Gwen Swinburn 🇬🇧🇺🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿xx

Sick to death of top staff @cityofyork & LGA again blaming Cllrs for all evils-any balanced report would address the ever more dysfunctional ever more controlling #PiRFailFloydx2 management too. The report from the latest Monitoring Officer does tells all democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocument…

@JamesCleverly @KemiBadenoch Surely both can be true - some changes @RobertJenrick did have made a difference - others he was stopped from making would have made more of a difference.. come on Kemi there is far too much negative bitching from Conservatives on here.. it’s small and off putting. Be better.

When he resigned he said it was because he was being prevented from making the changes needed to bring down immigration. He is now claiming that he made the changes that brought down immigration. Both can’t be true.

@ScottPCarlton @danny__kruger @AndrewRosindell Look at @labouryork if you want to see scrutiny burned.. plus almost no decisions are made by The Executive- then most of the infinite officer delegated decisions are not recorded .. no contract register either 😔( that’s just a summary)..

@danny__kruger @AndrewRosindell Sounds great, but Reforms record in Local Government is to burn down scrutiny, ban the press whilst do the exact opposite of what they were elected to do. How are you going to square this circle?

ANNOUNCEMENT! Musical chairs in Downing Street don't matter when the real power sits next door at 70 Whitehall. Reform UK will scrap the Cabinet Office and the Cabinet Secretary and restore power to No 10, to ministers and to Parliament. Full policy document here: preparingforgovernment.com/fixing-the-cen…

@LNallalingham Just like @YNYCombined - Two years in a row -disclaimed accounts- they couldn’t find enough evidence to even review the accounts! Absolutely farcical @LabourParty

🚨 Auditors REFUSED to sign off Barking & Dagenham Council’s accounts. That comes directly from the council’s own external auditors. They issued what’s called a “disclaimer of opinion”. In simple English? The auditors could not obtain enough reliable evidence to confirm the accounts were accurate so refused to sign them off. Yet despite all of this: ❌ Council tax keeps rising ❌ Residents keep paying more ❌ Services keep getting worse If auditors cannot properly sign off the accounts… …why should residents trust the council with even more money?

@Starcourse @aDissentient @danny__kruger @Dominic2306 You don’t know that .. clearly it would need to be a very accomplished person, whatever the title. Let’s face it it’s not working now ..

@GSwinburn @aDissentient @danny__kruger @Dominic2306 It says he’d be a SpAd. And no one competent would take such an obviously impossible & ill-conceived job - let alone reporting to Farage.

This is a hugely impressive paper, and is the greatest cause for optimism about the future of our country for years. Congratulations to @danny__kruger (and to @Dominic2306, whose influence on the paper seems clear).

@Starcourse @aDissentient @danny__kruger @Dominic2306 The PM could appoint a very senior Chief of Staff, nor the usual spad, (that tend to be young inexperienced political operatives). Particularly important given the civil service signals re any incoming Reform government.

@aDissentient @danny__kruger @Dominic2306 A. All these people would in practice report to the PM. B. No SpAd could manage people of the requisite calibre effectively

@MaggieOliverUK @Indep_Inq_GG Hi Maggie This is beyond comprehension. Cttee staff & the whole (cross party) committee & the witnesses must have known well in advance. To think that none of them thought to raise it with you or publicise is beyond imagination. It’s as if they all have a common purpose 👿

A brief update on the @Indep_Inq_GG “Grooming gang” Inquiry… This week the Inquiry panel for the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs (the official title, not my choice of words) was questioned by the Home Affairs Select Committee. We hadn’t been made aware this was taking place and only found out on the day via a social media post and hence we couldn’t let our survivors know in advance. Much of what was said however has left us with more questions than it answered in all honesty. What was repeated was the importance of placing victims and survivors at the “heart of the panel”!!! This is what that has looked like so far……. We have not heard from the Inquiry team since we took over two dozen survivors and their families to meet with them in February. In that emotionally charged meeting, survivors spoke about their experiences and their anger at how badly they have been failed, most for decades. They shared their expertise and expectations for the Inquiry. Their anger and trauma was palpable, and most of that was actually directed at the “establishment” including police, cps, social services, government rather than towards their abusers tbh! They clearly demanded the agencies that have failed them (and still are in many cases!) are held ACCOUNTABLE, right up to the top of those agencies! In early March, we submitted both our and the survivors’ extensive comments to the draft Terms of Reference. We have received no reply. In April, our legal team @HoweAndCo wrote to the Inquiry on behalf of all our survivor group expressing the importance of victims and survivors being granted proper legal status in the Inquiry and public funding to ensure they can be properly represented by legal experts. This will go some way to addressing the imbalance between survivors and the very agencies, organisations and individuals whose decisions have caused so much of their trauma. Police forces and local authorities around the country will have undoubtedly been working with their legal teams since the inquiry was announced almost a year ago. This is PRECISELY the imbalance I saw 8 years ago when I was involved in the @IICSAVSCP Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). Because the “Organised networks” strand became little more than a platform for public institutions to say what a great job they were now going with barely any survivors heard, it became a meaningless paper exercise and that’s imo why we’re here now…. I’ll leave you to read the Home Office’s response attached below and our reply and make up your own mind as to whether we should have confidence that this will be granted. So many survivors have fought hard for this Inquiry. People are sharing traumatic details of the worst times of their lives again in the hope that they will finally see people held accountable for decisions that destroyed their lives. Survivors must have legal status and representation if there is even the slightest chance of this happening. Please share far and wide. We need people pressure to make this happen. Further updates to follow next week….

