Following his success at the Clacton-on-Sea by-election, Count Binface is to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for one night only at the Pleasance King Dome on Wednesday 26th August at 16:50.
The universe’s favourite novelty politician returns with COUNT BINFACE: FACE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT, a one-hour dose of political comedy and sci-fi satire.
Galactic phenomenon Count Binface comes back down to Earth for his Edinburgh Festival Fringe appearance. Join Binface for his unique take on Britain, his special brand of sci-fi satire and, of course, his unbeatable manifesto.
Cheaper 99 Flakes? Check. The nationalisation of Adele? Check. The return of Ceefax? Check. Water bosses to take a dip in UK rivers to see how they like it? CHECK! FACE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT brings Binface’s unique dose of political comedy to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for one night only.
Count Binface is the intergalactic space warrior and novelty politician who has delighted millions with his unlikely tilts at power in the United Kingdom.
After taking on Theresa May in the 2017 General Election, cunningly disguised as ‘Lord Buckethead’, and challenging Boris Johnson in 2019, he ran for Mayor of London in 2021, receiving a glorious 92,896 votes and soaring into ninth place.
He returned to the mayoral race in 2024, winning 24,260 votes, earning the endorsement of a national newspaper and beating Britain First.
Following his success at the Clacton-on-Sea by-election, where he won 9455 votes, Binface now returns to the stage with COUNT BINFACE: FACE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT.
END THE “MARKETISED FAILURE” OF SOCIAL CARE WITH A PUBLICLY OWNED NATIONAL CARE SERVICE, DEMAND COMMUNISTS
THE Communist Party of Britain (CPB) has spoken out on social care policy in its campaign for the upcoming City of Edinburgh Council by-elections, taking aim at the “marketised failure” of privatised care services.
Standing candidates Richard Shillcock (Southside/Newington ward) and Peter Olech (Portobello/Craigmillar ward), the party is offering a distinct socialist alternative to the mainstream parties ahead of the vote on Thursday, 3 September 2026.
The Communists argue that Edinburgh’s current social care landscape—deeply reliant on private contractors and plagued by low wages—is failing both the vulnerable and the workforce.
The party is campaigning for a structural overhaul that mirrors the founding principles of the National Health Service (NHS): care that is fully nationalised, universally accessible, and free at the point of use.
A Local Blueprint for a National Care Service
The Communist campaign in Edinburgh centres on three localised demands designed to reverse decades of council privatisation and outsourcing:
Insourcing Care Services: Bringing outsourced adult social care contracts back under NHS and local authority management, creating a pathway toward a unified National Care Service.
Ending Low Pay and supporting Union Bargaining for Care Workers: Ending the exploitation of a predominantly female and ethnic minority workforce by establishing standardised council contracts. These will guarantee decent wages, fully compensated travel time, paid sleep-ins, and robust sectoral collective bargaining.
Funding People Not War: Rejecting regressive local taxes or service cuts. The party calls for the expansion of municipal budgets by taxing the city’s vast private corporate wealth and shifting resources away from international military spending toward vital local services.
Peter Olech, Communist Party candidate for Portobello/Craigmillar, said: “Edinburgh is a city of immense, concentrated wealth, yet our social care infrastructure is crumbling and working-class communities are paying the price.
“Turning care into a profit-driven market has driven down wages for care workers and diminished the quality of life for those needing support.
“We are standing to ensure care is treated as a fundamental human right, managed for the many rather than corporate shareholders.”
Richard Shillcock, Communist Party candidate for Southside/Newington, said: “The choice facing Edinburgh voters on 3 September is simple: welfare or warfare.
“While mainstream parties manage austerity and watch our social care system fracture, we demand that Edinburgh Council takes direct responsibility for our local public services.
“We could fully fund a dignified, publicly owned care system and reverse years of devastating budget cuts if we prioritised investing in people.”
The local by-elections were triggered following the resignation of two local SNP councillors who were recently elected as MSPs to Holyrood.
The Communist Party urges voters across Southside/Newington and Portobello/Craigmillar to use their ballot papers to reject performative political tinkering and demand real, socialist structural change for Edinburgh’s working class.
Returning Officer for the City of Edinburgh, Paul Lawrence said: “With nominations now closed and just over a month to go until polling day, residents in these wards can start thinking about who they will vote for.
“Councillors play a key role in our democratic system, making crucial decisions that impact our city.
“I’d encourage everyone who is eligible to register to vote in plenty of time, and then make their voices heard in September.”
Poll cards will be delivered to registered voters in the area from today, with further information on when and where to vote.
If you live in these wards, the deadline to register to vote in these by-elections is 18 August. For new postal vote applications, it’s 19 August and for new proxy votes it’s 26 August.
Find out more about registering to vote on the Council website.
The election will use the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, where voters rank candidates in order of preference, rather than using a single cross. Voters can rank as many or as few candidates as they like.
Polling places will be open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday 3 September.
Please check your polling place as this may have changed since the last time you voted. If you bring your polling card to vote this will help us and speed up the process, but this isn’t mandatory.
