Political news

• Brussels to sue UK over trading tax breaks

  23-01-2019 22:56 via ft.com
  Commission goes to ECJ over City of London creating VAT loophole
  
  Read more

• Dyson’s move is pragmatism not Brexit ‘pluto-populism’

  23-01-2019 21:40 via ft.com
  Twitterati’s condemnation of Pro-Brexit billionaire was swift but misguided
  
  Read more

• Steve Bell on Theresa May, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Brexit – cartoon

  23-01-2019 21:19
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• 'Billionaires' jamboree': quarter of UK cabinet fly out to Davos

  23-01-2019 20:57
  Jeremy Corbyn mocks Philip Hammond’s delegation as PM stays home to focus on BrexitA quarter of the cabinet flew out to the Davos World Economic Forum on Wednesday at a time when the government is struggling to resolve the Brexit impasse, prompting the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to accuse them of wasting time at a “billionaires’ jamboree”. Related: No-deal Brexit 'poses threat to global stability' – CBI headContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Sturgeon accuses May of driving UK towards 'no-deal cliff-edge'

  23-01-2019 20:37
  First minister of Scotland says there isn’t ‘much indication the PM is listening to concerns’Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has accused the prime minister of driving the UK towards a “no-deal cliff-edge” by failing to compromise on her Brexit red lines.Emerging from a meeting with Theresa May in Downing Street, Sturgeon said the prime minister was pursuing a strategy that is “destined to fail” by trying to win over Brexiters instead of
  
  Read more

• David Davis trousering £96,000 for part-time roles since cabinet exit

  23-01-2019 20:29
  Former Brexit secretary receives £3,000 an hour for consultancy role with JCBIt is a matter for debate whether the country has fared better or worse since David Davis resigned as Brexit secretary. In much less doubt are his personal fortunes: the MP is receiving almost £100,000 from two part-time business posts.The latest register of MPs interests shows Davis has acquired two new jobs on top of his role representing Haltemprice and Howden in parliament. One, as an “external adv
  
  Read more

• McDonnell seeks to reassure City on capital controls

  23-01-2019 20:25 via ft.com
  Shadow chancellor woes business as Labour steps up its preparations for governing
  
  Read more

• Criminal courts face chaos and delay after IT failure

  23-01-2019 20:09 via ft.com
  Case backlog likely to take weeks, if not months, to clear
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• MP Richard Burgon in court for Sun 'Nazi images' libel case

  23-01-2019 19:58
  Labour justice spokesman suing paper over story about his links to heavy metal bandThe shadow justice secretary, Richard Burgon, has told a court there is no justification for linking his decision to record a track with a heavy metal band that allegedly used Nazi-influenced fonts and claims of antisemitism in the Labour party.The Labour MP, who would become lord chancellor and be placed in charge of the legal system if the party came to power, is suing the Sun newspaper for libel after it publis
  
  Read more

• Sadiq Khan makes rent control key plank of mayor re-election bid

  23-01-2019 19:57
  London mayor will work out blueprint for overhaul of laws for renters before 2020 pollSadiq Khan is to make a campaign for wide-ranging rent control the key plank of his 2020 re-election bid, asking the government to give the London mayoralty the power to combat soaring rents in the capital.The mayor of London is to work out a blueprint for an overhaul of the laws for private renters to allow new restrictions on rent to be imposed – a change he could not make without legislation by central
  
  Read more

• Rees-Mogg narrows objections to May’s Brexit plan

  23-01-2019 19:55 via ft.com
  Eurosceptic now focusing wholly on backstop in wake of rival bid to rule out no-deal
  
  Read more

• The only Brexit compromise I can see coming is a bad one | Martin Kettle

  23-01-2019 19:32
  The road to the Good Friday agreement took many years of slowly shifting opinion. Brexit feels a long way off that pointBrexit is a reminder that two connected things need to happen in order for a political compromise to stick. First, partisan leaders must decide that it is better than any other achievable outcome. Second, the public must also converge to give it their backing. One movement towards the treaty table without the other doesn’t cut it.The Northern Ireland peace process was a c
  
  Read more

• Brexit boost for BBC Parliament as channel briefly outrates MTV

  23-01-2019 18:40
  Favourite of politicos and journalists, corporation’s niche channel enjoys audience spikeOne is a television channel that shows non-stop coverage of debates in the House of Commons. The other broadcasts reality TV shows including Teen Mom, Catfish, and Geordie Shore.But Brexit has helped make BBC Parliament, the often-overlooked public service channel that shows live coverage of select committees, briefly more popular than MTV. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Michel Barnier says opposing no-deal Brexit will not stop it in March

