Shepway And The Diamond Jubilee

There's plenty to look forward to this weekend in Shepway, from the local street parties to the Folkestone Airshow and other organised events. A large floral tribute to Her Majesty The Queen is in place on the Leas, shops are putting up their bunting and posters are up for both the lighting of the Jubilee lantern and the fairground on the old Rotunda site. But there's one little bizarre thing that I don't think Shepway thought through correctly.

The other day I got home to find a large Union flag flying outside my house. I smiled and thought it was for the Jubilee. The next morning I took my new dog Ayden for a walk up my street, and stopped to look at some of the other flags which obviously weren't Union flags. Hmm... other Realms? Commonwealth nations? Erm... no this one is Morocco! I racked my brain for connections to the Jubilee and then realised... they were up because of the Olympics!

Now forgiving the slight slap in the face that gives to Her Majesty (Diamond Jubilees are a tad rarer that Olympic games in this country), it's caused quite a bit of confusion. Those I've spoken to about have mostly genuinely thought the flags were for the Jubilee and either thought the other flags were Union flags or thought Shepway Council was just a completely useless organisation that would put up any old flags as they didn't have enough Union flags!!

It seems bizarre, absolutely crazy in fact, to put up flags for the Olympics a few days before Her Majesty's Jubilee. Why do it? Why not allow a weekend of national celebration to pass before moving on to the next excitement? Last year during the Royal wedding celebrations I drove through Reigate High Street, which was covered in Union flags. It was absolutely fantastic. We even had flags up here in Folkestone. But obviously this year Shepway District Council doesn't think highly enough of Her Majesty to even postpone the Olympic flag raising let alone put up some British flags to celebrate.

I really don't get it.

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Labour Has A Solution For Folkestone's Economic Woes: Make Charities Pay!

The Folkestone Labour party asks "Do charities cause poverty and unemployment?".

Before we jerk those knees (but do keep them on standby) there is a real issue at the centre of the argument: Folkestone's empty shops and the competition our large number of charity shops present to local businesses. Both are serious matters of concern to every resident.

The problem: the charity shops don't need to pay, and I quote, "Taxes, Insurance, Wage Costs, interest rates and Payroll Tax." which (as well as not necessarily needing to pay even for the goods they sell) makes them formidable competition to small businesses such as second-hand bookshops.

Of course there are ways to help the businesses that exist already and to encourage new ones to take over the empty shops and office spaces in our town centre. Lower the taxes and reduce the business rates. If the business rates are lowered just in our area, isn't that likely to encourage local business creation and movement of small businesses from other parts of Kent to Shepway? That way no one is being forced to do something by the local/national Government, but they are getting an incentive to do business here. Of course it'd involve some budgetary changes in the council but then again the gains might be worth it.

But that's not Labour's approach. Instead they would force, in Folkestone or throughout Shepway, all these charity shops to take on at least two employees. So instead of the willing volunteers (who have given up their time through a passion for fund-raising and helping the community) they currently get helping them, they'd need to give themselves the same shackles as currently faced by the small-businesses Labour claim to want to protect (i.e. wage costs, payroll taxes etc.). That's like seeing one child with a sweet and one without and confiscating the sweet as the one without felt sad! It's petty and authoritarian and it's a plan designed to punish the goodness in people.

And the idea that, aside from the central issue of the new Oxfam bookshop, most of the charities earnings go to fund head offices, overseas work and staff costs is a little heartless. Oh there is some truth there, sadly charities have become more and more like businesses (so how treating them LIKE businesses helps I don't know). But to say charity shops like the one in my street (the Rhodes Minnis Cat Sanctuary shop, who Labour probably thinks puts the cat in "fat cat")  or the British Heart Foundation shop, or the Cancer Research Store don't benefit local people and simply create poverty is to cast them in an unfair light. To say  no one in Folkestone benefits from the work of the YMCA, British Heart Foundation, or Cancer Research is a cruel lie.

Let's help businesses in ways they'll find useful, not punish charities just to create some sort of fake "level playing field". Next we'll need to ban local eBayers or boot fairs for undercutting the second-hand book and furniture shops! That way madness lies.

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Where Do We Go From Here?

I doubt it needs to be said but... being a liberal, Folkestonian, unionist electoral reformer has not been a very pleasant or comfortable experience these last two days. But now the feelings of sadness, depression and disgust have calmed to a mere numbness, it's time to see where we go from here. (Note I may not actually suggest where we go from here and may just get distracted by ranting....)

Shepway

What I'd hoped wouldn't happen has happened. The Liberal Democrats have been wiped off the council , and the only opposition to the triumphant Tory administration are two People First councillors (to 44 Tories). I won't doubt the commitment of those two councillors to represent their constituents well but that majority gives the Tories the ability to ignore campaigns against projects they support.  Residents are now the people responsible for scrutinising the workings of Shepway district council.

We must not shy away from those responsibilities. From the small (such as my other halves quick call to the council to get some illegal "No Parking" cones removed from our streets yesterday) to the big (Fisherman's Wharf ring a bell? Public meeting attendance a must). We must hold them to account.

