As Southport responds, the protests spread wider

Plus: GPs to strike and devolution update

Aug 04, 2024

Hello and welcome to today’s edition of The Lancashire Lead. I’m grateful for the kind words which followed Wednesday’s edition and I’m very pleased it to hear it provided some comfort to people in Southport.

What followed in the hours and days after was incredible to see. A show of support, solidarity and strength which went far beyond anything that could have been expected. This will be a normal edition with the usual features but first I’ll touch a little more on that.

As I said on Wednesday, early in the morning me and my wife headed out into the streets which had been stormed, vandalised and set on fire by thugs just hours earlier. To say I played even a minuscule role in that cleanup operation would be overstating it, but even so it was overwhelming to see how many people were willing to pitch up and help out.

In the media, we’re often criticised for focusing too much on the negative things rather than the positive but on Wednesday, it was the rebuild that caught so much attention. I know from speaking to reporters here that the community response has left a genuine impression on them and it is perhaps best articulated by Sky News’ Sarah-Jane Mee in this video.

Then came the news that Axel Rudakubana had been charged with the crime and could be named thanks to the appeals of the reporters who attended Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday.

From there, it looked as though the focus may be able to return to the victims of the dreadful atrocity, while some positivity came in an update from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital where two of the young patients had been discharged.

Huge numbers of floral tributes have been left for the Southport victims

However, the calm didn’t last. On Friday, as buildings across the North West lit up pink in memory of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, more disorder was breaking out. Worst affected was Sunderland where violence raged on for hours.

And on Saturday morning, that familiar sense of unease and dread was felt again. Across Lancashire, Preston, Blackpool and Blackburn were among the locations rumoured to be subject to protests which many feared would not be peaceful at all.

Blackburn in particular was expected to see a heavy presence, with English Defence League founder and on-the-run criminal Tommy Robinson offering his backing to it to his considerable social media following.

Lancashire Constabulary had promised to be on standby to deal with any issues and its intelligence was enough to issue a dispersal order in the east Lancashire town. That meant any disruption largely fizzled out without incident but Blackpool was not so fortunate.

As Michael Holmes reports for The Lead, attendees at the annual punk Rebellion weekend staged a counter protest and while the so called protesters chanted the likes of “England ‘till I die”, “We want our country back,” and “Oh, Tommy Robinson”.

According to the BBC, almost 1,000 protesters were in attendance with demonstrators largely made up from far right groups. Chairs, bottles and planks of wood were all thrown by crowds who members made racist gestures and shouted racist abuse.

Blackpool South MP Chris Webb was among those to condemn the scenes. He said:

“At a time when families in Southport have suffered unthinkable loss, our communities need to come together to heal and support one another. I am angered to see senseless violence and disorder on the streets of my hometown today from individuals sowing the seeds of division. I condemn all forms of violence.
“The people responsible are harming residents and damaging livelihoods. They are placing needless strain on the police and health services. People in Blackpool should be able to grieve for victims and live peaceably.
“My thanks go to the police and emergency workers who are working under very difficult circumstances.”

Over in Preston, at least one person was arrested during a much shorter and much less violent stand off between two groups.

Once again, the names lost in all of this are Bebe, Elsie and Alice. That these protests are in any way linked to them is an insult to their lives, their memories and their grieving families.

I firmly believe the vast majority of those involved in these so called protests could not even recall their names, but instead callously use them as a jumping off point to air their own agendas.

As mentioned earlier, this is a little more like a typical edition than Wednesday’s and there’s the news digest, a devolution update and the closing What’s On section to follow.

First, a word on the planned industrial action from GPs which was voted for this week. A vote of more than than 8,500 GPs saw 98.3% back action amid long-running problems over funding and responsibilities. How that action will take shape is undecided, with potential options including limiting the number of patients seen to just 25 a day.

I recently spoke with Dr Adam Janjua about the challenges facing General Practices and he explained how problems aren’t limited to the heavy impact of rising costs and inadequate funding increases, but also other NHS delays which means patients are returning more often while awaiting hospital treatment.

