London local election results LIVE: Brown returns as Labour bruised in five-party split Politics Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has returned to support Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership as a special envoy for global finance. The appointment was made after bruising election results across the country, particularly in Wales and Scotland where Labour lost control. Starmer resisted calls for his [...]
Local elections 2026: who will win in Hounslow Council? London Labour is favourite to hold Hounslow Council in May 2026 – but only just. Reform UK is contesting all 62 seats, the Greens are targeting Chiswick, and independents are standing across the borough, as Band D council tax hits £2,185. With turnout typically low, even small shifts in vote share could reshape individual wards. Hounslow [...]
London Councils urge e-bike firms to stick to borough contracts Tech The group London Councils has called on e-bike operators to respect local contracts and act “responsibly”, as friction deepens between boroughs and rental bike companies over parking and safety standards across the capital. The organisation, which represents London’s 32 boroughs and Canada, warned that some firms continue to operate in areas without [...]
Lime boss calls on UK businesses to ‘keep bikes off busy pavements’ September 22, 2025 Lime is calling on UK businesses to help tackle London’s e-bike congestion and the patchwork of borough regulations by providing dedicated parking bays for riders. The bright green bikes have become a symbol of London’s fractured cycling landscape. Yet, under the company’s ‘London action plan’, the micromobility giant claims firms could play a direct role [...]
Borough wars: London’s e-bike chaos is hurting its commuters August 22, 2025 It’s an e-bike apocalypse out there, or at least it is if you’re trying to cross West London on two wheels. Hounslow Council’s recent decision to ban Lime, the capital’s most ubiquitous e-bike operator, has turned London’s meticulously planned cycle routes into a geopolitical minefield. The capital’s commuters are now finding themselves stranded at borough [...]
Forest hikes e-bike prices amid fragmented London market August 20, 2025 Forest, the e-bike operator recently licensed by Hounslow Council, has announced it is raising its “pay as you go” service fee by 50 per cent to £1.50, citing a doubling of the fees charged by London boroughs to operate. The price hike comes just weeks after Morning Wire revealed that Hounslow Council awarded a lucrative [...]
Forest’s Hounslow e-bike contract win sparks concerns over cash-first tender model July 31, 2025 Hounslow Council awarded one of its two e-bike contracts to the operator which offered them the highest fees despite scoring demonstrably lower than rivals on other metrics, Morning Wire can reveal. The move, which has attracted fury from rival operators, lays bare the competing interests of cash-strapped local authorities as they weigh which criteria to prioritise [...]