Greater Lincolnshire mayor 2025
Four candidates have been announced so far to become the first elected mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.Nominations will close on 2 April ahead of the election on 1 May.A devolution deal was approved by government in September. It led to the creation of a Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA), bringing together Lincolnshire County Council, North East Lincolnshire Council and North Lincolnshire Council.As head of the authority, the mayor will serve as a direct link to Westminster and oversee decision-making on issues such as housing and transport.
The candidates who have been declared so far, listed by surname alphabetically, are:Andrea Jenkyns – Reform UKMarianne Overton – IndependentJason Stockwood – LabourRob Waltham – Conservative
The combined authority will have an annual budget of £24m. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner previously said: "This agreement will ensure local people will have a seat at the table as we drive forward our plans to deliver economic growth and unleash the potential of towns and cities which have been neglected for far too long."Lincolnshire County Council, North East Lincolnshire Council and North Lincolnshire Council will continue their work as normal, alongside the GLCCA.Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
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Times
an hour ago
- Times
What will be in the spending review 2025? The winners and losers
Rachel Reeves will unveil a £39 billion package today to build new social housing across the country as she pledges to use her spending review to 'invest in Britain's renewal'. As part of the government's pledge to build 1.5 million new homes by 2030 the chancellor will announce plans to almost double support for affordable home building. It will form part of around £100bn worth of new investment in infrastructure that she claims will create 'jobs and prosperity' in parts of the country that have been left behind. But she will also concede that 'too many people in too many parts of the country' are yet to feel any economic improvement in their finances, promising that the purpose of the spending review is to 'change that'. However, the increased capital spending will come alongside real terms cuts in some day-to-day government spending as ministers prioritise the NHS and defence for the bulk of the additional money being provided by the Treasury. So, who exactly are the winners and losers? Housing and councils Angela Rayner, the housing secretary Angela Rayner was one of the last cabinet ministers to agree her department's funding with the Treasury — but has come away with what ministers are claiming is the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation. Under the plans the Treasury will invest £39bn of public money to build new council and social homes to rent over the next decade. The money — which equates to around £3.9bn a year — is significantly more than the £2.3 billion spent on the Affordable Homes Programme under the last government. Rayner's allies argued that building more council houses was not only critical to meet Labour's election pledge to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of the Parliament — but will ultimately save the government money. They said it would help reduce a projected rise in the benefit bill, due to high private sector rents, while cutting the cost of temporary homeless accommodation that is pushing councils towards bankruptcy. However the government has yet to put a figure on how many new homes will be built each year under the new scheme amid concerns that there is not the workforce in place to achieve the government's targets. Reeves is to put a £39 billion 'affordable housing' plan at the heart of her multi-year spending review, the Financial Times reported. The Treasury said the amount earmarked for affordable homes over 10 years represented 'the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation'. Health Wes Streeting, the health secretary The NHS will be the biggest overall winner in the spending review, receiving a £30 billion rise in its day-to-day spending budget, making up about 60 per cent of the cash increase in the chancellor's overall day-to-day spending envelope, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. But health service managers are still warning it will not be enough to meet the government's ambition for reducing waiting time targets. In fact, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, initially asked for a real-terms 4 per cent rise in his budget but had to settle for a 2.8 per cent rise. There are also concerns in the department that although day-to-day spending will rise, infrastructure budgets will remain flat in real terms. NHS managers have long warned that it is hard to improve productivity in the health service when staff have to work in buildings that are not fit for purpose and with outdated IT infrastructure. Reeves has concluded she wants to target infrastructure spending in other areas, such as transport and net zero, where the government is more likely to get an economic return on its investment. The agreement is also complicated by the need for the NHS to pay more for medicines amid pressure from President Trump and to boost Britain's life sciences industry. The Treasury has refused to allocate extra funds, insisting that the department find the additional cash within existing budgets. Defence The other big winner from today's announcement will be the armed forces, which