As chief executive of the body which represents GP practices across Lancashire and South Cumbria, he has frequently spoken out about the threats facing practices and the risks that huge numbers could become unviable businesses. Discussing the vote this week, he told me:

I’m delighted to see that the whole profession is united in its response to try and tackle the chronic underfunding that has been suffocating all aspects of General Practice in England. The excellent GP services this country once had has been allowed to erode away due to take actions of NHS England and the DoH.
GP leaders have been warning the government for over a decade now about the dangers of allowing GPs and GP practices to be neglected. General practice is the glue that holds the NHS together - if general practice fails the NHS will surely fail. This is why we have taken such drastic steps to ensure the survival of General Practice for the safety and wellbeing of the public and patients.
We could plod on as we have been and see GP vanish within the next decade (or sooner) or we can take action to ensure that patients receive a safe service that is sustainable for the future. Patients need to realise that GPs are on their side. A well funded General Practice system will ultimately lead to a healthier and more productive nation.

In South Ribble, new MP Paul Foster delivered his maiden speech in Parliament this week and there were a number of interesting lines in there. This includes his support of ‘Boisterous’ Ben Griffiths and his campaign to receive NHS-prescribed cannabis treatment; a renewed plea for Lancashire to have a mayor in a new devolution deal’; and a raising of the issue of asssisted dying inspired by the painful passing of his own mother.

You can watch his speech here or read the full text on this link.

A final mention here goes to Michael Holmes piece in this week’s Blackpool Lead on the people being displaced by the town’s multiversity plans. The £65million scheme is seen as key to the resort’s regeneration but will mean 72 homes are demolished to make way for it. Among those is the home of 68-year-old cancer patient Peter Harris.

“I need help. If I don’t get it, they will stick me in a home. They will put me in a corner and forget about me.”

Peter Holmes

You can read his story and those of others who will see their homes demolished here.

Subscribe to The Blackpool Lead | Subscribe to The Hyndburn Lead

🧩 Long-forgotten mosaics have been discovered underneath the floor coverings of Blackburn College's 136-year-old Victoria Building (Lancashire Telegraph).

❤️ A nine-year-old underwent his fourth heart operation in the hope of avoiding having to have a transplant (Blackpool Gazette).

🦺 A rogue trader who conned homeowners out of more than £500,000 has been jailed for almost five years (BBC).

🏥 Proposals for the two new hospitals planned for Preston and Lancaster are set to be put to the government for consideration in the coming weeks (Blog Preston).

🚆 Meanwhile, the axing of a prospective new rail link between East Lancs and Manchester city centre has been labelled a ‘betrayal’ by the Conservatives (Lancashire Telegraph).

🍸 The closing date of Blackpool’s Revolution bar has been brought forward (Insider Media).

🚕 Two taxi drivers had their licences suspended after Preston City Council and Wolverhampton Council teamed up for compliance checks (Blog Preston).

🐕 A Ukrainian refugee whose grandparents were killed during the Russian invasion has been awarded a bursary to pursue his dreams of becoming a vet (BBC)

I mentioned earlier on there’d be an update on Lancashire’s devolution situation here and once again it seems we are moving closer to an all new deal with a mayoral element.

I also referenced Paul Foster raising the issue in Parliament. Here are his remarks in full:

I will continue to champion inward investment through devolution in the north-west and to work towards an elected mayor and combined authority for Lancashire, permitting local decision makers to have greater powers in their own transport, health, policing, skills, education, housing and employment. The current county combined authority being pursued by Lancashire county council just is not good enough—I have already spoken to the relevant Secretary of State about the issue

Blackpool South’s Chris Webb has also spoken publicly about the desire to change the existing deal. He chaired a meeting of fellow Lancashire MPs on the subject last week and then spoke with local government minister Jim McMahon to discuss the next steps for a settlement.

Local democracy reporter Paul Faulkner has the latest on the next steps.

As ever, we finish on a selection of What’s On stories from the past week. If you hany recommendations you’d like to see featured here, get in touch via jamie@thelead.uk

Thanks for taking the time to read today’s edition of The Lancashire Lead. Please subscribe to ensure you receive future issues and share so others can find it too.

A guest post by

Jamie Lopez

Editor, The Lancashire Lead

As Southport responds, the protests spread wider

Plus: GPs to strike and devolution update

Discussion about this post