Commons People Politics Podcast: Refugees, SATs, Donald Trump and Local Elections

This week featuring some Gambian money which Owen found on the tube.

David Cameron has signalled a major U-turn over child refugees as he revealed he would no longer block plans to take in youngsters from across Europe.

Bowing to huge pressure from his own MPs, the House of Lords and many charities, the Prime Minister confirmed the Government would accept a proposal to allow councils to find homes for unaccompanied children in EU refugee camps.

Just one week after vowing not to budge on the issue, Cameron announced the Government would now accept an amendment from Labour’s Lord Dubs which allows local authorities to take in refugees.

Parents protested over the SATs exams for six and 11 year olds this week by taking their children out of school on Tuesday.

More than 45,000 parents signed a petition calling for a boycott of the tests, set to be taken later this month.

The Let Our Kids Be Kids campaign encouraged parents to keep their kids off school, saying they are “over-tested, over-worked and in a school system that places more importance on test results and league tables than children’s happiness and joy of learning”.

Parents who have taken part in the protest, and opted for a “day of educational fun instead”.

Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee for president on Wednesday after his final rival, John Kasich, dropped out of the race.

Earlier in the week, the only person who seemed able to stop The Donald from getting the nomination, Ted Cruz, also quit, after coming a distant second in the Indiana Primary.

Turning back to the UK, there are votes for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, PCCs, mayors, 124 councils, and two Parliamentary by-elections.

The result of what has been one of the most vicious political campaigns in recent times – the London Mayor election – will be known on Friday evening.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said earlier this week his party wouldn’t lose any council seats, but his chief advisor then clarified what he actually meant to say was pretty much ‘no comment’

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