2025 local elections: Focus on Wellingborough
'More support for homeless people'
Grace Clark, 20, lives in Wellingborough and has a three-year-old daughter and an 11-month-old-son.She has been homeless for the last three years and has been living in temporary accommodation in a hostel, with her son, for the last seven months."There should be more understanding and support for homeless people," she says,Ms Clark believes there should be a "homeless group so it's easy to speak to people, rather than constantly calling the homeless team and not getting answers".She says she has never voted in elections and, while she would like to, believes "it won't make a difference".
'They don't do what they say they will'
Cheryl Taylor, 66, also lives in Wellingborough. She moved from the West Indies when she was 13, living in Luton for a short time before moving to the town.For her, the big issue is housing and homelessness. For the younger generation, she says, there are not enough homes."I've got a son who is 40 and he is going to be homeless," she says."They go to the council and the council say 'it's first come, first served' and that, to me, is a bit unfair."You live here, you're born here, you work here, you're schooled here, and at the end of the day, they should have something for them."She says she knew the elections were taking place, but that she doesn't always vote, because: "I think you're voting for people and then you still don't get the help; they don't do what they say they will."
'The potholes are just horrendous'
Kevin Arnold, 49, lives in nearby Rushden and says the big issue for him is potholes."It's just awful, as everyone knows in Northamptonshire. The potholes are just horrendous," he says.He hit one on his way to Stansted Airport in the early hours of the morning last month, getting a puncture and only just catching his flight, thanks to friends.Mr Arnold would like to see a commitment to "proper infrastructure" for roads "to be resurfaced properly and not a quick fix, where they're just cheaply done just to fill the hole; last two or three months and then the hole is back again".He says he will be voting in May, but he has not yet decided who for.
'The place is dirty and run-down'
Retired couple Ann and Robert Livingstone moved from Northampton to Wellingborough in 1997.The issue for Mrs Livingstone, 71, is the empty shops and the state of the high street."All the shops are shut and what shops are open are cheap charity shops. The place is dirty; it's run-down... when we first moved here, it was such a lovely little town."Mr Livingstone, 78, has similar concerns."The banks are closing," he says. "I'm fortunate and can manage online banking but there's a lot of people my age who aren't able to deal with that."I'd like to see investment in a proper market like we used to have; a clean-up of the streets. We pay rates, but the council aren't on top of keeping the place tidy."Where's our money going? It's certainly not in Wellingborough."
'The town has been dying for about 20 years'
Chris Cahill says he would like to see more done to improve Wellingborough town centre."I've worked in the town centre for 18 years and I've seen it go down and down," he says."Less shops want to be here. Everyone is moving to places like Rushden Lakes and it is making it harder for this town to thrive because there is not really much about."Mr Cahill, 35, who has lived in the town for 34 years, says the town has lost banks and shops, especially clothes shops.He says he would like to see incentives to make it "appealing" for businesses to come to Wellingborough."The town has been a dying town for about 20 years... we're classed as a market town, but we don't have one anymore," he says.
