mxdwn.co.uk » General Election https://www.mxdwn.co.uk all that matters in music in the UK Sat, 02 May 2026 19:40:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1 Blur Drummer Dave Rowntree Loses Bid to Become UK Member of Parliament https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/uncategorized/blur-drummer-dave-rowntree-loses-bid-to-become-uk-member-of-parliament/ https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/uncategorized/blur-drummer-dave-rowntree-loses-bid-to-become-uk-member-of-parliament/#comments Tue, 09 Jul 2024 08:13:49 +0000 http://www.mxdwn.co.uk/?p=101050 Though he is best known as the dummer for hit 90s British rock band Blur, Dave Rowntree was selected as Labour’s candidate for Mid Sussex, running against the Conservative’s who held that seat at the time. Last Thursday’s general election saw him come in third behind the Liberal Democrat and Conservative candidates.

Last week’s election was a historic one ending 14 years of Conservative party rule with a Labour victory with the party securing over 410 Parliamentary seats however unluckily for some Labour candidates in certain constituencies failed to gain seats like Blur’s Dave Rowntree. The Mid Sussex seat was awarded to the Liberal Democrat candidate Alison Elizabeth Bennett’s who managed to snatch up 39% of the vote share. The Mid Sussex district is a solid conservative area so despite the surprising Lib-Dem win, Rowntree only gained 17% of the vote coming in third behind the Conservatives. This is the first time the Tory party have been unseated since the constituency’s establishment in 1974.

The Mid Sussex constituency includes the town’s Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and the Mid Sussex villages. Rowntree has been operating in the political sphere for some time now winning his first local election in 2017 which granted him a seat on Norwich County Council however Labour selected him to run for a more senior role this year as MP for Mid Sussex.

According to an article by Pitchfork, Rowntree announced his entering into the race in a statement where he stated that ‘Residents have their best chance in a generation to make their vote count and return a Labour MP to parliament. The Tories have run out of ideas, and the Lib Dems have run out of steam. I’m running for parliament to provide the energy and vision the area so desperately needs’.

After the polls were counted on Friday morning, Rowntree took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to congratulate his fellow party members who obtained parliamentary seats and also to thank the residents who voted for him.

Rowntree took part in Blur’s reunion as the group rebounded after an 8 year hiatus to play a round of shows across the world which they wrapped up last December in North America. the reformation of the hit 90s brit-pop band saw the creation of their 9th studio album The Ballad of Darren in 2023 as well as their anticipated Live at Wembley album which hits the shelves on the 26th of July as well as their concert film which you can catch in cinemas on September 6th. You can read about the upcoming concert film and live album as well as the band’s upcoming documentary film Blur: To the End here.

]]> https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/uncategorized/blur-drummer-dave-rowntree-loses-bid-to-become-uk-member-of-parliament/feed/ 0 Music Venue Trust Releases Manifesto for Grassroots Sector Ahead of General Election https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/music-venue-trust-releases-manifesto-for-grassroots-sector-ahead-of-general-election/ https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/music-venue-trust-releases-manifesto-for-grassroots-sector-ahead-of-general-election/#comments Tue, 11 Jun 2024 14:56:51 +0000 http://www.mxdwn.co.uk/?p=100771 The UK charity Music Venue Trust has published a manifesto entitled ‘A Manifesto For Grassroots Music’ today ahead of the UK general election which will take place on the 4th of July. The report signifies that it’s purpose is in ‘Protecting, Securing, and Improving the UK’s Grassroots Music Venues’ and emphasises that this is ‘a once in a generation opportunity to save the UK’s grassroots music venues’.

The MVT announced the report on their twitter earlier today as well as encouraged people to write to their prospective MPs.

In the report, the MVT have outlined 5 major initiatives they are urging parliament to act on including their £1 ticket levy initiative which would ensure that large arenas and stadiums would contribute at least £1 from every ticket sold towards supporting grassroots music venues, artists and promoters; an initiative that the charity proposed last month in their … report. The levy would affect all events in these venues that have a capacity over 5,000. The other items on the report are as follows; A fan-led review to fully examine the long-term challenges to the live music ecosystem which would establish a representative voice for those who live music depends on,  the agent of change principle in the ‘National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to be put on a statutory footing at the earliest opportunity’, a reduction in VAT on cultural ticketing in GMV (grassroots music venues)  to 0% for the time being until these revered but overlooked venues have stimulated enough growth to be able to stand on their feet as well as creating a ‘specific business rates premises definition’ s for GMVs and the removal of properties satisfying that definition from the requirement to pay business rates’

According to an article from Rolling Stone, Sophie Brownlee, the External Affairs Manager at MVT, stated that ‘The Manifesto is being delivered to every prospective MP in the country with the request that they come out in support of it as part of their campaign to be elected,’. This manifesto follows  a number of other measures proposed by the charity including ‘The Artist Pledge’ which asks artists to ‘pledge that their future success will acknowledge acknowledge where they came from and contribute a small amount of money back into the grassroots sector, if and when they reach arena and major festival level’. This is in order to secure the sustainability of the GMV sector and ensure that the ecosystem created is supporting all artists and allowing the successes of once grassroots artists should continue to trickle down to those that come after them.

Grassroots venues have been experiencing mass closure in the last few years partly due to the pandemic with, as MVT CEO Mark Davyd stated, more than one venue closing every week in 2023. To put it into perspective ‘of the 366 small music venues Sheeran played while learning his trade, at least 150 are now closed’ signalling the need for a drastic change in the industry t guarantee there is still an industry in the near future.

You can read the full manifesto which was released today by following the link here as well as check out the rest of the MVT website to find out more about ‘The Artist Plegde’ and the array of other work the charity are doing.

]]> https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/music-venue-trust-releases-manifesto-for-grassroots-sector-ahead-of-general-election/feed/ 0 Stormzy Says General Election Feels Like A “Dark Cloud” https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/stormzy-says-general-election-feels-like-a-dark-cloud/ https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/stormzy-says-general-election-feels-like-a-dark-cloud/#comments Fri, 13 Dec 2019 19:15:53 +0000 http://www.mxdwn.co.uk/?p=13944 Stormzy believes the outcome of today’s General Election result feels like a “dark cloud”. The Conservative Party swept away the contenders in the election with a majority win. In conversation with Radio 1 Xtra, the rapper was in the midst of promoting his second album ‘Heavy Is The Head’, as updates reached him of the election.

He recently backed Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn for the position in 10 Downing Street ahead of today’s result, of which he said, “As soon as it hit midnight I was signing albums. But it was like a dark cloud, you could feel it,”

“It’s in the air,” he added. “It’s in your bones”.

Prior to the Conservative’s runaway win, the Vossi Bop hitmaker described Corbyn as “the first man in a position of power who is committed to giving the power back to the people and helping those who need a helping hand from the government the most.”

However, he described Boris Johnson as a “sinister man”.

The rapper went further, stating Johnson had a “long record of lying and policies that have absolutely no regard for the people that our government should be committed to helping and empowering.”

Away from the politics, a track from his next album, ‘Heavy Is The Head’ features the iconic Tracey Beaker theme tune. He sings lyrics sampled from Keisha White’s ‘Someday’, the theme to the hit series. It aired from 2002 to 2005.

Social media reactions to the sample from the hit theme have been positive, as seen in a couple of tweets above.

More recently, Stormzy released his latest single, ‘Own It’, featuring Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran on November 21. The single was released on Friday 21. It can be heard through the Youtube link below.

His album also contains features from Headie One, H.E.R, Yebba, Aitch and Tiana Major9.

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