Friday brief: Will we have a ‘red’ county on July 5?
Plus news ahead of the election and a round up of some of what has been happening in the county
On Tuesday afternoon, the Labour battle bus swung into the car park of the Raven Hotel in Corby. Greeted by the local party faithful deputy leader Angela Rayner stepped off and gave a rallying speech to supporters.
This was the fourth time the battle bus has been in Northants. Northampton was the very first stop on June 2 and since then Wellingborough and Kettering have had a visit.
Angela Rayner’s visit follows that of the Labour leader Keir Starmer on Monday, indicating that Northamptonshire is high on the list of targets for the party, which is hoping that the first chink of red that broke the blue monopoly in February with Gen Kitchen’s byelection win will grow considerably on July 5.
With such sizeable majorities, South Northamptonshire and Daventry may hold out for the Tories, but with former cabinet members Andrea Leadsom, Chris Heaton-Harris along with Michael Ellis, having decided they didn’t fancy defending their seats, the other parties have everything to fight for. A new MRP poll by the Economist this week has predicted that Labour will win each of the seven Northants constituencies.
A steel town with a working class base, Corby is typically Labour supporting, but when mixed constituency wise with the Conservative area of East Northants it has moved between the two parties over the previous decades. Conservative Tom Pursglove has held the seat since 2015 and before that Louise Mensch won a victory over Labour’s Phil Hope. Labour’s Andy Sawford did a parliamentary stint in the middle.
The constituency’s Labour candidate Lee Barron was selected in April last year, and so unlike many other parliamentary candidates, has had 14 months to knock doors and get his face known. The son of a shoemaker, he is ‘Northamptonshire born and bred’ although is an Aston Villa fan rather than a Cobblers supporter (a situation caused by his mum buying him a Villa souvenir when he was seven and then adopting the Brummie club as his own). He started out as an apprentice for Royal Mail before becoming a union rep and for many years has been a regional secretary for the Trades Union Council.
He was a councillor in Northampton for many years although this is his first election as a parliamentary candidate.
Speaking outside the Raven while waiting for Angela Rayner to arrive he gave NN Journal a quick interview:
“We have got to give people the confidence back in politicians,” he says.
“Now we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to give politics back to the people. If we get that wrong I worry genuinely about what will happen.
“What I have found hard is the disillusionment of some people with politics. We have to win that trust back.”
He says he will not be a career politician and if elected is not ‘hankering after a job’, rather he wants to be a ‘presence’ in the local community.
He says:
“Politicians should represent the people. We should be the ones that give them a voice. If I'm elected, I’m not going to say ‘here’s the news from Westminster’. What I will be saying is ‘here’s what is happening in Corby and East Northants’.
“I have never known an area talk about local government as much as they do around here. That’s because they can see the difference between what they had, to what they are getting now.
“The collapse and bankruptcy of the county council led to the current unitary system, but they didn't put any thought into it.
“I would want a review of the two unitary councils.”
Other things he would like to see is an industrial strategy for Corby in order to move away from a reliance on low paid jobs and wants to see investment in skills for the constituency's young people. He has been involved in the efforts to raise awareness of the issues that some parents are facing to get the right education for their special needs children and says if elected he will ensure this is something he takes up with a new Labour government.
He says that if he is elected, he is confident that will mean a Labour government, as Corby is a bellwether seat.
“We can get our future back,” he says.
“I have spent the last nine years watching the Tories dismantle everything we value.”
Kingscliffe resident Paddy Falls, has been out campaigning for the Labour Party in his village.
He says he has found the majority of people he has spoken to in the traditionally Tory area are undecided, although many say they do not want to vote Conservative, indicating that in the final days of this campaign, there are still many votes to be won and people to be convinced.
Other candidates in the Corby and East Northamptonshire constituency are:
Karen Blott, Independent
Lee Forster, The Green Party
Chris Lofts, Liberal Democrat
Eddie McDonald, Reform UK
Tom Pursglove, The Conservative Party
Election news
A voter who lives three miles from Wellingborough, but will now be voting in the Daventry constituency due to boundary changes, has told the Local Democracy Reporting service, that he is not even sure where the town is.
Kris Longden, 28, lives in Wilby, three miles south-west of Wellingborough town centre, and previously lived in the Wellingborough and Rushden constituency, but after a redrawing of the boundaries will now vote for the candidate who will become the Daventry MP.
