Political news

• Labour defectors 'betrayed seats'

  23-02-2019 22:37 via bbc.co.uk
  Her party would "crush" independent MPs if by-elections were held, the shadow foreign secretary says.
  
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• Buoyed by freedom, the rebels are now able to follow their consciences | Nick Cohen

  23-02-2019 19:30
  The real concern for May and Corbyn is those MPs who look at defectors with envyOf all the party’s factions, Labour First was the most practical. It wasn’t filled with rosy-cheeked Blairite missionaries from the upper-middle class, or with Corbynites who had never recovered from their first reading of Lenin as the joints were passed around in the 70s.Working class and hard headed, the Labour First rally at last year’s conference echoed to calls of “stay and fight” C
  
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• Britain needs more than Corbynism or Europhobia

  23-02-2019 19:00 via ft.com
  The new Independent Group of MPs will promote distinctive centre-ground values
  
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• Scottish Liberal Democrats: Rennie issues appeal to rival politicians

  23-02-2019 17:17 via bbc.co.uk
  The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader says disillusioned Tory and Labour politicians should "come and talk to me".
  
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• 'No problems with austerity': Corbyn hits out at splitter MPs

  23-02-2019 17:08
  At rally in Anna Soubry’s constituency, Labour leader says he will not change policiesJeremy Corbyn has hit out at Labour MPs who quit the party to sit alongside former Tories in the Independent Group.Speaking at a rally in Anna Soubry’s Broxtowe constituency, he said he was sad some MPs had left, but that he had no intention of changing the policies that delivered the biggest increase in the Labour vote since 1945. Continue reading...
  
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• Colum Eastwood: NI Assembly 'a necessity not a convenience'

  23-02-2019 15:36 via bbc.co.uk
  SDLP leader Colum Eastwood was addressing the Fianna Fáil ard fheis after the parties formed a partnership.
  
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• UK aid budget ‘goes to the wrong projects’, leaked letter warns

  23-02-2019 14:10
  Poorest countries miss out as British interests are promoted, leading charities tell chancellorCharities have sounded the alarm over the way ministers are spending the multibillion-pound aid budget, saying some is being diverted from the poorest countries to promote commercial and political interests.In a letter to the chancellor, Philip Hammond, which has been leaked to the Observer, 23 agencies warn that some aid is no longer being used “effectively and efficiently” and that taxpay
  
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• ‘Soviet vassal state’: Jeremy Hunt makes gaffe in Slovenia

  23-02-2019 13:44
  UK foreign secretary criticised after statement displaying lack of awareness country was part of Non-Aligned Movement The UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has incorrectly claimed Slovenia was a Soviet vassal state during his visit to Ljubljana to discuss the Brexit negotiations with his counterpart Miro Cerar.Slovenia was in fact the wealthiest state within the former Yugoslavia, which was outside the iron curtain and formed part of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Continue reading...
  
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• Brexit: Rudd, Clark and Gauke should resign, says Andrew Bridgen

  23-02-2019 10:15
  Three cabinet ministers have signalled they could vote to delay withdrawal from EUThree cabinet ministers who signalled they could vote to delay Britain’s withdrawal from the EU should resign, a Tory Brexiter MP has said.Amber Rudd, Greg Clark and David Gauke should step down, said Andrew Bridgen, a member of the hard-Brexit European Research Group (ERG). He said the ministers were rejecting government policy in breach of cabinet collective responsibility. Continue reading...
  
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• UK food imports from EU face '£9bn tariff bill' under no-deal Brexit

  23-02-2019 08:00
  Analysis comes as government expected to outline plans to mitigate price shock next weekThe government is expected next week to spell out its plan to mitigate a potential £9bn food-price shock from a no-deal Brexit, as analysts predict the cost of staples such as beef, cheddar cheese and tomatoes could soar.With just over a month until the Brexit deadline, the Department for International Trade is expected on Monday to publish a list of new import taxes, or tariffs, that will apply to 5200
  
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• EU offers lucrative tax breaks to firm of billionaire Brexiter

  23-02-2019 08:00
  Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos has been granted support worth €178m from Germany and others Neighbours angry as ‘selfish’ Ratcliffe leaves New Forest home
  The company controlled by the prominent Brexit backer Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man, has received pledges of tax breaks from EU governments potentially worth hundreds of millions of euros since the UK voted to leave the union.The chemicals and plastics company Ineos’s subsidiaries and joint ventures have been g
  
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• Brexit and identity in NI: A delicate issue

  23-02-2019 07:52 via bbc.co.uk
  How might Brexit affect identity in NI, where citizens are entitled to be British, Irish or both?
  
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• Labour promises universal right to flexible working from day one

  23-02-2019 05:37
  Dawn Butler to tell conference women need an economy that works for them, not against themA Labour government would give everyone the right to choose when they do and do not work from the day they are employed, its shadow women and equalities secretary will tell Labour’s women’s conference on Saturday.“Women do the vast majority of unpaid care, but this must not be a barrier to women in work,” Dawn Butler will say. “That’s why I’m announcing Labour&rsquo
  
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• Listen: The Independent Group emerges

  23-02-2019 05:10 via ft.com
  It was a huge week in Westminster as eight Labour MPs broke away to form the Independent Group of MPs along with three Conservatives.
  
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• The Independent Group emerges

  23-02-2019 05:00 via ft.com
  It was a huge week in Westminster as eight Labour MPs broke away to form the Indepen…
  
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• How are MPs deselected?

  23-02-2019 01:56 via bbc.co.uk
  What are the rules? Which MPs are under threat? Who has been deselected in the past?
  
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• Labour seeks to stem antisemitism crisis after Ian Austin quits

  23-02-2019 01:06
  Lord Falconer may deal with complaints as Labour faces impact of ninth MP resigningLabour is considering appointing an independent reviewer to oversee its handling of antisemitism complaints as the party battles to stem the flow of resignations after a ninth MP announced his departure on Friday.Lord Falconer said he was in advanced conversations with the party’s general secretary, Jennie Formby, about taking up a new position in which he would examine whether the party was handling antisem
  
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