‘Prolonged disruption’ expected on GWR and LNER as cracks found on trains May 8, 2021 Hitachi trains have been taken off the network for companies like Great Western Railway (GWR) and the London North Eastern Railway (LNER), with significant disruptions now expected. The Department for Transport said in a statement today that cracks had been found in the chassis of some of the trains during routine safety checks. The department [...]
Andy Burnham’s re-election boosts his stature as ‘King in the North’ May 8, 2021 Andy Burnham’s re-election as the Mayor of Greater Manchester is a rare victory in Labour’s fast-crumbling “red wall” in the north. He won a second term as mayor with an increased share of the vote, on an increased turnout, from 2017. Burnham is now the most senior and successful elected Labour Party politician outside the [...]
Square Mile’s largest employers embrace hybrid working, the details May 8, 2021 The majority of the largest employers in the City of London have vowed to continue with some sort of hybrid approach to working, after pandemic-led restrictions forced the biggest home working experiment in history. With Covid-19 cases falling and millions of people successfully vaccinated, staff are trickling back into London’s offices, and companies are turning [...]
English council elections: Tories make more gains in the Red Wall May 7, 2021 The Conservatives have won control of four councils and almost 100 new seats across the country, with the party making further inroads in traditional Labour areas in local elections in the North and the Midlands. The Conservatives so far have won Harlow Council in Essex, Dudley Council in the West Midlands, Northumberland Council and Nuneaton [...]
David Cameron and Lex Greensill to appear before MPs next week May 7, 2021 David Cameron and Lex Greensill will appear before MPs next week to answer questions on the collapse of the boutique bank of the same name amid a huge lobbying row. The former Prime Minister was an adviser to the firm, which provided supply chain financing to firms including billionaire industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG empire. In [...]
Early London mayor election in-person turnout just 12 per cent of 2016 May 6, 2021 Internal Labour polling numbers are showing in-person turnout as of noon in today’s London mayor election was just 11.6 per cent of the total 2016 turnout, raising fears among Sadiq Khan’s camp about a surprise defeat. It is expected there will be many more postal votes this year, due to Covid-19, however it is unknown [...]
Five things to look for in the ‘super Thursday’ UK elections May 6, 2021 Around 48m people in the UK will be eligible to vote in elections today in what is being dubbed “super Thursday”. This includes Holyrood elections in Scotland, Welsh Senedd elections, Hartlepool’s by-election and mayoral contests in London, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Tees Valley, Liverpool, West Yorkshire. There will also be more than 100 council elections [...]
Mixed mood among voters as Londoners go to the polls: ‘The City needs to be reborn’ May 6, 2021 Londoners are flocking to polling stations across the capital today to decide on their next mayor. Frontrunner Sadiq Khan said this morning that the election was “going down to the wire” and called it a two-horse race between himself and Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey. In the City, the mood was mixed. Insurance broker Trevor McGarry, [...]
Mayor of London election: Candidates cast their votes across the capital May 6, 2021 Sadiq Khan, Shaun Bailey and Luisa Porritt have been seen out at polling stations casting their vote this morning for today’s mayor of London election. Khan, Labour’s incumbent mayor, was seen at a Tooting polling station this morning with his wife Saadiya and their dog Luna. The mayor had already voted by post, but Saadiya [...]
Mayor of London election: What did the candidates say about the City of London? May 6, 2021 Londoners are heading to the polls today to decide who their next mayor will be. The pandemic has been particularly hard for the City, with workers, tourists and other visitors vanishing as lockdowns were imposed. Shops, restaurants, and pubs all had to pull their shutters down and offices emptied. Let’s take a look at what [...]