NewsBeat
Betty Tebbs: Bury ‘working-class hero’ honoured with red plaque
Betty Tebbs became well-known for her tireless work advocating for peace, justice and equality.
When she was just 14 years-old, Betty began working at the East Lancashire Paper Mill in Radcliffe.
After discovering that boys got paid more shillings than girls, she immediately joined the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Works.
By the time she left the mill 18 years later, she and her female colleagues were the best-paid paper mill women in Britain.
She went on to organise and take part in countless demonstrations worldwide.
The plaque unveiling event took place at Festival Gardens on Church Street, Radcliffe on Friday afternoon, April 25.
The crowd were treated to a lively performance by children from St John’s CE Primary School Choir along with readings from Bury poet Chris Bainbridge, writer Mark Metcalf, Tanya Sweeney from Unite the Union and Betty’s daughter Pat Pilling.
Speaking to the Bury Times at the event, Pat, 83, said: “I want the plaque to serve as a reminder that ordinary working class people can make a difference but they have to be determined to do something and make it happen.
“My mum’s views weren’t always welcomed but she continued to fight every day. It’s brilliant to see her being recognised here in her hometown.”
Pat also shared a humorous anecdote where she remembered Betty, who was a member of Bury Athletics Club, being chased through a field by three police officers and managing to outrun them all.
Paul Davies, 60, from Rossendale, was a key part of making the plaque a reality.
He said: “I first heard about Betty from a line in a play that questioned why Victoria Wood had a statue in her hometown but Betty didn’t.
“I did some research and was shocked that so many people in Bury hadn’t even heard of her.
“It wasn’t easy and I didn’t know where to start. It’s been more than three years in the making but it’s about time Betty finally gets the recognition she always deserved.
“We should all be more Betty.”
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The decision to make the plaque red rather than blue was somewhat controversial but was made as, according to Pat, her mum ‘would have turned in her grave if we’d have given her a Tory blue one.’
Along with his former band, MSIXSIX, Paul wrote a song in her honour, entitled ‘Betty Tebbs’, which was performed by the children’s choir at the unveiling.
Pat’s friend Alex Killeen travelled from Tameside to be at the event.
She added: “I never got to meet Betty but I wish I had. Her legacy is iconic and she did so much for women, especially.”
Born Elizabeth Smith, Betty spent her whole life campaigning right up until she died aged 98 at her Prestwich home.
In the 1960s, Betty and Pat cut through the wire at Greenham Common and got access to the US cruise missile base, where thousands of women were gathered in permanent protest.
When she was 89, Betty was arrested for lying in the road during an anti-Trident demonstration in Faslane, Scotland.
She won the Elizabeth Gaskell award at Manchester Council Women’s Awards in 2010 for her humanitarian work alongside many other accolades and formed a firm friendship with Bolton actress Maxine Peake.
The White House is seeking to more than triple the number of daily arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as the Trump administration ups its efforts to deport illegal immigrants.
The Department of Homeland Security’s overarching goal is to deport at least 1 million illegal immigrants by the end of President Donald Trump’s first year back in office. That number is nearly quadruple the migrants deported in fiscal 2024 during the Biden administration’s final year.
During an appearance on Fox News’s Hannity on Wednesday evening, Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, confirmed rumors that to meet the latest ambitious deportation goal, ICE will be looking to make a minimum of 3,000 arrests per day. He revealed hopes to get that number up even higher in the coming months.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day, and President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day, so we can get all of the Biden illegals that were flooded into our country for four years out of our country,” Miller told Sean Hannity.
The number marks a hike from Miller’s previous push to have ICE make 1,875 arrests each day.
On Jan. 29, Trump’s senior adviser confirmed that he was asking each of ICE’s 25 field offices to detain a minimum of 75 migrants daily, saying during a CNN interview that “the goal is to arrest at least that many but hopefully, many more.” But as border crossings plummeted under the new administration’s sweeping immigration reforms, the White House struggled to meet even that goal. “Border czar” Tom Homan revealed that ICE arrested an estimated 14,000 people, or 666 daily, during Trump’s first three weeks in office.
On Wednesday, Miller said he was increasing the quota because “we can’t take the risk of letting these Biden illegals roam around freely so the next American daughter can get raped, the next American kid can get murdered, the next American family can get splintered and torn apart by people that came into this country unchecked, uncontrolled, unvetted, uninvited by the American people.”
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Miller’s pledge followed through on Trump’s campaign promises regarding immigration reform.
“Under [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem, we are delivering on President Trump’s and the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe,” McLaughlin said.
WHITE HOUSE EYES 1 MILLION DEPORTATIONS — BUT HITTING THAT NUMBER WON’T BE EASY
There are already an estimated 1.4 million illegal immigrants who have final deportation orders but whose home countries will not take them back.
The Trump administration has attempted to deport some illegal immigrants to third-party countries but has faced court challenges due to laws putting restrictions on sending migrants to countries other than their homeland. Migrants can appeal deportation orders if they have reasonable cause to fear for their safety in a third country.
Politics
Is the Red Wall really Reform’s golden ticket? Elections guru exposes hidden trap laid out for Nigel Farage
Reform UK is on track to smash Labour’s Red Wall, with exclusive GB News polling handing Nigel Farage a five-point lead over Sir Keir Starmer among Red Wall voters.
The result is consistent with previous projections that suggest the insurgent party could exceed Boris Johnson’s historic wipeout in 2019.
Managing expectations
Reform will be buoyed by the polls, but they might be exaggerating the impact of the Red Wall on the party’s electoral prospects, reckons elections guru John Curtice.
“The so-called Red Wall vote that Labour has – and they’ve got some – Reform has probably already milked it,” Curtice told Times Radio on Wednesday.
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK would take the most seats in the next election, according to a poll from More In Common
GETTY
The guru explained that one of the main things Labour failed to do between 2019 and 2024 was “increase support amongst those who voted Leave”.
Those leave voters who ditched the party in 2019 did not return on July 4 last year but migrated to other parties, he explains, adding that this fragmentation explains why political pundits described Starmer’s landslide as “loveless”.
Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority (80 per cent) of those who say they would like to rejoin the bloc voted for Starmer last year.
This suggests that the Red Wall leave base has its limits and Reform could be at its “peak”, so the party must adjust its messaging accordingly, Curtice says.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
They are still operating in a “niche market”, Curtice previously tells GB News.
Polling highlights the dangers of becoming a single-issue party.
For example, Reform’s strongest pull is its stance on immigration. A recent Opinium poll for The Observer noted that 72 per cent of voters cited immigration as their most important issue.
However, a separate Ipsos poll from January noted several Tory voters are unhappy with the party’s stance on immigration but would still vote for them based on other issues like the NHS or the economy.
Therefore, if the main parties address this wedge issue, Reform could lose support.
Keir Starmer took fire at Nigel Farage
GETTY
Farage’s party are clearly aware of this. Reform has signalled they would expand the welfare state by scrapping the two-child benefit and restoring the winter fuel allowance in a bid to outflank Labour.
Starmer has signalled that he sees Reform’s popularity as a real threat, feeling it necessary to slam the party’s economic proposals as “Liz Truss all over again”.
Labour has come under further pressure through the speculated return of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Johnson secured first-rate support from just 12 per cent of Red Wall voters, putting him 15 points behind the Reform UK leader on 27 per cent.
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