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No video message A change in voting Brit killed
LABOUR shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds has revealed Labour are considering plans to allow EU emigrants who live in the UK permanently and 16 and 17 year olds to vote in UK elections for the first time.
Reynolds said Labour were: “always looking at ways to strengthen our democracy, to involve as many people [as] possible in that, and there’ll be an element of that, reform of how this country operates, how power is shared, in the Labour manifesto, that’s for sure.”
If the plans became policy it would affect about 3.4 million EU nationals who have settled in the UK.
Quizzed on the plans on a news programme, Reynolds said: “It’s not an area I directly deal with in the shadow cabinet.
“I’m not going to give a definitive answer on that, but I think we should always be seeking to involve as many people as possible in our democracy.
“It’s something we will look at, but some of the reports, I’ve got to stress they’re not the final plans for the Labour manifesto.
“I don’t think any changes to how the British state works, how democracy works, should ever be considered through any kind of party political lens.”
PRESIDENT Volodymyr Zelenskyy had his request to send a video message to the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool blocked by the event’s organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said on Friday May 12.
The EBU, of which the BBC are a member, comprises numerous broadcasters from around Europe. They made it clear from the very beginning of the contest, this was a nonpolitical and purely forentertainment event.
Ukraine, who won the competition last year during their ongoing attack by Russia, would by rights have been the host this year, as per Eurovision tradition. But due to the military crisis, last year’s runnersup, the UK, took on hosting duties.
With the EBU sticking closely to their guidelines and declining President Zelenskyy’s request, noted politicians and celebrities came out in response to the decision on Twitter:
“@HuwMerriman MP says he is disappointed President Zelenskyy has been blocked from making an address at Eurovision but says it is down to European broadcast rules.” Exprime minister Boris Johnson said: “It would have been right to hear from President Zelenskyy at the #Eurovision. There is only one reason the contest is not in Ukraine and that is because of Putin’s illegal war.”
Sweden was the overall winner at the contest held on Saturday evening with the UK entry coming second last.
A BRITISH man who volunteered to fight against the Russian forces in Ukraine has died after spending a year on the frontline in Ukraine.
According to official reports, cited by a news source on Thursday, May 11, his death was confirmed by Ukraine’s International Legion.
The 52yearold fighter named Jay Morais reportedly lost his life at a hospital in Kharkiv, after he was involved for months fighting in Severodonetsk and Bakhmut, in the region of Donbas. In a previous statement, Morais had said he was “not brave just wired different,” adding that when he was fighting, it stopped him feeling scared.
As per his fiancee, Lidiya Martynovaa, the funeral was held for him in Ukraine, and he was given military honours. It has also been reported that half of his ashes were laid at a cemetery in Ukraine, and the rest have been sent home to his family in the UK.
Martynovaa said “Jay was a very special guy, beautiful and crazy at the same time.”
