Apparently, she said she had always planned to retire at 60.
Did the (Un)Success(ful) Regime know that when they appointed her?
Monthly Archives: June 2017
DUP links to extremism
” … No one questions the strong relationship historically between Sinn Fein and the IRA. Theresa May seems to be overlooking the similar strong relationship between the DUP and Loyalist paramilitarism. The DUP’s founder Paisley was careful to incite and condone Loyalist violence. However, at certain key moments the DUP collaborated openly and directly with Loyalist paramilitaries, for example, during the Ulster Workers’ Strike in 1974, in mass protests in 1977, and again in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985.
In 1986 the DUP formed its own terrorist organisation, Ulster Resistance, which became part of the combined loyalist paramilitary command, and co-organised illegal arms shipments. Current MP Sammy Wilson chaired the opening meeting of Ulster Resistance, and current MP Emma Little-Pengelly’s father was convicted of arms smuggling for Ulster Resistance.
May has been a leading advocate of strengthening the UK Prevent Strategy against violent and non-violent extremism that conflicts with “British values”. In making a deal with the DUP she not only endangers UK national interests, but is also further damaging the credibility of government policy on violent and non-violent extremism.
This post represents the views of the author and not those of Democratic Audit.
Jonathan Pye on austerity and poverty
WARNING: contains strong language:
Crucial health meeting at DCC this afternoon
“Devon County Council’s Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee will today examine the case for closing 72 community beds across Eastern Devon to see whether it can be justified.Back at the March health scrutiny meeting it appeared that a decision had been made in a huge hurry with a large range of important issues left unresolved. See my report of that meeting here –
The Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group has now responded to the proposal I made at the last health scrutiny committee, requiring justification on 14 grounds.
It was agreed at the March committee that if those grounds were not deemed to be satisfactory, then the committee would have the option of referring the decision to the Secretary of State for Health. I have read the paperwork and corresponding related papers and I don’t believe there the slightest justification for the decision to halve the remaining community hospital beds in Eastern Devon.
The meeting is held at County Hall and starts at 2.15pm and will be live webcast here –
https://devoncc.public-i.tv/core/portal/home Here are the agenda papers -http://democracy.devon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=429&MId=2581&Ver=4
Source: claire-wright.org
“Hundreds form ‘conga cordon’ as they bid to Save Exmouth Seafront”
Owl says: with current re-thinking on austerity (aka massive Tory u-turn) and new dialogue about social responsibility and inequality (Labour) might it be time to go back to local authorities working for residents instead of being just big businesses sucking up our money for vanity projects for greedy developers?
“Hundreds of protesters formed a conga cordon around Exmouth seafront on Saturday to around businesses that will have to close at the end of the summer as a result of multi-million pound redevelopment plans.
… Nick Hookway, Save Exmouth Seafront spokesman, said that the group are invigorated after Saturday following the support that they received from the public.
“The event was so successful that we are thinking about having stands on the seafront every weekend throughout the summer so people can find out about the proposals.”
He added that the feeling he got from speaking to people at the event was that no-one was in favour of the proposals as they currently are.
He said: “Why are the council carrying on with the proposals when there is no developer interested, apart from the watersports centre which is just a small part of the plan.
“When the fun park closes, the rest of the seafront will just be derelict and it is horrifying the thought of the seafront being all boarded up.
“We are concerned that the area will be left empty and there will be an air of dereliction about the whole site. Why should Exmouth residents have to put up with a derelict seafront as a result of this? There is already an air of dereliction on the site as metal hoardings appear. This is a situation that will get worse when these last two businesses close.
“It is very encouraging the level of support that we received and we will continue to put our point across and hope we will be able to influence the developers when they do put in their watersports centre plans.
“Most people recognise and do want to see the area given a makeover. But we want something that is built in line with the environment and with the full support of and after consultation with the people of Exmouth. You could come up with something imaginative that would be supported.
“We are invigorated after the event that was such a success and will continue to get our voice heard.”
Demonstration against community hospital cuts today 1 pm County Hall
BBC Radio Devon
Posted at
8:42
“Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt may be asked to review the decision to close community hospital beds in east and mid Devon.
The county’s new health and adult care scrutiny committee is discussing the plans to close beds in Honiton, Okehampton, Whipton and Seaton at its meeting today.
Local councillors said they needed assurances over staffing and the future of buildings.”