These delays at Borders are for Schengen area checks. The UK and Ireland were never in Schengen; and so this would be happening if we were still in UK. Nothing to do with Brexit !

@jeffery_hayley Isn’t that an immediate ticket as it is in the crossing/ disabled access point? The entire (double yellow ) was free for driver to park up .. traffic warden said report and they can immediately ticket .. York!

Van driver parks on the x-ing of a ridiculously narrow pavement on a very steep hill so they can avoid a fine because the ANPR sign is set back inside the junction. What are people with prams and wheelchairs supposed to do? risk their lives just to get to where they need to be?

@HinckleyConserv So boring from @Conservatives- no new Cllr will have a clue re constitution or the range of their duties- pity legacy & ousted Conservatives don’t focus on policies to recover their votes rather than constant jealous bitching. Good for her honesty I say. MO needs to step up.

Reform Ltd elected councillors admit that they have no clue what they signed up to. It’s shameful that Reform do not prepare their elected officials so they know what responsibilities they have and demonstrate how unsuitable they are to hold any office.

Sky News just did an extended piece on the UK being the world's largest importer of jet fuel, with zero production capacity. They managed not to mention the closure 2 years ago of the Grangemouth oil refinery which produced jet fuel.

@DanicaPriest @LabourBristol Plenty on line just look - particularly aimed at the staff who were doing their job, which isn’t to side or not side with Cllrs, but to ensure applications meet policy etc.

@GSwinburn @LabourBristol You didn’t answer my question by the way what certain comments are you referring too

I was just interrupted by the planning chair despite being within the time limit. As someone with ADHD I always ask to not be interrupted because I find it distracting and lose my thoughts. By all means cut me off when my time is up but don’t tell me I have 10 seconds. 1/2

@DanicaPriest @LabourBristol If you feel that way, put a standards complaint in to Council. He interrupted too much guv.. he had a terrible meeting to handle and complex reserve matters too.. it was fractious, people were shouting, he had to be worried for staff just doing their job.

@GSwinburn @LabourBristol There’s no valid reason for declining disability accommodations especially for something as silly as giving a warning. The whole meeting he acted inappropriately interrupting and making false statements like it’s illegal to refuse the reserved matter’s application

@DanicaPriest @LabourBristol Why should he resign? What did he do other than handle a very fractious meeting, ( & forget your special adjustment..) with a loud unruly rabble at the back? All he needed was valid reasons for declining the officer recommendations… 🙈

@GSwinburn @LabourBristol What certain comments by the way?

@DanicaPriest @LabourBristol I listened to the meeting after the concerning social media comments y’day.. as for the chair, he gave everyone a ten second warning, he hardly interrupted you.. & in view of certain comments made in speeches & the rabble shouting, he was generous. Why should he resign exactly?

Don Alexander is doing this to all of the campaigners today and he didn’t interrupt the developers so far. This is unacceptable and I will be complaining @LabourBristol Don should resign as chair 2/2

Subject to final approvals, we've agreed a funding deal with Peterborough City Council to introduce free parking after 3pm in four city centre car parks later this year, backing @paulbristow79's commitment to supporting the high street. Read more: orlo.uk/5TyVL

LIB DEM CUSTOMS UNION VOTE FAILS The Liberal Democrat amendment to the King's Speech, which instructed the government to negotiate a Customs Union with the EU, has just failed. Ayes - 78 Noes - 408 That's hundreds of Labour MPs voting against a Customs Union.

@WagonTrain2 Please feel free to explain why, when every single OBR forecast is known to have been too optimistic, the Brexit one must be gospel. Go ahead. Explain.

PLEASE READ! ANDY BURNHAM! You care deeply about Makerfield & it's people? 🙄 Oh fgs! The only thing you care deeply about Andy is yourself & your ambitions. I've met you (with Maggie & Paul Bailey, chair of BAPA remember?!) Seen the whites of you're eyes & you're lies! You're a charlatan! Mr Hillsborough Law? Duty of candour? Mr Hypocrite! Mr Liar, Liar! You were an incompetent disaster in your oversight of GMP, plagued with scandal & failure! Put into special measures! How many @gmpolice whistleblowers warned you? You ignored ALL OF US! How many £Ms paid to lawyers to try to destroy me & others since? I'm Mcr born & bred & policed it for 31 yrs! You've turned the city into a cross between Lahore & Mogadishu! East Mcr, the place I grew up in is called Little Africa. Blighted with gang warfare. The city centre like a tented city crack den! You've failed miserably on your big Homelessness pledge. Now never mentioned! Arterial routes in & out of the city awash with migrants. Towns that encircle Gtr Mcr, Muslim majority sectarian strongholds. You & your Mcr MP chums are reliant on their block vote! Hence the rape gang restricted cover up reviews!! Then there's all the other stuff! The property developer grant scandals, £100M wasted on the abandoned clean air zone! Your shameful support of Arooj Shah & rotten to the core Oldham council, despite her serious criminal associates including the despicable Mohammed Imran Ali, getaway driver for double female police killer Cregan! And your support for bestie Sacha, having to repay his covid grant & resign?! The only thing you've done for Manchester is paint the buses yellow! You are no King! Just a Charlatan & a liar & the UK doesn't need another one of those running the country!

Why are we not charging the EU for accessing the UK market?

Hi @localgoveditors I see you have multiple negative headlines about @reformparty_uk Councillors .. but seems @TheGreenParty is topping the list.. why are you targeting only Reform for negative coverage.. I always thought you were neutral.