  23-01-2019 18:15
  EU’s chief negotiator warns UK will crash out unless ‘positive majority’ of MPs agree on new visionAll the latest news on Brexit – live updates
  Michel Barnier has warned that the move led by Labour MP Yvette Cooper to block the prime minister from delivering a no-deal Brexit is doomed to fail unless a majority for an alternative agreement is found.The EU’s chief negotiator, in a speech in Brussels, said the “default” for the UK was still crashing out if
  
  Read more

• Think another general election is unlikely? Think again | Owen Jones

  23-01-2019 18:11
  As Theresa May becomes increasingly boxed in by Brexit, dissolving parliament might be her only remaining optionCould a general election be looming? It might seem unlikely. Last time Theresa May dissolved parliament, she had a 24-point lead and higher personal ratings than Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair in their pomp. Labour had suffered one of its worst postwar defeats just two years earlier. And yet the Conservatives lost their majority. This time round, Labour are ahead in several polls. Jer
  
  Read more

• Labour ready to whip MPs to back Cooper's no-deal amendment

  23-01-2019 17:43
  Amendment aims to allow for article 50 to be delayed if no-deal Brexit looks imminentLabour looks set to whip its MPs to back Yvette Cooper’s amendment, paving the way for legislation that would mandate ministers to extend article 50 if a no-deal Brexit looked imminent.The amendment, tabled by Cooper to a motion laid by the government after the defeat of its Brexit deal, would give parliamentary time for the private member’s bill to be debated, which it otherwise would not get. Conti
  
  Read more

• Brussels prepares for Brexit fish clash with the UK

  23-01-2019 17:29 via ft.com
  Commission acknowledges that members may need to seek country-by-country deals
  
  Read more

• To those leaving Labour: if you want to stop Brexit, stay and fight | Michael Chessum

  23-01-2019 17:20
  The fates of Corbyn and remainers are bound together – because only Labour can deliver a second voteIf some reports are to be believed, large numbers of Labour members are leaving the party because of its position on Brexit. The suggested figure of 150,000 people walking away is difficult to corroborate and has been strenuously rebutted by the party. But Labour’s resistance to backing a fresh referendum, despite the overwhelming view of its members, has undeniably prompted some to le
  
  Read more

• UK services exports to EU soar in the run-up to Brexit

  23-01-2019 16:37 via ft.com
  Britain becoming even more reliant on bloc as departure approaches
  
  Read more

• Government will miss its cycling target by a mile. It's time to invest

  23-01-2019 16:32
  Activists want 5% of transport spending to go on active travel, as happens in ScotlandIt is possible a million or more people have cycled past the Houses of Parliament in the past 12 months, but you could be forgiven for thinking this has gone unnoticed by those on the other side of the black railings.On Wednesday, as the cycle superhighway through Parliament Square whisked commuters to work, inside, the transport select committee heard the government would miss its cycling target. It is predict
  
  Read more

• Councillor 'scared' after article by Tommy Robinson backer

  23-01-2019 16:02
  Fazila Loonat says she was racially abused in street after Danny Lockwood’s columnA councillor for the town where Jo Cox was murdered has said she no longer feels safe after being labelled a “dangerous and divisive extremist” by the publisher of Tommy Robinson’s memoirs.Fazila Loonat, 38, said she had been racially abused in the street and received threatening phone calls following an article by Danny Lockwood, the local newspaper owner and backer of Robinson. Continue re
  
  Read more

• Barnier warns UK still risks no-deal Brexit

  23-01-2019 15:36 via ft.com
  EU’s chief negotiator says bloc members would question any request to extend talks
  
  Read more

• Why the Cooper amendment matters

  23-01-2019 14:44 via ft.com
  Labour backbencher’s proposal could make no-deal Brexit almost impossible
  
  Read more

• Article 50 extension not a Brexit solution, May tells MPs

  23-01-2019 14:29 via ft.com
  Prime minister warns moves to prevent no-deal Brexit ‘will not solve the issue’
  
  Read more

• Wealthy Brexiteers like James Dyson are jumping ship. Why might that be? | Jonathan Freedland

  23-01-2019 14:11
  Dyson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nigel Lawson – the leave elite appears to want Brexit for everyone else but themselvesLet’s give James Dyson the benefit of the doubt. Let’s take at face value the assurances issued by his multibillion pound company – whose products involve the generation of hot air – as to why it is relocating its headquarters from Wiltshire to Singapore.Apparently, it has “nothing to do with Brexit”. What’s more, it’s barely a move a
  
