Category Archives: Local politics

Johnson faces trust crisis as sleaze shatters faith in MPs

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Poll reveals huge public cynicism, with just 5% of respondents believing politicians work for public good

Trust in politicians to act in the national interest rather than for themselves has fallen dramatically since Boris Johnson became prime minister, according to figures contained in a disturbing new study into the state of British democracy.

The polling data from YouGov for the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) shows a particularly sharp fall in trust in the few weeks since the Owen Paterson scandal triggered a rash of Tory sleaze scandals.

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Old Bexley and Sidcup byelection: Tories retain true-blue seat

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Louie French becomes MP for suburban London seat, but Tories’ majority of nearly 19,000 cut to 4,478

The Conservatives have held the safe seat of Old Bexley and Sidcup in the first in a series of closely watched parliamentary byelections.

Louie French was elected as the new MP, replacing the well-liked former cabinet minister James Brokenshire, who died in October from lung cancer.

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‘Boris is a waste of space’: sleaze row to test Tory loyalties in byelection

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People in Old Bexley and Sidcup say their faith has been undermined but they are still likely to vote Tory

Residents in Old Bexley and Sidcup are vacillating over whether to return the Conservatives to power in an upcoming byelection that will test their loyalty following the high-profile corruption allegations that have beset the party.

Gillian Moore, 64, a poll clerk and retired bank receptionist, said the sleaze row and the government’s mishandling of the pandemic response had undermined her faith in the Conservatives.

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English schools struggle to cope as Covid wreaks havoc

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Despite government narrative of a return to normality, schools in areas with high Covid rates lack support

Schools in England hit by high numbers of Covid-19 cases among staff and pupils have been forced to reinstate mask wearing, send whole year groups home to study online and in some cases close early for half-term as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc in education.

Despite the government narrative of a return to normality in classrooms, schools in areas with high coronavirus rates say they have struggled to function, with many staff off sick and problems securing supply teachers because of high demand.

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Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater wins narrow victory in Batley and Spen byelection

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Sister of murdered MP Jo Cox holds West Yorkshire seat for party, easing pressure on leader Keir Starmer

Labour has narrowly won the Batley and Spen byelection, holding on to the West Yorkshire seat after a hotly contested campaign.

Labour won 13,296 votes with the Tories recording 12,973, according to official results. Kim Leadbeater defeated Ryan Stephenson, the Conservative candidate, by 323 votes. George Galloway, representing the Workers Party of Britain, came third with 8,264 votes.

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Grenfell: councillor was told about cheaper cladding plan before fire

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Rock Feilding-Mellen said he was emailed about potential cladding change but didn’t understand significance

Rock Feilding-Mellen, the Tory councillor in charge of the Grenfell Tower refurbishment, was informed of plans to save money by swapping zinc cladding for aluminium in 2014 but initially told police he only knew about it after the June 2017 fire, a statement released to the public inquiry show.

The switch led to the use of combustible cladding that became the main cause of the fire’s spread. Feilding-Mellen, the cabinet member for housing at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, said he had no idea about the different properties of the two materials.

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Keir Starmer concedes Labour has lost the trust of working people

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Leader says party considering moving HQ out of London to show it represents the whole country after May election defeats

The Conservatives inflicted a historic byelection defeat on Labour and regained the Tees Valley mayoralty by a landslide as Keir Starmer conceded his party had lost the trust of working people across England.

The Labour leader, who called the local election results “bitterly disappointing”, is considering moving his party’s headquarters out of London to reflect Labour’s determination to show that it represents the whole country, party sources told the Guardian.

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Cressida Dick refuses to quit over vigil policing and dismisses ‘armchair critics’

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Metropolitan police chief stands firm after criticism from London mayor and home secretary

Britain’s most senior police chief defied pressure to resign as she dismissed “armchair” critics amid widespread outrage over officers manhandling women who were mourning the killing of Sarah Everard.

Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan police commissioner, was publicly rebuked by the home secretary, Priti Patel, and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, for providing an unsatisfactory explanation of why police broke up a vigil for Everard in London’s Clapham Common on Saturday, near where she was allegedly abducted before being murdered.

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Greater Manchester given midday Tuesday deadline for tier 3 deal

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Government says it will impose tier 3 restrictions on the region if no agreement reached

The strictest Covid restrictions will be imposed on nearly 3 million people across Greater Manchester if no deal is reached by midday on Tuesday, the government has said in a dramatic ultimatum.

The communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, warned northern leaders late on Monday night that if they fail to agree to pub closures and a ban on household mixing, the tier 3 measures will be brought in unilaterally.

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Plymouth divided over teenagers who tested positive for Covid after Greece trip

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Some locals believe the ‘Zante 30’ were selfish while others say they did nothing wrong

They’ve become known – somewhat infamously - as the Zante 30.

Just as the pubs, cafes and shops on the Barbican in Plymouth were gearing up for a bumper bank holiday weekend, with visitors and city residents expected to arrive on the Devon waterside to drink, eat and be merry, the news came.

