Liverpool City Council might be Stripped of Some Powers
- Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, threatened to send in appointed commissioners to run parts of Liverpool City Council
- This follows a report into the Labour-run council described as concerning and with a pervasive and rotten culture. Liverpool’s mayor and four other officials were also arrested last year which prompted the creation of an investigation and report
- Such practices highlighted were documents dumped in skips or destroyed, awarding of dubious contracts, and environment of intimidation.
- Executive functions to do with regeneration, highways and property management may be transferred over to the authority of the commissioners if the council does not come up with plans to improve processes by 24th May
- If Commissioners are appointed, they will remain for three years and report to Jenrick every six months.
- The council has not had a Tory councillor elected since 1998
- The arrested former mayor Mr. Anderson denies wrongdoing and defended Labour control of the council against Tory cuts.
My View
It’s obviously important to make sure all local government and councils are working to as high standards as possible and without any corruption. And it is understandable that sometimes an absolute last resort action may need to be taken by the national government against a council or local government where any hope of fixing corruption locally has failed.
But also, it can be a very tricky situation when it comes to a Tory government taking over all or parts of a Labour-administered and run council. I think in large case the Labour voters in the area will not be in support of this, which is why it is important to try absolutely everything on a local level before initiating any kind of national-led takeover.
I do wonder if it’d ever be possible to have the shadow opposition government deal with these sorts of things instead, if the council is Labour run maybe it should be up to the national-level Labour party to deal with it instead. I feel like that’d create a lot less friction between opposing parties and areas. Then if somehow the national-level party fails to deal with it the absolute last resort would be for the national government to intervene.
Luckily so far these kinds of things are very rare and it’s still possible the national government won’t need to intervene if the council can get their act together by the 24th May.
Another Israel Election?
- Israel recently held a 4th set of consecutive elections after each previous election failed to produce a working majority and negotiations failed to produce a working coalition or coalitions formed failed.
- Following the latest election there is still no clear majority (of which 61 seats in the Knesset would be required).
- Benjamin Netanyahu is currently the Prime Minister, as it stands Netanyahu’s coalition, which includes his Likud Party stands at 52 seats, while the opposition coalition stands at 57.
- Yamina (7 seats) and United Arab List (4 seats) have not yet committed to either coalition.
- United Arab List has not ruled out joining either side while Yamina has ruled out joining a Lapid-led government but has not ruled out joining Netanyahu’s coalition
- Previous emergency government formed fell apart after infighting and failure to agree on a Budget
My View
I don’t really have too much to say when it comes to Israeli politics. All I know it that it is quite complex due to various regional, ethnic, and territorial issues and also the fact that Netanyahu currently has three active investigations against him over things like bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
It appears Netanyahu needs both parties for a coalition government including Yamina, but its leader is distrustful of Netanyahu so even if they did offer to narrowly hold up Netanyahu’s coalition it could easily fall apart through infighting again and lead to a new election just like last time.
I guess it seems Israel’s politics right now is really fractured. It could be the best thing to do to really get things refreshed is for Netanyahu to stop pushing forward and step down from his leadership position, as perhaps a fresh face will get things moving again. Many of the mentioned complexities make it hard for the many different parties to reliably work together.
But it’s clear just holding new elections over and over again just isn’t working as things currently stand. It’s like a shoe that doesn’t fit, you can’t force it. People are either going to have to suck it up and work together or Netanyahu is going to have to suck it up and step down, or if not that I guess they could just keep heading the path of numerous elections and weak coalitions, but that doesn’t sound fun.
Alex Salmond’s Alba Party
- Scottish former First Minister Alex Salmond has created a new pro-independence party called the Alba Party, he is its first leader
- Alex Salmond was formerly leader of the Scottish National Party, the currently largest party in the Scottish Parliament led by Nicola Sturgeon who took over from Salmond
- The new party will be standing candidates in May’s Scottish Parliament elections, but only in additional member party-list seats, a bid to avoid damaging the SNP and giving favour to unionist parties
- The new party comes following Salmond’s recent battles with Scottish government over handling of harassment allegations, which has caused strains within the SNP and between Salmond and Sturgeon.
