Category Archives: Politics

Food scarcity fears prompt plan to ease post-Brexit checks on EU imports

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Ministers considering ‘lighter touch’ regime to avoid disruption to supplies from bloc

Ministers are preparing to relax post-Brexit plans for border checks on food and other imports from the European Union because of fears that they will further damage trade and could lead to severe shortages in UK supermarkets.

The Observer has been told by multiple industry sources that Boris Johnson’s new Brexit minister, Lord Frost, is considering allowing “lighter touch” controls on imports from 1 April than are currently planned, and scaling back plans for full customs checks, including physical inspections, which are due to begin on 1 July.

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Most Scots would back remaining in UK, new poll suggests

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Respondents say their trust in both Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond dented by Holyrood inquiry

Most Scots would vote to remain in the UK if an independence referendum were held tomorrow, a new poll has found.

The survey of 1,015 Scots suggests that 46% would vote against Scottish independence, compared with 43% in favour.

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Unions urge Sunak to reconsider 1% pay rise for NHS England staff

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BMA, Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of Midwives and Unison say pay recommendation ‘fails the test of honesty’

The government is under mounting pressure to reconsider its proposed 1% pay rise for NHS staff in England, with four trade unions writing a joint letter to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to express their “dismay” and calling for a fair pay deal.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing and Unison said the pay deal “fails the test of honesty and fails to provide staff who have been on the very frontline of the pandemic the fair pay deal they need”.

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Leak reveals UK Foreign Office discussing aid cuts of more than 50%

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Internal reports show projected cuts including 59% in South Sudan, 60% in Somalia and 67% in Syria

Some of the poorest and most conflict-ridden countries in the world will have their UK aid programmes cut by more than half, according to a leaked report of discussions held in the last three weeks among Foreign Office officials.

The cuts include slashing the aid programme to Somalia by 60% and to South Sudan by 59%. The planned cut for Syria is reported at 67% and for Libya it is 63%. Nigeria’s aid programme would be cut by 58%.

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Salmond inquiry having ‘chilling effect’ on women, say experts

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Campaigners believe Holyrood crisis may prevent women from coming forward to report harassment

The Salmond inquiry is having a significant impact on the momentum for change brought about by the #MeToo movement, according to experts and campaigners on workplace harassment.

They have told the Guardian the political crisis convulsing Holyrood has also had a “chilling” and “demoralising” effect on women in terms of their confidence in reporting unacceptable behaviour.

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Brexit: EU to launch legal proceedings against UK ‘very soon’

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Threat of action follows UK moves to unilaterally delay implementation of part of deal relating to Northern Ireland

Brussels has warned it will launch legal action “very soon” following a move by the UK to unilaterally delay implementation of part of the Brexit deal relating to Northern Ireland.

The European commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, said the announcement by the government on Wednesday had come as a “very negative surprise”.

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Budget 2021 live: Sunak to freeze income tax thresholds and raise corporation tax to pay for Covid recovery

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Latest updates: chancellor extends furlough, universal credit uplift and stamp duty holiday

Sunak turns to corporation tax.

Sunak says he will announce two measures now to address the borrowing.

The government’s response has been fair, he says.

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Nicola Sturgeon says harassment policy was not there ‘to get Alex Salmond’ – live updates

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Scotland’s first minister is appearing before MSPs, amid multiple allegations that she broke the ministerial code

Murdo Fraser, Scottish Conservatives, asks about the extent of ministerial overview of the judicial review brought by Salmond over the investigation into harassment allegations against him?

The first minister replies that she was a named party. It was not something that she discussed every day. She says it was “not an unusual degree of involvement or oversight”, pointing out that there have been several judicial reviews against her government.

Mitchell says no one would want to come forward because of the way these complainers were treated.

Sturgeon says they are the most important people in this story. They were let down by government mistakes.

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Budget 2021: key points at a glance

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Rishi Sunak is delivering his budget – here is rolling coverage of the main points, updated throughout the speech

The chancellor says he would do “whatever it takes” during the pandemic, and that he has done and will continue to do so. He says there has been acute damage to the economy, with more than 700,000 people losing their jobs, the economy shrinking by 10% – the largest fall in 300 years, and borrowing is highest it has been outside of wartime. “It’s going to take this country, and the whole world, a long time to recover from this extraordinary situation,” he says.

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Sturgeon faces calls to resign over actions in Salmond crisis

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First minister was given legal advice about significant potential conflict of interest but case continued

Nicola Sturgeon faces calls to resign after previously secret legal advice and new witness evidence raised fresh questions over whether Scotland’s first minister misled parliament about the Alex Salmond crisis.

On Tuesday evening the Scottish government released confidential legal advice that showed its lawyers had warned Sturgeon and her most senior officials that evidence of a potentially unlawful conflict of interest inside the government was “extremely concerning” and a “very real problem indeed”.

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Johnson trying to set up charity that could fund No 11 flat revamp

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No 10 does not deny reports that scheme could cover costs of works by PM’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds

Downing Street is trying to set up a charity that could cover the costs of the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s flat, which he shares with his fiancee, Carrie Symonds.

A No 10 spokesman would not deny reports in the Daily Mail that the prime minister is attempting to set up a charity where benefactors can contribute to the upkeep of Downing Street.

Symonds is understood to have undertaken a substantial redecoration of the flat above No 11 that she shares with Johnson and their baby son, Wilfred. Johnson is known to have joked with Conservative MPs about the cost of the refurbishment.

