Political news

• MPs to debate late school starts for teenagers

  05-02-2019 23:41 via bbc.co.uk
  More than 176,000 people sign a petition calling for a 10:00 start because teens "are too tired".
  
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• Labour leader under pressure for Venezuela stance

  05-02-2019 23:09 via ft.com
  Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry says party should not ‘indulge’ the regime
  
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• Interserve needs to avoid government’s ‘no-deal’ Brexit mindset

  05-02-2019 22:10 via ft.com
  Time is running out but signs are emerging that deadlock for outsourcer may be broken
  
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• Council funding: MPs debate local government settlement

  05-02-2019 21:20 via bbc.co.uk
  It affects how much England's councils will have to spend, amid complaints of a £3bn funding gap.
  
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• Young Blackpool Conservative expelled for racist tweets

  05-02-2019 21:00 via bbc.co.uk
  The Conservative party say the matter will be dealt with in the "most serious manner possible".
  
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• Grantham Thatcher statue approved despite vandal fears

  05-02-2019 20:26 via bbc.co.uk
  The statue of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher had been rejected by Westminster Council.
  
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• May sticks to keeping backstop in Brexit deal

  05-02-2019 19:38 via ft.com
  Signs DUP and Dublin may be flexible on changes — but hardline Tories remain
  
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• Windrush scandal: Sajid Javid apologises to woman wrongly denied help

  05-02-2019 19:01 via bbc.co.uk
  Willow Sims found herself in debt and facing eviction and deportation after losing her right to work.
  
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• Steve Bell on Theresa May, Brexit and the Irish border – cartoon

  05-02-2019 18:41
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• Theresa May rules out hard border for Ireland

  05-02-2019 18:15 via ft.com
  UK prime minister makes pledge on visit to Belfast
  
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• UK competition watchdog braced for jump in workload

  05-02-2019 17:17 via ft.com
  CMA will have to make its own assessments in cases that were under EU’s remit
  
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• Fox weighs zero import tariffs under no-deal Brexit

  05-02-2019 15:18 via ft.com
  Trade secretary warned move to keep prices low would ‘wreck’ domestic industries
  
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• Fox mulls zero import tariffs under no-deal Brexit

  05-02-2019 15:18 via ft.com
  Trade secretary warned move to keep prices low would ‘wreck’ domestic industries
  
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• Deportation flights: ministers pandering to far-right, says Lammy

  05-02-2019 15:03
  MP attacks decision to deport people to Jamaica before Windrush inquiry concludesThe Labour MP David Lammy has accused the government of “pandering to far-right racism” in its handling of the Windrush row and with its decision to deport about 50 people to Jamaica.In a strong attack on the Home Office, Lammy said its decisions had “killed” at least 11 people who had been wrongly deported back to the Caribbean. These deaths were a “shocking indictment of your governme
  
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• UK plans to ease cap on workplace pension fees

  05-02-2019 14:57 via ft.com
  Unions concerned about schemes expanding into assets with performance charges
  
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• May to meet Juncker on Thursday to seek Brexit concessions

  05-02-2019 14:17
  PM’s visit to Brussels comes despite EU’s insistence that bloc will not renegotiate dealFollow the latest political developments - live updates
  Theresa May is to return to Brussels on Thursday seeking fresh concessions despite the EU’s insistence that the bloc will not renegotiate the Brexit deal.The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, will host the prime minister just 24 hours after a meeting with the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, in the Belgian capital. Conti
  
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• EU elections: a Brexit game-changer?

  05-02-2019 14:17 via ft.com
  Success for anti-establishment political forces might change entire debate among EU27
  
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• John Benger promoted to clerk of the House of Commons

  05-02-2019 14:15 via bbc.co.uk
  John Benger will replace Sir David Natzler, who retires next month, Speaker John Bercow announces.
  
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• Would rent controls work in London?

