All posts tagged: mayoral

From mayoral elections to Rwanda removals, Sunak won’t let the truth jeopardise his mission | Stewart Lee

From mayoral elections to Rwanda removals, Sunak won’t let the truth jeopardise his mission | Stewart Lee

Published by skeptic

In the psychedelic 60s stop-frame animation children’s television series Trumpton, all the characters have identifying proper names – the fireman Captain Flack, the state stormtrooper Police Constable Potter, and the mysterious dungeon-dwelling economist Gideon Pencils Osborne. The mayor of Trumpton, however, was known only as The Mayor, and neither his actual name nor his political affiliations were ever revealed, though he smelt of pubs and Wormwood Scrubs and too many rightwing meetings. All over the land last week, Tory mayors dreamed of similar anonymity, hoping that if no one knew anything about them, and their campaign literature didn’t reveal they belonged to the Tory party, people might at least vote for them by accident, thinking they were someone else. “Oh! Andy Street was the West Midlands’ Tory mayor candidate? I thought I was voting for the glamorous, and now deceased, Welsh wrestler Adrian Street. I liked it when he pulled out Jimmy Savile’s hair in 1971.” At the time of filing this week’s so-called “funny” column, I don’t know the results of Thursday’s mayoral elections, …

Andy Street sends message to Rishi Sunak after West Midlands mayoral election loss | Politics | News

Andy Street sends message to Rishi Sunak after West Midlands mayoral election loss | Politics | News

Published by skeptic

Andy Street has sent a clear and forthright message to Rishi Sunak after he failed to be re-elected as West Midlands mayor. The Tory politician and business man agonisingly missed out on being returned to his office. He was pipped at the post by Labour’s Richard Parker, who graciously thanked his opponent for all his hard work in his victory speech. Mr Parker secured a very narrow victory in the mayoral election in a major upset for the Tories. He won by a sender thin majority of 1,508 votes – securing 37.8 percent of the vote, while Mr Street got 37.5 percent. Andy Street later appeared on Sky News and was asked what message he had for Britain’s Prime Minister after his defeat. The former Tory mayor said voters had consistently told him at the doorstep that “he had got the job done”. So he advised the Prime Minister to pay heed to the words of the West Midlamds’ voters. He said: “Concentrate on the job and getting that done. That’s what the people want. …

Conservative Andy Street suffers shock loss to Labour in West Midlands mayoral race in blow to Rishi Sunak | Politics News

Conservative Andy Street suffers shock loss to Labour in West Midlands mayoral race in blow to Rishi Sunak | Politics News

Published by Sam

Tory incumbent Andy Street has suffered a shock defeat to Labour in the West Midlands mayoral election after a partial recount was ordered. Labour’s Richard Parker beat Mr Street by just 1,508 votes – 0.25% – to deliver a major blow to Rishi Sunak in the key electoral battleground after a hammering in the local elections. With the race neck-and-neck, in the end it came down to the results in one borough – Labour-supporting Sandwell. “This is the most important thing I will ever do,” Mr Parker said in his acceptance speech. “I promise you that I will deliver jobs,” he added. He told Sky News he would take buses “back into public control” and deliver the “largest programme of social housing we’ve had in this region for more than 40 years”. And he thanked his predecessor, who he said had “led this region through a number of great challenges and you deserve great credit for that”. Mr Street told Sky News he was “personally devastated”, had “put my all into this”, and “genuinely believed …

Labour claims victory in West Midlands mayoral election beating Andy Street | Politics | News

Labour claims victory in West Midlands mayoral election beating Andy Street | Politics | News

Published by skeptic

Labour has claimed victory in the West Midlands mayoral race in a huge blow to Rishi Sunak. Conservative incumbent Andy Street was vying for a third term against Labour rival Richard Parker in the key ballot. It is a crushing result for the Prime Minister in what was seen as a crucial test after Tory Ben Houchen stayed on as Tees Valley Mayor. The hammer blow could be fresh fodder to Conservative rebels set on ousting Mr Sunak before the general election. It has been a difficult set of local elections for the PM after voters took to the polls on Thursday. With 106 out of 107 of the local councils declared on Saturday, the Conservatives had suffered a net loss of 396 councillors and the loss of 10 councils. Labour won control of eight councils with a net gain of 231 seats, while the Liberal Democrats gained 97 seats and the Greens 64. But Sir Keir Starmer’s party lost some council seats to independents and George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain, apparently over its …

Local elections 2024: full mayoral and council results for England | Local elections

Local elections 2024: full mayoral and council results for England | Local elections

Published by skeptic

On 2 May, 107 English councils held elections with more than 2,000 seats being contested. Some were for metropolitan boroughs such as Manchester city council and others for unitary authorities such as Bristol or Dorset. Both structures are single-tier authorities with responsibility for the whole range of council services, including education, social care, rubbish collection and parks. There were elections for 58 district councils, lower-tier authorities whose responsibilities are more limited, but include planning, housing and recycling. District councils typically elect a third of their seats each year on a four-yearly cycle, and elect the upper tier council — usually the county council — in the fourth year. There were elections in London for the London assembly as well as 11 mayors including those of London, greater Manchester and Liverpool. These were subject to changes in their voting system since the last time they were up for election. They are now elected on a first past the post basis. Police and crime commissioners were also up for election. Source link

West Midlands Mayoral Election On A Knife Edge As Recount Ordered

West Midlands Mayoral Election On A Knife Edge As Recount Ordered

Published by skeptic

Andy Street (Alamy) 3 min read31 min The West Midlands mayoral election is on a knife edge with a recount ordered by the Tories in Coventry after it was considered to be unclear whether Labour or Conservatives had clinched the mayoralty. A victory for Richard Parker, the Labour candidate, over Tory incumbent Andy Street would be a significant blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s authority after his party managed to hang onto Ben Houchen in Tees Valley on Saturday. But whatever the result in the West Midlands Tory MPs do not believe a leadership challenge will be made against the prime minister.  Early on Saturday evening, Street had won the Solihull region, but by a smaller margin than he achieved in 2021, with 62 per cent of the vote compared to 68 when the West Midlands mayorlty was last contested in 2021. Meanwhile Parker received 21 per cent of the vote, up from15 per cent at the previous election.  In Wolverhampton, Parker beat Street with more than 26,000 to fewer than 19,000 votes. The area was won by the Conservatives in 2021. Labour also won …