And so it begins, Reform’s Britain

MaizieD

I do know that, just didn't mention it. I realised I should have done, but I'd already pressed 'send'...

The point of my post was that there is no such thing as 'road tax'.

I think people still think of it as road tax even though it's vehicle licensing.

A lack of formal academic qualification should not preclude someone from standing for public office but the learning curve is very steep. Sometimes work experience can be invaluable but to parachute in a former boxer with no experience of anything else to be metro mayor with all the responsibility that entails is irresponsible to him, the public he has been elected to serve and the people who will have to work with him.

Campbell will be required to:

• chair combined authorities (groups of local councils) to which specified functions and budgets have been devolved from Whitehall.

* deal with aspects of transport, skills, housing, and local infrastructure investmen, spatial planning, policing, health and employment support.

provide strong local leadership as a prominent individual that local residents can hold directly accountable.

• provide central government with a single point of contact when they want something done in a region.

* enact policies that require coordination across public services and in areas beyond his formal brief.

How in the Hootenanny is he going to manage that?

Businesses paying rent again isn't necessarily a win for the consumer as they're likely to pass on costs.

MaizieD

I do know that, just didn't mention it. I realised I should have done, but I'd already pressed 'send'...

The point of my post was that there is no such thing as 'road tax'.

Damn, forgot to press 'paste', too (the shock of finding myself in a Reform led county has been too much for me)

They are. However, major A roads and motorways and major road building schemes are the responsibility of national Government, ie National Highways in England, Agencies on behalf of the Senedd in Wales, Transport Scotland in Scotland.

I do know that, just didn't mention it. I realised I should have done, but I'd already pressed 'send'...

The point of my post was that there is no such thing as 'road tax'.

doubt if he has a GCSE either, mind you Angela Rayner doesn’t either.

Irrelevant.

It's not the lack of formal qualifications that matters, it's the lack of political experience. Rayner has plenty of that, being a union official is a very political post. We have had plenty of MPs in the past who have entered politics via the union route.

A PPE degree from Oxford is as meaningless as a few GCSEs when it comes to being a good MP (or Mayor). Experience counts, not pieces of paper.

Leopard79

I think it's fantastic that Reform have done so well - roll on the general election.

Common sense and putting our country first for a change.

As for the jobs being moved back to an office - great - businesses paying rent etc again and the work shy back in the office working again.

Talk about generalisation and describing those working from home “work shy”

My daughter currently works from home, on a hybrid scheme, attending the office and meetings in other offices across Essex when she’s required.

She works far longer and harder than possible in an office environment, mainly because there are no interruptions.

I spent the last two years working from home, from 2020-2022, I worked in the DWP for a national team so no one else in my local office worked in the team I did, again I was at laptop at 7:45am every morning, 30 mins for lunch, and rarely finished before 6:00pm

Because people wfh they are no less or more likely to “shirk” than if they attended 100% in an office.

Working from home is valuable to so many people, disabled, carers, and many companies have downsized or sold off their offices.

Grandmotherto8

My area has just elected a gold medal Olympic boxer as Reform mayor. I doubt he has a GCSE to his name, as he will have devoted himself to boxing from an early age. I doubt he was involved or even interested in politics until he got groomed into Reform. We live in an area where the wealthy and the poor live cheeky by jowl and the poor are seduced by tales of immigrants taking our jobs, houses & hospital beds. They are easy meat to unscrupulous politicians like Farage, who was rejected 7 times by different constituencies before he finally found a seat to take him. The voters in the areas of popularity for Reform are seduced by the offer of closing our borders, but fail to ask how this will be done when we have a coastline impossible to secure. My concern for our new mayor, who was an excellent boxer, is what is his acumen for the job? Has he even had an administrative post before? He won as he's a local man with a gold medal and an anti migrant platform. How will he carry out his job effectively & efficiently for his constituency? Many Reform candidates are totally unprepared for their role. They get elected on the back of a groundswell of angst, possibly misguided information & grooming. In the months to come we will find out the truth about many of the Reform councillors and mayors as they struggle to carry out their work appropriately, meanwhile Farage will continue to cosy up to Trump while ignoring his constituency.

In our area a Lib Dem candidate has just won. Before that he was on TV appearing in Naked Attraction where he WAS totally naked. 🤣🤣 doubt if he has a GCSE either, mind you Angela Rayner doesn’t either.

MaizieD

JaneJudge

why doesn't road tax pay for roads and potholes?

Because there has been no such thing as 'road tax' since the 1930s.

Upkeep of roads has always been the responsibility of the local authorities, either the local regional council or the County council, depending on the status of the road (there were 'parish roads' or 'county roads'). It's really unclear why the early 20th C government took it on themselves to allocate a national tax to road maintenance when LAs already had these obligations. But apparently the tax was never fully spent on roads and only existed for a short while.

They are. However, major A roads and motorways and major road building schemes are the responsibility of national Government, ie National Highways in England, Agencies on behalf of the Senedd in Wales, Transport Scotland in Scotland.

petra

There is obviously a lot of ignorance on the role of a mayor on this thread.
They do not have the final say on financial decisions.
That is the job of the councillors.

The job of a regional mayor as opposed to a local town mayor job is to know and understand the politics, the social and industrial conditions, the organisations both public and voluntary and businesses that contribute to public well being and functioning over their whole area (Hull and Humberside win this case).

They have to represent the area in trying to get government grants and funding for whole ranges of projects to benefit that region and understand how and when it's best to ask for what.