  05-02-2019 13:08 via ft.com
  Mayor Sadiq Khan believes curbs on private rental sector could help Londoners but many disagree
  
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• Facebook: MPs seek to quiz Clegg on online abuse

  05-02-2019 12:44 via bbc.co.uk
  Human rights committee chairwoman Harriet Harman asks the ex deputy PM and Facebook spokesman to give evidence.
  
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• May tries to defuse Tory anger over election talk

  05-02-2019 12:22 via ft.com
  MPs express incredulity at suggestion but some activists are keen for battle with Labour
  
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• EU 'intransigence' could mean no-deal Brexit, says DUP

  05-02-2019 12:04
  Arlene Foster argues EU risks chaos if it fails to listen to Democratic Unionist opinion
  The leader of the Democratic Unionist party has accused Brussels and Dublin of “intransigence” which could lead to the UK leaving Europe without a deal.Arlene Foster, whose party’s votes are propping up Theresa May’s government as it seeks to push through a Brexit deal, said it was time for EU leaders to listen to DUP opinion or risk chaos. Continue reading...
  
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• Brexit moderates must stop being reasonable

  05-02-2019 11:52 via ft.com
  Tory hardliners are blue Corbynites who are winning because they are not compromising
  
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• Who funds you? Think tanks are all being tarnished by secretive right-wingers

  05-02-2019 11:01
  
  The shadowy network of libertarian think tanks is devaluing the research of far more transparent and respectable organisations.
  
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• DUP hints at flexibility over Irish backstop solution

  05-02-2019 11:00 via ft.com
  Arlene Foster’s comments offer boost to Theresa May as she travels to Belfast
  
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• UK economic growth stalls on Brexit angst

  05-02-2019 10:52 via ft.com
  Sterling drops below $1.30 mark as key survey reveals weakening business activity
  
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• British services sector stalling on Brexit angst

  05-02-2019 10:52 via ft.com
  Key survey of business activity hits lowest level since aftermath of Brexit vote
  
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• Parliament voted to get a Brexit deal done now. So let’s make it happen | Caroline Flint

  05-02-2019 10:46
  I’m working to get the best deal for my constituents who chose to leave the EU, and to enact the will of the people
  • Caroline Flint is a Labour MPParliamentary turmoil over Brexit has lasted almost 1,000 days and still the arguments rage. Last week saw a glimmer of a solution.Strip away the theatrics and the parliamentary proceduralism and it became pretty clear what parliament voted for. Continue reading...
  
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• Brexit: Cost of printing Theresa May's EU withdrawal deal revealed

  05-02-2019 10:06 via bbc.co.uk
  The Brexit department spent thousands on a document ministers are now seeking to renegotiate.
  
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• Broker Numis warns Brexit and stock drop taking toll on clients

  05-02-2019 09:01 via ft.com
  Transactions down at City stockbroker amid ‘depressed market activity’
  
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• I'm a civil servant. Trust me, we're nowhere near ready for no-deal Brexit | Anonymous

  05-02-2019 09:00
  Operation Yellowhammer from the inside? It’s like the Office meets the Poseidon Adventure, with a Benny Hill soundtrackI’m a civil servant working for a UK government department. We haven’t been directly convulsed by Brexit yet, but hundreds of us will soon be conscripted into the Brexit crisis thunderdome. Welcome to Operation Yellowhammer. This is basically an emergency plan that prepares the government for a no-deal Brexit. It is currently winkling thousands of officials fro
  
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• No, I won't go to bed. Early nights are for losers | Suzanne Moore

  05-02-2019 08:00
  All the most exciting things happen after dark – and you earn the right to a nice lie-inNight is better than day. More exciting things happen at night. Sunset is better than dawn. Night is the time to be alive and awake – there is nothing better than not having to get up in the mornings. These are the facts of life for many of us, but we are dismissed as night owls and increasingly encouraged to change our circadian rhythms to some loathsome presbyterian ideal.I am so sick of reading
  
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• No, I won't go to bed. Early nights are for losers

