The Liberal Democrats are celebrating “big wins” in traditionally Conservative areas that they say could help demolish the “Blue Wall” of seats Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Tories need to win the next election.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said local elections were a “turning point” for his party.
A centre party, the Liberal Democrats believe they can appeal to Conservative voters who cannot support Labour as well as disillusioned Labour voters. But they have found it difficult to gain major wins at the national level.
Speaking in Wimbledon, Sir Ed said: “We are going to have a Liberal Democrat MP for Wimbledon at the next election. And I think there are other places where we're going to see Liberal Democrat success for the first time ever.
“I'm really excited about the south-west of England and coming back there. I'm excited about all those seats across the Blue Wall which, frankly, we haven't been players in for a long time.
“And I'm looking forward to results yet to come in Scotland and Wales.”
The Liberal Democrats won the new unitary authorities of Somerset — traditional Conservative territory — and Westmorland and Furness, also dislodging the Tories in West Oxfordshire and pushing the council into no overall control.
Mr Davey said the local election results would send an “almighty shock wave” through the government.
“We're making big gains from the Conservatives, gains that I think we can turn into seats in the next election,” he said.
“I said that people could use their vote to send a message to Boris Johnson that he's not providing the leadership on the cost-of-living emergency, which is really the issue on the doorsteps that I found, and I think the real situation here is the economy is in a real mess, the Conservatives have failed to provide that leadership and people are turning to the Liberal Democrats for an alternative party.”
He added: “The dissatisfaction amongst lifelong Conservatives with the prime minister was really palpable — they don't think he's a decent man.”
Sir Ed also dismissed calls for a pact with the Labour Party to defeat the Tories at the next general election.
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
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Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience
by David Gilmour
Allen Lane
THE SPECS
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