🗳️ POLL | Should disability benefits be cut in order to fund an increase in defence spending?
✅ Should – 18%
❌ Should not – 66%
(Via YouGov, 23 – 24 April 2026)
Proportional Representation would mean that:
❤️ Everyone can vote with their heart
🗳️ No vote is ignored
⚖️ A broad range of views are heard in Parliament
🫱🏽🫲🏻 Parties are encouraged to work together and find common ground
The new Prime Minister should make it a priority.
Another 12 council by-elections to feast on this week:
🌳 CON Defences (4)
- Peterhead South & Cruden (Aberdeenshire)
- Weaver & Cuddington (Cheshire West & Chester)
- St Leonards & St Ives (Dorset)
- Yscir with Honddu Isaf & Llanddew (Powys)
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Here’s the stuffed cheese breadsticks
Stuffed Cheese Breadsticks (with store-bought dough)
Servings: 12 breadsticks Prep: 10 minutes (bring dough to room temp) Bake: 14–18 minutes
Ingredients
1 lb refrigerated pizza dough (let sit at room temp 45–60 min)
2 cups shredded low‑moisture mozzarella (or 8–10 mozzarella string-cheese sticks)
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
Optional: 1/2 cup shredded provolone or Monterey Jack
Olive oil spray (or 1–2 tsp olive oil)
Garlic butter topping
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2–3 cloves garlic, finely minced (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
1 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tbsp grated Parmesan
Pinch kosher salt
For serving
Warm marinara or pizza sauce
Instructions
Heat oven to 475°F (245°C). Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment and lightly oil it.
Roll the dough into a 12×16 in (30×40 cm) rectangle. Visually divide in half horizontally to make a top and bottom panel.
On the bottom half, sprinkle mozzarella (and provolone if using) evenly, leaving a 1/2‑inch border. Scatter the 1/4 cup Parmesan over the cheese.
Fold the top panel down over the cheese to cover. Press edges firmly to seal. Lightly roll once to compress. If you like, brush the inner border with water before sealing.
Cut into 12 strips (about 1 inch wide) with a sharp knife or pizza wheel. Transfer to the prepared pan, spacing slightly apart. Lightly mist with olive oil.
Mix melted butter, garlic, parsley, Parmesan, and a pinch of salt. Brush generously over the tops.
Bake 14–18 minutes until deep golden and bubbly. For extra bronzing, broil 1–2 minutes at the end (watch closely).
Cool 3–5 minutes, then serve warm with marinara.
Amazing energy in Greater Manchester for our Mayor candidate Geraldine Coggins - great to meet new volunteers!
Over the next few weeks she's going to be putting forward plans to tackle the cost of living and inequality. And I'll be all around Greater Manchester with her lots!
Starmer was supposed to have been a human rights lawyer.
But he has done more to curtail human rights than any other Labour leader in the Party's history. 👹
20 year old student Edith Berryman at the #RejoinEU rally in parliament square calling for the UK to rejoin the European Union @MarchForRejoin
"10 years since the Brexit referendum. I am 20 years old. I have grown up living with the consequences of that decision. I have a simple question. Did Brexit deliver what we were promised? My argument is simple."
"Brexit has had a real measurable economic cost. Not just in political arguments, but in productivity, investment and living standards, not just one opinion or one forecast."
"This is the conclusion we keep seeing across UK institutions and independent research. The question is not what people believed in 2016. The question is what can we learn from the evidence shown in 2026?"
"And the evidence is clear. Firstly, in productivity, this again doesn't come from one political campaign or one think tank. This comes from the UK government, government's own Office for Budget Responsibility. Their estimate is that Brexit reduces long term, UK productivity by around 4% compared to staying in the EU."
"And more recent academic work shows that figure even higher to around 6 to 8%. To put it simply, a smaller economy than we otherwise would have had. Secondly, investment. Because countries don't just grow by accident, they grow because business."
"This creates, invests and builds for the future. Business investment in the UK fell sharply after the referendum and has remained weaker than expected ever since. Independent studies estimate it is around 10 to 15% lower than it would have been without Brexit."
"And that matters because investment means jobs, it means wages, it means opportunities for the next generation, the younger generation, my generation, alph."
"They estimate this loss in productivity translates into around 470 pounds per worker per year in lower wages over time, not just for today, but for years ahead. Thirdly, living standards."
"Because this is where the debate stops being about statistics and it becomes real people's everyday lives. Research from institutions like the London School of Economics has found that Brexit related trade barriers increased costs in everyday goods, including food, contributing to higher household bills."
"And some estimates suggest it could amount to around 250 pounds a year for the average household. And the Resolution foundation has found over, the long term, real wages are lower than they otherwise would have been expected to be. So when you put all three together, products, investment, living standards, you do not get one political slogan, you do not get one isolated focus."
"You get a consistent picture from official institutions and independent research. And the question then becomes, how did we get here from what we were promised? Because this isn't just about numbers on a spreadsheet."
"Behind every percentage point is a real life. It's about whether young people can afford a home, whether your business can grow, whether families feel like their wages are, going further. I think the biggest issue here is Trust."
"In 2016, people were asked to make one of the biggest decisions in modern British history. They were promised that leaving would mean more control, more money and a stronger future. People were told, on the side of a bus, that leaving the EU would free up 350 million pounds a week for the NHS."
"But now, 10 years on, we have to be honest about the gap between what was promised and what actually happened. Because democracy, it doesn't depend on everyone getting every decision right. Democracy depends on us being willing to look at the evidence afterwards and ask, did this work?"
"What can we learn and what should we do next? Ten years ago, Britain chose a new direction. Today, we have the chance to choose what comes next. Not based on nostalgia, not based on slogans, not based on fear."
"Based on reality. And, the future isn't built on ignoring the evidence, is built by facing it. So the question for 2026 is, now that we know the cost, what should we do next? Thank you very much."
History will remember Keir Starmer as “the man who smashed the left”, says Diane Abbott.
Starmer’s purge of the Labour left saw Jeremy Corbyn expelled from the party, Abbott herself suspended and several MPs blocked from standing as Labour representatives in the 2024 general election.
This month, Starmer said his proudest moment in office was axing the two-child benefit cap – almost two years after he suspended seven backbenchers who voted to scrap it.
All major parties apart from Your Party and the Green Party refuse to end arms sales to the Israeli Govt.
Will @andyburnham change the existing Labour Party policy and introduce sanctions on Israel in light of a plausible genocide ruling by the ICJ?
@thisisyourparty