Political news

• 'Being a parent shouldn't come at a cost in politics'

  18-09-2024 07:47 via bbc.com
  
  Online participation would allow more parents and caregivers to go into politics, according to a pregnant councillor in Worcester.
  
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• Blair-era health secretary returns as NHS advisor

  09-11-2024 15:52 via bbc.com
  
  Campaigners raise concerns about Alan Milburn's private sector links in his new role overseeing NHS reforms.
  
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• UK holds talks with China’s Jingye to avert closure of British Steel plants

  09-11-2024 14:00 via ft.com
  Support package drawn from £2.5bn war chest being prepared to try and keep Scunthorpe site open
  
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• UK landed estates warn Budget tax changes will ‘kill off’ business

  09-11-2024 06:00 via ft.com
  
  Owners of historic houses hit out at changes to inheritance tax and national insurance
  
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• UK government looks at ending Gove ban on councils opening new schools

  09-11-2024 06:00 via ft.com
  
  Education secretary Bridget Phillipson says Tories had ‘tunnel vision’ about promoting academies
  
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• Donald Trump has been invited to address UK parliament, says Nigel Farage

  08-11-2024 20:09 via theguardian.com
  
  House of Commons and the speaker decline to comment on claim made by Reform UK leader at rally in WalesDonald Trump has been invited to address the UK parliament next year, Nigel Farage has claimed, saying Britain must “roll out the red carpet” for the US president-elect.The Reform UK leader said Lindsay Hoyle was an improvement on the previous Commons speaker, John Bercow, because he had already invited Trump to parliament next year. Farage told his Reform party’s Welsh rally:
  
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• Reeves targets using £350bn council pension pot to boost UK economy

  08-11-2024 19:56 via ft.com
  
  Chancellor to set out reform to fragmented local authority funds in Mansion House speech
  
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• Reeves plans to use £350bn council pension pot to boost UK economy

  08-11-2024 19:56 via ft.com
  
  Chancellor to set out reform to fragmented local authority funds in Mansion House speech
  
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• Downing Street to decide upon new US ambassador within days

  08-11-2024 19:44 via theguardian.com
  David Miliband, Peter Mandelson and Cathy Ashton thought to be on shortlist for diplomatic roleA decision on a new US ambassador is likely to be taken within days, with David Miliband, Peter Mandelson and Cathy Ashton all on the shortlist, the Guardian understands.Whitehall sources said Downing Street is determined to press ahead with the appointment of a new US ambassador now that Donald Trump has been confirmed as the next US president. Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on Bridget Phillipson’s sound advice: schools should focus on belonging | Editorial

  08-11-2024 19:25 via theguardian.com
  
  A shift in priorities that emphasises pupil wellbeing not just exam results could improve attendanceThe reasons for poor attendance at English schools, high rates of psychological distress and illness among young people, and a rising number of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), are complicated. The pandemic and its after-effects, poverty and the many family difficulties it causes, are among them. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has made no bones about her
  
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• O'Neill 'understands' hurt over Remembrance Sunday event

  08-11-2024 19:01 via bbc.com
  
  Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill responds to criticism over her attendance at a Remembrance Sunday event.
  
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• Tony Blair’s former chief of staff appointed PM’s national security adviser

  08-11-2024 18:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Jonathan Powell led talks on Chagos Islands in September and played key role in Good Friday agreementJonathan Powell, the former chief of staff to Tony Blair, has been appointed as Keir Starmer’s national security adviser in a further sign that leading figures from the New Labour era are returning to the government.The veteran former diplomat, who played a significant role in the Northern Ireland peace deal struck in 1998 and served Blair for a decade, will be responsible for advising on t
  
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• British voters do not like Trump ‘because they don’t really know him’, Farage claims – as it happened

  08-11-2024 18:47 via theguardian.com
  
  This live blog is closedKeir Starmer has hosted veterans and charities at Downing Street with defence secretary John Healey in the lead-up to Remembrance Day, PA Media reports. PA says:The informal reception was held after Starmer pledged £3.5m in support for veterans facing homelessness.Peter Kent, 99, the oldest veteran at the event, said he was pleased by the increase in funding and described Starmer as a “good guy”.State visits take a while to organise. So in the next year,
  
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• Starmer’s reforms to ministerial code do not go far enough, union head says

  08-11-2024 18:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Dave Penman says any findings of watchdog investigating potential misconduct by top politicians should be bindingKeir Starmer’s reforms to the ministerial code do not go far enough towards an “truly independent” standards regime to hold top politicians to account, the head of the senior civil servants union has said.Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA, said Starmer had gone further than any previous prime minister in allowing the independent watchdog to initiate inves
  