The problem with “arms length” relationships with councils
“Grenfell Tower residents complained two years ago about the refurbishment of the building being done “using cheap materials” and workmanship that “cut corners”, The Independent can reveal.
They later claimed that Conservative-led Kensington and Chelsea Council, owner of the building consumed by fire on Wednesday, had done nothing to address their concerns.
Surfacing days after the catastrophic blaze that killed at least 30 people, the allegations are likely to fuel claims that cost-cutting might have been put before safety.
They come amid reports that cladding used in the refurbishment contained a flammable plastic core, of a kind allegedly banned in the US for buildings taller than 40ft, despite a fire resistant alternative costing only about £5,000 extra. …
Minutes from an emergency residents’ meeting held on 17 March 2015 show that more than 100 people living in the block produced a long list of issues about the refurbishment.
The minutes detail anxieties about the way the firm Rydon was doing the work and the role of the tower’s administrators Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) and mention the “concern that TMO/Rydon are using cheap materials” and “cutting corners” on workmanship.
Other problems included “grave concerns at standard of works inside a number of residents’ properties”.
Kensington and Chelsea Council, which owns Grenfell Tower, told residents a working group would be commissioned “at some point in the future” to investigate their worries. But in June 2016, six months after receiving this promise, the Grenfell Action Group claimed nothing had been done.
… It has also emerged that in order to save money, Kensington and Chelsea council ditched Leadbitter, the original proposed contractor, and instead went with Rydon’s cheaper bid for the refurbishment work.
In July 2013 the council’s Housing and Property Scrutiny Committee proposed to “market test the works through an open tender” after noting: “Leadbitter currently estimate the cost of the works to be £1.6m above the current, proposed budget.”
Rydon eventually completed the refurbishment in May 2016, for £2.5m less than the £11.278m quoted by Leadbitter.
… Olesea Matcovschi, chairwoman of the residents association for the Lancaster West Estate, which contains Grenfell Tower, said tenants who raised concerns about the building were considered “troublemakers” by the council.
… Responding to the anger of local people, Kensington and Chelsea Council leader Nick Paget-Brown insisted: “It’s not a question of wealth, it’s not question of economy. This was a major refurbishment of a tower.”
He told Sky News: “Clearly something has gone tragically wrong, but the intention was to improve the quality of the housing, and to ensure heating systems, boilers, central heating, insulation was improved. That was the whole purpose of doing this renovation.”
“Government ministers have been heavily criticised after quietly abandoning the requirement for fire sprinklers to be fitted in new schools, in what has been called a “retrograde step” by fire chiefs.
An update to the Department of Education’s (DfE) Design in Fire Safety in Schools stated that “Building Regulations do not require the installation of fire sprinkler suppression systems in school buildings for life safety”.
“Therefore,” it added, “[guidelines] no longer include an expectation that most new school buildings will be fitted with them.”
The move has been lambasted by fire officers and follows two recent major school fires.
More than 75 firefighters were called out to tackle a blaze at Selsey Academy in Sussex on 21 August leaving the structure “effectively a skeleton”, while on 24 August, 12 fire engines tackled a blaze at Cecil Jones Academy in Southend-on-Sea.
Julian Parsons, of the Chief Fire Officers Association, told The Argus: “This is a retrograde step that doesn’t make any sense. Sprinklers don’t just save lives, they prevent fires from spreading and causing significant damage and disruption to our children’s education.”
Brian Robinson, Chairman of the Fire Sector Federations, said the Government “appears to have relegated the principles of property protection to an afterthought”.
He added: “Many of our members see no reason to change the current policy of a risk-based approach for the requirement to install sprinklers in schools and urge the Department to reconsider.”
Responding to the move, Angela Rayner, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Women and Equalities, said in a Twitter post: “A disgrace, Tory Ministers are to remove requirement to have water sprinklers fitted to new schools, sneaking announcement out on DfE website.”
Installing sprinklers into new schools was a policy introduced in 2007 by Labour Schools Minister Jim Knight.
According to research by the Chief Fire Officers Association there have been 5,132 fires in educational buildings between 2003/04 and 2013/14, resulting in 148 casualties.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Children’s safety is paramount, and we are clear that sprinklers should always be fitted in new school buildings where required by fire safety legislation, and where a fire risk assessment shows that a school is high risk. This policy is absolutely in line with the latest fire safety advice.
