Tax cuts when councils on their knees?
29/02/2024
Ahead of next week’s Budget, Jim examines the pressure on the Chancellor for tax cuts, and the consequences if he carries them out.
Hoyle on the hook
22/02/2024
Jim reflects on the Speakership of Lindsay Hoyle, the forthcoming Rochdale by election and possibly (not another one) in Lancashire.
Gateway for Galloway?
15/02/2024
Jim thinks George Galloway has a real chance of winning the Rochdale by election. He reflects on the mistakes Labour made and whether it will have longer term consequences this General Election year.
What took Labour so long?
08/02/2024
In his blog, Jim weighs up the different factors that have lead Labour to ditch their £28bn green energy promise. He also looks at the rise of the right in the Tory Party.
Downtown take on councils’ crisis
01/02/2024
MPs say the Town Hall financial crisis is out of control. Jim reports on that, and a Downtown event which shows that councils and business increasingly want to work together for regeneration.
Tax cuts or better services?
25/01/2024
Do people want tax cuts or better public services? That may be a big issue at the election, but perhaps not, as Jim explains in his blog. He also pays tribute to Tony Lloyd and reports on the choice of his successor in Rochdale.
History not on Labour’s side
18/01/2024
Is Sir Keir Starmer heading for a landslide or will the General Election be a close run thing? Jim reports on two major surveys this week that reached very different conclusions.
Post haste
11/01/2024
Jim is unimpressed with the sudden urgency ministers are applying to decades of post office injustice. He also looks ahead to a year of elections.
Winners & Losers in 2023
14/12/2023
Jim gives us his winners and losers from a year which, he thinks, leaves
us with little to be optimistic about.
Obsessed Prime Ministers
07/12/2023
The Prime Minister has created a first class political crisis by staking the whole government’s credibility on the narrow issue of Stop the Boats according to Jim in his latest blog.
Bankruptcy and vision, hand in hand
30/11/2023
Despite a crisis looming over Town Hall finances, Jim reports on major plans for the future launched this week by local authorities across the North West.
Will the Tories be forgiven?
23/11/2023
The Chancellor is cherpy but is he entitled to be? Jim analyses the Autumn Statement and Labour’s pledge to back the tax cuts.