Politics

Rightwinger Chris Chope has put forward legislation that would undermine the principle of an NHS free at the point of use. The Tory MP for Christchurch has tabled a private member’s bill set to be the third to be debated today calling for “co-payment” for NHS treatment. His National Health Service (Co-Funding and Co-Payment) Bill (HC Bill 37) is unlikely to be passed without his Government’s support, but it opens up for debate extending charges from prescriptions, dentistry and opticians...

Last August writer David Wilson wrote movingly when the Disability Living Allowance his son Ben had always relied on to live independently was stripped and he was left having to fight a cruel Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment by the Department of Work and Pensions that left him struggling to cope. Ben's income was cut drastically.  This is what happened next:  My son lives in Cornwall and, aged 45, has been disabled since he was six months old after a vaccination precipitated Salaam...

Calls for House of Lords reform have resurfaced this week after the government suffered another Brexit set back in the upper house. The Daily Mail, which staunchly backed Britain's exit from the European Union, said it is "time to pull the plug on the Lords" on its front page and called its representatives "Traitors in Ermine". Peers backed retaining key aspects of the EU's single market this week through continued participation in the European Economic Area (EEA) by 245 votes...

A pioneering new citizens’ wealth fund in the UK could provide a universal annual cash dividend and eventually a weekly basic income, a new report has claimed. According to research by City, University of London and the Friends Provident Foundation the UK government should create a citizens’- owned investment fund to pay for an annual cash payment to everyone in the country. The report says the fund would be a powerful new anti-inequality instrument, allowing a dividend of £430 per person after...

Budget cuts will make the next term for new councillors increasingly tough, new research has revealed, with spending by boroughs falling by a fifth over seven years. London’s authorities saw a 19 per cent fall in their budgeted expenditure (per head) between 2010/11 and 2017/18 (excluding education, public health and policing). This has hit inner London authorities hardest: the largest falls occurred in Newham (-33 per cent), followed by Westminster and Camden (both -29 per cent), while Sutton’s budgets only experienced...

The term 2018-22 will be one of the toughest the Conservatives have faced in Wandsworth, Councillor Ian Lewer says. Following a shock win the Deputy Mayor for the borough predicts that the next four years are likely to be some of the most challenging that the party has faced in its now 40 year rule. Aside from having to manage a council with the lowest majority since 1986, "the number of issues facing the authority are huge and complex," Lewer said....

Q: When is it OK for Conservative councillors to post racist jokes about “brown” people being “lazy” “dogs”? A: When reinstating them helps Tories win a local council. LOL As certain disgruntled Labour Party figures join Conservatives and much of the media in portraying a Labour council victory  (Labour up 77 to 2,350 councillors as Tories lose 33 councillors – down to 1,332 - see below) as a shameful defeat. And Jeremy Corbyn’s enemies line up to blame him for...

Mainstream media outlets have today spun a successful election result into one that looks like defeat for Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party. Despite Labour winning more seats than all other parties combined the BBC pointed to "mixed results" for Labour, highlighting losses in safe Tory seats such as Wandsworth and Westminster. The local election result was the best in 47 years for Labour with gains made on 2014. The party got a high share of the vote which would...

"Being a Remainer and voting Labour is like being a vegetarian and ordering steak", was the meme making the rounds on social media before yesterday's local elections. And so it proved to be as the first results trickled in this morning. With UKIP all but obliterated across the country Labour failed to make expected gains in key areas, with Wandsworth, Westminster and Barnet going to the Conservatives in London. Although many commentators have pointed to the unrealistic expectations of picking...