Anglia Late Edition - April 2022

  • Watch the latest Anglia Late Edition - the regional politics programme covering issues affecting the East of England presented by Political Correspondent Emma HutchinsonThis programme was transmitted in the ITV Anglia region on Thursday 21 April 2022

Anglia Late Edition reports on the latest developments in the Partygate row over gatherings in Downing Street during lockdown and the potential impact on the local council elections in May.

Boris Johnson will face a third investigation after the House of Commons agreed the Privileges Committee should investigate whether he misled Parliament with his repeated denials about Downing Street parties during the coronavirus lockdown.

The Prime Minister apologised more than 30 times in the House of Commons after being fined for attending a birthday gathering in 2020. Credit: UK Parliament

Peter Aldous, the Conservative MP for Waveney in Suffolk, is standing by the a letter calling for a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister he sent back in February and told Anglia Late Edition that Boris Johnson should be replaced.

Mr Aldous said: "It's an awful situation that we're in. It is quite possible I'm wrong but it is my view and sense that it would be best for the country and indeed the Conservative Party if there was a change in leader."

Partygate is one of the factors along with the big increase in the cost of living which will affect the local elections in May according to a politics expert at the University of Essex.

Professor Paul Whiteley of the Department of Government said: "I think it is going to be a big loss for the Conservatives, an unusually big loss."

Professor Whiteley told Anglia Late Edition: "Local elections come and go. They're like the tide - it comes in and it goes out again - but occasionally you have a bad year for a particular party."

"It has happened to Labour but I think this time the Conservatives are going to take quite a beating."

More than 400 councillors are being elected for 20 councils across the Anglia region on Thursday 5 May.

Not all areas in the Anglia region have local elections this year after there was a double dose in 2021 because they were postponed in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. In most of the areas with elections, only one-third of the council seat are up for election.

In three places - Huntingdonshire, South Cambridgeshire and St Albans - all the council seats will be elected.

ITV News Anglia's Political Correspondent Emma Hutchinson was joined on the programme by four politicians to debate the issues affecting the East of England:

Pictured top left to bottom right: Adrian Ramsay (Green), Stephen Robinson (Lib Dem), Daniel Zeichner MP (Lab) and Peter Aldous MP (Con) Credit: ITV Anglia

  • Peter Aldous MP has been the Conservative MP for Waveney since 2010.

  • Daniel Zeichner MP has been the Labour MP for Cambridge since 2015 he is also a Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

  • Cllr Stephen Robinson is the leader of Chelmsford City Council after the Liberal Democrats swept to victory there in 2019.

  • Adrian Ramsay is the co-leader of the Green Party and a former Norwich City councillor. He will stand for parliament in Suffolk at the next election.

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