Category Archives: Politics

Mahmood vows to change modern slavery laws after bid to deport Eritrean man thwarted

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Appeal court rejects home secretary’s attempt to appeal against blocking of return of man to France under ‘one in, one out’ deal

Shabana Mahmood has announced plans to change modern slavery laws to prevent migrants from making last minute attempts to “frustrate a removal” after her bid to appeal in a trafficking case was thrown out by the court of appeal.

The home secretary had applied for permission to appeal against a high court ruling temporarily blocking the removal of an Eritrean asylum seeker to France under Labour’s “one in, one out” scheme so that he had more time to gather evidence in support of his trafficking claim. Three appeal court judges rejected her application.

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Ed Davey calls for UK to import US cancer researchers hit by Trump cuts

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Lib Dem leader to use conference speech to urge extra funding for mRNA research and accuse Nigel Farage of cheering US funding reductions

The UK should import US scientists whose cancer research projects have been cut by Donald Trump, Ed Davey will argue at a Liberal Democrat conference that has focused heavily on how the party can respond to hard-right populism.

In his closing speech, Davey will also criticise Nigel Farage, saying the Reform UK conference applauded the Trump administration’s decision to slash funding for mRNA vaccines, which are being trialled as a way to offer personalised immunotherapy treatment for some cancers.

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Disabled Nigerian man living in UK for 38 years wins appeal against deportation

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Anthony Olubunmi George, who arrived in 1986 and has no criminal convictions, given right to remain

A disabled Nigerian man who has lived in the UK for almost 40 years has won an appeal to stay in the country despite the Home Office wanting to deport him.

Anthony Olubunmi George, 63, came to the UK at the age of 24 in 1986. He has not left the UK since and has no criminal convictions. He had two strokes in 2019 that left him with speech and mobility issues.

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Reform branded ‘threat to democracy’ over Farage plan to remove thousands of migrants with leave to be in UK – politics live

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Nigel Farage says Reform UK would scrap the main route that migrants take to gain British citizenship

Farage and Yusuf are now taking questions.

Q: [From the BBC’s Iain Watson] Will you withdraw the £230bn figure, because it has been withdrawn by the thinktank that produced it?

What we are attempting to do today is to make people realise that large-scale migration into Britain, where 50% at least of those that come, will never work and live off the British state, is actually making this country substantially poorer.

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Farage vows to scrap indefinite leave to remain, placing thousands at risk of deportation

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Reform UK plans to force non-citizens to apply for visas with high salary thresholds and no access to NHS services

Nigel Farage has said Reform UK would scrap the main route that migrants take to gain British citizenship, leaving tens of thousands of legally settled people facing deportation unless they met strict rules.

Farage said the plans would tackle the “Boriswave” – the increase in the number of legal migrants who came to work in the UK under post-Brexit migration rules established under Boris Johnson. Much of that increase was because of schemes from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan to settle refugees.

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Zarah Sultana drops legal threat over feud with Jeremy Corbyn

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MP ‘determined to reconcile’ with former Labour leader after fledgling party’s membership sign-up row

Zarah Sultana has said she will call off legal action after a public row with Jeremy Corbyn over the fledgling party they were to co-lead.

The Coventry South MP acknowledged people felt “demoralised” after the quarrel over her push for members to sign up to Your Party, the political outfit she established with the former Labour leader.

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Lib Dems should ditch Ed Davey’s stunts and talk policy, survey finds

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Thinktank poll reveals voters unclear what party stands for despite photo opportunities winning more media coverage

The Liberal Democrats should drop their stunts and offer a more serious policy programme if they want to gain support among voters, according to a study presented at the party’s annual conference.

Polling by the More in Common thinktank, shown to Lib Dem members at the gathering in Bournemouth, suggested that while it has the scope to go beyond its historic total of 72 MPs at the last election, many voters tempted by the party remain uncertain about what it stands for.

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How will recognition of Palestinian statehood be greeted in the UK?

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As well as being deeply symbolic, the move is also a major foreign policy shift for the Labour government

The UK’s formal recognition of Palestinian statehood is deeply symbolic on the world stage, but the major foreign policy shift is also a significant political step for the Labour government at home. The announcement followed mounting pressure on Keir Starmer from within the Labour party and beyond.

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Tulip Siddiq fears plans to use ‘fake’ documents to secure conviction in corruption trial

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Exclusive: Ex-minister being tried in absentia in Bangladesh claims ID card and passport tendered as evidence not hers

The former City minister Tulip Siddiq has said she fears prosecutors could be planning to use “fake” documents to secure her conviction in her trial in Bangladesh on corruption charges.

The Labour MP, who is being tried in absentia, spoke out after images of a Bangladeshi national identity card and a passport said to be in her name were published in newspapers in the UK and in Bangladesh.

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UK set to recognise Palestinian state on Sunday

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Keir Starmer expected to confirm move after concluding the situation has worsened significantly in recent weeks

The UK is expected to recognise a Palestinian state on Sunday after Israel failed to meet the conditions set out by Keir Starmer in July.