  Read more

• PMQs verdict: Corbyn leaves May sounding defensive on Brexit

  23-01-2019 13:53
  In an even match, the jibe that the PM has an open door but a closed mind stood outTheresa May and Jeremy Corbyn started by mentioning Holocaust Memorial Day and condemning antisemitism and racism. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• For the EU to prosper, Britain must leave | Eoin Drea

  23-01-2019 13:44
  The UK’s failure to understand the give and take required means this relationship was always doomed
  Until recently I was a committed remainer and wedded to the belief that the best way out of this Brexit mess for the EU was simply to try to ensure it didn’t happen. But the events of the past month illustrate why there is, rightly, a growing mood in Brussels for a completely different outcome: for the EU to prosper, Britain must leave.The rationale is simple, Brexit is – either
  
  Read more

• Pound rallies above $1.30 on Brexit delay push

  23-01-2019 13:07 via ft.com
  Sterling hits highest level since November as Labour signals support for blocking no-deal exit
  
  Read more

• Watchdog fears rise in abuse of workers after Brexit

  23-01-2019 12:47 via ft.com
  London singled out as area of concern by authority that fights modern slavery
  
  Read more

• Burberry warns on impact of no-deal Brexit

  23-01-2019 12:00 via ft.com
  UK fashion house says supply chain disruption could add millions in extra trade costs
  
  Read more

• Fox hits out at MPs seeking to block no-deal Brexit

  23-01-2019 11:53 via ft.com
  UK trade secretary says leaving EU without a deal on March 29 ‘remains a real possibility’
  
  Read more

• Indicative votes: Plan to break Brexit deadlock could end up revealing extent of division

  23-01-2019 10:24
  
  We tried this before on Lords reform... and it didn't go very well.
  
  Read more

• Sony to shift European domicile from UK on Brexit risk

  23-01-2019 09:02 via ft.com
  Japanese group’s Europe business registration to move to the Netherlands
  
  Read more

• Tory hardliners reconsider May deal amid fears that Brexit could be blocked

  23-01-2019 07:17
  Revised deal – including backstop concessions – could win support to see off ‘Europhile kamikaze MPs’Tory Brexit supporters alarmed by the prospect of a delay have hinted they could be won over in the coming weeks – if Theresa May can produce a serious concession from Brussels on the Irish backstop.The numbers may not be enough for May to win support for her deal, given continued opposition from a hardcore of Brexiters who also object to the £39bn financial se
  
  Read more

• UK has biggest fossil fuel subsidies in the EU, finds commission

  23-01-2019 07:00
  Subsidies for coal, oil and gas are not falling despite EU pledges to tackle climate change
  The UK leads the European Union in giving subsidies to fossil fuels, according to a report from the European commission. It found €12bn (£10.5bn) a year in support for fossil fuels in the UK, significantly more than the €8.3bn spent on renewable energy.The commission report warned that the total subsidies for coal, oil and gas across the EU remained at the same level as 2008. This is despi
  
  Read more

• Can Emmanuel Macron’s ‘great national debate’ save his presidency? | Guillaume Liegey

  23-01-2019 07:00
  Talk of tax cuts and curbs to immigration will only go so far – the gilets jaunes protesters need to be listened to nowEarlier this month, in an open letter to French citizens, President Emmanuel Macron suggested that introducing immigration quotas might help address the gilets jaunes crisis. This predictably made many on the left cringe. It also brought to mind a Hillary Clinton interview in the Guardian last year, in which she gave her views on the root cause of rightwing populism. &ldqu
  
  Read more

• Europe can break the Brexit impasse

  23-01-2019 06:00 via ft.com
  The UK has been more central to the bloc than many on the continent realise
  
  Read more

• A trucker’s guide to post-Brexit disruption

  23-01-2019 06:00 via ft.com
  As fears grow of a return to customs checks, the FT follows a British driver on his tightly-scheduled journey across the continent
  
  Read more

• Brexit turmoil changes tone of other EU opponents

  23-01-2019 05:00 via ft.com
  Challenge for Brussels shifts to defending common rules-based order
  
  Read more

• BBC criticised for not revealing pay at commercial arm

  23-01-2019 01:01 via ft.com
  MPs say it has effectively created a ‘loophole’ in order to not disclose salaries of top talent
  
  Read more

• Academy schools need better governance, says report

  23-01-2019 01:01 via ft.com
  MPs call on education department to improve oversight of trusts after series of failures
  
  Read more

Follow @political_UKnws on Twitter!