It need not set a precedent for the general election and, rather than trading bruising blows against each other during the campaign, it would allow both parties to direct their fire at London’s real foe: Sadiq Khan.
The previous government lavished huge sums of taxpayer cash on Blackpool. There were grand projects galore but the people on the ground were slow to feel any benefit.
The net result of the Spending Review is that the Mayor of London cannot deliver on his flagship growth plan. Important infrastructure projects have not just stalled but languished on his watch.
If a member of staff at a venue (such as a bar or pub) overhears comments which they find objectionable – even ones not directed at them – then they will be able to sue the venue for failing to stop ‘harassment.’
Lancashire County Council schools outperform those run by Blackpool or Blackburn with Darwen, the county’s two existing unitary authorities.
The centrepiece of Labour’s plans for the bus sector is their commitment to re-regulate bus services (effectively bringing them under the direct control of local authorities), reversing the deregulation of bus services outside of London introduced by the Thatcher government in the mid-1980s.
As a former Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary, he undoubtedly qualifies as one of the party’s biggest hitters. Indeed, he would be by far the most experienced politician to run for the office in its near twenty-five-year history.
£100 each for a thousand lucky recipients won’t help the vast majority of Basildon’s pensioners. It will be seen as a political gesture.
The Mayor has belatedly realised that dabbling in statues and street names does nothing to grow the economy, improve air quality or fight a cost of living crisis.
Sadiq Khan may have only just been re-elected, but he is already running out of time to deliver a meaningful transport legacy.
In future, the party needs to select a stronger candidate with a higher profile – and it needs to select that candidate much earlier in the election cycle.
Other Conservative seats that have been lost in recent by-elections may have had bigger majorities, but they will have been on the receiving end of much less Whitehall benefaction.
The focus must be on the best person to cut crime. That is the way to restore confidence. Other issues are a distraction.
Like Custer at the Little Bighorn or King Harold at Hastings, Runcorn and Helsby is not the political hill upon which the Conservative Party should seek to die upon.