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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Labour drops plans to restrict LTNs in ‘secret war on motorists'
Labour has renewed its ' war on motorists ' by dropping plans to limit new Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and 20mph zones. Ministers have quietly ditched reforms that would have curbed council powers to restrict traffic and levy 'unfair' fines and parking charges. The Conservatives, which drew up the changes, branded the move 'a kick in the teeth to motorists' and warned it would hit struggling high streets. But Labour ministers dismissed the proposals as 'speculative suggestions' and said they 'would have made no positive difference for drivers'. Sir Keir Starmer has been repeatedly accused of pursuing heavy-handed policies against motorists, most notably in London and Wales. In the latest example, Labour-run Southwark council on Sunday was forced to admit it illegally fined thousands of people for driving in bus lanes. Richard Holden, the shadow transport secretary, said scrapping the Tory plans represented a 'secret war on drivers' that was not in Labour's manifesto. 'Labour has been caught red handed as it steps up its targeted war on motorists,' he said. 'Conservatives led the charge against unfair and over-zealous enforcement but our work has been ripped up in underhand attacks without any public consultation or manifesto pledge. 'This is a kick in the teeth to motorists, set to punish beleaguered local high streets and will slam the brakes on the economy even more than Rachel Reeves has done so far.' Rishi Sunak announced a 'Plan for Drivers' in October 2023, which would have made it harder for local councils to introduce anti-car schemes. It included draft guidance on the introduction of LTNs, which would have forced councils to focus more on the views of local residents and businesses. As a 'minimum' authorities would have had to hold a series of public meetings with residents and to leaflet every household in the affected area. The changes were planned over concerns councils have been railroading through LTNs on the back of support by green and pro-cycling groups. Ministers have now confirmed that the draft guidance, which was not formalised in time for last year's general election, has been effectively shelved. Lilian Greenwood, the roads minister, said that as a result, work had been 'put on hold and the Government is now considering appropriate next steps'. 'As has always been the case, local authorities are responsible for managing their roads and are accountable to their communities,' she said. Lord Hendy, a transport minister, also suggested that the Government does not plan to change the current guidance in force on LTNs. 'Traffic management measures such as low traffic neighbourhoods are a matter for local authorities as they know their areas best,' he said. The last Tory government had planned a series of pro-driver reforms, including new guidance to 'prevent inappropriate blanket use of 20mph zones'. The Tories sought to roll out more pro-driver policies in the wake of the Labour administration in Wales controversially enforcing a default 20mph zone across all formerly 30mph areas in 2023. Following a huge outcry the Senedd is now reviewing the policy, with the architect of the scheme admitting 'more common sense' should have been deployed. Ms Greenwood said the Government has 'no current plans' to review the guidance around the setting of 20mph speed limits in England. 'We believe that traffic authorities are best placed to decide where lower limits will be effective on the roads for which they are responsible, and that consultation and community support should be at the heart of the process,' she added. Other planned Tory measures that would have limited the use of '15-minute cities' have also been ditched. Under those measures, Conservative ministers would have revoked council's access to DVLA data, which they use to enforce traffic filters. The 15-minute city concept were designed so residents could access all basic services within a quarter of an hour walk or bike ride from home. It has become controversial with some on the Right who see the car as pivotal to freedom and attempts to curb driving as the spread of state control. 'No positive difference' Mr Sunak also pledged to reduce 'unfair' traffic fines, such as yellow box penalties, including by restricting councils' ability to raise revenue from them. Under the measures new guidance would have been brought forward giving residents the formal right to challenge their council's parking policies. Labour ministers confirmed that all three proposals had been dropped. 'Those policies in 'The Plan for Drivers' that would have made no positive difference for drivers have been discontinued,' Ms Greenwood said. Mr Holden said that Sir Sadiq Khan would be 'licking his lips now he has been given the green light to hammer drivers even more'. The Mayor of London has overseen a rapid expansion of LTNs in the capital and the introduction of blanket 20mph limits across the city. The Department for Transport was approached for comment.
