Latest news with #devolution
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Solent mayor race: Donna Jones named as first official candidate
A police and crime commissioner has become the first candidate officially selected to run in the inaugural Hampshire and Isle of Wight mayoral Jones announced she has been selected as the Conservative candidate for the 2026 vote in the newly created Hampshire and Solent devolved region. It is part of a devolution fast-track initiative, which will see the region gain power over transport, housing, education, healthcare and local economic initiative will see the creation of a new strategic combined authority, with a mayor in charge. Other political parties are yet to select their candidates. The current roles and functions of the PCC are likely to be swallowed up by the mayor's office as part of the said she was "delighted" to be announcing her a launch video, she said: "For me, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is home, it's my happy place, it's where my heart is. Helping others and giving something back is part of my DNA."Jones was leader of Portsmouth City Council for four years until 2018. She was first elected as the Hampshire & Isle of Wight PCC in 2021 and then was re-elected in previously said she wanted community safety to be a "central pillar" of the new mayoral combined about her campaign, Jones added: "I've been on the frontline, working tirelessly to make our area safer. "I've got a proven track record and experience that matters. "I'm ready to represent the place I love, the place that's given me both inspiration and opportunity." You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
7 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
More than 12,000 sign petition backing Cornwall as fifth nation
A petition calling for Cornwall to be recognised as the UK's fifth nation now has more than 12,000 petition, launched following a vote in favour by Cornwall Council on 23 July, urges the government to grant the duchy "equal status to Wales and Scotland".Topping 10,000 signatures means it will get a response from the government and, if it reaches 100,000 signatures by 11 September, the issue could be debated in leader, Liberal Democrat Leigh Frost, said the move reflected a desire for "fairer funding, better representation and the ability to shape our own future". MP Ben McGuire, Lib Dem MP for North Cornwall, said he was "really pleased to see such widespread support" for nation status."I don't see why not. I'm extremely ambitious for Cornwall, and I think if we have nation status, it could be a real game-changer for our duchy," he told BBC Radio Cornwall."It could give Cornwall real clout in discussions with this government and any future government."Councillor Rowland O'Connor, deputy leader of the Reform group, the largest single party group on Cornwall Council, stressed that while Reform respected Cornish identity, it did not support the push for devolution."We are all Cornish and proud of it, but we do not agree with the direction of travel towards a devolution agreement," he said."There is a symbiotic relationship between Cornwall and the rest of the UK. Taking it to full devolution is a step too far, especially without overwhelming public consent." Anna Gelderd, Labour MP for South East Cornwall, also expressed caution, emphasising the importance of listening to constituents."Devolution is not something that comes through my inbox all that often," she said."I'm hugely supportive of Cornish minority status, but what I want is for the people of South East Cornwall to be better provided for, with easier access to public services and a strong economy. "That often means working with our neighbours across the UK."The identity and culture of being Cornish is part of who we are, that exists irrespective of the political situation."
BBC News
31-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Greater Essex devolution: What would a new mayor do?
Big changes are on the way to how one of England's most populous counties is a couple of years' time, Essex is likely to have a directly-elected mayor overseeing a population of nearly 2 million people and an economy worth £50bn – bigger than Northern have also been put forward to scrap the county's current 15 councils, and instead have three, four or five unitary authorities to replace will this all work, and what does it mean for the people living in the county? Where has this idea come from? In the run-up to the general election last year, Labour spoke often of the party's desire to see more devolution of power around the like Greater Manchester and the West Midlands have had mayors with their own powers for years, but what's been handed down - and how it's been funded - has varied widely from place to is one of the areas not currently covered by a devolution deal, but things are about to deputy leader Angela Rayner has been tasked with overseeing the new system, and told the BBC the new regional mayors will have more control over housing, transport, education and employment in their areas than councils currently have. How will it work? Big decisions will be made as part of a mayoral combined authority. Councils will send representatives to join the mayor on making and voting on big decisions for a representatives will come from the current upper tier of authorities - meaning three members from Essex County Council, and two from both Southend Council and Thurrock Council would join the mayor in a and when Essex's current 15 councils are abolished and replaced, somewhere between three and five new unitary authorities would be represented on the Greater Essex combined authority. What powers will the mayor have? The mayor will receive funding and decision-making powers from the government for:Housing and regenerationLocal growthAdult skills (except apprenticeships)Local transportWhen it comes to transport, the combined authority would be able to decide on bus routes, timetables, fares and mayor would also have power over developing and running the rail network. Essex could potentially implement a ticketing system that works across different public transport types, as it does in and adult learning could be tailored by the mayor to support local jobs and industry within mayoral combined authority would also be given control of funding to support regeneration and housing established, it's possible more powers could be devolved from Westminster. Greater Manchester controls local health spending but that isn't on the cards for Essex at the moment. How much money will the mayor have? An exact sum from the government is currently not known, but is likely to be in the tens of possible the mayor could raise a precept on council tax but, again, this is not is a fire and police precept on council tax which pays for those services. If the mayor takes over the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) role, which is likely, those local rates will then be decided by the mayor. Who could be the mayor? The Conservatives have selected Louise McKinlay to be their candidate. She's