Political news

• May seeks to revitalise Brexit talks in Brussels

  20-02-2019 22:09 via ft.com
  Positive meeting with Juncker kicks off effort to revamp deal ‘in coming days’
  
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• Independent Group: Three Tory MPs resign to join group

  20-02-2019 21:30 via bbc.co.uk
  Three Tory MPs have resigned from the party to join an independent group, set up by former Labour MPs. join from Tory part
  
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• New political group generates some early momentum

  20-02-2019 21:26 via ft.com
  Europhile MPs from left and right unite to push for second Brexit referendum
  
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• Derek Hatton suspended by Labour days after being readmitted

  20-02-2019 21:22 via bbc.co.uk
  Ex-Militant man was only readmitted to the party on Monday, more than 30 years after being expelled.
  
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• Ireland alarmed by UK’s food tariff plans in no-deal

  20-02-2019 20:52 via ft.com
  Dublin has discussed with Brussels the assistance it would need
  
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• Bangladesh denies responsibility for Begum

  20-02-2019 20:44 via ft.com
  Home secretary criticised for stripping UK citizenship from teen who travelled to Syria
  
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• PM has a problem with immigration - Soubry

  20-02-2019 20:35 via bbc.co.uk
  One of the Tory defectors tells Newsnight Theresa May "has a thing" against free movement of people.
  
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• What does it feel like to quit a party?

  20-02-2019 20:25 via bbc.co.uk
  Some felt sad, others excited - former Tory and Labour MPs react very differently to joining their breakaway group.
  
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• Steve Bell on Tory defectors to the Independent Group – cartoon

  20-02-2019 20:25
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• Shamima Begum case: I have one citizenship, says IS bride

  20-02-2019 18:51 via bbc.co.uk
  Shamima Begum is thought to be of Bangladeshi heritage - but the country says she is not its concern.
  
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• Last-gasp gambit: Smart new amendment to May deal protects Brits in Europe

  20-02-2019 18:14
  
  A sneaky addition to the PM's motion could see carved-out legal protections for Brits on the continent, regardless of what happens with Brexit
  
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• Corbyn supporter wins Labour nomination for metro mayor

  20-02-2019 18:10 via ft.com
  Momentum activist beats one of the party’s most prominent northern politicians
  
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• PMQs: Corbyn and May on Brexit, Churchill and Hatton

  20-02-2019 17:38 via bbc.co.uk
  Theresa May challenges Jeremy Corbyn over his attitude to a "once proud Labour Party".
  
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• Brighton councillor Anne Meadows quits Labour over 'anti-Semitism'

  20-02-2019 17:34 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour could lose control of Brighton and Hove City Council after Anne Meadows defects to the Tories.
  
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• Independent Group: Three MPs quit Tory party to join

  20-02-2019 17:24 via bbc.co.uk
  Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston claim "hard-line anti-EU" MPs now run the Conservatives.
  
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• Anna Soubry asks MPs to join defecting Tories

  20-02-2019 16:35 via ft.com
  Move by Europhiles is major blow for Theresa May and her Brexit policy
  
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• Independent Group: Minor tremor or political earthquake?

  20-02-2019 16:08 via bbc.co.uk
  Can a Tory/Labour centrist group change the political landscape and how will their former parties react?
  
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• Who are the Tory recruits to the Independent Group?

  20-02-2019 15:54 via ft.com
  Profiles of the 3 Conservative MPs who resigned to join the UK’s new centrist grouping
  
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• PMQs: The verdict

  20-02-2019 15:46 via bbc.co.uk
  Theresa May clashed with Jeremy Corbyn over Brexit - here are the key bits.
  
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• Anna Soubry: 'Right wing now running Conservative Party'

  20-02-2019 15:44 via bbc.co.uk
  An MP who has left the Conservatives says "the battle is over, the other side has won".
  
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• Who are the MPs resigning to join the Independent Group?

  20-02-2019 15:36 via bbc.co.uk
  We profile the ex-Labour and Conservative MPs who've quit their parties to join the Independent Group.
  
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• Heidi Allen on Conservative MPs defecting to Independent group

  20-02-2019 15:18 via bbc.co.uk
  One of three Conservative MPs leaving the party sets out her reasons for now sitting with the Independent group.
  
