Political news

• Ministers: May's plan for three-year spending review is a fantasy

  21-12-2018 23:00
  Senior figures say PM will struggle to get deal signed off in current political uncertaintyTheresa May’s waning authority means the idea of concluding a three-year spending review next year is a fantasy and is only likely to be achieved if she were replaced as leader, cabinet ministers have said.The government has promised a full spending review in 2019 as part of a pledge to end austerity in the coming years, but senior figures say May will struggle to get the plan signed off. Continue re
  
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• Martin Rowson on Putin and the Brexit Nativity – cartoon

  21-12-2018 19:36
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• The Guardian view on political responsibility: an epidemic of shamelessness | Editorial

  21-12-2018 19:30
  Leave campaigners’ refusal to take ownership of the consequences of their demands has had a terrible corrosive effect across politicsThe principal method by which the public gets to hold a government to account is the ballot box. If a party disappoints, voters can expel it from office. But between elections voters often rely on politicians’ conscience and sense of shame to police their behaviour. Those informal forces appear to have diminishing potency.Earlier this month, the governm
  
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• Britain’s latest immigration policy is a cruel veto on love | John Harris

  21-12-2018 18:58
  Restricting UK entry by income splits families with non-EU members. After Brexit, Europeans will be caught in the net tooPicture the scene: a bar or restaurant in Paris, Madrid, Warsaw or Prague. At one of the tables is a couple – one person is British, one is not. They are newly married, and full of plans, but there is one snag. Up until now, they would have been able to settle together in the UK with minimum official fuss. But thanks to the government’s plans for Brexit, all that i
  
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• NHS troubleshooting team set up for no-deal Brexit disruption

  21-12-2018 18:43
  Staff of 10 started work this month and could be expanded to hundreds The government has set up a team of troubleshooters to tackle problems in the NHS in the event of a no-deal Brexit, including drug shortages and the loss of key staff.Ministers have admitted there will be disruption in the NHS if Britain leaves the EU on 29 March without a deal, and the team’s job will be to try to minimise that. Continue reading...
  
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• Labour MP sorry for backing musician accused of anti-Semitism

  21-12-2018 18:12 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour MP Chris Williamson was under fire for tweet in support of controversial musician.
  
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• Labour MP apologises for backing 'antisemitic' jazz musician

  21-12-2018 17:25
  Chris Williamson promoted petition in support of Gilad Atzmon, who denounced ‘Holocaust religion’The Labour MP Chris Williamson has been forced to apologise for backing a petition in support of Gilad Atzmon, a musician who has denounced “the Holocaust religion” and suggested there is a Zionist plan for world domination.A Labour spokesman called Atzmon “a vile antisemite” and said it was right Williamson had apologised. Continue reading...
  
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• US agribusiness lobbyists paid for trip by David Davis

  21-12-2018 16:15
  The E Foundation worked with UK thinktank on Brexit and is alleged to favour weakening EU food regulationsA six-day trip to the US by former Brexit secretary David Davis was partly funded by an American lobbying organisation that is alleged to favour weakening European Union regulations on environmental and food standards.The Oklahoma-based organisation, the E Foundation, paid £5,362 to Davis, who was accompanied by fellow Brexiter Owen Paterson on the trip last month. The organisation rep
  
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• Boris Johnson cleared of breaking Tory rules over burka comments

  21-12-2018 16:01 via bbc.co.uk
  The Conservative Party examined dozens of complaints about Boris Johnson's comments in a newspaper.
  
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• Order, order - updated rules for MPs' behaviour

  21-12-2018 15:56 via bbc.co.uk
  The Commons has issued a new guide to the rules of behaviour expected from MPs in Parliament.
  
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• MPs given updated advice on how to behave

  21-12-2018 15:56 via bbc.co.uk
  The Commons has issued a new guide to the rules of behaviour expected from MPs in Parliament.
  
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• Firms told to prepare for no-deal Brexit

  21-12-2018 14:39 via bbc.co.uk
  A Treasury minister issues a "call to action" to businesses to prepare for a no-deal scenario.
  
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• Our elders are supposed to be older and wiser. But not these Brexit clowns | Lara Spirit

  21-12-2018 14:06
  Parliament seems hellbent on frittering away my generation’s future – while destroying young people’s faith in politicsNine months ago I was part of a group of young people who started a political campaign. We wanted our voices to be heard on Brexit. We’ve now built a national movement across campuses, schools, towns and cities.We’ve gone from being laughed at to offering the most credible way forward. And in doing that, we’ve been able to engage directly with
  
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• Ivan Lewis quits Labour Party as sex harassment row drags on

  21-12-2018 14:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Ivan Lewis criticises handling of anti-Semitism row as he resigns from party a year after being suspended.
  