“In revising the Fire Safety Design for Schools guidance, consultant fire safety specialists were used and the draft was reviewed and quality assured by the Building Research Establishment. Our consultation on the draft received a good response, including from the Chief Fire Officers’ Association and a number of fire and rescue services, whose comments we will take into account before publication.”
What really happens in a “free market”
Five years ago, the state of Kansas (USA) was taken by its Republican Governor, Sam Brownback, into the most aggressive free market economy imaginable – the sort that has been favoured by our own Conservative government. It involved tax cuts (or even no tax at all) for the rich and big companies. Last week the policy was cancelled as a hopeless failure.
“Last week, the Republican-controlled Kansas legislature took the remarkable step of overriding the governor’s veto, finally repealing his signature tax cuts. Those tax cuts, which reduced personal income tax rates and imposed no tax at all on many kinds of business income, went into effect in 2013, and were touted by Brownback and other leading supply-side figures as the best way to boost growth, bring back jobs, and make Kansas richer.”
… On the day that the tax cuts were enacted, the Kansas City Star ran a story in which the governor’s revenue secretary, Nick Jordan, promised that the tax cuts would yield big benefits for Kansas. It’s worth quoting a paragraph from that report in full since it sets out Brownback’s own terms for his tax “experiment.”
“Nick Jordan, the state’s revenue secretary, said the administration ultimately imagines the creation of 22,000 more jobs over ‘normal growth’ and 35,000 more people moving into the state over the next five years. And he expects the tax changes to expand disposable income by $2 billion over the same period.”
In fact, over the period Kansas lost 49,000 jobs, ended up with a population 85,000 less than anticipated and disposable income was $20 billion short – and it had a lower growth rate than surrounding states. It got so bad that parents, angered by cuts to school funding, took the state legislature to court and got previous levels of funding reinstated.
“The idea that cutting taxes especially for the rich will boost growth and make everyone better off remains a central, if misguided, element of many economic proposals. President Trump’s tax plan, for instance, includes trillions of dollars in tax cuts that would flow overwhelmingly to millionaires and wealthy corporations.
It even includes a very similar proposal to Brownback’s policy of giving a special low tax rate for so-called “pass-through” income.
With the remarkable failure of the Brownback tax cuts in Kansas, we can hope that at least some leaders and economic policymakers will begin to adjust their theories to meet the facts, just as the Republican-controlled Kansas state legislature has done.”
Read more here:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/7/15753510/kansas-brownback-tax-reform
Telegraph: planning permissions being granted in wrong places
“Planning permissions granted for new homes are being concentrated in the wrong areas, where there is less need for housing, according to new research by Savills.
It found that there is a lack of 90,000 planning consents for homes in the least affordable and most in-demand areas of the country.
Only 20pc of planning consents in 2016 were in the most unaffordable places, where the lowest priced homes are at least 11.4 times income. However, 40pc of the country’s total need for new homes is in these markets, while there is a surplus of consents in the most affordable locations.
Research found that in areas where the house price to earnings ratio is over 11.4, which includes London and much of the South East, there is a shortfall of 73,000 planning consents for homes.
Since the National Planning Policy Framework was launched four years ago, with the aim of simplifying the system, there has been a 56pc increase in the number of consents granted.
But analysis shows that there has not been any increase in the areas where affordability is most stretched and where housing need is the greatest.
The Savills report said: “This means we are not building enough homes in areas where they are most needed to improve affordability and support economic productivity.”
Only 41pc of local authorities have a housing plan which sets out housing need and a five-year plan of how to cater for it.
Savills also modelled the potential impact of the Housing Delivery Test, which was announced in the Housing White Paper last February and would assess need based on market strength in an attempt to build “homes in the right places”. It found that it would double London’s housing need to more than 100,000 homes.
Chris Buckle, Savills research director, said: “There continues to be a massive shortfall in London and its surrounds and it is this misalignment of housing need versus delivery which could ultimately hinder economic growth.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/uk/planning-permissions-new-homes-granted-wrong-areas-says-new/
A Grenfell Tower firefighter speaks
Money versus safety: money always wins out
” …The Observer has learned that successive governments have commissioned and paid for – over the past 12 years – a series of reports into the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of sprinkler systems in the construction of new buildings, including schools and care homes. All have concluded beyond any doubt that they should be used.
