Swinson demands Electoral Commission investigate EU election debacle Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson has written to the Electoral Commission demanding an investigation after countless EU citizens were unable to vote in the Euro elections this week. In a letter to Sir John Holmes, Chair of the Electoral Commission, the Liberal Democrat MP said "it is an outrage that so many people were denied the right to vote in yesterday's European elections." She added: "Not only were European citizens turned away at polling stations, but many UK citizens abroad were also disenfranchised due to breakdowns in the postal ...
On the day parliament was supposed to vote on her deal to leave the EU, here Theresa May gives her reasons for remaining in the European Union shortly before the 2016 referendum. pic.twitter.com/6i0njr79CS— Paul McNamara (@PGMcNamara) December 11, 2018 I surprised myself by being forgiving when Margaret Thatcher died and Tony Blair resigned, but I find it hard to say anything obliging about Theresa May. She came to power speaking of burning injustices, yet we never heard them mentioned again or saw any action to right them. At the Home Office and then Number 10, her reign was characterised by ...
There are welcome signs that the experience of the European election has unbounced the Tiggers. Change UK are now making noises about the importance of cooperation, and I look forward to working with them and, I suspect, eventually absorbing them. We shall acquire some good and interesting people in the process. But while we can still laugh at them, let me repeat this story from the Guardian: Change UK has run a last-minute Facebook advertising campaign to try to shore up its support amid dismal poll ratings for the European elections, but most other parties have mostly avoided large spending ...
...and delighted to have the chance to see some old friends too @George_Osborne @nick_clegg pic.twitter.com/oI3I0VBgs3— Danny Alexander (@dannyalexander) May 20, 2019 With the polling stations having been closed for almost 24 hours, I think it is safe to call Sir Daniel Grian Alexander a plonker. You plonker, Danny. We will debate the rights and wrong of going into coalition in 2010 as long as there are Liberal Democrats. For my own part, I would say the electoral arithmetic, Labour's unwillingness to talk and our own wariness about a second election made some sort of deal with the Tories inevitable. And ...
Following Vince Cable's announcement of a Lib Dem leadership contest, over 1,000 people have joined the Liberal Democrats: Since @vincecable fired the starting pistol on the Leadership Election 2 hours ago, more than 1,000 people have joined @LibDems It's about one member every five seconds! Join them here and get your vote: https://t.co/sDiJ5rZjNM #libdemfightback #LibDemSurge — Greg Foster [IMG: 🔶] (@LibFozzy) May 24, 2019 Those are on top of the post-local elections membership surge the party saw. If you're not yet a member yourself, you have until Friday June 7th to join and vote in the leadership contest. And, of ...
Beating the Bounds is an ancient custom that is practised on The Common in Yate. The Reverend, Town Mayor, Friends of the Common and local residents will walk the boundaries of The Common. Traditionally, children are turned upside down at the corners to teach them the boundaries of their Common, which they should protect (nowadays sweets may be used as an incentive) Beating the Bounds of Yate Common starts at 3pm from the St Briavels Drive entrance of Yate Common. The walk is suitable for pushchairs and takes about 60 - 90 minutes. If you would like to find out ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:The other ground vehicles were all-drive holster-buggies, armoured scree-cars, one- or two-gun landromonds and the huge multi-turreted tanks known as bassinals. The struggling convoy accounted for a good sixth of the King's military transport, and represented either a brilliant flanking manoeuvre to supply the beleaguered garrison of troops guarding the workings in the fifth-floor south-western solar, or a desperate and probably forlorn gamble to win a war that was not only unwinnable but anyway pointless; Sessine had still to decide which.For such a celebrated writer, Banks won rather few awards - this and Excession both won ...
Vince Cable is standing down as Liberal Democrat leader, ending his time as the party's leader on an improbable high.
So Theresa May isn't the only leader to resign today. Vince has just sent this message to party members announcing that he will be handing over to his successor on 23rd July. The difference between the two departures is that Vince is going as part of a managed transition first announced nearly 9 months ago and is going out on a high. We'll see just how high on Monday when we know all the results of the European elections. Vince deserves our thanks for taking on the challenge of leadership and building on what Tim Farron had started. When we ...
I got home at lunchtime to the news that the long awaited announcement of the departure of Theresa May had been made. Politics is a brutal world. Those sticking the knife into the PM's back had let go of the handle long enough to take to Twitter to praise her courage and determination. The next few weeks will be dominated by the assassins trying to finish each other off in the contest for the
I am picking up on social media straws in the wind about how the parties did yesterday in the European election in the North East. Talk is of the Brexit Party being ahead, Labour vote down significantly and behind the Lib Dems and the Conservatives out of the race in different areas of the region. So this is my penny's worth about Gateshead: Brexit well in the lead with Labour well back in 2nd
Fri 24th
13:06
Audit That: Opposition Push Back Against the Folkestone and Hythe Conservative Power Grab
[IMG: Constitution of Folkestone and Hythe District Council Part 4 Cover sheet] The Opposition members of the Audit and Governance Committee on Folkestone and Hythe District Council have today put down a motion to remove the Chair and Vice-Chair of the committee and to hold a meeting to elect their successors. At the District Council AGM meeting on Wednesday night, the Conservatives used their deal with the Independent and UKIP Councillors to not just take control of the council but secure every single Committee Chair and Vice-Chair by 16 (sometimes 15) votes to 14. The Liberal Democrats, Labour and Green ...
