The government tinkers as people struggle with the cost-of-living crisis

Keir Starmer is expected to press Boris Johnson for a substantive intervention on the cost-of-living crisis at Prime Minister’s Questions. The government has been accused of tinkering in the face of rapidly spiralling living costs. The Guardian reported yesterday that ministers are considering allowing nurseries in England to take in more toddlers without employing extra staff in a bid to reduce the cost of childcare. Labour warned the move would “drive down quality whilst making no difference to availability”. That how difficult it is simply to get by is back at the top of the agenda, after being supplanted by ‘partygate’, suits Labour fine. A voter told me on the doorstep last night: “I just wish they would stop banging on about all these parties. I don’t care at all, I have bills coming up and I don’t know how I’m going to pay them.”

LabourList revealed earlier this year the 14 local parties that are being allowed to crack on with the selection of their parliamentary candidates ahead of a future general election. The 14 agreed by the national executive committee in March include four Labour-held seats and ten with Conservative incumbents. One of those, Gedling in Nottinghamshire (which has no local elections), finalised its shortlist earlier this week. A safe Tory seat until the 1997 election, the constituency was then taken and held by Labour’s Vernon Coaker until 2019. Conservative Tom Randall won the seat in 2019, but holds it by a wafer-thin margin of 679 votes.

All six of those on the longlist made the shortlist, making it: Kyrsten Perry; Andre Henry; Michael Payne; Jamie McMahon; Saj Ahmad; and Harriet Digby. Local sources, however, have described the selection process as a “two-person race” between Payne and McMahon, with Payne as the frontrunner. Payne has been a councillor for 11 years on Gedling Borough Council and is the deputy leader. McMahon is a Cooperative Party national executive committee member, has worked for Nottingham City Council and the National Deaf Children’s Society and works in improving public services. Candidates are now allowed to contact members in advance of a vote taking place after the hustings, which is due to take place on the weekend of May 14th.