Political news

• Sunak faces pressure to support business over coronavirus crisis

  09-03-2020 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Institute of Directors says chancellor must take urgent steps to shore up confidenceThe chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is facing mounting pressure to announce a package of emergency measures in Wednesday’s budget designed to support companies and households through the worst of the coronavirus outbreak.Business leaders warned that the growing scale of the disruption for the economy amid widespread panic on financial markets meant urgent steps were required to shore up confidence. The Institute o
  
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• Johnson’s handling of virus crisis put in spotlight

  09-03-2020 22:05 via ft.com
  PM says draconian action is at best ineffective, at worst counter-productive
  
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• Global shares plunge in worst day since financial crisis

  09-03-2020 21:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Global stocks plunge after a sharp fall in the oil price hits markets already reeling from the coronavirus.
  
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• Sayeeda Warsi chides Trevor Phillips over Muslim comments

  09-03-2020 20:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Former Tory party chair says ex-equalities chief’s views on race and integration are flawedSayeeda Warsi has accused Trevor Phillips of having a flawed view of race and integration after he was suspended from the Labour party over alleged Islamophobia.Phillips, an anti-racism campaigner who previously chaired the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), has been suspended pending an investigation and could be expelled. Continue reading...
  
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• Alex Salmond trial hears from ‘attempted rape’ victim

  09-03-2020 20:11 via ft.com
  Scotland’s former first minister claims some of the incidents were consensual
  
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• Huawei: government tries to head off Tory 5G network rebellion

  09-03-2020 20:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservative doubters invited to meeting with senior security expert in effort to allay fearsThe government made a last-ditch attempt on Monday to head off a potential Conservative rebellion over the Chinese telecoms provider Huawei, drafting in a security expert to try to reassure anxious MPs.Tories were invited to a meeting in parliament with Dr Ian Levy, the technical director of the National Cyber Security Centre, as party grandees try to amend a telecommunications bill in an effort to ensur
  
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• The Guardian view on the market meltdown: a wake-up call for Westminster | Editorial

  09-03-2020 19:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Panic in the City and on Wall Street underlines the need for governments to do (and spend) whatever it takes in dealing with the coronavirus crisisAs coronavirus has spread globally since February, a tenuous balancing act has been attempted in Britain and much of the rest of the world. Governments have assured populations that necessary precautions and preparations are being undertaken to deal with the potential pandemic. The media has, by and large, resisted the temptation to sensationalise and
  
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• Lisa Nandy: UK must extend Brexit transition period

  09-03-2020 19:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Coronavirus means PM must remove uncertainty, says Labour leadership candidateRead Lisa Nandy’s articleBoris Johnson must strike a deal to extend the EU transition period because of the coronavirus crisis, the Labour leadership contender Lisa Nandy has said.Nandy, who is one of three candidates still in the running, said it was necessary because businesses and communities could not cope with the uncertainty of leaving the transition as well as the impact of the growing coronavirus crisis.
  
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• Even a starved NHS is still our best defence against the coronavirus | Polly Toynbee

  09-03-2020 19:53 via theguardian.com
  
  With doctors, nurses and beds in short supply, the health service will rely on its heroes more than everThe patient is a 71-year-old, thin and frail after 10 years of chronic neglect, who is about to suffer a severe attack of the coronavirus. How will the weakened body of the NHS cope when the surge of cases sweeps down on it within weeks? Expect this to expose its worst fragilities – but also its remarkable strengths. Take its pulse and it’s short of 100,000 doctors and nurses, with
  
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• UK and EU set to table competing draft trade deals

  09-03-2020 19:43 via ft.com
  Gove says full treaty text ready next week despite differences with Brussels
  
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• Fighting coronavirus 'will take a national effort', says Hancock

  09-03-2020 19:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Responding to a urgent question from shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth, Matt Hancock said "everyone must play their part".
  
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• Coronavirus: UK 'remains in containment phase' - Johnson

  09-03-2020 19:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The prime minister says that action is also being taken to delay the impact of the coronavirus.
  
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• Tory MPs intervene in Commonwealth veterans immigration row

  09-03-2020 18:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Ministers urged to look at cases of ex-soldiers ‘left in limbo’ by complex and expensive rulesSenior Conservative MPs have called on the government to look into the cases of Commonwealth-born military veterans who are struggling with complex and expensive immigration rules after leaving the army.Lawyers representing the soldiers, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said that after the Guardian highlighted the situation on Sunday they had been contacted by veterans from Fiji and South
  
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• Martin Rowson: Boris Johnson unleashes Cobra on coronavirus – cartoon

  09-03-2020 18:40 via theguardian.com
  
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• Trevor Phillips suspended from Labour over Islamophobia allegations

  09-03-2020 17:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The former chief of the UK's equality watchdog faces a probe and could be expelled from the party.
  
