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9am Lowdown: PM has power to trigger Brexit

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14th Mar 2017
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Hello, let’s take a look at the headlines this morning. Unsurprisingly, the top story today and the one grabbing most of the headlines is the prime minister can now trigger Article 50 – although she may wait a couple of weeks before doing so.

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PM has the power to trigger Brexit

Parliament passed the Brexit bill last night, giving Theresa May the authority to invoke Article 50 and launch the formal proceedings of leaving the EU.

But May’s success was shadowed by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s intention to hold a second referendum on Scottish Independence. As reported on the BBC, the House of Lords let the Brexit bill through after it backed down over earlier amendments of EU residency rights. In the end, peers voted by 274 votes to 118 not to challenge the Commons.

The Brexit secretary David Davis said: "We are now on the threshold of the most important negotiation for our country in a generation."

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BBC presenters pressured into setting up PSCs 

Three BBC broadcasters claim the BBC pressurised them to set up personal service companies if they “wanted to continue working for the BBC”, according to evidence heard in the High Court on Monday.  

As reported by the FT, BBC presenters Joanna Gosling, David Eades and Tim Willcox submitted the appeal to a tax tribunal in what could be seen as a test case for other BBC presenters. HMRC opened an enquiry into more than 100 BBC presenters for not paying enough tax.

Georgia Hicks, representing the three presenters told the tribunal: “Despite previously having been treated as self-employed the BBC pressured the presenters into using the PSCs in 2003-04. Before 2003, journalists and news presenters had always been engaged by the BBC on a freelance self-employed basis. At some point around 2003 this changed.”

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HMRC and GDS in verify "turf war"

HMRC and the Government Digital Service (GDS) are apparently engaged in a “turf war” over the online identity assurance, reports Sooraj Shah on Computing.

The “creative tension” stems from a blog from HMRC programme director Mike Howes-Roberts which said HMRC will develop an in house solution instead of GDS’s Gov.UK Verify system. The blog, however, was subsequently amended to suggest it would continue to use Verify as the single identification service for individuals  

As a solution, Ed Garcez, chief information and digital officer of Camden, Haringey and Islington councils told Computing that he would like to see Verify and Government Gateway brought together so GDS and HMRC can learn from each other. "I would describe the current situation as ‘creative tension', because there is a degree of tension but I think if the tension is channelled in the right way it can be creative and can lead to a better result overall." 

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