Natalie Marchant

@BeeNetwork @Mikiebenj

@Mikiebenj Hi there. Are you waiting at Ashton-under-Lyne? Thanks.

@BeeNetwork What is happening with the Tram from Ashton?

@BeeNetwork @Mikiebenj Really not helpful for trams running to Ashton so few and far between

👀The Electoral Commission give Democracy Volunteers access to polling stations at election time. Only they and the police can go inside. They’ve just issued this report about “family voting” in Gorton and Denton: Democracy Volunteers deployed four accredited election observers across the Gorton and Denton Westminster Parliamentary By-election today. The team attended 22 of the 45 polling stations in the constituency, spending between 30 and 45 minutes in each. The observers worked in pairs using the international standard for election observation - the four eyes principle. Each team assessed several aspects of the polling process, from accessibility to issues around the integrity of the vote. Staff were welcoming to the team and we would like to thank them for their time in accommodating our work. The team assessed two significant aspects of electoral integrity - family voting (where two voters either confer, collude or direct each other on voting) which breaches the secret ballot. The team also assessed the impact of the requirement for voters to show ID before they are issued with a ballot paper. 2023 saw the enactment of the Ballot Secrecy Act, which made the practice of family voting more clearly a breach of the secret ballot, making it more enforceable by staff in polling stations. Signage is now available to discourage the practice. Signage was only seen in 45% of the polling stations observed. The observer team saw family voting in 15 of the 22 polling stations observed, some 32 cases in total, nine cases in one polling station alone. The team observed a sample of 545 voters casting their votes - meaning 12% of those voters observed either caused or were affected by family voting. Commenting John Ault, Director of Democracy Volunteers said; ‘Today we have seen concerningly high levels of family voting in Gorton and Denton. Based on our assessment of today’s observations, we have seen the highest levels of family voting at any election in our 10 year history of observing elections in the UK.’ ‘We rarely issue a report on the night of an election, but the data we have collected today on family voting, when compared to other recent by-elections, is extremely high.’ ‘In the other recent Westminster parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby we saw family voting in 12% of polling stations, affecting 1% of voters. In Gorton and Denton, we observed family voting in 68% of polling stations, affecting 12% of those voters observed.’ The team also observed cases of voters being turned away, however, in each case this was due to them not being a registered voter for Westminster elections, such as having EU citizenship, and only being allowed to vote in local elections. The team also saw a number of voters taking photographs of their ballot papers and one voter being authorised to vote despite them already having been marked as voted earlier in the day. Democracy Volunteers has informed elections staff at Manchester City Council about our findings today. This Statement is now available on the Democracy Volunteers website HERE. --

And another... x.com/Jamesara/statu…

Reform now has Boris Johnson’s… - chancellor (Zahawi) - communities sec (Jenrick) - culture sec (Dorries) - attorney general (Braverman) - political sec (Kruger) - skills minister (Jenkyns) - Northern powerhouse minister (Berry) - health minister (Caulfield) - parliamentary private sec (Nici) - assistant whip (Holloway) - Scottish minister (Offord) The old band getting back together

I suspect we might come to look on Mark Carney’s speech in Davos a little like Winston Churchill’s “iron curtain” speech in Fullerton in brilliantly articulating the threats of a new and different global age. It s worth reading in full. weforum.org/stories/2026/0…

There will be people who think this is deeply unfair, but it can’t be avoided anymore. You cannot do politics like this now - going on the radio or TV and using a clever form of words to avoid saying the thing you think will end your career. It doesn’t work and it hasn’t worked for a long time. The career-ending thing isn’t saying “I broke that promise and I’m sorry, but here’s why I really think it’s the right thing to do…” It is repeatedly saying you did it without holding up your hands; in the process treating your audience like they’re daft and eroding trust so much that nobody listens to your actual argument. Why would you get a hearing for what you believe is right if you can’t show enough respect to admit your choice broke a promise? No parent would accept that kind of apology from a child; why do some of our politicians still think voters should accept it from them? Trust people to give you a hearing and they’ll listen even when you admit mistakes - maybe even more then, because it is human.

I served as our Ambassador in Ukraine for 3 years under Putin’s missiles and drones but resigned when Trump kept appeasing Putin. America does not bow to dictators. It’s not who we are. Here's why this Trump-Putin so-called "peace plan" is a disaster:

SOUND ON 🎧 This radio commentary from Alasdair Lamont!!! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #BBCFootball

Great! Now please sort out the awful ticketing system on the trams @AndyBurnhamGM @BeeNetwork

@AnnaLongthorp I still miss the vastness of East Yorkshire skies.

I often say being a mum is the best job in the world. But when you’re a tom boy single parent to a boy, being “dad” is the best job in the world. “Dad” days are definitely the best days 🏍️ Chucking a rugby ball around, playing footy in the garden IYKYK 🥰

BREAKING: Ricky Hatton, 46, found dead at home in Greater Manchester - latest updates manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-m…

Fair play to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg for putting Epstein's victims front and centre today.

Angela Rayner is hated by one or two national newspaper editors. They have teams on her. She has her privacy invaded and her safety compromised because she is a) a woman, and b) not playing their games. Nasty stuff in my view. Plenty of Tory and Reform MPs live far wealthier lifestyles.

And so the paper of law and order, the Daily Mail, like the Tory leadership, seeks to turn Lucy Connolly into a people’s hero… we sink, day by day, towards a national nastiness and hate which is being normalised by people who should know better.

@CaroRoshan @KirstieMAllsopp @HMRCgovuk I had to pay £9.39 to fill up a missing NI year recently. Was told it’d take a year to process

@KirstieMAllsopp @HMRCgovuk Send them a cheque - my accountant and HMRC told me it was not possible - oddly enough they cashed it immediately! Took months to be credited to my account but they conceded I’d paid - no penalties

Oh the irony, I owe the @HMRCgovuk some money. So I need to open an “HMRC Gateway Account”. Despite having a UK Passport & UK Driving License Tax.Service.Gov.UK website “cannot confirm my identity” so I can’t open an account & I’m told there is no other option for payment.

@BellaWallerstei True. But it also has higher income tax rates

Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks was £1.1 billion in July 2025. This was £2.3 billion less than in July 2024 and the lowest July borrowing for three years. Read more ➡ ons.gov.uk/economy/govern…

What is your favorite fact that you share with people (maybe a bit too) eagerly?

14 August 1980. Solidarity, the Soviet bloc’s 1st independent trade union, led a strike at the Gdańsk shipyards in Poland. The protest was led by Lech Wałęsa, who later served as the first post 1945 democratically-elected President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.