Latest news with #Tory-held
Spectator
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Tories fume at council by-election results
It seems that all is not well with the once-mighty Tory ground game. After a thumping set of election defeats last month, a worrying new trend has developed for the Conservatives. They are not only losing more wards in council by-elections; they now seem unable to field candidates, even in seats still represented at Westminster by the surviving 120 Tory MPs. Hardly a healthy sign… Three weeks ago, the party was unable to field candidates for two by-elections in King's Lynn and West Norfolk – a seat still held in the Commons by the Tory James Wild. Then, this week, the party could not find someone to stand for a vacant ward in Mel Stride's patch on Mid Devon District Council. Even when the party does field a candidate in Tory-held constituencies, it seems that there are very few wards that could now be considered truly safe territory. A devastating example of that was offered last night in Essex. Reform UK won its first seat on Basildon Council after polling 922 votes in the Wickford Park ward, ahead of the Tories on 840. It prompted a late-night ding-dong on the official Tory MPs' WhatsApp group between local MP Mark Francois and Nigel Huddleston, the party's co-chairman. Shortly after the count, amid some crowing on the group about a seat held in South Staffordshire, Francois wrote at 00:56 that: We lost in Wickford.. by 82 votes. Despite absolutely knocking ourselves out, for the best part of six weeks. The fault didn't lie with the front line troops – it was back at the Chateau. It prompted Huddleston to reply: 'Sorry Mark. Know how hard team worked.' Francois responded 'No you don't – you've no idea.' Ouch. One MP told Mr S tonight: 'It's hard to say what's more embarrassing: not fielding a candidate – or losing supposedly safe wards. No change, no chance.' Let's hope the renewal programme starts soon eh?
Telegraph
02-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
How Reform's Doge units will tackle council waste
Nigel Farage has pledged to establish a mini-version of Elon Musk's cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) in every council under Reform UK control. The party's leader announced to slash spending as his party surged to success, seizing multiple county councils in the local elections. 'I think every county needs a Doge,' Mr Farage declared on the BBC's Today programme on Friday. 'I think local government has gone under the radar for too long. 'We've seen the high-profile cases of Croydon, of Thurrock where they've gone bankrupt, Birmingham indeed where they've gone bankrupt.' Mr Farage, whose party has won hundreds of county council seats, vowed to launch a rescue plan modelled on the initiative backed by the Tesla owner, who he met for the first time in Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in November. Mr Musk, who recently announced he is stepping back from his government role, claimed the initiative saved more than $10 billion (£7.5 billion) a week since the US president entered office, but this claim has not been supported by evidence. Nevertheless, Mr Farage is keen to follow in these footsteps. 'We look at the millions a year being spent in many cases on consultants, we look at money being spent on climate change, on areas that county councils frankly shouldn't even be getting involved in,' he said. On top of consultants and net zero, Reform's mini-Doge units will also axe diversity roles, working from home, and inefficient pothole schemes. 'So we want to get the auditors in, look at long-term contracts, ask why they're signed up to, for example, pothole providers that aren't doing the business. And a change of culture, no more work from home, increased productivity from staff,' he said. Among their victories, Reform won majorities on Staffordshire and Lincolnshire county councils, both previously Tory-held, and ended four years of coalition rule in Durham. Mr Farage said that council staff working on diversity or climate change initiatives should be 'seeking alternative careers' after Reform took control in Durham. 'I would advise anybody who's working for Durham county council on climate change initiatives or diversity, equity and inclusion or ... things that you go on working from home, I think you all better really be seeking alternative careers very, very quickly,' he said. In February, the government's spending watchdog warned that almost half of councils in England risk falling into bankruptcy. The National Audit Office said that rising pressure on public services and delays to spending reforms meant town halls were in an 'unsustainable' financial position. The Telegraph has carried out a deep dive to understand what a Doge under Reform could mean in practice. Ban on council employees working from home Calling time on council home-working may be Reform's easiest win – albeit five years late. Data obtained by The Telegraph in December reveal that 97 per cent of councils still let staff work from home at least one day a week, with nearly a third allowing three days a week, years after lockdown ended. Local authorities where home-working is rife suffer from low productivity and routinely cut public services, such as public lavatories and free car parks, to cover mounting shortfalls. Council bosses at Labour-run Rother district council, where more than 95 per cent of employees can work from home for three days a week, recently proposed charging motorists to use free car parks, and has already closed several public lavatories. Meanwhile, staff at Broxbourne borough council were admonished in Parliament by Lewis Cocking, the Tory MP for Broxbourne, who told a select committee that constituents were being