Former PM made the requirement to bring photo ID a stipulation of the Elections Act in 2022
Boris Johnson was turned away from his local polling station when trying to cast his vote in Thursday’s elections after forgetting to bring the required photo identity.
The former prime minister was initially told by polling station staff he would not be allowed to vote in the police and crime commissioner election in South Oxfordshire without proving his identity.
The misstep was embarrassing for Johnson because the requirement to bring photo ID is a stipulation of the Elections Act he introduced in 2022 while in Downing Street.
The Electoral Commission has warned that hundreds of thousands of people could be excluded from voting because of the law, which it said could have a disproportionate effect on some groups.
Tory Health Secretary Victoria Atkins endured a car crash interview on LBC earlier today, after being grilled on yet another failed Tory pledge.
In the run-up to the last general election, the Tories had promised to build 40 new hospitals in their 2019 manifesto under Boris Johnson, yet no one in the government seems to know how much progress has been made towards the target.
On LBC earlier today, presenter Nick Ferrari asked Atkins: “I know it was a number of years ago and I know it was under a previous leadership, but where are those 40 hospitals?”
Atkins replied: “Well we are making progress and we will be opening, I think, four of these hospitals this year and there will be many other sites around the country.
“I’ve been to visit one or two of them that are not completed but very much rising out of the ground. Alongside that we have the programme of works to upgrade existing hospitals.”
Ferrari hit back: “Of the 40, how many will be built by the time we come to a general election?”
A clearly frustrated Atkins replied: “We’re opening four more this year, so depending on when the election is … we will have around four this year, we’ve already opened a few more.”
Tory Party members have delivered a scathing verdict on Rishi Sunak and his cabinet, with a record number of ministers given a negative approval rating, according to the Conservative Home website.
It’s a further sign of just how unpopular Sunak and his government are, ahead of the May 2nd local elections, as pressure continues to mount on the Prime Minister.
The latest survey of Tory members conducted in March, shows that 12 ministers have negative ratings, that is up from 11 the month before.
At the bottom of the table is Michael Tomlinson, illegal immigration minister, with a negative rating of 43.1, with Rishi Sunak next at -27.7.
The Prime Minister is then followed by chancellor Jeremy Hunt on minus 22.7, with Michael Gove on -14.3 and Oliver Dowden on -12.0. Lord Cameron is on -7.8.
The plot shows just how out of touch and deranged the Tory party is.
A group of Tory MPs is plotting to bring Boris Johnson back in to a senior role with the Conservative Party and also want to replace Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with Suella Braverman.
The plot, which the Sun is reporting has been hatched by the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO) – a powerful Tory members group, comes as Sunak continues to face mounting pressure with the Tories trailing the Labour Party in the polls by around 20 points.
With local elections taking place on May 2nd, it’s expected that there will be another push by Tory rebels to oust Sunak should the party perform badly. Some analysts have predicted that the Tories could be set to lose 500 council seats in the upcoming local elections on May 2nd. That’s half of the party’s councillors facing election.
Campaigners are demanding an end to the ‘toxic influence’ of oil money in UK politics
Activists dropped a massive banner over Westminster Bridge this morning to launch a new campaign vowing to challenge MPs who accept oil money in the run-up to a general election.
As MPs return to parliament after the Easter recess, climate campaigners have issued a warning that they will be holding politicians to account to end the “toxic influence” of fossil fuel lobbyists in Westminster.
Campaigners for the Stop Polluting Politics movement said they will challenge current and prospective MPs to reject donations from high-polluting industries as they argue the influence from Big Oil is leading to the rollback of key climate policies.
It comes as the UK Government came under huge criticism for announcing over 100 new oil and gas licences, while it was revealed the Tory Party received £3.5m from polluters and climate deniers in 2022.
Labour said the prospect of her returning as leader “will send shivers down the spine of working people”.
Shameless Liz Truss who became Britain’s shortest-serving Prime Minister after her disastrous economic policies resulted in her being booted out of office after just 49 days, has refused to rule out running again for leader of the Tory party.
Truss, who has shown no humility after wrecking the economy with her mini-budget, which saw mortgage rates spiralling and resulted in the pound plummeting in value, believes she has ‘unfinished business’.
The former Tory party leader made the comments during an interview with LBC, while promoting her new book, ’10 years to save the West’, which is out today.
Liz Truss was all over the airwaves today while promoting her new book ‘Ten Years To Save the West’ making a whole number of bizarre and eyebrow-raising claims.
The Tories are trying to be ‘fashionable’
When asked about the government’s climate policies (forget the numerous recent climate policy rollbacks) Truss believed the government had a “ruthless Net Zero agenda” which she claimed was “ruining the economy”. She went on to say it was all down to the Conservatives wanting to “appear fashionable, rather than basing what they’re doing on their principles”. Not sure that’s going very well for them.
The ‘Left smear’ against her
The former-PM made the claim that the backlash against her mini-budget wasn’t due to its disastrous impact on the UK economy and millions of UK households, but in fact down to a ‘smear’ campaign by the Left.
The former PM who seems to lack any sense of self-awareness claimed on LBC the Left were “smearing” her by blaming everything wrong with the economy on her mini-budget.
“What they are saying is not born by the facts, It’s a smear,” Truss said. “I’m countering it and a lot of economists are countering it.
“In the same way they say the government was trying to abolish the forests, they are trying to smear me with economic results that I’m clearly not responsible for.”
‘The NHS isn’t failing, it’s being failed. What an appalling act of state vandalism’
Public satisfaction with the NHS is at its lowest ever level, plunging for the first time in the 41-year history of the survey to show less than a quarter of people are satisfied with the way the health service is currently running.
Compared to 2010 when 70% of the public were satisfied with the NHS, the latest survey findings lay bare what 14 years of a Tory government stripping funds and resources from the NHS has had.
Campaign group Keep Our NHS Public has called it “an appalling act of state vandalism” commenting that the NHS “isn’t failing, it’s being failed”.
NHS workers have expressed heartbreak over the shocking decline in public satisfaction for the service under the Tories while unions have called for immediate action to address the staffing crisis.
One palliative care doctor wrote on X: “14 years of Tory government understaffing, underfunding & private sector outsourcing have trashed the NHS into a travesty of the service we want to give you.
