Tag Archives: bristol council

In other news… Lib Dem police commissioner candidates, Lady Steel’s pink jaguar tattoo, & other stories

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past few days…

Nick O’Shea named as Lib Dem Surrey Crime Commissioner candidate (BBC News)

Nick O’Shea is a businessman and former Mole Valley District Councillor. … Commissioners, to be elected in England and Wales in November, will oversee the work of police, which ministers say will make forces more accountable. … Police Crime Commissioners will replace police authorities in 41 areas in November.

You can visit Nick’s website here.

Pete Levy is Lib Dem choice as Avon and Somerset police commissioner (BBC News)

A Bristol councillor

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In other news… Thurso on banking, Ward on immigration, Swales on G4S & other stories

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past few days…

John Thurso MP to lead banking inquiry (John O’Groat Journal)

CAITHNESS, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP John Thurso has been elected to lead an inquiry into how the banking system is run. The Lib Dem politician has been chosen as one of five representatives who will

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In other news… Mensch sticks up for Clegg, Rennie takes on Salmond, Bristol mayoral election latest & other stories

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past few days…

On day UKUncut protestors targeted Clegg family home, Tory MP Louise Mensch urges people to donate £5 to Lib Dem funds (ConHome)

Louise Mensch, the Tory MP for Corby is recommending that her followers donate £5 to the Liberal Democrats for today only. She thinks it will show solidarity with the Cleggs who have been targeted by UNuncut protestors today. Hundreds gathered outside the Putney home of the Lib Dem leader, some chained themselves to railings and they held a noisy but apparently

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Barbara Janke to step down as Lib Dem leader in Bristol

Via the BBC:

Barbara Janke said she would stand down as council leader and as leader of the Liberal Democrat group.

Ms Janke announced her decision to the Lib Dem-controlled authority’s cabinet earlier. She said she made the decision as she approached her 65th birthday.

She said it had been an “enormous privilege” to serve as council leader in 2003-2004, 2005-2007 and from 2009 to the present.

She will remain leader of the Lib Dem group until the group’s annual meeting on 8 May, when a new leader will be chosen.

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Bristol launches own currency to boost local business

The Financial Times reports an innovative new development in Bristol designed to help local businesses:

A Bristol credit union is launching its own bank notes with which traders in the city will be able to pay their business taxes. The Bristol pound, which is supported by the Liberal Democrat-led city council, will be accepted tender in the city by businesses that sign up to the project. … The plan is to encourage more local trading – as the pounds will only be accepted by other shops or businesses in the city.

“One of the ways we can protect independent traders

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Opinion: What’s a “fair” cut?

What difference does it make having Lib Dems in power? How are Lib Dems actually making cuts “fairer”? One example is what we have done in Bristol, when we reviewed redundancy terms. The statutory redundancy payout is a week’s salary – up to a cap of £380 per week – per year worked. Bristol Council had a much more generous scheme: twice the weekly salary, with no cap.

This sounds great until you look at the effects of this a bit more closely: at the bottom of the officer pay-scale the Bristol scheme was about twice as generous as the statutory …

Posted in Local government and Op-eds | 10 Comments

Review of Bristol elections calls for widespread changes

Confidence in the administration of elections by Bristol Council was badly shaken this May after a series of problems, including ballot papers found in the wrong place, election results taking 6 hours longer than expected to be declared and numerous phone calls going unanswered. A detailed review of electoral administration was subsequently ordered and it has called for major changes.

The Bristol Evening Post reported,

Apart from more than half of the election phone queries going unanswered, the office for the council’s electoral services department in the Corn Exchange has been described as “woefully inadequate”. One of Ms Dixon’s many recommendations

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Stephen Williams condemns Bristol Tories’ attack on anti-homophobia charity

Pink News has the story:

A Liberal Democrat MP has accused both the Tories on Bristol council and one of the city’s newspapers of misrepresenting a National Lottery grant to a gay group. The Bristol Evening Post ran a story yesterday on Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH). The highly-respected group has been awarded £391,668 by the Big Lottery Fund for a project reaching out to LGBT young people.

EACH said on its website:

“Throughout the next five years this will be spent upon EACH’s ground-breaking project, REACH: supporting lesbian, gay or bisexual young people develop a sense of pride in their identity and help their peers and adults in young people’s settings challenge homophobic bullying.”

The leader of the Conservative group on Bristol City Council, Councillor Richard Eddy, told the paper the grant was “mistaken and misguided” and “an outrageous waste of money.”

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Lib Dems gain control of Bristol Council

The first big electoral news is good for the Liberal Democrats: four gains from Labour in Bristol have given the LibDems overall control of the council. Labour won just 2 wards out of 23 on the night, compared with 10 out of 24 in 2007.

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