Lib Dems can counter extremes of Reform and Greens, Davey says
Ed Davey has sought to cast Liberal Democrat wins in England’s local elections as proof his party is best positioned to confront what he described as the “extreme populist change” offered by Reform UK and the Greens.As Labour assessed a disastrous set of results, the Lib Dems could claim they had been able to fend off Reform challenges in areas including Portsmouth, where they made gains to seize the city council, which had been under no overall control.However, while the party’s highly concentrated results demonstrated a clinical efficiency, early results indicated that on average its support was down by three points on 2022 and 2024.It means Davey could face questions about why the party has been unable to make major national gains, on the back of an anti-incumbent mood, relative to those achieved by Reform and the Greens.Nevertheless, the Lib Dems were not without eye-catching results, most notably in Richmond upon Thames where they gained five councillors – all from the Greens – to take all 54 seats.
The result in the affluent London borough suggests the Lib Dems may have been able capitalise on some more traditional Green voters’ anxiety about the new direction Zack Polanski has taken his party as leader,Speaking in Portsmouth, Davey said people were fed up with the Conservatives and Labour and wanted change,“Some are going to the extreme populist change, the sort of ‘burn it all down’ type change from Reform and the Greens,” he told the BBC,“We offer a different form of change, which is ‘build it up’, which is far more in tune with British values of tolerance, decency, respect for the rule of law, individual freedom, with a real plan to turn round our economy, our defence,”In the north of England, the party claimed it had been able to “hold its own” in the face of a Reform surge after narrowly losing majority control of Hull city council, where Reform took almost half the seats being contested.
In the south, the Lib Dems made further advances in their efforts to supplant the Conservatives in heartland areas where one-time Tory voters have been looking for a new political home.In Sutton, the party now has 51 of 55 seats after the Conservatives lost all 20 of their councillors.The party was also set to take control of the unitary authority of West Surrey, traditional Conservative territory and the long-term home of Tory heavyweights, including Jeremy Hunt.The picture was less rosy in Wales and Scotland.In early results, the SNP gained the Shetland Islands from the Lib Dems.
The islands had long been a traditional stronghold, with the Liberal party and later the Lib Dems chosen to represent Shetland since 1950 at general elections.In nearby Orkney, the Lib Dems’ Liam McArthur was the first MSP to be returned to Holyrood, polling 70% of the vote, the biggest share in the Scottish parliament’s history.
Formula One agrees to engine changes from next season after widespread criticism
Formula One has agreed to make engine design changes for the 2027 season in response to the unhappiness of many leading drivers at the way this year’s new-generation engines have affected how they race.At a meeting on Friday, the FIA, F1, teams and engine manufacturers reached an agreement, subject to formal approval, to fast-track changes to the regulations to allow fresh engines to be used next season.The intention is to address the level of energy management drivers undertake on each lap, with the current engines at almost a 50-50 split between the internal combustion engine (ICE) and electrical energy. This has led at times to counterintuitive driving and the yo-yoing of positions that has left many drivers frustrated – as well as safety concerns because of closing speeds.From 2027 the split will be closer to 60-40 in favour of the ICE, through an increased fuel flow to the combustion engine, and reducing the power output of the hybrid unit from 350kW to 300kW
Premier League crunch time, the clásico and international cricket – follow with us
Welcome to another weekend and two days of enthralling action. There’s no better place to get things underway as the season reaches its climax than our rolling football blog. Coming up are five Premier League fixtures, both the Championship and League One play-off semi-finals, a Scottish Premiership title-cruncher, plus the best of Europe’s top games to monitor. Co-hosts Emillia Hawkins and Barry Glendenning will offer breaking news and updates from around the grounds, plus readers’ thoughts and queries. Why not join the conversation? Email matchday
British sprinter CJ Ujah among 10 suspects charged over alleged cryptocurrency fraud
The British sprinter CJ Ujah, who won 4x100m relay gold at the 2017 world championships, is one of 10 suspects charged with conspiracy to defraud as part of a police investigation into cryptocurrency fraud.It is alleged that the suspects were part of an organised crime group linked to a scam involving phone calls to multiple victims, from people purporting to be police officers and cryptocurrency companies.Police said victims were tricked into sharing important security details, including seed phrases, before discovering funds in their crypto wallets had been stolen. One of the victims is said to have lost more than £300,000.The arrests and charges were made after an investigation by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit across Kent, Essex and London
How reading the Guardian led to a million-pound move for Cornish Pirates
“I think my family already thought I was crazy so this is nothing new,” says Kenn Moritz from his home office in faraway Pittsburgh. The Moritz family may have a point. Given all those baseball, football, ice hockey and basketball franchises in the United States, why opt instead to invest in a second-tier English rugby club in Cornwall that almost folded less than two years ago?The catalyst turns out, ahem, to have been your correspondent’s article about the Cornish Pirates in the Guardian last December. Moritz was sitting where he is now, trawling through his trusted worldwide news sources when he stumbled across the Pirates’ quest for fresh investment. Somewhere inside him a light flicked on
Wardley v Dubois is bout of uncertainty far more interesting than Fury v Joshua
Saturday’s WBO world heavyweight fight pits fascinating pair armed with knockout power against one another Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley are very different characters but, in the ring, they share a knockout ratio of 95% in the combined 42 fights they have won. The unbeaten Wardley has knocked out 19 opponents in his 20 victories while Dubois has stopped 21 of 22 vanquished rivals. It’s an impressive statistic which belies the vulnerability at the heart of each man.Wardley, the WBO world heavyweight champion, comes from a white-collar boxing background with minimal experience as an amateur. The only blemish on his record is a draw in March 2024 with the Olympic medallist Frazer Clarke – whom he then knocked out with shocking brutality in the first round seven months later
England’s men to host more five-Test series but play some one-off games overseas
England’s men will face a lopsided Test schedule in the next future tours programme (FTP), with a move to stage more five-match series at home to be offset by an increase in one-off Tests overseas.The England and Wales Cricket Board is abandoning the principle of aiming for reciprocal home and away series in the next World Test Championship (WTC), which will begin with the home Ashes series next summer. The ECB has already held talks with South Africa and Pakistan over touring for five Test matches for the first time in decades, but on the flipside England’s future tours to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh could comprise a single Test complemented by white-ball games that are more commercially viable to the host boards.The ECB is responding to the International Cricket Council’s plans to expand the WTC to all 12 Test-playing nations, with Ireland, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan to be included for the first time in a single division.In another significant change, one-off Test matches are set to be included in the WTC for the first time, whereas previously a two-Test series was required for championship status
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