CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
The next General Election (now over! 2024)
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Posted 4 months ago #
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Former Edinburgh Conservatives leader Cameron Rose is standing for Reform.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Former Edinburgh Conservatives leader Cameron Rose is standing for Reform.
I thought that was him I saw cycling around with a Reform-branded high-viz.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Ah “reform”
Useful word
Can mean all sorts
Different things to different people and eras…
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The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Reform Act 1832, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. It reapportioned constituencies to address the unequal distribution of seats and expanded franchise by broadening and standardising the property qualifications to vote. Only qualifying men were able to vote; the Act introduced the first explicit statutory bar to women voting by defining a voter as a male person.[2]
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Posted 4 months ago # -
Farage covered in Clayton Milkshake
Posted 4 months ago # -
"The SNP have finally admitted they have nothing left to offer Scotland."
Posted 4 months ago # -
Steven Flynn on ITV leader interviews - Nicola Sturgeon's stated position that general election will be a defacto independence referendum no longer SNP policy.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Leaders debate was all about long suffering English voters. Scotland wasn't mentioned and Wales only in a dismissive way as an example of an NHS worse than England.
Half expected Starmer to mention he was giving Scotland GB Energy. On that point this letter caught my eye today. (from National)
GB Energy won’t generate any energy but invest public money in offshore wind and solar projects to be owned and operated by private energy companies. It’s PFI all over again, Labour’s “big idea” that allows private corporations to “invest” in public infrastructure and earn profits without bearing any risk. Like NHS hospitals that were subjected to PFI schemes, GB Energy’s projects will carry crippling new debt they’ll be forced to pay back over decades from public funds.
.Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, confirmed this, saying GB Energy’s purpose will be the “management of the investments, which we believe are essential to unlock these markets and opportunities.”
So Starmer’s lying when he declares that GB Energy will lower bills. Scots will continue to pay some of the highest energy prices in the UK when their nation produces the lion share of renewables. If anything, GB Energy will make things worse by extending the privatisation of an irretrievably broken sector that only renationalisation can fix.
But Starmer is against renationalising energy despite pledging to do so in the English Labour manifesto. At the 2023 party conference, members overwhelmingly voted to bring energy and rail back into public ownership, which the leadership ignoredPosted 4 months ago # -
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Douglas Ross has announced he will stand down as leader of the Scottish Conservatives on 4 July amid growing internal pressure over his multiple roles in the party and fresh allegations about improper expenses claims.
In the surprise statement on Monday morning, Ross also said he would quit as an MSP at Holyrood should he win the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency at the Westminster election.
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Posted 4 months ago # -
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More than 400 scientists write to political parties urging ambitious action or risk making Britain and the world ‘more dangerous and insecure’
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Posted 4 months ago # -
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Here is the agenda for the day.
11.30am: Rishi Sunak launches the Conservative party’s manifesto at Silverstone racetrack.
1pm: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is campaigning in Ashfield with Lee Anderson, the former Tory MP who is the party’s candidate in the constituency.
And Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, is campaigning in the south west of England.
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Posted 4 months ago # -
Posted 4 months ago #
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"Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire". Lennon's inspiration came from an article in the Daily Mail, of all places. An item in the 17 January 1967 edition asserted that: "There are 4,000 holes in the road in Blackburn, Lancashire, or one twenty-sixth of a hole per person, according to a council survey. If Blackburn is typical, there are two million holes in Britain's roads and 300,000 in London."
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https://londonist.com/london/music/so-how-many-holes-would-it-take-to-fill-the-albert-hall
Posted 4 months ago # -
Complete with a misleading picture of a road with only 2 cars on it
Posted 4 months ago # -
I'd love to know how they plan tope tackle the soaring cost of car insurance. Easiest way seems to me to be forcing car drivers to obey the rules.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Anyone actually read the manifesto?
How do they plan to do this?
Ring fenced money to LAs??
Any figures in manifesto?
Posted 4 months ago # -
@chdot - the Labour manifesto states that it will fix one million potholes per year over the next parliamentary session. This will be paid for by cancelling the A27 Arundel bypass (cost £320m+ according to National Highways).
Assuming a full five-year term and a budget of £320m, that gives an average figure of £64.00 per pothole repair - which seems about right.
