Mandate for what?
Crashing the economy?
Introducing Austerity 2.0?
This Conservative government has been so blown off-course by poor post-covid economic recovery, and the self-inflicted “Truss/Kwarteng Experiment”, that we have no idea what “mandated” policies will survive or are even deliverable. (Except lifting the cap on Bankers’ bonuses).
The prime minister’s press secretary has recently said ministers “need to look again” at a slew of promises made over the summer during Sunak’s losing battle with Liz Truss for the Tory leadership, but there was no end date to the review.
In September we were promised tax cuts and 2.5% economic growth! You, Simon, embraced this phantasy. We are now in a recession with record inflation and have been told to expect tax rises and spending cuts on November 17. Today, interest rates will increase again.
Mandate, what humbug!
(And please stop playing the blame game) – Owl
Simon Jupp www.devonlive.com
I supported Rishi Sunak in the recent leadership contest, as I did in the seemingly never-ending leadership election over the summer. I am delighted he is now our Prime Minister as I firmly believe he is the best person to lead our great country. He has experience of high office and of dealing with major crises. I joined Liz Truss’ government because I wanted it to work, sadly it didn’t.
We have a mandate from a landslide election win for the Conservative Party in 2019. My party must quickly unite under Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister, get a grip, and govern.
The aftermath of Covid still lingers. Putin’s war in Ukraine has destabilised energy markets and supply chains the world over. That is why the new Prime Minister set out his vision to place economic stability at the heart of his government and to deliver on the mandate we secured to deliver a stronger NHS, better schools, safer streets, and control of our borders.
Looking forward, the Chancellor will deliver an Autumn Statement on 17th November 2022 with an OBR forecast. It will contain the UK’s medium term fiscal plan to put public spending on a sustainable footing, get debt falling, and restore stability.
The government’s promise to support people and businesses with their energy bills remains in place. The Energy Price Guarantee is a huge intervention alongside bespoke support for pensioners, people with disabilities, and those who rely on heating oil.
Unfortunately, industrial action is planned on our railways this month. Once again, unions will stage yet more strikes which cut off the South West from the railways, disrupting lives and livelihoods. Strikes will take place on Saturday 5th November, Monday 7th November and Wednesday 9th November. Around one in five trains are likely to run with major disruption between Exmouth and Exeter on the Avocet Line and services between Exeter and London.
It’s time to put passengers first. That’s why the government’s forthcoming Minimum Service Levels Bill will require employers and striking unions to maintain services during strikes. The Bill will therefore ensure people can carry on their daily lives and make vital medical appointments.
I will continue to do everything I can to support the people I serve, including holding more surgeries across the constituency. Regular readers will know that, despite my constituency name, I am MP for parts of the district of Exeter. I proudly represent St Loyes and Topsham.
In recent weeks in and around our city, I took part in a litter-pick in Topsham, visited Jacobs at Pynes Hill Court, hosted a dinner at the Exeter Golf & Country Club, met with councillors at County Hall, and attend the memorial service to the Queen at Exeter Cathedral. I’ve got lots more planned too.
I’m also putting pressure on South West Water to invest in water treatment plants which serve Topsham and St Loyes, I’m also working with Exeter City Council on a variety of investments across the city using £1.4m allocated to Exeter by the government, and supported a successful bid for £3.7m funding to reduce rough sleeping in the city. As ever, if you have a problem or a local issue you think I can help you with, then please get in touch.
Finally, during this year’s Poppy Appeal, please give generously to honour our veterans – past and present – and those who continue to protect us today.
East Devon Watch 
I would like to offer my most insincere congratulations to Simon Jupp for winning the “I’m an expert on Democracy, Get me Out of Here” examination.
What Simon Jupp is effectively saying is that it is OK to:
* Promise whatever you like in your election manifesto, especially things that you believe will win you votes;
* If you win the election, you can trash your manifesto promises and follow any other policies you want because you now have a mandate from the people.
* You shouldn’t be held accountable for breaking your election promises.
Crap! This is not genuine democracy, this is authoritarianism masquerading as sham democracy.
In a genuine democracy…
1. Manifestos are a true AND COMPLETE statement of your beliefs, ideals and policies that you will pursue if you are elected.
2. Your mandate is limited ONLY to what you put in your manifesto. There is NO mandate to do ANYTHING else.
The Tories have a long track record of being economical with the truth in their manifestos. You can check this out for yourselves – the Tory manifestos for the last few elections are available online, so you can do as I did and download them and search for their policies on School Academies (which is a much less worrying name for what is effective a policy to privatise the UK child education system).
Their manifesto for the May 2010 elections can be found at: https://media.conservatives.s3.amazonaws.com/manifesto/cpmanifesto2010_lowres.pdf
You can search this and you will find literally ZERO mentions of Academy Schools.
Yet almost the very first bill introduced on 19 July 2010 by the new government led by David Cameron was the Education Bill and, despite the text of this bill never having been previously published and it NOT being mentioned as a policy in the manifesto, it was given its first AND second readings on 21 July 2010, and was passed into law on 26 July 2010.
YES – something that was literally absent from the manifesto (presumably because it was unpopular) was rammed through Parliament in literally 7 days from first mention, without any consultation with appropriate bodies, without proper debate, without the public having the chance to be aware of it, without any opportunity for the public to have their say through protest groups, petitions etc.
There is no possible way to call this genuine democracy.
As for Simon Jupp, he clearly hasn’t got even the first clue about what democracy genuinely means.
He is nothing more than a mouthpiece for Conservative Central Office, elected by the people of East Devon to represent their needs apparently by doing as he is told by the Conservative Whips regardless of whether it is in your interests or not.
Sadly, this is now the modus operandi of the Conservative Party – to pretend to believe in Democracy whilst actually being nothing more than an authoritarian autocracy.
As I have said before, the following used to be a joke because it had a grain of truth – now it is no longer a joke because it is almost the absolute literal truth:
Q: How can you tell when a Conservative Party politician is lying?
A: Their lips are moving.
I literally cannot remember the last time I heard a Conservative Politician telling the truth – they simply cannot do so without shooting themselves in the foot/heart/head because they have dug themselves so deep into a hole through ignorance, incompetence, and lies that if they tell the truth now (rather than lie and deny) their what is left of their credibility (at least amongst those that believe the Ministry of Truth propaganda) will be gone.
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