Political news

• 10 British Crime Shows You Can Watch On Netflix

  09-01-2019 22:56
  
  For those who want to watch "Sherlock" and "Luther" or just can't get enough of detectives with British accents.
  
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• Brexit: Jeremy Corbyn faces demands from Labour activists to back referendum

  09-01-2019 21:17 via bbc.co.uk
  Some on Labour's left are growing impatient with the leadership's stance on a new Brexit referendum, writes Iain Watson.
  
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• Arlene Foster: Theresa May's Brexit backstop plan is 'dead'

  09-01-2019 21:07 via bbc.co.uk
  The DUP leader says their position on backstop remains firm, despite government plans for Stormont veto.
  
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• May in last-ditch Brexit move ahead of key vote

  09-01-2019 20:16 via ft.com
  Offer of backstop veto after MPs force government to come up with ‘Plan B’
  
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• Steve Bell on Theresa May’s Commons defeat over Brexit plan B – cartoon

  09-01-2019 20:05
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• Moment of truth in Commons bid for Brexit control

  09-01-2019 19:48 via ft.com
  May’s weakness laid bare by rebellions but no clear majority for alternatives to her deal
  
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• Moment of truth as MPs try to take back control

  09-01-2019 19:48 via ft.com
  May’s weakness laid bare by rebellions but no clear majority for alternatives to her deal
  
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• Brexit uncertainty ‘really unbearable’, says Airbus chief

  09-01-2019 18:52 via ft.com
  With chancellor in audience, Enders tells UK politicians ‘from all sides’ to work together
  
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• Forced marriage: Victims will no longer have to take out loans

  09-01-2019 18:37 via bbc.co.uk
  The Foreign Office had been criticised for making some women take out loans to pay for flights home.
  
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• Scottish plan to tighten fox hunting law

  09-01-2019 18:25 via bbc.co.uk
  A new bill, to be introduced at Holyrood, would limit the number of dogs used for flushing out foxes.
  
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• Brexit: MPs vote 308-297 in favour of amendment for three-day 'plan B' deadline - Politics live

  09-01-2019 18:03
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs and the first day of the Brexit debateFull story: MPs force May to table plan B if she loses Brexit deal vote What government defeat on Grieve amendment actually meansPMQs - Snap verdict 5.03pm GMT Photo du Jour: A Brexit demonstrator outside the Houses of Parliament in London today. By Stefan Rousseau/PA pic.twitter.com/ATMgOF47vP 5.02pm GMT Sky’s Beth Rigby says she
  
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• Scotland census: sex question changes 'may risk reliability of data'

  09-01-2019 17:35
  Analysts suggest proposed switch in 2021 survey to non-binary sex question will make results harder to interpretProposed changes to a question about biological sex, asked in Scotland’s next census, risk undermining the reliability of the survey and set a difficult precedent for equalities protection, experts have said.The Scottish government is proposing to add two questions, posed on a voluntary basis, regarding gender identity and sexual orientation to the 2021 census, via the Census (Am
  
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• MP Craig Mackinlay cleared of election expenses fraud

  09-01-2019 17:34 via bbc.co.uk
  Conservative MP Craig Mackinlay was accused of falsifying declarations in the 2015 General Election.
  
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• Parliament is now at war with government - and it's winning

  09-01-2019 17:14
  
  We are witnessing a constitutional battle the likes of which we haven't seen in our lifetime.
  
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• Reality Check: Can MPs stop no-deal Brexit?

  09-01-2019 16:14 via bbc.co.uk
  Cross-party MPs have tabled an amendment to make a no-deal Brexit more difficult.
  
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• What is a citizens’ assembly, and what has it got to do with Brexit?

  09-01-2019 16:10
  Calls are growing to convene a citizens’ assembly on Brexit. Here’s what you need to know Several influential groups and figures have suggested adopting a form of citizens’ assembly, as used in the Irish referendum debate, to find a way to break the Brexit impasse.In an editorial on Wednesday, the Guardian backed the idea. Here we take a look at what a citizen’s assembly would entail. Continue reading...
  
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• The botched Alex Salmond harassment inquiry could stop women speaking out | Dani Garavelli

  09-01-2019 15:50
  A further erosion of trust in the complaints system is the opposite of what the Scottish government set out to achieveYou would assume that civil servants faced with allegations of sexual assault by a former first minister of Scotland would proceed with the utmost caution; that they would fireproof themselves against a future appeal by making sure the procedure used to investigate those allegations was robust and that it was followed to the letter. With the #MeToo campaign in the headlines and a
  
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• PMQs: Corbyn and May on ruling out no deal Brexit

  09-01-2019 15:46 via bbc.co.uk
  Jeremy Corbyn calls on the PM to end the "costly charade and rule out no-deal" for Brexit, quoting warnings from her ministers.
  
