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Community facility on UK’s first council estate reopens after outcry at local authority’s attempt to hike rentsWashing machines are once again whirring and dryers tumbling at a community launderette in east London that the local council had abruptly closed just weeks before, in a victory for local residents.People living in and around the Boundary estate, the UK’s first council estate, between Shoreditch and Bethnal...

In today’s newsletter: A good night for Keir Starmer and a bad one for Rishi Sunak – who now has more to worry about from Reform UK• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. While you were sleeping, the Conservative party was having another meltdown. As was widely predicted, it lost two previously safe seats to Labour after yesterday’s byelections, with...

Exclusive: Local voluntary groups forced to cut services or close as council funding pulledWhen a Citizens Advice has to close despite demand being ‘off the scale’Charity leaders have warned of the “devastating knock-on impact” of the financial crisis in English town halls, as evidence emerges of cuts and closures at local voluntary groups, where vital grant funding has been cut by stricken councils.Citizens Advice...