35 candidates, including independents, LibDems and Green Party members, have called on David Pugh to answer questions about claims made in Conservative election literature
We are now less than a month away from the IW Council elections and all the candidates are in place. The Conservative Party will be looking to hold on to their comfortable majority and have announced that a regeneration of Newport is one of their main priorities. Leading the Tory campaign again is current council leader, Dave Stewart, who very noticeably seems to be keeping his head down this time around on education improvements. Education was the topic which ultimately cost the Tories and their former council leader, David Pugh, power in 2013. Pugh had pledged before the 2009 election that he would put the IW schools into the top ten per cent in the country, but after reforming the system from three tier to two, we ended up at the very bottom of the league tables, and at the 2013 elections, Pugh paid for his failings by being voted out of his Shanklin South seat, and the Tory Party also lost control of the council.
Our Island candidates, from left, Richard May, Phil Warren, Pauline Evans and Mike Hailston. THROWING their hats into the ring are the first batch of local election candidates for new group Our Island. The movement has formally announced its first candidates for the Isle of Wight Council elections, which are currently due to take place in May. The candidates are standing in the wards of Sandown South, Ventnor West, Ryde North West, Shanklin South and Brading and St Helens. The group says that in addition to looking for its own candidates, Our Island will also work with current council members, candidates from other groups and independent candidates who agree with the same aims, to maximise the chances of electing a council focussed on working together for the interests of the Island.
Earlier this week, we reported Sandown and Brading had been among the worst affected areas. They had registered a rolling rate of 1,155.9 cases per 100,000 residents the standard by which the Covid levels are measured in the seven days up to December 31. Now, in the seven days up to January 3, new data shows a rolling rate of 1,654.3 cases per 100,000 for the area, with 156 cases.
The Government s interactive map shows the Island as a whole had a rate of 941.7 as of January 3. Several other areas have been placed into the highest level on the government s interactive map. Joining Sandown and Brading is Cowes Central (1,090.7), Bembridge and Nettlestone (817.7), Ryde North (1,051.3), Ryde West and Havenstreet (826.1), Shanklin West and Newchurch (1,049.8), Ventnor and Wroxall (956.3), and Newport Central and Parkhurst West (860.7)