Former deputy Prime Minister and Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg has called for a general election in light of Andrea Leadsom’s withdrawal from the Conservative leadership contest.
Home Secretary Theresa May, who is expected to be Prime Minister by Wednesday evening, is not expected to call an election until Britain’s exit from the European Union has been negotiated.
Writing in The Guardian, the ex-Liberal Democrats leader said:
“The EU referendum has exploded constitutional, political and economic conventions.“
"Our country is in a tailspin.”
“An election of a new parliament in which MPs act responsibly to manage our historic divorce from the EU is the only way to forge some order out of the present chaos.”
His comments echo those of party leader Tim Farron, who said it was "simply inconceivable” that Theresa May could be made Prime Minister “without even having won an election in her own party, let alone the country.”
The Lib Dems have pledged to stand of a platform of re-entering the country into the EU bloc at the next general election.
The Sheffield Liberal Democrats have released new proposals that suggest the council should hold an annual meeting with local businesses.
The meetings would give the opportunity for local businesses to report on the state of business in Sheffield and to present their ideas on what Sheffield City Council needs to do to support business, enterprise and innovation in the city.
Following local job loss announcements in the public and private sector, the Lib Dem opposition are hoping the Labour administration will get behind the idea at Wednesday’s full council meeting.
Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, Leader of the Lib Dem group on Sheffield City Council, said:
“Sheffield’s been through a lot recently, but now is the time for positive action from politicians to help our city get back on its feet.
“We spend so much time in the council chamber talking to ourselves, when we could be using that time to consult with local business people and come up with ideas of how to help bring more enterprise to Sheffield and importantly, more opportunities for Sheffield people.”
Unwelcome employment news has wracked Sheffield in recent weeks, with HSBC Pennine Centre and the government Department for Business, Innovation and Skills both announcing the moving of jobs away from the city.
Around 250 civil servants at a government department in Sheffield are to
be relocated to London by 2018, the government has confirmed.
The Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills (BIS) has said that the cost-cutting measure
will save £350m by the end of the decade.
Staff currently based at the St Paul’s Place office
will be offered financial aid should they choose to move to the capital.
However, the decision has been blasted as irresponsible by many local politicians.
Nick Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam, said: “Relocating jobs from Sheffield to London is
absolute madness. It’s terrible for those facing redundancy, terrible
for Sheffield and terrible value for the UK taxpayer. These proposals
were never on the cards during the Coalition and should never have seen
the light of day.”
Taking a more sanguine view, Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed of the Liberal Democrats has said he is confident that the city will be able to recover from recent job losses. “Sheffield
is facing a very challenging time right now with job losses around the
city. We’ve faced trying times in the past but Sheffielders are strong
and we will bounce back, with new ideas and strong leadership.”
Today’s announcement comes only a week after HSBC announced 600 IT jobs were to be cut from their Sheffield office.
It has since emerged that soon-to-be-redundant staff at the Pennine Centre are being obligated to train their replacements in China and India via video-link.
A report reviewing the level of care given by ambulance services has been launched at the University of Sheffield.
Leading researchers from the University’s School of Health and
Related Research (ScHARR) contributed to the review
conducted by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
The
volume of 999 calls for ambulances has more than doubled in the last 10
years, and in 2014-15, a record nine million calls were received in
England.
At the same time, there have also been parallel increases in
other parts of the emergency care system, with rising numbers of NHS 111
calls, Accident and Emergency department attendances and unplanned
admissions to hospitals.
Janette Turner, Reader in Emergency and Urgent Care Research at
ScHARR, conducted a study used in the review examining why demand on the
ambulance service has dramatically increased.
She said: “It is well known that demand for emergency services is increasing,”
“We know some of the reasons for this increased demand, reflecting wider pressures on health and care services.
“These include people living longer with the number of people over 75
attending Emergency Departments tripling over the last 20 years.”
She added: “Other factors include health needs such as chronic
conditions, socioeconomic factors such as isolation and loneliness, lack
of social support and deprivation and the supply of local services.
“There is little research overall in this area and the relationship between these and demand for services is not yet known.”
A number of studies conducted by leading academics
from ScHARR are amongst 40 papers featured in the themed review of
research funded by the NIHR in the last 10 years.
Suzanne Mason, Professor of Emergency Medicine at ScHARR, contributed
her findings evaluating the impact of Emergency Care Practitioners in
different UK health settings on patient pathways.
She said: “In the past, ambulances transported all patients to hospital. Now
some ambulances treat up to half of all 999 cases at the scene,”
“The change in the nature of work has been driven by rising demand
and changes in technologies and remit, beyond immediate life-threatening
conditions.
“At the same time, new specialist roles have developed requiring
particular training and knowledge including advanced practitioners, who
can assess and treat patients with minor injuries or conditions on the
spot without necessarily referring them to other services.”
More than 70 researchers, health care professionals and patients
attended the launch of the report at Firth Hall yesterday.
A candidate for the upcoming Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough by-election had to be prevented from scaling a new Sheffield attraction yesterday afternoon.
‘New Fathers 4 Justice’ activist, Bobby Smith, was apprehended by ride staff as he attempted to climb the ladder at the centre of the 220ft Sheffield Starflyer.
Bobby
Smith said: “I went to hand my nominations in today, and found the Star
next to the town hall. So Elmo tried to climb it – but I was stopped at
the last minute”
“The lack of justice and equality for
fathers to see their children is one of the biggest social scandals of
our time. We want a legal presumption of equal contact
for a child with their parents if they split up.”
