
Guildford could have town council for first time
Roughly £300,000 could be spent in the first year to set up the town council, which would be funded by Guildford Borough Council.Boundaries, the number of councillors and a budget would likely be determined through a public consultation.The proposed town council would likely include wards such as Onslow, Stoke, Holy Trinity and Westborough.Residents will be asked whether they want the new council through what is known as a community governance review, but ultimately, Guildford Borough Council would have the final say on whether to establish the new body.
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Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Home Office social media influencer resigns after it designates Palestine Action a terrorist group
Former Coronation Street actress and social media influencer has ended her collaboration with the Home Office after the Government designated pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action a terrorist organisation. Nicola Thorp, 36, who has been a vocal advocate for women's safety since surviving a horrific stalking ordeal, said she could no longer 'essentially promote and do PR for' the department. She went on to accuse it of being 'complicit in the most abhorrent acts of violence against women and little girls in Gaza '. The actress-turned-activist had previously worked with the Home Office to promote its strategy to combat violence against women and girls. But in a strongly worded Instagram post, she revealed she had turned down a recent request to help publicise the initiative, which is being led by Labour MP Jess Phillips, now serving as a minister in the department. 'This request came shortly after Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, had announced that she would be proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation,' Ms Thorp explained. 'And it really got me thinking about how I feel about this particular Government.' The outspoken TV star, who played Nicola Rubinstein in the long-running ITV soap, added that while she supports domestic policies aimed at protecting women and girls, she could not in good conscience work with a Government she claims is 'an ally to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]' and continues to supply 'arms licences to Israel'. 'While I obviously support domestic efforts and policies put in place to reduce violence against women and girls in the UK, their continued supply of arms licences to Israel along with their position as an ally to the IDF is wildly hypocritical,' she said. Ms Thorp, who made headlines last year as a campaigner for the new 'right to know' anti-stalking policy after her own stalker was jailed, said all her previous work with the Home Office had been done on a voluntary basis. Her stalker, schizophrenic Ravinderjit Dhillon, was sentenced to 30 months in jail at Snaresbrook Crown Court in December 2023 after a disturbing two-year campaign of harassment in which he used 27 different online aliases to send her terrifying threats. Including one chilling message that read: 'I'm your Grim Reaper. I'm never going to leave you.' The traumatised actress has since dedicated much of her platform to women's safety but she has increasingly used it to criticise the Government's stance on Gaza and the policing of pro-Palestinian protests in the UK. Sharing a video of an armed officer confronting a man holding a Palestinian flag, Ms Thorp wrote: 'This is Yvette Cooper's Britain.' She called the scene 'unbelievable' and added: 'Where are all the free speech advocates now?' Ms Thorp has also refused an invitation to speak at the Labour Party conference this September on a panel about violence against women and girls hosted by the NSPCC. In her response, she said: 'I have ceased my work with the current Labour Government and will no longer be promoting any of the work they're doing to tackle violence against women and girls.' In the wake of her comments, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp launched a blistering attack on the former soap star, accusing her of 'virtue signalling' and defending the Government's decision to proscribe Palestine Action. 'Palestine Action is a violent group who want to achieve their political aims through coercion and criminal damage,' Mr Philp said. 'They have sabotaged an RAF aircraft, which our country relies on to defend us, they have smashed up property and they have even attacked a police officer with a sledgehammer. This is all totally unacceptable. 'In this country, we decide issues by debate and elections – not violence and intimidation. Palestine Action's methods should be condemned by anyone who believes in democracy and a peaceful political process. This influencer needs to stop virtue-signalling on Instagram and call out Palestine Action's violent tactics.' The Home Office has declined to comment. In recent years, the Government has increasingly turned to influencers - both paid and unpaid - to promote key policies to younger audiences on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. In 2020, Love Island stars were reportedly paid to promote the NHS Test and Trace scheme.


The Guardian
27 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Rental deposit scheme ‘puts millions in the pockets of landlords'
The official deposit scheme for renters is 'putting millions in unscrupulous landlords' pockets', campaigners have said. Almost half (46%) of renters said they did not know they could challenge deposit deductions they deemed to be unfair. Only 4% have used the formal dispute resolution process to try to reclaim the money. Dan Wilson Craw of Generation Rent, the campaign group which conducted the research, said the system was 'failing renters who are put off from challenging unfair deductions by unclear rules, and threats and delaying tactics from landlords'. He added: 'Ultimately, that puts millions more in unscrupulous landlords' pockets. The uncertain timescales and unclear rules of the deposit system, as well as obstructiveness and threats from some landlords, mean that accepting unfair deductions to get some cash back quickly can feel like the better option.' The research, based on a nationally representative survey of 2,000 private renters, found that a quarter of tenants who did not challenge unfair deductions said their landlord either threatened to make a larger claim if they raised a dispute, refused to take part in the adjudication process or had not protected the deposit in the first place. Data from one deposit protection scheme, TDS, showed that 77% of tenants got some of their disputed deposit back and 32% got all of it back. Generation Rent analysis found tenants who disputed deductions won 79% of the disputed money back on average. 'Because challenging deposit deductions is usually worth it, renters put off from doing so are losing hundreds of pounds of their own money,' said Wilson Craw. 'The government's review of deposit protection is an opportunity to build trust in the system so tenants have the confidence to challenge unfair landlord claims.' Landlords must legally put a tenant's deposit in a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme. There is a free dispute resolution service for tenants who disagree with their landlord on how much deposit should be returned. Ministers have said they were reviewing the system and 'identifying areas for improvement'. Generation Rent said it wanted to see a 14-day deadline for deposits to be returned at the end of a tenancy and landlords to be legally compelled to take part in a dispute resolution if a tenant pursued it, with disputes resolved within 10 days. It also said landlords and agents who broke the rules, or made repeated excessive deductions, should face 'meaningful penalties'. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been contacted for comment.


The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Farage repeats ‘no idea' six times over Reform mayor's 600% allowance hike
Nigel Farage has responded that he has 'no idea' six times in an interview with the BBC 's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. The Reform UK leader was asked about Scarborough Town Council increasing its mayor's allowance by 600 per cent, despite his party promising to cut costs for taxpayers. Asked about the rise, from £500 to £3,500, Mr Farage said: 'I have no idea… whether what you say is true or not, I have no idea.' Asked whether it is the right thing to do, Mr Farage again said he has 'no idea', before saying he has 'no idea' whether Thomas Murray, Reform's mayor of Scarborough Town Council, does the role as a full-time job. He went on to say he has 'no idea' how much humans have contributed towards climate change.