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• Asda boss says £100m hit from Labour budget could affect wages and hiring

  08-11-2024 18:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Shares in UK retailers fall as investors digest Rachel Reeves’s changes to NICs and tax thresholdsAsda has warned that measures in the government’s budget will be a “big burden” for the supermarket chain, costing it £100m, and could prevent it from raising wages or hiring as many staff, as it struggles to turn around falling sales.The company made the warning on Friday as other UK retailers’ share prices took a hit as stock market investors continued to digest
  
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• Rise in teenage problem gamblers, says survey

  08-11-2024 18:18 via bbc.com
  
  More than 60% of young people have also seen or heard gambling advertising, a big increase on last year.
  
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• Keir Starmer picks Powell as security adviser

  08-11-2024 17:50 via bbc.com
  
  Jonathan Powell will replace Sir Tim Barrow, who has held the role since September 2022.
  
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• Labour lacks strategy to tackle Farage as Reform UK sets sights on Senedd seats

  08-11-2024 17:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Conditions are ripe for Reform to do well in 2026 Welsh elections and even beat Tories to second placeWithin hours of their landslide victory this summer, Labour MPs had already begun discussing how to counter the threat from Reform UK. Nigel Farage’s party had won five parliamentary constituencies and 14.3% of the vote. Keir Starmer’s strategists see this resurgence of Faragism as arguably their biggest electoral challenge.That threat has been made more acute by Donald Trump’s
  
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• ‘I won’t be dancing in the streets’: views on Tories’ first black leader

  08-11-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Kemi Badenoch’s election is evidence of strong meritocracy, say some activists and public figures, while others question her ideologyKemi Badenoch’s election as Conservative party leader may have been somewhat eclipsed by the US election, but it nonetheless represents a political milestone. Her positioning as a “culture warrior” is, to some, proof not of a changing Conservative party but one with a new face for old instincts.Here, the Guardian asks black and minority ethn
  
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• UK employers eye staff pension schemes to cut national insurance bills

  08-11-2024 16:50 via ft.com
  
  More companies intend to use salary sacrifice arrangements to offset Budget tax rises
  
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• Employers eye staff pension schemes to cut national insurance bills

  08-11-2024 16:50 via ft.com
  
  More companies intend to use salary sacrifice arrangements to offset Budget tax rises
  
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• Sinn Féin's difficulty over Michael McMonagle

  08-11-2024 16:06 via bbc.com
  
  Senior party figures faced pressure to explain their handling of McMonagle's departure.
  
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• City of London pauses plan to move Smithfield and Billingsgate markets

  08-11-2024 15:28 via ft.com
  
  Historic meat and fish markets were due to be combined at a facility in Dagenham
  
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• Irish general election to be held on 29 November

  08-11-2024 15:22 via bbc.com
  
  Voters in the Republic of Ireland will go to the polls in just three weeks time on Friday 29 November.
  
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• The UK in Trump’s world

  08-11-2024 15:09 via ft.com
  
  Plus, Kemi Badenoch’s first steps as the new Tory leader
  
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• Martin Rowson on what Trump’s victory will mean for the environment – cartoon

  08-11-2024 14:42 via theguardian.com
  
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• Greggs shares fall as analysts predict near-£100mn Budget hit

  08-11-2024 14:29 via ft.com
  
  Low-cost bakery chain has not yet commented on impact but retailers warn that measures will hurt
  
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• Starmer picks Blair aide Powell as security adviser

  08-11-2024 14:16 via bbc.com
  
  Jonathan Powell will replace Sir Tim Barrow, who has held the role since September 2022.
  
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• Reform to challenge Labour at Senedd poll - Farage

  08-11-2024 13:37 via bbc.com
  
  Ahead of Reform's Welsh conference, its leader says it will be Labour's “main challenger” in 2026.
  
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• Tax changes in budget last straw for UK farmers after ‘years of being squeezed’

  08-11-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Farmers’ union to bring 1,800 members to Westminster in protest, but some say mega-rich landowners are the problemIn the next few weeks tractors full of angry farmers could roll through the stately streets of Westminster. They have had enough, they say. The change to inheritance tax in the government’s budget last week was a blow – but it was also the most recent of a long series of blows. This is, apparently, as much as they can take.Rachel Reeves stirred up anger when she mad
  
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