UK Politics

Buses were privatised under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s

But since 2017, metro mayors have had the power to run their own bus networks.

Manchester mayor Andy Burnham launched the hugely successful Bee Network last year - which increased reliability, introduced 24/7 services and boosted passenger numbers.

He’s pledged to complete the process of taking Manchester’s buses under public control by next January (2025).

Similar plans are underway in the Liverpool City Region and West Yorkshire.

It’s understood Labour’s rule changes, to be tabled in the Commons on Tuesday, would lift the ban on local councils setting up community bus companies, allowing more local leaders to take more services into public control.
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Thousands of vital routes have been axed - that's what happens when control is handed to those who put profit above passengers

By Louise Haigh, Transport Secretary

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I’ve heard countless stories from people let down, of communities cut off, about opportunities missed, all due to poor bus services. I know how much this matters.

That’s why this Government was elected. To deliver on our mission to repair and rebuild Britain. To return our country to the service of working people. To fix what is broken.

And I am not wasting any time. My pledge to Mirror readers is simple: better buses are around the corner.

I promised to move fast and fix things, and next week I will be setting out the first stop on the journey to better buses, with steps to take back control of our buses.

For too long Private operators have been allowed to pick and choose whatever routes they want, regardless of what communities need. We want to see every area have the power to build their own public transport network in a way that works for them
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Four decades of deregulation has seen thousands of vital routes axed, and a staggering 1.5 billion fewer bus journeys taken each year.

This wasn’t inevitable. It is the result of political choices.

It is what happens when control of services is handed to those who put profit above passengers.

When whole communities are cut off and isolated, without a thought to the damage this does to local economies.

he Green Party of England and Wales is set to vote on a motion to declare Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide, as its three-day annual conference begins.

The mood was buoyant and energised at the party's conference in Manchester on Friday, which comes after the party enjoyed unprecedented success at the July general election, winning four seats in parliament - up from one in previous years.

Bora wants the party to go further than it has so far, saying she and others plan to table a motion to have the party declare Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide.

Chris Williams, who ran the recent election campaign, told journalists: "Gaza was a big issue in the election. A quarter of all Green voters named it as the reason they voted Green."

People of colour were increasingly feeling disillusioned with major political parties' policies towards Gaza, he added

Some of the 92 now about to lose their seats can trace their family’s presence in the Lords back to the middle ages

I understand the need to investigate this thoroughly. I also appreciate that there are a lot of cheats and liars to shift through in this particular cluster fuck. Still, ten years to investigate is a lot of time.

The Government must ensure that this process is followed to the rightful conclusion. We need to see a bunch of people behind bars for their contribution to the 72 deaths.

Archive

The housing secretary is considering abolishing [Right to Buy] for newly built council houses and cutting the discount offered to existing tenants.

The deputy prime minister is facing growing pressure from local authorities to reduce the cost of Baroness Thatcher’s flagship policy, and a consultation on proposals will be launched in October’s Budget.

More than 100 local authorities called for the scheme to be axed on new council homes in a damning report into the state of Britain’s housing stock published on Tuesday. The report, commissioned by Southwark Council, said the policy was helping to burn a £2.2bn hole in local authority accounts and exacerbating the country’s housing crisis.

Ms Rayner attended an “urgent meeting” with local authorities last month to discuss housing reforms. The Ministry of Housing and Local Government told The Telegraph: “We are working at pace to reverse the continued decline in the number of social rent homes.”
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In Southwark Council’s report, local authorities said Right to Buy had created “a serious problem for the sustainability of England’s council housing”. Ms Rayner said in the summer that the Government was considering protections for new council homes.

Discounts on the scheme can reach as much as £75,000 outside of London, and over £100,000 in London. The cap, which is based on how long a tenant rents a property before buying it, is limited to £136,400 in London.
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In the last financial year, 10,896 homes were sold through Right to Buy and only 3,447 were replaced, official figures show – resulting in a net loss of 7,449. Since 1991, the scheme has resulted in a net loss of 24,000 social homes.

This is partly because under the current system, councils can only keep a third of the receipts from each sale to build a replacement home, with the rest going to the council and government for other purposes.

Conservative politicians have started to be seen as “weird”, and few members of the public – even including the party’s own voters – are able to identify the Tory leadership candidates, research suggests.

Asked who had the best chance of winning the next election for the Tories, 70% of respondents either said they did not know or that they thought none of the candidates could win – with James Cleverly given the greatest chance, on 8%, followed by Priti Patel.

Multiple focus groups of former Tory voters suggested that those who switched their vote at the last election were not inclined to back to the Conservatives any time soon.

The research by More in Common said the party struggled with relatability, particularly in Liberal Democrat areas, by focusing on topics “which excite the base, or the highly politically engaged” but were distant from ordinary people’s lives.

In a similar vein to the attack that US Democrats have levelled against Republicans, especially the vice-presidential candidate JD Vance, the research found “there is a danger that the Conservatives have started to become seen as ‘weird’”.

A pro-Israel legal group in the United Kingdom has threatened to press charges against the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, over professional misconduct, claiming that his efforts to to issue arrest warrants against top Israeli officials are based on false premises.

According to the British newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, the organisation UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) wrote a letter to Khan dated 27 August, in which it attempts to refute Karim Khan’s accusations against Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant. Going through each point one by one, the letter provided what it asserted as detailed evidence disproving all the allegations against the top Israeli officials.

Obviously there is some distressing material in there, so please be aware of that before you read on.

This is the full statement Starmer made in the House today, for those interested. I have no idea why they always format political speeches like this, now, but I thought the content was very good.

Unpaywalled archive link: https://archive.is/xBjYy

Following high-profile rows over the amount of time the likes of Reform leader Nigel Farage and ex-cabinet minister Nadine Dorries spent in the Commons or their seat, an overwhelming majority (77 per cent) of voters backed a minimum attendance rule for MPs.

The Savanta/38 Degrees survey, shared exclusively with [I], suggested just 6 per cent of the public would oppose such a move.

The poll also saw voters backing a series of reforms to improve MPs’ conduct after years of sleaze scandals, including banning MPs for deliberately lying in public (79 per cent), introducing a job description (77 per cent), banning MPs from betting on political outcomes (77 per cent), tightening restrictions on gifts (75 per cent), and banning specific second jobs (70 per cent).

But despite Sir Keir Starmer’s pledges to clean up politics and rebuild trust, more voters are more pessimistic (38 per cent) than optimistic (35 per cent) the Government will improve standards for MPs.

The lack of belief in the Prime Minister’s commitments come after a string of cronyism allegations levelled at Labour over the filling of Whitehall jobs since the election.

The lack of trust was also illustrated by the fact nearly two thirds (65 per cent) of voters believe that in the current political system, MPs who behave unethically are likely to get away with it.

This sentiment cuts across party lines, with 74 per cent of 2024 Reform UK voters, 61 per cent of Conservative voters, and 62 per cent of Labour voters expressing the same concern.