Political news

• Jobs fears haunt the frantic scramble for a Brexit deal

  26-01-2019 23:36
  Key backbenchers, including Labour’s Yvette Cooper, could determine how – or if – Brexit happens. And in their constituencies, companies are already planning for the worstThe giant disused towers of Ferrybridge coal-fired power station loom over the A1 on the approach to Pontefract. In their 1970s heyday these great symbols of West Yorkshire’s industrial might employed 850 workers.Just a few miles away is the site of Britain’s last deep coal mine, Kellingley Collier
  
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• UK firms plan mass exodus if May allows no-deal Brexit

  26-01-2019 22:00
  Business group warns that companies are getting ready to shift operations abroadThousands of British companies have already triggered emergency plans to cope with a no-deal Brexit, with many gearing up to move operations abroad if the UK crashes out of the EU, according to the British Chambers of Commerce.Before a crucial week in parliament, in which MPs will try to wrest control from Theresa May’s government in order to delay Brexit and avoid a no-deal outcome, the BCC said it believed co
  
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• The academy revolution has swept England. It has left casualties in its wake | Sonia Sodha

  26-01-2019 21:30
  More than half of all pupils are educated by an opaque and poorly regulated systemWalk into a school and some things will strike you right away. Is the atmosphere respectful and warm? How do children interact with their teachers? What sort of project work takes pride of place on the corridor walls?One thing that you can’t immediately tell from wandering from classroom to classroom is whether the school is an academy, run by a not-for-profit organisation independent of the local council, or
  
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• Brexiters never had a real exit plan. No wonder they avoided the issue | Nick Cohen

  26-01-2019 19:30
  The harsh truth about leaving the EU was obvious five years ago. But the right covered it upThe secret history of modern Britain is made in obscure corners between men and women taken seriously by no one but themselves. A good time to begin it would be in the winter of 2013/14 when the Institute of Economic Affairs, a rightist outfit that won’t reveal where its money comes from, offered a €100,000 prize to whoever could devise a means of leaving the European Union.The reason why polit
  
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• Theresa May's disappearing act – cartoon

  26-01-2019 19:00
  As Brexit looms ever larger, it’s goodbye prime minister and goodbye UK economy Continue reading...
  
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• Delay Brexit and make time to consult the public

  26-01-2019 19:00 via ft.com
  Level with the people about the detailed costs and benefits of leaving the EU
  
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• Alex Salmond to continue to host weekly RT programme

  26-01-2019 18:44 via bbc.co.uk
  The former first minister has been charged with attempted rape and sexual assault but insists he is "innocent of any criminality".
  
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• Ex-Labour MP Jim Sheridan suspended over antisemitism row labels accusers 'misguided'

  26-01-2019 18:01
  Jim Sheridan, now a councillor, apologised but said accusers ‘overreacted’ to his commentsA former Labour MP suspended from the party over comments made online about the Jewish community has branded his accusers “misguided” upon being reinstated to the party.Jim Sheridan, a former Paisley and Renfrewshire North MP who lost his seat in 2015 and is now a councillor in Renfrewshire, faced an investigation after a complaint in August last year. It was reported to relate to a
  
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• Juncker warns May: permanent customs union is price for revisiting backstop

  26-01-2019 17:01
  Deputy Frans Timmermans accuses Tory Brexiters of a ‘cavalier’ approach to peace Jean-Claude Juncker has told Theresa May in a private phone call that shifting her red lines in favour of a permanent customs union is the price she will need to pay for the EU revising the Irish backstop.Without a major shift in the prime minister’s position, the European commission president told May that the current terms of the withdrawal agreement were non-negotiable. Continue reading...
  
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• Brexit: Case for free votes for MPs, says cabinet minister Gauke

  26-01-2019 15:10 via bbc.co.uk
  The justice secretary cautions against the government 'railroading' its motion through Parliament.
  
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• ‘Democracy is broken’: Women’s Equality party leader tells why she quit

  26-01-2019 15:00
  Sophie Walker calls for new voices and an entirely new model for politics after stepping down from top jobTalking as part of a panel last weekend, the leader of the Women’s Equality party, Sophie Walker, looked out at the audience with growing unease. “There was a huge amount of energy in the hall, which was made up of women wanting to learn how to be activists,” says Walker. “But there was also an air of them bracing themselves to do something quite unpleasant.”The
  
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• Ireland dismisses suggestion it should quit EU and join UK

  26-01-2019 14:37
  BBC’s John Humphrys criticised for putting ‘Brexit solution’ to Irish minister
  Ireland has dismissed the suggestion that the best solution to the Brexit impasse might be for the country to quit the EU and join the UK. Related: Leo Varadkar: Brexit has undermined Good Friday agreementContinue reading...
  
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• Corbyn planned tour of marginals if he won no-confidence vote

  26-01-2019 08:01
  Labour’s strategy sheds light on likely approach if it forces election in coming monthsLabour made plans for Jeremy Corbyn to travel to a string of marginal constituencies calling for an immediate general election if the party won last week’s vote of no confidence, a party insider has said.The intention would have been for Corbyn to tour seats in areas such as the east and West Midlands and Scotland, even though in theory the Tories – or even Labour themselves – would hav
  
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• Fake-history films like Vice and The Uncivil War are the new threat to truth | Simon Jenkins

  26-01-2019 07:00
  The biopic about Dick Cheney is part of a disturbing fashion for film-makers to play fast and loose with historical facts
  Is this the death of journalism – or just of history? This week sees the screening of Vice, a biopic of George W Bush’s vice-president, Dick Cheney, who is presented as the evil genius behind the Iraq war, torture and other misdemeanours. Its maker, Adam McKay, makes no bones about wishing to nail the misdeeds of a man “about to sail over the horizon”.
  
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• Listen: The end of no-deal Brexit and Labour's shifting stance

  26-01-2019 05:59 via ft.com
  MPs are likely to demand an end to a no-deal Brexit next week, what does this mean for Theresa May's deal and the Brexit debate? The consequences in Westminster will be huge
  
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• Yvette Cooper’s plan to see off no-deal Brexit hangs in the balance

  26-01-2019 00:51
  Labour front bench likely to support amendment to Theresa May’s deal, but MPs in leave areas voice concerns
  A backbench plan to ward off a no-deal Brexit by extending article 50 is in the balance amid concerns from Labour MPs in leave-voting seats, who fear it could be seen as an attempt to frustrate Britain’s departure from the EU.It appears likely that the Labour front bench will support the amendment to the government’s Brexit deal tabled by Yvette Cooper. Cooper’s ame
  
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