Poole and Bournemouth Guide

BBC News - Politics

The latest stories from the Politics section of the BBC News web site.

• NHS directors seek Lords backing

     (Wednesday, 08 February 2012 05:06)

  Peers are urged to support a move to let hospitals do more private sector work as plans to overhaul the NHS in England return to the Lords.

• Call for 'joined-up' elderly care

     (Wednesday, 08 February 2012 04:22)

  Older people needing social care are being let down and "passed like parcels" between fragmented services, a group of MPs says.

• Bonuses row 'threatens business'

     (Wednesday, 08 February 2012 04:22)

  George Osborne promises to fight an "anti-business culture", warning that the row over bonuses and pay threatens to undermine jobs and prosperity.

• Scottish budget plan to be passed

     (Wednesday, 08 February 2012 02:02)

  Finance Secretary John Swinney looks set to offer last minute changes to his budget in an effort to secure opposition support.

• Argentina to go to UN on islands

     (Wednesday, 08 February 2012 01:02)

  Argentina will make a formal complaint to the UN about British "militarisation" around the disputed Falkland Islands, says President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

• VIDEO: Lansley has PM's 'full support' on NHS

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 23:00)

  No 10 insists Andrew Lansley has David Cameron's "full support" over planned NHS changes, including giving GPs more control over budgets.

• 'More openness' over arms sales

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 18:06)

  Ministers say they plan to open up the licensing process for arms exports to more public scrutiny, saying it must be seen to be "working properly".

• Call for Paisley support prayers

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 17:50)

  The family of former first minister and DUP leader Ian Paisley remain at his hospital bedside.

• VIDEO: House of Commons

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 17:41)

  Conservative MPs have called on the home secretary to "become a national hero" by ignoring a judgement from the European Court of Human Rights and deporting a terror suspect to Jordan immediately.

• Ministers warned on Awema in 2004

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 17:41)

  The Welsh government was warned to stop new public funding for an under-fire race equality body in 2004, BBC Wales can reveal.

• Press watchdog 'made a scapegoat'

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 17:21)

  The Press Complaints Commission was made a scapegoat over phone-hacking at the News of the World, its former chairman tells the Leveson Inquiry.

• 'Project training' for mandarins

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 17:14)

  Senior civil servants are to be given special training to help them manage major infrastructure projects such as high-speed rail.

• Abu Qatada ruling 'unacceptable'

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 17:13)

  It is "not acceptable" that the UK cannot deport radical cleric Abu Qatada to Jordan, the home secretary has said.

• RBS boss: 'Prove critics wrong'

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 16:33)

  RBS boss Stephen Hester breaks his silence on the controversy surrounding his bonus, saying the attention had been "discomforting, to say the least".

• VIDEO: Qatada 'should remain behind bars'

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 16:29)

  The Home Secretary, Theresa May, has told the Commons that it is not acceptable that the European Court of Human Rights has blocked Britain from deporting the radical cleric, Abu Qatada.

• A new northern assembly campaign

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 15:21)

  The idea of a northern regional assembly looked to have died a painful death in 2004, but it seems some are intent on dragging the concept from the political grave.

• VIDEO: Vaz: 'Price of safety is vigilance'

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 15:12)

  The UK could face a growing threat from "lone wolf" terrorists returning from fighting overseas in the next few years, the Royal United Services Institute has warned.

• VIDEO: Is Susan Kramer a naughty Lib Dem peer?

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 15:10)

  Liberal Democrat peers have traditionally been seen as a quiet bunch, but more than 60 have voted against the government at least once in this Parliament.

• Lansley 'has PM's full support'

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 15:08)

  Andrew Lansley has David Cameron's "full support", despite a Downing Street source reportedly saying the health secretary "should be taken out and shot".

• VIDEO: Last orders for House of Commons beer

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 14:59)

  The marketing of the Top Totty beer which has been dropped from the House of Commons Strangers' Bar was "nothing worse than you would see on a saucy postcard", said Andrew Griffiths MP.

• Clarke named 'Oldie of the year'

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 13:30)

  Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has been named 'Oldie of the year' by a magazine which describes itself as the "antidote to youth culture".

• Watchdog acts on Motorman queries

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 13:11)

  The Information Commissioner says efforts to inform people whether they may have been illegally targeted by private investigators will be speeded up.

• Police failed over hack warnings

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 13:09)

  Police should have warned people whose phones were hacked by the News of the World, a judicial review - pushed for by Lord Prescott - rules.

• Is the hunting ban working?

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 13:07)

  New figures from a Freedom of Information request by the BBC raise fresh doubts over the effectiveness of the hunting ban.

• Budget political broadcasts axed

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 12:57)

  Budget Day political broadcasts have been axed, under new BBC rules.

• VIDEO: Jackie Mason on his final UK tour

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 12:46)

  Comedy legend Jackie Mason is in the UK on what he says will be his final tour of the country. The self-proclaimed "amazingly talented" stand-up gave a private routine to Newsnight's Stephen Smith.

• VIDEO: Regional pay for public sector staff?

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 11:33)

  George Osborne is looking at whether public sector workers should be paid different amounts depending on where they live.

• 'Gobsmacking' tax and NHS costs

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 11:01)

  Estimates showing £10.9bn in unpaid tax was written off and medical negligence could cost £15.7bn are examined by the Commons spending watchdog.

• MPs demand law against stalking

     (Tuesday, 07 February 2012 03:55)

  A new law making stalking a specific offence is needed in England and Wales to stop harassment ending in violence, MPs and peers have said.

• AUDIO: Advisor warns of benefits cap risk

     (Monday, 06 February 2012 17:19)

  Emma Harrison, the government's 'families tsar' told Radio 5 live she is concerned that benefits will be capped at £26,000.