let down by the local authority's working-from-home practices that left staff almost uncontactable. A joint MIT and UCLA study last year found an 18 per cent productivity drop for home workers compared to office staff. Earlier Stanford research put the decline at 10 to 20 per cent. But if Reform's Doge units could end working from home, it might not only lift output – it could also directly save money by ending the practice of taxpayers' footing the bill for council workers' utility bills. Freedom of Information (FoI) requests submitted by the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) revealed that councils spent nearly £700,000 on staff's home internet expenses between 2019 and 2023. The Labour and Liberal Democrat-run North Hertfordshire council topped the list with £136,578 paid since 2021, while Newcastle city council spent £101,410 since 2019. Figures obtained by the campaign group also revealed that 11 councils alone had spent nearly £450,000 on their employees' home heating since 2019. Diversity and inclusion spending scrapped Axing equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) schemes is another possible route for Reform to save on council costs, with spending on diversity officers nearing £52 million over three years. According to the TPA, councils more than doubled their outlay on EDI jobs, rising from £12 million in 2020-21 to nearly £23 million in 2022-23. Labour-run councils were among the worst offenders, with the bankrupt Birmingham city council hiring an assistant director of community services and equality, diversity & inclusion salary of about £103,000 in 2022. Calderdale council in West Yorkshire also came under fire after hiring a 'staying well team manager' – one of 40 similar 'wellbeing' roles across 10 authorities, costing taxpayers at least £1,149,441 between them. Councils have even faced costly legal challenges from staff unwilling to toe the ideological line. Votes are still being counted for Cambridgeshire county council, which last year was forced to pay £63,000 in compensation and legal costs to Elizabeth Pitt, a social worker, after disciplining her for criticising a colleague's 'gender-fluid' dog. The dachshund, named Pabllo Vittar after a Brazilian drag queen, attended a council Pride event in a pink tutu to provoke a 'debate about gender'. Ms Pitt, a lesbian, and her colleague were both reprimanded for criticising this gesture and raising concerns about trans people in women-only spaces. In West Sussex, Arun district council – which has said it could be bankrupt within five years – spent £398,616 building 14 gender-neutral toilet cubicles in 2021-22. Following the Supreme Court ruling earlier this month, the council may even need to spend more money undoing this renovation. Meanwhile, the TPA has also uncovered councils splashing out on LGBT+ rainbow symbolism. Haringey council spent £22,000 on three rainbow-painted pedestrian crossings. Other schemes in Kingston and Hertfordshire brought the total to £29,000. A surge in Reform support in Hertfordshire has contributed to the Tories losing control of the county council, with votes still to come in. Since 2019, more than £230,000 has been spent nationwide on the diversity-themed street furniture – enough, campaigners pointed out, to pay for 109,000 free school meals. Potholes filled while wasteful repair contracts axed It has also transpired that Mr Farage's act of planting flowers in a pothole in the lead up to local elections was no mere stunt. Last month, the Clacton MP joined a man in a pink high-vis vest to fill several craters with blooms – highlighting what he called a 'monstrous' national embarrassment. 'This should embarrass every county council in the country,' Mr Farage said in a widely shared TikTok clip. But behind the viral video lies a serious policy pitch. Mr Farage has vowed to scrap wasteful pothole repair contracts that are failing motorists. Earlier this year, The Telegraph laid bare the scale of the crisis with our Fix Our Potholes campaign, which revealed that councils are leaving roads in disrepair at record levels, despite soaring maintenance budgets. Portsmouth city council, run by the Liberal Democrats, is among the worst performers. Its spending on major roads has nearly tripled over the past decade – up from £3.7 million in 2014-15 to £10.3 million in 2023-24. Yet the condition of its network continues to deteriorate. In the year to March 2024, the council logged 284 potholes on major roads – a 37.9 per cent rise on the previous year. Despite this, it spent £345,000 per mile – the highest cost in England and seven times the national average of £49,000 per mile. Mr Farage claimed that Reform's Doge units will audit existing highway repair contracts and demand answers from councils paying above the odds for second-rate work. End to costly net zero projects Slashing green initiatives could be another quick victory for Reform's Doge units. Days after Sir Tony Blair criticised Labour's net zero stance – comments on which the former prime minister later rowed back – Mr Farage has targeted local authority climate schemes, arguing that councils 'shouldn't even be getting involved'. More than 80 per cent of councils have declared climate emergencies, with many pledging to hit net zero by 2050. If Reform follows through on its pledge to cut these projects, there are plenty of schemes that Mr Farage could end – beginning with adult cycle training. The TPA found councils have spent more than £2 million teaching adults how to ride bikes since 2021. FoI data show 88 councils funded more than 31,000 lessons in three years – with Wigan, Lambeth, Redbridge and Plymouth among the highest spenders. Some eco schemes are not only costly, but also impractical. The TPA also found