Wales Online
2 hours ago
- Wales Online
'We were right on 20mph, Brexit was wrong and Nigel Farage would be a disaster for Wales'
'We were right on 20mph, Brexit was wrong and Nigel Farage would be a disaster for Wales' Departing Welsh Government cabinet member Julie James gave her no holds barred take as she prepares to leave frontline politics Julie James meeting school children at Lisvane and Llanishen reservoirs in 2021 (Image: Patrick Olner) When Julie James speaks, people listen, not only in terms of her Senedd contributions, where she is more than happy to put her opponents in their place, but her cabinet colleagues too - especially since First Minister Eluned Morgan made her "minister for delivery" a year ago. It is the sort of title possibly more suited for a spoof sitcom, but it's also the sort of job you can only give someone you know will ruffle feathers if that's what is needed. A member of Labour for almost 52 years, she also holds sway in the political party. She was, after all, one of the resignations on that July day last year that signalled to Vaughan Gething he could not resist any longer, and within hours he had quit as First Minister of Wales. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here . Her official Senedd biog reads: "Julie is a committed green campaigner, environmentalist and a keen swimmer and skier. Julie is a member of Unison and is also a member of Gray's Inn" - a varied mix indeed. She has lived around the world, but moved back to Swansea to raise her three children. Professionally she has worked as a lawyer, been assistant chief executive of Swansea council. Now, the clock on her time in frontline politics is ticking, as she is one of the 13 Labour Senedd members who will not seek re-election in May's election. Article continues below Entering politics was a long held ambition, and she finally did it at 53. Brought up in a political household, her father was a Labour Party councillor and trade unionist and, in her words, both her parents were "both crazy climate change activists". It's probably no surprise she is also a lifelong vegetarian, something she describes as being "very bloody weird" when she was growing up. "I've always very firmly been of the view, right from when I was 16, if you want to change something, you have to stay in it. 'Perseverance is everything' "It's a conversation we have all the time, if you've resigned from the Labour Party in principle, then you can't vote for the candidate or make sure the people who believe what you believe are the ones who represent you. So, well done with your principle, but now you don't have a voice. "I've always thought having a voice is important and I've also thought, perseverance is everything. I'm nothing if not persistent. "Some things take a long time. I've been a member of the campaign for one member, one vote, [an internal Labour party voting system] since I joined, we got that in 2018. Fifty years is a long time to be persistent. You get there in the end. I've always been like that." During the pandemic, Julie James was Mark Drakeford's climate change minister (Image: Patrick Olner) Before standing for election to the Senedd she had what she calls a "perfectly good career". A former environmental regulation lawyer, she admits her time in the cabinet "hasn't worked out as quite the little retirement job I had in mind". But had always wanted to do it, when her predecessor in the Swansea West seat, Andrew Davies, said he was standing down "serendipity" saw her selected, and then elected. But six months after being elected, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She kept working. "What are you going to do if you're not working? Sitting at home looking at the wall wondering if you' that's no good for me at all," she said. She had four operations during her treatment, but once she was better, told Carwyn Jones she was ready to join his cabinet. She is now serving her fourth First Minister, with roles like skills and science, local government all on her CV, but the role created for her by Mark Drakeford, whose leadership election campaign she chaired, is her passion despite some very vocal opponents. In his tenure Mr Drakeford axed the M4 relief roads, placed a ban on new roads, set new targets for recycling and net zero, and who can forget it her department, and her deputy Lee Waters who brought in Wales' 20mph law, for example. Public opinion didn't deter her. "I suppose I always felt we were doing the right thing. You get a lot of crap from people who want you to do something that isn't the right thing. "I put a lot of stock by having done the right thing. So yes, we did things that were unpopular. The 20mph is a classic because it has saved tens of lives. It has stopped thousands of people's lives from being changed across Wales. Everyone in Wales now has at least a 10% drop in their insurance, that's the most successful policy we've ever had and sod it, some people didn't like it I did," she said. 