currently the deputy leader of Essex County Council and is a former Brentwood council were 18 local Tories who applied to be their party's candidate - three were put to the Essex party membership to vote for. Roger Hirst, the current Essex PFCC, and businessman James Sinclair were the other candidates on the Liberal Democrats have opened nominations with a candidate to be announced in September. Labour are expected to do so Farage told the BBC the Reform UK mayoral candidate will be from Essex and there has been a lot of interest. He said they are likely to be announced at the party's autumn conference in Birmingham. What's happening to my local district council? There will still be a number of councils running services like bin collections, libraries, maintaining parks and providing social care. A mayoral combined authority is not expected to get involved in these the existing council structure of county, unitary and district in Essex is being looked at for radical is a separate to devolution and is known as local government County Council prefers an option of three all-purpose unitary authorities covering Essex and replacing the current 15 unitary, county and district City Council and several district councils prefer an option of five. Thurrock prefers four.A public consultation on the plans closed on 20 have to be submitted to the government by 26 September. A decision will be made by government, possibly in March 2026, on what Essex's new council areas will look like. Do people want this? A survey of nearly 4,000 people by the government earlier this year found 71% were against an Essex government said people's main concern was that a mayor would "centralise power, reduce local accountability, and weaken community identity, especially in places like Southend, Thurrock, or rural Essex".But business organisations like the Essex Chambers of Commerce and local universities and colleges - as well as most councils - do see benefits. When will there be elections? Elections for a Greater Essex mayor are set to take place on 7 May could be under the supplementary vote system if legislation is passed in time. This is where people vote for their preferred and second favourite candidate. If no one is chosen by half the electorate in the first round, second preference voting comes into consideration until one person achieves the 50% for the county council and in Thurrock were postponed this year so local authorities could focus on working on the council elections are scheduled for next May. But it is possible they may be cancelled January, an Essex County Council report stated: "There will be further postponements if reorganisation proceeds. In reality there will be no further ordinary elections to those councils whose elections are postponed".The first elections for the new councils are planned for May 2027. What happens next? In the autumn, we should find out more details in terms of money and powers which will be in the mayor's on the geography of new councils in Essex have to be submitted to government by the 26 final decision is the government's, which could be made in March 2026. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
30-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
County council votes against expanded Leicester city boundary
County councillors have voted for a motion opposing any future expansion of Leicester's political city's Labour mayor Sir Peter Soulsby has proposed a new political map which would see its boundaries move outwards to take in towns and villages currently served by neighbouring district idea is one of three potential options to be considered by the government, which wants to end the existing two-tier council system in England, and create new authorities with greater devolved at a special meeting on Wednesday, members of Leicestershire County Council voted by 23 to 22 to oppose a city expansion. Soulsby said he was disappointed by the result of the vote but that he hoped to continue having constructive discussions with the county council before making final submissions on future boundaries to ministers in November. The motion was proposed by the county council's Tory opposition group leader Deborah Taylor said the proposed expansion ignored the views of residents who could find themselves incorporated in a greater Leicester."Many of our residents moved out of the city into the county and they certainly have no wish to be moved back into the city against their will."This is about land grabbing and council tax payers to prop up a failing city council."She said residents feared their council tax would rise and services would decline should they become part of the city. The county council's Reform UK leader Dan Harrison described the Tory motion as "grandstanding and waving flags" but added he thought the city boundary would ultimately expand."There's a lot of hype, there's a lot of talk," he added."I am trying to defend our future."[The Tories] would say just sit back and let government decide but believe me with a Labour mayor and a Labour minister - who would get the best deal out of that?"We are trying to negotiate, talk and have realistic conversations."Harrison said modelling was now being done with the aim of getting a clearer picture of future plans by UK, which runs the council as a minority administration, proposed having a referendum on local government reorganisation but the move was voted down by 24 votes to the meeting, about 40 residents had joined Tory councillors in a protest outside County Hall. Under its proposal, the city council said Leicester's current population of 372,000 would increase to 623,000 by told the BBC: "In private, all political groups accept the case for extending the city boundary is overwhelming."It would unlock devolution and help meet the city's housing needs. "I've said to Dan Harrison, and the county council, we have to work with them to get a model for appropriate city boundaries."I do understand why people may have concerns but council tax would not be hiked."They would not be taken over. It's about becoming part of another council over which they would have considerable influence." The city council has proposed the rest of Leicestershire and Rutland should fall under a single council serving a population of 578, County Council has already outlined proposals to create one unitary authority for the whole county - replacing itself and the districts and boroughs - sitting around the city's current districts' favoured model is for three unitary councils across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.A North Leicestershire and Rutland council would serve the area currently covered by Charnwood borough, North West Leicestershire district, Melton borough and Rutland County Council.A separate South Leicestershire council would cover the areas of Blaby district, Harborough district, Hinckley and Bosworth borough and Oadby and Wigston borough city would remain are proposing more public engagement in the summer, as final proposals for local government reform must be submitted by 28 November 2025.