According to the Mail, the purpose of the charitable fund would be to maintain not just the No 11 flat, but also other parts of Downing Street, including the state rooms, and could therefore be presented as having a wider heritage purpose.

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Rishi Sunak to offer ‘help to grow’ training for SME managers

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Small businesses will receive help in Wednesday’s budget to boost tech and management skills

The bosses of small businesses are to be invited back to school to brush up on their management skills, under plans to be announced in the budget designed to help close Britain’s productivity gap with rival nations.

As part of the attempt to speed up the UK’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will unveil a “help to grow” scheme that will offer the leaders of up to 130,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the chance of MBA-style management training.

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Shamima Begum court decision brings shame on UK | Letters

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Readers respond to the supreme court decision that Begum will not have her citizenship restored

Every day it seems the Guardian serves up another reason for being ashamed to be British. On Friday, it was the case of Shamima Begum (Shamima Begum loses fight to restore UK citizenship after supreme court ruling, 26 February). It makes it particularly difficult that I’m tutoring someone who is hoping to take an A-level in British politics. All the books list human rights and explain how carefully protected they are in our system. Article 5 is supposed to protect the right to liberty and freedom from arbitrary detention. Yet the supreme court is unable to protect Begum’s rights against a home secretary who is operating a policy based on pandering to public opinion in return for (hoped-for) votes.

We are told that legal protections are particularly important in difficult cases – that is, cases where an individual presents as unpleasant or undeserving. Begum was a teenager who took the extraordinary step of leaving her country to defend something she believed was deserving of her support. But even if she left with the firm intention of terrorising her fellow citizens, does this mean she should be deprived of her rights? It is a matter not of what Begum deserves but of what our national honour, and our constitution, deserve. This has been increasingly in doubt in recent years, with the government threatening to renege over the Northern Irish border agreement; not to mention the Chagos Islands and our participation in rendering citizens to be tortured during the “war on terror”.
Jeremy Cushing
Exeter

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Brexiters buy KGB artefacts for ‘museum of communist terror’

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Portrait of Lenin and spy tools among items snapped up at auction by group planning UK exhibition

It depicts the Russian revolutionary leader in characteristically serious mood, staring across Red Square, perhaps, and rendered with more than a touch of kitsch.

But while a Soviet-era oil painting of Vladimir Lenin, which sold for nearly $2,000 at auction in the US, might capture the man as many know him, its buyers are not exactly Bolsheviks.

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More than 50,000 people call for inquiry into use of Queen’s consent

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Tens of thousands sign petition to investigate mechanism that allows Queen to vet draft laws

More than 50,000 people have called for a parliamentary investigation into an “unfathomable” mechanism that allows the Queen to vet draft laws before they are approved by the UK’s elected representatives.

They have signed a petition supporting an urgent investigation by a House of Commons committee as they are concerned that the “royal family has a worrying and undemocratic ability to influence the government behind closed doors”.

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Anas Sarwar wins Scottish Labour leadership election

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Sarwar wins snap election triggered by surprise resignation of Richard Leonard six weeks ago

Anas Sarwar has won the Scottish Labour leadership contest after a snap election triggered by the surprise resignation of Richard Leonard six weeks ago.

Sarwar, a former deputy leader of Scottish Labour backed by a majority of the party’s parliamentarians, defeated the other candidate Monica Lennon, a less experienced MSP backed on the party’s left, winning 57.6% of the vote.

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Alex Salmond: weak leadership could hurt case for Scottish independence

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Former first minister launches a stinging attack on the SNP during evidence to a Holyrood inquiry

Alex Salmond has suggested that weak and incompetent leadership of Scotland’s institutions could undermine the case for independence, in a bitter attack on his former allies and party.

The former first minister said huge deficiencies had been exposed in the running of the Scottish government and the Crown Office, as he blamed both institutions for forcing him to live through a “nightmare” during the last three years.

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‘Lying is no longer a sin’: former French ambassador on Brexit and Boris Johnson

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Exclusive: Sylvie Bermann, who has written book in attempt to understand Brexit, says question of Britain’s identity was key

When Sylvie Bermann arrived in August 2014 as France’s new ambassador, London was, she says, a city of “extraordinary dynamism and optimism”.

French cabinet ministers were queuing up to visit, she said, one after the other, all searching for “Britain’s recipe for success. It was an an astonishing place.”

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Keir Starmer under pressure to back plans for corporation tax rise

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Labour leader has faced backlash after saying he would oppose any new tax on business in budget

Keir Starmer is under pressure to back future rises in corporation tax after a backlash when the Labour leader said he would oppose any new tax on business in next week’s budget.

Treasury officials are believed to be looking at increasing the tax on company profits from the current rate of 19% to up to 25% as the government tries to recoup some of the massive debts incurred during the pandemic, though the rise may be delayed until later in the parliament.

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Boris Johnson ‘a liar’ who will blame Brexit costs on Covid, says diplomat

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Sylvie Bermann, former French ambassador, puts PM’s handling of pandemic alongside Donald Trump’s

Boris Johnson is “an unrepentant and inveterate liar” who feels he is not subject to the same rules as others, Sylvie Bermann, the former French ambassador to the UK during the Brexit vote, says in a new book.

She also claims some Brexiters are consumed with hatred for Germany and gripped by a myth that they liberated Europe on their own, describing Brexit as a triumph of emotion over reason, won by a campaign full of lies in which negative attitudes to migration were exploited by figures such as Johnson and Michael Gove.

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