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• MPs vote to force May to present Brexit ‘plan B’

  09-01-2019 15:45 via ft.com
  Government defeated by 308 to 297 on Commons amendment by cross-party group
  
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• John Bercow's decision endangers the office of Speaker, and our democracy | Anne Perkins

  09-01-2019 15:36
  Whatever shape Brexit takes, the effects of this unilateral change to parliamentary rules will be felt for a long time The row over the Speaker’s decision may look like a particularly indulgent form of deckchair rearrangement. But in parliamentary terms it is historic. And whatever form Brexit finally takes, it will be part of the shape of the Britain that emerges.On Wednesday morning John Bercow was widely reported to have ignored the considered advice of the official guardians of the rul
  
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• Theresa May suffers Commons defeat over Brexit plan B

  09-01-2019 15:33
  PM will have to table alternative to her deal within three days of losing vote Follow all the latest Brexit news with our live blogTheresa May will be obliged to present MPs with a new Brexit plan within three days if her current proposal is voted down next week, after a procedural amendment to the plan’s progress through the Commons was passed amid chaotic scenes.The amendment to the business motion for the plan, drawn up by the Conservative former attorney general Dominic Grieve, gives M
  
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• For EU business, normality has rarely looked so challenging

  09-01-2019 15:06 via ft.com
  Four years of QE are coming to an end and interest rates look likely to start rising
  
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• Guerrilla warfare against May

  09-01-2019 14:54 via ft.com
  Events at Westminster are now moving away from beleaguered premiership
  
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• MP Nick Boles received 'death threat' after no-deal Brexit bill vote

  09-01-2019 14:50 via bbc.co.uk
  The Grantham and Stamford MP was one of 20 Conservatives who rebelled in a Brexit-related vote.
  
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• DUP dismisses May's Brexit pledge to consult Stormont as meaningless

  09-01-2019 14:48
  Government offers Northern Ireland assembly ‘strong role’ if contentious backstop is triggeredFollow the latest political developments - live updatesTheresa May’s attempts to woo the Democratic Unionist party with a pledge over the contentious backstop have failed after the party branded the proposals as “cosmetic and meaningless”.With less than a week to go to the critical parliamentary vote on the Brexit withdrawal agreement, the government appears no closer to se
  
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• Pro-Brexit activist said all Muslims should be removed from UK

  09-01-2019 14:32
  Video found of James Goddard, part of group who barracked Anna Soubry, arguing Islam should be banned from westThe most prominent of the protesters who have harassed MPs and journalists outside the Houses of Parliament in recent weeks argued last year that all Muslims should be removed from the UK, saying he wanted to “ban Islam from the west”, it has emerged.In another indication of the far-right views held by several of the self-styled yellow vest activists stationed outside parlia
  
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• MPs to get final say on Brexit backstop, Theresa May confirms

  09-01-2019 14:10
  PM tries to shore up support for her Brexit deal with pledge that MPs will get vote on backstop Follow the latest political developments - live updates
  Theresa May has confirmed that MPs would get a final say on whether a backstop solution for the Irish border would ever be put in place, as she attempted to shore up support for her Brexit plan in the first prime minister’s questions of the year.Speaking before the resumption of the Commons debate on her proposals, which will culminate next
  
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• Tory MP cleared of breaking election expenses rules

  09-01-2019 13:40
  Craig Mackinlay was accused of failing to declare up to £66,000 spent on 2015 electionA Conservative MP accused of spending twice the legal limit in election expenses to beat the then Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, has been cleared.Craig Mackinlay, the MP for South Thanet, was accused of failing to declare up to £66,600 spent on staffing, hotels and advertising in relation to the 2015 campaign. Continue reading...
  
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• NHS property company battles £422m of unpaid charges

  09-01-2019 13:36 via ft.com
  Group mired in disputes with tenants, including doctors’ surgeries rebelling over rising bills
  
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• UK worker productivity growth falls to two-year low on back of Brexit concerns

  09-01-2019 13:34
  Slump in third quarter adds to dismal record on improving efficiency since financial crisisThe productivity growth of British workers fell to a two-year low in the third quarter of last year, according to official figures released amid warnings that failures of government policy and Brexit are holding back efficiency gains.According to the Office for National Statistics, annual growth in economic output per hour of work slumped to 0.2% in the three months to September, down from 1.6% in the seco
  
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• Businesses to demand emergency measures if MPs reject Brexit deal

  09-01-2019 13:33
  Freight Transport Association prepares list of ‘mini-deals’ UK must seek from EU to ensure Britain keeps tradingFollow the latest political developments - live updates
  Business leaders will call for a series of emergency measures to cushion the blow of the UK crashing out of the EU if Theresa May’s Brexit deal is not ratified in a critical parliamentary vote next week.The Freight Transport Association, which represents big businesses including supermarkets and logistics compani
  
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• Britain must rid itself of the delusion that it is big, bold and in charge | Robert Saunders

