All posts tagged: Government

Politics Home | Labour MPs Refuse To Back Tory Wandsworth Council Against Government Funding Cuts

Politics Home | Labour MPs Refuse To Back Tory Wandsworth Council Against Government Funding Cuts

Published by Sam Flores

Marsha De Cordova, Rosena Allin-Khan, and Fleur Anderson are the Labour MPs representing the constituencies in the London Borough of Wandsworth (Alamy) 3 min read1 hr Wandsworth’s three Labour MPs have refused to back the Conservative-run council’s formal challenge against the government’s cuts to local authority funding, as the borough faces a record rise in council tax. PoliticsHome previously revealed that the south-west London borough was planning the country’s biggest ever tax rise. The council is expected to announce a rise of at least 160 per cent, with multiple figures – including higher figures – under consideration, according to multiple sources. Wandsworth, which is Conservative-run after Labour lost control in May, currently has one of the lowest council tax rates in the country, with residents paying around 0.1 per cent of the value of the property they live in per year. However, recent reforms to how central government distributes funding to local authorities have decreased the grant funding available to some London councils, including Wandsworth. Wandsworth Council funding is projected to fall by …

Andy Burnham wants to run a ‘cost of living government’ – here’s what he can learn from families living through the crisis

Andy Burnham wants to run a ‘cost of living government’ – here’s what he can learn from families living through the crisis

Published by Sam Flores

Parliament is back in session, and Andy Burnham is set to put his promise of becoming a “cost-of-living government” into practice. Since 2021, economic and geopolitical instability has led UK households to struggle with a fall in real disposable income and inflation, particularly around food and energy prices. Families are under sustained pressure to meet essential costs. This pressure is likely to intensify as the US-Iran conflict and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz continue to affect energy prices and the wider economy. The Centre for Economics and Business Research has estimated that rising inflation and weaker wage growth linked to the conflict will reduce average UK household real incomes by around £1,100 in 2026, with a further £1,300 reduction in 2027. The greatest burden will fall on those already struggling, and those furthest from the decisions being made. The government has introduced measures to try to ease the pressure, including removing VAT from domestic electricity bills. While it is too early to judge Burnham’s government on its record, research gives us an insight into …

The Census Bureau Is Overrun With Staffers From a MAGA Think Tank

The Census Bureau Is Overrun With Staffers From a MAGA Think Tank

Published by skeptic

Among the names viewed by WIRED are Max Kossek, a researcher at AFPI’s Office for Fiscal and Regulatory Analysis, and Ryan Montgomery, who the website lists as a program assistant with the same AFPI office. Montgomery’s LinkedIn profile, however, says that he is now a “research engineer” at AFPI. AFPI’s director for secure elections policy, Thomas Lane, is also listed as one of the employees that has been detailed to the Census Bureau. Lane, a former Trump campaign staffer and election denier, was subpoenaed by the Department of Justice in 2022 as part of its investigation into the president’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. (Lane was not charged by law enforcement.) In a 2020 video posted by the Arizona Republican Party, where a group of fake electors attempted to deliver the state’s electoral votes to Donald Trump, Politico identified a man wearing a jacket with the name “Lane” on it passing out the documents for the electors to sign making them “duly elected” and “qualified.” In 2024, CNN reported that Lane …

Government tables bill to end discriminatory church appointments

Government tables bill to end discriminatory church appointments

Published by Sam Flores

The Government has today introduced a bill to end a ban on Catholic and Jewish prime ministers advising on Church of England appointments. The move follows sustained campaigning by the National Secular Society. Due to the Church of England’s established status, prime ministers play a formal constitutional role in advising the Crown on senior appointments within the Church. But under the law, a prime minister or lord chancellor who is Catholic or Jewish is prohibited from doing so. The law also prohibits Catholics from succeeding to the Crown or acting as regent. The Church Appointments (Repeal of Discriminatory Provision) bill would “repeal provision which prohibits persons of the Roman Catholic or Jewish faiths from advising the Crown on appointments in the Church of England or Church of Scotland”. In a statement last week, prime minister Andy Burnham said his Government would introduce a bill “at the earliest possible opportunity to correct this antiquated and archaic anomaly”. It is “unacceptable for there to be a legislative bar against people of any faith performing all the functions …

