Lib Dems call for new protections for rivers and coastlines as sewage dumped over 100,000 times in bathing water areas Rennie writes to Justice Secretary following FAI report on M9 crash Cole-Hamilton responds to £450m EU funding revelation Cole-Hamilton speaks ahead of first Scottish leaders' debate Lib Dems call for new protections for rivers and coastlines as sewage dumped over 100,000 times in bathing water areas Rivers to be given new protected status against sewage discharges with current government scheme branded "toothless" Party uncovers water firms have discharged sewage over 100,000 times in current bathing water status areas Lib Dems ...
#OTD 1975. Cabinet Ministers Roy Jenkins and Tony Benn debate leaving the EEC on TV. Jenkins argues that Britain will have no say over how trade rules are made. Benn argues that the country would get the trade deal it wanted "because we are their very best customer". 1/2 pic.twitter.com/lfhSYxYV5q — Tides of History (@labour_history) June 2, 2024 This video was posted on Twitter earlier today, and it's uncanny how close Tony Benn's arguments against Britain remaining in what was then the European Economic Community are to those used by Leave in the 2016 referendum. He comes over as Nigel ...
Writing on University College London's The Constitution Unit Blog, Alan Renwick examines how the change to the first past the post system in May's mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections affected the results. He concludes it made no difference to the mayoral elections, where Labour won nine out of ten contests. But it was a very different position in the PCC elections: The shift in voting rules had a big impact. While it did not change the outcomes in any mayoral elections, it switched at least four PCC races, probably seven, and conceivably as many as 10 or 12. ...
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: It's becoming a bit of a thing to talk about distinguishing between those pollsters who are 'nowcasters' and those who are 'predictors'. Although I get where this distinction is coming from, I think there's a better way of understanding the variation between different pollsters. To understand that, let's start with a basic question: why don't pollsters simply take the answers that people give them at face value? Find out more by reading this edition of The Week in Polls here, and you ...
Visiting and talking with campaign teams in our target seats, it's been striking how often it is the local Conservative team which seems to have been caught on the hop.
Because of Ed Davey's innovative election strategy of being photographed falling off, or nearly falling off, as many things as possible, I've found myself thinking of this record. I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down was originally recorded by the Stax artists Sam and Dave as a soul ballad in 1967. But the version I know is this much more uptempo one recorded by Elvis Costello and the Attractions for their 1980 album Get Happy!! Released as a single, it reached no. 4 in the UK singles chart in February of that year. And it still sounds great. As to ...
Andrew Rawnsley had a wee spin in Yellowhammer 1, the Lib Dem campaign bus on Friday and we must have been nice to him because he has written up a broadly positive report in the Observer which reflects well on our strategy and targets. Here are some of the highlights. First, the stunts: There is method in his malarkey. Much of the battle for the Lib Dems is persuading the national media to pay them any attention. If he has to play the good-for-a-laugh centrist dad to get himself on TV and in the newspapers, he reckons the pratfalls are ...
South Africa Three decades of ANC rule in South Africa look set to end. The final votes from Wednesday's election have yet to be counted and are expected to be announced on Sunday. But the general consensus is that the party that ended apartheid will garner about 45 percent of the vote. Which means it is coalition time. The downfall of the ANC vote is evidence of the well-worn political truism that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. In 2004 the African National Congress won 70 percent of the vote. It dropped to 57 percent in 2019 and ...
The Guardian reports that the Tory general election campaign has hit more trouble with accusations that the government has been using levelling up funds to win votes. The paper says that more than half of the 30 towns each promised £20m of regeneration funding on Saturday are in constituencies won by Tory MPs at the last election: Some 17 of the £20m pots went to towns in areas won by the Conservatives in 2019, although two of those were no longer held by Conservative MPs when the general election was called. Just eight awards were made to towns in Labour ...
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Liberal Democrats pledge to reverse Conservative cuts to public health grant with £1bn a year ...
Liberal Democrats pledge to tackle "ticking time bomb" for NHS with a major funding boost for the Public Health Grant The party's manifesto will include a commitment to increase the Public Health Grant which will help fund health checks for 40-74 year olds, health visits for infants and their mothers, and wider access to blood pressure tests Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said her party's policy will reverse the "scandalous" cuts made by the Conservatives since 2015 The Liberal Democrats will today commit to reversing Conservative cuts to the Public Health Grant which funds vital health checks for infants, children, mothers, ...
WestFest Big Sunday is back for 2024 today! All residents welcome on Magdalen Green from 12 noon for a fun, free day out with music, food, stalls and attractions for the whole family - don't miss it!