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Police watchdog to announce decision on Johnson-Arcuri inquiry

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IOPC to reveal on Thursday whether PM will face criminal investigation into relationship

Boris Johnson will find out on Thursday if he faces a criminal investigation into his relationship with an American businesswoman while he was mayor of London.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is to reveal its long-delayed decision on whether to investigate him for possible criminal misconduct over his friendship with Jennifer Arcuri.

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Local elections and London mayoral race postponed for a year

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Elections delayed after officials said coronavirus crisis would affect campaigning and voting

Local elections and the London mayoral election have been postponed for a year to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. The government made the decision to push back the 7 May elections after the Electoral Commission said the health crisis would have an impact on campaigning and voting.

“We will bring forward legislation to postpone local, mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections until May next year,” a government spokesman said.

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Salvini denies plan to visit Liverpool after mayor calls him fascist

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Steve Rotheram says far-right Italian politician is not welcome in the city

Italy’s far-right leader, Matteo Salvini, has denied he is going to Liverpool after the mayor of the city said “the only audience he’ll find here is one that won’t be shy in telling him what they think of fascists like him.”

The mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotheram, said Salvini’s “division and hate” would not be welcomed in the city after reports Lega nel Mondo, a global network of the League established by Salvini in 2018, was holding an event in March.

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Welsh bill would allow 16- and 17-year olds to vote in local elections

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Planned changes would be biggest shakeup to country’s electoral system for 50 years

A bill is being introduced that would give the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds in many elections in Wales and empower local authorities to decide which voting system they use.

The Labour-led Welsh government said the planned changes would be the biggest in the Welsh electoral system since the voting age was reduced to 18 in the UK half a century ago. They come as a bill to reduce the voting age to 16 for Welsh assembly elections nears the end of its journey through the Senedd.

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Peterborough byelection result: Labour scrapes past Brexit party to hold seat

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Labour’s Lisa Forbes says result shows ‘the politics of division will never win’

Labour has held on to the marginal seat of Peterborough, overturning predictions that the contest could deliver a first byelection victory for Nigel Farage’s Brexit party.

The victorious Labour candidate, Lisa Forbes, told her supporters after the count early on Friday: “Tonight’s result is significant because it shows that the politics of division will never win.”

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Peterborough prepares for byelection that could elect first Brexit party MP

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A decade ago it was the UK’s fastest growing city, but hit by cuts and buy-to-let, support for Nigel Farage’s party is high

On Thursday, voters in Peterborough will take part in one of the most intriguing parliamentary byelections in recent memory. The constituency saw a knife-edge duel between Labour and the Conservatives at the 2017 general election and at last month’s European poll, 38% of voters in the city backed the Brexit party. A first seat in the House of Commons for Nigel Farage’s party is a distinct possibility. If that happens, it will send tremors through middle England, of which Peterborough is typical in many ways, not just geographically.

Economically, Peterborough performs averagely amid struggles with productivity. Wages are stagnant and it has been reshaped by migration, with foreigners arriving to work in the surrounding farmlands and distribution depots, contributing to a decade as the UK’s fastest growing city between 2001 and 2011.

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UK politicians accused of racist rhetoric against Travellers

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MPs and councillors have branded group illiterate and violent over past two years

Politicians have been accused of using racist rhetoric against Travellers to help push through sweeping bans against unauthorised encampments.

In a range of documents and speeches, Travellers have been branded illiterate, violent and lawless by MPs and councillors over the last two years, as a deepening housing crisis has led to an increase in roadside encampments.

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Northern Ireland local elections: smaller parties make gains

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Results reveal slight loosening of traditional unionist-nationalist stranglehold


Centrist parties have thrived and the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) has consolidated its support, results of Northern Ireland’s local elections show.

With all first preference votes now counted, the Alliance and Green parties, as well as other small parties and independents, made gains, revealing a slight loosening of the traditional unionist-nationalist stranglehold. The DUP won 24.1% of first preferences, a modest increase from the 2014 local election, and Sinn Fein won 23.3%, a slight drop, confirming both parties still dominate the political landscape.

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Local elections 2019: May says results show voters want main parties to ‘deliver Brexit’ – live news

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Lib Dems and Greens surge as Tories and Labour suffer large losses in council elections in England

This is from Tony Robinson, the former Black Adder actor and longstanding Labour activist. It speaks for itself ...

I’ve left the Labour Party after nearly 45 years of service at Branch, Constituency and NEC levels,partly because of it’s continued duplicity on Brexit, partly because of it’s antisemitism, but also because its leadership is complete shit.

Here is a picture of Stuart Davies, the Tory activist who heckled Theresa May as she started speaking at the Welsh Conservative conference. “Why don’t you resign,” he shouted.

As the man shouted “we don’t want you here”, a small group of delegates at the Welsh Conservative conference at Llangollen Pavilion clapped and chanted “out”, in an apparent call for the heckler to be removed. As the Press Association reports, the prime minister then drew laughter and applause from a majority of the hall as she told the conference: “It’s great to be back in North Wales again - I have to say my experience of North Wales is that everybody I meet here is friendly.”

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