Wilby is 26 miles and a 35 minute drive from Daventry.
“I actually didn’t realise until I went on a website that tells you your candidates, so I don’t think it was publicised very well that the constituency borders have changed.”
“I thought the website had bugged out. I don’t know where Daventry is.
“I feel like they’re going to target areas for improvements that are kind of in the more populated or centralised areas, to be on the fringe is like we will be forgotten about.”
People in Isham, Wilby and even parts of Wellingborough itself will be voting for an MP for Daventry come July 4 after being moved from the Wellingborough and Rushden constituency.
The Boundary Commission published changes to the makeup of UK seats in 2023 in order to standardise the number of people each MP represents. This has seen certain towns and villages up and down the country jumping constituencies since they last went to the polls in 2019.
In Isham, a village between Kettering and Wellingborough, residents shared similar concerns that their next MP wouldn’t understand the area and be able to champion local issues for them.
One lady, who has lived in the area for 24 years, said on her doorstep:
“They only talk about Daventry- it seems they’re not interested in this part of the world.
“Isham has always been under Wellingborough and it should be kept that way.”
Another riled-up resident said:
“They have got MPs standing for Wellingborough but us here have to to vote for Daventry- now that’s not right.
“I can’t see the point. MPs need to be local.”
The boundary commission requires every constituency to have an electorate that is no smaller than 69,724, and no larger than 77,062 – within five per cent of the ‘electoral quota’. One in ten seats had no changes to their boundaries, however 585 areas had some form of change with brand new constituencies being created in some circumstances.
Candidates standing in Wellingborough and Rushden:
Jeremy Brittin – Social Democratic Party
David Goss – The Conservative Party
Ben Habib – Reform UK
Gen Kitchen – Labour Party
Paul Mannion – The Green Party
Christopher Francis Townsend – Liberal Democrats
Candidates standing in Daventry:
Stuart Andrew – The Conservative Party
Scott Ewen Cameron – Reform UK
Jonathan Harris – Liberal Democrats
Marianne Kimani – Labour Party
Clare Slater – The Green Party
NLive radio is holding a hustings today at the Mercure Hotel in Northampton, for the candidates in the Northampton South constituency. It starts at 6pm and spaces are still available. Email hello@nliveradio.com
After the votes have all been cast on Thursday, NN Journal will be reporting from the election counts in Northampton and Kettering. The polling stations close at 10pm and the votes for the constituencies Kettering, Corby & East Northants and Wellingborough & Rushden will be verified, counted and declared in Kettering, with the four constituencies of Northampton North, Northampton South, Daventry and South Northamptonshire declared in Northampton.
We will have reports throughout the night. Our blog will be sent through to all subscribers just after 10pm and updated throughout the night. We will also live tweet on our X account (@nnjournalism).
Journalists Hilary Scott and Craig Lewis will also be reporting for us, thanks to the money donated by readers and match funded by the Public Interest News Foundation.
News in brief
Safeguarding concerns reported for vulnerable adults in West Northamptonshire rose by 80 per cent in the 2022/23 year, with the local authority saying this is due to ‘inappropriate’ referrals.
Presenting a report by West Northamptonshire Council (WNC), officers laid out the massive increase at a meeting on Monday compared to the figure rising by a much more measured nine per cent for the national average.
If councils believe a vulnerable adult is experiencing or is at risk of abuse or neglect, they must carry out a Section 42 enquiry to determine whether action should be taken. This could apply to anyone from the elderly to people with physical or mental disabilities or those with severe mental health issues who are unable to take steps to protect themselves.
The amount of Section 42 enquiries also rose by 43 per cent in the same 12-month period, roughly six times the rise of the national average.
Neil Cox, assistant director of safeguarding and wellbeing services at WNC, said that work carried out to understand the reasons behind the significant rise indicated that their biggest issue was recording ‘inappropriate’ referrals alongside genuine ones. This means that some of the concerns raised may have been founded, but might not meet the threshold for a safeguarding issue and should have been passed to another department for example.
He said though this might seem like a “trivial issue”, it could create a “spiral of problems” where the system gets overloaded should work not be taken to rectify the recording procedure for safeguarding concerns.
“The positive is, once we really got into the data and understood the effect of those inappropriate referrals, we were able to rule out the possibility that our vulnerable adults were at a higher risk of abuse,” Mr Cox added.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) has revealed their action plan to improve their special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) partnership after a damning report on their services was published earlier this year.