- Salmond hopes to build a supermajority of pro-independence MSPs (Members of Scottish Parliament)
My view
When I first heard about this, I was very surprised as I instantly thought this would only damage the Scottish National Party and allow unionist parties to slip in during the elections as the Alba Party would take votes away from the SNP. But then when reading more into it this will be largely avoided as the Alba Party will only be standing in list seats.
Scotland uses the additional member system alongside first past the post. What this means is that there are various single-seat constituencies that elect members via simple majority of votes, and then above that are multi-seat constituencies/regions where additional members are elected from party lists using a proportional electoral formula that also takes the winnings of parties through FPTP into account, parties that have won more seats in FPTP will win less seats via additional member system, meaning opposition parties with less wins in FPTP will get more members via the additional members system if they still got many votes.
With Alba Party only standing in the additional member lists it is hoped that those who vote for the SNP via the FPTP will use their other vote in the additional member system to vote for Alba, therefore SNP would win most of the FPTP seats while Alba would win most of the additional member seats, creating a supermajority for pro-independence parties.
It is a bold move for sure and Nicola Sturgeon does not seem keen on working alongside Salmond and his Alba party, so even if it does work out and such a majority is obtained, it may still be all for nothing if the two parties cannot work together. Salmond’s approval rating is also low compared to Sturgeon’s so it could be that not enough will choose to vote for Alba to make it work. Already two Scottish National Party MPs (members of the House of Commons) have defected to the Alba Party, which won’t help in tensions between the sides, despite ultimately wanting the same thing.
But if we say all these problems are overcome and there is some kind of grand coalition and a massive majority in the Scottish Parliament, then it could be a real headache to unionists and the prospects of a movement for another independence referendum may become hard to ignore.
I will be looking very forward to the 6th May elections to see how this plays out.
Spain Trials 4-day Work Weeks to Combat Coronavirus Outbreaks
- Spain plans to cut the working week to 4-days via using $50m in EU coronavirus recovery funds
- The plan aims to combat coronavirus outbreaks and will be tested for three years
- The plan will see as many as 200 mid-sized businesses resizing their workforce and/or reorganising production workflows for a 32-hour work week
- The money from the EU fund will be used to support the businesses in their efforts to adapt to the work week, the aid will be decreased year on year, 100% > 50% > 25%
- Possible benefits include three-day weekends increasing consumption, such as in entertainment and tourism, creation of new jobs, boosting the Spanish economy, salary increases, reduction in absenteeism, increase in sales and less employees quitting.
- Possible downsides include unforeseen consequences on such a scheme not working out for all types of sectors.
My View
I do not see a problem with giving a 4-day work week a go. I know it is likely it won’t work for every type of sector or industry, but for those where it does work out, I do not see why changing regulations there should be seen as a bad thing. I say you work to live life, but it can be hard to live life when there is more work than life.
It’s more interesting that this is being done as a way to try and decrease outbreaks of coronavirus, so not only may it be better for people’s general health and wellbeing, but also better in setting up for what could be a new normal following the pandemic, future pandemics may be a bit less of an impact under such a new work week. For many it may also give them more time to work on their hobbies and true-life aspirations, much of which people simply do not have much time for due to work obligations.
I say if it is more beneficial than negative at the end of the trial period, then it should be implemented. But it should also be taken into account in the areas where it didn’t work out, as is mentioned in the article, one size does not fit all, and generally that is the truth of it. So, it should be a case-by-case system rather than a blanket system, to make it as efficient and beneficial as possible.
Thank you for reading this post, if you have any queries please Email me, you can find my Email in the Contacts & Community section. Please also follow The Weekly Rambler on Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest and Facebook which you can access through the buttons at the bottom of this website. You can also use the social media buttons under each blogpost to share with your family, friends and associates. You can also subscribe to Email notifications at the right-side of this website to know whenever a new post goes up (you can easily unsubscribe from this at any time through a button in each Email notification), or alternatively you can use an RSS Feed Reader. Please also join my FB Group The Weekly Ramblers Readers Group where readers can more easily talk with each other and also with me whenever I am on, you can also find it in Community.