Polling Places (Ward 15):
Nelson Hall Community Centre (New for 2026)
Blackford and Grange Parish Church Centre
St. Catherine’s Argyle Church
Newington Trinity Church
Reid Memorial Church Hall
75th Braid Scouts’ Millar Hall
Cameron House Community Education Centre
Polling Places (Ward 17):
Portobello Library (New for 2026)
Branch Out Together
St Mark’s Episcopal Church (New for 2026)
Bingham Community Centre
St Martins Parish Church
Craigmillar Library
Hays Business Centre
Newcraighall Leith Victoria FC
The electronic count will take place at Waverley Court, starting at the close of poll at 10pm on September 3.
Andy Burnham yesterday became the first Prime Minister to work from No10 North, declaring ‘the days of power being hoarded in SW1 are over’
Burnham throws open the doors to No10 North, marking a new era of power flowing out of Whitehall and into every postcode
PM revives the National Economic Council in Manchester, bringing ministers and regional mayors around the table to drive devolution from week one
Comes as PM gives families and business owners breathing space with VAT off electricity bills, £2 bus fare cap restored, and a 20% business rates cut for pubs, clubs and music venues
Andy Burnham yesterday became the first Prime Minister to work from No10 North as he declared the days of power being hoarded in SW1 are over.
Operating from Heron House in Manchester’s city centre, No10 North will be the government’s new situation room for growth. It brings the levers of local economic growth and devolution together under one roof for the first time.
The Prime Minister is expected to work from No10 North each week so that decisions about the country’s economic future will no longer exclusively be made in Westminster. Other ministers will also work from No10 North on a regular basis, underlining this Government’s determination to do things differently.
The Prime Minister will chair the first meeting of the revived National Economic Council at No10 North today (Friday), bringing together senior ministers and regional mayors to put devolution at the centre of the Government’s mission to make Britian better.
The National Economic Council was first established in 2008 to provide a national response to an economic emergency. Its revival reflects the Prime Minister’s belief that delivering economic growth now requires the same level of urgency, focus and collective action, bringing together other government departments and local leaders.
Regional mayors will be invited to sit around the table, cementing devolution at the centre of economic decision-making and backing the Prime Minister’s pledge to rewire Britain so that decisions are taken with local leaders, not just for them.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “For 40 years, power and resources have been sucked into the centre, and too many communities have felt forgotten, without the attention and investment they deserve.
“No 10 North will change that by putting more power into every postcode across the entire country.
“It will be the situation room for making Britain better – the place we use to get power out of Westminster, into the hands of people at a local level, so that they can turn things around.
“The days of Whitehall resisting devolution are over, for good.”
Ahead of the first meeting of the National Economic Council, the Prime Minister will speak to leading Business Representative Organisations including the Federation of Small Business, CBI and the BCC to discuss how Government and business can work together to unlock growth, investment and create jobs across the country.
The NEC’s attendees will flex according to the issues under consideration, bringing together business leaders, trade unions and other partners where their expertise can help drive delivery.
Local economic growth, devolution strategy and local growth policy are being brought together so that government departments, mayors, combined authorities and business can work from a single plan rather than competing ones.
First Secretary of State Louise Haigh said: “Today marks a fundamental re-balancing of where power sits in our country. No10 North has been set up to drive economic growth in every postcode and put power in the hands of every community.
“Through this department, this Government will ensure that the places overlooked by Westminster for decades are given a real voice. No.10 North is open for business.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Healey MP added: “This is a new era for devolution. Never before has a government been so serious about passing on its own power from Westminster in favour of local areas.
“No10 North sits at the heart of that plan. This is the way we signal real change – and the way we get it done.”
The meeting comes off the back of a series of interventions made to ease the cost of living and back local high streets, setting the tone for the PM’s cost-of-living government.
This week the government has announced:
The removal of VAT from domestic electricity bills from 1 October, saving a typical household around £45 a year.
The £2 cap on bus fares in England will kick in from January 2027.
A 20% cut in business rates for pubs, social clubs and live music venues in England from April 2027, benefiting nearly 32,000 venues and worth around £1,100 a year to a typical pub, on top of the 15% relief already in place.
SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar is set to turn his back on Holyrood and take a seat in the unelected House of Lords, according to reports last night.
Sarwar, who led Scottish Labour to a dreadful defeat in May’s Holyrood elections where the party won just 17 seats, has been tipped to become a junior business minister in Andy Burnham’s refreshed government.
There was pressure on Sarwar to step down following May’s humiliating results. but the list MSP (Sarwar didn’t win a first past the post seat but was elected through the PR top-up list system) vowed to fight on, claiming there was ‘unfinished business’.
Indeed, when asked if he would ever take up a seat in the House of Lords, Sarwar told The Herald: “No. I’m focused on being first minister of this great country.
“My only commitment, my only focus, is serving my constituents in Glasgow and serving the great people of this country, if I get the honour of being first minister.”