will see their budgets increase to hit the government target of spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2027. The increase will be funded by cuts to international aid and will leave defence spending about £6.4 billion higher than if it had remained at the existing level. A key decision Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer will have to make today is whether to go beyond this and increase spending still further towards the end of the decade to meet the prime minister's aspiration of hitting 3 per cent of GDP in the next parliament, 'as economic and fiscal conditions allow'. The announcement comes before a meeting of Nato leaders this month, which is expected to agree to Trump's demand of increasing core defence spending to 3.5 per cent, accompanied by a further 1.5 per cent on defence-related infrastructure. No date has yet been set for when Nato members will have to meet this pledge. Schools Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary Ministers have already announced that schools will receive an extra £4.5 billion a year in core funding by 2029, in part to pay for reforms under which more children with special educational needs will be taught in mainstream schools. The rise includes spending pledges that have already been made, including the cost of expanding free school meals for all pupils whose families claim universal credit and the £615 million allocated to schools to fund the new pay settlement for teachers. But while this extra money may sound generous on paper, in practice schools will receive £1.5 billion each year up until 2028-29, when the cumulative increase reaches £4.5 billion compared with this year. Boiled down, this means the spending rise for education in this review totals a real-term lift of 0.4 per cent. Luke Sibieta, a research fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said it was also unclear if the money included the teacher pay settlement reached last year. If so this would probably mean a real-terms budget freeze — although a shrinking school-age population means this would still result in a 3 per cent rise in spending per pupil by the end of the parliament. Energy and net zero Ed Miliband, the energy security and net-zero secretary Despite being among the last few ministers to agree their spending settlement with the Treasury, Ed Miliband 's department is likely to emerge as one of the biggest winners of the spending review as Reeves doubles down on Labour's clean-power pledge. Miliband will get more than £14 billion to fund the new Sizewell C nuclear power station, as well as a further £2.5 billion to develop a new generation of smaller modular reactors, and additional funding for carbon capture and storage. The energy secretary has also won out in a Whitehall row over the future of the government's warm-homes plan. The Treasury had looked to reduce some of the £13.2 billion earmarked for the scheme, which will subsidise households to install energy efficiency measures such as solar panels and insulation. Miliband is expected to get the vast majority of this funding in an effort to meet Labour 's pledge to cut household energy bills by 2030. Home Office Yvette Cooper, the home secretary The Home Office was the last government department to settle its spending plan with the Treasury after it was in effect imposed upon Cooper. Reeves has refused to meet her colleague's demands for extra police funding, despite warnings that it means the government could miss its flagship pledges on law and order and a public intervention by police chiefs who said they faced 'stark choices'. It is understood that police spending will increase in real terms each year of this spending review period, which ends in 2028-29. However, it remains unclear whether this boost will match the more than £1 billion that officers say is needed to cover existing gaps. • Early prison releases risk public safety, police warn Cooper is unhappy with the final settlement amid concerns it is not enough to meet the government's pledge to recruit 13,000 neighbourhood officers by 2029. The real-terms rise in police funding will also mean deeper cuts to other areas of her department. The Border Force has warned that any cuts made to its £1.2 billion budget could result in anything from longer queues at airports to threats to 'national security'. Environment Reeves is once again looking to farmers as she seeks to pare back government spending. This time the debate is over Britain's flagship post-Brexit farming subsidies, which appear likely to be slashed for all but a few small farms. Sources at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, led by Steve Reed, said that the subsidies, which financially reward farmers for sustainable practices, will be severely cut in the spending review. Labour will honour its budget promise of £5 billion in farming funding for 2024-26, so cuts would hit many farms from 2026 onwards. The package of subsidies was introduced to replace the European Union's common agricultural policy after Brexit. It is designed to encourage farmers financially to look after nature and the soil instead of rewarding them for growing crops or tending livestock. In future the scheme will be targeted at small farms, meaning larger, wealthier farms will lose access to funding for nature-friendly practices. Coming off the back of the government's decision to reduce inheritance tax relief for farmers, it is likely to go down badly with rural communities. Transport Reeves announced £15 billion worth of funding for local