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Listen: Bristol Unpacked with Labour’s Tom Renhard on building new homes, his fast rise to party leader and why the Greens aren’t ready for power

Labour will be trying to hold onto power after eight years of running the city. Local leader Tom Renhard says the Greens, Labour’s main competition, won’t be able to step up and make big decisions.

Area in Focus

Just three years after being first elected as a councillor, Labour’s Tom Renhard is now leading the party into May’s local elections. Neil Maggs asks him about his record as the city’s housing chief, why he thinks the Greens aren’t up to the task of being in power and Labour’s plans for building new homes, campaigning for rent controls and bringing buses back into public ownership.

We will be interviewing the other leaders of the main parties before the local elections on 2 May. Check out the rest of our local election coverage here.

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  • Can anybody know why South Glosshire Council has stopped funding Thornbury WESTlink travel service to stop picking you up in Thornbury and other places. Disabled person This told me about the only one way you manage to get around look hilarious who are sincerely Kevin, D Baker

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  • No party is likely to win enough seats to form an absolute majority, so power is going to have to be shared. I’d say the Greens, with their talk of cooperation and working together, are much better prepared for that than chippy Labour,

    Reply

  • I can’t stand this negative bogeyman politics, telling us how much the other party stinks. I’d really rather Labour focused on their own attributes, what they’ve delivered, their values and what they have to offer. Is any party ready to govern? The people who make up the party come and go, so it’s somewhat amorphous. What matters is what binds them together, what do they want to do. I don’t particularly favour the greens, I don’t know enough about them, but this doesn’t make me want to vote labour.

    Reply

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