Latest news with #Labour-led
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Plans move to turn closed primary into SEN school
Plans to turn a closed primary school into a school for children with special educational needs (SEN) are taking a step forward. Colgate Primary School in Felling, Gateshead, was transferred to the Cedars Trust to provide 180 places from September. The academy organisation has applied to the council to expand the car park and widen its access. Planning documents show the school is expecting a high number of children to arrive in vehicles, either with their parents and carers or by home-to-school transport provided by the local authority. The existing car access entrance from High Heworth Lane would be widened to allow for two-way traffic, the documents said, while pedestrian access would remain from Colegate West. It comes after the Labour-led council decided to close the school in September last year. Colegate Primary had been dubbed the council's "most vulnerable school" in official documents, with a projected financial deficit of over £500,000 by 2025-26, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. More than 2,000 people signed a petition backing calls to keep it open. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. School closure consultation a 'tick-box exercise' BBC Sounds: Gateshead parents bid to save primary school Gateshead Council
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Solar panels 'to cut leisure centre running costs'
Solar panels have been installed on a leisure centre as part of efforts to reduce costs and protect the environment. Workington Leisure Centre in Cumbria has been fitted with 160kW panels, which will provide about 20% of the site's electricity demand. The installation is expected to save money on running costs and generate income by exporting electricity back into the National Grid during periods of low consumption. Cumberland Council's executive member for vibrant and healthy places, Anne Quilter, said the solar panels were one way the council was working to "build a greener, more sustainable future for [its] communities". She said their installation also aligned with the Labour-led local authority's "commitment to tackling the climate emergency and building environmental resilience" across the region. The solar panels were paid for using capital grant funding from the Sport England Swimming Pool Support Fund, which also helped to pay for panels at The Sands Centre in Carlisle. Tom Rice, partnership manager at Greenwich Leisure Limited, which runs the centre, said: "One of our key priorities is to futureproof leisure facilities across [the area] and champion environmental resilience." He said the cost savings made from selling electricity back to the grid would be reinvested back into the leisure centre. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. £2.5m work to replace events space roof to begin Crane brought in to remove Raac from venue's roof Cumberland Council
Scoop
3 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
NZ's Budget For Austerity And War
The budget announced by New Zealand's right-wing coalition government on May 22 represents a major escalation in the assault on workers' wages, living standards and public services, in order to fund tax breaks for the rich and to build up the military in preparation for war. Finance Minister Nicola Willis asserted that the budget was 'not austerity—far from it,' saying that it contained 'much-needed investments' in health and education. This flies in the face of reality. The government slashed the budget's operating allowance (total increase in spending) to $1.3 billion—the lowest figure in a decade. Over the next four years it intends to reduce total spending from 32.9 to 30.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The government cited deepening economic turmoil as a result of the Trump administration's tariffs, which come on top of last year's recession in New Zealand. The country's economy shrank by 0.5 percent in 2024, and unemployment rose from 4 to 5.1 percent, with tens of thousands of workers sacked across the public sector and by private companies. There is a stark social crisis, with soaring living costs, an estimated 500,000 people (one in ten) relying on food banks and one in five children living in poverty—all of which will get worse as a result of the budget changes. The most significant new spending is on the military, in line with demands from the US, Australia and the NATO imperialist powers. The defence budget will rise from 1 to 2 percent of GDP over the next eight years, starting with an investment of nearly $13 billion over four years. Far-right ACT Party leader and government minister David Seymour warned in parliament that the 'the chances are higher than ever' that New Zealand will need to use its military. The increased spending, he said, 'allows us to be part of a network of like-minded democratic societies committed to defending our freedoms in an uncertain world.' In fact, as was made clear in last month's Defence Capability Plan, the aim is to integrate New Zealand into aggressive US-led military preparations targeting China. As a minor imperialist power, New Zealand is already contributing to the brutal war in Ukraine and the bombing of Yemen, which are part of the imperialist countries' efforts to solve their economic crisis by violently redividing the world. The opposition Labour Party supports this agenda: its leader Chris Hipkins did not mention the vast military spending boost in his