transport infrastructure, predominantly in the north of England and the Midlands. The transport spending will be focused on seats that Labour needs to hold in the face of a growing challenge from Reform. The focus will be on projects that will bring spades in the ground by the time of the next election. Reeves has told colleagues that she wants people to see and feel the outcome of the investment, which includes trams in Manchester and Birmingham, the Tyne and Wear Metro and a mass-transit system around Bristol. There is not expected to be money for big transport projects in London as ministers look to rebalance spending away from the capital. Science and technology The government has said it will spend £86 billion on the science and technology sector by the end of this parliament as it looks to support the tech industries to boost economic growth. The package will help fund research into drug treatments and longer-lasting batteries, and include up to £500 million for regions across the UK. Local leaders will have a say on how it is spent. While this may sound like a lot of money, the £86 billion figure is the sum of all government spending on 'research and innovation' over four years and the annual spend will be £22.5 billion by 2029-30. This represents a 3 per cent real-terms rise in budget in 2029-30 compared with the present financial year. Justice Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary Three prisons will be built, starting this year, after a £4.7 billion funding commitment in the spending review in an attempt to grapple with the prisons crisis. The justice secretary Shabana Mahmood's speedy settlement was crucial as she was forced to announce plans to curb prison overcrowding when government projections showed that jails would fill up in November. The plans for 'record expansion' of the prison estate came alongside measures that meant offenders would spend only 28 days on recall to prison if they breached their licence conditions.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Wednesday briefing: What to expect from the Treasury's spending review announcements
Morning. It's spending review day. After weeks of tense negotiations between ministers and the Treasury, Rachel Reeves is set to unveil exactly how the government will allocate the spending it announced in last year's budget. If you're wondering what this actually means, my colleague Archie Bland helpfully explained when the process began six months ago. In short: departments outline how they want to spend money over the next few years, then negotiate with the Treasury over how much they will actually get. We already have a good idea of what will be in this spending review. The government has given the go-ahead to the Sizewell C nuclear plant; announced £15bn in transport spending across the north of England; expanded free school meals for all children whose parents receive universal credit; and unveiled a £4.7bn plan to build three new prisons. We also know which ministers settled quickly and which were deeply unhappy. Angela Rayner, deputy prime minister and housing secretary, won out after a fraught and drawn-out process to secure more funding for social housing, while the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, warned that the government would not meet its manifesto promises on crime. The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, was able to keep cash for a major programme of insulation, but it is unclear whether other schemes will be scaled back as a result. After a troubled start in government, will this spending review give Labour the reset so desperately needed? I spoke to Jessica Elgot, the Guardian's deputy political editor. But first, the headlines. Israel-Gaza | The UK placed sanctions on two extreme-right Israeli ministers over their 'monstrous' comments on Gaza. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich will face travel bans and freezing of assets. Austria | Ten people died and 12 were injured in a school shooting in Graz, Austria. The interior minister, Gerhard Karner, confirmed the 21-year-old suspect, who killed himself, was a former student at the school. US | The city of Los Angeles is instituting a curfew in downtown on Tuesday night as tensions between the Trump administration and California escalate over immigration raids, as governor Gavin Newsom warns democracy 'under assault'. UK politics | The Lib Dems have described the new Reform UK chair, David Bull, as a 'Trump sycophant'. Nigel Farage, however, says Bull's qualified doctor status will help counter Labour's 'lie machine' about the NHS. Transport | Driverless taxis are set to appear on London streets next spring, as confirmed by Uber and Wayve. The Department for Transport said the technology would make roads safer and could create 38,000 jobs. The UK has not had a full three-year spending review since 2015 because of the political turmoils of Brexit and the pandemic. There is a hugely important number that the Treasury wants front and centre this time: £113bn of capital spending. This is money for infrastructure, building schools and hospitals, that was unlocked by the change in fiscal rules before the October budget, which allowed more borrowing for long-term investment. 'For most ordinary voters, all they see the government committing to is political pain: whether that's winter fuel allowance or welfare cuts, the tough line that was taken at the budget and the spring statement,' Jessica explains. 