If you want to vote against the Tories and am not sure how best to use your vote, the Liberal Democrats have a tactical voting website.

Some Labour supporters and three of its MPs have called for the party to not stand candidates in two constituencies where the Green Party has a better chance of winning in order to reduce the size of the victory that Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to win in the June 8 general election. Labour has rejected the proposal.

It is another indication that underneath the tide — currently flowing in the Conservatives' direction — there are some interesting cross-currents. The Tories seem to be stealing votes from Labour, which is unusual. The UKIP threat appears to have been neutralised by May. And with the Labour Party trailing badly in the polls there is some evidence of a rebound for the Liberal Democrat party.

Feel like a tactical vote click here:

The slump in the value of sterling since the EU referendum last June is responsible for 5p of the recent increase in the cost per litre of petrol and diesel, new figures from the Liberal Democrats revealed today.

The average price of a litre of petrol has risen by 7p per litre since the referendum. Around a third of that increase is due to the rise in the international oil price. The rest - around 5p - is due to the post-referendum collapse in the value of the pound against the dollar.  

This 5p increase works out at £2.50 on a tank of petrol for an average-sized car, or £60 per year for the average motorist.

For hauliers, the impact of the increase in fuel prices is far greater, adding more than £2,200 per year for the average lorry. 85% of everything we buy is carried by truck, so the increase in fuel costs will push shop prices up too. 

Women’s Equality Party candidate Sharon Lovell today announced that she will contest the Vale of Glamorgan seat in next month’s general election. In response to Labour’s disastrous showing in Wales in the local elections on May 4, Lovell, who had been slated to stand in Cardiff South and Penarth against Labour incumbent Stephen Doughty, decided in consultation with the WE Executive to move her candidacy.

“In light of the local election results, I will now fight Vale of Glamorgan, targeting Conservative Alun Cairns. The Secretary of State is a hard Brexiteer with a damning record of opposing equality legislation and a history that saw him suspended as a candidate for racist comments,” said Lovell. “Cairns is part of the same toxic culture represented by his fellow Tory Philip Davies in Shipley.”

She added: “Labour's disastrous performance in the local elections means they lost control of the council in Vale of Glamorgan. I am determined that this Government is held to account through the strongest possible opposition to the Conservative cuts that are harming Welsh women.

“WE originally targeted Cardiff South because we have a lot of supporters in the constituency. Despite our disappointment with Labour, WE will encourage our members to back Stephen Doughty over his Tory challenger Bill Rees, another hard Brexiteer who is pushing forward Theresa May’s agenda whatever the cost to women.”

The Women’s Equality Party based its election strategy on ensuring the best outcome for progressive candidates, protecting women’s representation and ensuring all parties raise the bar in terms of their policies on women’s equality. WE do not believe the fight for women’s equality belongs to any one part of the political spectrum. There are progressives and regressives in all the old mainstream parties.

WE co-founder and president Catherine Mayer says: “The Women’s Equality Party has always advocated for collaborative politics to get the best outcomes for women and for everyone. All decisions on where WE stand are based on a pragmatic approach about how to achieve those outcomes. WE aim to win and our local election performance also showed how important it is for us to be in the race.”

The 4 May local elections saw WE contest county council seats in Tunbridge Wells, Sheffield, Swansea and Worcester, as well as the Liverpool Metro Mayoral election. In every place, first-time candidates for a party less than two years old changed the conversation and more. In Tunbridge Wells Celine Thomas put in a stunning debut, gaining a 9.3% vote share, more than UKIP and the Greens combined and within 2% of Labour. Celine will now fight for the Tunbridge Wells seat in the General Election.

As part of her campaign in Liverpool Tabitha Morton secured a commitment from new metro Mayor Steve Rotheram to introduce a region-wide strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.

“WE are excited about making even more of an impact in the coming General Election,” said Mayer. “WE have the best policies and the best candidates and we have strong support. Of course, WE wouldn’t exist if any of the old parties were doing a good enough job of challenging discrimination in politics, work and family life, or removing the barriers to a properly representative politics.”

She continued: “Labour continues to join with the Conservatives in backing the first-past-the-post electoral system which has been shown globally to exclude women and minorities from office. This is one of many clear differences between the Women’s Equality Party and Labour but there is, of course, overlap. It should be no surprise that the Women’s Equality Party is strong in constituencies where Labour has historically performed well. Among the old Westminster parties, Labour has the strongest record on promoting gender equality. However that proud record is tarnished.

