I’m not writing my usual blog today but here, as an alternative, is the Politics Live readers’ edition. It is a place for you to discuss today’s politics, and to share links to breaking news and to the most interesting stories and blogs on the web.
Feel free to express your views robustly, but please treat others with respect and don’t resort to abuse. Guardian comment pages are supposed to be a haven from the Twitter/social media rant-orama, not an extension of it.
You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.
And here are some of the main ones on our site this morning.
- Labour has accused the Conservatives of breaking a manifesto pledge to increase real-terms funding for the NHS in every year of this parliament by not promising sufficient extra funds in the budget.
- Philip Hammond has failed to show how the sums add up on his flagship budget announcement of awarding about £250m for maths and computer teaching, according to Labour.
- David Cameron may have done “some sort of a deal” with Rupert Murdoch to win the Sun’s support for the Conservatives in the 2010 general election, Ken Clarke, the former justice secretary, has claimed.
- The EU will not allow a British city to become European capital of culture in 2023 after Brexit, dashing the hopes of Dundee, Leeds and others that were preparing bids costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.
- Children with anxiety and depression will be guaranteed treatment within four weeks in a new effort to improve mental health care, but lack of NHS staff and funding means the plan cannot be fully introduced until 2021.
On Thursdays local council byelections take place. There were 10 yesterday. Britain Elects has nine of the results.
10 interesting council by-elections tonight: five Tory defences, four Labour, one Plaid Cymru. @andrewteale's previews:https://t.co/Sd3IeFUwS3#SuperThursday
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
Plaid Cymru HOLD Bryn-côch South (Neath Port Talbot).
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
Bryn-côch South (Neath Port Talbot) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
PC: 49.5% (+4.5)
LAB: 28.8% (+4.5)
CON: 9.9% (-9.5)
LDEM: 8.7% (+3.3)
UKIP: 3.1% (+3.1)
PC HOLD.
Eyres Monsell (Leicester) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
LAB: 53.2% (+10.6)
LDEM: 30.6% (+23.1)
CON: 16.3% (-1.9)
Labour HOLD.
No UKIP (-25.8) as prev.
Grumbolds Ash with Avening (Cotswold) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
CON: 64.7% (-6.8)
LDEM: 21.0% (-7.6)
LAB: 14.3% (+14.3)
Conservative HOLD.
Labour HOLD Parkfield & Oxbridge (Stockton-on-Tees).
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
Parkfield & Oxbridge (Stockton-on-Tees) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
LAB: 54.7% (+2.2)
CON: 30.8% (-1.1)
IND: 11.7% (+11.7)
LDEM: 2.8% (-2.9)
No UKIP (-9.9) as prev.
Chgs. w/ 2016
Conservative HOLD Perth City South (Perth & Kinross).
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
Labour HOLD Rutherglen Central and North (South Lanarkshire).
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
Rutherglen Central & North (South Lanarkshire) first prefs:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
LAB: 38.5% (+7.5) HOLD.
SNP: 27.4% (-12.0)
LDEM: 18.2% (+8.9)
CON: 12.1% (-4.2)
GRN: 2.9% (-1.1)
UKIP: 0.9% (+0.9)
Bishops Frome and Cradley (Herefordshire) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
GRN: 45.3% (+13.9)
CON: 28.8% (-39.8)
LDEM: 24.1% (+24.1)
LAB: 1.8% (+1.8)
Green GAIN from Conservative.
Chalford (Stroud) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2017
CON: 45.2% (+8.6) HOLD.
LAB: 25.4% (-6.1)
GRN: 20.6% (-11.3)
LDEM: 8.8% (+8.8)
Chgs. w/ 2016
Wakefield West (Wakefield) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 24, 2017
LAB: 49.6% (+7.1) HOLD.
CON: 41.4% (+12.5)
YORK: 6.9% (+6.9)
LDEM: 2.0% (+2.0)
No UKIP (-22.3), Grn (-5.0) and TUSC (-1.2) as prev.
Chgs. w/ 2015.
