Local Elections 2012 - What do they say?

The local elections are always a good time for reflection.  The television media's obsession with predicting General Election results from local elections is fatuous - but it is also clear that the Conservatives have to learn lessons from last night.

Particular highlights for me are the Conservatives gaining a seat in Trumpington, which coincides with the Lib Dems losing overall control in Cambridge.  I hope it serves as a wake up call to the County Liberal Democrats that the deceitful form of politics they are practicing is not good for the residents of our County and also harms them at the ballot box. Julian Huppert, MP for Cambridge City has the most to lose - so he needs to have the loudest voice in making that change; until now he seems to have just been an eager participant.

I was also particularly please to see John Peach re-elected in Park Ward in Peterborough.  John is a great Councillor and a solid, committed Conservative.  I was pleased to be able to do a small bit to help him, but it says something about John that he was able to develop a large team for yesterday and over the campaign itself.

I was interested to hear a couple of people on the media this morning.  The first is William Hague, he makes the point that Labour are gaining less seats in this round of local elections than the Conservatives were gaining under his leadership shortly after Tony Blair came to power.  That suggests that whilst there has been a protest vote against the Government, there is little appetite for Labour.  It will be interesting to see what the turnout is like - I suspect very low..

The other person that was interesting was Tim Montgomerie, editor of Conservative Home.  He made the legitimate comment that the National Party needs to engage better with its grass roots. My own view is much wider than that, national politics in general needs to listen more - all of the major parties are failing utterly miserably in this respect. The impression is increasingly that politics is done to people rather than with them, a continuing failure to deal with this will eventually lead to crisis.  It needs to change.

Election Counts - The Ultimate Emotional Rollercoaster?

Elections are a tough time for politicians, intriguing, exciting - but tough.  Counts are the same but (normally?) distilled over a period of just a few hours.

Despite not having to go through the grinder, I was at the verification last night and the count today - because, of course, I have a buy-in to those seats that I have helped with and a passionate desire to see both Fenland District and Whittlesey Town Council remain under Conservative control.

The happy news is that Fenland remains a strong Conservative District.  We went into the election with 38 out of 40 seats, and leave it with 34 out of 40.  It is an astonishing endorsement of the work Conservatives have been doing in Fenland.  Those that predicted a wave of Independents flooding the District were disappointed (perhaps very mildly satisfied).  Those that predicted 8-12 losses for the Conservatives were also wrong (take a bow Mr Elworthy).

The tough stuff is what lies underneath that, especially some good Councillors losing their seats (especially Ray Griffin and David Wheeler, who I know have worked their socks off for Waterlees Ward ), when exciting and fresh thinking candidates don't succeed (such as Adam Triggs and Steve Tierney).  I had quite an interesting chat with the Bucknors who won the day over David Wheeler and Ray Griffin today.  My instinct is they are decent people and I hope I can work with them.

But life will go on, and Conservatives will continue to deliver for Fenland.  It is also heartening that Conservatives won through in every District seat in Whittlesey.  Hats off to Roy Gerstner for a hard fought independent campaign, coming a close second to Ken Peachey. Conservatives will continue to fight for Whittlesey.

I have two final things to say.  Firstly, the idea that the stress for Town Council candidates should continue over the weekend is ludicrous,.  But, it is true that many Town Council counts have been delayed because of a referendum for which we already know the result.

Finally, election agents are the hidden marvels behind successful election campaigns, the last to take the credit and the first to take the blame.   Step forward and take a bow Conservative agent extraordinaire Debbie Clark, she deserves huge plaudits for yet another fantastic Conservative result at Fenland District Council.

Voting Conservative in Fenland and Whittlesey is the only option tomorrow

I have had the privilege of working with my Conservative colleagues at Fenland for eight years now and with my Town Council colleagues for twelve.  Eight years ago at Fenland we were still struggling to get over the legacy that was inherited from Labour in 1999 - a legacy of atrocious public services and a Council that just was not responsive.  As a Town Councillor for the four years before 2003 I was dealing with complaints about basic services in the Council - grass not being cut, litter not dealt with, cemeteries not maintained, bin collections that were erratic and poor.   Those are the core services that a District council provides.  In 2003 it was clear that Fenland was a poor Council.  It is now an excellent Council, and the fact that the election campaign across the District has completely ignored those basic core services can only be for one reason,  that is because in transforming the Council, Conservatives have delivered.