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• Allegations AM Neil McEvoy misused Welsh Assembly funds

  21-12-2018 13:54 via bbc.co.uk
  Neil McEvoy is investigated over allegations including employing assembly staff for campaigning.
  
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• In the furious Commons, no one disputed 'stupid'

  21-12-2018 13:48
  Also this week: the PM poops her own party, but Matt Hancock rules the roostMondayI can’t help feeling that giving a TV interview was not the best way for Thomas Markle to start repairing his relationship with his daughter Meghan. Especially not an interview with Piers Morgan, whose only real subject of conversation is the advancement of Piers Morgan. Family breakdowns and reconciliations are generally best dealt with in private rather than being brokered with an untreatable narcissist, an
  
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• Fire safety cuts are an insult to the memory of Grenfell | Seraphima Kennedy

  21-12-2018 13:36
  Safety inspections have fallen by 40%, leaving thousands of people at risk. It should be a source of deep shame for this government“What value do we place on the lives of our citizens,” asked Sam Stein QC at the Grenfell Tower inquiry last week, “and how far are we prepared to pay for the protection of our people?” This question, it was suggested, lies at the heart of the investigation into the failures that led to the deaths of 72 people.Eighteen months on, there are ser
  
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• The UK’s immigration debate is not only about economics

  21-12-2018 13:21 via ft.com
  Culture, identity and a sense of fairness matter just as much to many people
  
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• Immigration debate not only about economics

  21-12-2018 13:21 via ft.com
  Culture, identity and a sense of fairness matter just as much to many people
  
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• Brexiters face moment of truth on Theresa May’s deal

  21-12-2018 13:20 via ft.com
  Big question for ERG is whether parliament will allow UK to leave EU without agreement
  
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• Ofcom RT ruling: Russia to check BBC News in response

  21-12-2018 12:36 via bbc.co.uk
  Russia's media watchdog examines BBC News output after a UK regulator ruling on Kremlin-backed RT.
  
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• No-deal Brexit stockpiling? Don’t forget the sumac

  21-12-2018 12:13 via ft.com
  ‘We are all going to have to make sacrifices: there are Leavers near me who are ready to eat white bread to make this work’
  
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• Britain's Second-Biggest Airport Reopens After Drones Chaos

  21-12-2018 11:58
  
  But police and armed forces have failed to find the drones or the operator that shut down the airport.
  
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• Brexit: David Gauke doubts PM would back no-deal

  21-12-2018 11:00 via bbc.co.uk
  The justice secretary adds he would find it "very difficult" to stay in cabinet in that scenario.
  
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• Britain is in crisis. But all we MPs are offering is an unedifying circus | Rupa Huq

  21-12-2018 10:00
  There are 98 days to go until Brexit, yet parliament is engaged in a frenzy of mud-slinging. It leaves our constituents baffled• Rupa Huq is Labour MP for Ealing Central and ActonWhat a time to be a lipreader. First we had the row between Theresa May and the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, in Brussels. Then on Wednesday we had those frenzied attempts to make out whether Jeremy Corbyn muttered “stupid woman” or “stupid people” to himself during pri
  
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• Love can thrive if we leave our comfort zones, even in the age of Brexit and Trump | Gaby Hinsliff

  21-12-2018 07:00
  Being able to civilly disagree with a loved one teaches us a valuable lesson in restraint and humilityThe path of true love never did run smooth. But for Trump voters, it seems to be especially rocky. Or so says Emily Moreno, who recently founded a dating app for conservative Americans, after noticing how many of her Republican friends were complaining of being sexually shunned for their political allegiances. “If people do get a date, either they have to self-censor or they don’t ge
  
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• May should take a business approach to Brexit

  21-12-2018 06:01 via ft.com
  Transformational deals require a supermajority to show shareholder approval
  
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• Leave or Remain? The Brexit holiday booking dilemma

  21-12-2018 06:00 via ft.com
  As fears of ‘no-deal’ rise, I’m opting for a staycation next year
  
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• UK student loans accounting the worst kind of trick

  21-12-2018 05:00 via ft.com
  It’s the sort of sleight-of-hand that helped bring down Carillion
  
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• Northern Line extension to Battersea delayed by year

  21-12-2018 05:00 via ft.com
  Postponement piles pressure on the capital’s cash-strapped transport authorities
  
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• Europeans caught up in Britain’s homeless crisis

  21-12-2018 05:00 via ft.com
  Campaigners fear non-UK rough sleepers will have little way back from streets after Brexit
  
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• UK carmaking drops to lowest level in a decade

  21-12-2018 01:01 via ft.com
  Decline of 20% in November underscores fears of contraction as Brexit looms
  
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