A local person?
Someone parachuted in to what was once a safe seat (that’s how Swire got it with no connection to East Devon at all) but which is now very, very unsafe?
Will the Brexit Party contest it?
Will Lib-Dems split votes and allow a Tory to keep the seat?
So many questions, so few answers …
But at leadt it won’t be a very long campaign!
East Devon: be a trendsetter – elect Claire Wright – Independent!
“Professor John Curtice Makes Prediction On General Election 2019
The UK’s leading election expert Sir John Curtice told LBC he expects parties other than the two major ones to have a record number of MPs in the upcoming General Election.
The UK is expected to go to the polls on 12th December after Jeremy Corbyn told Labour MPs to back Boris Johnson’s proposal for an early General Election.
Sir John is the man who predicted Brexit and has been in charge of the accurate exit polls in the recent elections in 2015 and 2017.
And speaking to Shelagh Fogarty, he gave a surprising prediction of what we can expect.
He said: “I think the safest prediction is that we will have a record number of non-Conservative and non-Labour MPs in this parliament.
“The SNP look set to win the vast majority of seats in Scotland. The Liberal Democrats given their position in the polls should do extremely well. We expect Caroline Lucas and the Green Party to hang on to her seat.
“We could have more than 100 MPs that do not belong to either of the other two parties.
“That matters for two reasons. The first is that it makes it difficult for either Conservative or Labour to win an overall majority if you’re taking the fact that 100 of the seats are already spoken for.
“Secondly, it matters because this is an asymmetric election. It’s an election that Boris Johnson has to win. If he does not get a majority or something very close to it, he will not be able to stay in government because the Conservatives do not have any friends elsewhere.
“The Labour Party, by contrast, at least has the possibility of doing a deal with the SNP, a deal with the Liberal Democrats, getting support of the Greens and maybe even the DUP not standing in their way.
“Bear in mind, this is not an election that Labour have to win to stop Brexit, but it is an election that they and the other opposition parties simply need to deny the Conservatives a majority.”
“The major UK political parties go into the election with radically different positions on Brexit. In short:
A vote for the Conservative party is a vote to take Britain out of the EU.
A vote for the Labour Party is a vote to put any Brexit deal to a referendum, in which voters could vote to remain.
A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit.
A vote for the Brexit Party is a vote for a no-deal Brexit.”
AND A VOTE FOR CLAIRE WRIGHT (INDEPENDENT) IS A VOTE FOR EAST DEVON!
Claire Wright could be a powerful figure if elected to Parliament. She could be amongst a handful of MPs that could tip the balance in a hung parliament.
Here’s Tory Skinner waxing lyrical about £1.5 million for Exmouth College (though Tigger Nick Hookway has concerns):
https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/cil-money-for-community-college-expansion-1-6344922
and here’s news of cash for the completion of a road in Dinham Way – with Skinner again seeming to have the biggest voice and Hookway again expressing reservations:
https://www.radioexe.co.uk/news-and-features/local-news/exmouth-projects-backed/
Tail … dog … wagging … again?
And so near general election time.
And when will other towns and villages get their shares of Community Infrastructure Levy goes into one big pot rather than being locality-based like Section 106?
Of course they did.
Unfortunately, most other MPs didn’t, so it’s back to La La Land tomorrow …
Of course, Swire doesn’t care when it is … he’s off whatever happens.
East Devon Watch 