Jim was at the Labour leadership hustings in Manchester this week and saw a strong performance by Wigan’s Lisa Nandy. He feels it may not be enough to stop Keir Starmer but she is a woman to watch as Labour tries to rebuild as a credible electoral force.
Mayoral selections and the leadership contest suggests that Labour has finally realised the futility of Fantasy Island politics according to Downtown boss Frank McKenna.
Will towns be the new driving force of the Northern Powerhouse? This week Downtown held an event with one of the leading Chief Executives in local government, Wigan’s Alison McKenzie-Folan. Jim hosted the lunch and reports on her forthright views on the cities v towns debate.
This week Frank McKenna suggests that the election of Rebecca Long-Bailey as leader will kill the Labour Party.
In his last blog of the year, Jim looks back on the most turbulent decade ever in British politics. It began with Gordon Brown determined to make Labour the natural party of power and ended with it looking unlikely they will ever be in power again.
This week Frank McKenna reflects on the Labour Party’s decade of decline – and warns that only a change of direction can save it from oblivion over the next ten years.
In his final Downtown Monthly blog for 2019, Downtown Political Editor, Jim Hancock explores what the result of the 2019 General Election might have in store.
The more likely a Tory victory becomes, the more chance Labour has of winning back voters who have deserted them in Leave seats, so argues Downtown boss Frank McKenna in his latest blog. He also slams the BBCs election campaign coverage.
This week Frank McKenna reflects on an inauspicious start to the election campaign for both main parties; comments on the Manifesto for the North; and offers support for a Conservative politician in Birmingham.
This week Jim looks at the chances of an anti Brexit majority being assembled after the General Election. He also looks at a new approach to Liverpool Council’s cash crisis.
As a Brexit deal is put to MPs, Jim focuses on the Labour Party. Can Jeremy Corbyn prevent a revolt of his MPs who want a deal when his leadership has just had a mighty blow from resigning MP Louise Ellman?
As another high-profile MP quits the party and they slip 15 points behind the Tories in the polls, Frank Mckenna questions the future prospects of Labour in his latest blog.