The Supreme Court Just Blocked Trump’s Efforts to Control Mail-In Voting for the Midterms

The Supreme Court Just Blocked Trump’s Efforts to Control Mail-In Voting for the Midterms

Published by skeptic

The Supreme Court has rejected the Trump administration’s bid to impose severe restrictions on mail-in voting just weeks ahead of the midterms. The court, which was divided 7-2, with conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissenting, upheld a lower court’s injunction blocking the United States Postal Service from implementing new rules around who can receive a mail-in ballot ahead of November’s vote. Under this new rule, states would have had to submit lists of eligible voters to the Postal Service, which would then confirm that ballots were sent only to people on that list. The USPS does not typically hold such a role. “The Government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the District Court’s preliminary injunction,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurring opinion with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Kavanaugh did add, however, that “there is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service’s statutory authority. But applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious … because state and …

Mark Carney pitches Canada to global investors amid US trade war | Business and Economy News

Mark Carney pitches Canada to global investors amid US trade war | Business and Economy News

Published by Sam Flores

For decades, one of Canada’s biggest selling points to foreign investors was its access to the world’s largest economy next door. Prime Minister Mark Carney is now trying to sell something bigger — to bet on Canada itself. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list On Monday and Tuesday, hundreds of global investors will gather in Toronto for the Canada Investment Summit. The invitation-only meeting will bring some of the world’s largest pension and sovereign wealth funds and asset managers together with corporate executives, Canadian premiers and federal officials. Carney, a former central banker with deep ties to the global investment world, wants them to put money into everything from mines and pipelines to ports, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing. It is part of a much bigger push to catalyse $1 trillion in investment in Canada over the next five years, with about $280bn in public investment and government incentives to help draw in private and institutional capital. The summit comes just days after another escalation in Canada’s trade war with the United States …

Swedes vote in election that could see far-right in government | Elections

Swedes vote in election that could see far-right in government | Elections

Published by Sam Flores

Voting is under way in Sweden in a closely fought election that could see the far-right Sweden Democrats enter government for the first time, or centre-left leader Magdalena Andersson return to power. Published On 13 Sep 202613 Sep 2026 Share Swedes vote in election that could see far-right in government on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Source link

As Chavez and Maduro images disappear, is Venezuela entering a new chapter? | Arts and Culture News

As Chavez and Maduro images disappear, is Venezuela entering a new chapter? | Arts and Culture News

Published by Sam Flores

Art as propaganda Chavez’s eyes still gaze from walls across Caracas. So too do the eyes of other figures, like Maduro and independence leader Simon Bolivar. Some images are faded. Others are accompanied by slogans like “To doubt is treason”. Forastero has worked on government projects, including under Rodriguez. But he is critical of some of the newer images. He remembers a time when he painted murals of Chavez playing with children or riding a bicycle, not slogans. “When Chavez was alive, people painted Chavez because we loved him very much. It’s as simple as that,” he said. In recent decades, he argues that Venezuela’s public art has fallen increasingly under government control, with murals commissioned to carry explicitly political messages. “Muralism is a story told on a wall,” Forastero said. “What we really see on the walls now are propaganda posters. I’m a chavista, and I’m disgusted by it.” Still, the removal of the artwork is another form of propaganda, in Forastero’s eyes. He believes the Rodriguez government is seeking to project a more …

Swedish far-right eyes role in government

Swedish far-right eyes role in government

Published by Sam Flores

As Sweden heads into a closely fought election, the far right is gaining ground by tapping into concerns over crime and security, issues that some voters increasingly associate with migration. On FRANCE 24, Stockholm University sociologist Zeth Isaksson said the movement has also softened its image in recent years, making it more acceptable to a broader electorate, while also cautioning against overstating the strength of the far right in Sweden. Source link