Political news

• Mandelson’s China stance makes him bad choice for US ambassador, say critics

  13-11-2024 20:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Labour peer called Donald Trump a ‘bully’ in 2018 article and said he was too hostile towards China on trade policyPeter Mandelson’s position as the frontrunner to be British ambassador to the US has been questioned after it emerged he criticised Donald Trump for being a “bully” and too hostile towards China on trade policy.Critics of Beijing raised concerns over the suitability of the Labour peer to take on the job given his repeated defence of engagement with Chin
  
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• UK must offer Trump concessions on China to avoid tariffs says senior MP

  14-11-2024 13:43
  Labour’s Liam Byrne argues government needs to address US concerns about economic security
  
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• Donald Trump, the final facilitator of Brexit

  14-11-2024 13:06
  Britain must relearn the art of the deal or risks being buffeted by big power politics
  
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• UK air traffic control failure cost up to £100mn, finds review

  14-11-2024 12:39
  Report into August 2023 travel chaos highlights lack of planning and training across the aviation sector
  
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• Britain desperately needs a proper industrial strategy

  14-11-2024 12:00
  Collaboration between business and government is central to achieving that goal
  
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• How vulnerable is the UK to Trumponomics?

  14-11-2024 11:10
  US president-elect’s plans for tariffs, and the prospect of global trade tensions, risk leaving Britain exposed
  
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• Migration to rich countries hits record high in 2023

  14-11-2024 11:00
  Surge has helped economies recover from inflationary crisis, but has also prompted voter backlash
  
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• Streeting bets on better NHS management but doesn’t go for structural reform

  14-11-2024 10:45
  Labour will keep independent commissioning body NHS England despite large disagreement that the system works
  
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• Sue Gray’s final departure marks the moment that the Starmer project gets serious | Martin Kettle

  14-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  The prime minister has finally grasped that Downing Street must control the narrative. But is it too late to undo this summer’s self-inflicted damage?Sue Gray’s departure matters. But not in the way some may assume. Gray became famous because of three things: her Partygate investigation under Boris Johnson, her recruitment to Keir Starmer’s team in opposition and for having once run a pub in Northern Ireland. It all turned her into just about the only British civil servant whom
  
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• Olly Robbins on longlist of 10 vying for UK civil service top job

  14-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: former Brexit negotiator seen as probable favourite to take over from Simon Case as cabinet secretaryThe former Brexit negotiator Oliver Robbins is one of 10 applicants on the longlist to take over from Simon Case as the UK’s most senior civil servant, the Guardian understands.The candidates, who have their first round of interviews for the job this week and next, are predominantly internal applicants, with several permanent secretaries believed to have thrown their hats into th
  
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• Why Post Office victims are still fighting for full compensation

  14-11-2024 06:00
  Glacial and bureaucratic compensation schemes draw out process for those caught up in IT scandal
  
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• Small UK pub owners look overseas after Budget tax rises sap profits

  14-11-2024 06:00
  Cluster of hospitality operators cancel British investments and divert spending to continental Europe instead
  
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• Britain, Ukraine and the climate crisis in Donald Trump’s world – Politics Weekly UK

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  After Donald Trump has announced his new defence secretary to be the former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, John Harris speaks to the Guardian’s defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh, who is in Ukraine. Plus, at Cop29, Ed Miliband has said the green transition is unstoppable even with Trump as president. Is he right? John speaks to the former Green party leader Caroline LucasSupport the Guardian today: theguardian.com/politicspod Continue reading...
  
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• Council tax bills could rise by 5% after Labour keeps cap in place

  14-11-2024 00:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Rise would be almost three times above current levels of inflation and add £100 to average family’s billsLabour has confirmed council tax rises will be kept at the 5% cap next year, which could mean a rise of £100 for the average family’s bills.The prime minister’s press secretary said on Wednesday that the threshold by which local authorities can increase bills would “remain the same”. Hours earlier Keir Starmer had dodged a question from Kemi Badenoch,
  
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• Reeves to force UK council pensions to consolidate into eight ‘megafunds’

  13-11-2024 23:00
  Chancellor to target minimum size for multiemployer defined contribution schemes of £25bn to £50bn
  
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• Reeves to force UK council pensions to consolidate into 8 ‘megafunds’

  13-11-2024 23:00
  
  Chancellor to target minimum size for multiemployer defined contribution schemes of £25bn to £50bn
  
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• Reeves to announce ‘megafunds’ shake-up of local government pension scheme

  13-11-2024 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Chancellor to tell City leaders of Canada-style plan to pool assets for benefit of long-term investmentRachel Reeves will announce plans to merge local government retirement schemes into “megafunds” as she tries to revive long-running efforts to overhaul the UK’s public pension system.The chancellor will tell an audience of City leaders and chief executives on Thursday that she will introduce a new pensions bill next year that will aim to pool assets from the 86 separate local
  
