Political news

• Theresa May heads to Brussels bolstered by failure of Brexiter revolt

  20-11-2018 22:04
  Race is on to complete deal before EU summit on Sunday after Rees-Mogg’s ERG fails to muster 48 no-confidence letters
  Theresa May will meet Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Wednesday to try to finalise the political declaration covering future UK-European Union relations after attempts by hard Brexiters to remove her ended in humiliation.The prime minister meets the European commission president in the late afternoon in her strongest position since the first part of the Brexit deal was p
  
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• More City figures call for new Brexit poll

  20-11-2018 22:02 via ft.com
  Letter from leading executives says proposed deal leaves financial services worse off
  
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• Judiciary demoralised by cuts and ‘dilapidated’ courts

  20-11-2018 21:41 via ft.com
  Lord Chief Justice says underfunding has leftsystem struggling to recruit judges
  
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• May revives Irish border plan to appease Eurosceptics

  20-11-2018 21:30 via ft.com
  ‘Unworkable’ technology option back on table in bid to save withdrawal agreement
  
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• Lords committee defends decision to suspend Anthony Lester

  20-11-2018 20:52
  Sexual harassment case was ‘dealt with according to principles of natural justice’A House of Lords committee that suspended a Liberal Democrat peer who it found had sexually harassed a women’s rights campaigner has defended its decision, after the upper house voted to block the punishment.The privileges and conduct committee, which announced last week that it was suspending Anthony Lester after finding that he tried to pressure Jasvinder Sanghera into having sex with him by pro
  
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• BBC weighs scrapping free TV licences for over 75s

  20-11-2018 20:52 via ft.com
  Broadcaster looks at ‘range of options’ for when it takes over scheme
  
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• DUP says it will vote against May’s Brexit deal

  20-11-2018 20:46 via ft.com
  Decision imperils agreement to prop up minority Conservative government
  
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• Sturgeon urges Tory remainers to help build soft Brexit coalition

  20-11-2018 20:28
  SNP leader hints that opposition parties may back Norway model proposed by senior MPs
  Conservative remainer MPs have a “role to play” in building a coalition to drive a soft Brexit through the Commons, Nicola Sturgeon has said as opposition parties seek to find common ground with unhappy Tory backbenchers.In comments which gave the first indication of a Labour-SNP alliance, the Scottish National party leader suggested opposition parties would look at the Norway model, proposed by sen
  
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• Taxpayers' Alliance received over £223k in foreign donations

  20-11-2018 20:19
  Rightwing ‘grassroots’ group received $286k from US-based donors in the past five yearsA political group that claims to be an independent grassroots campaign representing ordinary British taxpayers has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign donations.The Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA) has received at least $286,000 (£223,300) from US-based donors in the last five years, including $100,000 originating from a billionaire-founded religious trust incorporated in the
  
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• In Britain’s boardrooms, Brexit is already here. And the warning is stark | Aditya Chakrabortty

  20-11-2018 20:14
  For Westminster, leaving Europe is months away: for business, it’s the present. And our prospects are already dwindlingOn the one hand, you have the self-inflating chaos at Westminster, the fever dreams of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s gang and the rehearsed rage of the Democratic Unionists. And on the other, you have the truth nailed by Philip K Dick. “Reality,” he wrote, “is that which, when you stop believing it, doesn’t go away.” So let’s remind ourselves
  
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• The Guardian view on burning injustices: fanning Brexit’s flames | Editorial

  20-11-2018 19:36
  EU membership didn’t cause inequalities and divisions. Yet we are leaving because of themOne week after the prime minister released her proposal to leave the European Union, it remains the only Brexit plan on the right of politics. Others have desires but none has been able to answer the question of what can actually be done to leave. Theresa May, to her credit, has. She promises an eventual rupture with the EU in some way which is undefined but which will be costly in economic terms, espe
  
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• Steve Bell on Theresa May's 'no queue jumping' message to EU citizens – cartoon

  20-11-2018 19:33
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• Labour: we'll end compulsory GCSE maths and English resits

  20-11-2018 19:24
  Shadow education secretary says students will be allowed to choose alternative qualifications under new policy
  Labour has promised to end the “remorseless cycle” of compulsory GCSE maths and English resits as part of its plans to reform further education (FE).Currently, FE students are required to keep retaking GCSEs until they get at least a grade 4 (or a C under the old grading system) as a condition of college funding, even though many fail again and again. Continue reading...
  