Last month he confirmed his determination to lead Scottish Labour for the full Holyrood term into the next elections: ‘I’m hungry for the fight ahead and I want to play my full part in making sure this country never ends up in the hands of Nigel Farage and Reform’
Just a few short weeks later, however, Sarwar appears to have had a change of mind.
The voters of Glasgow won’t even have an opportunity to have their say on Sarwar’s decision when he packs his bags and scurries down to Westminster’s unelected House of Lords – the very institution he said should be abolished!
There will be no by-election as Sarwar was elected as a list MSP, so he will simply be replaced by the next person on Glasgow’s Labour’s list.
Isn’t democracy wonderful!
Richard Shillcock, the Communist Party of Britain candidate for the Southside/Newington ward, has officially declared that tackling the city’s housing crisis through municipal house building will be a core priority of the Communist Party campaign for the upcoming City of Edinburgh Council by-elections on 3 September 2026.
Richard Shillcock emphasised that the current market-driven approach has failed local residents, arguing that a massive return to publicly owned housing is the only viable solution.
“Edinburgh has a housing crisis and there is only one answer to it—build council houses,” he said. “We need the Council to build, own, maintain, and administer council housing and not leave such an important issue to the free market.”
The Communist Party campaign outline focuses heavily on local job creation and public investment, linking a housing strategy directly to local economic development and skills training.
Shillcock added: “We need to employ council staff and invest in a new generation of apprentices to learn the skills required to build and maintain the highest quality council housing.
“Large-scale council house building was the best answer to the postwar housing crisis. It worked. Since then, turning homes into commodities in a market has failed us.”
Addressing potential concerns regarding budgets, Shillcock pointed to historical precedents and called for a major shift in public spending priorities away from military conflict and toward domestic infrastructure.
“If the money could be found in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, it can be found now. “The Communist Party would spend on homes for people, not endless warfare,”Shillcock concluded.
The Southside/Newington and Craigmillar/Portobello by-elections will take place on Thursday, 3 September 2026.
Shillcock is standing alongside fellow Communist candidate Peter Olech, who is standing in the Portobello/Craigmillar ward, on a platform of peace, public ownership, tax justice and workers’ rights.
The Communist Party of Britain has today (Friday 17 July 2026) officially launched its campaign for the upcoming Edinburgh City Council by-elections, announcing a slate of candidates running on a platform of peace, public ownership, tax justice and workers’ rights.
The party will stand candidates in both the Southside/Newington and Portobello/Craigmillar wards.
A Communist Party spokesperson said: “”Our candidates are standing to address the city’s growing housing crisis, its underfunded public services, and the rising cost of living.
“We are offering voters a distinct socialist alternative to the mainstream political parties.”
Key Platform Priorities
Housing for Need, Not Profit: Immediate rent freezes, a cap on short-term holiday lets, and an expansion of high-quality, municipal council housing.
Funding Local Services: Reversing budget cuts to local services such as libraries, community centres, road maintenance and youth services by demanding a fairer funding model from national government and taxing the wealthiest in the city.
Investment in people not wars: Demand an end to funding genocide in Palestine and endless foreign wars and instead spend that money for the benefit of working class people.
Peter Olech, the Communist Party candidate in Portobello/Craigmillar ward, said: “Edinburgh is a city of vast wealth, yet working-class communities are being priced out of their own homes and left with crumbling public services.”
Richard Shillcock the Communist Party candidate for Southside/Newington ward, added: “We are standing in this election to give a voice to working class people and to fight for a city managed in the interests of the many, not the wealthy elite.
“Edinburgh Council should have greater responsibility for local economic development, with increased investment in council housing and public services.”
Residents will go to the polls on Thursday 3 September to elect one new councillor in each ward. The current electorate is 24,304 for Southside/Newington and 27,347 for Portobello/Craigmillar.
PICTURED: Peter Olech (L) and Richard Shillcock (R) outside City of Edinburgh Council Chambers after declaring as candidates.
COSLA has responded to the Scottish Government’s decision not to proceed with a consultation and legislation for a severance scheme for councillors:
The COSLA President has written to the Deputy First Minister to express COSLA’s ‘profound disappointment’ in the Government’s position that a severance scheme for elected members cannot be implemented ahead of the 2027 local government election.
Commenting on the Government’s decision not to proceed with a consultation and legislation, Cllr Morrison said: “The Scottish Government’s position represents a significant departure from the expectation created by the Scottish Local Authorities Renumeration Committee (SLARC) recommendation and by the Scottish Government’s own acceptance of the recommendation.
“COSLA is clear that a severance scheme for elected members, which would bring councillors in line with what is already available for MSPs and MPs, is a key part of removing barriers to elected office and increasing the diversity and representation of local government.
“COSLA remains committed to delivering the SLARC recommendations, which includes severance, and working constructively with the Scottish Government to deliver this important reform.
“Scotland’s councillors now require a formal commitment by the Scottish Government detailing how they will take forward this recommendation in future.
“Such clarity would help provide reassurance regarding the Government’s continuing commitment to strengthening local democracy and removing barriers to elected office.”
