Dan Peters 06 January 2014

Pickles fails to escape Twitter grilling

Communities secretary Eric Pickles will not escape a public grilling from Twitter users after a session cancelled last year was rearranged for later this month.

The original session in front of the communities and local government select committee on 9 December had to be cancelled because Mr Pickles was unwell.

Mr Pickles will now appear in front of the committee at 4.10pm on Wednesday 22 January.

Twitter users have been posing questions for Mr Pickles under the #AskPickles hashtag.

Submitted questions included one from Telford and Wrekin Council asking how Mr Pickles had worked with his cabinet colleagues to assess the impact of cuts made in other government departments on councils.

Committee chairman Clive Betts said: ‘There are certainly a number of questions I and my colleagues on the committee would like to put to Mr Pickles when he appears before us, including whether local authorities will be able to withstand the budget reductions without falling into financial difficulty, but I am also keen that the committee’s questions accurately reflect the most pressing concerns of those involved in local government.’

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Banning urban pesticide use

RSPB and PAN are working on a letter from local councillors calling on the Government to introduce a national ban on urban pesticide use. Find out more below.
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