Yet last year fire experts were enraged when ministers decided to loosen, not tighten, regulations to allow new schools to be built without sprinkler systems at all. The need to build more schools fast and cheaply appeared to have prevailed. “Everybody bombarded the ministers in education,” says King. “Meetings took place with ministers and they went back to have another look at their guidance and it is still pending today, because they are still trying to hedge their bets.”
It is understood that in March or April this year Barwell [last Housing Minister before the election] agreed in principle to meet the all-parliamentary group for the first time, but the meeting never happened because May called a general election and Barwell, no longer a member of parliament, moved to Downing Street to advise her. …”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/17/tragedy-grenfell-tower-lives-money-fire-safety
Which old nag will Swire back next time?
Swire was all for May – both Remainers who turned.
He fought (or rather didn’t fight) the election on her being the right woman for the job – “strong and stable” and our only hope to avoid a ‘coalition of chaos’.
We now face a ‘coalition of chaos’ of Tories and the DUP and May is almost certainly on her way out. Who will Swire back next? Perhaps BoJo – an old Etonian who will almost certainly want his old schoolmates around him.
And don’t forget, Swire (who complained of ‘vile comments’ about him in the election) has issued no censure of his good mate George Osborne – who described Mrs May as a “dead woman walking”.
Please, Claire Wright run again! Please!
The new Housing Minister – does he really matter?
“Alok Sharma [is the new housing minister] … Sharma is the 15th housing minister since 1997 and the seventh since 2010, suggesting that most have only a limited time to develop expertise. Sharma, 49, an accountant by profession, comes to it as a housing novice. I’m sure the industry will be keen to colour in what looks like a blank sheet of paper“.
David Smith, Sunday Times Home, Opinion page 6(paywall)
Owl says: really no need to worry, Mr Smith – developers (aided by enthusiastic local authorities) have been in charge of housing foy YEARS and have no intention to relinquish control to a mere housing minister – who doesn’t even have a seat in the Cabinet.
“Tories did not build new social housing over fears it would ‘create Labour voters’ says Nick Clegg”
Owl has blogged this before but it needs saying again:
“Social housing was not built under the Conservative-led coalition because of fears it would ‘create Labour voters’, according to Nick Clegg.
The former deputy prime minister claimed the theory prevented government officials from building homes.
‘It would have been in a Quad meeting, so either Cameron or Osborne,’ Nick Clegg told the Guardian.
‘One of them – I honestly can’t remember whom – looked genuinely nonplussed and said: “I don’t understand why you keep going on about the need for more social housing – it just creates Labour voters.”
‘They genuinely saw housing as a petri dish for voters. It was unbelievable.’
The comments were revealed ahead of the release of Mr Clegg’s 2016 book ‘Politics Between the Extremes’.
Yet the seemingly cold attitude to some of the poorest in Britain have been shared by many in light of the Grenfell Tower fire.
The West London complex was social housing and more than 50 are now confirmed to have died in the fire.
It had recently been refurbished by a private subcontractor on behalf of the Conservative-headed local council.
That decision has been harshly criticised as it was revealed that the new fittings could have been fire-proofed for just £5,000 more.
Grenfell Tower had been built in 1974, but the building of social housing has slowed in the decades since.
More than a million people are on housing waiting lists across the country but many have accused the government of being slow to respond to the housing ‘crisis‘.”
Tories did not build new social housing over fears it would ‘create Labour voters’ says Nick Clegg
Grenfell Tower: an architect’s view on the (avoidable) tragedy
“Building control departments in councils have been left toothless and eviscerated while the authority of fire officers and architects has been weakened in favour of profit. Look where that has got us.
I am an architect in private practice with considerable experience in the design and delivery of a range of buildings in London, including high-rise residential buildings. The terrible Grenfell Tower fire in North Kensington was entirely avoidable.
It was not an act of God, but the tragic outcome of a growing void in the responsibility, expertise and single oversight of large construction projects. This has largely come about due to the breaking up of what I would call the triple safety lock around project delivery.
The first is:
building control, ensuring that increasingly complex building regulations are properly implemented. Building control departments in many local authorities have been eviscerated. They are invariably under-resourced with no teeth. Often a subset of planning departments, they lack the authority to carry out what is arguably the most important part of a local authority’s remit – to ensure the safety of its residents.