'Sheer hypocrisy' The brief was massive, and her deputy, Lee Waters, has since admitted the toll, fronting that policy took on him personally. She says she tried to persuade him from fighting every battle. "There were some people you can persuade and there are lots of people you can't persuade. Don't try, just stick to your guns quietly, carefully, sluggishly, persistently and you'll get there. You don't have to do the warrior thing but it suits some people. "I'm quite happy to quietly do it in the background." For those who watch Senedd regularly, her contributions are the ones you turn your head to watch. She cannot hold back, particularly when the Conservative opposition speaks. She cannot, she says, bear their "hypocrisy". "The Tories spend a lot of time telling us that we should do things faster, whilst also we should cut all the taxes and we should pump a lot of money into businesses that don't need it, take it away from people who do need it, and at the same time we should have done a lot more on, I don't know, salt marshes or something. "That doesn't add up and it's just the sheer hypocrisy." Julie James MS speaking to Conservative Andrew RT Davies MS during the first day of Welsh Parliament at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay in 2021 (Image: Ben Evans/Huw Evans Agency) "The Tory group in the Senedd does my head in a bit because they backed the UK Government big time. Lots of them backed Liz Truss, lots of them publicly. They backed Brexit and then at the same time they stand up in the Senedd and they shout at us about the fact that austerity is cutting our money, crippling our communities, knackering our health service. Brexit has done our trade in. "I can't bear it." But the threat in 2026 to Labour isn't the Tories, they face their own battle to get any seats, but Labour faces a two pronged attack from Plaid on the left, and Nigel Farage's Reform on the right. She knows the threat Reform brings. "It's the same thing as Brexit, isn't it? We failed on Brexit and we failed on Brexit because we didn't understand that a lot of people, just taking Swansea for an example, a lot of people in Swansea could see the largesse of the European Union, they could see the universities they could see, but they had no share in it. "They can see that some people are doing alright out of it, but they aren't. Many worked, for example, in facilities in the university, for example but they were having their hours and wages cut while they could see in their world other people very well out of it. "If you don't share it out, then obviously the people who aren't getting a share are angry, rightly angry, and that's what's happening across the Western developed world and with Reform. 'Taken down a path' "We have a society that, on the one hand, is getting technologically more competent, wealthier, with nicer lives, longer lives and so on and a huge section of that society is sick and poor and struggling and they're bloody hungry. "They're being taken down a path by demagogues who are doing it for their own purposes, and they're going to make their lives worse. "Brexit is a perfect example of that. Nobody can point me to anything that Brexit has done isn't a disaster and of course, if you put that to some of the people who backed it, they say, 'well, it wasn't done properly'. What an absolute nonsense. Isn't that the same as Reform, what they're promising might, on a very surface level, make some sense." Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here . We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice She speaks of a Reform pledge to give non-doms a chance to avoid paying some UK taxes, by paying a £250,000 fee, and income from the measure would be transferred annually tax-free to the bank accounts of the lowest paid 10% of full-time workers. "Until you talk to people about it and you say, 'well, actually most non-doms would be paying a great deal more than that, they should be paying 40% of their income all the time, and ask 'Do you know how many people in Wales are on the minimum wage?' Think how much it is to give them £10 each per week, which would have to be the absolute minimum for it to make a difference. "When you do that on the doorstep, some people will listen to that but lots of them won't and they'll say they've had a gutsful of 'you lot'. "Until we can get some trust in mainstream politics we've got a problem. We've had 14 years of people shouting at each other, a lot of misinformation. There's no trust in that, people promising them the 'Big Society' or whatever the hell the Johnson one was. it doesn't mean anything to anyone." But, I put it to her, UK Labour has been as guilty, promising change but delivering it via a series of policies which have been deeply unpopular. "Absolutely," she concedes. "UK Labour have come in and they have made a series of decisions which have undermined trust in mainstream politics. They're new. They have four more years to fix it. They will fix it," she is. "But, Labour here is bearing the brunt of that," she said. As deputy skills minister in 2015 Julie James said she was passionate about women in science (Image: Western Mail) When we met, a poll had not long put Labour's support in Wales for the Senedd election at 18%. That is not, she said, being projected on the doorsteps to such a degree but there shouldn't be a lot of hope taken by Labour by that. "In the 80s we used to have 'shy Tories' where people would swear blind they weren't going to vote for Thatcher and clearly were. And we're getting those but for Reform." Her Swansea patch can, broadly, be split into the northern part of the constituency which is mainly social housing or council homes, and