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Let battle commence: how the parties are shaping up for December's election How ready are the Tories, Labour, Lib Dems, SNP, Brexit party and Greens for the snap poll?All the day’s politics news – livePreparednessThe Conservatives have been obviously preparing for a general election since the summer. The signs were all there, even while Boris Johnson was insisting he did not want to go to the polls, with the appointment of Isaac Levido, a protege of Australian election strategist Lynton Crosby, as campaigns director. Two women from a thinktank background, Munira Mirza and Rachel Wolf, have been writing the party’s manifesto for months. MPs have been hitting the phones canvassing, and special advisers are expecting to be assigned roles in Conservative party headquarters and on the ...

Lib Dems could win hundreds of seats in election, says Swinson Leader talks up chances of breakthrough as party election machines swing into actionLatest politics news - live updatesThe Liberal Democrats are “within a small swing of winning hundreds of seats”, Jo Swinson has claimed, as the main parties began pushing out key messages before what is billed as the most volatile general election in living memory.Although the official campaign does not begin until parliament is dissolved next week, the near-certain passage through parliament of a bill calling a 12 December poll has prompted party election machines to swing immediately into action. Continue reading... Go to Source

Grenfell Tower fire survivors welcome damning inquiry report ‘Heartbreaking’ to read more loved ones could have been saved, say bereavedGrenfell Tower inquiry: the chair’s findings so farGrenfell Tower inquiry: the main playersLives of Grenfell: portraits of the 72 who diedThe survivors and the bereaved of the Grenfell Tower fire have welcomed a damning public inquiry report into the disaster that concludes there were “systemic failings” by the London fire brigade. But they said it was “heartbreaking” to read that more of their loved ones could have been saved if the building was evacuated earlier.The long-delayed report into the blaze that claimed 72 lives was released on Wednesday morning by the inquiry chairman, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, and was branded “strong” by Grenfell United...

Facebook agrees to pay fine over Cambridge Analytica scandal Company withdraws appeal against £500,000 penalty imposed by UK data watchdogFacebook has agreed to pay a £500,000 fine, the highest possible, to the Information Commissioner’s Office over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, ending more than a year of litigation between the regulator and social network.The ICO announced its intention to fine Facebook in July 2018. Unusually, the office went public with its intention before giving Facebook a chance to respond, and ultimately issued the official penalty notice three months later, in October. Facebook appealed against the fine, and in June 2019 the tribunal issued an interim decision “holding that procedural fairness and allegations of bias on the part of the ICO should be con...

Parliament breaks Brexit deadlock with vote for 12 December election Boris Johnson wins vote to secure snap poll at fourth time of asking Brexit: latest updates – liveMPs voted on Tuesday night to finally resolve their Brexit deadlock by calling a general election, setting the stage for a 12 December contest that could be the most unpredictable in a generation. Related: Tory MPs 'asking Brexit party not to stand against them' Continue reading... Go to Source

The Guardian view on a snap election: a reckoning the voters may not want | Editorial Boris Johnson has got the poll he wanted but he might be making the same mistake as Theresa May in 2017General elections must be about the issues. The 1997 election was about 18 “wasted” years of Tory government, with Tony Blair’s manifesto saying “Britain deserves better”. In 1974 Edward Heath called an election seeking an answer to the question of who governs Britain – the prime minister or the unions. The answer the electorate returned was the unions. More often than not, politicians overestimate their ability to frame the terms of political debate. Theresa May reasoned that Brexit would be the issue in her snap election of 2017. It dominated voters’ thoughts – but that did not help her. Boris...

