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Post by Admin on Aug 11, 2016 18:29:12 GMT
Britain must "normalise" its relationship with Russia after years of hostility, Boris Johnson has told the country's foreign minister. Sergei Lavrov and the Foreign Secretary spoke by phone on Thursday and discussed a possible normalisation of bilateral ties. The Russian foreign ministry said: "Both sides expressed hope for a normalisation in Russian-British ties and underscored the desire to step up political dialogue." It comes just days after Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and Theresa May both questioned the current state of Russian-British relations. In the phone call, which Moscow said was initiated by Britain, both leaders "expressed dissatisfaction with the current parameters of cooperation in both the political and economic sphere".
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Post by Admin on Aug 27, 2016 18:31:39 GMT
Theresa May has been accused of displaying the “arrogance of a Tudor monarch” over her reported intention to deny a parliamentary vote on Brexit before beginning the process of pulling the UK out of the European Union. The prime minister is allegedly planning to prevent MPs from voting on the decision to leave the EU before article 50, the legislation that will trigger the UK’s formal exit from the bloc, is triggered. There has been a post-referendum debate over whether the result is merely advisory, as the act that created it did not specify whether the result would be binding. Some have argued a vote should be held in parliament to ratify the result. What is article 50? This is a clause in the Lisbon treaty that sets out the legal process for a country notifiying the European Union it intends to withdraw. Once notification is given, negotiations must be concluded within two years – any extension needs the agreement of all EU members. During the process, the UK remains a member of the EU, but if talks are not concluded after two years, and not extended, Britain reverts to world trade organisation terms, requiring tariffs to be imposed. David Cameron said article 50 should be triggered by his successor – but for other EU countries the UK's heel-dragging is already causing frustration.
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Post by Admin on Oct 6, 2016 18:41:05 GMT
As Theresa May was setting out her plan to steal Labour voters at the Tory party conference, Jeremy Corbyn was enjoying a holiday in the north of England. The Labour leader was preparing for the winter ahead, pictured browsing a knitwear shop in Northumberland. He bought his wife Laura Alvarez a pink and blue chequered woolly jumper after enjoying an afternoon tea in the Northumberland village of Bardon Mill.
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Post by Admin on Apr 19, 2017 18:37:28 GMT
When May took office as prime minister last July after David Cameron resigned, her political prospects didn’t look great. She was replacing a leader who had seen his own popularity plummet as he tried and failed to keep Britain in the European Union. Her Conservative Party, with a narrow majority in parliament, was deeply divided, and prior to taking power she hadn’t even supported the signature policy—Brexit—she was tasked with implementing as PM. It didn’t help her cause much that the Brexit movement’s leaders had promised British voters an outcome—that the U.K. could regain full control of its borders and still maintain unfettered access to European markets—that’s probably impossible to achieve. Nine months later, May is looking a lot stronger as she announced today that she’s planning to hold a snap parliamentary election on June 8. The move is a surprise and also a flip-flop from May, who had said multiple times that she wouldn’t call an early election, but the politics of it make sense. The Conservatives’ narrow majority in parliament has meant that May has been under pressure from backbenchers in her own party over both Brexit issues and controversial domestic legislation. Given that parliament will have a final veto over the deal that May strikes with Brussels, a stronger majority in parliament would improve her bargaining power in negotiations over Brexit terms since parliament would be more likely approve whatever she brought back. She has reason to be confident that she’ll get that majority. The Conservatives have a sizeable lead in recent polls—around 40 percent compared to 27 percent for the disorganized and unpopular Labour Party. Though the prime minister is not directly elected, it can’t hurt the Tories’ chances that May is the most popular politician in the country.
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Post by Admin on Jun 9, 2017 18:17:29 GMT
The UK faces the prospect of a hung parliament with the Conservatives as the largest party after the general election produced no overall winner. With nearly all results in, Theresa May faces ending up with 12 fewer seats than when she called the election. The Tories are set to get 319, Labour 261, the SNP 35 and the Lib Dems 12. The BBC understands the PM has no intention of standing down and will try to form a government, but Jeremy Corbyn also says he is "ready to serve". The prime minister has said the country needs stability after the inconclusive election result and the BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Mrs May intended to try and govern on the basis that her party had won the largest number of votes and seats.
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