20 councillors in Nottinghamshire quit Labour over Starmer leadership

Twenty councillors at a local authority in Nottinghamshire have quit Labour, saying the party has “abandoned traditional Labour values” under Keir Starmer’s leadership.The move means Labour has lost overall control of Broxtowe borough council, which it gained in 2023, and those defecting include the council leader, Milan Radulovic, who had been a party member for 42 years.In a statement, the councillors – who will now sit as part of a new Broxtowe Independents party – said: “It is with a heavy heart that we can no longer be in a party that has abandoned traditional Labour values under Keir Starmer’s leadership.”They were particularly critical of the cut to the winter fuel allowance, the bus fare increase and Labour’s plans to scrap two-tier county and district councils, which are to be merged to create large unitary authorities.Radulovic said: “I believe the concentration of power in the hands of fewer people, and the abolition of local democracy through the current proposals of super councils, is nothing short of a dictatorship, where local elected members, local people, local residents will have no say over the type and level of service provided in their area

Figures reveal 1,500 drug-addicted babies born in Scotland since 2017

Opposition parties have called for a significant increase in addiction funding in Scotland after it emerged that more than 1,500 drug-addicted babies have been born in recent years.The Scottish Liberal Democrats said data from the country’s health boards showed that around 200 babies were born each year with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a sign their mother was taking addictive drugs or abusing alcohol during pregnancy.Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Lib Dem leader, has urged John Swinney, the first minister, to spend more on tackling drug addiction in the new budget or risk losing his party’s support.Swinney’s minority government needs votes from at least one opposition party to get its budget passed but its draft plans imply standstill spending on drug and alcohol rehabilitation and support. Scottish Labour has endorsed Cole-Hamilton’s demand

DWP spent £50,000 trying to stop release of review into disabled man’s death

More than £50,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent on lawyers to try to prevent the release of a safeguarding review ordered after a disabled man starved to death in his own home.The costs were part of a bill of nearly £1m spent under the last government to prevent the release of various documents under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.It included spending by the Home Office of £30,000 to block a request by the Guardian for the total cost to the public of protecting the royal family.The figures were revealed after requests by the Democracy for Sale newsletter, which sought details of spending under the last government in attempts to prevent the release of information.Some of the spending that was uncovered related to an attempt by a campaigner at the Child Poverty Action Group charity to obtain the results of a review by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) into its safeguarding procedures

Automatic voter registration may be an answer to UK’s troubling turnout gap

A healthy democracy depends on people participating in it. In the UK, the proportion of people doing so is falling. Voter turnout in general elections stayed above 70% from 1945 through to 1997, hitting more than 80% in 1950 and 1951. But it collapsed to 59.4% when Tony Blair won his second term in 2001, and though it rose again between 2010 and 2019, it has not reached the 70% mark since 1997

Turnout inequality in UK elections close to tipping point, report warns

UK elections are “close to a tipping point” where they lose legitimacy because of plummeting voter turnout among renters and non-graduates, an influential thinktank has said.Analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that the gap in turnout between those with and without university degrees grew to 11 percentage points in the 2024 general election – double that of 2019.The turnout gap between homeowners and renters grew by nearly a quarter between the 2017 and 2024 elections, to 19 percentage points.The findings suggest a growing disillusionment with politics among certain social groups, which is leading to increasingly unequal elections.Parth Patel, an associate director of democracy and politics at IPPR, said: “We are close to the tipping point at which elections begin to lose legitimacy because the majority do not take part

Keir Starmer vows to rebuild Britain as Labour did after second world war

Keir Starmer has promised to rebuild Britain as Labour did after the second world war as he enters a pivotal year for his premiership.The prime minister said in his prerecorded new year message that 2025 would be a year of rebuilding, with his government looking to turn the corner after a turbulent first six months in power.Starmer invoked the forthcoming 80th anniversary of VE Day in May as he compared the task his government faces with that the Attlee government faced in 1945.Labour ends 2024 with its poll rating lower than at any other year-end since the war, with surveys suggesting it would lose 200 seats if another election were held now. Starmer’s aides, however, insist voters will change their minds as they increasingly feel the effect of improvements to public services over the next few years, beginning in 2025