Andy May

Comms adviser. Former @citizensuk/ @LivingWage / @trusselltrust / Blue Rubicon. Tweets own views

Find me on the other apps for more regular 'insights'

[Andy May @AndyMay101]

Brilliant exclusive by Martina Bett reveals a shocking case of the paternity leave system letting down the armed forces 👇

Two weeks' statutory #paternityleave is bad enough, but this Dad on a 6-month deployment in support of Ukraine is ineligible for any at all!
@dadshiftuk

[Martina Bet @martinabettt]

Excl: An Army reservist who served on a Ukraine mission was denied paternity pay after HMRC ruled his deployment counted as a “break” from work.

The soldier returned home, went back to work and became a dad weeks later - only to be told he wasn’t entitled to a penny.

Campaigners warn the loophole could hit thousands of reservists - as Defence Secretary John Healey is understood to be looking at extending paternity leave across the Armed Forces.

https://t.co/BgC7JNSDU2

[Andy May @AndyMay101]

Amen to this.
Had a defective build situation in Hackney myself. 7 years battling dodgy builder. Privatised building control. Developer registered channel islands. Managing agents who went bankrupt. No help from state or regulators

Proper punishment needed for rogue developers

[Vicky Spratt @Victoria_Spratt]

5 years ago, a cowboy builder stated construction next to my building.

They cut off our boiler flues illegally, and built up against the wall where our boilers were supposed to emit - putting residents in danger, and then threatened to sue us?!?

It was wild. We are still waiting to find out whether @hackneycouncil will enforce - they’ve stopped replying to emails

We - the leaseholders/freeholders - are out of pocket to the tune of more than £20k due to emergency repair works

Building control was a private company - they say not their problem.

Make it make sense? And you wonder why we have a housebuilding crisis and a quality crisis.

[Luke Tryl @LukeTryl]

Doing this health warning now: MRP projections or UNS swings of Makerfield aren't designed for by-elections. They don't take account of specific nature of by-elections and Burnham's personal vote which from every focus group I can tell you is real. IMO Burnham starts as favourite

[Andy May @AndyMay101]

@tnewtondunn As long as we dont have another referendum on it (some years ago you may remember doing a radio 4 piece which covered the atrocious effort of yes2av!

On reflection, I dont think technical system changes sensible things to have referendums on, esp in current info environment

[Nick Lowles @lowles_nick]

Finding a way to run Birmingham city council, with its £4.4bn annual budget, is going to be a tall order.

Reform has 22 councillors, Greens 19, Labour 17, Conservatives 16, Independents 13 and Lib Dems 12.

[Gabriel Pogrund @Gabriel_Pogrund]

A little odd our coverage of Richard Tice’s tax affairs is so occupying the deputy leader of Reform on polling day.

And that he continues to assert we had some anti Reform objective.

We just reported the facts:

- £600k avoided through highly complex and unusual structure

- unlawful failure to pay £91k in withholding tax

- failure to pay £100k in corporation tax

[Dan Bloom @danbloom1]

Peter Kellner has this v useful guide on how to judge the English council election results for each party

[Andy May @AndyMay101]

@drbambrick Hi Laura, you ages ago I got in touch about sick pay and the changes in Ireland (I'm in England).

Would love to connect to compare notes (our statutory rights changes just went through) and had a few Qs for you on the Irish scheme. What's best email to suggest times?

[Andy May @AndyMay101]

Workers deserve a sick pay system which catches them when they fall 👇

Photos from the brlliant sick pay celebration yesterday with @FrancesOGrady @LucyMPowell @roswynnejones

A privelege to have worked on this.

[Frances O'Grady @FrancesOGrady]

Covid proved how important decent sick leave rights are for everyone’s health. Now 10m workers gain new rights but still more work to do!

[Andy May @AndyMay101]

I think this is what you call boss level photo op ambush...

[Magyar Péter (Ne féljetek) @magyarpeterMP]

I have arrived at the Sándor Palace to meet the President of Hungary.

@DrTamasSulyok is unworthy of representing the unity of the Hungarian nation. He is unfit to serve as the guardian of legality. He is not fit to serve as a moral authority or a role model.

Following the formation of the new government, Tamás Sulyok must leave office immediately.

[The Centre for Progressive Change @Prog_Change]

Brilliant to be joined by @LucyMPowell, Baroness @FrancesOGrady and many others in Parliament today as we celebrated #SafeSickPay!

The Employment Rights Act now gives 10 million workers access to Statutory Sick Pay from day one of illness 🎉

[Andy May @AndyMay101]

Hungary under Orban a scary example of a EU state sliding towards dictactorship/Russian influence and kleptocracy

This is quite the list. Can see why Trump amd Vance liked him so much

[Clément Molin @clement_molin]

The defeat of Orban 🇭🇺 is the defeat of Moscow 🇷🇺

For years, Hungary served as a gateway for Russian spies into Europe. Hungary sent secret EU documents to Russia, blocked aid packages for Ukraine, and continued to buy oil and gas from Russia.

The Hungarian prime minister became the most fervent anti-Ukrainian figure in Europe, largely supported by Moscow. Let's not forget the scandals involving Bosnian Serbs (with Hungarian intelligence services repeatedly assisting them), the arrest of Ukrainian citizens, and the drone surveillance of Ukrainian air defense systems.

All those are foreign policy scandals, we shouldn't forget other scandals :

🔹Child Abuse Pardon: His administration collapsed into crisis after pardoning a man who helped cover up child sexual abuse in a state orphanage.
🔹Pegasus Spyware: The government used military-grade spyware to illegally monitor the phones of investigative journalists and political rivals.
🔹Elios Corruption: Orbán's son-in-law's company won millions in EU-funded contracts through what investigators called "systematic irregularities."
🔹Völner-Schadl Bribery: A deputy minister was caught in a massive corruption ring involving rigged court bailiff positions and secret kickbacks.
🔹Russian Nuclear Deal: Orbán bypassed public bidding to award a multi-billion dollar nuclear plant contract to Russia's Rosatom under a secret agreement.

