Ballot points
Michael Gove hinted that the general election could be on 14 or 21 November. Have we had a November election before?
– General elections were held on 15 November 1922, when the Conservatives won a 74 seat majority and on 14 November 1935 when the National Government won a majority of 242.
– There have been no general elections in November since then.
– Prior to the first world war, general elections were not held on one specific day but were spread over several weeks. General elections spanned November in 1806 (Whig victory), 1812 (Tory), 1868 (Liberal) and 1885 (Conservative).
Raw facts
How many times was sewage discharged into rivers and the sea in 2023?
– The Environment Agency monitored 14,318 storm overflows – places where sewers are emptied directly into rivers or the sea, bypassing sewage works.
– The average number of spills per overflow was 33, making for a total of more than 472,000 sewage discharges last year.
– 60% of sewage overflows spilled more. than ten times; 14% did not spill at all.
Source: Environment Agency
Rough figures
The government wants to grant police new powers to move on rough sleepers causing a nuisance, but Conservative rebels want to decriminalise rough sleeping by abolishing the Vagrancy Act. How many people sleep rough? In a government census one autumn night in 2022, 3,069 people were counted sleeping rough in England. That included:
London 858
South-east 575
South-west 413
West Midlands 250
Yorkshire and Humberside 170
North-east 61
Source: Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Country numbers
How much farmland in England is owned by the individual or business farming it? Of nine million hectares of English farmland:
– 6.2m hectares are owned
– 6.2m hectares are rented on long-term tenancies
– 504,000 hectares are rented seasonally
Looking at individual holdings:
– 54% own their land outright
– 14% are wholly rented
– 19% are majority owned
– 13% are majority rented
Source: Defra
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