response to the budget. His ally, Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick stated that the government 'think it's harder to feed the poor [than] to arm up for somebody else's war.' The Greens' alternative budget, however, is silent on the rearmament program. As part of the last Labour-led coalition government from 2017 to 2023, the Greens supported increased military spending and the decision to send troops to Britain to assist in training Ukrainian conscripts for war against Russia. The party has recently adopted the militarist slogan of making NZ 'a country worth fighting for.' The money for war comes at the direct expense of the working class. Notably, the government expects to 'save' $12.8 billion over four years by cancelling 33 separate pay equity negotiations, which were to increase pay for hundreds of thousands of workers in female-dominated roles, including teachers. Other attacks include: Reduced government contributions to KiwiSaver, a retirement savings scheme covering most workers. Currently, members of the scheme can get $521 a year from the state, but this has been halved to $260.72 in order to save the government $2.46 billion over four years. Around 9,000 unemployed 18- and 19-year-olds will be kicked off unemployment benefits 'if it is determined that their parents or caregivers can support them.' The move is particularly brutal given that 13.2 percent of under-25-year-olds are not employed or in education—more than double the overall unemployment rate. The Best Start tax credit, given to parents in the first year of their child's life, will be income-tested, which will lead to 'a reduction in income' for around 61,000 families, according to government officials. $1 billion will be cut over five years to emergency housing for the homeless, under conditions where 2.3 percent of the population is severely housing deprived. None of these cuts will be offset by the pitifully small 'relief' touted by the government, consisting of a $7-a-week increase in tax credits for some working families. The government's rhetoric about increased investment in health and education is likewise a sham. Total annual health spending has increased by just 4.77 percent ($1.37 billion)—not enough to address the crisis of unmet need and understaffing of public hospitals and medical centres. With inflation at 2.5 percent and annual population growth of 1.5 to 2 percent, Auckland University health policy professor Tim Tenbensel wrote in the Conversation that a 4–5 percent funding increase 'amounts to merely standing still.' Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have held strikes over the past year-and-a-half to protest below-inflation pay offers and a hiring freeze in public hospitals. Funding for public education is being cut in real terms. Radio NZ reports that school operations grants have received an increase of just 1.5 percent. Meanwhile government subsidies for private schools, including several elite institutions, will rise by 11 percent. The budget will increase subsidies for university tuition by 3 percent or 4.75 percent, depending on the subject. Tertiary education providers, which have had their funding slashed by successive governments, will be permitted to increase fees by 6 percent, driving up student debt, which reached a total of $15.6 billion at the end of 2024. The government anticipates that its austerity measures will fuel social opposition and conflict and is therefore strengthening the repressive arms of the state. There is $472 million over four years to expand prisons and hire 580 more Corrections staff, in addition to 685 funded in last year's budget. Some $33 million over four years is allocated to expand military-style boot camps for young offenders. Labour Party leader Hipkins denounced several cuts in the budget, as well as $200 million in subsidies for fossil fuels development at gas fields. 'More people are homeless, more children are going hungry and women are going to be paid less. That's what Nicola Willis and [Prime Minister] Christopher Luxon will be remembered for,' Hipkins said. Such statements are typical of Labour's blatant hypocrisy. The National-led coalition government is, in fact, building upon the attacks of the last Labour government. Labour lost the 2023 election in a landslide defeat, fuelled by mass anger over soaring living costs, the crisis in the health system, increased child poverty and homelessness, as well as Labour's support for Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza. The Public Service Association's Fleur Fitzsimons similarly denounced the budget as 'wage theft on a national scale against New Zealand women.' The PSA, the biggest union, has enforced thousands of job cuts across the public sector, while also openly supporting the multi-billion dollar increase in military spending. The budget's austerity and warmongering will accelerate the movement to the left by workers and young people, who will come into conflict not only with the government, but with the opposition parties and the pro-capitalist union apparatus. The crucial task facing the working class is to establish its political independence from all these organisations and to consciously take up the fight for the socialist reorganisation of society. This means joining and fighting to build the world Trotskyist movement, which in New Zealand is represented by the Socialist Equality Group. By Tom Peters, Socialist Equality Group 26 May 2025
Daily Record
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Record
