Cameron’s conference blues after Labour snatch two seats
David Cameron’s Conservatives have been dealt a double blow after Labour gained two council seats from them during their conference, reports The Independent:
Candidate Helen Jackson triumphed at Irwell, Rossendale Borough, Lancashire, and party colleague Colin Lloyd took a Tilgate seat at Crawley Borough, West Sussex.
Both these wins come in constituencies gained by the Conservatives in May’s General Election.
Labour also easily held on at Healey and Whitworth, Rossendale, in a ward where another seat had been won by the Community First group in this year’s main council polls.
However the party may have passed up the chance of a third gain by failing to field a candidate at [...]
Lord Prescott leads praise for David Miliband’s contribution to Labour
With the 5pm embargo reached, the media are able to report the official resignation of David Miliband from Labour’s frontbench.
The first to praise the unsuccessful leadership candidate for his valuable contribution to Labour at the heart of government was Lord Prescott, who writes:
“I’m sure that all party members will agree with me that David has given great service not only to Labour but also to his country.
“We all owe him an enormous debt of gratitude for the massive contribution he made making Labour electable again and changing Britain into a better and fairer place.
“He helped create a record that we can be proud of and I respect [...]
Poll: Ed Miliband’s election win results in Labour lead
None of the newspapers backed Ed Miliband, and the nationals continue to be critical of the narrow win but, if the verdict of The Sun’s YouGov poll is anything to go by, the pundits are out of touch with voters’ opinion after Labour pulled ahead of the Tories in their latest poll.
For the first time since the General Election, Labour now leads the Conservatives in the regular tracking poll of political support.
The latest YouGov/Sun poll puts Labour on 40%, with the Tories on 39% and Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats on just 12%.
YouGov have also been tracking support for the ConDem government and the charts they provide speak [...]
Clegg’s conference rocked by Lib Dem defections to Labour
Nick Clegg has called for unity as the Liberal Democrat conference opens in Liverpool after Lib Dem councillors on three different councils defected to Labour.
Barnsley’s only Liberal Democrat councillor, Sharron Brook, who had represented the town’s Dearne Valley South ward as a Liberal Democrat since 2003, told the BBC that: “I went into a briefing on a white paper for children [as chairman of the council's children's services scrutiny panel]. There was nothing in there for the children of the borough or anywhere else in the country. They are going to put the weakest to the wall. That was the last straw.”
In Solihull, Shirley West Lib Dem councillor Simon Slater [...]
Top Tory in Sandwell joins Labour over school building shambles
Labour’s leadership candidates have warmly welcomed councillor Elaine Costigan into the Labour Party after she dramatically defected declaring that she was “ashamed to be a Conservative” because of cuts to the Building Schools for the Future fund, reports the BBC:
Ms Costigan, who is deputy leader of the Conservative group at the council, said: “This community has been treated with utter contempt by the government over the slashing of the school building programme.
“When Michael Gove backed out of his promise to come and apologise to the parents, pupils and staff he had so badly let down, I felt ashamed to be a Conservative.”
Ray Nock, leader of the Conservatives on the [...]
Eight Lib Dem councillors quit over public spending cuts
Although the bulk of cuts in public services are yet to be announced, eight principled Liberal Democrat councillors have recently taken the lead in rejecting Lib Dem support of the Conservative policies by quitting the party, reports The Independent:
The rebellion suggests that Mr Clegg could face a rough ride when his party holds its annual conference in Liverpool in two weeks. Four councillors in Halton, Cheshire, who have quit the party and now sit as independents, said the Liberal Democrats had become “nodding dogs for the Tories”. One of them, Peter Blackmore, said he “can’t look people in the eye” because of the spending cuts.
In Liverpool, Councillor Ian [...]
Alan Johnson decides against returning to the backbenches
Alan Johnson, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, has told his local paper that he has decided to stand in the Shadow Cabinet elections in the Autumn, quashing previous suggestions that he planned to return to the backbenches.
After the election, Mr Johnson told the Hull Daily Mail that; “I may not put myself forward for the shadow cabinet elections and am thinking about going on to the back benches,” but this week he has told the paper that:
“Having thought about it over the summer, I have decided to stand for a shadow cabinet post.
“Whether I get elected is another matter.
“I would be delighted to continue as shadow [...]
Gordon Brown calls for action in flood-hit Pakistan
Gordon Brown has written movingly in The Huffington Post of his support for a huge, co-ordinated response to the recent Pakistan floods:
I have proposed a global reconstruction corps to offer civilian help – engineers, doctors, builders – to build homes, rebuild the schools, staff the hospitals and get agriculture and industry moving again. We have set up a British corps – and a global volunteer corps is more important and imperative than ever. To make it effective on the ground in Pakistan we need of course an agreement with all Pakistani parties that they will use and work with a Reconstruction Corps.
But we do have to ask ourselves one [...]
Medway Tory councillor resigns after just 13 days
The Conservative Party victor of the recent by-election in Medway’s River Ward has resigned after just 13 days in office the local newspaper reports:
“Yourmedway approached Mr Craggs for a comment and was told that a full statement detailing the reasons behind his resignation would be released later this afternoon.
However, we are led to believe that Mr Craggs was told he must choose between serving as a special constable, a position he has held for 17 years, and a Medway councillor.”
Mr Craggs narrowly won the River ward by-election on Thursday, August 12, after polling 617 votes. The Labour candidate, John James, came a close second with 544 votes.
Medway Council’s Returning [...]
Labour coffers boosted by donations and new members
Former Deputy Leader Lord Prescott has said the party has forgotten how to organise and called for limits on party political spending, repeating claims he recently made to The Guardian that the Party is close to bankruptcy.
Calling for a membership drive, John Prescott, who is campaigning to be elected Treasurer of the Party, told the Scottish Parliament’s annual Festival of Politics:
“We want a strong treasurer who’s involved in the membership drive, putting a proper financial account into the party, and is an active political person in making that accountable to the constituencies. You can go on if you like and just have somebody doing what’s always been the [...]
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