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• MPs who quit Tory party give press conference on defections – Politics live

  20-02-2019 15:10
  Rolling updates on the day’s political developments as three MPs defect from the Tory party to join the Independent GroupFull story: Three Tory MPs quit to join Independent GroupAnalysis: the ideological lines diving rebel MPs from party2.07pm GMT Wollaston says there is a very aggressive and well-funded social media campaign that has been waged against them. “It’s very clear to me that our associations are changing. We have people who are very clearly Ukip and they are turning
  
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• Labour must take on the splitters by finally backing a people’s vote | Michael Chessum

  20-02-2019 14:45
  The party must react decisively to the Independent Group’s formation, for both the anti-Brexit movement – and its futureJust as the battle enters its crucial final phase, several captains have unilaterally headed for the lifeboats. With five weeks to go until Brexit and a carefully calibrated strategy of amendments playing out, centrist Labour MPs have apparently chosen this as their moment to split. People who have spent their entire lives espousing loyalty to Labour and passion for
  
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• The big cabinet row over no-deal tariffs

  20-02-2019 14:43 via ft.com
  Will Tories protect supporters in agriculture or defend spending power of consumers?
  
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• The Independent Group: There is no reason this can't succeed

  20-02-2019 14:40
  
  Sage old commentators have already ruled them out, but something fundamental and hopeful is happening.
  
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• Tory additions to the Independent Group bring a boost and a hitch

  20-02-2019 14:34 via ft.com
  Three Conservative MPs add heft but will make it harder to build a cohesive force 
  
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• Ireland alarmed by UK’s food tariff plans in no-deal Brexit

  20-02-2019 14:26 via ft.com
  Agriculture minister says Dublin has discussed with Brussels the assistance it would need
  
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• Defecting Tory MPs take their seats in UK parliament

  20-02-2019 14:18 via ft.com
  The three Europhile MPs resigned from party over government's handling of Brexit
  
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• Who are the three Tory defectors?

  20-02-2019 14:02
  Why MPs Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen are quitting the partyThe former barrister and television presenter was a senior figure in David Cameron’s government, in which she sat in the cabinet as a business minister. Representing Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, she has long expressed concern that Theresa May was pursuing a hard Brexit and taking the party too far to the right. Continue reading...
  
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• The resignation of three Tory MPs is a dire warning to the party | Andrew Gimson

  20-02-2019 13:51
  The Conservatives cannot afford to decline into a sect that drives out its moderate wingIf the resignation of Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen means the Tories are becoming a narrower and less tolerant party, it is a disaster. The Conservatives cannot afford to decline into a sect which drives out all those who are unable to subscribe to whatever its stern, unbending ideology happens to be at any particular moment. It must remain a broad church within which a continuous and never fin
  
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• The Independent Group will only succeed if PR is their central policy | Catherine Mayer

  20-02-2019 13:34
  If they are serious about fixing ‘broken politics’, they should join us in backing a fairer voting system• Catherine Mayer is co-founder of the Women’s Equality partyOptimism isn’t just a state of mind. It’s a political choice – one we all need to take. The animating ideal of progressive politics and equality movements is the belief in the possibility of a better future. So I observe the new and swelling Independent Group of MPs with curiosity, sympathy a
  
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• Britons may need £52 visa to visit mainland Europe after Brexit

  20-02-2019 13:22
  Visa-free travel plan derailed again by Spanish demands over status of GibraltarBritish tourists travelling to continental Europe may need to pay £52 for a visa in a few weeks after Spanish demands over the status of Gibraltar again derailed Brussels’ preparations for Brexit.Agreement on legislation exempting UK nationals from requiring the travel permit is mired in a dispute over whether the British overseas territory should be described as a “colony” in the EU’s s
  
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• Three pro-EU Tory MPs defect to Independent Group

  20-02-2019 13:14 via ft.com
  Move by Europhiles is a big setback for Theresa May and her Brexit policy
  
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• Judge forces EU agency to pay UK lease despite Brexit move

  20-02-2019 13:10 via ft.com
  European Medicines Agency loses court case to Canary Wharf Group
  
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• EU agency must comply with London lease despite Brexit move, judge rules

  20-02-2019 13:10 via ft.com
  European Medicines Agency loses court case to Canary Wharf Group
  
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• Javid’s decision on Shamima Begum demeans his office | Sonia Sodha

  20-02-2019 12:56
  The home secretary’s political ambitions are shamefully exposed by this playing to the galleryPolitics has always, to some extent, been the art of combining doing what’s right with doing what’s in one’s own political interests. It would be naive to pretend otherwise. But in recent months – with a weak prime minister desperately trying to cling on to power, and senior Tories hungrily eyeing the top job – it feels like naked political ambition is shaping real-wo
  
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• The clitoris is a gift, so why is there an ingrained fear of talking about it? | Lucy McCormick