that residents under Blaenau Gwent, Cotswold and Merthyr Tydfil councils have been told to sort waste into no less than 10 separate bins and bags. Blaenau Gwent, with the UK's highest average band D council tax in 2022-23 (£2,099), requires separate disposal for household refuse; food waste; paper; plastics and tins; glass; cardboard; household batteries; textiles; small electrical items; and green waste bags. Long-term contracts and consultants audited Reform is also promising to end the use of costly consultants and audit long-term contracts to ensure that the public is receiving value for money. Last month, The Telegraph revealed that the bankrupt Labour council at the centre of Birmingham's bin strike chaos spent more than £53 million on external consultants between 2020-21 and 2023-24. Local authorities are increasingly paying private sector consultancies to do work for them, arguing that they do not have capacity themselves. In south London, Southwark council spent £31 million on consultants and agency staff in less than 10 months – £6.2 million more than it did over the same period last year. The advisers were brought in to work on a scheme called 'Southwark 2030' and a school closures programme – despite growing public concern. In Croydon, where the Conservative minority-led council has issued multiple Section 114 bankruptcy notices, £6 million was spent on three consultancy firms last year. One contract alone cost £1.8 million for less than six months' work. But Reform may need to look at the high salaries of council's full-time employees if it wants to truly maximise spending. The TPA found that at least 3,906 council employees received total remuneration of £100,000 or more last year – up 26 per cent on the year before. Of these, 1,092 earned more than £150,000, and 262 exceeded £200,000 – a record since the campaign group began compiling its 'Town Hall Rich List' in 2007.
BBC News
30-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Local elections 2025: Parties make final pitch in last day of campaigning
Parties are making their final pitch to voters ahead of Thursday's local elections in England, as Sir Keir Starmer faces the first major electoral test of his open at 07:00 BST for 23 council areas, while there are mayoral contests in the West of England, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, Doncaster, North Tyneside and - for the first time - in Hull & East Yorkshire and Greater Lincolnshire.A by-election is also been held in Runcorn and Helsby, triggered by the resignation of former Labour MP Mike Amesbury following his conviction for assaulting a had a majority of more than 14,600 but it looks set to be a closely fought race between Labour and Reform UK. Sir Keir has not been to the seat himself but allies insisted he had been out campaigning across the country. A Labour spokesman acknowledged the elections would be "tough", claiming local polls are "always challenging for incumbent governments and these council elections are in Tory heartlands".He pointed to extra NHS appointments and rising wages as examples of the progress the government had made. All the candidates standing in Runcorn and Helsby Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is campaigning in South Yorkshire, where Labour is hoping to hold on to the Doncaster mayoralty and pick up more seats on the council which it already the party is facing a threat from Reform UK, which has seen its support rise in national polls since the general election. POSTCODE LOOKUP: Check if there is an election in your areaIN DEPTH: Will this be the 'anyone but the big parties' local election?SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the local electionsGET IN TOUCH: Tell us the election issues that matter to youFULL COVERAGE: Catch up on all our election stories Council elections are mostly being held in rural and suburban areas, where the Conservatives have traditionally been strong. The Tories are defending the most seats, with this set of councils last contested in 2021 when then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson was enjoying a surge in support following the rollout of the Covid vaccine.A spokesman for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the party was "working hard for every vote" but "we have got to recognise we are coming off an historic high in 2021". He rejected the idea the results would be a verdict on Badenoch's first five month as leader, saying it would "be a reflection" the Tories had just suffered their biggest general election defeat in the party's history. Badenoch is focusing her final day of campaigning in Hertfordshire, where the party has won a majority in every election this century. However, the Liberal Democrats are hoping to make gains at the expense of the Tories there, as well as in other parts of south England like Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Kent, where leader Sir Ed Davey is spending the final day of campaigning. In other areas, the challenge comes from Reform, who are targeting Tory-held councils like Lincolnshire as well as Labour strongholds. Reform leader Nigel Farage will be at an event in Staffordshire later, where the large Conservative majority on the council could come under Green Party is hoping for success in the West of England mayoralty, after winning Bristol Central in the general election and becoming the biggest party on the council last year. But it could be a tight race, with four other parties also in Greens and pro-Gaza independents could also threaten Labour in areas like is a smaller set of local elections than normal after the government announced contests would be postponed in nine areas where councils are being reorganised. Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.