East Kilbride MP says NHS Lanarkshire 'is in decline' under the SNP as patients are left languishing
Statistics from Public Health Scotland show that outpatient treatments fell by 2,301 (over five per cent) – the third worst figure in Scotland. East Kilbride MP Joani Reid has claimed the NHS in Lanarkshire is in decline under SNP rule as new figures on waiting times and in-and out-patient treatments are released. The statistics, from Public Health Scotland, show, comparing the 12 months ending in March this year with the 12 months ending in March 2024, that in Lanarkshire outpatient treatments fell by 2,301 (over five per cent) – the third worst figure in Scotland. The number of people waiting for an outpatient appointment rose by 592 and the total number of people waiting for inpatient treatment rose by 922 – the fourth worst figure in the country. Download the Lanarkshire Live app today The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now. Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7. The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you. Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android A total of 5,510 people were waiting more than 52 weeks for an outpatient appointment – close to one in ten of all those waiting and 2,174 people waited more than 52 weeks for inpatient appointments – over 15 per cent of all those waiting. And 621 fewer patients were admitted for inpatient treatment. Joani Reid MP, Scottish Labour MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, said: 'These figures are a record of the SNP's failure. They have been running the NHS in Lanarkshire and the rest of Scotland for nearly 20 years and yet things are getting worse, much worse in many cases, and not better. 'The contrast with the performance down South of the Labour government, elected less than 11 months ago and yet turning round the NHS, could not be clearer. 'Continued SNP rule would be a disaster for the health service in Lanarkshire. Our health needs are increasing but the SNP can deliver us nothing. They are out of ideas and their tired and wasteful government needs to go. 'The NHS in Lanarkshire needs a fresh start. That can only come with a new Labour-led government in Holyrood.' Back in 2022 Humza Yousaf, then the Heath Secretary, announced new targets to eradicate long waits. He promised to end waits of over two years for in-patient and day case treatment by September that year and to eradicate inpatient or day case treatments by September last year. But almost a quarter of the 158,436 currently waiting for out-patient treatment have been on lists for more than a year. A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "It is encouraging and indeed a testament to our hardworking NHS staff that the statistics published this week are showing improvements in some outpatient, diagnostic and inpatient/day case waiting times performance metrics. "Our 2025-26 Budget provides record funding of £21 billion for health and social care - with NHS boards receiving an additional £200 million to reduce waiting lists and help support reduction of delayed discharge. "We have already made good progress through our targeted funding approach. NHS Boards have exceeded the commitment to deliver 64,000 appointments and procedures in 2024-25, funded through our £30m investment, with Boards reporting delivery of 105,500 appointments and procedures." *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Voting opens to name Sunderland's new footbridge
Voting has opened to decide a name for Sunderland's latest multimillion-pound landmark. More than 1,000 possible contenders were submitted by the public for the new Wear footbridge. The favourites have since been whittled down to a final three for people to choose from - Keel Crossing, Wear Crossing and Beacon Bridge. Michael Mordey, leader of Sunderland City Council, said a panel of representatives from local community groups had been "overwhelmed" by the response. "We received over 1,000 in total, which shows just how much the campaign captured everyone's hearts and imaginations," he said. "We've had entire families, school classes and community groups coming together to think of ideas, so hopefully this next stage will spark even more excitement." The panel included Rob Lawson, chair of Sunderland Business Partnership. He said he hoped the shortlist would "capture hearts and imaginations for generations to come". Due to open this summer, the bridge is a central figure in the development of Riverside Sunderland, described as one of the UK's most ambitious urban regeneration projects. Measuring 10m-wide and spanning 260m, at a height of 30m above the river, it is one of several high-profile developments under construction. About £31m has been spent on the bridge, commissioned by the Labour-led council, which will link Keel Square with Sheepfolds and the Stadium of Light. In recent months, parts of the bridge have made their way across the North Sea after being manufactured in Ghent, Belgium. The footbridge naming vote is the first feature to go live on Your Sunderland, the new online platform launched by the council. The vote closes on 6 June. Mordey added: "By providing an open forum where residents can have a say on ongoing city developments and projects, we're ensuring everyone has a chance to shape the decisions directly impacting their lives and communities." Follow BBC Sunderland on X, Facebook and Instagram Final section of city's bridge lifted into place Construction of city footbridge hits 'milestone' Your Sunderland Sunderland City Council