No word on how the funds will be distributed, but I reckon your ring-fencing idea seems sound.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Thanks for studying manifesto(s?)
“ring-fencing idea seems sound”
Is it possible to insist on precisely how money is spent by devolved administrations?
Posted 4 months ago # -
This may or may not be true -
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The comment Starmer made about fixing 1 million potholes a year was referring to England only.
WHY is the puppet party, who call themselves "Scottish" Labour even pretending this applies to Scotland / the UK?
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Posted 4 months ago # -
@chdot - post-EU devolved funding arrangements are too complicated for a CCE post. Generally speaking though, the UK Government cannot specify what the block grant paid to the Scottish Government can be spent on. However, there are mechanisms, such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, that allow the UK Government to directly award cash to Scottish local authorities and other bodies for specific activities.
I am sure a clever Treasury type could work out some sort of GB-wide pothole fund if that was what the UK Government wanted to do. The Scottish Government wouldn't be happy, but I reckon most Scottish local authorities would jump at the chance for the cash.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Ta
Interesting
And entertaining…
Can we trust LAs to spend the money wisely/appropriately?
No need to answer that!
My view is that it’s essentially ‘not about the money’.
Apart from ‘too many cars’ and ‘too many poorly repaired utility trenches’ and (my perennial) ‘downsides of ‘Capital/Revenue split’ the truth is LAs (CEC for instance) no longer have the staff/skills and contractors (generally) don’t care.
It’s all very well for SA to hire a public relations pothole buster as an expensive gimmick - it may do a brilliant job on the potholes selected, but is unlikely to do the worst/most urgent or, more importantly, whole stretches of road that need rebuilt - the reality is that there is no proper overview of anything to do with transport.
Side roads, even culs de sac, get done, pavement slabs (damaged by vehicles) get (re-) done.
Etc.
Posted 4 months ago # -
‘too many poorly repaired utility trenches’
Speaking of which, I noted the other day the new and no doubt very expensive resurfacing of S Charlotte St had already been dug up. FFS.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I gave it some thought, and decided that I'm going to abstain this time around.
I can't vote for the SNP, now they've decided they aren't against new oilfields. I can't vote for Labour as that means voting for Scott Arthur and being permanently included in his endless references to how many votes he got. (I can't be bothered with a protest vote either.)
I think it's the first election I'll have ever missed. (I'm one of the few who even vote in local and european elections ;-)
Posted 4 months ago # -
Other parties are available…
Posted 4 months ago # -
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A General Election has been called for 4 July 2024. Register to vote by 11:59pm on 18 June 2024.
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https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote#nff_cid=6e000e2b-03db-44d8-ae6d-f2ed646eb685
(Tonight)
Posted 4 months ago # -
Labour in Scotland launched its manifesto yesterday. Graphically similar to UK one with monochrome Anas and Keir standing shoulder to shoulder underneath red 'Change'.
Wording tweaked.
UK Labour Party manifesto: This election is about change. A chance to stop the endless Conservative chaos that has directly harmed the finances of every family in Britain. A moment where we can turn the page on a set of ideas that, over 14 years, have consistently left us more vulnerable in an increasingly volatile world.
Scottish Labour manifesto: This election is about change. A chance to stop the endless SNP and Conservative chaos that has damaged the finances of every family in Scotland. A moment where we can turn the page on a set of ideas that have left us vulnerable in an increasingly volatile world.
Posted 4 months ago # -
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General Election Transport Manifesto
June 2024
Ahead of the next General Election, we have put together a series of policy asks that we believe could substantially improve public transport in England and Wales for the benefit of the economy, the passenger and the planet.
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https://bettertransport.org.uk/research/campaign-for-better-transport-general-election-manifesto/
Posted 4 months ago # -
If nationalisation is good enough for Scotland why won't it work in England and Wales?
'Encouraging more competition between operators' reminds me of 'bus wars'.
In Scotland we have Flix, City Link and Ember fighting it out to win the users of free bus passes.What about single fares that are exactly half the return?
We've just had Leven line reopened here and talk of rail to Fraserburgh.
Outside London what's next in England? They want HS2 revived. Scotland and Wales should get refund.Posted 4 months ago # -
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Posted 4 months ago #
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