Furthermore this function has been partly privatised, with a range of companies competing for the business. It is often those companies with a reputation for gaining “easy” approvals that increasingly dominate the market, further undercutting the council building control.
The morale among many council building control officers is extremely low. I completed a small complex project in an inner London borough last year. The council building control officer I worked with was excellent, but told me that he could not cope with his workload, and was unhappy with the way the department was run. He has since left the council.
Second:
Fire officers play a crucial role in ensuring that all fire regulations are met, and devising a fire strategy for a project. Building control acts as a conduit to local fire departments to assess that all fire regulations have been met, as well as bringing their own experience to bear.
In early 2007 I was working on a large refurbishment project in the West End. We were informed by the fire officer who was reviewing the project with us that in the near future fire officers would no longer play an active role.
A new form of self-certification was to be introduced, with the onus on the developer/owner to ensure a project met all fire regulations. This took no cognisance of the fact that different buildings could have very different fire requirements. The fire officer looked me straight in the eyes and told me that in his opinion this was a recipe for disaster.
The third part of the triple lock:
Is to ensure that all materials used in a building are fit for purpose – obviously particularly important in the case of fire safety. In the past, architects have specified construction materials and have then been in a position to ensure that the specified materials were used. This is increasingly not the case as performance specifications enable alternative materials to be used, often selected by the developer, contractor or sub-contractors.
With architects now seldom having the authority to insist on specific products being used, there is a tendency to go for cheaper materials, without necessarily understanding the impact or potential knock-on effect.
Public safety should not be privatised. Putting a monetary value on human lives is unacceptable. The triple lock should be recognised and strengthened.
Bring back building control to its rightful place in local authorities, working independently of the planning function and the private sector. Bring back fire officers working closely with council building control to scrutinise proposals and carry out proper inspections on all projects. Bring back the specification of materials to a single point of responsibility under the architect or engineer responsible for the specification of materials, working with the building control officer and fire officer.
Allow the experts to do what they know best without interference from politicians or those who tend to take shortcuts or the cheapest option. Look where that has got us.
Deon Lombard has a private architecture practice.”
Claire Wright tells her side of the General Election story
AND she doesn’t whinge!
“I originally intended to draft this blog in response to Hugo Swire’s repeated and tiresome accusations levelled at my supporters supposed abuse on Twitter and his insinuation that someone connected with me damaged his election posters.
I am not suggesting that Mr Swire didn’t get a hard time on Twitter, but his reaction to the challenging remarks, has been completely over the top.
For the record, once again, I have never ever asked anyone to, nor do I know of anyone, who damaged his posters.
And to respond only to these false allegations cheapens my campaign and the spectacular level of support my team and I received from a huge range of people right across the political spectrum during those six magnificent weeks.
It undermines the energy, the passion, the clear sightedness, and the unswerving determination that gripped so many of us during that frenetic time.
There were times that I felt (and I think many of us experienced) real joy at being involved in something that meant so much to so many people.
So you can see I see things very differently from our MP.
Here’s my story.
I was campaigning for the Devon County Council elections in Otterton which has a patchy mobile reception, when I reached the top of a hill and my phone suddenly started pinging with messages. I quickly learnt there was to be to be a general election on 8 June (eight weeks from that point).
Having previously hoped to run for a second time, my initial reaction was a deep groan.
I had no team, no funding and no structure. I didn’t even have a parliamentary bank account.
The only thing I had was the result from the 2015 general election, where I finished in second place with over 13,100 votes. It was a great first time result, but a successful new campaign in such a short timeframe seemed impossible….
…. Within an hour I was mentally planning a campaign.
There were two immediate priorities. First, I needed to know whether I had public support to run. Without this, I would not even contemplate running.
Secondly, if there was public support, I urgently needed a core campaign team.
I knew that I also needed significant funding for any campaign but I was confident that this would be resolved with crowdfunding, should I decided to stand.
By the time I had returned home, I had received dozens of messages urging me to run. For two days I kept my counsel before putting out a press release saying I was considering standing in the general election but if so, I would need an army of helpers if I had a chance of winning.
After this, I was deluged with offers of help. Hundreds of people offered their time, their expertise and their energy. I had thought a few might come forward but this was an amazing and inspiring reaction.
So it was settled. I would mount my second campaign for the East Devon Parliamentary seat.
