How low can desperate Tories sink? – Owl

It has been an election campaign marked by controversial claims and counter-claims, but a row in the parliamentary constituency of Torbay in Devon has perhaps topped the lot.

Daniel Boffey www.theguardian.com 

A local charity for visually impaired people, Devon in Sight, has accused Tory canvassers of “stooping to an all-time low” by allegedly suggesting that the local Liberal Democrat candidate, Steve Darling, is not actually blind.

The comments were said to have been made by a Tory doorknocker calling at the house of an unnamed elderly couple in recent days.

According to a press release issued by the charity, a canvasser in the Livermead area suggested that Darling, who has a guide dog called Jennie, was “faking his sight loss” and “using his guide dog for ‘political purposes’”.

Grahame Flynn, Devon in Sight’s chief executive, who employs Darling’s wife, who is also blind, said: “With Steve Darling’s consent, I would like to confirm that he has been living with a rare genetic eye disease that started in childhood.

“He was formally registered blind in his teens with a deteriorating eye condition that may well end in total sight loss. Furthermore, Steve is registered with the council as severely sight impaired (blind). He first registered with our charity in 1986.

“Steve was on the waiting list for a guide dog for almost three years before being matched with Jennie, his current guide dog. To politicise someone’s disability is highly unsavoury and Steve and everyone living with little or no sight in Devon deserves better.”

When asked to respond to the claims, the Conservative candidate Kevin Foster wrote on X: “Am out with my team regularly and never heard this type of line used. Odd the charity has not been in touch at all about this alleged incident, even to confirm if someone is actually a representative of my campaign.”

Foster faces a tough fight to hold on to the seat, which he won with a majority of 17,749 at the last election. The Liberal Democrats held Torbay until 2015.

Darling, a Liberal Democrat councillor, said he was hopeful for the election and he hoped the row over his blindness would not be a “distraction”, although he said his wife had been particularly hurt by the alleged comments.

“It is sometimes the case that it is the political spouse that feels things more strongly than the candidate,” he said. “My issue is that it seems to pose the question, ‘How can he possibly be registered blind and be capable of doing something like this?’”

The Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, called for an investigation. She said: “This appears to be a disgraceful and desperate slur from the Conservative campaign in Torbay. It is insulting to everyone living with a visual impairment, and the voters of Torbay deserve so much better.

“Rishi Sunak must immediately condemn these remarks and suspend the Conservative candidate for Torbay while these reports are thoroughly investigated.”

The Conservative party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Analysis by the Wildlife Trusts found 28 constituencies where there is a “nature majority”.  Exmouth & Exeter East is singled out as one that could be decided by voters who care about the natural world.  The charity previously found that 84 per cent of Tory voters were dissatisfied with the party’s handling of nature issues.

Adam Vaughan The Times print edition 2 July

Four fifths of Britons back the next government launching a public inquiry into the scandal of raw sewage dumping.

Wet weather helped to drive a record number of discharges into rivers and seas last year, with the duration doubling to 3.6 million hours. Recent polling has shown that a majority of people think Britain’s seas are now too dirty to swim in.

A YouGov poll of 2,000 adults found that 82 per cent supported an independent inquiry into sewage spills. Only 7 per cent opposed it, with 11 per cent undecided.

The research suggests that Labour and the Liberal Democrats have been right to prioritise the subject in their election campaigning. Support for a public inquiry rises to 92 per cent among Labour voters and 88 per cent among people who voted Lib Dem in 2019.

Despite all the major parties promising to tackle water pollution, the poll suggests a lack of faith in politicians to solve the problem. Only 7 per cent said they would trust “any or most” politicians to deal with the matter, compared with 59 per cent who would not. The remainder either would trust some politicians and not others, or did not know.

“Our new polling data reveals just how deep the scars of the sewage scandal run, with a staggering lack of public trust in politicians to tackle the issue of sewage pollution,” said Giles Bristow, chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, which commissioned the survey.

“This should be a clear sign to each and every party that their commitments to improve the health of our rivers, lakes and seas are not bold enough.”

The charity has been touring the UK in a double-decker bus, travelling to destinations including Saltburn, Windermere, Hastings and Plymouth in an attempt to ensure that water pollution remains a prominent issue.

