Jeremy Corbyn said that May’s English council elections will mark a “turning point” in Labour’s fortunes. Launching its campaign, he said the party must stand up against cuts to services and show a different way of running the country “for the good of all”. He criticised the Government’s record on housing, benefit cuts and low pay and plans for more academy schools. The May 5 elections are the first UK-wide ballot box test for Corbyn since his election last September. As well as local authority elections in England, polls are abeing held for the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish administrations as well as to elect a London mayor and police and crime commissioners in England and Wales.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said May’s local elections are “massively important” as his party tries to recover from its general election wipe-out. Launching his party’s campaign in Sheffield, he said there would be no “decent, meaningful opposition” unless the Lib Dems regained ground. And he called for a return to his party’s “community politics” tradition.
Greater Manchester became the first English region to gain control of its health spending. As part of an extension of devolved powers, the £6 billion health and social care budget was taken over by a Partnership comprising 37 organisations including hospital trusts, NHS England, the 10 borough councils and GP commissioners.
A former MEP who dishonestly claimed almost £500,000 in expenses was warned he faces a prison sentence. Peter Skinner, 56, Labour MEP for the South East from 1999 to 2014, was found guilty of three charges after a trial at Southwark Crown Court. Jurors heard he claimed thousands of pounds for support staff over a five-year period which actually funded hotel stays, restaurants and jewellery.
More than 700 workers in the construction industry represented by unions UCATT, GMB and Unite have sued the companies for using a secret and illegal database for about 50 years to block those who reported breaches in health and safety from getting work. The firms accused of such blacklisting include Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd, Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Skanska, Kier, Vinci and Laing O’Rourke. Last October, they admitted that they broke the law by subscribing to The Consulting Association, which maintained a list of trade unionists and infringed rights of confidentiality reputation and data protection. Unions have already won £5.6 million in compensation for some victims.
President Barack Obama warned that the threat from terrorists trying to launch a nuclear attack that would “change our world” is real. “Concrete” steps to prevent nuclear terrorism have been taken, he told the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. But the so-called Islamic State obtaining a nuclear weapon is “one of the greatest threats to global security”, he added.
Three socialist politicians were killed in Vezeualas – within a single week. Marco Tulio Carrillo was shot outside his home in Trujillo state. He was a member of President Nicolas Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Fritz Saint Louis was gunned down his own home by masked assailants. Saint Louis was a former international co-ordinator for the United Haitian Socialist Movement. Cesar Vera was shot in Tachira state, in what local authorities said may have been a paramilitary attack. He was a member of the Great Patriotic Pole, a coalition of parties aligned with the PSUV. Two police officers were killed also killed during the same period. They were responding to a protest in Tachira state. Witnesses said they were run over by a bus that had been hijacked by right-wing militants. These incidents took place against the background of the opposition MUD grouping seeking to oust Maduro from power.
Aung San Suu Kyi promised her new government in Myanmar will work towards freeing all remaining political prisoners within weeks.In her first announcement in her new role as “state counsellor”, she signalled that the move could affect up to 500 prisoners in jail or awaiting trial. Hundreds have already been freed as part of the reform process that ended Myanmar’s long period of military rule. But many others remain incarcerated.