  05-02-2019 08:00
  All the most exciting things happen after dark – and you earn the right to a nice lie-inNight is better than day. More exciting things happen at night. Sunset is better than dawn. Night is the time to be alive and awake – there is nothing better than not having to get up in the mornings. These are the facts of life for many of us, but we are dismissed as night owls and increasingly encouraged to change our circadian rhythms to some loathsome presbyterian ideal.I am so sick of reading
  
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• Brexit weekly briefing: MPs unite for 'alternative arrangements'

  05-02-2019 08:00
  PM prepares to head back to Brussels but EU insist they won’t drop the backstopWelcome to the Guardian’s weekly Brexit briefing, striving to make sense of the nonsensical since summer 2016. If you would like to receive this as a weekly email, please sign up here. And catch our monthly Brexit Means … podcast here.Producing the Guardian’s independent, in-depth journalism takes time and money. We do it because we believe our perspective matters, and it may be yours too. If
  
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• The NHS 10-year plan doesn’t do enough for children | Al Aynsley-Green

  05-02-2019 07:45
  The plan, which is naturally owned by the NHS, has scant regard for how it will relate to schools. Why are teachers and educators not central to it?The government’s NHS 10-year plan, which launched last month, has been broadly praised by children’s organisations. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, for one, celebrates that “it lays the foundations for an NHS with infants, children and young people at its core”. But does it?The plan, which aims to transform
  
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• Tony Blair: We all want Brexit closure – but May’s deal won’t supply it

  05-02-2019 07:00
  Leaving without deciding what kind of relationship we want with the EU will simply prolong the agonyThose campaigning against the madness of our current predicament should not lose heart. This battle can still be won. In the past weeks, the mood on Brexit has shifted. Much of the public, through a somewhat paradoxical mix of boredom and alarm, have had enough. They want parliament to “get on with it” – no more delay and debate. They demand a decision. For some, even the calamit
  
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• Fantasies of Dunkirk spirit couldn’t survive a no-deal Brexit | Polly Toynbee

  05-02-2019 07:00
  Nostalgia for British ‘pluck’ leads some to positively relish crashing out of the EU. The reality would be a rude awakeningThere’s a frisson of excitement in the air among Brexiters. The coming crisis brings an eve-of-battle thrill to those who invented all this pointlessness. They relish a cataclysm to blame on the “enemy” across the Channel. “There is hope,” says Jacob Rees-Mogg. “Tick tock goes the clock, and as it ticks down we get closer to le
  
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• Tuesday, February 5

  05-02-2019 06:00 via ft.com
  Alphabet spending spree spooks investors, Theresa May heads to Belfast to find a sol…
  
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• UK universities face their toughest test

  05-02-2019 05:00 via ft.com
  With many students deep in debt and the prospect of reduced intakes after Brexit, the expansion of higher education is under threat
  
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• Steelmakers warn of ‘hugely negative’ no-deal Brexit

  05-02-2019 05:00 via ft.com
  Industry group warns duties or quotas could hit markets accounting for 97% of exports
  
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• Steelmakers face ‘hugely negative’ impact of no-deal Brexit

  05-02-2019 05:00 via ft.com
  Industry group warns duties or quotas could hit markets accounting for 97% of exports
  
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• Spiralling costs, high debt and Brexit: can UK universities survive?

  05-02-2019 05:00 via ft.com
  After student loans sparked a three-decade expansion, higher education faces a reckoning
  
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• City needs advocates if banks are not to follow Nissan’s road

  05-02-2019 05:00 via ft.com
  Philip Hammond offers low-key support but he is a lonely figure in cabinet
  
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• Bank of England ‘paralysed’ on rates by Brexit

  05-02-2019 05:00 via ft.com
  Turmoil of EU departure constrains policymakers despite tight labour market
  
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• UK construction growth at 10-month low

  05-02-2019 01:02 via ft.com
  Brexit uncertainty bites as business activity slows, poll of industry executives shows
  
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• Delays to pension reforms to hurt lowest-paid, TUC warns

  05-02-2019 01:01 via ft.com
  Women in multiple part-time jobs expected to be particularly hard hit
  
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