  20-02-2019 12:48
  If we want to make progress with FGM, we need to first tackle our outdated, misogynistic views on sexThe first UK conviction for female genital mutilation (FGM) this month was a milestone in the fight for the basic human rights of women and girls. But one of the things that stands out from the news reports of that case is how oddly furtive they were about communicating the key facts – in particular their avoidance of the C-word: clitoris.In reporting such a prominent case, are readers unab
  
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• Three Tory MPs defect to fledgling Independent Group

  20-02-2019 12:40
  Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen quit Conservatives, citing Brexit and lurch to the rightFollow all the day’s political developments - live updates
  Three Conservative MPs – Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen – have quit the party to join the Independent Group founded by former Labour MPs.In a devastating critique of Theresa May’s handling of the Brexit negotiations, the three MPs said the Tories had lurched to the right, adopting Ukip policies and pu
  
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• Eighth MP quits Labour

  20-02-2019 11:35 via bbc.co.uk
  Joan Ryan says she cannot remain in a party which tolerates a "culture of anti-Jewish racism".
  
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• Jeremy Hunt urges Germany to rethink Saudi arms sales ban

  20-02-2019 10:14
  UK foreign secretary visits Berlin after raising concerns about impact of moratoriumJeremy Hunt, the British foreign secretary, will visit Berlin on Wednesday after urging Germany to exempt big defence projects from its efforts to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia, or face damage to both its economic and European credentials. Related: UK's arms export supervisor attacks NGOs over Yemen deathsContinue reading...
  
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• Sainsbury's-Asda merger in doubt amid price rise concerns – business live

  20-02-2019 09:46
  Competition regulator finds merger could have an impact on choice and reduce qualitySainsbury’s-Asda merger in doubt over ‘extensive competition concerns’ 8.46am GMT Back on those potential remedies. The supermarkets quickly came out and said they will continue to push for the deal to go through, so what can they actually do now?Before the CMA’s findings most analysts’ thinking was concentrated on the number of divestitures: selling off stores in areas where competi
  
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• Sainsbury's-Asda merger in doubt over 'extensive competition concerns'

  20-02-2019 09:02
  Supermarkets will continue to press case after ‘fundamentally flawed’ CMA analysisThe merger between Sainsbury’s and Asda has been thrown into serious doubt after Britain’s competition watchdog raised a catalogue of concerns, including higher prices and reduced quality and choice for customers.In a provisional verdict on the planned £10bn merger, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had found “extensive competition concerns” as part of its
  
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• It's time for Brexiters to support a customs union

  20-02-2019 09:01
  
  What was once a mainstream eurosceptic option is now blasphemy. It's time for Leavers to get real.
  
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• Lloyds signals ‘absolute confidence’ in UK despite Brexit fears

  20-02-2019 08:46 via ft.com
  Britain’s largest retail bank affirms optimism by announcing £1.75bn share buyback and dividend boost
  
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• Scheming politicians are captivating, but politics is about more than a soap opera

  20-02-2019 08:00
  Policies may not be as interesting as personalities, but they matter more. Just ask the main behind the barI think we all agree that: “I’m not interested in politics,” is the most dispiriting thing you can hear someone say. What do you mean you don’t like politics? What do you mean you don’t vote? Don’t you understand that good people fought bad people so you would have the right to vote?Yet I wonder if politically engaged clever dicks like us, with our dinner
  
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• Steve Bell’s If ... seven breakaway beans block royal progress

  20-02-2019 07:00
  Continue reading...
  
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• My grandfather was a Nazi. I’ve seen why we need the EU | Matthias Bergmann

  20-02-2019 07:00
  Since world war two, there have been three generations of Germans living in peace. That peace is taken for grantedUntil his death in the early 1990s, my grandad was a committed Nazi. Most of his elder brothers died in one night at the battle of the Hartmannsweilerkopf in the first world war. In a bitterly traumatised interwar Germany, defined by hatred against foreigners, Jews and democracy as well as delusions of national grandeur, he was unemployed for most of the 1920s. He joined the Nazi par
  
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• Avoiding a no-deal crash-out won’t stop Brexit wrecking our economy | Peter Mandelson

  20-02-2019 07:00
  Leaving the EU is costing us billions – and this drain will continue until business gets some clarity on trading conditionsThe news from Honda that it will be closing its Swindon factory in 2022 with the loss of 3,500 jobs follows a warning by Airbus that it could slash investment in the UK, and an announcement by Nissan that it is abandoning its commitment to make the X-Trail SUV in Sunderland. We all have to wake up to what’s happening in our country. Britain is losing billions eve
  
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• Wednesday, February 20

  20-02-2019 06:00 via ft.com
  A former North Korean diplomat gives US President Donald Trump a warning, the consul…
  
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