Category Archives: UK news

Brexit: Pound falls as general election speculation intensifies – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including reaction to PM’s threat to remove whip from Tory MPs who vote against him on Brexit

Rumours of a snap general election have sent the pound tumbling on the international currency markets, as investors brace for further political turmoil as the Brexit deadline edges closer.

Sterling has slumped by almost a cent against the US dollar and sold-off sharply against the euro, sliding below $1.21 and €1.10 as election speculation spreads through the City.

Anyone who thinks that an election will solve the UK’s political crisis has not been paying attention over the past three years.

The pound today. pic.twitter.com/Kdw2MwSTtK

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Home Office refused thousands of LGBT asylum claims, figures reveal

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Exclusive: ‘culture of disbelief’ excludes at least 3,100 nationals from countries outlawing same-sex acts

The UK Home Office has refused at least 3,100 asylum claims from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) nationals of countries where consensual same-sex acts are criminalised, figures reveal.

At least 1,197 LGBT Pakistanis were refused asylum after making a claim for protection on grounds of sexual orientation between 2016 and 2018, analysis by the Liberal Democrats of figures published by the Home Office shows. A further 640 LGBT Bangladeshis and 389 Nigerians had their claims on same grounds refused during the period.

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Snap election speculation mounts as No 10 calls emergency cabinet

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No 10 says vote on bill to delay Brexit will be treated as ‘expression of confidence’

Speculation is mounting that Boris Johnson could call a snap general election if backbench rebels succeed in passing a bill to delay Brexit, with a Downing Street source saying the issue would be treated as “an expression of confidence” in the government.

Johnson’s cabinet ministers are being summoned for an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon, before the prime minister addresses Conservative MPs at a No 10 drinks reception.

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Johnson could sacrifice majority by withdrawing whip from rebel MPs

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Rebel Tories face deselection over Brexit, as PM abruptly cancels meeting with group including ex-ministers

Boris Johnson is prepared to blow up his own parliamentary majority and withdraw the whip from dozens of Conservative MPs if they back plans to stop no-deal Brexit, Tory whips have warned potential rebels, in an extreme move by Downing Street that would pave the way for an imminent general election.

As hostilities escalated, Johnson also signalled how serious his intention is to follow through the threat of deselection by abruptly ripping up plans for a meeting with rebellious former ministers, including Philip Hammond and David Gauke, that had been billed as a last-ditch effort to limit support for the action in parliament.

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Gove portrait ‘visible from space’ drawn on beach in Brexit protest

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Led By Donkeys group reminds minister of his statement that no one voted for no-deal Brexit

A portrait of Michael Gove so large it can “be seen from space” has been drawn on the sand on the North Yorkshire coast to condemn his stance on Brexit.

The anti-Brexit campaign group Led By Donkeys travelled to Redcar to install the drawing measuring 7,500 sq metres, which features a quote from the cabinet minister in which he said the UK “didn’t vote to leave without a deal” in the 2016 EU referendum.

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U-turn over plan to end freedom of movement on 31 October

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Legal experts warned against Priti Patel’s decision to change law immediately after Brexit deadline

The government has been forced to scrap plans for a law that would end freedom of movement at midnight on 31 October in a no-deal scenario, according to reports.

In a shift of policy, the home secretary, Priti Patel, had planned secondary legislation to stop freedom of movement for EU citizens into the UK, but has been forced to accept that the move could have landed the government in court.

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Police search Middlesbrough properties after arrest of terror suspect

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Bomb disposal experts called to Teesville address after man, 21, arrested in operation in north London

Bomb disposal experts were called to a home in Middlesbrough on Saturday after the arrest of a man in north London on suspicion of terrorism offences.

The 21-year-old, from the Middlesbrough area, is suspected of involvement in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism contrary to section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

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Home Office planning to end family reunion for children after Brexit

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Exclusive: Current system for asylum-seeking minors set to end the day after UK leaves EU

The Home Office is preparing to end the current system of family reunification for asylum-seeking children if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the Guardian has learned.

The government has privately briefed the UN refugee agency UNHCR and other NGOs that open cases may be able to progress, but a no-deal Brexit would mean no new applications after 1 November from asylum-seeking children to be reunited with relatives living in the UK. Even if there is a deal, the future of family reunion is not certain.

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Fracking protesters ‘priced out’ of Cuadrilla legal challenge

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Judge denies costs protection over injunction restricting protests at Lancashire site

An environmental group has been forced to withdraw its legal challenge to a wide-ranging injunction by the fracking firm Cuadrilla after being “priced out of court”.

Three fracking protesters are facing court action after the energy company obtained the injunction restricting protests at its shale gas exploration site in Lancashire.

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Channel smugglers cram 30 migrants into boats made for six

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Children tell charity workers of being knocked into the water as attempts to reach UK from France increase

Smugglers are cramming up to 30 people on to small boats to cross the Channel from France to the UK, and children have been among those who have recently fallen overboard, campaigners have revealed.