While my gut instinct was powerfully present, I knew I was taking a risk. There was a possibility I could receive fewer votes than I had in 2015 due to the short timeframe and rumours of a LibDem resurgence. Fewer votes would have been humiliating, but the urge to run was very strong. I decided to take the risk.
I scanned the offers of help carefully, searching for potential core campaign team members. I also contacted a few people who had previously expressed an interest in helping me and who had excellent skills.
A meeting at Ottery St Mary Football Club was booked for on Monday 24 April. About 20 people with key skills attended.”
By the end of the meeting we had agreed all the key posts. The core team of 12 and the skeleton of a campaign was created.
I had been advised by the County Solicitor that I could not publicly declare as a General Election candidate until the Devon County Council elections were over, so to ensure we were fully ready for the launch on Monday 8 May, my team and I quietly beavered away on our preparations, including:
– setting up systems for volunteers, maps and canvassing
– drafting a campaign plan and writing campaign literature
– ordering publicity materials
– setting up the crowdfunding arrangements and a bank account
– reading the Electoral Commission guidelines to ensure we met them on all aspects of the campaign
There were also things like insurance and data protection issues to consider and comply with. It isn’t easy to get insurance as an Independent!
It was a hugely busy time. And many of us were getting to bed well after midnight and getting up again at around 5am to stay ahead of the work.
My caffeine drought ended immediately. Without copious cups of tea and coffee every day I couldn’t function.
My manifesto, which had been put together in 2015 based on a survey and conversations with thousands of people, was updated to include my position on Brexit (a proper parliamentary vote on the final deal) the NHS latest atrocities meted out by the Conservative government and the appalling slashing of school funding, which is causing massive problems for teachers and pupils across Devon and the country.
With years of obfuscation and lies drip fed to this country by the Conservative government often about ministers own record on our NHS and public services, I was determined I would tell people the truth about what was happening.
My manifesto addressed this in the space that was available. I enlarged on these remarks at my public meetings and at hustings.
Austerity has done terrible things to this country. Those of us who always believed that there was another way are now angry yet vindicated following the Prime Minister’s declaration that there will be no more austerity.
Because of course, she knows she cannot force more cuts through with a hung parliament.
This is good news, but the NHS is already on the verge of being sold off wholesale to developers. That’s what The Naylor Review and NHS Property Services have already started doing across the country.
Some of us have campaigned against this in our local communities. I have held two public demonstrations at Ottery St Mary Hospital and held the slippery managers of NHS Property Services (which now owns 12 community hospitals in Eastern Devon) to account as a member of Devon County Council’s health scrutiny committee.
One would have thought the local MP might be concerned about the risk the ownership of NHS Property Services posed to 12 local community hospitals, but instead Hugo Swire gatecrashed a demonstration I held in May last year. He asked me if he could address the 200-strong crowd which I agreed to. But rather than expressing his concern, he used this time to accuse me of scaremongering and being politically motivated.
In his follow-up blog post he disrespectfully dismissed the Ottery residents who were present at the protest as a “pack.”
There are many other examples I could give of Hugo Swire’s desultory record of fighting for local people but that one pretty much sums it up for me.
Although I might just give his dreadful record in parliament a quick mention. He has never, by his own admission, voted against the party whip.
In 16 years.
Back to my manifesto, I was confident that the 2015 pledges were still valid after knocking on hundreds of doors in the recent Devon County Council elections.
On Thursday 4 May the Devon County Council elections took place. I learnt that I had achieved 75 per cent of the vote with 3,638 votes, which is the biggest majority in Devon, once again.
I was over the moon with the result. But there was no time for a break or to celebrate. We had an announcement launch to prepare for on the Monday (8 May)!
I gave a speech and we Facebook live-streamed this event, which was held at Exmouth Rugby Club. I found the ability to stream straight to the internet and interact with residents at my events enormously exciting.
It prompted at least two members of the public to turn up speculatively at the Rugby Club and ask for my A1 boards!
We launched my manifesto at Sidmouth the following week to an audience of around 80 people. Once again it was live-streamed on Facebook and as with all my events I took questions from the floor without knowing what they would be in advance.
The campaign funds soon came flooding in and by the end of the campaign we had secured almost £13,000, in over 200 separate donations – nearly as much as we raised in a whole year during 2014/15.
With hundreds more volunteers, we were determined that every house (within a village and town at least) would receive a copy of my manifesto. This includes around 5,000 in Exeter and Topsham, so it was a tall order. Around 60,000 copies were printed so we had some spares.
