We hosted a hustings with candidates from the main parties, who battled it out just a few days before Bristol’s local elections! bit.ly/4aYYvdK

Great thread here by Matty Edwards on the key takeaways from Neil Maggs's interviews with the party leaders on our Bristol Unpacked podcast. Give them a listen if you haven't already!

📢 Speaker series: On Wed 5 Jun, the Cable invites micha frazer-carroll to PRSC.

📖 Her book 'Mad World' offers a radical alternative view to the pathologisation and systemic gatekeeping of mental health held by our society.

👉 Get your tickets here: bit.ly/3U7m78J

Avon and Somerset is going to the polls to elect the region’s next crime commissioner. We took them to task on their priorities and strategic vision for policing.
bit.ly/49Y2Mge

Post-election (May 2), #Bristol council will be run by committee. No mayor anymore; we’ll have cross party collab (in theory) with a housing committee, energy committee etc.

Good to see a positive display from party leaders The Bristol Cable event tonight: “We agree 80%…”

Dyer says the Greens want to work collaboratively with the parties because nobody has a monopoly on good ideas, while Renhard would not comment on approach with other parties, as they’re currently focused on getting as many seats for Labour

Tony Dyer says he’s learnt is that if funding is not available for local councils, they can’t operate properly, regardless of whether we have a mayoral model or not

Lib Dem Jos Clark, whose party has campaigned to get rid of the mayoral system, says nothing is forever and we need to monitor any challenges with the new committee system

Tory Mark Weston says the biggest lesson we’ve learnt is that parties can work together to find solutions - but this requires respect between the parties

📢 Join Bristol Cable in welcoming the prolific Owen Jones for an extraordinary evening at StrangeBrewBristol on Tue 28th May.

👉 Tickets available now with up to 50% off for Cable members: bit.ly/3JUhpGZ

What have we learnt about how the council should be run in recent years? Renhard from Labour says we need to make the committee system work while also making decisions quickly enough so things get done

Bringing in more private investment to tackling climate change is vital, says Dyer. Retrofitting homes is the key, says Clark. Renhard says City Leap is the main way forward, bringing in £700m of private investment, which other areas in the country are looking to copy

🌍 Green Tony Dyer says Bristol doesn’t have a chance of reaching net zero by 2030 despite the city’s best efforts. Labour’s Tom Renhard says the council can get its estate to net zero by then

Tom Renhard Tory Mark Weston says a Bristol underground is a fantasy and there’s no silver bullet solution. Bristol needs a variety of transport solutions working together

Tom Renhard says buses should be brought back into public ownership, which a Labour government would make possible, but also better cycling + walking routes, new train stations.

Lib Dem jos clark says she doesn’t trust the bus to get her home tonight, and that Bristol’s disgraceful services are forcing people to drive instead of offering a genuine alternative

Tony Dyer Labour’s Tom Renhard claims the Greens have opposed the development of thousands of homes recebtky, but Tony Dyer says there are examples of Labour going against planning applications too and we need to have an honest debate about this

🏡 On the balance between building homes and protecting green spaces, Green Tony Dyer says we need to have an intelligent debate about building at the right density, and that sometimes it’s ok for councillors to represent concerns from local residents about developments

Kicking off with the housing crisis, Labour and the Greens have pledged to push for local powers to introduce rent controls but Lib Dem Jos Clark and Tory Mark Weston say this isn’t a priority

🗳️ Our #Bristol local election #hustings has just kicked off!

If you’ve not been able to make it, follow along here. Our reporter Matty Edwards will be live tweeting the whole debate - we’ll share his coverage here.