The Shepway Liberal Democrats are reeling right now, and many will sympathise with our own dear Sam's words on Newsnight last night I'm sure, but we must take heart that there was no "Labour breakthrough". We can, and must, come back fighting. I know the former councillors have a truly deep love for Shepway and whatever happens to the party, they won't just stop caring.

Nationally

It was awful. There's no sugar coating our performance at the local English elections, the Scottish Parliament elections and at the Welsh Assembly. It was dire. I believe a "collapse" or a "disaster" might be overplaying it somewhat, we still got 17% of the vote at the local elections and got 1056 councillors elected. It was, however, a wake up call. The Tories didn't get punished for the Coalition because they didn't do anything that their supporters wouldn't expect of them! It's not because they've used Lib Dems as human shields. It's not because the Coalition policies are generally popular.

We as Lib Dems suffered such a dismal fallout because we haven't listened to voters, OUR voters, since the 2010 election. You don't get to air a video like this:



And then expect your supporters to swallow a love-in with the Tories, a reversal on tuition fees and etc. etc. I know, it's tough to say this, but things have got to change.

I'm not advocating a sulky withdrawal from the Coalition. I'm advocating what I've been advocating since last year... grown up politics! We must call a spade a spade, and be brutally honest with our coalition partners. It might already be too late. Nick Clegg may not be the man for the job (but I do hope he is!). Tough decisions lie ahead.

When the media try their "OMG coalition split" stupidity we must call them out on it, not pretend the divisions are minor and gloss over them. The divisions are real, and it's time we said so. We are DIVIDED and working together. It's not a contradiction. Next time the Tories ask us to vote for something our supporters do not want don't say "Sure okay we'll vote for it but cross our fingers whilst we do". We do not vote for it. We get bigger concessions. We fight for every drop of Tory blood. Excuses like "it's in the national interest" "we didn't win the election so we can't do everything we want" and the old "look at all the other pretty things we got" lines DO NOT WORK ON THE PUBLIC. They are not stupid. They feel betrayed. And quite honestly following an election ad like the one above, can you blame them?? In lots of cases our supporters did not switch sides, they just didn't bother turning up. Disaffected and miserable. We need to speak to them, apologise for getting carried away and sort ourselves out. Now. I truly wish our ministers would stop spinning and start listening.

But... we must stay strong as a party. We do not agree with each other on our future direction. We need to listen to each other and learn. We need to really work together and fight to recover our lost support (and more!) if we have any hope of securing a more liberal future for this country. We cannot split and I urge all members to stay and fight for the party they want. I've faltered these last few months, but I'm no longer going anywhere.

We have a duty to keep up the struggle, to protect our country from the excesses of the conservative and illiberal forces that too often get their hands on the reins of power. We must not let the Tories target minorities in this country like they have done in the past. We must not let Labour take away our rights "for our own good". We have to survive as a party to ensure someone is able to scream for justice and fight for freedom.

We must not continue on blind to the message the public have clearly sent to us. But we MUST continue on.

Electoral reform

Heart. Broken. I don't think that quite covers it but the AV loss, expected though it was, was a bitter blow. The gloating from the No to AV side didn't help and the spinning from the Yes to AV side almost made me violent.

Clegg-hate was obviously a factor, but I think it is naive to blame everything on our leader. We need to learn from this referendum and really study what lay behind the No vote. Was it just to punish us? Or was it that the system wasn't liked? Or worse... do the British just not want electoral reform? These are the questions that lay before us. The answers will tell us what we do next, but they may not be what we want to hear. The public has spoken, and it's time to try and listen (although with any referendum it's next to impossible to really hear what's being said). I've been listening to colleagues who truly believe the system was just too complicated. That might confound election geeks and students of politics but I think this actually goes a long way to explaining the no vote. I think we may have lost the argument on my beloved STV already. Additional Members might be our best bet. :(

In the meantime, we must focus on achievable goals. House of Lords reform. That's what we need to get, and we need to do it properly.

The State Of The Union

Whilst I was lying battered and bruised on the floor following the election results somebody came up and stabbed me through the heart. The SNP's stunning victory in Scotland (managing to achieve a majority in a PR-lite system is no mean feat) puts the existence of our Union into question. A real question. That people will vote on. Seeing the stupidity on both sides of the AV debate (from the campaigns themselves I mean), and the downright misrepresentations they perpetuated I have grave concerns about the conduct of a referendum on such an emotive subject as Scottish independence. Whilst the polls don't suggest Scottish people back such a singularly final move, I worry greatly for what might happen if the debate is not kept above board (by both sides!).

I believe in democracy. I must support the concept of a referendum on the subject. But, with a bearded dragon as my witness (the house is empty right now and I don't believe in sky fairies), I will fight to try to keep this union together. I will not let the country of my birth, the country I love, disappear easily.

Our islands ,and their many varied people, must not be split apart based solely on where you happen to live. Instead we must fight the forces of nationalism by addressing the remaining, genuine grievances of all in a new federal structure. Devolution was a typical British compromise. We must move beyond it to something more stable (please oh bearded dragon let it be federalism not independence).

