1903: Today saw an extension to Peterborough's growing tram network when the service to Newark began, the trams travelling along the Eastfield Road. The driver - the motorman - had to stand in an open area to drive the tram and was exposed to all weathers. He worked a ten-hour shift, six days a week, at a rate of 5d an hour, which provided him with a weekly wage of 25s. (Peterborough Advertiser)
Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.
Following a snap election called by Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May, the Conservative candidate in Peterborough Stewart Jackson, who had been the Member of Parliament for 12 Years, lost his seat to Labour's Fiona Onasanya by 607 votes. The national result of the election meant that the Conservatives lost their Commons majority and were the largest party in a hung Parliament. The Conservative party remained in government by making a pact with 10 Democratic Unionist Party MPs.
The United Kingdom European Union (EU)membership referendum took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate if the country should remain a member of the European Union (EU) or leave it. It was called by the Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron as a result of an electoral promise.
Nationally the referendum resulted in 51.9% of votes being in favour of leaving the EU (17,410,742 votes) and 48.1% of votes in favour of remaining in the EU (16,141,241).
Locally the referendum resulted in 60.89% (53 216 ) of votes being to leave against 39.11% (34 176) of votes to remain in the EU.
Although not legally binding the government had promised to implement the result of the referendum.
On 29 March 2017, the Government of the United Kingdom under Prime Minister Theresa May invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, meaning that the UK was due to leave the EU before 11PM on 29 March 2019, when the two-year period for Brexit (Britain's exit) negotiations expired. This did not happen as no deal was reached on the 'divorce' agreement. and an extension was agreed.
The final deadline for leaving the EU was 31 January 2020.
The Brexit Party, formed to ensure Britain's departure from the EU came second in the 2019 Peterborough by-election.
References:
Multiple news sources including BBC News.
Image:
Ballot paper
9 October 2008 saw the final act of the Peterborough 2004 election vote rigging scandal when Raja Akhtar, the Conservative Mayor of Peterborough in 2004, was sentenced to three months in jail for electoral fraud, at Norwich Crown Court. Mohammed Khaliq and Abdul Razaq, both Conservatives, were sentenced to two months and five months respectively for the same offence. These were not the first convictions for vote rigging in the 2004 election, Labour party members, former mayor Mohammed Choudhary, candidate Maqbool Hussein and party official Tariq Mahmood were jailed in April 2008.
All six men were caught as part of ‘Operation Hooper’, launched by Cambridgeshire police after residents turning up at the ballot box to vote were turned away after being told their vote had already been cast. The investigation revealed that the men had tampered with postal voting forms, sending ballot papers to away addresses so they could hijack them.
The detective who led the 1 million operation said he hoped that the prison sentences would bring back confidence to Peterborough voters who had lost faith in the election process.
The judge in the trial of Akhtar, Khaliq and Razaq, Alasdair Darroch, told the trio:
"It is a very sad day. There are few cases where so many good things have been said about the defendants. But electors need to be sure every vote cast is genuine. The public has to have confidence in elections, and a clear message is, if you interfere with the electoral process, you will go to prison."
Reference:
Peterborough Telegraph 10 October 2008
Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a General Election, to be run on 12th December 2019, after failing to get parliament to approve a revised withdrawal agreement from the European Union by the end of October 2019. Mr Johnson needed to obtain an overall majority in the election in order to accomplish his main goal of taking the United Kingdom out of the European Union by the end of January 2020.
The election resulted in a Conservative win with a landslide majority of 80 seats (365 seats in total), their largest majority since 1987, with the party making a net gain of 48 seats. Many of these seats were gained in the north of the country, in what was considered Labour’s heartland. Labour won 202 seats, the Scottish National Party 48 and the Liberal Democrats 11 with their leader Jo Swinson losing her seat.
In Peterborough:
Labour’s Lisa Forbes, who had won a contentious by- election in June 2019 narrowly beating Mike Green of the Brexit Party, lost to Paul Bristow of the Conservative Party, with the Brexit Party coming fourth.
Full results:
Paul Bristow (Conservative) - 22,334
Lisa Forbes (Labour) - 19,754
Beki Sellick (Liberal Democrat) - 2,334
Mike Greene (Brexit Party) - 2,127
Joseph Wells (Green) – 728
Luke Ferguson (Independent) - 260
Tom Rogers (Christian Peoples Alliance) - 151
The Very Raving Mr P (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party) - 113
Turnout – 47 899 (66.01%) Majority – 2 580
Reference:
https://www.peterborough.gov.uk/council/elections/election-details
Following the successful Recall Petition against Fiona Onasanya after her conviction for perverting the course of justice a by-election was run on 6 June 2019. Mike Green of the Brexit Party was the favourite to win but the election was narrowly won by Labour’s Lisa Forbes with Mike Green in second place.
Results:
Labour Party - Lisa Forbes, Votes:10,484 /30.91%
Brexit Party - Mike Greene, Votes 9,801/28.89 %
Conservative Party - Paul Bristow, Votes 7,243/21.35%
Liberal Democrats - Beki Sellick, Votes 4,159 /12.26 %
Green Party - Joseph Wells, Votes 1,035/ 3.05%
Ten other candidates stood.
The United Kingdom European Union (EU)membership referendum took place o…