That doesn't mean things are perfect, I have dealt with a complaint about dog fouling this week and one about full litter bins along the Bower,  but both were dealt with within a day.  In the instance of the dog fouling, they didn't just deal with the mess irresponsible owners had left behind, but renewed signs in the area too.  You already have a responsive Council that deals with core services, so why vote anything other than Conservative?

But, that does not stop our Council dealing with major strategic issues, just look at the Boat House in Wisbech, Fens Business Centre as examples, or the work that is going in to supporting the Whittlesey Market Town Transport Strategy.  It is the combination of being able to deal with basic services and deliver on Fenland's strategic goals that makes it an excellent Council, indeed one that is recognised in the Municipal Journal Awards as the best District in the Country.   Why change it?


In Whittlesey, the Labour campaign has said much but offered little vision, indeed they have come forward with the idea that we should ignore the bypass, and focus instead on a link road from the A605 to Station Road.  Why not do both?  That's what the Conservative Town Council is doing?  I am already going to be elected because I have been unopposed for Fenland, but I will make this pledge - I will never give up on my personal commitment for a bypass for Whittlesey, the benefits to our Town and to the rest of Fenland are too great.  I will also campaign for improvements to our Town Centre.

Prior to the general election last year the Labour Party tried to oppose the changes to the allotments in Whittlesey.  It is interesting that it gets no mention in their local election literature - that is because the improvements have been a resounding success.  Conservatives delivering for Whittlesey, Labour moaning.  Same old story.

Much has been made of the independent campaign in Fenland.  But, really what does it offer?  There is no doubt independence offers dangers, I have already highlighted some of that here.  But much of their campaign has been about exaggerating the level of debate amongst the Conservative group at Fenland.  Well, let me tell you something, group debates are supposed to be robust - that is how you arrive at solutions, the sort of solutions that provide results that have delivered for Fenland over the last eight years - but do not pretend that robust discussion is the same as the divisions that the independents are portraying.  Independence does not facilitate good collective debate and decision making, it is why it will not deliver for Fenland in anything like the way the Conservatives have over the last eight years.

I could talk about the Lib Dems here, but I really can't be bothered.  My views about the behaviour of local Lib Dems have been well expressed before.  You vote Lib Dem at your peril.

The evidence is clear, Conservatives are delivering for Fenland and Whittlesey.  Why change a winning team?

Leaflet for Kingsmoor Ward

I am about to deliver this leaflet to residents in Kingsmoor Ward.

Why am I doing that when I'm not fighting an election?   Well, it gets the message about being unopposed out to the residents of Kingsmoor Ward and reminds them how to get in touch with me, but it also contains a few messages about AV and my reasons for supporting the "No" campaign. There is a danger that without a District and Town Council election residents will not turn out on May 5th - I want to encourage them to come out and vote "No".

The Trouble with Independents

Much has been said about Independents in the Fenland elections, much of it positive and much of it about the benefits of being free from party political influence.

But, is that freedom always a good thing?  People might disagree with and vote against a candidate because he belongs to a political party they don't like, that is fair enough.  But, do you always know what an Independent stands for?  Some people will vote for an independent just because they have that tag against their name, but it is possible to stand as an independent and have extreme communist or facist views.

There is another point about belonging to a political party.  As a Conservative I know that if I say or do the wrong thing, I will have an agent, or even the party machine or my political group on my back.  Actually the example of Lister Wilson at the County Council is a great example.

Compare that to the behaviour of the independent standing in March West by the name of Matt Broadfield.  Some people will see that he is an independent and vote for him just because of that.   Now look at his profile on the Cambs Times website.  This is, I believe, taken from a web page that is now taken down about a political party that Mr Broadfield is, as I understand it, intending to create.  My own view is that some of what is expressed there is bordering on the extremist - I am sure Mr Broadfield would disagree, but that is my view.  It might also be that his views are not articulated clearly enough and, as a result, they come across poorly.

Now let's look at the issue of behaviour.  Mr Broadfield is a user of Twitter.  His Twitter name is @fen_councillor . That, in itself, is misleading.  To the best of my knowledge Mr Broadfield is not a Councillor - he is a candidate.

Last week - he published this tweet to John Elworthy, the editor of the Cambs Times:

"I posted leaflet, emailed policies 4 my profile, non published, incompetence or bias? I treat unfairness with deserved bile."

and today, in a tweet to me, he referred to John Elworthy as "Elfworthy".    Now I know that John Elworthy is capable of fighting his own battles, but you do have to question the wisdom of taking that sort of attitude with a local newspaper editor (I think this is because he wants the Cambs Times to publish a different profile than the one currently being used).