Two different cuts of the early turnout data, both leading to the same conclusion: turnout in the European Parliament elections is up by more the greater the Remain vote was in the area. Change in turnout from last euros – against Remain % from 2016 40 councils so far in pic.twitter.com/AoyQ0Xfkqk — Patrick Heneghan (@PJHeneghan) May 24, 2019 Overall, Remain voting areas are seeing higher turnout as well. But that's less revealing as they usually do. What's revealing is that the turnout gap seems to have increased this time.
So, the inevitable has happened - and, when it did, few of us felt the slightest surprise or even sympathy for the Prime Minister. Finally running out of road, Mrs May could no longer kick the can further down it. For all the talk of "drama", this saga has followed a rather predictable pattern. The PM has consistently used double-dealing stalling tactics to avoid taking decisions until as late as possible, to catastrophic effect. Her MPs have, true to form, backstabbed yet another leader. Take note - it was not the heaviest government defeat in history or Labour's vote of ...
Friends, Radix followers, countrymen, lend me your ears I come to bury May not to praise her The evil that men or women do lives after them The good is oft interred with their bones So let it be with May. The noble Johnson Hath told you that May was incompetent If it were so, [...] The post The End of May appeared first on Radix.
Fri 24th
11:06
As May resigns, it is clear to see how much the shadow of Boris has hung over her entire premiership
I found it interesting that Theresa May sounded more assured, warmer and more confident when delivering her resignation speech than she had sounded in years. The professional politician, whatever you thought of that iteration of May and I was never particularly a fan, was back for one last go. The office of prime minister had obviously vastly diminished her somehow; it was as if she was always an actor trying to play the part of the PM and never quite managing to get there. Now that her premiership is finally – finally! – coming to a close, it's easier for ...
Responding to the PM's resignation, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable said: The Prime Minister is right to recognise that her administration has reached the end of the road. Sadly her compromises through the last three years have too often been with the right-wing of her own party, rather than about bringing the country together. Conservative Party interest has always trumped national interest, and yet Conservative MPs continue to demand an ever more extreme Brexit policy. The best and only option remains to take Brexit back to the people. I believe the public would now choose to Stop Brexit, ...
Thu, 12:13: RT @MargSchinas: The sentence attributed to the @EU_Commission Secretary General at 1:16 of this video is fake, fraudulent and pure disinfo... Thu, 12:56: RT @StevePeers: "Brexit will give the UK more clout in international organisations" Reality ⬇️ https://t.co/ZdFIzk4qcL Thu, 14:40: RT @CharlieCooper8: Huge spoiler alert for the next 5+ months in British politics https://t.co/KP9Y2KQGwp Thu, 15:29: RT @davidallengreen: There have been many Bills and Acts which have caused controversies and political crises. But as far as I can work ou... Thu, 16:05: Risk of nuclear war now highest since WWII: UN arms research chief https://t.co/M6VfNtneet Grim stuff from ...
Theresa May has announced that she will resign as Prime Minister on 7 June. (BBC) The Conservative Party is now expected to choose an even truer Brexit believer as leader and PM, who will move the goalposts even further from the easiest in history cake and eat it deal we were promised before the referendum, and consequently have even less chance of getting an outcome through the House of Commons, never mind past the European Union. Meanwhile, the UK has an extension on the Article 50 process, which is not to be wasted. Any suggestions what the UK might do ...
The ballots have been cast and verified, all that remains is to count them on Sunday night, but what rankles most about these elections is the fact that so many people were denied their right to vote. As the Independent says, government could now face court action after hundreds of EU citizens were turned away from polling stations and denied a vote in the European elections. Reports of people turning up at their local polling station only to find their name had been crossed off the register became a common theme across the UK on Thursday: The hashtag #DeniedMyVote began ...
Polling day is over not only in the European Parliament elections but also in three council by-elections. The results of the former do not come out until Sunday, but we don't have to wait as long for the council by-election results. St Mary's, Isles of Scilly A four-way fight between independents as mainland political party struggles do not apply in the burial place of Harold Wilson. Independent GAIN #StMarys (#IslesOfScilly) from Independent. Independent (Dean): 42% Independent (Ware): 31% Independent (Whomersley): 14% Independent (Combes): 13% pic.twitter.com/gv1peGt1lb — Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) May 24, 2019
The now well established Prescot Festival runs from 21st June until 30th June this year and Maghull's very own Wind Orchestra has been invited to perform in the finale with soprano soloist Danielle Louise. I hear that the orchestra went down very well at Lydiate Festival recently so if you want to hear them you know where to go – a quick trip down the M57 to Prescot on Sunday 30th June.