Other views;

Crawling from the Wreckage
What went wrong
How to implement full Lords reform, now that the referendum is lost. 
When Nick and the LibDems balloon was well and truly burst


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My First Election

Seeing your name on a ballot paper is an experience in itself. Of course this wasn't a real election "fight" as it were. The need for me to be there for my other half due to his ongoing health problems meant I wasn't able to even help out in the competitive wards let alone big up the vote in Harvey Central. So the results were of little surprise.. But there are obviously 233 astute, and probably tweeting, residents of Harvey Central!

Results

Hugh Anthony Barker - Conservative - 539 (elected)
David Stephen Johnson - Conservative - 481 (elected)
Nicola Ann Keen - Labour - 388
Edward Louis Le Fanu - Labour - 328
Jason Kay - Liberal Democrat - 233
Kay Ann McLoughlin - Independent - 220

Considering Kay McLoughlin's rather nice leaflets, and near celebrity status, the residual Lib Dem vote seems to have kept up remarkably well during the wipe out that occurred at Shepway District Council.

The count was an interesting and enlightening experience (if you have never been to one and get the chance grab it) and I learnt a lot about the election process just from observing how the count progressed and the occasional "Hmm... should we count this one?" question.

It was sad and upsetting to see so many good councillors, and candidates, who had worked far harder than I could even bear, both in the normal run of things and in campaigning for re-election, fall to the Tories. My worst fears, a Tory administration without any real opposition, has been realised. But that's the democratic will of the people (even if the turnout was so low... 28% in Harvey Central, disgusting really) and the only way to win is to win the trust of the residents of Shepway once more. The Lib Dems, Labour and the other parties who stood failed to do that (whatever the reason, be it local or national).

Onwards and upwards I say, it's now down to residents to hold the Tories to account. Do not let them railroad through developments without scrutiny!

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Why I'm Voting Lib Dem On Thursday

Because the Lib Dem I'm voting for is me of course! But I'll pretend I'm not going to be putting a cross by my name on a ballot paper for a moment.

I left Folkestone in 2005 for five years of city living up in London. When I returned things had certainly changed: the high street was decimated, there were plans afoot to revitalise the harbour area with lots of posh houses and a marina but very little of much use to local people, and there was no genuine sense of purpose anywhere. That's the difference a few years of Tory misrule in Shepway makes.

Contrary to what many naysayers might think, I believe there is a future for Folkestone. Some of the work of the Creative Foundation and independent businesses has been remarkable in bringing a very real sense of improvement in some quarters. But the issue is there seems to be no ultimate vision or purpose, no real leadership pointing us towards a better quality of life.

We need jobs not expensive houses. We need development that's done with the approval of local people, not against it. . The HS1 isn't just a way to make Folkestone a dormitory town for rich people, but a way to encourage London businesses to move to Folkestone to take advantage of our cheap rents and give jobs to our residents. Should we really be turning existing, and possibly useful, infrastructure like the harbour railway into a "green path"?

Folkestone need not just be good, it could be great!

The problem is this; the Tories are conservatives. I know that seems blindingly obvious but they like things the way they are. It's their nature. They don't really care about leading Folkestone, they are quite happy to sit back and let it be. It's time to tell them that's simply not good enough.

I'm not going to pretend there won't be a Tory administration after Thursday. But what there can be is a strong, united opposition in the form of the Liberal Democrats. No other party has the number of candidates or experience necessary. If we have a strong opposition we may be able to force the Tories into taking Folkestone's future seriously.

We've seen what the Tories did in Hythe and in Shepway with their overwealming majorities... they forced through the Fisherman's Wharf development against the will of local residents. Do not allow them to laugh all the way to the bank as they do the same again and again over a divided and tiny opposition. The next few years are going to be FULL of developments and we need to make sure only the ones that benefit the people of Folkestone get through.

A vote for a Lib Dem in Shepway is not a vote for the Coalition. It's not a vote for cuts. It's a vote for a strong alternative to Tory misrule. It's a vote for a strong voice for the residents of Folkestone. And it's vote for Folkestone's future.

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Tories Serious About Cuts? Not In Shepway.

Following on from the revelation that Shepway Lib Dems cost you less, we have the Shepway Tories appalling response to a Liberal Democrat motion for a cut in the councillors allowances. The Folkestone Herald reports:

District councillors have refused to take a cut in their allowances - despite the idea potentially saving civic centre jobs.

Members of Shepway District Council met last week where the motion of chopping 10 per cent off their £3,867 basic allowance was discussed.

It was estimated the reduction in expenses, which also included special responsibility allowances, would free up around £40,000 in the budget - more than the salary of a number of frontline council staff.

But the motion, which was put forward by the Liberal Democrats and backed by People First, was defeated by the majority Conservative administration.

Outraged Lib Dem leader Lynne Beaumont said "I'm absolutely disgusted as this cut in allowances could save a job on the council

One councillor who refused the change said she worked hard for her money - well, so do the people who work for the Shepway District Council

We are facing tough times ahead when we will no doubt have to lose job, yet the Tory leadership clearly felt their expenses were more important than the jobs of the people who work here at the council."

They'll be happy to cut other people's wages but not their own. Sad, but true.

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