New Arts Venue is set to Open in Southport this… | Your Southport The stunning new Warehouse Arts Centre will become home to a wide range of live music, arts and creativity, set across four floors on West Street in…

New Arts Venue is set to open in Southport this Summer

www.yoursouthport.com/blog/new-art...

The rules are there – so why aren’t councils using them? Discover what was said when social enterprises, councillors, corporates and legal experts met with MPs to discuss why procurement legislation is failing

The rules are there – so why aren’t councils using them?

Social enterprises, councillors, corporate supporters and legal experts recently met with MPs to discuss why existing procurement legislation fails and what needs to change.

www.socialenterprise.org.uk/news-and-vie...

Doing this twice a year does seem like an utter waste of everyone’s time, tbqhwy.

Malcolm Offord says this is "the opposite of shambolic"

British suppliers to be prioritised for contracts in sectors vital to national security Policy brought forward as Middle East war highlights fragility of global supply chains

British suppliers will be prioritised for public contracts in shipbuilding, steel, AI and energy infrastructure under new guidance marking them out as sectors vital to national security.

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Merseyside schools to create nurseries to help cut childcare costs The scheme is part of the government's "major expansion" plans

Merseyside schools to create nurseries to help cut childcare costs www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...

UK teenagers to trial social media bans and digital curfews The government will interview the young people and their parents before and after they try the limits to assess their impact.

Social media bans and digital curfews to be trialled on UK teenagers www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

We're really excited about our public meeting on Friday featuring @robfordmancs.bsky.social & @patrickhurley.bsky.social

Very few tickets left - grab via QR code below & be at the #BijouCinema #Southport by 7pm - doors (and cafe bar) will be open from 6 for friendly chat & networking beforehand 🤗

Southport Pier has seen whole community united behind £20m restoration says Silcock Leisure Group | Stand Up For Southport Silcock Leisure Group has welcomed the news that the £20 million restoration of Southport Pier has been given the go-ahead by the Government.  The Growth Mission Fund panel has now given its full appr...

Southport Pier has seen whole community united behind £20m restoration says Silcock Leisure Group standupforsouthport.com/southport-pi...

One-off £2,000 cash grant gives care leavers head start, study finds Participants were less likely to become homeless or spend time in hospital or prison, researchers say.

Care leavers who were given a one-off, no strings attached £2,000 grant were less likely to become homeless or spend time in hospital or prison, according to a new study.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

With apologies to Hemingway - Cameron, May and Johnson were the gradually, but Truss was the suddenly.

She's got less self-reflection than Dracula.

Badenoch denies calling for UK to join US-Israeli war on Iran Conservative leader accused of taking confusing position after she said Starmer should ‘do more than catch arrows’

Gaffe-prone Kemi Badenoch denies calling for the UK to join Donald Trump’s war on Iran.

This is a bizarre denial, as I was about 20ft away from her last week when she did exactly that.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Liverpool City Region launches £2bn Investment Fund to accelerate growth, jobs and housebuilding The largest fund of its kind ever announced for the City Region, it will bring together new and existing public funding into a single investment pot, helping un

Liverpool City Region launches £2bn Investment Fund to accelerate growth, jobs and housebuilding.

www.liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/news/liverpo...

Patrick Hurley - The Freedom Envelope YouTube video by Ignite Liverpool

A few years ago, I gave a short five minute talk on this issue, arguing that the social democratic state is the ultimate guarantor of our freedom against unchecked and unaccountable corporate power. Take a look here - youtu.be/U2JkGYD48eI?...

Could this idea save the Democrats? A century ago, Americans broke up the empires of industrial robber barons. Now, anti-monopolists want to do the same again—this time, to tech

A perceptive piece here by @philtinline.bsky.social. Tackling the concentration of corporate power is one of the big tasks of our age.

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/united...

It’s time to end Britain’s first-past-the-post election lottery The Gorton and Denton by-election confirmed just how capricious our electoral system has become

I think there is a vg case for the Alternative Vote (pluralist majoritarianism) UK's evolving party system - not least as of balanced use for voters on different sides of political spectrum. It allows sincere voting by every voter + strategic choices by those who care
www.ft.com/content/38d8...

Striking that Reform have now overtaken Labour as the party people would most like to vote against - very much matches what we heard in Gorton with many voters primary concern less merits of Lab/Green but who could best stop Reform.

📜 The House of Commons just debated the Representation of the People Bill

💥 Great to see more Labour MPs joining the call for a National Commission on Electoral Reform

📺 @patrickhurley.bsky.social @catsmithmp.bsky.social @chriscurtis94.bsky.social & @jamesnaish.bsky.social

🌹 #Labour4PR

A lesson from the Gorton and Denton by-election: Labour must improve people’s living standards After decades of economic stagnation, people want things to be different, writes Patrick Hurley MP

Patrick Hurley MP on why Labour lost in Gorton and Denton: voters are fed up with stagnant living standards and want things to be different

@patrickhurley.bsky.social

leftfootforward.org/2026/03/a-le...

Councils to get exceptional financial support to balance books This follows the confirmation of £78 billion for councils through the settlement, helping them restore public services for communities and tackle deprivation.

Councils to get exceptional financial support to balance books

www.gov.uk/government/n...

MPs are offered extra security on their homes due to death threats. They are recommended to have guards at public meetings. And they are given geo-tagged fobs to carry in case of abduction.

And it’s all because of idiots like this Reform councillor saying we should be shot.

Reform UK deputy leader reshared social media post calling for Labour MP to be shot We reveal how the deputy leader of Lancashire County Council is to face no action for the shocking post he shared on Facebook

Reform UK deputy leader shares social media post calling for Labour MP to be shot.

open.substack.com/pub/thelanca...

‘The need for support is everywhere’: working-class arts group expands to north of England The Working Arts Club is working to counter the stark class disparity within the UK creative sector

‘The need for support is everywhere’: working-class arts group expands to north of England.

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

'The coastal towns where young people have been left behind by Whitehall' - LabourList Labour governments know that the change our children deserve comes from transforming the world beyond the school gates, as well as inside the classroom.

‘The coastal towns where young people have been left behind by Whitehall’ labourlist.org/2026/02/coas... – via LabourList

The first official night of #Lightport. Thousands have descended on #Southport to enjoy. On until Monday. Come along and bring the family.

We must urgently tackle the rise in late-stage oesophageal cancer diagnosis Oesophageal cancer is difficult to diagnose and treat at the moment. But that could have been said for other cancers a couple of decades ago that h...

Oesophageal cancer is difficult to diagnose and treat at the moment. But that could have been said for other cancers a couple of decades ago that have shown remarkable improvements, writes Labour MP @patrickhurley.bsky.social

People struggling to access work are not unwilling, they need support that understands local realities and treats them as individuals | Parliament Politics Magazine Employment policy is often discussed in abstract terms: participation rates, targets, and programme design. But for the people affected by it, work is not an

People struggling to access work are not unwilling, they need support that understands local realities and treats them as individuals

parliamentnews.co.uk/people-strug...

'Treasury ‘Green Book’ reform is a game-changer for left-behind coastal towns' - LabourList Changes to the rules around how the Treasury invests will transform lives and communities in coastal towns argues Polly Billington MP.

‘Treasury ‘Green Book’ reform is a game-changer for left-behind coastal towns’
labourlist.org/2026/02/trea...

I have today been informed that, despite personal assurances to the contrary, the Green party have once again used my image and misrepresented my words on a second leaflet circulated in Gorton and Denton ahead of the by-election. I have now lodged an official complaint with the returning officer.

It’s £5.50 per year.