The Liberal Democrats, says the Stornoway Gazette, have their first councillor on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the local authority that covers the Outer Hebrides. Malcolm Macdonald, who represents the Stornoway North ward on Lewis, was elected as an Independent in the 2022 council election but has now adopted the Lib Dem label. He told the newspaper: "I am absolutely delighted to be representing the Western Isles as a Liberal Democrat councillor. As a party that champions communities and puts their needs first, they are a very natural fit for my own values. "Whether it's ferries, connectivity, health or population decline, ...
Fri 13th
22:15
There was a shopping mall, now it's all covered with flowers: The new Nottingham Broad Marsh
For 50 years or more, visitors to Nottingham have been funnelled through a bus station and a shopping centre if they wish to get from the railway station to the city centre. I went to Nottingham today, partly for the pleasure of not doing that. Because the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre is no more. In its place is Nottingham's new Green Heart - an urban park and public space that is the first stage in the redevelopment of a significant proportion of the city centre. And Broadmarsh seems to have become Broad Marsh as part of it.
The i reports on another of the pre-conference round of Liberal Democrat interviews: In an interview with i ahead of this weekend's Lib Dem conference, Ms Cooper said her party would work with pro-EU Labour MPs to pressure Sir Keir Starmer into agreeing a deal with Brussels to allow easier migration for under 30s. She said that the Prime Minister was not being sufficiently "ambitious" in his "reset" of relations with Europe, and that the Lib Dems would also push the Government to rejoin the Erasmus student exchange scheme. This interview's focus on Labour nicely pairs up with Ed Davey's ...
Party conference this year will be a moment of celebration, after our stunning General Election results - but it will also be the occasion where we look forward, and develop our responses to the host of massive challenges facing the nation. Yet, reading through the agenda, as we prepare to gather in Brighton, I see that the first policy motion is to further reform Sunday trading laws. Should this really be a key priority? The motion describes Sunday, the traditional day of rest, as 'outdated social norms', a reference to cultural norms that have largely faded from public consciousness as ...
Birmingham Liberal Democrats report on another councillor joining the party: Birmingham Liberal Democrats council group welcomed Councillor Shabina Bano who has resigned from Labour with immediate effect. Commenting on this, Group Leader Roger Harmer said "I am delighted to welcome Councillor Shabina Bano as a member of the Birmingham Liberal Democrat Group. I know her as a dedicated ward councillor who has worked hard to represent the interests of the residents of Small Heath to the council, and I look forward to supporting her to continue to do this." "Shabina's resignation statement is truly shocking. Nobody should be subjected to ...
According to ONS, the land value alone of UK accounts for 60% of its net worth and is "the most valuable asset in the economy, estimated at £6.3trillion (2020). It accounts for 98% of all non-produced non-financial assets and these – as a proportion of all national assets including those produced (buildings, goods and services) or 'financial' (such as stocks and shares) – rose from 39% in 1995 to 58% in 2020. Almost all that rise in non-produced assets was due to increased residential land values. The role of land wealth in our economy is commonly overlooked. Yet the cost ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with party leadership ratings. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email, The Week in Polls: Sign up to The Week in Polls "*" indicates required fields Email* Enter Email Confirm Email If you submit this form, your data will be used in line with the privacy ...
Cast your minds back to the pandemic, it was a time, would you believe it now, where Rishi Sunak was a very popular Chancellor. This was a period, where at the time, Sunak had introduced "eat out to help out" to public praise for wanting to stimulate the economy after the end of the first Covid lockdown. Even with doubt of its effectiveness in those two summer months alongside the potential contribution towards rise in Covid infections afterwards, it remains in the minds of people as a move to get things to bounce back. Less talked about from that time ...
"Reading the room" is a vital skill in politics. It is that knack of understanding, just clicking with an atmosphere or individual and knowing how to make a spontaneous pitch or knowing when to tone it down. Kwasi Kwarteng, with almost endearing under statement said in a recent interview that it was a skill that his old boss Liz Truss did not have. If you are instinctive about reading the room you can make a lot of money in business or even in politics, but in low paid work like care (£21,000 a year if you are over 21, less ...
"Beaver Castle" eh? I think I can see what's going to happen this week. Meanwhile, I am reminded that in the early days of these diaries Lord Bonkers wrote that the Duchess of Rutland "kindly showed me her Belvoir". Tuesday I have been touched by the number of people who have written to express their concern about my position if Starmer expels my hereditary peer peers from the House of Lords. Please do not upset yourselves: I hold a Rutland peerage, and thus under the Treaty of Oakham am guaranteed membership of the House of Lords in perpetuity. Sadly, the ...
Ten principal authority council by-elections this week, with nine having a Liberal Democrat candidate, the same as last time around. Let's start with a big swing from Labour though not quite enough to win: Bridges (Gateshead) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🌹] LAB: 30.6% (-18.4) [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 24.4% (+16.7) [IMG: 🌍] GRN: 24.2% (-8.5) [IMG: ➡] RFM: 15.9% (New) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 5.1% (-5.7)Labour HOLD.Changes w/ 2024. — Election Maps UK (@electionmaps.uk) 2024-09-12T22:45:42.102Z
Having long-campaigned for road resurfacing in Sycamore Place which - as the photo shows - has a really poor road surface, we were pleased to recently receive the following Temporary Traffic Order from the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of carriageway resurfacing works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Sycamore Place (for its full length), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Monday 16th September 2024 for five working ...
The big difference between Labour and the Liberal Democrats is that we believe in enabling people and letting them take responsibility for their own choices, in contrast Labour prefer to take take charge of our lives and dictate how we lead them. There is no localism here only central control. There is no better illustration of this than the agenda being set out by Keir Starmer and his health secretary to stop us harming ourselves in an effort to save the NHS. As the Guardian reports, plans to ban junk food ads and to stop children buying high-caffeine energy drinks ...
I am now home from the Bridges by-election count in Gateshead. The result was:Labour 320Lib Dem 255Green 253Reform 166Conservative 53Turnout was a disappointing 17%.The key changes from May are that the Lib Dems jumped from 4th to 2nd place. Labour held on but their majority is now just 65 in a ward they had previously regarded as a stronghold. Though Labour only just made it over the