“We wish Labour would look at elections as we do, and stand down their no-hope candidate in Shipley where they are splitting the progressive vote. Some Labour supporters are saddened to see us run in Labour-held constituencies and we are sad too, at seeing a party that has done so much for women in the past fail so consistently to properly value women within its own ranks, and so hopelessly divided that it cannot fight for women as it should. When women thrive, everyone benefits.”

The Women’s Equality Party has now announced a total of seven general election candidates:

•Sophie Walker - Shipley

•Nimco Ali - Hornsey and Wood Green

•Harini Iyengar - Vauxhall

•Sally Carr MBE - Manchester Withington

•Kirstein Rummery - Stirling

•Sharon Lovell - Vale of Glamorgan

•Celine Thomas - Tunbridge Wells

The Women’s Equality Party was established to highlight and dismantle obstacles to gender equality in the UK: a political and economic architecture rigged against women and diversity, an education system riven with unconscious bias and gender stereotyping, a media that reinforces these stereotypes, a society that assigns little value to caregiving and therefore assumes it to be women’s business, that underpays women and invests less in women's health and permits endemic harassment and violence against women.

The Party currently has 65,000 members and registered supporters. It aims to put equality for women at the top of the national political agenda by being an electoral force that also works with other political parties; in addition to party membership it also offers joint memberships to members of other political parties.

Europe Day is a celebration of peace and unity in Europe that happens annually on May 9. It commemorates the historical Schuman Declaration of May 9, made in 1950 by then French foreign minister Robert Schuman. Schuman proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community, whose members would pool coal and steel production under one common high authority. The idea was that the industrial cooperation of the member countries would lead to gradual political integration, and the pacification of the nations.

‘Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan,’ the declaration goes. ‘It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity. ‘The coming together of the nations of Europe requires the elimination of the age-old opposition of France and Germany’. It was a crucial union that forged relations between France and Germany after a brutal and hostile war. Today of course the UK is on course to leave. 

Image: The Ossuary Verdun

Pensioners will receive at least an extra £772 per year by 2021 under Liberal Democrat manifesto plans to protect the Triple Lock.  The party are making the commitment to older people unlike the Conservatives who have repeatedly refused to give the guarantee.
 
This guarantee means the state pension is expected to be worth at least £137.15-a-week by 2021, up from £122.30 in 2017.
 
Thanks to the Liberal Democrats’ triple lock guarantee, the basic state pension has risen in each year by whichever is the higher of earnings, prices or 2.5%. The triple lock was a key demand from the Liberal Democrats in Coalition negotiations.
 
Labour increased the State Pension by just 75p in 2000. Help the Aged described the 75p increase as “just unacceptable”. Labour had 13 years to restore the earnings link to pensions which Margaret Thatcher severed in 1980. The Liberal Democrats restored the link to earnings within six weeks of getting into government.
 
The Conservatives have hinted strongly that they will drop the Triple Lock. Theresa May has said she will not be drawn on whether it will be included in the manifesto, and Conservative senior figures have spoken out against it.
 
Commenting on the plan, Sir Vince Cable said:
 
“Liberal Democrats believe that an important test of a civilised society is the way in which it cares for the elderly. We will protect the Triple Lock unlike the Conservatives.
 
“The guiding principle of the pensions system must be to ensure that none are left unable to meet their basic needs for survival and participation in society, and that everyone is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.
 
“A Lib Dem Pensions Minister introduced the triple lock guarantee to protect the state pension during Coalition. We delivered on our manifesto commitment to increase the Basic State Pension by whatever is highest out of CPI inflation, average earnings or 2.5%.”

The SNP has won the local elections emphatically, with more seats than any other party, an increased and higher share of the vote than any other party and as the largest party in more councils than any other party.

Regardless of politics and policies we have a good relationship with the SNP whose press release output and sheer vigor leaves other political parties in their wake. We have just turned down a request to donate to the Labour Party, who have ignored the ABC and our growing audience for the last year. We are too kind to print our reply. It was however, NO THANK YOU!  

Our local Labour candidate, Cllr Lee Scordis Councillor for the Ward, Old Heath and The Hythe actually won, but he must feel like a 'lone yachtsman' surrounded by all that Tory blue, as Essex was mopped-up once again, by the Conservatives. 

Image: Cllr Lee Scordis (Labour). 

Back to the charging SNP. 

In key victories across the country, making progress on the party’s record-breaking result in 2012, the SNP broke Labour’s 37 year stranglehold on Glasgow City Council, to become the largest party and held off a Tory surge in Aberdeen to give the city a fresh start with the SNP.

The SNP is now the largest party in Scotland’s four largest cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.

The SNP secured:

•             431 councillors, an increase on the number won in 2012 and over 150 more than the party in second place.

•             The highest share of first preference votes — up on 2012.

