Latest news with #local elections
Telegraph
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Corbyn's hard-Left party aiming for quarter of vote
The formation of the new party raises the prospect of the Left splitting in a similar way to how Reform UK has peeled away support from the Conservatives on the Right. Mr Corbyn told activists: 'I'm hoping we can get through this process very, very quickly so we can do an establishment and a launch very, very quickly. 'So well in advance of next year's local elections we will have in place an organisation that supports local campaigns, supports independents in their campaigns and comes together under if you like a common badge, common emblem, common symbol, common umbrella.' Labour suffered heavy losses to Reform at the local elections this May and party figures fear next year's polls will be worse still. The party will be defending 14 out of 16 of the borough councils that will be re-elected in the autumn. It is also in charge of 21 out of 32 boroughs up for election in London. Further losses to Reform are also expected at the Welsh elections on the same day, while the SNP hopes to capitalise in the Scottish elections on Labour's poor national polling.
BBC News
19-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Cheshire and Warrington mayoral election one-year delay welcomed
Political leaders across Cheshire have welcomed ministers' decision to push the county's first mayoral election back by 12 government has confirmed that Cheshire and Warrington's inaugural elected figurehead will now be chosen on the same day in May 2027 as some local elections in the of the county's three councils - Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, and Warrington - said the decision would provide "greater clarity" and save groups have also welcomed the move, with one Conservative councillor saying it would allow time to set up a "working and fully functioning combined authority". The three council leaders said the government's decision "gives us greater clarity on our plan to establish a Mayoral Combined Authority in 2026".They also said a May 2027 mayoral election would "save money and could also result in more people voting and having their say".Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester are both scheduled to hold their next full council elections in May Borough Council's would be the following year. Opposition Conservatives in both Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester had previously called for a delay in the mayoral Gardiner, the leader of the Tory group on Cheshire East Council, said: "Each borough-wide election costs around £1m to run, and having separate elections in 2026 and 2027 makes no financial sense."Additionally it would allow time to set up a working and fully functioning combined authority, rather than simply rushing to fit some arbitrary timetable set by the Labour government."Adrian Waddelove, who chairs the Conservative group on Cheshire West and Chester Council, said he was "delighted"."It's a shame that it has taken so long for the Labour leadership to realise the benefits of a one-year delay when greater clarity to residents and businesses could have been provided sooner," he Liberal Democrats opposition group on Warrington Council has been approached for comment. 'Benefits and opportunities' The leaders of Cheshire's three councils also welcomed the confirmation from the government that the county could continue with its devolution plans and had published the results of a recent consultation."We can now work with certainty to unlock the huge benefits and opportunities of devolution," they said."As we continue, it's important we take on board and respond to the feedback received through the government consultation."The three councils are expected to make formal decisions on the devolution proposals in September. Read more stories from Cheshire on the BBC and follow BBC North West on X. For more local politics coverage, BBC Politics North West is on BBC One on Sunday at 10:00am and on BBC iPlayer.
CBC
18-07-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Victoria, Saanich to work on amalgation question for next municipal election
Social Sharing The municipalities of Victoria and Saanich have taken steps towards amalgamation this week, with councillors in the capital city directing staff to work with Saanich staff to put together a short question that would be added to the ballot in the October 2026 local elections. The motion at Victoria city council Thursday morning, which included receiving the report from a citizens' assembly that recommended amalgamation after eight months of deliberation, passed unanimously after more than two hours of discussion. Earlier this week, councillors with the District of Saanich also discussed the report at length, with several of them expressing their support. Peter MacLeod, chair of the assembly on behalf of Toronto-based consultancy MASS SBP, said the members of the group were happy with the results. "I think the members are delighted," MacLeod told CBC News shortly after the meeting. "[They] were very pleased and gratified that both councils took their recommendations seriously." Saanich and Victoria are the two most populous municipalities on southern Vancouver Island, with populations of 117,735 and 91,867, respectively, according to 2021 census numbers from Statistics Canada. While they share some regional services, they are governed separately, with separate mayors and councils, separate police forces, and more. Years in the making If citizens vote in favour of amalgamation during the next local elections, MacLeod says it would still take at least four years for the process to be complete. The question of amalgamation in Greater Victoria has been years in the making. In 2014, seven of the 13 Capital Regional District municipalities said they wanted a study looking into amalgamation. In a non-binding referendum in 2018, residents approved each municipality spending up to $250,000 to study whether they would benefit from joining forces. The process was delayed by the pandemic but finally began last year. The Victoria-Saanich Citizens' Assembly, made up of 48 randomly selected residents from the two municipalities, released its recommendations in April. Criticism The discussion in Victoria Thursday morning did include criticism of the report and questions for assembly members. Coun. Jeremy Caradonna wondered why a financial analysis and risk assessment were not included as part of the process, or estimates of possible staff layoffs. At the meeting, MacLeod says the assembly recognized a "high degree of compatibility" between the two jurisdictions, including their populations and needs. Amalgamation discussions in other jurisdictions that MacLeod said he had taken part in often included a larger municipality absorbing a much smaller one, or several municipalities coming together — neither of which would be the case here.
