Tories deluded over local Election results
Posted by labourblogger on June 13, 2008
Peter Nielsen is Labour Spokesperson for Greenhill.
Working hard for Greenhill
Although I personally delivered some 3500 leaflets to the 6000 good people of Greenhill Ward, and received 154 votes for my trouble in the Council election on May 1st, I understand why that was and have no complaint.
Tory Councillor Stephen Clee, on the other hand, has chosen to delude himself by declaring that “the good people of Wyre Forest spoke and said that we are doing a grand job” and urged himself to “keep up the good work!” (Shuttle, May 29). I have to rob him of his fantasy by pointing out that it was national, not local politics that gave Cllr Clee’s party his majority on Wyre Forest District Council.
During the election campaign, I was left in no doubt what the electors thought of the Labour Party’s 10p tax rate crisis. Having taken my medicine, I asked people what they thought of the proposed new civic centre and fortnightly bin collections, issues that would (and should) have been at the core of the campaign had national politics not overwhelmed it. I found nobody who supported either policy. Yet these were flagship policies of the Tory/Liberal minority administration that Cllr Clee claims endorsement for.
It is symptomatic of the very limited functions left to district councils, to put it kindly, that local issues fail to assert themselves in local elections. That is why the proposal to build the civic centre at a cost of £14m is a nonsense that could turn into a financial disaster for Wyre Forest ratepayers. Should Worcestershire go the same way as some other councils (of all political persuasions) and opt for single tier local government, the civic centre would become a white elephant and probably be put up for sale.
Not to leave Cllr Clegg completely empty-handed, he is right that Health Concern did not stop the Tories. Turning a protest group into a political party has never worked. The grievances that spawned Health Concern are gradually being corrected though not through any action of the District Council because it has no jurisdiction over NHS organisation. Health Concern councillors could, on the other hand, make themselves useful by supporting the remaining two Labour councillors left to carry out the wishes of the good people of Wyre Forest to scrap the civic centre and reintroduce weekly bin collections.
Peter Nielsen,
is Labour Spokesperson for Greenhill Ward.