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Ofsted viewed the service in January 2024 and found “widespread and systemic failings” in their provision. NNC previously said it “fully accepts” the findings.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector required the Local Area Partnership to prepare and submit a priority action plan (PAP) to detail their ambitions to improve the service over the coming months and years. The partnership is made up from NNC and the NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board in conjunction with the Children’s Trust.
Charlotte Franks, interim head of SEND at NNC, said:
“One of the key parts to note is in our self-evaluation of those services we recognised that there are lots of areas for improvement for children and young people with special educational needs.
“We weren’t presenting that the services are really thorough and well delivered- we were recognising that there are lots of areas of improvement and the inspection agreed with that self-assessment.”
The authority’s PAP was approved by the Department for Education (DfE) in May. It contains four areas of ‘priority’ action, six areas for improvement and 11 strengths.
The key areas flagged as the highest need include ensuring there is a clear direction for partnership working across the services, strengthening joint commissioning, putting in place heightened governance arrangements to monitor SEND and alternative provision strategy and improving accurate and early identification of needs, including the timeliness of education health and care plans (EHCPs).
You can view the full action plan and detailed approach here.
A monitoring inspection from Ofsted and CQC will take place in 18 months (October 2025) to evaluate progress made in the priority areas. Following on from that, a full reinspection of the authority’s SEND services will take place in around two to three years.
Report by Nadia Lincoln
A restaurant and bar has surrendered its licence amid police investigations into allegations of rape from two underage females who drank at the venue.
Northamptonshire Police called for a licensing review for Pasha Shawarma, on Cambridge Street in Wellingborough, under the ‘prevention of crime and disorder’ and ‘protection of children from harm’.
The document on North Northamptonshire Council’s (NNC) website states: “The Review relates to an investigation regarding two allegations of rape on two females one aged 16 and one aged 17 and subsequent difficulties experienced by Northamptonshire Police when engaging with the premises.”
A statement from a police constable said that the offences did not occur at the premises, but that the two teenage girls and the alleged suspects were inside Pasha Shawarma and left the venue together in the early hours of February 25 this year.
It added that detectives attended the site the same day to try and obtain CCTV evidence from inside. When asked a member of staff said they did not have access to the CCTV system and would not provide details of the manager.
Despite repeated contact over a number of weeks with staff members and the premises’ licence holder to send over their CCTV footage of that night, it was never shared with Northamptonshire Police. This was against the conditions of their licence at the time of the incident.
The premises licence also stipulated that the venue was required to close at 11:30pm on the date the allegations took place. CCTV from within the immediate area of the premises shows the two females arriving and entering at midnight and then leaving at 03:18am.
The police report summarised:
“The premises should have been closed to the public at the time the females attended and stayed on the premises consuming alcohol until they left some three hours later.
“The premises licence holder and designated premises supervisor does not have proper control of the premises to the extent of not knowing who works at the premises, when the premises is open or closed and at the very least the terms of the condition relating to CCTV.
“Staff at the premises being un-cooperative in assisting with the criminal investigation.
“Northamptonshire Police are asking that consideration to the premises licence being revoked in the first instance.”
On Tuesday, June 18, the licence holder notified NNC that they wished to surrender their licence with immediate effect. This was accepted and the venue therefore has no licence.
The series of events came before the council’s licensing committee on Tuesday, June 25, to note their decision to surrender. The licence holder of Pasha Shawarma was not in attendance.
NNC’s licensing enforcement officer also added the venue has now been closed since the police submitted the review application at the beginning of May.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has attempted to contact Pasha Shawarma for comment.
Report by Nadia Lincoln
More than £1bn of personal protective equipment (PPE) bought from a Wellingborough firm during the pandemic has been written off.
Full Support, which was run by former nurse Sarah Stoute and her husband Richard, won a £1.78m contract at the beginning of the pandemic to supply equipment to the government.
An investigation by BBC journalist Jon Ironmonger found that £1.4bn of the stock, which was of the supplied to the right standards, has been written off - with some dumped on a farm in the new forest and the BBC reports that £100m has been spent in storing and then destroying the stock.
The company had been turning over less than £1m before the pandemic hit. Since the Stoutes made the lucrative deal they have bought a Caribbean villa, a UK mansion and a equestrian centre in Bedfordshire.
£1bn PPE write off …..the ultimate ‘0ne man’s misfortune….is another man’s opportunity’….no scrutiny or investigation!