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• Transport spending in London still twice northern England's

  20-11-2018 19:15
  Report says despite ‘northern powerhouse’ plan, gap in spending is wideningThe “northern powerhouse” was the Conservatives’ big idea for closing the north-south divide and winning over sceptical voters in the north of England.But an analysis of government figures released on Tuesday shows that in the four and a half years since the northern powerhouse agenda was set by the then chancellor, George Osborne, transport spending per person has gone up twice as much in Lo
  
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• UK sugar tax raises well under half forecast amount

  20-11-2018 18:37 via ft.com
  Lower receipts follow move by manufacturers to cut sugar levels in drinks
  
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• I was arrested at a climate change protest – it was worth it | Gavin Turk

  20-11-2018 18:00
  I’m supporting Extinction Rebellion, and using direct action to wake up politicians to the damage we’re doing: together we can do somethingOn Saturday, at about 12.30pm, I was arrested for obstructing (thoughtfully sitting on) a public highway, namely Lambeth Bridge. I wasn’t alone. In fact, Lambeth wasn’t the only obstructed London bridge: thousands of people of diverse backgrounds and ages occupied five central London bridges for most of 17 November: Southwark, Blackfri
  
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• Take action rather than criticise, UN poverty expert tells Rudd

  20-11-2018 17:51
  Philip Alston says minister’s criticism of the tone of his austerity report ‘misses the point’The UN expert on extreme poverty has hit back at the new work and pensions secretary, Amber Rudd, after she complained that the tone of his report into the consequences of austerity in the UK was “highly inappropriate”.Philip Alston urged Rudd to instead follow some of his recommendations to make the welfare system “more humane” rather than dismissing the powerf
  
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• May's Brussels trip only start of 'endless' EU trade talks

  20-11-2018 17:24
  PM and Juncker’s Brexit meeting an ‘amuse-bouche’ to continuous negotiations, says former UKTI chiefWhen Theresa May goes to Brussels for tea with Jean Claude Juncker on Wednesday afternoon, the two leaders will have in front of them a metaphorical Christmas tree of a political declaration. “And every member state has put a bauble on it”, an EU diplomat said.A seven-page document published last week, offering some heads of terms on the future relationship, is set to
  
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• Mark Carney backs May's Brexit plan

  20-11-2018 17:15 via ft.com
  Bank of England head says deal would increase business certainty
  
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• Should business accept May’s Brexit deal?

  20-11-2018 16:56 via ft.com
  A bank executive and a politician lay out arguments for and against the proposal with Brussels
  
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• Theresa May to head to Brussels to finalise Brexit deal

  20-11-2018 16:39
  PM will discuss future plan with European commission president Jean-Claude JunckerTheresa May is to travel to Brussels on Wednesday evening to finalise the Brexit deal in a meeting with the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker.With talk of a backbench coup against the prime minister fizzling out, No 10 said the prime minister would head for discussions with Juncker “as part of the ongoing negotiations over the future framework”. Continue reading...
  
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• Parliament is gridlocked. Only the people can solve the Brexit crisis | Justine Greening

  20-11-2018 15:33
  Theresa May has laid out the three practical options. A second referendum on them is our best chance of consensusNo 10 has turned up the noise on the spin machine selling its “blind Brexit” deal, but that won’t change the simple fact that it’s playing a tune no one likes. This deal is the worst of all worlds. Taking EU rules without having a say and risking the break-up of the UK is not what people voted for.We need to face facts. Parliament is gridlocked. There is no maj
  
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• Clement Attlee took in Jewish child refugee who fled Nazis

  20-11-2018 15:14
  Exclusive: Paul Willer, who lives in Gloucestershire, was sponsored by Labour leaderClement Attlee, the Labour prime minister whose government founded the welfare state, looked after a child refugee who escaped from the Nazis in the months leading up to the second world war, it can be revealed.The then leader of the opposition sponsored a Jewish mother and her two children, giving them the confidence and authorisation to leave Germany in 1939 and move to the UK. Continue reading...
  
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• Why is populism suddenly all the rage?