'On lots of different issues, people have heard that there's a return to fiscal discipline, which is a phrase they associate with austerity. And every bit of polling tells you that people have just had enough of that.' This spending review, therefore, is 'some kind of recognition that while they can still be seen to be fiscally responsible to avoid a Liz Truss-style crisis, they do have to present a more positive vision. They have to try and get some political benefit.' The way they will attempt to do this, she says, is by pointing out investing in infrastructure generates economic growth and a return on that money spent, unlike day-to-day departmental spending. So expect to hear a lot of ministers talk about 'choosing investments over decline'. Jessica goes further: 'The Treasury has felt particularly aggrieved that they haven't got credit for making this change in the fiscal rules and framing up this cash. You still get people saying they need to raise taxes and the grumpy retorts to that is 'we raised £40bn worth of tax for the last budget and we changed the fiscal rules to pay for £100bn pounds of capital spending'. So this is them belatedly trying to claim credit for that in order to cover up what we expect to be a very tight spending review for departments on day-to-day spending.' Starting from scratch The process for the spending review is brutal. Departments must justify their entire budgets from scratch, known as a zero‑based review approach, then negotiate with the Treasury. Jessica adds that there is the idea during this process that departments deploy what is known as a 'bleeding stump' strategy – where, for example, they tell the Treasury that they will have to stop providing an essential service, such as cancer treatments or free school meals, if there is no change to the budget. In 2011, then Conservative minister Eric Pickles had accused Labour councils of doing this in the midst of austerity. Some ministers settled early with the Treasury, including the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, so she could announce her prison building programme. Wes Streeting's department is also set to be one of the big winners of the spending review: it will lay the groundwork for the NHS's 10-year plan. So is Angela Raynor, with the chancellor announcing nearly £40bn worth of grants to be spent over 10 years for local authorities, private developers and housing associations. Other holdouts, including the Department of Education, and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, settled recently with some decent wins. 'Some of the big beneficiaries are the defence industry. You will see capital spent on some schools and hospitals, actually slower than the ones the Tories promised, but Labour will say that that's because the Tories didn't have any money to fund things they committed to,' Jessica says. But, most importantly, 'all of these things take time to filter through'. Will voters feel better off? The multibillion-pound investment at Sizewell C on the Suffolk coast has been billed by the government as the biggest nuclear programme in a generation, and one that will 'get Britain off the fossil fuel rollercoaster'. Labour has also committed to big infrastructure projects in the north of England that should benefit populations there, but it will be a long while before those benefits are felt, Jessica says. 'That's a problem in terms of political cycles about who gets credit for what. None of this stuff is going to be built before the next election. I think that Sizewell C isn't going to be built until the end of the 2030s.' The government would argue it is building infrastructure that demonstrates the UK is a good solid place to invest. People should therefore start feeling the benefits of a growing economy. 'Your daily life should start getting less expensive, your wages should be rising, interest rates should be coming down, inflation should be coming down. That's the theory,' Jessica says. 'But you can see through the rise of Reform in the polls that people are frustrated they're not feeling that effect quickly enough.' 'Big, visible benefits' The partial U-turn on winter fuel allowance for pensioners and sluggish growth means Rachel Reeves has very little fiscal headroom for her day-to-day spending, Jessica explains. But though departments have had very tight settlements, the published accounts are not as bad as previously feared. Are there any other surprises on welfare coming, particularly on disability benefits and child poverty? 'I wouldn't expect any announcements on that front,' Jessica says. 'A lot of decisions have been deferred. On disability benefits, we're expecting very difficult welfare cuts to come at the end of June.' Labour MPs are being told that the major investments they are seeing in their constituencies are only possible because of these tough decisions, Jessica adds, with the Treasury framing it as 'making hard choices so we can afford big, visible projects that benefit everyone'. It is unclear if it will work. 'Maybe they'll be won over by that, but at the moment, not many of them are. That will be a very difficult moment.' On child poverty, the imminent taskforce report is likely to strongly recommend lifting the two-child benefit cap. There are suggestions that the prime minister is open to it. But again, it belongs in a different category of policy decisions, separate from the spending review. 'There's lots of suggestions out there that the PM himself is minded to act on that. But again, that's not a decision for tomorrow.