Today, when I challenged about the approach he was using, I was described by Matt Broadfield on Twitter as:  "typically undemocratic/weak" - I suppose you could argue that is opinion - but there are no facts to back it up and plenty of evidence of me having taken tough decisions in the past.  But when challenged he retorted with "the man campaigning for health and wellbeing yet got more chins than a chinese phone book!"  Given that I have run four marathons, recently ran a 26.2kilometre road race and last year walked the 84mile Dales Way, that comment is nothing more than an empty insult.  Here is the point, if I behaved in this way, I would be dealt with.  In fact, I suspect if that was my behaviour, I would not have been allowed to stand as a Conservative in the first place.

So, my message is this - unless you really, really know what you are voting for and who you are voting for, be very cautious about voting Independent, independence may not offer the benefits you think it does.

I am sure Mr Broadfield will not like some of what I have said here.  He is free to comment and, provided the language is appropriate and free of insults, I will publish.

Letter of support from Waterlees

I spotted this letter of support for the current Conservative Councillors from Waterlees in the Cambs Times.  I agree wholeheartedly with what it says.  Both Ray Griffin and David Wheeler have worked incredibly hard for their residents and, in fact, some of the current mischief about one of the most important investments in the area, the play area in the Spinney, is not about the reality of what is happening and has been done, but an exaggeration of some minor issues.  It was interesting canvassing in the area a few days ago (and I'll be back) hearing someone say that their son loves the play area, but she is voting for XXXXXX because he wants to close it because of all the trouble.

What trouble?   I keep getting sent images of the park open after hours (which we are dealing with), but they are images of children doing absolutely nothing wrong.  The police have confirmed that the site is not an ASB hotspot - and we ignore the fact that there were considerable problems on that land before the play area was put in place.

Ray and David have done an immense amount for Waterlees Ward - more than any previous Councillors and I really do hope, from the perspective of an individual that is passionate about dealing with difficult social problems  as much as from a Conservative perspective that they are re-elected.

The canvassing I did, was overall, very positive - which is a good sign and I'll be back helping in a few days.

If you want to know what I mean, I suggest you go to the Cambridgeshire Atlas and do some digging about Waterlees.  Looking at Male life expectancy figures is a good start.

Elected Unopposed

I got this in an email from the Chief Executive at Fenland today:

"Dear Martin, this is just to advise you that as you were the sole nominee for the Kingsmoor Ward (Whittlesey) at the deadline for the closure of nominations for candidates for the forthcoming District Council elections on 5 May, you are automatically elected for uncontested election as Councillor for the Fenland District with effect from 9 May 2011."

Unopposed

I found out yesterday that I am one of only two seats in Fenland that is unopposed for the District Campaign and that Rita Jolley and I are also unopposed for the elections for Whittlesey Town Council.

It is a very strange feeling, I enjoy the challenge of elections; they are what politics is about, so part of me is disappointed.  But there is another part of me that is obviously delighted that I can continue to serve the residents of Kingsmoor Ward.

Of course, that does not mean the election campaign is over.  I am passionate about the need to reject the proposals for AV and will be putting out literature to Kingsmoor Ward about that, and I will be supporting colleagues who are facing contested elections.

Vote Conservative

Acceptable Campaigning

I have been fascinated by the judgement against Labour's Phil Woolas, who has been stripped of his parliamentary seat after a judge found him guilty of telling lies during his election campaign.

There are all sorts of issues at stake here and it is interesting that it is this issue that has opened up the first of what I suspect will be many divisions within the Parliamentary Labour Party.  Personally I think the judgement is important and right.  Politics is a tough game and the election process needs to challenge what both individuals and the party they represent stand for - but telling lies cannot be part of that.  That is why I am astonished by these comments from Labour MP Graham Stringer in a BBC Online article about the issue:

"If the courts get involved in elections when people go over the top on policy and sometimes tell lies then we are going to have a very strange electoral process in future," 

That quote is quite clear to me, this is a Labour MP saying that lies are acceptable in an election campaign.  It is no wonder that people have problems with politics.

Personally, I think it will be the Lib Dems who are most worried about this.  I have often thought their by-election campaigning is on the edge of acceptability.  As an example they have often used dubious graphs that misrepresent results in previous elections or twist history to make it a European campaign relevant to a local by-election. We should not forget that they are also guilty of one of the nastiest bits of political campaigning ever when Simon Hughes stood against gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell (who I don't believe had come out at the time).  Simon Hughes is, of course, now the Lib Dem Deputy Leader.