Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats performed well at the English local elections, the Green Party started a leadership election, MSPs passed the first stages of an assisted dying bill, and the UK Government considered changes to the winter fuel payment cuts and two-child benefit cap.
English local elections
Reform UK made sweeping gains in the English local elections, mostly at the expense of the Conservatives, who lost over 600 councillors and control of 16 councils.
Meanwhile, Reform won 677 out of the 1635 seats up for election and controlled ten councils.
Most of these posts were last elected in 2021, a few months before the Partygate scandal broke, and are based in rural and suburban areas.
The Government suspended a handful of the elections scheduled for this May to undertake a reorganisation of local government.
These local elections represented the largest electoral challenge for Labour since coming into government last July.
In total, the party lost 187 councillors and control of one council. It also lost one mayoral contest to the Conservatives and two to Reform UK, while holding two mayoral roles and gaining one from an ex-Labour independent in the West of England.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats also performed well, posting a net gain of 163 councillors and control of three more councils.
The Green Party leadership election
Following a one-year suspension due to the UK general election, the Green Party is due its two-yearly leadership election.
In early May, deputy leader Zack Polanski announced his leadership campaign, telling the Guardian that he wanted to take a more eco-populist direction to challenge Reform UK.
Polanski has criticised the UK’s membership of NATO and called for a wealth tax to fund the UK’s green transition.
Meanwhile, incumbent co-leader Carla Denyer announced that she would not seek re-election and would focus on her duties as an MP.
Incumbent co-leader Adrian Ramsay instead announced a joint ticket with Ellie Chowns.
Ramsay has been co-leader of the Greens since 2021 and has faced scrutiny for opposing pylon construction in his constituency and failing to answer whether transgender women were women following the UK Supreme Court ruling on the topic.
Meanwhile, Ellie Chowns has represented the Green Party in councils, the European Parliament, and more recently, the House of Commons.
In 2019, she was arrested by the Metropolitan Police while defending the right of Extinction Rebellion activists to protest. The High Court found this arrest unlawful, although she decided not to sue.
The campaigns will run through the summer, with party members voting through August, and the results announced in early September.
MSPs voted in favour of an assisted dying bill
The push to legalise assisted death in Scotland cleared its first hurdle in mid-May, as MSPs voted 70-56 in favour of the principles of the Assisted Dying Bill.
During an emotional but civil debate, MSPs thoroughly discussed safeguards, alternatives, and personal experiences.
The legislation must clear two more Holyrood votes before becoming law, and will be subject to intensive scrutiny over the coming months.
It comes as the UK Parliament considers similar legislation for England and Wales, although some differences exist.
The Westminster bill would make life-ending treatment available for those with less than six months left to live.
Meanwhile, the Holyrood bill currently makes no timeframe available, instead referring to those with an advanced and progressive disease that is expected to cause an early death.
Critics, such as Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, stressed that legalising assisted dying could make assisted death more accessible to disabled people than end-of-life care.
Duncan-Glancy, who is the first permanent wheelchair user elected to Holyrood, said that she was ‘heartbroken’ by the vote, as it could legitimise the view that disabled lives aren’t worth living.
Meanwhile, bill supporters took these concerns seriously, with Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, who tabled the bill, insisting that strict eligibility criteria would exist to prevent non-eligible patients from accessing the treatment.
He also said that these concerns of a slippery slope were echoed in other countries where measures have since been successful, and that safeguards would protect against coercion.
The Scottish Government was neutral on the issue and allowed members to vote freely.
Further debates, votes, and changes will come over the following months.
UK Government considers U-turns
Following a poor local election performance, the Government reportedly considered changes to the winter fuel cuts and the two-child benefit cap.
The winter fuel payment, created in 1997, entitled every Brit above state pension age to an allowance of between £100 and £300 per year to help with winter heating bills.
In late July 2024, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the payments would become means-tested and only available to pensioners in receipt of Pension Credit or other means-tested benefits.
According to the BBC, ten million pensioners would lose their entitlement.
The announcement surprised people because nothing similar appeared in Labour’s manifesto, and it came less than a month after they took office.
Labour MPs expressed unease, and the Government held a binding Commons vote on the changes, which passed with a majority of 120.
However, Reform’s Runcorn and Helsby by-election victory in early May was largely attributed to the winter fuel cuts, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer later suggested that the Government would restore eligibility to ‘more pensioners’.
Meanwhile, questions were raised around the two-child benefit cap.
The Observer reported that Starmer privately wanted to remove the cap, while Deputy PM Angela Rayner refused to clarify the Government’s position during an interview.
Education Secretary Bridget Philipson later told Sky News that ministers were ‘considering’ lifting it.
Honorary Mentions
Nigel Farage announced at a US cryptocurrency conference in late May that Reform UK would accept political donations in Bitcoin, becoming the first UK party to do so.
South Western Railway became the first private train operator to be nationalised under Labour’s plans to fully nationalise British railways by 2029.
Featured Image Credit: Edward Jewsbury
Politics Editor
Journalism and Politics 4th Year
Stockport
