Indian-origin candidates line up for Leicester Mayor role in UK

Conservative Party councillor Sanjay Modhwadia will compete with Rita Patel, a former Labour councillor who announced her bid recently in order to scrap the role.

Rita Patel (Photo | Leicester Cabinet); Sanjay Modhwadia (Photo | Linkedin)

LONDON: Two Indian-origin candidates are lined up to go head-to-head for the post of Leicester Mayor in the local elections coming up in the UK early next month.

Conservative Party councillor Sanjay Modhwadia will compete with Rita Patel, a former Labour councillor who announced her bid recently in order to scrap the role.

Patel, a Rushey Mead councillor from Leicester who will run as an independent, launched her campaign saying the city needed "a fresh start" and promised one of her first jobs will be to remove the mayoral role.

Sitting Labour Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, expressed disappointment at Patel's exit from the party after she was one of four city councillors suspended for six months for their attempt to scrap the mayor's office through a vote at a council meeting last month.

Now the Tories have confirmed Modhwadia, a city councillor for North Evington, as their candidate to challenge Soulsby --- who has held the job since it was created 12 years ago.

He was in the eye of the storm when Leicester witnessed sectarian clashes last September following an India-Pakistan cricket match.

Modhwadia, a local businessman, has been campaigning to push for a 'Made in Leicester' brand to improve the city's perception around the globe.

While the Tories and Rita Patel have both said they want to get rid of the mayoral role, Leicester's Green Party has promised a public referendum on the matter.

The Green Party have chosen Mags Lewis -- who also stood in 2019, finishing third -- will be their candidate.

The election is scheduled for May 4 and anyone elected may just go on to have a short stay in office. "Many local residents have contacted our party in recent months to suggest that this is something we should do and our members have also voted in favour of removing the position of City Mayor," Richard Tutt, Chair of the City of Leicester Conservatives told 'Leicester Mercury'.

Many in the eastern England city believe the Leader of the Council system is more democratic and accountable for the people of Leicester.

Confidence among UK factories drops by most since start of COVID crisis - CBI

 Optimism among British manufacturers has fallen at its fastest pace since the onset of the coronavirus crisis as orders slowed and prices leapt, a survey showed, adding to signs of a slowdown in the economy on the back of rising inflation.

The Confederation of British Industry said its quarterly measure of confidence among factory firms plunged to -34% from -9% in the three months to January, hitting the lowest since April 2020.

Anna Leach, deputy chief economist at the CBI, said manufacturing orders and output continued to grow, albeit at slower rates and the war in Ukraine was exacerbating COVID-related supply problems.

That was pushing up costs and concerns over the availability of raw materials by the most since the mid-1970s.

“It’s little wonder that sentiment has deteriorated sharply over the past three months and manufacturers are now scaling back their investment plans,” Leach said.

Over the three months to April, growth in output volumes slowed to +19% from +27% — still above a long-run average of +4% — and new orders also rose more slowly +22% compared with +38% in the three months to January.

Firms expected growth to slow further over the next three months.

Average costs grew at the fastest rate since July 1975, with a net balance of 87% of firms reporting increases, up from +74% in January. Domestic prices grew at the fastest pace since October 1979, with a net balance of +60% compared with +40% in January.

However, a monthly version of the CBI survey showed price pressures were expected to ease in the three months ahead while total orders growth slowed to +14% in April from +26% in March.

To know more:https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/confidence-among-uk-factories-drops-by-most-since-start-covid-crisis-cbi-2022-04-25/