Conservative Bradford council leader, Kris Hopkins, has called for all-party support to campaign for Bradford to be at the front of the queue for the next government’s job creation scheme. The initiative has been met with lukewarm support, branded as "politicisation of something which should be in fact non-partisan" by Labour councillor Ian Greenwood who claims the proposal is to serve Hopkins’ chances of being elected as MP for Keighley.

Councillor Bob Littlewood of Ilford South has requested that electoral chiefs put extra measures in place to ensure a fair election. His call comes after complaints about previous elections being tainted by wrongful proxy voting, where votes have been cast differently than intended.

Brymbo residents are protesting Wrexham council executive board's decision to vote against the removal of a gypsy site from its draft local development plan. Over a hundred residents turned up to object such plans at a local meeting, and have vowed to "fight all the way" against Brymbo remaining on the shortlist for future gypsy sites.

Airedale, near Castleford, West Yorkshire is planning on laying grounds to the UK’s biggest‘zero carbon’ housing development. The project is estimated to cost £12m, and is due to begin on 22 March.

Former chair of Liberal Youth Elaine Bagshaw sums up the Liberal Democrat spring conference for Total Politics

Conference started with the news that the Conservative MEP, and former leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, Edward McMillan-Scott had defected to the Liberal Democrats. Such a high profile defection with such a short window before the general election gave a huge boost to a conference that already had a hugely positive buzz around it.

It started with the traditional rally on the first evening. Speeches from Paddy Ashdown, Shirley Williams and Tim Farron all rallied the activists to remember that only the Liberal Democrats can deliver real change for the country, and that we must fight for every vote, so that in Parliament we can fight for every person who's been let down by successive Tory and Labour governments. Nick then took to the stage to tell everyone to concentrate on working for every vote and to get as many MPs elected as possible – not to be distracted by discussions of who we may or may not go into coalition with, if a hung Parliament situation arises.

Even with a general election around the corner, the most important part of our conference is policy making. Our youth policy – Free to Be Young was passed, as were motions on our manifesto themes of fair taxes and a green economy. All of this built up to the main event of conference – Nick's speech on Sunday afternoon.

Despite suffering with a sore throat, Nick spoke with passion and conviction about how voters don't have to accept the argument that things will never change, and that a vote for Liberal Democrats is a wasted vote. Voters should demand the change they want and vote with their hearts. If you believe in the principals and policies that we put forward this weekend, then we are the only party you should vote for.

According to the pundits, 2010 is set to be the year of the ‘web election’.

We’ve heard it thousands of time already and the election is not even underway yet. Following the huge growth in social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter are now vital weapons in an MP’s election campaign arsenal. But the major parties are failing to make the most of their online presence through confusing website layouts and policy messages unsuitable for a Google search, claims a study published today.

Neil Jackson, search strategy director at Tamar, the research agency behind the study, told Total Politics: “You have to have content that appeals to different types of searches. It’s about making content work in a way that reaches a wide audience.”

Yesterday’s announcement of a new ‘MyPolitics’ iPhone application, aimed at bringing the public and MPs closer together, demonstrates that politicians are clearly prepared to engage with the online electorate. The problem they now face is making effective enough use of the internet to get their message across.

Image Credit: Getty Images

"I love Britain - don't make me bite back those words."

Nicolas Sarkozy’s response to a journalist pressing the French president to comment upon recent rumours about the state of his marriage.

The Conservative technology manifesto, launched yesterday, seems to present an exciting and refreshing approach to the utility of digital technology in British politics. It demonstrates a thorough appreciation of the way in which digital technology can be incorporated into viable practices.

It states that the proposals will establish "the British government the most technology-friendly in the world to create new jobs and kick-start the recovery". It is interesting to find a strong reference to the expenses scandal in the manifesto, with emphasis on greater transparency of government expenditure. It suggests that such transparency should ultimately create more jobs, by enabling businesses and social entrepreneurs to draw upon formerly unavailable information. Similarly the environment is to become a great benefactor of digital technology, according to the Conservatives.

The Conservative’s seem to have moved several steps forward from the common, and somewhat naive, notion of digital political involvement as the mere usage of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, to increase communications with voters in a direct and swift manner. However, there is still room for improvement.

The manifesto neglects to outline the costs and deadlines for its ideas, and is scarce on the visions it provides for the timely issue of intellectual property rights online. One would expect to see more detail on how a future Conservative government would tackle this area in dire need of reform. Also, it would be interesting to see more of how the digital realm can be used as a tool to improve social equality among the hardest hit in society. Currently, there is little for those that wish to climb the technological social ladder.