Latest news with #NorthHerefordshire
BBC News
06-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Warwickshire Reform's Pride flag focus is pathetic, says Green MP
An MP has accused Reform UK of "getting its knickers in a twist" over a Progress Pride flag flown outside a council headquarters - and also told the party to focus on more important issues rather than "posturing and performative politics".Ellie Chowns, the Green Party member for North Herefordshire, was referring to a row in Warwickshire where Reform UK requested the county council it leads to remove such a told BBC Politics Midlands that Reform's focus on flags was "pretty pathetic" and voters were more interested in potholes and bin on the same programme, Reform UK's Ian Cooper, leader of Staffordshire Council, said: "We are defending the public interest." He added: "We were elected on a mandate and we intend to do it."Also among the guests for Sunday's broadcast were Conservative MP for Kenilworth and Southam Sir Jeremy Wright who said the flag row in Warwickshire was a "distraction" and was not what most people cared about."For heaven's sake, are we really going to discuss what flag flies outside Shirehall in Warwick as a priority for the people of Warwickshire?" he row began when the county council's acting leader - Reform UK's George Finch - wrote to the authority's chief executive, asking for the flag to be removed during Pride chief executive refused, stating in an email response that such decisions rested with her - a stance described as a coup d'etat by Zia Yusuf, head of the national party's department of government efficiency. It later emerged that the authority did not have the technical advertising consent required to fly a Progress Pride flag outside HQ. The flag's design differs from the standard Pride rainbow flag which is not subject to permission. The flag has since been removed following the end of Pride said there was "nothing whatsoever" wrong with the Pride flag, but council buildings should "represent the people of the county and of the United Kingdom"."If you want to fly a Pride flag or any other flag, go and find a flag pole and fly it," he said. Another guest, Sureena Brackenridge, the Labour MP for Wolverhampton, said that in her constituency "not many people are really concerned about what flag flies outside the council buildings".Her comments were echoed by Chowns and Sir said she believed "people care about potholes, about bin collections, people care about social care and looking after vulnerable adults and children in the community".Sir Jeremy said Warwickshire County Council had huge challenges which should be taking up the council's time, instead of flag policy."I really do worry that this is a demonstration of what many of us are concerned about, which is that Reform is all about slogans and not much about delivering things that people really care about," he added that if Reform wanted to set a flag policy, it needed to be debated by councillors. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
30-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
North Herefordshire MP Ellie Chowns speaks out over Bob Vylan row
A Herefordshire MP says the row over Bob Vylan's performance at the Glastonbury Festival is a distraction from talking about the ongoing "actual violence" in Chowns, Green MP for North Herefordshire who was at the festival, stressed she completely disagreed with the punk duo urging "death" to Israeli troops, during their set on Saturday, but criticised the amount of coverage the incident has had. "Incitement to violence is totally the opposite of my politics and I completely disagree with that: whoever it comes from, wherever it's done," she spoke out after the prime minister condemned the band for what he called "appalling hate speech". "I'd never heard of Bob Vylan before this weekend," Chowns continued. "It's also quite weird to me that this is also over all of the front pages. And it's a distract[ion]… They're probably loving the attention."What we should be talking about is the actual violence that is happening in Gaza."She drew attention to the fact the more people were killed overnight on Sunday and more Gaza citizens displaced."It is horrendous what is happening there and I do find it a bit odd the papers are full of this stuff about what a band has said, which I completely disagree with, but we should be focusing the attention on what's happening to people's lives in Gaza."Chowns was at the festival to deliver a talk entitled "From protest to power: the politics of hope and action", on the talk she spoke about how grassroots movements can achieve real change through the ballot box. The MP also took part in a panel on climate change, on Friday. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
06-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Droitwich firm calls for recruitment to support solar panel drive
