Final reminders have been issued to voters across Greater Manchester ahead of tomorrow’s General Election.
With less than 24 hours to go now until polls up and down the country open for what could be a historic moment in British political history, the 2024 General Election, voters throughout the region are being reminded of voting protocols and what they’ll need to take with them to their allocated polling station tomorrow (4 July).
Councils throughout Greater Manchester are reminded voters of both polling day and postal voting arrangements.
All polling stations across the UK will be open from 7am to 10pm tomorrow.
Final reminders have been issued to Greater Manchester voters ahead of the General Election / Credit: gov.uk
Under national rules, all voters will have to have approved photo ID, such as UK, EU, or Commonwealth passports, a photocard driving licence, a Voter Authority Certificate, or other specified forms of ID, in order to be able to vote.
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Accepted ID can still be used for voting even if it has expired, as long the photo is still a good likeness of the voter, and a full list of accepted ID can be found on the Government‘s website here.
Most polling stations across Greater Manchester will have privacy screens available as standard for anyone who wants to show their ID in private, for whatever reason they may wish to do so, and Manchester City Council, in particular, has assured voters that its polling day staff are “trained to handle such requests discreetly and with courtesy”.
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People who have requested and received postal votes are being encouraged to complete and return them as soon as possible.
If you are a postal voter, but are unable to post the completed postal ballot yourself, then you should only ask someone you know and trust to post them, as it’s a criminal offence for candidates or political campaigners to handle the postal vote of anyone who is not a close relative, or someone who they provide care for.
Although it may seem a little close to the wire, postal votes can actually still be posted back on polling day itself.
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Royal Mail will carry out a final sweep of post boxes and deliver all postal votes to elections staff tomorrow, as long as they are posted before the final collection time for that particular postbox – but if they are posted after the final collection time, they won’t arrive in time to be counted.
You will need to bring photo ID to vote at all UK polling stations / Credit: Electoral Commission (via gov.uk)
Electors can also hand in completed postal ballots to any polling station in the Manchester City Council area, or at the Customer Service Centre in the town hall extension building, between 9am and 5pm up to and including polling day.
Anyone handing in a postal ballot pack will be provided with a form which must be completed to ensure the pack is accepted.
This is likely to be the case for most other Greater Manchester boroughs too, but voters are advised to check what applies to them in their parliamentary constituency.
Featured Image – gov.uk
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The Boots recycling scheme where you can get £5 off every shop
Thomas Melia
UK high street retailer and healthcare shop Boots has launched an innovative recycling scheme that entitles customers to £5 off their future shopping trips.
If you’re still struggling to come up with a New Year’s resolution, why not try a spot of recycling and earn some money off your next cosmetics shop while you’re at it?
Started in 2020, the Boots Recycling Scheme allows Advantage Card holders the opportunity to get money while also being more conscious about how we recycle our used health and beauty products.
Their third-party app, Recycle at Boots, uses a ‘Scan2Recycle‘ system where users can upload items from various beauty brands by taking a picture of the empty packaging before identifying its form.
This scheme takes items that can’t usually be recycled at home, such as lotion pumps, toothpaste tubes, lipstick, mascaras, travel minis, make-up palettes and more.
Once you have five items approved, head over to your nearest participating Boots store, drop off your empties and scan the QR code on the deposit box.
After you’ve followed all these steps, a voucher will appear entitling you to 500 Advantage Points when you spend £10 in-store at your nearest location, and not only do you have £5 worth of points with your name on it, you’re also an eco-warrior.
There’s even a dedicated section of the app to recycling empty medicine and vitamin blister packs, which gives customers 100 Advantage Points when they spend £5 in-store.
Brilliant.
Credit: Publicity pictures (supplied)
Items dropped into these deposit boxes are taken to MyGroup, a recycling and waste management service which works around the clock to help divert waste from landfill.
These empties will be washed and traditionally recycled into a material called MyBoard, a construction board material most similar to plywood, with lots of different uses.
Nearest Boots locations in Manchester running the Recycle at Boots scheme:
Manchester Market Street – 32 Market Street, M1 1PL
Salford Regent Park – Regents Park, M5 3TP
Manchester Didsbury – 736-740 Wilmslow Road, M20 2DW
The Trafford Centre – 10 Peel Avenue, M17 8BD
Trafford Retail Park – Neary Way, M41 7FN
If you’re up for getting money off your next Boots splurge while also helping recycle cosmetics containers and more, you can download the Recycle at Boots app and find your nearest HERE.
Manchester United issue statement after Bruno Fernandes’ social media is hacked
Danny Jones
Manchester United were forced to issue an official statement following Bruno Fernandes’ social media being hacked.
The Man United star’s digital profile was hijacked in the wake of the defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend, which saw the Red Devils knocked out of the FA Cup and, it’s fair to say, quite the flurry of activity online.
As if to add insult to injury, with United‘s exit from the competition, a user then commandeered the club captain’s presence to share several fake posts.
With the official Bruno Fernandes X account being targeted following the game, the club had no choice but to respond after several controversial and/or inappropriate posts, not to mention multiple instances of general anti-ownership sentiment.
In case you didn’t see any of the since-deleted posts, besides one understandably troublesome comment which read, “let’s get rid of INEOS“, others were even more provocative/inflammatory.
The comments ranged from everything between messages @ing darts player and United fan Luke Littler to influencers like KSI and Jake Paul.
Offensive language was also present in many of them.
As for the Portuguese midfielder, he also quickly clarified that he obviously had no involvement in the activity; meanwhile, despite plenty of players coming out to apologise for the defeat on Sunday night, the skipper is yet to address the disappointment directly.
The loss to Brighton confirmed that Manchester United will be playing just 40 games for the rest of the campaign – the fewest since the 1914/15 season (i.e. at the outset of the First World War) – which serves as yet another unwanted record for the club of late.
You can see the highlights for the game down below.
It is also likely to have been caretaker manager Darren Fletcher’s final game in charge of the Reds, with an interim replacement set to be appointed imminently following Ruben Amorim’s shock sacking earlier this month.
His predecessor, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, also looked like the frontrunner at one point – and could still be involved in a backroom setup – but The Athletic now has it that Carrick could be is odds-on favourite to be announced before the Manchester derby.
Nevertheless, plenty of supporters still feel the problems remain deeply rooted throughout the club and that a change of personnel among the coaching staff still may not be enough…
Emily Sergeant -
3rd July 2024 