  09-01-2019 13:32
  With a disorderly Brexit on the horizon, a timely lesson in humility may be fast approaching“Being powerful,” Margaret Thatcher once said, “is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” It’s a lesson that could usefully be learned by Gavin Williamson, the elfin defence secretary who longs to inherit her job.Like a one-man military band, Williamson spent the Christmas period blowing the trumpet, twirling the baton and banging the drum f
  
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• We might mock Trump and his wall, but it’s not so different in Britain | Jonathan Freedland

  09-01-2019 12:47
  The US president’s obsession has shut down the government, while the PM’s red line on immigration has paralysed the UKOne of the few comforts available to Brexit Britain is the thought that, no matter how dysfunctional we’ve become, at least we’re not Trump’s America. We may be crazy, reduced to organising fake traffic jams in a Kent airport, but at least we’re not in the third week of a government shutdown, caused by an unhinged president stamping his foot &n
  
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• MPs seek to force May to present Brexit ‘plan B’

  09-01-2019 12:47 via ft.com
  Amendment from cross-party group including nine Tories marks latest Commons rebellion
  
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• Andrzej Krauze on Brexit - cartoon

  09-01-2019 11:56
  Debate starts this week in Westminster before the meaningful vote next week Continue reading...
  
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• Government refuses to pay £65 fee for EU citizens in civil service

  09-01-2019 11:32
  Ministers say civil service staff from EU countries must pay to register their right to remain in UKThe government is refusing to pay the £65 fee for EU nationals employed in the civil service to register their right to remain in the UK.In a parliamentary answer this week to a question asking if the government would cover the fee for civil service workers, the Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden said they would have to pay for themselves – and admitted that the government had no fi
  
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• What Corbyn asked May at PMQs in 2018

  09-01-2019 10:33 via bbc.co.uk
  Jeremy Corbyn asked the prime minister 204 questions - but which subject dominated?
  
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• Brexit A-Z: Your quick-and-easy guide to the most complicated debate in British politics

  09-01-2019 09:39
  
  An unimaginably complex debate has left half the country behind - so here is a quick and easy guide to all the key terms.
  
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• Treasury to review ‘unfair’ tax avoidance measures

  09-01-2019 09:32 via ft.com
  MPs force rethink on disguised remuneration schemes used by thousands of contractors
  
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• Brexit utopia is a receding dream – instead Britain faces a food shortage | Guy Singh-Watson

  09-01-2019 09:00
  As the founder of a fruit and veg supplier, I know March is the worst time for a no-deal Brexit – unless you like woody swedesAs an organic vegetable grower trying to fill 50,000 boxes with a varied selection of vegetables 51 weeks a year – while juggling the needs of our 70,000 customers, 600 staff and 100 suppliers, plus our environment impact – Brexit is a cloud that complicates every decision, every day. Related: Brexit to slash farmland prices by up to a fifth, forecasts s
  
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• Brexit proved our economy is broken, but our leaders still have no clue how to fix it | Aditya Chakrabortty

  09-01-2019 07:00
  Politicians obsess over GDP growth yet its benefits are unequally shared. And Labour leave areas suffer mostJust after midnight on 25 May 2016, a senior staffer in the remain campaign sent colleagues an urgent message. “Voters are very sceptical about our warnings on the economy,” began his email. “They don’t trust the numbers. They don’t trust the Treasury.” As head of strategy for Britain Stronger in Europe, Ryan Coetzee had bombarded Britons with evidence o
  
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• 'A lot of people are angry': Bristol West locals say Labour not listening over Brexit

  09-01-2019 07:00
  It’s one of Labour’s safest seats, where eight in 10 voted to remain in the EU, but students say the party’s equivocations on a second poll is denting their supportBristol West has become, in two short elections, one of Labour’s safest seats. Held by the LibDems until 2015, its student-heavy population turned decisively to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour in 2017, a year after registering the highest anti-Brexit vote for any seat outside London.Thangam Debbonaire represents t
  
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• May wrestles with prospect of delayed departure

  09-01-2019 05:00 via ft.com
  Divisions and workload make extension of Article 50 withdrawal date possible
  
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• Ferry company not ready for Brexit, says government

  09-01-2019 05:00 via ft.com
  Seaborne accepts Ramsgate-Ostend service cannot start until at least late April
  
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• Stormont: Why doesn’t Northern Ireland have a government?

  09-01-2019 03:04 via bbc.co.uk
  The devolved nation has been without an executive for two years.
  
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• Curtice: How voters want Brexit to be sorted out

  09-01-2019 01:47 via bbc.co.uk
  What do ordinary people want MPs to do about Brexit? Sir John Curtice takes a look.
  
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• Use Facebook to improve migration data, says report

  09-01-2019 01:01 via ft.com
  Uncertainty over current ONS methods makes town populations hard to assess
  
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