And before the postal vote deadline, our 600 (by the end of the campaign we had 700) volunteers had managed to deliver to most houses in the constituency.
Aided by our teams of volunteers we then embarked on an enthusiastic four weeks of leafleting and door knocking.
The best way I can describe the way my campaign felt to me was as though I was caught up in a maelstrom of energy. It was a whirlwind of positivity. A force of nature, caused by a desire by many people to elect someone they believed would stand up for them in parliament, someone they already knew would work hard for them and who they could trust to put THEM first.
I simply had to keep up with the amazing momentum.
It was clear at the first hustings and from the tweets from the LibDem parliamentary team that their strategy appeared to be to target me, in the hope they could claw back some of the votes they lost to me in 2015.
Their claims that I could never win, nor have any influence in parliament were political slurs and were levelled at me so often on Twitter that I was forced to block one of their team – a first for me.
I should add here that I have worked alongside the LibDems on the district and county council for years, just as I have the other parties. I have always worked with them productively and in a friendly manner. It was quite a shock to be the target of such hostility, albeit limited to their team of three.
My campaign brought people together from across the country. A friend visited from Nottingham and someone I had never even met before travelled from Kent and assisted us in Exmouth for a few hours.
It motivated a bright young man from Sidmouth to record a touching video outlining why he was working so hard to get me elected.
And it prompted a reconnection with a friend I haven’t been properly in touch with for two years.
There were countless emails from younger men and women who expressed a belief in me that I found extraordinarily moving and motivational.
I heard from disenchanted lifelong Conservative voters and people who had never voted before in their lives.
All were saying that they intended to vote for me and that I had offered them hope. It was so uplifting.
There were countless emails from residents with views across the political spectrum who said they would vote for me because I was already a hard-working councillor and they had confidence that I would be a hard-working assiduous MP.
If there were times when I felt exhausted and under pressure, it only took an email or Facebook comment along these lines to reinvigorate me. The big picture was endlessly present.
And I have made new friends. People that I hope to stay in touch with forever. My campaign team shared a rollercoaster experience that we will never forget. It wasn’t all plain sailing and at times the pressures were overwhelming. But we all gave 150 per cent to a cause we believed in passionately. And I will never forget their generosity of spirit and belief in me.
Although disappointed not to be East Devon’s MP, I was absolutely thrilled with the result of 21,270 votes – a 35 per cent share, up from 24 per cent in 2015.
Apparently the result is the best of any non Conservative candidate in East Devon ever!
Before signing off I must talk briefly about the Conservative national campaign, in which the behaviour of the Prime Minister allowed Hugo Swire to wriggle out of any hustings. Mrs May apparently could not even cope with the idea of a live interview on Woman’s Hour, which is a level of control freakery not seen in any prime minister that I can remember.
The Prime Minister’s inability to answer a straight question, instead sticking to a rehearsed script earned her the deserved label “The Maybot.”
But what I found most distasteful was the campaign of fear and negativity which the Conservative Party perpetuated against the opposition. There was no hope, no inspiration and no positive policy announcements.
Instead, the slurs against the opposition were nothing more than a stream of spiteful vitriol. I was quite shocked at how low the Conservative Party stooped in its vain attempt to retain seats.
The election result was 100 per cent deserved and my own view is that although the country is in unchartered waters right now, already we have seen that the worst excesses of the Conservative Party’s determination to shrink the state and force more people into abject poverty, somewhat thwarted.
What Mrs May isn’t confident of getting through parliament will be dropped. Despite the involvement of the dubious DUP, this new more consensual approach can only be a good thing for every single person living in the UK.
After six months of election campaigning I am relieved not to be knocking on doors any more, replying to thousands of messages and feeling as though my life consists of rushing at breakneck speed from one place to the next.
I am very happy to be reconnecting with my Devon County Council work, enjoying the sunshine, the stunning East Devon countryside and our local beaches in the company of my daughter or my lovely friends.
As for another election…. whether it is this year, next, or in five years, Hugo Swire can be assured that I will be ready.
Pic. A photo that symbolises the energy of the campaign. A group of us canvassing in monsoon like weather at Westclyst. The camaraderie made it surprisingly huge fun!”
http://www.claire-wright.org/index.php/post/general_election_2017_my_story
Claire Wright on May’s austerity U-turn
Owl says: what an opportunity East Devon missed not electing this bright, sensible, compassionate, grounded woman – but you WILL get at least one more chance East Devonians – choose wisely next time.