the south, with people who work in the university, the hospital or council. It is a patch which tells the story of the threat to Labour in Wales, quite succinctly with the Reform threat in the north, but the Plaid, Green, Lib Dem threat in the south. "What people might think is, 'we don't need Welsh Labour because they're going to win so I can indulge myself in a protest vote', so I spend a lot of time reminding people what happened in Gower when 1,000 people voted Green and they got a Tory MP for the first time in a hundred years. "I personally rang up quite a lot of people and said, 'how's that working out for you?'" The signs are all there that Labour will have a tough time in the election for which she won't be a candidate. "What we've got to do is give people something positive to vote for. I do not want people to vote Labour because it's the least worst option. We've got to do something that means you actually believe in us, which I think we can do. And secondly, we've got to persuade them that even if they're a bit sceptical about that, swapping to a different party and splitting the progressive vote, will put a Reform government into Wales." One of the many narratives she says she cannot tolerate is about immigration and limiting immigration, particularly in Wales. 'This immigration thing does my head in' "In truth, my own view is that Wales should have its arms wide open and say, 'Come, come, come, come, come in numbers' and if you're young, working age, of breeding age, come. We need those people, we need a lot of them. The more highly skilled, the better. And by highly skilled, I mean skilled in care as well as skilled in technology. "The immigration thing just does my head in. I just don't understand why anyone in Wales is even remotely worried about immigration. It's tiny and the immigrants who come to Wales have hugely enriched our society. "Without the Ukrainians where would our care system be?" She is one of those who has seen a new, upstart party come into Welsh politics. In 2016, she saw the Ukip contingent arrive in the Senedd and admits the challenge posed by a new, inexperienced party, was probably good for the institution - in some ways. "For the first time in ages we had to argue from first principles why we were doing what we did," she said. "We didn't have a broad consensus that we could build from. We had people saying that they fundamentally didn't agree with it and I think that's actually quite a decent discipline to have to do". But she saw the weaknesses too. As the group splintered, they did not pull their weight on committees, she says. "They were really disruptive and not because they had an ideology we didn't like but because they were chaotic. "Actually an enormous amount of the work of the Senedd, like any Parliament goes on in the committee rooms behind closed doors and it's long and boring and tedious and very important indeed. On a visit to Coleg Gwent as deputy skills minister in 2016 (Image: Coleg Gwent) "You have to spend hours and hours going through long, awful documents and acts and they didn't show up and the Senedd is tiny so the burden on everybody else is high." She has seen the government machine, first hand for years, what, I ask her, would it mean for the government - away from the political people - if a party like Reform took over. "There's some danger anyway because there's a lot of us leaving," she said. "Even if Labour had its normal share in the polls and whatever, we'd have a lot of new faces coming in." There is work in the government buildings preparing for a new administration, about providing advice and briefings. "You want a government that's got the right information in front of it and so on." But they have also, she said, been putting measures in place so laws cannot be rowed back on easily. "We've been trying to embed a lot of things. We'll make them harder to get rid of, if I'm absolutely honest. I spend a lot of time working through legislation, making sure it's been implemented, and it would have to actually have primary legislation to repeal it so it would be much harder to just turn the ship back the other way. "In the end, we can't prevent them from doing that, but we can make it harder. "I think a Reform government would be a disaster. If they were to do any of the things they're saying, and who knows whether they would, because their policy platform is fluid, at the moment. They're saying that they would abolish the NHS and replace it with an insurance based system. That's pretty disastrous for an old, poor, sick country like Wales, where most people have a pre-existing condition, probably couldn't get insurance or afford it or whatever. "They would absolutely, definitely stop free prescriptions, free parking at hospitals. They would stop the nationalisation of the trains and the buses. "You'd go backwards very quickly. I suspect they would, as they have done in some of the councils they've taken control of, try to stop, as they have done in America, the diversity, inclusion and equality programmes. Article continues below "They would afterwards realise what they'd done and try to scramble to put them back. I think they'd starve public services of money. We protect our local authorities. Most people in Wales do not understand how bad the local authority situation in England actually is."