The polling ranked environment and climate change as the fifth most important issue for voters, behind the cost of living, health, the economy and immigration, but ahead of tax, housing and Britain’s relationship with the EU. The Times’ Clean it Up campaign has called for stronger regulation to improve water quality.

Conservationists have claimed that dozens of seats could be decided by voters who care about the natural world. Analysis by the Wildlife Trusts found 28 constituencies where there is a “nature majority”. To define a “nature majority” they took the predicted vote majority — based on Electoral Calculus’s poll of polls — then subtracted the number of Wildlife Trust members in each constituency.

In Suffolk Coastal, won at the last election by Therese Coffey, the former environment secretary, and previously a safe Tory seat, the charity calculated a nature majority of 3,695. In Exmouth & Exeter East, where David Reed is the Conservative candidate, the majority was 3,077. The assumption that other parties could benefit in such seats is based on the charity previously finding that 84 per cent of Tory voters were dissatisfied with the party’s handling of nature issues.

“We are putting politicians on notice that votes for nature could change the outcome of many key seats this election,” Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, said.

Dear fellow citizens of East Devon,

On Thursday, we will remove the Conservative government that has broken Britain over the last 14 years. Hundreds of areas will elect Labour MPs, scores will return Lib Dems, and a few, hopefully, Greens. But does East Devon want to be part of this change? Or are we content to remain a Tory backwater, as we have been for 100 years?

This is the question on the ballot paper. Devon has been shockingly taken for granted by the Tories. If we do not remove them now, what will that tell the incoming Labour government? Oh, they stripped our community hospitals of their beds. They left them to be demolished for housing. But, hey, East Devon is still happy to have a Tory to represent us? It would hardly be surprising if a Labour minister concluded: these people are complete suckers – we’ve got other areas to attend to first.

If we want to be part of the change, if we want to be listened to and taken seriously, that means voting for it. And voting for a new government, in this area, means voting Lib Dem – if you vote Labour or Green or other, your vote will be wasted and you could be helping the Tories to cling on.

I’m not a Lib Dem. I don’t think they’re perfect. They’ve made some big mistakes – but so, for that matter, has Labour (remember Iraq?). But under our first-past-the-post voting system – which Labour supports – to be part of this year’s change we have to choose the party that’s most likely to beat the Conservatives in our local area, and in both Honiton/Sidmouth and Exmouth/Exeter East, that means the Lib Dems.

It helps that in both constituencies, the Lib Dems have outstanding, genuinely local candidates – Richard Foord, who has made his mark supporting Seaton Hospital, and Paul Arnott, who has led the fight to end Tory corruption in the district council over the last decade. But even if they didn’t – do you really want another Tory carpetbagger who cares little for our area?

On Thursday, make sure you cast your vote for change. In both our constituencies, the results will be close. There are still too many of our neighbours who ARE content to let the old corruption carry on. They must not prevail. Instead, vote for a different East Devon, and a different Britain.

Please think about this, and pass the message on to your families and friends.

Martin Shaw, former Independent Devon County Councillor.

seatonmatters.org Posted on July 2, 2024

Martin Shaw @MartinShawEDA

Breaking: Survation, the pollster that @bestforbritain’s ⁦@get_voting⁩ relied on to recommend a Labour vote in Exmouth/Exeter East, has withdrawn its projection, saying that it ‘has low confidence’ in it. This case no longer has any credibility.

It gives me little satisfaction to be vindicated on this, since much damage has already been done. But there are still over 24 hours before the polls open. The ‘Labour’ tactical case has now collapsed. Caput. The EEE line in

@Survation’s spreadsheet is simply empty.

The line in their spreadsheet for Exmouth & Exeter East is now entirely blank.

seatonmatters.org 

The latest projection from the Financial Times shows Richard Foord still lagging behind the Tory by 4.7 per cent. Meanwhile, the same pollsters show Paul Arnott pulling ahead of the Tory by 4.5 per cent in Exmouth.

The lessons. First, these are projections and could be out. Second, they confirm that in both areas, the battle is between the Tories and the Lib Dems. Third, if you want change, vote for it – in our area, vote Lib Dem. If you vote Labour, Green, or other, you are likely to help the Tories cling on. Now that’s something you DON’T want to wake up to on Friday.