A solar panel company has called for a recruitment drive to support a government announcement for mandatory panels on the the majority of new-build homes from Secretary Ed Miliband said the move was "just common sense" and solar panels would save the typical household £500 a year on energy regulations will require developers to add panels unless the buildings fall under certain exemptions such as being covered by Hayward, managing director of Solar Select in Droitwich, said the move could lead to issues with getting skilled labour in place. He said: "In 2027 companies will gear up for it and start their own in-house training, but obviously it helps if it's government-backed for apprenticeship schemes."He also said it was important the buildings had a "sensible amount" of panels fitted."I'm sure the industry will welcome this move," he said. "What we'd like to also see is a sensible amount of panels put on there." Solar panels, or photovoltaics, capture the sun's energy and convert it into electricity to use in your to the Energy Saving Trust, domestic solar panels are generally about 3.5kWp (kilowatt peak) - meaning they typically generate that much power at peak government said the new rules would be included in the Future Homes Standard published in the autumn but there would be a transitional period for developers to adjust to the regulation Herefordshire's Green Party MP Ellie Chowns said she was glad the "government had seen sense" on making solar panels mandatory but was also cautious."We should be making sure they're properly insulated, we should be making sure they're flood resilient, and [that they're] prevented from overheating," she added. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Guardian
01-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Fairer elections and the threat of Reform UK
George Monbiot captures the betrayal and despair felt by millions of Labour voters who thought they were voting for change at the last general election (How we can smash Britain's two-party system for good at the next election, 27 May).Less than a year later they have found themselves with a government pursuing much the same cruel austerity policies as the Conservative one it replaced. And he's right that Keir Starmer's cynical descent into inflammatory Powellite rhetoric is a gift to Nigel Farage. Most voters want nothing to do with the politics of fear and division, but the UK's antiquated and unrepresentative electoral system fails to reflect the wishes of the progressive left and centre-left majority. A hung parliament is now a very real possibility after the next election. This would indeed be a huge opportunity to scrap the first-past-the-post system that has blighted British politics for so long. As two Green MPs who overturned massive majorities to win our seats, we know it's possible for progressives to win against all the odds – and to change the electoral system, we will have to. The Green party has long championed electoral reform. As candidates for the party's leadership, our aim is to be heading a much larger group of Green MPs in parliament, giving us the leverage and negotiating power to actually achieve such transformational Chowns MPGreen party, North HerefordshireAdrian Ramsay MPGreen party, Waveney Valley George Monbiot is right to challenge the shortcomings of our electoral system. However, all electoral systems are flawed and in a democracy no individual decides what sort of government gets elected afterwards. Across Europe, where proportional representation prevails, the traditional parties of power are being replaced – not by a rainbow coalition of progressives, but by the seemingly inexorable rise of the hard right. In Scotland, the SNP-Green coalition broke down. In the UK, when the Liberal Democrats held the balance of power, they sided with the Conservatives in inflicting ideological austerity. When we had a referendum between engagement with Europe or isolation, the majority voted for the latter. The failure of our mainstream parties is that they have lost the ability to engage with ordinary people. Politics is the difficult task of leading the agenda while responding to the hopes and fears of wider society and all the ambiguities and compromises that are needed to do so. The government's shift in language from restraint to support for those most in need might be the beginning of something better – we can but BrownIlkley, West Yorkshire George Monbiot is spot-on in his analysis of the dysfunctions of our electoral system. One glaring danger he doesn't mention, however, can be seen in the steep rise of the Reform UK vote. We used to hear as one of the justifications of the current system that it prevented extreme parties from gaining a significant representation. Never mind that this revealed an arrogantly undemocratic mindset, the evidence now is that the distortions of the system may precipitate precisely the opposite outcome. Given the fragmentation of votes, it is entirely possible that, with fewer than 30% of the ballot, Reform could achieve an absolute majority in parliament at the next general election. That undemocratic disaster, quite apart from the other democratic imperatives George identifies, should be ringing alarm bells for urgent SmithGlasgow Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
