Rita Patel, one of the four Labour councillors suspended by the party for supporting the abolition of Leicester's mayoral system, is to stand against Sir Peter Soulsby for the post in May. You can watch her video here and read more further down the Twitter thread. Today, I resigned from the Labour Party and officially announce my campaign to be Leicester's next City Mayor. This city needs a fresh start and one that puts people first.#Leicester #LocalElections2023 pic.twitter.com/AxzlNeG39z — Rita Patel (@ritapatel4mayor) March 18, 2023 I am encouraged by her intention to abolish the city's elected mayoral system. As Sir ...
It was a return, at last, to in-person federal conferences for the Liberal Democrats this weekend.
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: American politics have an outsized presence in the heads of politicos in Britain. Ask someone in this country to tell you about the electoral history of the Iowa caucuses or the UK's metro mayor elections, and you'll find plenty who can tell you more about the former than the latter. Find out more by reading this edition of The Week in Polls here, and you can sign up below to receive future editions direct to your email inbox:
It will soon be a year since my mother died. One of the things I promised her I would keep when I cleared her house was the family photographs. So I thought I would post one of her as a teenager - though I'm not sure they had teenagers in the late 1940s. She is one the right here, and I would guess the other person is her cousin June, whose bridesmaid she was.
Sun, 18:13: Sunday reading https://t.co/cJ0N8tG5fi
So let me shout it, yet again: if you want to boost our economy, you have to repair our broken relationship with Europe. Conference, you don't need me to tell you what a disaster the Conservatives' botched deal with Europe has been for our country. You see it every day in your communities: The businesses strangled by red tape. The farmers, fishers and factories, unable to sell to their customers on the continent. The empty shelves in local supermarkets. It's why we campaigned against it. Why, when Boris Johnson brought his terrible deal to Parliament, when even Labour supported it, ...
Promising news for Pippa Heylings and the Liberal Democrat team in the South Cambridgeshire Parliamentary constituency, where the MP currently is Anthony Browne: The Conservative MP for South Cambs has announced he is giving up to find a new constituency at the next election. He knows that local people are fed up of the Conservative party taking them for granted. Only Liberal Democrats can win here. Let's send them a message. Join me! pic.twitter.com/P1zbgbCNMd — Pippa Heylings [IMG: 🔶] (@pippaheylings) March 18, 2023
This spring conference season Lib Dems filed into the auditorium to hear a motion that would amend this piece of the constitution, to remove all references to self-ID and non-binary people: Whenever this Constitution provides for the election by party members to a Federal Committee, not less than 40% or, if 40% is not a whole number, the whole number nearest to but not exceeding 40% of those elected shall self-identify as men or non-binary people, and self-identify as women or non-binary people respectively. And this spring conference, a weary bunch of Liberals – tired of the constant, fundamental attacks ...
It is fantastic that Conference passed the Fairer Society policy paper yesterday. As a member of the working group, I spent a significant amount of time working across a number of aspects of the paper, including providing a lot of the drafting for the workers rights section, alongside fantastic contributions from Laura Gordon and others. A brief aside, while I am very disappointed that UBI was not picked from the options, it was absolutely fantastic to see Members of Parliament rally behind a commitment to end deep poverty within 10 years. It will make a real difference to a great ...
The Skinny interviewed Iona Zajac last year when Red Corn Poppies was released as her second single: Your new single Red Corn Poppies is beautiful. What's it about? Everything is dry and dead and unclean And love spits for information' (Hannah Sullivan, Three Poems)I kept returning to Hannah Sullivan's collection when I was living in Woodlands, Glasgow in November 2018. The streets were a mass of wet cardboard and browning curtains, getting anywhere felt like trudging through wet wool. One evening I went into a local fruit and veg shop after a very long day, to find everything inside had ...
United States US presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis this week said Ukraine is a territorial dispute. He also said that Ukraine is not one of America's vital national interests. This puts him seriously at odds with President Joe Biden, America's NATO allies and about 50 other countries who firmly believe that the war in Ukraine is a battle between democracy and autocracy, good and evil. DeSantis was not always of this opinion. In 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimea, the Florida governor was in the forefront of those calling for Ukraine to be armed. The reason for the shift appears to ...
The Observer reports that Suella Braverman's plan to stop the Channel crossings would see as many as 45,000 children effectively barred from refugee status in the UK. The paper says the claims are made in a forthcoming Refugee Council report analysing the overall impact of the illegal migration bill, which reveals the possible extent of children who could have their asylum claims deemed inadmissible under the new laws: Braverman is on a visit to Rwanda that follows a deal to deport asylum seekers to the African country once they arrive in the UK. The plan is on hold after a ...
We recently received concerns that the climbing rope next to the slide at the Roseangle playpark was broken. We drew this to the attention of the council's environment management to ensure it is repaired.