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• The Guardian view on NHS reform: evidence not dogma should be the guide | Editorial

  13-11-2024 19:29 via theguardian.com
  
  The health secretary is right to link investment to accountability, but he must be wary of creating perverse incentivesFor any government contemplating NHS reform, the 2012 Health and Social Care Act is a textbook case of what not to do. Despite promises of “no more pointless reorganisations”, the Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley did just that, abolishing management tiers and imposing new care commissioning and competition systems on reluctant doctors.The whole thing was a p
  
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• The Guardian view on Lords shake-up: meaningful change goes beyond scrapping birthright | Editorial

  13-11-2024 19:28 via theguardian.com
  
  MPs are right to abolish hereditary seats in the upper house. However, Britain needs a representative second chamber fit for modern democracyMore than a century ago, the 1911 Parliament Act restricted the House of Lords’ powers under threat of a flood of Liberal appointees. The act boldly declared that “it is intended to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis, but such substitution cannot be imme
  
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• UK will allay Trump concerns over Chagos Islands, says minister, as Priti Patel says Tories opposed to deal– as it happened

  13-11-2024 19:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Stephen Doughty, foreign office minister, says if UK had not negotiated a deal with Mauritius, ‘a legally binding decision against UK seemed inevitable’Wes Streeting has now delivered his speech to the NHS Providers conference in Liverpool, and it is being described as a potential turning point in his time as health secretary. Here is a verdict from Shaun Lintern, the Sunday Times’ health editor.Bullish, specific. Streeting is beginning to move from era of “reviews”
  
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• Over half of general election candidates faced abuse

  13-11-2024 19:02 via bbc.com
  
  The Electoral Commission has called for action to tackle abuse of candidates during elections.
  
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• Kemi Badenoch is her own worst enemy … and a gift for Keir Starmer and Labour | John Crace

  13-11-2024 18:57 via theguardian.com
  
  PMQs takes detailed preparation, timing and a razor-sharp mind – none of which the leader of the opposition has yet demonstratedOn balance, Keir Starmer can probably live with this. The first four months of his time in office may not have been quite as straightforward as he would have liked – he must have been hoping for a six-month honeymoon period – but at least he can tick off prime minister’s questions as something he doesn’t have to worry much about.Kemi Badeno
  
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• Assisted dying law would hit other NHS care - Streeting

  13-11-2024 18:18 via bbc.com
  
  The health secretary has ordered officials to review the costs for the NHS of implementing changes in the law.
  
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• Legalisation of assisted dying may force NHS cuts, Wes Streeting warns

  13-11-2024 18:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Minister has asked officials at Department of Health to analyse implications for other servicesCivil servants are looking at the extra costs that assisted dying would impose on the NHS amid a warning from Wes Streeting that some services may be cut to fund expanded end-of-life care.The health secretary has asked officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to analyse potential implications for NHS services if the right to die is legalised in England and Wales. Continue reading...
  
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• UK equality watchdog chair at centre of staff complaints to be given new term

  13-11-2024 18:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Decision to reappoint Kishwer Falkner angers some staff at Equality and Human Rights CommissionUK politics live – latest updatesThe chair of the government’s equality watchdog, who was appointed by Liz Truss and investigated after a series of complaints by staff members, has been given a 12-month extension in the role, ministers have announced.The decision to reappoint Kishwer Falkner as chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), first revealed by the Guardian, has lef
  
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• P&O Ferries spent £47m on mass layoffs amid financial woes, accounts show

  13-11-2024 18:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Delayed filings reveal cost of sacking 786 seafarers and replacing them with lower-paid agency staff in 2022P&O Ferries spent more than £47m on sacking hundreds of UK seafarers in 2022, according to its long overdue accounts that will be published in the coming days.The filings, which the Guardian has seen, confirm the financial cost of the company’s actions two and a half years ago when it outraged the public and parliament by dismissing 786 mainly British ferry workers –
  
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• Assisted dying would be funded ‘at expense of’ NHS services, warns Streeting

  13-11-2024 18:00
  Health secretary commissions study into costs of measure ahead of MPs’ vote this month
  
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• Trump team hostile to Chagos deal, claims Farage

  13-11-2024 17:58 via bbc.com
  
  The Reform UK leader said the agreement to hand over the islands is opposed in the United States.
  
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• UK to retain post-Brexit French school trips scheme

  13-11-2024 17:49
  Britain to retain arrangements that cut red tape and were put in doubt by new entry requirements for EU travellers
  
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• SNP yet to make decision on two-job MPs - Swinney

  13-11-2024 17:46 via bbc.com
  
  The first minister was speaking after SNP MPs put their names forward to stand at the 2026 Holyrood election.
  
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