Telegraph
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Recognising Palestine will not solve Labour's electoral woes
In Scottish Labour ranks there used to be a saying: you can't out-nat the Nats. This was usually in response to armchair strategists who expressed the view that if only Labour in Scotland would embrace a more robust form of devolution – the 'full fiscal autonomy' model, or devo max, as it was called – then those who yearned for independence would consider supporting us. Naturally, such self-delusion was almost childishly easy to dismiss: why would nationalists vote for a unionist party that denied them the very thing they wanted? Why settle for 90 per cent of your ambition when an alternative party (the SNP) were promising to deliver 100 per cent? Labour's current troubles over whether to recognise Palestine formally as a nation reeks of the same cynicism and strategic folly. There are other hurdles to navigate before we even get to Labour's (relatively unimportant) internal squabbles: how do you recognise a country that doesn't exist? What is the point of recognising even a hypothetical country when no one can agree what its borders should be, where its capital is and who represents its leader or its government? More importantly, how would recognition by the UK aid the peace process? It is far more likely to do the opposite, since Hamas would (correctly) see it as a reward for the grotesque act of barbarism they inflicted on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, which led directly to the calamity now befalling their own people. Labour MPs, already nervous about their chances of re-election in a few years' time, believe that their chances of survival depend upon the recovery of their party's support among Britain's Muslim voters and recognition of Palestine, even though it can have no practical beneficial impact except in terms of propaganda. They are understandably concerned, not only about the imminent emergence of Jeremy Corbyn's latest political party – one that will specifically target voters disillusioned by Labour's current approach to Israel and Palestine and whose formation has been largely motivated by that conflict – but by others on the Left seeking to exploit the current conflict for their own electoral ends, like the Greens. So put yourself in the shoes of a British Muslim voter, one who has traditionally backed Labour, mainly because of its relaxed approach to mass immigration, not least from your ancestral home country. Two things have happened: first, the Conservatives have proved that Labour does not have a monopoly on support for mass immigration without the consent of the indigenous population. In fact, while in office they established that they were more enthusiastic about an open-door immigration policy than even Labour. And second, the conflict in Gaza exposed Labour as fair-weather friends to both Israel and Palestine. If, as Nye Bevan once said, those who cannot ride two horses at the same time shouldn't be in the circus, then the current administration might have to retire from the ring. The government started out supporting Israel in the face of the Islamist threat. Then, once in office, after it recognised the threat to its electoral strongholds from independent pro-Gaza candidates, it pivoted and jumped on the International Criminal Court bandwagon by allowing arrest warrants to be issued for Israel's prime minister for alleged 'war crimes'. Yet still ministers resist calls from shouty middle-class people in our city centres every weekend to boycott, disinvest and sanction Israel. Still they defend Israel's 'right to exist' – a point of principle that few pro-Palestinian protesters would concede. And now numerous Labour MPs actually seem to believe that recognising Palestine will bring all those disillusioned Muslim and far-Left voters home to Labour. But why would they come back? Why return to a party that, however much it has served their purposes in past decades, is now prevaricating over the one conflict in the region they have chosen to feel strongly about? Just as Scottish Labour could only hope to attract the support of nationalists by fully signing up to the fight for independence, so Labour cannot hope to thwart the appeal of Corbyn's new party on this issue – unless it follows Palestinian recognition, from the river to the sea, with a refusal to recognise Israel's right to exist or defend itself. It would also have to ban all Israeli imports and ban British companies from exporting to that country. Even then, would those lost voters return to Labour in big enough numbers? Why support a 'Johnny-come-lately' to the Palestinian cause when Jeremy has a proud record of describing Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists as his 'friends'? Beat that, Keir Starmer! The Prime Minister mustn't even try. You can't beat the far Left at their own game, at least not while hoping to retain the much more centrist and sensible voters who put you in office. The various weirdos, extremists and weekend paper-sellers that will form the activist base of Corbyn's new party have a lifetime's experience in opposing the only liberal democracy in the Middle East and yearn to see it replaced by the kind of Islamist dictatorship that has brought so much misery to ordinary Palestinians. Far better for Starmer to take the side of Israel as our long-term ally in western democracy's fight against worldwide Islamism.
