|
Jeremy Corbyn
joined Labour and Co-op councillors last Friday at Islington Town Hall for the launch of the Co-op Party Modern Slavery
Charter. Councillors in attendance
included Sharon Taylor (Stevenage), Andy Hull (Islington), Claire Coghill (LB
Waltham Forest), Anna Burley (LB Lambeth), Emma Hoddinott (Rotherham) and Tom
Hayes (Oxford).
Blackpool Museum Project allocated
£8.4million of funding
– Blackpool Council
“Tidy Up time” as new volunteers are
trained – Brighton and
Hove Council
Fines for dropping litter set to rise – Bristol City Council
Doncaster launches “Get Ready Doncaster” – Doncaster Council
Local artists sought to display their
work at the Riverside Festival
– Leicester City Council
Read Alice Perry’s latest NEC report here.
Out on the campaign trail: we want your photos and will
use the best for the LGA Labour Group Annual Report. They must be high resolution and you must
have the permission of everyone in the picture. Please email to Lewis Addlington-Lee.
Care leavers now exempt from paying
council tax – Bridgend Council
Curb on zero-hours care worker contracts and
“call-clipping” – BBC Wales
Launch of Unison’s Ethical Care Charter in
Ebbw Vale – Unison
John
Healey responds to Government’s new national database of rogue landlords –
John Healey
By
scrapping mortgage support, the Tories will end home ownership for thousands
– John Healey for Labourlist
Spending on Children and Young People’s
Services nearly £1bn less than in 2012 – Angela Rayner
Government admits broken promises to
replace homes sold under right to buy – John Healey
Labour welcomes major housing benefit
u-turn and Government enacting another promise from our manifesto – Margaret Greenwood
Local people forced to pick up the slack
as council tax bills soar – Andrew Gwynne
LGA
responds to serious violence strategy
LGA
responds to PHE data on hospital tooth extractions
LGA
responds to research by Which into plastic-backed fridges and freezers
LGA: housing developers must adopt a
“fibre to the premises” kite marker for new builds
LGA responds to new government initiative
to reduce rough sleeping
LGA response to the Housing, Communities
and Local Government Committee’s report on the Government’s draft Tenant Fees
Bill
LGA responds to government measures on
plastic recycling
LGA responds to announcement of multi-year
funding plan from the NHS
LGA responds to Independent Age report on
older private renters
The Jewish
Manifesto for Local Government informs councillors and council candidates about
how they can best serve Jewish residents. For those candidates in areas with
fewer Jewish residents there are important policy recommendations for how to
support community cohesion and stand against antisemitism in general.
We are
calling on council candidates to support our #tenlocalcommitments, outlined on
pages four and five, over social media using the hashtag. We can send a physical
copy of the manifesto if that would be useful for candidates. You can read a
copy of the manifesto here.
For any
information on the Manifesto please contact the Board of Deputies on 0207 543 5418 or email daniel.elton@bod.org.uk.
The Terrence Higgins Trust has launched a report
looking at Women and HIV. Women and HIV: Invisible No Longer explores the priorities, experiences and needs of women living with HIV,
at risk of and affected by HIV, and has a number of key findings.
The Terrence
Higgins Trust is asking people
on social media on Monday to help to share the report by joining us in calling
for a far greater focus on women living with, and who are affected by, HIV on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by sharing our pledge: I
pledge to make sure women are #InvisibleNoLonger when it comes to HIV: www.tht.org.uk/invisiblenolonger
We would very much welcome your
support in sharing the report on social media on Monday. In addition, if you
would like a copy of the press release for the launch please do let us know.
Labour Together's Get Togethers are a series of
monthly sessions bringing together Labour MPs, councillors, activists and
academics from across the Labour movement to explore new ideas and thinking on
the future of the left.
This session will be looking at how we can
rebuild trust in politics through community organising and other forms of
citizen engagement. In the wake of Brexit, trust in traditional politics is
declining. With more people questioning traditional power structures, how can
politics respond? From community organising to citizens panels, this session
will be exploring how we can get more people involved in making the decisions
that affect them. Can this approach restore trust in politics? What is the role
of MPs and other elected representatives in this space? What can we learn from
civil society and experiments in participation?
On 24 April, we’ll be hearing from Neil
Jameson, Founder and CEO of Citizens UK, the home of community organising in
the UK. During the session, Neil will talk through Citizens UK’s approach, its
success in empowering communities and what politicians can learn from it. Neil
will be joined by Reema Patel, a Labour councillor in Barnet who has run both
online and offline deliberation and citizen engagement programmes for the
think-tank Involve and the RSA’s Citizen’s Economic Council.
The session should last just under 60 minutes.
If you or a representative from your office would be interested in coming
along, please RSVP to jon@labourtogether.co.uk
On
Wednesday 18 April, Emma Lewell Buck MP will host a Local
Solutions to Hunger event, looking at what practical steps
are available to tackle poverty and hunger and how can councils take a leading
role, particularly in light of the rollout of Universal Credit.
To get more
information and to reserve tickets please click here.
The LGA Labour Group has set out an ambitious programme
for a future Labour Government to ensure councils are properly funded to
deliver real change for local communities On Day One. You
can read the publication here.
The authors
outline the damage caused by Tory austerity and set out what is needed to
address the funding gap. Cuts of almost 50 per cent have been made to central
government funding for councils between 2010 and 2018, and Tory-run
Northamptonshire County Council issued a section 114 notice effectively
declaring they were ‘bankrupt’. It also demands new freedoms for councils -
including powers to build new council homes, open new schools, create a
children’s centre in every community and a call for the next Labour government
to invest heavily in early intervention and prevention.
Cllr Nick Forbes,
the leader of the LGA Labour Group said: “If the next Labour government
wants to deliver immediate and visible change for the many, not the few then
the fastest and most direct route lies through local government. Communities
across the country are demanding change to fix the housing crisis and support
young people. With sufficient funding and greater freedoms local councils can
generate economic growth, build new homes and strengthen communities.”
The report has
the backing of shadow communities and local government secretary Andrew Gwynne
MP, who in a foreword to the report writes: “The future of our country cannot
be formulated by politicians in Westminster, but needs to be built in
partnership with local leaders and local people.”
On Day One has been reported on widely in the media.
Sharon Taylor wrote in LabourList on why Councils are Labour’s most powerful weapon
to destroy austerity, LGC Plus featured a piece about the call by Labour leaders for a greater role
in the party if Labour wins power, and the
Independent wrote about the report, focusing on the bold tax-and-spend powers
called for on “day one” of a Jeremy Corbyn government. And LGA
Labour Group Leader, Nick Forbes, wrote for the Huffington Post about how
councils must lead social movements to deliver real change.
By-election results
29 March
Knowsley MB, Page Moss
Lab 657 [78.2%]
Green 74 [8.8%]
UKIP 68 [8.1%]
Con 41 [4.9%]
Labour hold
5 April
Taunton Deane BC, Wivelscombe and West Deane
Green 600 [44.7%]
LD 389 [29.0%]
Con 352 [26.2%]
Green gain from
Independent
New Forest DC, Milton
Con 1057 [76.4%]
LD 200 [14.5%]
Lab 126 [9.1%; -11.2%]
Conservative hold
Fylde BC, Heyhouses
Con 655 [58.1%;
+11.5%]
Lab 202 [17.9%; -13.3%]
LD 138 [12.2%]
Green 133 [11.8%; +11.8%]
Conservative hold
By-elections
taking place on 12 April
South Northamptonshire DC
– Middleton Cheney
St Edmundsbury BC – St
Olave’s
Chichester DC – Rogate
|