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• Coronavirus brings a reminder of the iron law of politics

  09-03-2020 17:39 via ft.com
  Lofty ideas about open economies will have to be sold on directly improving voters’ lives
  
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• A timely reminder of the iron law of politics

  09-03-2020 17:39 via ft.com
  Lofty ideas about open economies will have to be sold on directly improving voters’ lives
  
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• Woman tells court Alex Salmond 'pounced' on her

  09-03-2020 17:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The former SNP leader denies sexually assaulting 10 women while serving as Scotland's first minister.
  
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• Signals to watch for in Rishi Sunak’s Budget

  09-03-2020 17:28 via ft.com
  Business hopes to see UK chancellor set out plans to help groups after Brexit
  
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• Johnson defends virus strategy as death toll rises

  09-03-2020 16:52 via ft.com
  Britain is making ‘extensive preparations’ for next phase of outbreak
  
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• Government expects ‘significant’ spread of coronavirus in UK

  09-03-2020 16:52 via ft.com
  Number of confirmed cases in the country jumps to 319 and death toll rises to 4
  
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• Coronavirus: Unit set up to counter false claims

  09-03-2020 16:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  It will work with social media firms and communications experts to respond to false information.
  
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• Brexit: UK 'must consider deal trade-offs', says von der Leyen

  09-03-2020 15:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  She says the closer the UK's access to the single market, the more it has to adhere to EU rules.
  
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• Alex Salmond claims consent with regard to some charges

  09-03-2020 15:39 via ft.com
  Scotland’s former first minister makes assertion on opening day of his trial over sex allegations
  
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• Labour suspends Trevor Phillips over Islamophobia claims

  09-03-2020 15:30 via ft.com
  Former head of the UK’s equalities watchdog faces investigation into comments
  
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• Coronavirus gives 'longer term lessons' on cuts, says John McDonnell

  09-03-2020 13:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Labour's shadow chancellor says public services are "in crisis" when we need them most.
  
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• Mobile firms sign up to £1bn rural coverage plan

  09-03-2020 11:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The new deal aims to get rid of rural "not-spots", where there is no service at all.
  
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• Stormont deal inquiry launched by NI Affairs committee

  09-03-2020 11:29 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is looking into commitments made in New Decade, New Approach.
  
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• Starmer is the John Smith of our times

  09-03-2020 09:21
  
  Moving the party forward, but keeping it together - the parallels between Starmer's style and that of the best Labour prime minister who never was.
  
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• Under the Tories, expertise has been replaced by a phoney test of patriotism | Nesrine Malik

  09-03-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As Mary Beard found, EU sympathies are a disqualifier for senior public roles. This authoritarianism must be challengedIf the period between the referendum and leaving the EU was when the seeds of a new political culture were sown, the season since the general election last December is when they have borne fruit. Downing Street’s consolidation exercise has not only extended to the purging of ministers who refuse to become vassals of No 10. It has weaponised the Brexit mandate it received b
  
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• Our social crisis is no longer just about inequality, it’s about life and death | John Harris

  09-03-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From ill health to alcoholism to suicides, the links between deprivation and reduced life expectancy are becoming clearOn the face of it, it is a familiar enough story. “By its end, much of the optimism of the 20th century had faded. Towns and cities … that used to produce steel, glass, furniture or shoes, and that are fondly remembered by people in their 70s as having been great places to grow up, had been gutted, their factories closed and shops boarded up.”The words are tak
  
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• Cross-Whitehall unit set up to counter false coronavirus claims

  09-03-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  DCMS-based unit aims to identify disinformation about virus and establish its scopeA special cross-Whitehall unit has been set up to counter coronavirus-related disinformation, including from Russia and China, working closely with social media companies to rebut false and inaccurate claims about the disease.Housed in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the unit will aim to identify false information being deliberately spread online and to establish its scope, impact and whether
  
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• UK Budget: five things to watch

  09-03-2020 05:00 via ft.com
  New chancellor Rishi Sunak to narrow his focus in face of coronavirus threat
  
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• UK braced for coronavirus epidemic as cases hit 273

  09-03-2020 01:01 via ft.com
  Government will formally move from the ‘contain’ to the ‘delay’ phase of its strategy
  
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• DWP says it is 'shocked' by its own disability tribunal record

  09-03-2020 01:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  It has lost more disability discrimination tribunals since 2016 than any other employer, Panorama finds.
  
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• Sunak announces £1bn deal to boost mobile ‘not spots’

  09-03-2020 00:09 via ft.com
  The funding will provide extra coverage to 280,000 premises and along 16,000km of roads
  
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