As crossing attempts surge at the close of summer amid rumours that Brexit will mean tighter border restrictions, criminal gangs are loading inflatable boats up to five times their capacity. Previously, people smugglers would put about eight passengers on each vessel.

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Iraq war whistleblower’s trial ‘was halted due to national security threat’

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Ahead of a new film about Katharine Gun, the director of public prosecutions explains for the first time why he felt a court case would be too risky

She was the whistleblower who risked her freedom to try to prevent war. By leaking to the Observer details of a secret American dirty tricks campaign to spy on the UN before the invasion of Iraq, Katharine Gun hoped she could stir the public’s conscience, ratcheting up political pressure to the point that conflict could be avoided.

It was not, and Gun, then a 28-year-old working for GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham, was later charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act. The case against her, however, was abruptly and mysteriously dropped.

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Lessons of the second world war are at risk of being forgotten, or even rewritten | Sadiq Khan

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As we mark the 80th anniversary of the start of the second world war, with liberal democracies again under siege, Britain should be leading the fight against extremism

Eighty years ago, the start of the second world war saw Nazi Germany invading Poland. Six years later, up to 85 million people were dead. I’m in Poland this weekend to commemorate the start of the bloodiest war in human history.

An entire generation of brave men and women around the globe sacrificed everything to defeat the singular evil of Nazism and fascism.

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From Bodmin to Berlin, crowds vent their fury at Boris Johnson’s ‘coup’

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Protesters ranged from students at the prime minister’s old Oxford college to retired teachers, children and activists

In Cambridge’s Market Square, a crowd of families, young people and silver-haired academics listened as Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Masque of Anarchy was read out. Many joined in, from memory, making a collective appeal for non-violent resistance: “Rise, like lions after slumber... Ye are many – they are few.” There were moments of more garrulous protest too. During a speech criticising Boris Johnson, someone shouted: “Off with his head!”

From Bodmin to Berlin, Bristol to Oxford, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in towns and cities across England, Scotland and Wales on Saturday to vent their fury at Johnson’s plan to suspend parliament. Around 1,200 people attended the rally in Cambridge, where they booed the prime minister and his adviser Dominic Cummings as though they were pantomime villains.

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Javid defends settled status scheme in response to criticism

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Campaigners point to rise in grants for pre-settled status, which has fewer rights

Sajid Javid has responded to concerns raised over thousands of EU citizens in the UK having no legal rights after 31 October , by saying “there shouldn’t be a single person that should be concerned about their status”.

The settled status scheme has been running since March for EU nationals living in the UK to establish their permanent right to live in Britain.

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Four males held over north London stabbing of teenage boy

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Boy, 15, remains in critical condition after incident in Tottenham on Friday

A man in his early 20s has become the fourth person to be arrested on suspicion of attempted murder over the stabbing of a 15-year-old boy.

The victim is in a critical condition in hospital after the attack in Tottenham, north London, on Friday morning. He was found with multiple stab wounds on Willan Road, in the Broadwater Farm estate, at about 11.15am.

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Thousands protest against Boris Johnson’s parliament shutdown

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Crowds march, wave banners and chant ‘stop the coup’ in cities across UK

Tens of thousands of demonstrators are taking to the streets across Britain and outside the gates of Downing Street in protest against Boris Johnson’s move to suspend parliament.

Crowds brandished banners pledging to “defend democracy”, chanted “stop the coup” and waved EU flags in London in a bid to resist the parliament shutdown.

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Riot police out in Glasgow as Irish unity march sparks disorder

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Council calls for fewer marches amid reports of smoke bombs and closure of Govan Road

Riot police, mounted officers, a force helicopter and dog units are being used in Glasgow after protesters against an Irish unity march sparked “significant disorder”.

Police said the planned march through the city’s Govan area, organised by the James Connolly Republican Flute Band, was met by hundreds of “disruptive” counter-demonstrators at about 7pm.

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Gove watches no-deal Brexit practice run in Port of Calais

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New systems to ensure smooth transit of goods are tested in France before UK’s exit from EU

The Port of Calais has staged a no-deal Brexit rehearsal to test new systems ahead of the UK’s anticipated departure from the EU on 31 October. Michael Gove, the minister in charge of no-deal planning, witnessed the practice run during a visit to France on Friday afternoon.

Related: Rebel MPs confident they have time to stop no-deal Brexit

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‘Culture of fear’ claims as Javid confronts PM over adviser’s sacking

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Dominic Cummings ‘pissed off’ about briefings on pay and gender balance – report

A furious Sajid Javid confronted Boris Johnson on Friday and demanded an explanation of why his media adviser was sacked without his knowledge, amid claims that a deep “culture of fear” has taken hold within the government.

Sonia Khan, Javid’s media adviser, was escorted from No 10 by an armed police officer after a meeting with Johnson’s top strategist, Dominic Cummings, in which she was accused of being dishonest about her contact with the former chancellor Philip Hammond and one of his ex-advisers, who have been trying to block a no-deal Brexit.

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