies and stop conspiring to precipitate her downfall. So eager was she to remain in her job that it hadn’t occurred to her that MPs awarding thems
  
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• Week in Review: Total Brexit madness

  20-07-2018 12:07
  
  None of the things that happened this week made any sense
  
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• UK government borrowing at 11-year low

  20-07-2018 11:32 via bbc.co.uk
  Public sector borrowing between April and June fell to the lowest level since 2007.
  
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• Theresa May urges EU to help resolve Irish border issue

  20-07-2018 10:22 via ft.com
  Prime minister calls on Brussels to show flexibility in Brexit talks
  
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• Theresa May calls on EU to ‘evolve’ Brexit position on Irish border issue

  20-07-2018 10:22 via ft.com
  Negotiators must find workable solution and not ‘fall back’ on prior positions
  
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• Theresa May to say Brexit plan will deliver for NI

  20-07-2018 10:20 via bbc.co.uk
  During her Belfast visit, Theresa May is expected to say a plan agreed at Chequers will work for NI.
  
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• It’s never their fault: why the Brexiteers love to cry betrayal | Gary Younge

  20-07-2018 07:00
  In Britain and America, the new right is cultivating a dangerous sense of victimhood and shifting blame for its failures elsewhereThe notion of personal responsibility was once such a linchpin of conservative thinking that almost every riposte to liberal ideology ran through it. Whether the right was making the case for longer prison sentences or against the welfare state, the argument generally rested on the principle that we must stand by the consequences of our actions. To cite the context th
  
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• MPs criticise head of public prosecution's rape case failures

  20-07-2018 03:57 via bbc.co.uk
  The head of public prosecutions is criticised for her handling of issues around disclosing evidence.
  
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• Brexit: Tell EU the Chequers plan is final offer, says Leadsom

  20-07-2018 00:01 via bbc.co.uk
  The Commons leader says the Brexit deal struck at Chequers is "a very hard and fast offer to the EU".
  
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