DEVO DIARY: One week to go
It’s seven days until the Mayoral elections in both Manchester and Liverpool. Leaflets are piling up, campaigners are lingering on doorsteps and voters are weighing up their options. It’s nearly time to head to the polling station. Find your nearest here: https://wheredoivote.co.uk/
Labour candidate Andy Burnham says farewell to Parliament after 16 years as MP for Leigh. Burnham will not be standing at the next General Election, whether or not he becomes Mayor for Manchester. Burnham used his final speech in Parliament to demand a Hillsborough-style inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal which saw NHS patients infected with blood-borne diseases in the 1970s and 80s.
Frustrates me at times. But this place has been good to me these last 16 years. Thanks to all my Westminster friends. pic.twitter.com/HKkU5OlHtp
— Andy Burnham (@andyburnhammp) April 26, 2017
The final stand off between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn took place yesterday. The last Prime Minister’s questions before the General Election saw the record set for the longest PMQs ever, lasting for 58 minutes, almost double the time of a usual session.
Selfie Queen Karen Danczuk is understood to have applied to be Labour candidate for Bury North. If selected Danczuk would be running against Conservative David Nuttall who is currently MP for the constituency. She would also be potentially working with ex-husband Simon Danczuk, who is expected to be allowed to stand as Labour Candidate in nearby Rochdale, despite his suspension from the party in 2015. Karen Danczuk seemed up for the challenge, writing on Twitter: “I’m ready for parliament”. Get your victory pout ready…