His polices include using Sheffield steel to
build London’s new airport runway near David Cameron’s constituency of Witney, where he stood last year for the ‘Give me back Elmo’ party.
Last week over 25 Labour party activists were
left disappointed after Jeremy Corbyn cancelled a meet and greet at the
Sheffield Brightside Labour office due to Bobby protesting outside as Elmo.
The splinter group ‘New Fathers 4
Justice’ is not associated with Matt O’Connor or Fathers4Justice UK.
The number of new HIV diagnoses per year in Sheffield has halved since the beginning of the decade, new figures show.
According to data released by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals under the Freedom of Information act, 28 individuals were diagnosed HIV positive in the city in 2015, down from a total of 55 in 2010.
It has also been revealed that 893 patients are currently being treated by NHS Sheffield for the virus.
A table listing the number of HIV diagnoses in Sheffield per year since 2010 can be seen below:
New figures from the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive have unveiled a steady decline in bus ridership since the end of 2013.
The statistics, released via a Freedom of Information request, also show that the number of bus users saw an uncharacteristic fall in November 2015 – the same month the controversial Sheffield Bus Partnership number changes took place.
The number of vehicles clamped in Sheffield for non-payment of road tax has soared, it has been revealed.
A total of 1,535 vehicles were clamped in 2015, up 48% on the 1,033 immobilised in 2014.
The figures, obtained by a Freedom of Information request to the DVLA, also found that a total of 237 vehicles were clamped in the first two months of 2016.
Council-supported plans to make Sheffield a “European green city” have been challenged by opponents of recent attempts to fell trees along city highways.
‘Sheffield’s Green Commitment‘, a report published by the independent Sheffield Green Commission this week, emphasised the need for incorporating “attractive green space” into new and existing developments.
Commenting online on the announcement of the report, one aggrieved member of the public said: “Shame they and Amey are in the process of destroying so many healthy
mature street trees, and replacing them with mostly ornamental lollipop
trees.”
Councillor Jayne Dunn, chair of the Sheffield Green Commission, said: “The Sheffield we want to see in the
future is successful, competitive, sustainable and open for business.”
“A citywide response is required to transform Sheffield into the smart, sustainable, future city which we know it can be.”
Councillor Ian Auckland, Liberal Democrat councillor for the Graves Park ward, spoke exclusively to Sheff.eu on the announcement that Sheffield City Council had sold Cobnar Cottage in Graves Park to a private owner:
What are your thoughts on today’s news that Cobnar Cottage has been sold by the council?
I think it’s a sad and tragic day. As far as I’m concerned, having campaigned on this issue since 1998, when previous attempts were made to sell on charitable land on Graves Park, there is no difference between a blade of grass in the grounds of Cobnar cottage and a blade of grass outside the Rose Garden café. It’s all absolutely the same land.
What would you say to the accusations by a Labour councillor that you were responsible for similar sales of park land when you were on the cabinet?
The council does not own Graves Park. There are some other parks that are held in charitable trusts. The council must act in accordance with the trusts, not in accordance with what suits Sheffield City Council at that time as a corporate body. As it happens, I can give you fifteen reasons why the land at Woodhouse Mill bears zero relationship, zero relationship to land held in charitable trust at Graves Park. And the land at Mosborough, for that matter. The point to remember is the council has a responsibility to look after Graves Park upon trust in a charity. It can make popular or unpopular decisions with land that it owns – not charitable land. Why don’t they get one of J.G. Graves’ paintings off the wall and flog that next?
Who do you think was responsible for the cottage’s state of disrepair?
I’ve been in the cabinet, I’ve sat round the table – and I didn’t know Cobnar Cottage was empty. It wasn’t boarded up, it wasn’t looked after properly, and nobody turned the water off. Some of that time I was round the cabinet table. I have concluded now, living locally, that the charity isn’t like any other charity I know. It isn’t treated separately. It’s taken as part of the decision making of a political body, the council’s cabinet, it’s taken as part of the same agenda where they might be investing money in council housing, or demolishing council housing, and where they are wondering how on earth to fill a £15m spending gap in social services. The list is endless. All the decisions are taken around the cabinet table. There is no way that local trustees would have let this cottage go. There’s no way local trustees would have engaged a letting agent, in this case Sheffield Homes, who then spend 5 years – 5 years! – not letting it, and then effectively telling the trustees that they can’t find a tenant for a two bedroom cottage in Graves Park. Don’t you find that ridiculous? Because I do. Also, might they have noticed that no-one had turned the water off, which flooded the cottage and allowed it to go to wreck and ruin? Someone might have noticed water had flooded the basement in a day or two, instead of spending three months not noticing anything was wrong until water started pouring out the front door.
So will you be pushing for a restructuring of the way the park is managed?
If you check back on the council record you will see I proposed a notice of motion quite some months ago to look at this, and I’ve spoken with the council’s legal officer pointing out that this isn’t like any charity I have ever known and that this needs changing. And I hope it will. It’s important to say, here, that as a ward councillor I try and listen to what my constituents tell me, and I try and stay close to the Friends of Graves Park group. But they are a separate body and a separate body in their own right. Charities aren’t supposed to get into political battles, and they do not. So my job is to try and use council processes, council procedures to represent their concerns to the council. Almost, in a way, irrespective of who’s running it. And that’s what I intend to do.
benedict tetzlaff - deas. 