The Guardian
13-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Reform wants to cut council diversity roles. The problem is there are already barely any
Councils run by Reform UK have an average of fewer than 0.5 diversity and equality roles each, it has emerged, calling into question the party's stated aim to save significant sums of money by cutting such jobs. According to freedom of information requests, across the 10 Reform-run English councils there was a combined 4.56 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs connected to equality and diversity, not including roles required by law such as those for inclusion in education, including for pupils with disabilities. Even using an assumed average full-time salary of £50,000, cutting all the roles would save the Reform-run councils slightly less than 0.003% of their combined budget. Reform won more than 670 seats in May's local elections across England, taking control of 10 councils. Celebrating his party's success at a rally the next day, Nigel Farage said staff at these councils working on diversity had 'all better really be seeking alternative careers very, very quickly'. Before the elections, Farage and other senior Reform figures repeatedly talked up the amount that could be saved by cutting diversity and inclusion roles, modelling their ambitions on efforts to slash US government diversity initiatives by Elon Musk's so-called 'department of government efficiency' or Doge. One much-repeated figure was that cutting such schemes in central government could save £7bn a year. Official statistics show the actual amount spent in 2022-23, the last year for which figures were available, was £27m. Reform UK said the £7bn figure came from sums compiled in 2022 by a rightwing thinktank, Conservative Way Forward. However, this also covered government budgets for any charities and quangos that carried out what the report saw as 'woke' activities. Asked by the BBC shortly after the local elections how much money Reform could save from councils by cutting diversity efforts, the party's then-chair, Zia Yusuf, was slightly vague. He hinted that some authorities had tried to hide equalities roles by giving them to 'other people who have basically that same job but under a different title'. Last month Yusuf resigned as chair after a row about one of the party's MPs calling for a ban on burqas. Two days later he returned to Reform as head of its own self-styled 'Doge' team intent on finding council savings. Since then, Yusuf has said little about equalities initiatives, beyond praising Reform-run Durham council for 'renaming several key departments to remove references to climate change and equality and inclusion'. Durham has 1.8 full-time-equivalent diversity roles, but said that these were all connected to duties required by law. In June he said Kent council, also now run by Reform, had spent nearly £90m a year on 'a contract for recruitment services', saying this was 22% of their annual payroll. However, this was not a contract but a framework for a national public sector recruitment system operated by Kent, with critics suggesting this showed Yusuf did not understand procurement systems. Potential savings within councils are limited by the fact that for most county-level authorities, most of their budget goes on duties mandated by law, including adult social care and children's services. Reform UK was contacted for comment. The councils it controls are Derbyshire, Doncaster, Durham, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, North Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and West Northamptonshire. Amanda Hopgood, the Liberal Democrat opposition leader on Durham council, who heads the party's 'Reform watch' group, said: 'Reform's Doge programme makes a mockery of what it is supposed to achieve. They are more concerned with stoking division than actually saving councils any money.'
RNZ News
04-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Far North mayor launches campaign to keep Maori wards
te ao Maori 27 minutes ago Nominations have officially opened today for local elections, which will take place on October 11.