“This makes me feel happy and furious all at once.
As a councillor who has seen firsthand the suffering caused by austerity, this statement simply proves it was a fat lie all along.
A big fat lie perpetuated by a bunch of wealthy ruthless people determined to shrink the state and demonise people who have the least.
An obsession by the power hungry elite who have never known a day’s financial hardship in their lives, to reform this country into a tax haven for wealthy businesses, while hollowly claiming that this country must have a “buoyant economy” to fund public services.
Of course, many of us knew we had been lied to but this really takes it to a new level.
It has taken the shock of an uncertain future to get them to admit it.
So are they going to reinstate the billions they have slashed from public services?
Are they going to scrap the despicable sanctions system which penalises the disabled, the unwell, those people who have the least ability to stand up for themselves?
Are they now going to do a major about turn and actually look after the poorest and most unwell people in society?
And what about the NHS, which has seen 15,000 bed cuts in seven years, as well as looming major service cuts centralisation through the sustainability and transformation plans.
If there is any justice they will put right what they got so wrong in the last seven years.
But to do that they must go into a deal with the odious Democratic Unionist Party, whose views are in line with the most hardline right wing party most people could imagine.
The climate change denying DUP is anti LGBT rights and abortion and they’re in favour of the death penalty.
Oh and they have links to loyalist paramiltary groups … didn’t one leader get pilloried in the right wing press recently for claims of similar such links? #DeepHypocrisy
Any such deal could undermine the rather shaky peace in Northern Ireland.
But such is the desperation to cling onto power that all these things are to be swept aside, as a deal is expected to be agreed today.
On the upside the Queen’s Speech is expected to be cleared of any policy that the Tories don’t feel they can get absolute support for in parliament.
This is a new era in British politics. And while there are some despicable deals afoot, I am optimistic that the voters in this country are finally waking up to the lies we have been told for seven years.
Let’s see what happens in the next election, which may not be too far away….”
“Have your say” on Sidmouth Port Royal development
Owl says” interesting choice of words “have your say” – it doesn’t mean they will do what people want!
“Residents are being invited to have their say on Port Royal later this month at two consultation events.
A concept idea has been developed by consultants as part of a scoping study to assess the feasibility to redevelop the area.
The consultation days will run from 3pm to 8pm at Kennaway House on June 26 and 27.
Sidmouth Town Council and East Devon District Council are major landowners of the site and have been working to identify the boundaries, ownership and needs of existing occupants as part of the study.
Councillor Jeff Turner, chairman of the Port Royal reference group, said: “Everyone agrees that Port Royal is important to the town’s residents and to its tourist business. The area, including the Ham, provides vital community and recreational space
“For townspeople and visitors alike and is widely regarded as the main priority for improvement if Sidmouth is to realise the full potential of its sea front which is one of the finest on the south coast.
“There is now an opportunity to see some of the consultant’s initial findings and a concept idea and the consultation gives everyone the opportunity to say what they think. This is the first step in the process and no detailed designs of buildings have been drawn up at this stage.”
Residents will have until Monday, July 31, to fill in a consultation questionnaire on the day or online.
Following the deadline feedback will be considered by the consultants who will make a set of recommendations. These are expected to be considered by the town and district council later in the year.”
Britain lags behind the rest of Europe with fire regulation
“Thousands of buildings across Britain have been fitted with external cladding similar to the kind implicated in the unprecedented spread of the Grenfell Tower fire.
The public sector alone has spent £553 million on contracts to wrap such insulation round the outside of buildings including homes, schools, hospitals and leisure centres.
In the absence of any central record of which buildings have been fitted with cladding, or which type of insulation materials have been used, the government yesterday launched an emergency review of 4,000 tower blocks owned by councils and housing associations in England.
European safety campaigners said that despite repeated lobbying Britain lagged behind many other countries in allowing potentially combustible materials to be used on building façades.
As EU officials discussed the repercussions of the blaze, Fire Safe Europe, which lobbies to raise the profile of fire safety, said Britain was among a number of countries that needed to improve building regulations and testing regimes in relation to cladding materials.”
Source: Times ( firewall)
East Devon Watch 