Olivia Barber

1 week ago | leftfootforward.org | Olivia Barber

Today, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed its Third Reading and will now be sent to the House of Lords for further scrutiny. After four hours of emotional debate, the historic bill passed with 314 votes in favour to 291 against – a narrow majority of 23 votes.

1 week ago | leftfootforward.org | Olivia Barber

Nigel Farage was a no-show in Parliament again yesterday. Dressed in a tailcoat and top hat, the Reform UK leader was pictured smiling between three security guards as he attended the Royal Ascot. The privately educated former stockbroker took a day off doing the job he was elected to do, missing parliamentary business to do so. But this isn’t the first time he’s been awol this week. On Tuesday, he missed multiple votes relating to abolishing the prosecution of women for terminating their pregnancy.

1 week ago | leftfootforward.org | Olivia Barber

The new Reform leader of North Northamptonshire council, Martin Griffiths, appears to have distanced himself from Reform’s Musk-style ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (Doge) in presenting a spending review to councillors. Ben Williams, one of the Green Party councillors for Ise in North Northants, told Left Foot Forward that during the council’s first executive meeting on Tuesday this week, Griffiths had called the probe into council spending “an efficiency review, not Doge”.

1 week ago | leftfootforward.org | Olivia Barber

A new report has found that £2 million in donations given to candidates during the 2024 general election campaign “essentially disappeared” from public scrutiny. The research by Lib Dem peer Mark Pack and academic Chris Butler reveals that 170 candidates received a total of almost £2 million more than they were allowed to spend on their campaigns. This raises questions about where the excess funds went after the campaign.

1 week ago | leftfootforward.org | Olivia Barber

Reform councillors at Durham County Council have been questioned by opposition councillors over their stance on net zero targets and carbon emissions. The day after the local elections, Nigel Farage made a speech to Durham County Council stating that anyone working on climate change or diversity initiatives should be “seeking alternative careers”. Since taking control of the council, Reform has renamed several key departments to remove references to climate change and diversity and inclusion.