The prime minister is to make the announcement after concluding the humanitarian situation has deteriorated significantly in the past few weeks. The move comes despite pressure from the US and the families of hostages held by Hamas.

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More than 1,000 people arrive in UK in small boats in one day

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Home Office figures for Friday end a spell of more than a week with no new arrivals in Dover due to poor weather

More than 1,000 people crossed the Channel in small boats on Friday, according to Home Office figures, ending a spell of more than a week with no new arrivals.

Thirteen boats carrying 1,072 individuals made the crossing on Friday, which averages more than 80 people a boat. It is the third time this year the figure for a single day has surpassed 1,000 and brings the total number this year to a record 32,103.

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Lucy Powell: Labour should raise gambling taxes to axe two-child benefit cap

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Deputy leadership candidate says party needs to be ‘clear that our objective is to lift children out of poverty’

Labour should consider raising taxes on gambling firms to cover the cost of lifting the two-child benefit cap, the party’s deputy leadership candidate Lucy Powell has suggested.

The Manchester Central MP, who is battling with the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to succeed Angela Rayner as Labour’s deputy leader, also acknowledged the public was “exasperated” because of “some mistakes” Labour had made in office.

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UK and St George’s flags should never be used to ‘intimidate and terrify’, says senior Lib Dem

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‘How dare the nationalists steal our flags?’ asks Tim Farron at party conference in Bournemouth

People who use the union jack or St George’s cross as a form of aggressive nationalism do not love their country, a senior Liberal Democrat has said, as he hit back at a wave of hard-right activism based around the flags.

In a strongly worded speech to a rally opening the party’s annual conference in Bournemouth, Tim Farron, a former leader who now speaks for the party on the environment and rural affairs, said national flags should never be “used to intimidate”.

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Anti-immigration protesters and counter-protesters clash in Glasgow

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Event comes a week after the largest far-right event in decades took place in London

Anti-immigration protesters have clashed with anti-racist counter-protesters in tense scenes in Glasgow this afternoon, a week after the largest far-right event in decades took place in London.

The statue of Scottish statesman Donald Dewar, father of the Holyrood parliament, was surrounded by union flags bearing the words: “Stop the boats” and “Unite the kingdom”.

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Rachel Reeves due to appear at gambling lobbyist’s event amid tax review

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Chancellor’s invitation criticised as ‘strange timing’ with Treasury looking at whether to raise duties on £12bn sector

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has been urged to cancel plans to be the guest of honour at an event hosted by the chief lobbyist of the gambling industry while the Treasury is in the midst of a review of taxes on the £12bn sector.

Reeves is slated to appear at a “private reception” for business leaders, organised by the corporate communications company Brunswick, at the forthcoming Labour party conference in Liverpool.

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Labour rules against dozens of motions about Palestine being debated at party conference

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Calls for sanctions on Israel and ban on trade that aids international law violations among snubbed motions

Labour has ruled out motions about Palestine being debated at its party conference later this month, triggering accusations that it is trying to stifle debate.

The conference arrangement committee, made up of Labour elected reps and officials, has ruled about 30 motions about Palestine from local parties out of order.

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UN votes to allow Palestinian president to address annual gathering via video link

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Trump had refused to grant visas for Palestinian delegation due to attend conference and UN general assembly

The United Nations general assembly has voted to allow the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to address next week’s annual gathering of world leaders next week in New York via video link after Donald Trump said he would not give him a US visa.

The resolution received 145 votes in favour and five votes against, while six countries abstained.

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Scottish minister Jamie Hepburn quits after Douglas Ross assault accusation

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Former Scottish Tory leader alleges Hepburn grabbed him amid row over SNP’s apparent failure to tackle gull attacks

A Scottish minister has resigned after a row over aggressive gulls spilled over into an angry altercation with the former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross.

Jamie Hepburn, the Scottish government’s minister for parliamentary business, tendered his resignation after Ross accused him of assault outside the parliament chamber on Wednesday.

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Judge quashes Home Office’s decision on US extradition of vulnerable man

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Portugal has also made extradition request for Diogo Santos Coelho, who is facing cybercrime charges

A high court judge has quashed a Home Office decision that paved the way for a vulnerable autistic man to be extradited to the US on cybercrime charges carrying a possible 52-year sentence.

The UK government has accepted that Diogo Santos Coelho, 25, a Portuguese national, was groomed and exploited online by adults from the age of 14, leading to him setting up the website RaidForums, to which the alleged crimes relate.

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Assisted dying bill gets second reading in Lords, but with peers also setting up select committee to review it – as it happened

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Committee to conclude review of bill by 7 November. This live blog is closed

The UK is preparing to recognise the state of Palestine imminently, after Israel failed to meet conditions that would have postponed the historic step, including a ceasefire in Gaza, Patrick Wintour reports.

YouGov has relased polling today suggesting that Britons are in favour of this by more than two to one, although a large minority of people do not have a view.

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