🔹Media Consolidation: Hundreds of private media outlets were merged into a single state-aligned foundation controlled by Orbán’s associates.
🔹Sovereignty Protection Act: A new law empowers the state to investigate and jail anyone receiving foreign funding under the guise of national security.
🔹University Expulsion: The government passed specific laws that successfully forced the Central European University to flee Hungary for Austria.
🔹Stop Soros Laws: Legislation was enacted that criminalized humanitarian work and legal aid provided to migrants and refugees.
🔹Anti-LGBTQ+ Law: A "propaganda" law was passed that bans any depiction or discussion of LGBTQ+ identities in schools and media for minors.
🔹Electoral Gerrymandering: Orbán rewrote the voting maps and rules to ensure his party retains a supermajority despite losing many popular votes.

[David Aaronovitch @DAaronovitch]

I think people outside Hungary may not understand just how far state institutions, media including private media, universities, the legal system, big business and the police have been made arms of Orban's political party. This is going to be a long haul

[Andy May @AndyMay101]

🇺🇦🇪🇺🎉

[Patrick Wintour @patrickwintour]

No civilisation thankfully died last night, but a Presidency deserves to.

Here below a former senior US security official concedes that the ceasefire agreement Trump has signed is not “status quo ante bellum” ie the US is now worse off than at the start of this war of choice.
To spell it out, Trump needlessly started a war at the urging of Israel, refused to listen to those experts urging caution, devised a strategy built on a misapprehension of Iran, sparked a ruinous regional conflict, caused the death of thousands of civilians, unhinged the world economy, strengthened, for now, the repressive instincts of the Iranian and Russian governments, left America more discredited & isolated, provoked serious questions about the President’s fitness for public office, laid waste to large parts of Iran and Lebanon, including medical research centres, primary schools and universities, did not resolve Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium or its future nuclear program, strengthened those in Iran backing possession of a nuclear weapon, and yes ensured Iran and Oman still plan to control and toll the Strait of Hormuz for the first time.
A return to war will doubtless soon be threatened even before the 2 week ceasefire ends, but the use of force in this decades old conflict has now been test driven and proven the wrong vehicle since it can only achieve its objectives at an inconceivable price.
Trump has now agreed that Iran’s 10 point maximalist plan is a “workable basis for negotiation”, and Trump’s 15 point plan will also be considered. But that leaves him worse off than when Witkoff and Kushner were in Geneva in February. The US with a weaker hand may need to send a team led by Vance and some proper nuclear experts to Islamabad to rescue the negotiating progress previously made, and prematurely spurned. Iran will feel less to no pressure to concede on its right to enrich uranium domestically, the single biggest previous point of dispute. Iran has also not explicitly conceded the need to negotiate over its ballistic missiles or support for proxy resistance groups such as Hezbollah. It will instead negotiate bilateral or multilateral “non aggression pacts with its regional neighbours”.
Trump is now prematurely speaking of a golden era for the Middle East but scars are deep and negotiations will require far more than a fortnight.
With luck the exhausting governing style of threats, deadlines, expletives, and menacing abuse that demeans America will now be set aside or denounced, starting with Cuba. Someone in the Trump cabinet may even look in the mirror and realise dollops of sycophantic praise may feed the narcissist, but only sullies them, and the political future of Republicans. Even Lindsay Graham might learn there is virtue in reticence. Some way of tethering Trump in the seven months to the mid terms is badly needed.
European countries including UK Italy and Germany will now have to decide what lessons they learn from this shameful episode, and how they secure their national sovereignty. The European pillar in NATO may have to become the only pillar relatively soon.
For when the US vice president crosses the Atlantic to campaign to keep a pro Russian authoritarian Viktor Orban in office, it looks as if America has tragically evolved into something more sinister than a wayward ally. As Mark Carney at Davos advised “it’s time to live in truth”.

[Andy May @AndyMay101]

An FT exclusive to send shivers down your spine- about our former ally now turned bullying kleptocracy. #Trump #America

[Andy May @AndyMay101]

This is well worth a read for anyone who cares about working-age health.

Via @Prog_Change

[The New Statesman @NewStatesman]

Low sick pay is making Britain sicker

Data analysis finds the majority of employees carry on working despite illness

By Anoosh Chakelian https://t.co/r6XbIeZxBa

[The Centre for Progressive Change @Prog_Change]

The Government has made hugely positive changes, with millions set to get a much-needed sick pay boost next week, thanks to changes in the Employment Rights Act 🥳

But this piece acts as a salutory reminder of the work ahead to build on these welcome reforms #SafeSickPay

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

Nigel Farage is challenged by Senior Political Correspondent Paul McNamara over Reform UK's promises to voters, as his party launched its campaign for May's local elections.

[Victoria Derbyshire @vicderbyshire]

It was Republican Congressman Thomas Massie who posted on X the day after President Trump launched military action against Iran, 'bombing a country on the other side of the world won't make the Epstein files go away'

I'm in Washington DC this week spending time with women who describe themselves as businesswomen, healthcare workers, life coaches, podcasters, mums, sisters, friends - & Epstein survivors

Some have never spoken publicly before about what the dead paedophile subjected them to - until now

Tonight live from DC we’ll talk to Rep. Massie who fought for the Epstein files to be published

And tomorrow a Newsnight Special with six incredible, frustrated, weary, fearful and strong women (more details later)