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Nadeine Asbali responds to the calls from Tory and Reform MPs to ban the burqa. She argues that the real issue isn't what Muslim women wear, but how deeper societal issues are being ignored. Sundus Abdi, newsletters team Gaby Hinsliff's sharp critique of Sarah Vine's memoir about life as a Westminster Wag may end up outshining the book itself. Aamna Going away but worried your plants won't survive the week without you? This week's houseplant clinic covers hacks like using self-watering devices to avoid returning to a plant graveyard. Sundus Okinawa, Japan's subtropical island, witnessed the Pacific War's bloodiest battle. This stunning piece of visual journalism follows one man's relentless quest to recover the fragments of a forgotten history. Aamna Bad Bunny, PinkPantheress and Bon Iver's recent releases have all made the Guardian's list of best albums of 2025 so far. Critics have also named Erika de Casier, Japanese Breakfast and many more. Sundus Football | Nottingham Forest has written to Uefa on Crystal Palace's participation in the Europa League next season, alleging that Palace is in breach of multi-club ownership rules. Cricket | Ben Duckett hit 84 off 46 balls in England's 120-run opening stand as the hosts beat West Indies to wrap up their T20 series 3-0. Football | Arsenal Women's FC will play all of their Super League matches at the Emirates Stadium next season to 'allow more people than ever to experience a matchday'. 'UK imposes sanctions on Israeli ministers for 'inciting violence'' says the Guardian, and that's on the front of the Times too, though the splash is 'NHS 'won't hit targets' even with extra £30bn'. Top story in the Mirror is 'Social housing boost – £39bn new build' and we get more of an idea from the Financial Times: 'Reeves puts £39bn affordable homes drive at heart of bid to 'renew Britain''. 'Come on Rachel, now for family farm tax U-turn!' pleads the Express while the Mail says 'Reeves rocked by jobs slump'. The Telegraph's top story is 'Rayner drops law on rough sleepers'. The grim news from Austria – 'Revenge massacre at school' – covers the front page of the Metro. 250 days on hunger strike: Can Laila Soueif secure her son's freedom? Who is Alaa Abd el-Fattah and why are British diplomats trying to obtain his release? Patrick Wintour reports A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad Just over two hours from Glasgow, a six-day hike on the Isle of Arran doubles as a journey through 500 million years of Earth's history. Newly recognised as a Unesco Geopark, the island holds traces of rocks formed by ancient magma and cliffs shaped by tectonic plate shifts. If you're lucky, you might find yourself placing your hand in a 240-million-year-old footprint left by a reptile older than dinosaurs, like Stuart Kenny did. Kenny hikes the 65-mile Arran Coastal Way, and in his words: 'I abandon the geological hunt altogether and stop to watch otters fishing.' Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
Times
9 hours ago
- Times
Rough sleeping to be decriminalised
Rough sleeping is to be decriminalised after the government pledged to get rid of a 200-year-old law against vagrancy. Labour said the Vagrancy Act, which became law in 1824 and criminalises 'idle and disorderly persons, and rogues and vagabonds, in England', will be repealed by next spring. Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, who is also housing secretary, said Labour was 'drawing a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society'. She said: 'No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and by scrapping this cruel and outdated law, we are making sure that can never happen again.' Rushanara Ali, the homelessness minister, said the 'archaic' law was 'neither just nor fit for purpose'. She added: 'Scrapping the Vagrancy Act for good is another step forward in our mission to tackle homelessness in all its forms, by focusing our efforts on its root causes.' The government said new 'targeted measures will ensure police have the powers they need to keep communities safe — filling the gap left over by removing previous powers'. These will be brought in through amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill. There will be new offences of facilitating begging for gain and trespassing with the intention of committing a crime. Ministers said that means organised begging by criminal gangs will remain a crime. It will be illegal for anyone to organise others to beg. Homelessness charities hailed the law change. Matt Downie, the Crisis chief executive, said: 'This is a landmark moment that will change lives and prevent thousands of people from being pushed into the shadows, away from safety.' He praised the government for showing 'principled leadership in scrapping this pernicious act'. He said: 'We hope this signals a completely different approach to helping people forced on to the streets and clears the way for a positive agenda that is about supporting people who desperately want to move on in life and fulfil their potential. We look forward to assisting the UK government with their forthcoming homelessness strategy to do exactly that.' Emma Haddad, chief executive of St Mungo's, said the act's repeal 'cannot come soon enough' and called for a 'focus on tackling the health, housing and wider societal issues that are causing homelessness in the first place'. Centrepoint, the youth homelessness charity, warned that a challenge would be 'ensuring that proposed amendments don't have the unintended consequences of punishing people instead of supporting them'.
