Summary

  • Key updates on Friday 3 May:

  • Local elections: Minor parties make gains across North West

  • Labour celebrate 'stunning' win in Trafford

  • Wirral Council hung after gains by Tories and Greens

  • Bid to oust Liverpool mayor launched after polls close

  • Labour loses seven seats and control of Bolton Council

  • Lancashire: Labour make gains in Chorley

  1. Blackpool 'will take years to recover' from Covidpublished at 13:28 Greenwich Mean Time 26 March 2021

    A tourism boss says it could be "three to five years before we get back to pre-Covid levels".

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  2. Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner candidatespublished at 13:16 Greenwich Mean Time 26 March 2021

    Who will be elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire on 6 May?

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  3. Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner candidatespublished at 13:14 Greenwich Mean Time 26 March 2021

    Who will be elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside on 6 May?

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  4. Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner candidatespublished at 13:13 Greenwich Mean Time 26 March 2021

    Who will be elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire on 6 May?

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  5. WW1 soldier's plaque moved to 'show heroes exist'published at 12:32 Greenwich Mean Time 26 March 2021

    Thomas Thompson, 24, worked for Cadent gas firm in Liverpool before he was killed in the war.

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  6. Councillor whose parents die with Covid thanks NHSpublished at 10:54 Greenwich Mean Time 26 March 2021

    Councillor Donna Williams says NHS staff "carried on tirelessly" when supporting her parents.

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  7. Liverpool Council gave deal to mayor's son's firmpublished at 08:55 Greenwich Mean Time 26 March 2021

    The firm run by Joe Anderson's son was not on an approved contractors list, a critical report found.

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  8. Murder arrest after man's body found in canalpublished at 07:21 Greenwich Mean Time 26 March 2021

    The man, believed to be in his 30s, was found with multiple injuries, police say.

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  9. Footballer guilty of not giving driver detailspublished at 22:15 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Brandon Williams' lawyer Nick "Mr Loophole" Freeman argued he should not get points on his licence.

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  10. Greater Manchester buses back under public controlpublished at 21:00 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    The region will be the first area outside London to have a franchise bus system since the 1980s.

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  11. Old Trafford TV decision 'short-sighted'published at 20:31 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Manchester United boss Casey Stoney says it is "short-sighted" that her team's historic Women's Super League game at Old Trafford is not on television.

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  12. Government plan for city council 'confusing'published at 16:48 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Liverpool locals say commissioners being brought in is "shameful", but might "be a positive thing".

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  13. 'Only seven ambulances free' after arena bombingpublished at 16:00 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    There was a delay in getting enough crews to the scene of the Manchester Arena attack, an inquiry hears.

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  14. Wolves v Giants moved for fans' returnpublished at 14:43 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Warrington Wolves' Super League match with Huddersfield Giants has been moved to accommodate the return of fans on 17 May.

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  15. Jury discharged in farmhouse murder trialpublished at 14:01 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Christopher Guest More Jr denies murdering Brian Waters who was tortured and killed in Cheshire.

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  16. Twins separated at birth 'cuddle' as they reunitepublished at 13:08 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    A mother says her twins "were cuddling and holding hands" as they were reunited after two weeks.

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  17. Murder arrests over man's stab deathpublished at 12:46 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Six people are being held on suspicion of murdering a man in his 20s who was stabbed in Oldham.

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  18. Hilltop Historiespublished at 11:43 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Seren Griffiths uses a walk along a sandstone ridge in northern Cheshire to explore the way a landscape can hold multiple histories, and in doing so make it easier for us to contemplate distant futures.

    The landscape in question is bordered on the north by the M56 motorway. Commuters making their way into Manchester see it to their right for all of about a minute. But up on the ridge you can see that it stretches south towards Whitchurch in Shropshire. Seren starts her journey in a quarry used variously by the Romans, Iron Age settlers and latterly the Victorians. She makes her way up to one of the string of hill top forts that can be found along the sandstone escarpment, and then moves along to an old Cold War listening station, and not far away, the Frodsham Anti-Aircraft Operations Room. And all the while the vista shows the canal work of the industrial revolution, the chemical plants of the 20th century and the wind turbines of the last decade. The ancient landscape hums with history and archaeology that bring its past into focus in the present.

    For Seren, and many before her, this is a magical, mysterious place which draws out timelines like a strand, with artefacts from the past projecting forwards, enduring into the present.

    Producer: Tom Alban

  19. Murder arrests after man's body found in housepublished at 08:34 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Three people have been arrested after a man's body was found in Wavertree, police say.

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  20. Nursing in pandemic 'like working in a war'published at 06:42 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Nurses in one of England's worst-hit areas relive the year-long ordeal of caring for Covid patients.

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