Polls open in local elections in England; John Swinney’s SNP leadership announcement puts pressure on Kate Forbes – UK politics live | Politics
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Sweeney says he wants the SNP to stand up for what the people stand for Scotland want.
As first minister, his goals would come from the center-left tradition, he says. It means “the pursuit of economic growth and social justice, economic growth not for its own sake, but in support of services and society.”
Sweeney says he wants to ‘unite the SNP and unite Scotland for independence’
Sweeney says he wants to “bring the SNP together and come together Scotland for independence”. He continue:
One of the advantages of retiring from front-line politics a year ago is that I have had the time and opportunity to see our political situation from a different perspective than before.
There is a huge amount that the SNP has achieved on behalf of the people of Scotland and much that we should feel very, very proud of: Scottish Child Payments, free university tuition, the massive expansion of childcare and much, much more.
SNP policies are transforming lives. They lift children out of poverty, give them a better start in life and enable them to go to university.
Sweeney confirms he is candidate for SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland
Sweeney confirmed he is running for SNP leader.
John Sweeney gives a press conference
John Sweeney will speak at his press conference in Edinburgh.
Mary McAllenenergy minister in the Scottish government, has just introduced it.
According to ITV Harry HortonConservative MP Tom Hunt told colleagues last night that he would have difficulty voting today because he did not have the correct photo ID.
This government, of course, introduced the legislation requiring photo ID to vote.
Remember you must bring ID when you vote tomorrow – unlike this Tory MP who is tonight asking local members for help pic.twitter.com/gSllCmvIrh
— Harry Horton (@harry_horton) May 1, 2024
Ireland tells the UK government it has no police on the border with North Dakota to block asylum seekers
Rory Carroll
Ireland reiterated that there will be no police on the border with Northern Ireland in an attempt to alleviate one aspect of it dispute over asylum seekers with Great Britain.
The Secretary for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris said he received the assurance from Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin in a “constructive” phone call on Wednesday evening.
It came after Rishi Sunak said the Irish government “must keep its promises” to avoid a hard border and avoid setting up checkpoints to prevent asylum seekers from entering the republic. Some British media reported that Ireland was sending police to the border.
Ireland’s justice minister last week said 100 extra police officers would be made available for “frontline law enforcement work”. Dublin officials say there was never any intention to put them on the border and blamed the dispute on mischief, which they said they hoped would subside after local elections in England and Wales.
Kate Forbes is due to announce later today whether she will run for SNP leader
Kate Forbes, the former financial secretary in the Scottish Government who was narrowly beaten by Humza Yousaf in last year’s SNP leadership contest, will make an announcement on whether he will run for the SNP leadership, PA Media reports. PA says:
Forbes confirmed this week that it is considering another contender for the top job following the resignation of Humza Yousaf on Monday.
Her announcement will come hours after former deputy first minister John Sweeney – who has received support from a number of senior cabinet figures – announced his own plans, with expectations that he would put his name forward.
Chris Musson of the Scottish Sun says Forbes’ announcement comes mid-afternoon.
Kate Forbes will make a statement on the SNP leadership in mid-afternoon. A source close to Forbes says she’s still “weighing things up” https://t.co/boMcpcnFNY
— Chris Musson (@ChrisMusson) May 2, 2024
Sadiq Khan took his dog to the polling station but Blue crossa pet welfare charity, is advising people to think twice about this as some constituencies do not allow dogs. “There is a real risk of your beloved pet being stolen if you leave it tied up alone outside, so take someone with you who can stay with your pet while you vote or leave it at home,” it said .
In London, Sadiq Khan, the Labor mayor, and Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate and Khan’s main rival, have already voted.
Daniel BoffiThe report on Hall’s campaign in the Guardian today is well worth reading.
Kwasi Kwarteng calls Liz Truss ‘kind of Trumpian’ over sacking via tweet
Kwasi Kwarteng, Chancellor of the Exchequer for 43 of Liz Truss’s 49 days as British prime minister, said Truss “basically” fired him “on Twitter,” a dismissal he called “kind of Trump” in its speed and brutality , when Britain fell into crisis, Martin Pengelly reports.
Good morning. It’s local election day, and although in terms of the number of seats contested it’s a small round of local elections (around 2,600 council seats are up for grabs – last year there were over 8,000), in other ways it’s an important event in the cycle of local elections for four reasons.
First, everyone in England and Wales gets the chance to vote on at least one thing. In all of Wales and some parts of England, if you want to vote, you can only vote for a Police and Crime Commissioner. But it’s still a vote.
Second, there are 10 metro mayoral positions up for election. Two of these are brand new posts (East Midlands and York and North Yorkshire) and one is a half-new extension of an old post (North East replacing North of Tyne). The expansion of metro mayors is the biggest development in local government in Britain in the last decade and it is the biggest round of mayoral elections to date.
Thirdly, we also have a by-election – in Blackpool South. By-elections can be a better predictor of general election results than local elections and will be a good test of how well Labor is doing and how much damage Reform UK can do to the Tory vote.
And fourthly (and most obviously), this is the last major election before the general election.
here it is Eleni Coureanight review.
Usually not much real politics happens on election days and sometimes this blog boils down to not much more than #dogsatpollingstations. But, thankfully, the SNP is providing us with some relevant news. There are no local elections in Scotlandbut there is an SNP leader and first minister election coming up and John Sweeney is expected to announce he will stand at a press conference this morning. Libby Brooks there are details.
The announcement will put the spotlight on Kate Forbes, who was runner-up in last year’s leadership race and has yet to announce whether or not she will run. Like Connor Gillis from Sky News reports, her decision may depend on what Sweeney has to say.
Kate Forbes will not attend John Sweeney’s announcement in Edinburgh today as speculation mounts that the two are doing a deal, @SkyNews understand.
Ms Forbes was said to have high hopes of running from supporters hungry for change, but the decision hinged on Sweeney’s 10.30am pitch.
— Connor Gillies (@ConnorGillies) May 2, 2024
Kate Forbes will not attend John Sweeney’s announcement in Edinburgh today as speculation mounts that the two are doing a deal, @SkyNews understand.
Ms Forbes was said to have high hopes of running from supporters hungry for change, but the decision hinged on Sweeney’s 10.30am pitch.
Forbes will want to gauge how strong Swinney is as a candidate, whether he’s committed to change (“continuity won’t cut it” was her line in last year’s race) and whether there would be a good role for her in a Swinney administration.
Here is the program for the day.
9.30 am: Kemi Badenoch, Business and Trade Secretary, answers questions in the Commons.
10.30 in the morning: Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the Commons, makes a statement to the Commons about next week’s Commons business.
10.30 am: John Sweeney gives a press conference in Edinburgh.
11.30 am: Downing Street is holding a lobby briefing.
Noon: Humza Yousaf answers the First Minister’s questions at Holyrood.
If you want to contact me, use the “send us a message” function. You’ll see it just below the byline on the left side of the screen if you’re reading on a laptop or desktop computer. This is for people who want to write me directly. I find it very helpful when people message to point out mistakes (even spelling mistakes – no mistake is too small to correct). I often find your questions very interesting as well. I can’t promise to answer them all, but I’ll try to answer as many as I can, either in the comments below; private (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate); or on the main blog if I think it’s a topic of wide interest.
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