Thats why the successful well known mayors like Andy Burnham and Oliver Coppard (speaking as a northerner) have had substantial experience either as local councillors or MP's before taking on the role. Experience is not "maybe useful" it's essential to do this job well and for the benefits of the region.

He may be a lovely guy but hasn't got the job specs to do this!

Seb Coe had a decent degree.

DD1 works for a council and, after Covid, was told her job was hybrid and the days in the office they had to 'hot desk'. That stopped as it was inefficient - the council have sold the office building now.

Why is there this assumption that home workers are "work shy" ?
If they were not meeting their targets they would be called back to the office.

Re home working: The NatWest Bank, a private business, has reduced overheads by no longer paying rent on huge numbers of offices.
Home workers have saved the company money.

Wyllow3

Grandmotherto8 thank you for adding more detail, he is the Hull and Humberside Mayor that I posted about just 4 posts above. Yes, definitely an example of youngish male attracted by Reform rhetoric with nil suitability for the job and inability to do it - look at the-people who have got there the long hard way like Andy Burnham to see what it really involves!

The Institute of Government have this:

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/metro-mayors-devolution

which shows mayors past and present, their years as a councillor and or MP. Some come to the job with experience of neither but with academic qualifications, other political experience or experience in business.

There are several articles online about David Skaith’s first years as mayor of York and North Yorkshire.

There doesn’t ever appear to have been anyone as unqualified as Luke Campbell to do the job. I fear he's going to struggle very badly, utterly out of his depth. For someone used to competitive sport that will be a hard pill to swallow. Set up by Farage as cannon fodder.

The comments about the ex boxer sound very similar to some of the rhetoric about Angela Rayner.

I think it's fantastic that Reform have done so well - roll on the general election.

Common sense and putting our country first for a change.

As for the jobs being moved back to an office - great - businesses paying rent etc again and the work shy back in the office working again.

Not sure praying will help…

There is obviously a lot of ignorance on the role of a mayor on this thread.
They do not have the final say on financial decisions.
That is the job of the councillors.

Grantanow

Ora pro nobis...

salvat nos a WUMs

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Consultants, woke management, green supervisors, interpreters & those who have worked from home for five years—-easy cost savings. Do you realise some councils employ 26 interpreters?

When in Spain as a resident, one has to pay & bring one’s own interpreter, as my sister does for hospital visits in Estapona and Marbella.

That is rather a series of generalisations - it really doesn't help understand what you are objecting to, unless you give some examples - of where those things are unwarranted costs. Perhaps from your own council?

For example, consultants can be cheaper than employing someone permanently:

Why is it wrong to have interpreters per se?

Which interpreters do you agree or disagree with (for example our council now has Sign Language interpreters)

Commitment to green policies does need particular qualifications, its not their existence but what they do is surely more at issue

- or do you question the need to have safe air in affected parts of cities - or are you a climate change deny person?

Most working from home council employees are working under a hybrid system, ie half at home, half at the office, not the heavily criticised 100% distant working.

What problems do you have with the hybrid system?

Grandmotherto8

My area has just elected a gold medal Olympic boxer as Reform mayor. I doubt he has a GCSE to his name, as he will have devoted himself to boxing from an early age. I doubt he was involved or even interested in politics until he got groomed into Reform. We live in an area where the wealthy and the poor live cheeky by jowl and the poor are seduced by tales of immigrants taking our jobs, houses & hospital beds. They are easy meat to unscrupulous politicians like Farage, who was rejected 7 times by different constituencies before he finally found a seat to take him. The voters in the areas of popularity for Reform are seduced by the offer of closing our borders, but fail to ask how this will be done when we have a coastline impossible to secure. My concern for our new mayor, who was an excellent boxer, is what is his acumen for the job? Has he even had an administrative post before? He won as he's a local man with a gold medal and an anti migrant platform. How will he carry out his job effectively & efficiently for his constituency? Many Reform candidates are totally unprepared for their role. They get elected on the back of a groundswell of angst, possibly misguided information & grooming. In the months to come we will find out the truth about many of the Reform councillors and mayors as they struggle to carry out their work appropriately, meanwhile Farage will continue to cosy up to Trump while ignoring his constituency.

He may be unprepared and under-qualified but remember Seb Coe went from athletics to politics as an MP and then to Olympic chair. Just saying.

Himself has just said “Good result. The total destruction of both the lying Labour party and the betraying Con party , is what this country needs.”

Ora pro nobis...

Churchview

Ferry23 said, "The most astonishing thing to me is that a large swathe of the electorate haven't a clue what they were voting for."

The most astonishing thing to me is that a large swathe of the electorate don't vote. Only a third of those able to vote this week could be bothered to do so.

Arrogance again.
Last GE voting down below 2019 levels, and lowest since 2001.
Seats won by Labour lower turnout than for Cons.
(HANSARD).
Wonder if those Labour supporters knew what they were voting for. Guess not as Labour lied by omission. Glad I didn't vote for stopping WFA, except for MPs. PIP removal from most vulnerable. Could go on, but can't be bothered. Labour and Conservatives have caused this. No one else.

Consultants, woke management, green supervisors, interpreters & those who have worked from home for five years—-easy cost savings. Do you realise some councils employ 26 interpreters?

When in Spain as a resident, one has to pay & bring one’s own interpreter, as my sister does for hospital visits in Estapona and Marbella.