Can Labour eat into projected 58-seat Tory majority? Boris Johnson opens election campaign with a 10-point poll lead We’re off, and Labour has it all to do. The Conservatives start the campaign with a 10-point poll lead, a margin that translates into an overall majority of about 58 for Boris Johnson, according to estimates produced by Electoral Calculus.If anything, the latest Brexit wrangling has benefited the Conservatives, extending the party’s lead by two points since 1 October, even as it became increasingly clear that Johnson’s “do or die” Halloween deadline would be missed. Continue reading... Go to Source

'It's doing my head in': UK voters sick of Brexit – and the election Voters in Labour seat of Bury North and Tory seat of Chingford split over merits of pre-Christmas pollMPs break Brexit deadlock with vote for 12 December electionIn the foothills of the Pennines, the market town of Ramsbottom was busy with afternoon shoppers when news broke of a looming general election. Teacups clattered, eyes rolled and heads shook wearily in a town that voted 53% for leave in June 2016. Continue reading... Go to Source

Brexit reduced to a petty squabble. Classic Dom | John Crace Johnson and Corbyn only cared about election timing – leaving this parliament to expire as it had lived. A laughing stockIt came down to a matter of days. Once Lindsay Hoyle, the deputy speaker, a man with both eyes on the top job had – as expected – chosen not to select amendments on EU citizens and votes for 16-year-olds, the only issue was about timing.The Tories wanted 12 December because that was the day they had first thought of and didn’t want to look like they were making any concessions. So tough. So brave. Classic Dom. Not wanting to be looking like the only leader too timid to vote for an election, Jeremy Corbyn muscled in on the Lib Dems and the SNP to insist that it took place on 9 December instead. Continue...

Brexit: Early election bill likely to clear Commons as amendments extending franchise not selected - live news Commons debating fresh attempt by government for December ballotGeneral election: Labour says it will back pre-Christmas pollJohnson fails in bid to limit debate as MPs start considering election billDoes government defeat on Creasy amendment mean bill might fall? 5.54pm GMTCat Smith, the shadow deputy leader of the Commons, opens the debate, moving amendment 2, the one that would change the date of the election from Thursday 12 December to Monday 9 December. She says Labour wants as many people as possible to participate in the election.Labour fears that students would be less likely to vote on 12 December, because some of them would have gone home at the end of term. 5....

Grenfell inquiry accused of focusing on junior firefighters Fire chief says inquiry should have centred on cladding and government policyFirefighters have accused the Grenfell Tower public inquiry of injustice by focusing on the shortcomings of rank and file officers while failing to scrutinise those in power, including the prime minister, Boris Johnson, who oversaw firefighting in London for eight years as mayor.Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said on Tuesday that it was “unfair and unjust” that firefighters were being publicly scrutinised in the long-awaited report being published this week, while political leaders were not. Continue reading... Go to Source

Lebanon's PM Saad Hariri resigns as protesters come under attack Hariri says he intends to make ‘positive shock’ to country gripped by mass protestsLebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri, has announced his resignation, in a move set to spark further uncertainty in a country paralysed by political dysfunction and nationwide protests.Hariri’s announcement came several hours after hundreds of youths overran protest sites in downtown Beirut, ransacking tents and stalls set up by demonstrators who, for the past 13 days, have demanded an overhaul of the ruling class and an end to rampant corruption. Continue reading... Go to Source

Met treatment of disabled XR activists labelled 'degrading' Met’s own disability advisers lodge complaint over disabled protesters’ treatmentThe Metropolitan police’s advisers on disability have accused the force of “degrading and humiliating” treatment of disabled activists during the Extinction Rebellion protests in London this month.A formal complaint by the Met’s disability independent advisory group (DIAG) says members are “disappointed and angered” that the force failed to engage with them over the policing of the protests, and says it may have caused “irreparable damage” to relations with disabled people. Continue reading... Go to Source

Police seek Armagh brothers in relation to Essex lorry deaths Ronan and Christopher Hughes wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and human traffickingDetectives have named two people they want to speak to in connection with the deaths of 39 people whose bodies were found in a refrigerated lorry trailer in Essex last week.Ronan Hughes, 40, and his brother Christopher, 34, both from Armagh, Northern Ireland, were wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and human trafficking, Essex police said on Tuesday. Continue reading... Go to Source