UK Politics

I'm not a big fan of the headline, to be honest, but the article is a good one.

Some highlights:

• The Government has refused to authorise the use of the toxic pesticides known as neonicotinoids.
• Ed Miliband has welcomed a £35 million investment to expand the Port of Lowestoft to service the offshore wind sector.
• Steve Reed announced the Government’s new ‘Nature Restoration Fund'.
• Rushanara Ali announced an extra £20 million investment for over 280 councils to help protect more rough sleepers from cold weather, tripling funding for this year.
• Ed Miliband also announced £410 million in funding for fusion energy programmes.
• The Government’s Renters’ Rights Bill has returned to Parliament and completed its crucial report stage, where new changes to protect renters were set out. That includes a rule to cap advance rent payments at one month’s rent, and put an end to demands for large sums of cash upfront.
• New protections for leaseholders have been signed off by the Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook.
• Lisa Nandy announced the fourth round of the Cultural Development Fund — an award of £16.2 million for projects designed to “regenerate communities, attract tourists and new businesses, and help to grow the economy.

And some stuff I'm not so keen on:

• Bridget Phillipson has confirmed that a Labour-version of the last Government’s Education Freedom of Speech Act will go ahead. (I agree with the unions' criticism cited in the article that 'it’s unnecessary and a distraction from the higher education funding crisis'.)
• The Home Office announced legislation which bans several synthetic drugs