The National Trust (NT) gave away 50,000 family passes this week. Instead of celebrating the offer that enables families to enjoy the spring at more than 500 of the charity’s properties for free, National Trust cynics were quick to denounce it. On May 1, Zewditu Gebreyohanes, former director of Restore Trust, the opaquely funded, ‘anti-woke’ pressure group set up to lobby for the National Trust to “reclaim its mission” and change the charity’s direction, tweeted: “Funny how the @nationaltrust claimed a few days ago to be unable to afford to “run a beacon lighting event at Dunstable Downs to ma ..read more

Following sweeping losses at the local elections this week, the Prime Minister is being urged to call an immediate general election. “Rishi Sunak must listen to the country and immediately call a general election,” said Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper. Despite a local election drubbing, election experts caution that there are reasons not to take this week’s results as general election predictions. Nonetheless, there are warnings for the Tories to heed. Multiple polling forecasts suggest that if an election was held tomorrow, the Tories would also certainly lose. So, the l ..read more

Labour’s Kim McGuinness has been announced as the new North East mayor, the first person to hold the new role which will represent around two million people in the region.  She won with 41.3% of the vote, beating Independent candidate Jamie Driscoll who won the North of Tyne mayoralty for Labour in 2019. The North Tyne mayoralty will now be absorbed into the larger North East mayor’s role. Driscoll received 28.2% of the vote.  McGuinness was the serving Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner since summer 2019 and a former councillor in Newcastle.  The 38 year-old grew up in t ..read more

Conservative MP Dame Andrea Leadsom has lashed out at claims that Ben Houchen won the Tees Valley mayoral race partly due distancing himself from the Tories.  Houchen was re-elected as the Tory Tees Valley mayor to the delight of Rishi Sunak, after winning 53.6% of the vote. However his vote share was a huge reduction since 2021, falling by 19%.  While support for the Conservatives in the area has been polled 21% below what was recorded for Houchen, marking a stark difference between his personal ratings, and that towards his party.  This has meant some have put Houchen’s victor ..read more

The former Prime Minister found himself in a sticky situation on Thursday after he was turned away from his polling station for forgetting to bring an acceptable piece of photo ID, now a necessity under laws his government introduced. He was the second Tory MP affected by the rules which require voters to bring a form of acceptable ID in order to cast a vote. The rules were introduced under the Elections Act 2022 during Boris Johnson’s time as Prime Minister.  Johnson had to return with a valid form of photo ID to cast his ballot at the polling station in South Oxfordshire. He had initial ..read more

Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward. A nation’s wealth and greatness is not measured by the number of billionaires but by how well it takes care of its children and weakest members. From this perspective, the UK, one of the world’s wealthiest nations, has been on a downward journey. This descent is due to political choices rather than any economic necessity. The government has declared war on the poor rather than poverty. The evidence is ..read more

Heavy losses for the Conservative Party in the local elections so far has seen those on the left toast their own successes.  The Green Party are celebrating impressive gains with 13 council seats won as of 10:30am. At this rate the party is on track for its ‘best performance yet’ in local elections in England, Britain’s polling guru Prof Sir John Curtice said. More people are reaching for an alternative to the two main parties, Prof Curtice commented with polls indicating that around one in three people are choosing a party that is neither Conservative or Labour.  Adrian Ramsay, co-l ..read more

As local election results continue to come in, Labour, Greens and the Lib Dems celebrate some early wins, as losses for the Conservative Party look ‘catastrophic’ with the party on track to lose half its councillors.  The Conservatives have been dealt some crushing results already, having lost 122 council seats while Labour have gained 52, as of 9am this Friday morning.  So far about a third of council results have been declared, with Prof Sir John Curtice, Britain’s polling guru, commenting this morning that the Tories are on course for “one of the worst, if not the worst Conservati ..read more

Union leaders have issued strong warnings to the Labour Party against watering down its New Deal for Working People which would trigger a “robust response” from the trade union movement.  The leader of Labour’s biggest trade union donor, Unite, has blasted Labour after it was reported on Wednesday that the party was planning to revise its landmark package for workers.  The Unite leader Sharon Graham said notice of a rowback of workers’ rights coming out on May Day was “beyond irony” and warned “a red line will be crossed” if Labour fails to recommit to its pledges in the New Deal for ..read more

The UK economy is in such dire straits that it’s on course for ‘sluggish’ growth that will lag behind most of its G7 peers. According to the OECD, gross domestic product will increase by 0.4 per cent in 2024, a lower expansion than in any other G7 economy apart from Germany, before growing by 1 per cent in 2025. The Tories have always prided themselves as being the party of ‘sound finances’, with Rishi Sunak staking his political future on improving the state of the economy ahead of a general election. Yet the latest prediction from the OECD will cause yet more headache for the Tory leader and ..read more