~theguardian-world | Bookmarks (12)

Campaign draws on performers and artists to encourage 300,000 more young people to register ahead of this week’s deadlineA last-minute drive to alert young British people to therisk of losing their say in how the country is run launches this weekend, spearheaded by many famous faces, including some not normally associated with politics or campaigning.YouTubers such as Amelia Dimoldenberg, host of Chicken Shop Date,...

Community facility on UK’s first council estate reopens after outcry at local authority’s attempt to hike rentsWashing machines are once again whirring and dryers tumbling at a community launderette in east London that the local council had abruptly closed just weeks before, in a victory for local residents.People living in and around the Boundary estate, the UK’s first council estate, between Shoreditch and Bethnal...

In today’s newsletter: Inside the buildup to the 2 May vote, and what the result might mean for Labour at the general election• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.The streets of London are riddled with “crime and desperation”. “Ulez enforcers dressed in black faces covered with masks” terrorise the city “at the beck and call of their Labour mayor master”....

Victories in councils won during Boris Johnson’s ‘vaccine boost’ of 2021 face wipeout, leaving Rishi Sunak’s regime in perilSenior Tories are braced for a catastrophic set of local elections that will see a collapse in council seats won at the peak of the “vaccine bounce” enjoyed by Boris Johnson.Rishi Sunak’s allies regard the results as the most dangerous moment remaining for the prime minister...

Proposals to reduce funding for services from bin collections to social care, arts and libraries leave many worried for the futureIt wasn’t long ago that the people of Birmingham were being told the city was on the brink of a “golden decade”, with record levels of investment off the back of events including the Commonwealth Games and the arrival of HS2.Now the council has...

Continuation of war has left more refugees unsettled, with councils stepping in to to relieve most cases of homelessnessCouncils have called for urgent review of funding for Ukrainian refugees amid alarm that 9,000 have reported as homeless and many more are needing longer-term support – with no sign of the war ending after two years.The government announced on Sunday that it would extend by...

Andy Haldane, government’s top levelling-up adviser, calls for urgent rethink to prevent deeper cuts across EnglandThe government’s top levelling-up adviser has warned ministers that failure to tackle the funding crisis for councils across England is threatening one of the Conservatives’ flagship 2019 election promises.Andy Haldane, the chair of the government’s levelling-up advisory council, said a “root and branch rethink” of local authority funding was...

In today’s newsletter: A good night for Keir Starmer and a bad one for Rishi Sunak – who now has more to worry about from Reform UK• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. While you were sleeping, the Conservative party was having another meltdown. As was widely predicted, it lost two previously safe seats to Labour after yesterday’s byelections, with...

Exclusive: Local voluntary groups forced to cut services or close as council funding pulledWhen a Citizens Advice has to close despite demand being ‘off the scale’Charity leaders have warned of the “devastating knock-on impact” of the financial crisis in English town halls, as evidence emerges of cuts and closures at local voluntary groups, where vital grant funding has been cut by stricken councils.Citizens Advice...

Father of Dareen Nuru says they have been told to move out of south London flat but have nowhere else to goThe family of a one-year-old girl sent to hospital six times because of damp and mould in their south London flat say they are scared about her health and have pleaded for help from their local council.The parents say their daughter’s plight has...

Capital’s councils say they are struggling to keep schools open as pupil funding dries upLondon’s councils are preparing to mothball schools to avoid a boom and bust cycle of closures, as the falling birthrate, high housing costs and the aftermath of Brexit and the Covid pandemic drive down the number of children living in the capital.With some areas of London projected to see the...

MSG says it cannot continue to take part in process that was ‘political football between rival parties’The US company behind a proposed huge Las Vegas-style Sphere entertainment venue in east London has withdrawn its plans.Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSG) said it could not continue to participate in a process that was “merely a political football between rival parties”. Continue reading...