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The Conservatives have taken control of 13 more councils in England in last week’s – 6th May local elections. According to the final count, the party has gained an extra 236 councillors, with Labour losing control of eight councils.
The Conservatives secured victories in Amber Valley, Basildon, Basingstoke & Deane, Cannock Chase, Cornwall, Dudley, Gloucester, Harlow, Maidstone, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Nuneaton & Bedworth, Pendle, Southampton, Welwyn Hatfield and Worcester. However, it lost control of Cambridgeshire, Isle of Wight, and Tunbridge Wells. The Conservatives also won the Hartlepool by-election with a majority vote of almost 7,000. This is the first time they have taken the former “red wall” seat for the first time since the constituency was created in 1974.
The Liberal Democrats took one extra council and seven more councillors. The Green Party also celebrated success in the elections, gaining an additional 88 councillors.
However, Labour won host of mayoral elections in Greater Manchester, North Tyneside, Salford City Council, West of England, and West Yorkshire. Sadiq Khan has been re-elected for a second term as London’s Labour mayor after winning 55.2% of the popular vote.
Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, said: “The big story everyone is focusing on is the shift from Labour to the Conservatives. It’s certainly a bad set of local results for Labour, but when we look in detail, we can see that underneath this big picture, some more complex local stories are bubbling away. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats, while losing seats nationally, have made gains, some of them substantial, in many areas, as have Independents. The Greens have seen a huge surge across the country. Local dynamics remain important. That’s also clear in the metro mayor results. While there was something for both Labour and the Conservatives to celebrate here, in truth these results don’t have much to do with national politics. They’re about local leadership, local identity, civic pride and representation.”
Source: Local Gov, 7 May 2021
See also: BBC News - Election results 2021: Conservatives hurt Labour in its former heartlands
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Council leaders from across the political spectrum in England are urging ministers to make good their promise to “fix social care” by setting out plans on Tuesday’s – 11 May Queen’s Speech. The Local Government Association (LGA) has sent a cross-party letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, saying failure to act now would be “a bitter blow.”
The government says improving social care “remains a priority.” Boris Johnson made the promise on his first day as prime minister. It comes amid increasing concern that long-promised reform will only get the briefest of mentions in the Queen’s Speech, where the government sets out its legislative programme for the coming year.
In the letter, council leaders call on the government to reform and fund the adult care system at the centre of its thinking on how we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. Local authorities fund many care services. They want an investment that moves the system from being based around care homes and hospitals to one that focuses on prevention and community support. The letter says reform needs to pool the risk of having high care costs after developing a condition such as dementia, with funding provided through taxation or a social-care premium. It argues that this is an investment in people, rather than “a cost that is too difficult or too high.”
It urges the government to:
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invest in a care model which supports people to live independently in their own homes and communities
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end "unsustainable", one-off, "sticking plaster" solutions
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find a long-term way of bringing more money into social care.
James Jamieson, LGA Chairman, said: “All of us in local government, across the political divide, want to see the Queen’s Speech finally set out the plans we have been waiting for. This is about an investment in people, in all of us. A failure to act will be a bitter blow to everyone connected to social care.”
Source: BBC News, 10 May 2021
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Reform, a leading Westminster think tank for public service reform, has published a new report: the biggest health challenges of the 2020s. The Reformer Thoughts brings together experts from the scientific research community and health and social care sector to offer their perspectives on the biggest health challenges of the 2020s and how we can put ourselves in the best position to face them.
The report was produced by Reform in collaboration with MSD, which provided funding.
Source: Reform, May 2021
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James Geoghegan, a Dublin city councillor, declared last week that he would seek the Fine Gael nomination at the Dublin Bay South by-election, triggered by the resignation of Eoghan Murphy.
Geoghegan, the likely Fine Gael candidate at the Dublin Bay South by-election, worked as a tobacco lobbyist before qualifying as a barrister.
Geoghegan served clients, including the firm behind Marlboro cigarettes, while working for Transatlantic Public Affairs between 2009 and 2013. He was their government affairs manager. His clients included Philip Morris, the Swiss American corporation that produces Benson and Hedges and Marlboro cigarettes. Geoghegan told The Times: “They were a client in the firm. One of the clients was a tobacco company. I didn’t get to pick the clients. I was in my mid-twenties, so yes I did work for all the clients that were a part of this firm.”
Source: The Times, 10 May 2021
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The head of tobacco giant Philip Morris said the company would phase out conventional cigarettes in Japan within ten years.
The Marlboro maker announced in 2016 a long-term goal to stop selling cigarettes and replace them with alternatives that it says are less harmful - but this is the first time it has given a clear deadline.
Philip Morris International is betting on its heated tobacco product, IQOS.
Source: Money Control, 9 May 2021
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Dr Richard hurt, a retired doctor at the Mayo Clinic, discusses the importance of adequately funding tobacco prevention and treatment initiatives in Minnesota.
He highlights that after more than two decades of the end of the historic Minnesota tobacco trial, which uncovered the industry’s tactics and lobbying, big tobacco has changed its marketing strategy and innovation to protect its profit.
He notes that “now is not the time to fall behind Big Tobacco” but to enforce preventive measures that will help limit the availability and appeal of their products to the next generation. He points out that Minnesota is considering dedicating a more significant share of tobacco revenue to prevention, education, treatment and community-tailored interventions to better support populations with the highest tobacco use rates from decades of tobacco industry targeting.
He concluded by saying: “Increasing Minnesota’s investment from one penny per dollar of tobacco revenue to two or three pennies will reduce addiction, save money and save lives.”
Source: ExBulletin, 8 May 2021
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