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
'I played Hug, Marry, Avoid with Labour MP Dawn Butler and couldn't stop laughing'
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They include 'Would You Rather?' where MPs have to make a painful choice out of two options, and 'Never Have I Ever?', There is also the 'Ask Me Anything' round and the '30-Second Pitch', where the guest gets to talk for 30 seconds about an issue, cause or campaign they are passionate about. There is also the 'Ask Me Anything' round and 'Hug, Marry, Avoid', where MPs have to choose who'd they'd hug, marry or avoid out of a given list of three people. I have to admit Dawn's reaction including Reform UK MPs Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson and Richard Tice did draw a cackling laugh out of me. "What? What are you talking about?," she said incredulously. "They're not options. They're all the same... I feel like I need help after this. I need therapy now." In an age where MPs face increasingly vicious intimidation, hate and violence, The Mirror's show hopes to allow viewers to get to know the humans behind the pomp of Westminster. Here's a look at some of the best moments from the episode. Have you ever been told off by the Speaker? 'Well obviously I got thrown out of Parliament for calling Boris Johnson a liar,' she said. 'He lied over and over and over again. I was just like, come on, he's gaslighting the whole country. And I'd had enough. I'm that kind of conviction politician, so what is the point in me being here if I'm not going to sort of speak truth to power? The doorkeepers came up to me and said, I had to leave Parliament - the whole estate - straight away, or do I need to be escorted off? And I was like, good job I had my keys on me.' Would you rather be London mayor or Prime Minister? 'London mayor. To represent London - and I'm a Londoner through, born in East London - just having London the way I have experienced it and see it, and just making London wonderful for everyone, and everyone being sort of proud of London and being a Londoner, yeah, I'd love to be Mayor of London.' Asked if she'd be running in the next mayoral election, she added: 'Once there's a vacancy, I will put my hat in the ring.' What was your greatest moment in politics? 'I was the first black female MP to ever stand at that despatch box as a government minister. And when I think back, I think, God, I made history. And a few weeks before, we were talking about the abolition of slavery, and I thought, God, they'd all be spinning in their graves knowing that there's a black woman at the dispatch box representing Her Majesty's Government. And so that's one of my proudest moments.' Would you rather stand out or follow the crowd? 'You have to stand out from the crowd, especially if you're a Black woman, what's the point? You're always going to stand out, right? And I remember somebody saying to me that if I want to be taken seriously as a politician, I need to tone down my dress. And that was it: I was like, illuminate! You're going to need sunglasses when I walk in a room.' Watch the Mirror's YouTube show Party Games IT is not often you get to play games with elected Members of Parliament. But it is exactly what I am doing on The Mirror's show, Party Games, which was launched last night. In the programme on the Mirror's YouTube channel, I host familiar faces from across the political spectrum for a party like no other. Wearing an obligatory party hat, I spin a wheel of fortune to decide which games to play - with each one having its own special ability to tease out funny stories, emotional moments and, of course, some political points from MPs. They include 'Would You Rather?' where MPs have to make a painful choice out of two options, and 'Never Have I Ever?', There is also the 'Ask Me Anything' round and 'Hug, Marry, Avoid', where MPs have to choose who'd they'd hug, marry or avoid out of a given list of three people. The '30-Second Pitch' round is where the guest gets to talk for 30 seconds about an issue, cause or campaign they are passionate about. In an age where MPs face increasingly vicious intimidation, hate and violence, The Mirror's show hopes to allow viewers to get to know the humans behind the pomp of Westminster. You can watch Party Games on YouTube now. What is an issue you are passionate about? 'My summer campaign 2025 is about cleaning up our high streets. At the moment, councils are not allowed to say no to betting shops and adult gaming centres. That's why we have so many in poorer areas. So what I want to do is make sure we change the law - the 2005 Gambling Act - so that councils can have more of a say, so that people can have more of a say, because our high streets deserve to be better, we deserve high streets that are full of beautiful complexity and not so many betting shops.'