•             The SNP is the largest party in 16, or half, of Scotland’s councils — up from 10 in 2012 — and joint largest in 3 further councils, putting the SNP in pole position across the country.

The results show that more people are putting their trust in the SNP to  stand firm against the increasingly hard line Tory government.

The Tories claims that they would win councils with an anti-independence majority failed to materialise as the party came a distant second to the SNP and Labour’s vote collapsed in Scotland and across the UK showing they cannot provide the opposition to the Tories that is needed, while the Lib Dems failed to make up any ground.

Welcoming the exceptional result, SNP Leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said:

“The SNP has won the election in Scotland and won it loud and clear.

“Thanks to the support of people across the country, the SNP has secured the largest number of councillors, the highest share of the vote – with an increase on the last result in 2012 and is the largest party in the most council areas.

“SNP councillors and SNP councils will put their communities and the people of Scotland first.

“Results across the UK show that now more than ever Scotland needs strong SNP voices to stand up to a Tory government that is set to impose more cuts and put thousands of jobs at risk.

 “It is clear from these results that the only party who can be that strong opposition to the Tories — in Scotland and across the UK — is the SNP.

“Where Labour let Scotland down by losing so many seats to the Tories the SNP showed that the Tories cannot take Scotland’s votes for granted.

 “The local election results are an excellent springboard for the general election on June 8th.”

Here are the stats: 

431 SNP Councillors have been elected, an increase on our record 2012 result. The SNP is the largest party in:

Edinburgh

Moray

Fife

Dundee

North Lanarkshire

West Lothian

West Dunbartonshire

Renfrewshire

Argyll & Bute

Aberdeen

East Dunbartonshire

Glasgow

Falkirk

Clackmannanshire

South Lanarkshire

East Ayrshire

SNP are the joint largest party in:

Stirling

North Ayrshire

Angus

Hiring rebounded in April as US employers added 211,000 jobs, a sign the economy’s sluggish growth in the first three months of the year may prove temporary.

The Labor Department says the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.4 percent from 4.5 percent, reaching its lowest level in a decade.

Are you 18-30? Not in education, training or employment? Do you live in Colchester or Braintree and want a career that makes a difference?

The Princes Trust may have the answer?

Join this free 6-week Adult Support Programme and enjoy an employment sign up bonus of £500 or 20 free driving lessons if offered a job at the end of the 6 weeks

Gain qualifications and experience relevant to working with people in a care environment. Excellent apprenticeship and employment opportunities on successful completion of the 6 weeks.

Not only do the organisers say will it boost your confidence and employability, but you’ll also have the chance to benefit from the support of one the mentors to help you uncover your next steps.

-Interviews from Tuesday 2nd May 2017 at local Job Centres.

-Taster day Wednesday 10th May 2017 – DBS check done on this day

-Programme will run Monday15th May- Friday 23rd June.

Additional Benefits are:

Meet new people, make friends, help others

3 weeks college training Level 1 Health & Safety plus Level 2 First Aid

3 weeks hands on work experience in a care setting

Travel expenses paid on programme. Doesn't affect your benefits 

It’s time to vote in the local elections. For those of you who have not done it before here are some guidelines

When you get to the polling station

Give your name and address to the staff inside the polling station when you arrive. You don’t have to take your poll card with you.

You’ll be given a ballot paper containing a list of the people, parties or the options you can vote for.

Filling in your ballot paper

Take your ballot paper into a polling booth.

Follow the instructions on the notices in the polling booth and on the top of the ballot paper to vote.

Put it in the ballot box.

Voting if you’re disabled

If you’re disabled, your local Electoral Registration Office can tell you about:

physical access, eg wheelchair ramps and disabled parking spaces

low-level polling booths

equipment for voters with a visual impairment

Every polling station must provide at least one large print display version of the ballot paper and a special device so that blind and visually impaired people can vote.

Both health and social care spending per person are set to fall in the coming years under current government plans, analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has revealed.

 The figures predicted that health spending per person will be 1.3% lower in 2020 than in 2010 once the UK's growing and ageing population is taken into account.

 Meanwhile even if councils make full use of powers to raise council tax to pay for social care, spending will still be 3.4% lower per adult than in 2010.

 Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb commented:

 "These figures reveal the sheer scale of the crisis facing the NHS and social care in the years ahead.

“It’s time to be honest with the public about the bold solutions needed to ensure patients and elderly people continue to receive the right level of care.

“Otherwise we will see standards fall and hospitals collapse under the pressure of growing demand.

“The Liberal Democrats are prepared to take the difficult decisions required to secure the future of the NHS and care, including increasing tax.”

Image: Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb