‘We have let them come on to our ground’: Labour fights off Green gains in Leeds
On the wide streets around Leeds’ Roundhay Park, Labour canvassers have built up a considerable step count just to walk between each of the stone-built mansions in one of the city’s most affluent suburbs.Lucy Powell, Labour’s deputy leader, is with activists in the sunshine admiring the manicured lawns and window-box pansies.This is one of the safest wards for Labour in Leeds, with graduates, doctors, lecturers and small business owners.In years gone by, voters in these houses with sweeping driveways and climbing roses would have been natural Conservatives.A short walk away is Roundhay school, the alma mater of Liz Truss, a place she amusingly tried to paint as the wrong side of the tracks.
But now Labour councillors in the ward have a different adversary – the Green party.It is in these wealthy areas, as well as the more diverse suburbs and student population, that the Greens are making gains.“There’s no question these are going to be difficult elections,” Powell said as she stops at the church’s community cafe.“Look at where we are in the polls.We haven’t given a strong enough account of ourselves and what we’re doing in government nationally, how we are reshaping the country.
People are wanting change and they’re looking elsewhere to vote for change.”Labour councillor Jordan Bowden has been talking up the Labour council’s own green policies – it was named green council of the year.He talks to residents about solar panels and heat pumps for schools, sewage problems in the waterways around Roundhay Park, bike lanes and electric bikes – one of which Tracy Brabin, the mayor of West Yorkshire, had used to cycle into town.They had briefly considered calling them “Brabin bikes” – they joked – but unlike Boris Johnson, who took ownership of the cycle scheme his Labour predecessor had introduced, the party are still squeamish about taking credit for their own achievements.Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has made Leeds a key target, especially younger, mixed areas like Hyde Park and Armley.
Students hosted a fundraising rave for the Greens, attended by Polanski, raising more than £16,000 for the local party campaign,But Leeds is a microcosm of the challenges Labour is facing everywhere – in East Leeds there is a strong Reform presence also targeting gains,In Leeds, the local Green candidate is another former pupil of Roundhay school, Brannoc Stevenson,Several locals mention fondly they know his family,There is a mix of Green and Labour boards parked on top of the manicured hedges.
Political divides are very unpredictable.Jill, a local homeowner chatting to Powell in the sunshine, said she would consider voting Labour, having previously been a Conservative.She was unconvinced by the Green party.But in the Clocktower Community cafe where Powell did the rounds of the tables over tea and cake, many said they were considering voting Green.“We’re very proud of the green space around here, I think we could do with someone who will protect it,” one said.
The Green and Labour leaflets bear a striking similarity – independent local bus networks which Labour had legislated to allow, approval for a Leeds tram, which had been promised during the last budget,It is frustrating, Powell said, to see a party claim credit for policies which have been legislated for by a Labour government,“It’s being clearer about who we’re not for and who we are prepared to take on, whether that is the social media companies, whether that is the water companies, whether that’s the energy companies who are perhaps profiteering, when everybody else is seeing their bills going up,” she said,“I think it’s about being a lot clearer that we are prepared to take on these things more strongly, and not cede the progressive ground either,I saw the Greens are trying to take credit for votes at 16.
That’s a Labour manifesto commitment, a Labour bill.It’s been a long standing Labour cause to ensure that young people are right at the centre of our politics and our decision making, bringing in votes to succeed.“We weren’t shouting about it.And if you cede the ground, then others come and play and claim credit for your progressive agenda and what you’re actually delivering.I feel like we’ve let them come on to our ground, rather than they’ve won it over.
”Kathleen Johnstone, a former foster carer and longtime community activist, is standing for Labour in the ward for the first time.The ward extends down to the border of Harehills, one of the poorest pockets of the city, and Oakwood, popular with young city workers.“I think they see the Greens as a breath of fresh air,” she said.“But I’m not the same-old Labour, I’m me.I want to show what the city council has done, under really hard circumstances.
We are finally getting more money from local government, we don’t want the rug pulled from under us.”Powell said that she remains convinced that many of the voters who are frustrated with Labour – and looking to other parties – can be won back.“On Gorton and Denton, people were making their minds up right until the last minute.And I think that is true here.There’s people who have made their decision.
They’re voting Reform, they’re voting Green, or they’re voting Labour.“But there’s a lot of soft voters in the middle, to be honest, and it doesn’t ever come through in polls.And there is absolutely an anti-Reform coalition.That is not just the demographic you might imagine.It’s not just Guardian readers.
It’s white, working-class people who traditionally vote Conservative or traditionally vote Liberal Democrats.They know the stakes are very high.”
Political blame game begins and passengers left adrift after Spirit ceases operations
US airlines and government officials battled on Saturday to deal with stranded passengers and stricken employees after discount carrier Spirit Airlines abruptly ceased operations – and a political and business blame game got under way over the collapse of the low-cost carrier.“If you have a flight scheduled with Spirit Airlines, don’t show up at the airport; there will be no one here to assist you,” the US secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy, warned at a press conference after laying out measures for customers booked with the Florida-based company to obtain refunds or find discounted flights on other airlines.Spirit’s airport check-in desks sat empty across the country on Saturday after the company went out of business in the early hours, posting on its website that after 34 years of flying it had “started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately”.At the Orlando international airport overnight, a digital departure display sign was filled with bright red notifications of canceled Spirit flights.There were no more Spirit planes in the air, with their distinctive bright yellow paint, after the last flight landed in Dallas, Texas, after midnight and Spirit’s management announced it was the end, after talks for a government rescue failed
Spirit Airlines ceases operations and US transportation secretary announces measures to help passengers
The US secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy, has announced a series of measures to help Spirit Airlines passengers following the low-cost airline’s collapse early on Saturday after running out of cash and the failure of rescue talks with the Trump administration.Duffy said that larger US airlines, including United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest, had agreed to cap ticket prices specifically for Spirit customers who need to rebook canceled flights, subject to a Spirit flight confirmation number and proof of payment.American Airlines and Delta Air Lines would also offer reduced fares on high-volume Spirit routes, and ultra-low-cost carrier Allegiant has committed to freezing fares across routes that overlap with the failed carrier. A third airline, Frontier, would offer a 50% base-fare reduction to affected travelers, it was announced.Duffy also said in a statement on X that most major US carriers will extend travel pass benefits and spare seats to Spirit pilots, flight attendants and other employees who need to return home after being stranded by the company’s collapse
Less financial stability, smaller social safety nets: inside the gen Z investing boom
Apps, AI tools and shaky job prospects are pushing gen Z into markets earlier, blending caution with risk-takingAmbrico Ranginui first heard of cryptocurrencies when he was 12 years old. By the time he was 16, he had saved enough from birthday gifts and his allowance to invest.“Growing up in a single-mum household, it made me quite a determined person to get ahead,” Ranginui said. “I wanted to find new avenues to make money and crypto was so fascinating at the time.”He’s part of a new boom of gen Z investors who have jumped into markets more enthusiastically than previous generations, and are putting money into everything from safe-haven bonds to AI startups, earlier than ever before
Exxon and Chevron quarterly earnings fall despite soaring oil prices
Exxon Mobil and Chevron reported drops in profit in their first quarter despite surging oil prices, a result of stalled deliveries and supply disruptions in the Middle East.Exxon’s quarterly earnings fell to $4.2bn from about $7.7bn the same quarter last year, a decline of about 46%, while Chevron’s profits fell to $2.2bn from about $3
Firm bookings, fast refunds: easyJet and On The Beach aim to reassure jittery travellers with holiday pledges
Forget the best infinity pool or alluring sea view: travel firms are now competing for the summer holidaymakers’ pound with pledges of the least likely cancellation – or the fastest refund.Airlines and travel companies have been vying to announce fresh commitments to reassure jittery consumers who are booking flights ever later since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran.The hostilities have been driving up oil prices, with jet fuel costs rising even more sharply. More worrying for many thinking of a summer trip, as the standoff and blockades around the strait of Hormuz continue, is the prospect of scarcity leading to flights being axed.Some European airlines such as Lufthansa have already cancelled thousands of flights owing to rising fuel costs, while Virgin Atlantic has introduced a fuel surcharge on long-haul flights
Octopus Energy boss: some people would accept blackouts if bills cut
The boss of the UK’s biggest energy supplier has suggested that some households would accept an occasional electricity blackout in exchange for much lower energy bills.A year on from Europe’s largest power outage – which left tens of millions of people in Spain and Portugal without trains, metros, traffic lights, ATMs, phone connections and internet access – the chief executive of Octopus Energy argued against costly investments in the UK’s power grid that are adding to household bills.Greg Jackson told an industry conference that many households in Spain, where Octopus Energy has a growing business, would say they were happy to accept “the odd blackout” in return for electricity costs that are 25% lower.“To be really clear, I’m not advocating for blackouts, but if you asked Spanish consumers, ‘would you accept the odd blackout in return for electricity costs that are 25% lower, or don’t have spikes, or a more reliable economy?’ enough of them would say yes,” he said.People would be “far less bothered” about a blackout now than they might have been in the past, Jackson added, because they could continue watching things on their laptop during a power outage
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