  20-11-2018 15:00
  In 1998, about 300 Guardian articles mentioned populism. In 2016, 2,000 did. What happened?• Revealed: how populists tripled their vote over 20 yearsPopulism is sexy. Particularly since 2016 – the year of the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump – it seems as if journalists just cannot get enough of it. In 1998, the Guardian published about 300 articles that included the terms “populism” or “populist”. In 2015, these terms were used in about
  
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• Mark Carney backs Theresa May's Brexit deal

  20-11-2018 14:56
  Bank of England governor says failure to reach a deal would cause a ‘large negative shock’Mark Carney has thrown his weight behind Theresa May’s Brexit deal, warning that a no-deal scenario would damage the economy, trigger job losses, lead to lower pay for workers and cause inflation to rise.The governor of the Bank of England said May’s draft EU withdrawal agreement would “support economic outcomes” that would be positive for the British economy, primarily b
  
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• UK regions have diverged since Brexit vote

  20-11-2018 14:53 via ft.com
  Economic gap between north and south has worsened
  
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• Young entrepreneurs reject May's Brexit deal

  20-11-2018 14:45
  
  A day after the CBI gave its reluctant endorsement to Theresa May's withdrawal deal with the EU, a group of young entrepreneurs hit back.
  
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• EU nations line up with Brexit demands

  20-11-2018 14:30 via ft.com
  Theresa May’s ability to withstand pressure from Europe is severely constrained
  
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• Why England is facing a rising tide of knife crime

  20-11-2018 13:54 via ft.com
  Police forces look to the US and Glasgow for solutions after fatal stabbings soar
  
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• MPs demand Facebook and Twitter remove 'abhorrent' far-right video

  20-11-2018 13:42
  Yvette Cooper writes to tech giants about illegal video supporting banned National Action groupMPs have written to Facebook and Twitter demanding they take down an “abhorrent” video supporting and promoting the banned far-right organisation National Action.Yvette Cooper, writing on behalf of the home affairs select committee, told the social media giants it was “completely unacceptable” that the video was still available on both platforms despite being taken down by YouTu
  
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• Brexiteers are subverting language to obscure the truth, Trump-style | Bobby McDonagh

  20-11-2018 13:12
  It started with fake news, but now any unpalatable fact is fair game for the ‘thought incinerator’“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes,” Mark Twain is said to have warned. In this era of social media, let’s make that all the way round the world while the truth is still looking for its socks.Every day, including in the present Brexit chaos, we witness a phenomenon that subverts the truth yet remains nameless. Since
  
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• Here’s what it would take to make Theresa May’s Brexit deal work | Henry Newman

  20-11-2018 12:59
  Parliament will reject the current plan. But if the EU agrees to revise certain key aspects, a deal is definitely achievableThe draft Brexit agreement will be rubber-stamped by a special European council meeting this weekend. But the current deal has little chance of making it through the Commons. Without parliamentary approval there is no path to a negotiated UK-EU agreement. Yet, so far, neither the UK nor EU has a proper plan B, other than a messy no deal. Time is running out to make changes
  
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• Front line: Universal Credit rollout hits Northampton

  20-11-2018 10:11
  
  Eyewitness reports from a local foodbank as controversial benefits project rolls outs
  
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• Government has broken Brexit promise to DUP, says senior MP

  20-11-2018 09:08
  Party voted with Labour against finance bill in warning shot to Theresa MayThe government has “seriously broken” its commitment to the Democratic Unionist party, which forced its MPs to vote with Labour, one of its senior MPs has said, throwing the future of Theresa May’s government into further doubt.Sammy Wilson, the party’s Brexit spokesman, said the government had not stuck to its promise that Northern Ireland would not be treated differently from the rest of the UK i
  
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• How to classify Brexit texts

  20-11-2018 08:49 via ft.com
  Side-declarations, which are a favourite of negotiators, could pose problems for May
  
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• The issues that could decide Brexit deal fate

  20-11-2018 05:00 via ft.com
  Transition extension, trade ties, fishing and negotiation timetable are still unresolved
  
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• Senior City figures call for second Brexit vote

  20-11-2018 05:00 via ft.com
  Split within finance sector over how to react to withdrawal deal
  
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• Equal paid parental leave benefits all, Aviva shows

  20-11-2018 05:00 via ft.com
  Dads gain fresh perspective while the insurer sends a positive signal about family life
  
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• Brexit shows why CEOs cannot be political leaders

  20-11-2018 05:00 via ft.com
  Business has finally taken a position, but they are not democratically accountable
  
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• Labour vows to end civil service jobs ‘snobbery’

  20-11-2018 01:03 via ft.com
  Angela Rayner calls for end to Whitehall’s academic requirements in drive for parity
  
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• Cut health inequality to lift productivity, study says

  20-11-2018 01:03 via ft.com
  Life expectancy and productivity lower in the north than the rest of England
  
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• DUP refuses to back May in finance bill vote

  20-11-2018 00:22 via ft.com
  Abstentions cast doubt on parliamentary alliance with Tories as Brexit vote nears
  
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