logo

The 58 per cent vote in favour will trigger a £1

Posted by admin   ·     ·   Jump to comments

The 58 per cent vote in favour will trigger a £1.8bn regeneration programme.But in Birmingham, 67 per cent of tenants (41,000) voted to remain in council ownership, with 33 per cent (20,000) in favour of change. Turnout was 65.5 per cent.Councillor Dennis Minnis, cabinet member for housing, said: "Throughout this process, we have been honest in saying that existing resources are not enough to deliver the improvements that tenants deserve. We will continue to look for alternative resources to secure decent homes for all of Birmingham's tenants."Under the Birmingham transfer, 10,000 flats in some of the city's most unpopular high-rise towers and blocks of maisonettes would have been demolished.The Government has set a target for all social housing to be brought up to a decent standard by 2011. But housing experts said the Birmingham vote left this ambition in doubt.John Perry, director of policy at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: "The no vote in Birmingham means that the Government's target to get all social housing up to a decent standard in 10 years is now in question.

Although Birmingham does not own a big percentage of the remaining 2.8 million council homes in England, the message to other cities will be one of caution in pursuing wholesale transfer.". One theory has it that the second act of arms decommissioning by the IRA may have an even deeper significance than the first, in October last year. The difference now is that this second act of putting arms and explosives beyond use has not happened against a background of crisis.There are a number of tactical reasons why the IRA should have moved this month. David Trimble has spoken of confronting republicans unless there was further action on arms. Secondly, the move may help increase the vote for Sinn Fein in the Irish Republic's general elections next month.These factors help explain the timing, but not why the IRA should shift without the traditional build-up of pressure.The initial decommissioning went down like a lead balloon in many quarters. Sinn Fein and IRA leaders had to hurry around Ireland justifying the move, with Sinn Fein figures making two national tours and holding internal conferences.Yesterday Gerry Adams recalled the first decommissioning announcement, saying: "People left the meeting in tears." He added that the move was causing "a great deal of angst for many, many people".But the underlying sense is that the republican cause is being well compensated by the peace process. London, Dublin and the power-sharing government in Belfast warmly welcomed news yesterday that the IRA had carried out a second act of decommissioning.

The IRA described the widely anticipated moveas a unilateral initiative aimed at ensuring the peace process can be stabilised, sustained and strengthened.The move was particularly welcomed by the Ulster Unionist leader and First Minister David Trimble. He taunted his opponents within unionism, saying: "Those anti-Agreement unionists who said it would never happen – gentlemen, where are you now?"Last October, General de Chastelain described the first IRA decommissioning as significant. Yesterday he went further, declaring: "We have quantified it this time to say we believe the amount that we saw put beyond use was substantial and it was certainly varied." As with the first move, however, no details were provided on how much material was involved or on exactly how it had been put beyond use.The move brought calls for similar action from loyalist groups, though few hold out real hope on that front. The main Protestant organisation, the Ulster Defence Association, was only last week involved in bomb and gun attacks on police during north Belfast rioting.Among the sceptics was the Ulster Unionist MP David Burnside, who declared: "I find the whole thing totally hypocritical when it appears the Provisional IRA have recently been up to their necks in the Castlereagh Special Branch break-in." The IRA however also issued a categoric denial that it had been involved in the Castlereagh incident.Tony Blair welcomed the move, calling it "immensely significant". because they've spent their whole careers saying it couldn't possibly happen."Quentin Davies, the shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, welcomed the move but said Sinn Fein had yet to prove "beyond doubt" that it was committed to democracy.. A year ago, an opinion poll suggested public sentiment in Britain was moving significantly against the monarchy and in favour of a republic. People were almost evenly divided over the Royals, with 39 per cent saying Britain would be better off without them and 41per cent believing they should stay.The findings of today's poll by NOP for The Independent are strikingly different: support for abolition of the monarchy has fallen back to just 12 per cent, while 54 per cent want it left as it is now.All opinion surveys are snapshots and the two polls undoubtedly reflect the contrasting fortunes of the Royal Family at the time they were taken.

readers comments

Comments are closed.

NBA

NBA

MLB

MLB

NFL

NFL

NHL

NHL

WWE

WWE

Your sideblock text goes here