Five things you need to know today
Political musings, tea-dancing and The Bike Station party
Labour in government and at the council
Yes it was only a year ago today that the UK election was held when Edinburgh voters dismissed three SNP MPs (Tommy Sheppard, Joanna Cherry, KC, and Deidre Brock) and introduced three Labour MPs in their place. The other two MPs - Liberal Democrat Christine Jardine in Edinburgh West and Labour's Ian Murray in Edinburgh South retained their seats.
In the remainder of the UK sufficient votes were cast for Labour to form a government by a majority of 165 MPs. The Conservative Party which had been in government achieved the worst result ever at a UK election with a leader, Rishi Sunak, who subsequently stepped down.
There have been hiccups in the past year. Keir Starmer's government has made a couple of U-turns - notably on the Winter heating allowance and very recently on welfare reform earlier this week. There is a cost of living crisis, and the further away from a pandemic and the beginning of war in Europe we get, the harder it is to blame external influences. And Reform is waiting in the wings to take seats anywhere in the country that they can.
This was the result of last year’s UK election:
Although the outcome of a council by-election is no bellwether, the by-election in Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart last Thursday was a close result with Labour's Catriona Munro attaining the most first preference votes, but losing on the Single Transferable Vote system to the Liberal Democrats' Kevin McKay. Reform's Gary Neill was first to be eliminated, and the Greens were then in the lead for a time after reallocation of the votes.
After the Conservative candidate, Mark Hooley, was removed, his votes went mainly to the Liberal Democrats - who whooped and hollered even before the formal announcement was made.
Meanwhile Reform UK's Scottish Campaign Director Martyn Greene was at the by-election count, but he turned on his heel when The Edinburgh Reporter asked if Reform was actually a political party or not (given that it is run mainly by Reform 2025 Ltd a company limited by guarantee with directors rather than members along with a chain of other companies). The make up of the party has been questioned before, but Mr Greene was not willing to discuss the matter.Whether or not having 14 councillors - the second largest group on the council - will allow for a power grab at the City Chambers by the Liberal Democrats we shall have to wait until after recess to find out. At present Cllr Kevin Lang remains the Interim Chief Executive Officer of The Law Society of Scotland with its £200,000 or so a year salary. Even when he returns to his day job as part of the executive team he would have to re-assume the leadership of the political group from Cllr Ed Thornley who is temporary group leader, before any moves are made - but insiders have always said it was unlikely that the LibDems would attempt to take over power from the minority Labour group.
The last time the LibDems were in power at the City Chambers was under Jenny Dawe, the council leader at the time of the initial tram project, before Labour then took power in 2012 and Cllr Lesley Hinds and Chief Executive Sue Bruce brokered a deal to get the trams back on track. At that point the major contractors had downed tools in a dispute.
There are no council meetings in July, councillors choosing to come back to formal business when the city is at its busiest in the year, so for now we have a rest from local political bickering.
There are cries of underfunding from The Scottish Government and from The City of Edinburgh Council. The Integration Joint Board in Edinburgh which delivers health and social care in a partnership between NHS Lothian and the council has forecast a financial hole in its budget of anything up to £50 million in the next financial year. With insufficient funds to go round, all areas of Edinburgh Council have eyed up the projected £50 million a year from the Transient Visitor Levy or tourist tax which has, in theory at least, been spent several times over.
A housing emergency has been declared in Edinburgh and in Scotland with little in the way of positive moves to end the crisis.
The next council meeting will be held on 21 July when the Licensing Sub-Committee meets with a full agenda following in August.
The Bike Station
The Bike Station is having an opening party today at its new Tollcross Hub - and everyone is invited.
Donating a bike or buying a refurbished bike from us means you are joining a movement committed to a better future for everyone.
The charity recently took over the premises on the corner of Lauriston Place (which for a while were home to Cargo Bike Movement) as their newest Edinburgh location. The charity also has an outlet at 473 Gorgie Road. The Bike Station is the charity which will accept second hand bikes and then refurbish them to sell on in their various branches. The circular economy means that the bikes have a much lower carbon footprint than a new one and The Bike Station uses the sales revenue to help the most vulnerable through their community work.
The charity is committed to building stronger healthier more connects and sustainable communities in Edinburgh.
Families can borrow bikes for free through the Wee Bike Library and then exchange them for the next size up.
Through their Shifting Gears programme they teach people to ride a bike - which they have received from The Bike Station along with a lock, lights and helmet.
The charity runs puncture repair courses to help you fix your own bike and stay on the road.
Doctorate for Val
Val McDermid was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Edinburgh on Thursday at the afternoon graduation ceremony.
Duddingston Low Road
Historic Environment Scotland have indicated that they will begin work on repairing the road on 14 July. Responding to Ian Murray MP for Edinburgh South the organisation which is responsible for Holyrood Park said: "During our annual detailed inspection of the rock slopes in the Park, an area of the Samsons Ribs rock face was identified that presented a serious and immediate risk to the public.
"Historic Environment Scotland (HES) took immediate action to restrict vehicle traffic to one lane of the carriageway while further work and assessment was carried out.
"This further work revealed additional areas of concern on this rock face and evidence of wider deterioration which has occurred more rapidly than had been expected.
"Independent geo-engineers then carried out further analysis and modelling to provide HES with an indication of where falling rock may land in relation to the public on this busy carriageway and pavement. The indication from this analysis highlighted the potential for falling rock to land directly onto the carriageway, which could reach the pavement. In many areas of the rock face, the modelled trajectories of falling rocks would have caused injury or death to a user of the road or pavement.
"This independent analysis and assessment led HES to re-assess the risk to the public from a potential rock fall in this area of the Park through our Rock Risk Management Policy and Procedure.
"This reassessment concluded that the risk to the public in this area of the Park was unacceptable to us and we took immediate steps to exclude public access to the area through the closure of the road and pavement to reduce this risk. Over the last month we have been exploring preliminary options to enable safe access to the Duddingston Low Road and pavement and are making progress in this regard.
"We have confirmed a design to enable safe pedestrian and dismounted cyclist access using the pavement and have identified a contractor to carry out the work. The contractor has given us a preliminary start date of Monday 14 July."
Tea Dance