BBC News
31-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Lib Dems aim to become 'party of Middle England', says Ed Davey
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has said he wants to replace the Conservatives as the "party of Middle England", as he launched his campaign for the local Ed said the Lib Dems were vying for votes in 20 Tory-run council areas and aiming to overtake the Conservatives as the second-biggest party in local Lib Dem leader told activists May's elections were a "two-horse race" between his party and the Tories in much of the also said his party was now the "natural home" for voters fed up with Labour and disappointed with its record in government so far. Sir Ed said: "These local elections are a chance for the Liberal Democrats to replace the Conservatives as the party of Middle England."We can overtake the Conservatives as the second biggest party of local government, replacing failing Conservative-run councils that take their residents for granted with Liberal Democrat ones that work hard for their local communities."Sir Ed kicked off his party's campaign in typically zany fashion in Oxfordshire, where he was given a lesson in hobbyhorsing and ran through an obstacle Lib Dems lead the county council in Oxfordshire and did well there in last year's general election, ending up with five the Lib Dems have 72 MPs, their highest ever, and are hoping to build on that success in elections to 24 of England's 317 councils and mayoral authorities on 1 Sir Ed's leadership, they've made a point of focusing their campaigning in Tory-held areas in the south of England, described by them as the "blue wall".The Lib Dems topped a recent YouGov opinion poll in the south of particular, the party is targeting Conservative-run councils up for election in May, including those in Shropshire, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Wiltshire, Devon and Gloucestershire."If you look at what happened last July in the general election, we won many of these seats," Sir Ed told the BBC. "That's why we've got a spring in our step." In last year's local elections, the Lib Dems gained an extra 104 councillors and took control of two Lib Dems currently control 70 councils, short of the 81 held by the Tories, across the the Lib Dems are looking to pick up votes at the expense of other parties as Ed said voters were "deeply disappointed" with the Labour government, which he said had "failed to deliver the change they promised".The Lib Dem leader said Nigel Farage and his party Reform UK were "too busy fighting amongst themselves to fix the problems we face", pointing to the infighting involving MP Rupert Lib Dem election launch follows similar events by the Tories and 1,650 seats will be contested on 14 county councils, eight unitary authorities, one metropolitan district, and in the Isles of will also be mayoral elections in the West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and - for the first time - in Hull and East Yorkshire, and Greater to all 21 county councils in England were due to take last month, the government announced elections would be postponed in nine areas, where the councils are undertaking reorganisation and devolution.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lib Dems take aim at Tory place as ‘party of Middle England' in local elections
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has vowed to replace the Conservatives as the 'party of Middle England', as he launches his local election campaign. The Lib Dems are hoping to erode the Conservative vote in the 20 Tory-run councils that are up for election on May 1. The party believes it can become the second largest in local government by surpassing the Conservatives, as well as making gains in areas where voters have become disaffected with Labour since the general election. The Lib Dem leader will launch his party's local election campaign in Oxfordshire on Monday, one of the areas where the party overturned a series of long Tory-held constituencies at the general election. Sir Ed said: 'These local elections are a chance for the Liberal Democrats to replace the Conservatives as the party of Middle England. 'We can overtake the Conservatives as the second biggest party of local government, replacing failing Conservative-run councils that take their residents for granted with Liberal Democrat ones that work hard for their local communities.' He also said voters 'disillusioned with Labour' – after decisions like charging inheritance tax on farms and means-testing the winter fuel allowance – would now find a 'natural home' with the Lib Dems. Nigel Farage and his party Reform UK meanwhile 'just don't care about our communities', Sir Ed said, pointing to the infighting involving MP Rupert Lowe. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch recently poked fun at the Lib Dems for being focused on local issues like fixing the 'church roof'. Ahead of his local election launch, the Lib Dem leader hit back, saying: 'Liberal Democrats get the job done. Kemi Badenoch may sneer at us for being the party that will fix your local church roof, but we will proudly wear that as a badge of honour. 'We are focused on fixing the local issues people care about, whether it's fixing potholes, helping you see a GP or dentist, or cleaning up rivers polluted by filthy sewage.' Nigel Huddleston, the Conservative party co-chairman, responded to the Lib Dems' plan to challenge the Tories. He said: 'The only thing serious about the Liberal Democrats is the damage they do to local services. Where they run councils, they are letting staff work part-time on full-time pay. 'Only the Conservative Party, under new leadership, are serious about opposing this dreadful government – and only a vote for the Conservatives on 1st May will deliver lower taxes and better services.' The Liberal Democrats election launch follows similar events by the Tories and Reform. Mrs Badenoch pledged 'lower taxes and better services' as she launched the Tories' local campaign, but warned the party faces an 'extremely difficult' time in the polls. Mr Farage, at Reform's launch on Friday night, claimed his party would strip away wasteful local spending, as he portrayed the local election as a springboard for future parliamentary wins.
