Labour 1,413 votes to Conservative 1,154 votes (LibDems didn’t stand) – Owl

The latest leaflet popped through your door from the “flush with cash” Conservatives is entitled, ironically, “In Touch”. It also features a mug shot of Neil Parish. – Owl

From a correspondent:

EDDC has voted to retain online meetings (see comments below).

I find the comments of Councillor Brown perplexing.  He says because meetings are not held in the awful health-hazard council chamber in Honiton people feel ” we are somehow superior to them and they increasingly feel distant from their district council”.

On the contrary, as a voter without a car and with no direct public transport to Honiton, being able to access meetings on line makes me feel MUCH closer to the council, rather than the much, much more distant elitist and entitled thinking of Councillor Brown – who lives in, er, Honiton!

” Councillor Val Ranger claimed that moving to the alternative format of meetings would be “50 years out of date”, arguing it would mark a return to the rules set up in 1972.

She added: “It skews the whole voting system and it favours an older demographic of people who are free to attend meetings night and day.”

Whereas, leader of the Conservative group, councillor Colin Brown said: “Local people are starting to think we are somehow superior to them and they increasingly feel distant from their district council.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-61332476

Claire Wright westcountryvoices.co.uk 

Claire Wright

East Devon independent parliamentary candidate Claire Wright stood for election in 2015, 2017 and 2019, coming second each time. Now the resignation of Tory MP Neil Parish has brought her into the spotlight as a possible candidate for the Tiverton and Honiton by-election. Claire wrote to WestCountry Voices about her reaction to the resignation, and her decision.

 Neil Parish’s announcement that he would resign after admitting he looked at porn in parliament has sparked a significant debate on candidate alliances.

Within minutes of the media reporting Neil Parish’s intention to resign, I received several messages and phone calls from people asking me if I was going to contest his Tiverton and Honiton parliamentary seat.

I ran for the adjacent East Devon parliamentary seat three times as an Independent, coming second each time: in 2019 I gained almost 26,000 votes, slashing a massive Tory majority to just 6,700.

During each campaign I was deluged with emails and phone calls from people urging me to work with the other parties in the hope that they would stand down to allow me a straight run against the Tory candidate.

However, this was not possible. The Labour Party has a policy of running a candidate in every seat, albeit focusing their efforts in target constituencies. The LibDems appear to be more open to persuasion nationally; locally, however, their candidate was determined to run.The Greens had opted to stand aside for me in 2015 and 2017, but decided to run a candidate in 2019.

Interestingly, if the votes from Labour and the LibDems had come to me in the 2017 general election I would have beaten the then Conservative MP, Hugo Swire.

Back to Tractorgate. For several hours I discussed this with political allies and pondered whether I should launch a campaign for the Tiverton and Honiton seat.

I knew I had to make a decision fast. I quickly absorbed early comment by political analysts and studied previous election results in the constituency. It is a significant Tory stronghold: Neil Parish has a majority of over 24,000.

It was nevertheless tempting. In a by-election, key barriers I normally experience would vanish. Conservative voters’ fears of a Labour government, if they cast their vote for me, would not be an issue. And this government is deeply unpopular following a raft of scandals, appalling and cruel policy decisions and a Prime Minister who cannot tell the truth from a lie. All have combined to mean that life-long Conservative voters are deserting the party in droves.

I knew that the national media attention could make up for my lack of ability to deliver leaflets to each house in an unfamiliar and mostly rural constituency, and mitigate the challenges of gathering a team and launching a campaign.

However, within a few short hours I realised that if I put my hat in the ring, I would be splitting the LibDem vote, and potentially hampering the chances of ousting a Conservative representative of the worst government in memory in one of the safest seats in the country.

Although the Labour Party has been the runner-up in previous elections, it has come a distant second, and the LibDems have a history of appealing to one-nation Conservative voters in the South West.

There is a general view among political parties that supporters want them to fly the flag so they have someone they can vote for. In my three general election campaigns, however, the very opposite has been starkly true.

Given the messages I received on Saturday, I decided I should make a public statement on Twitter about standing aside in the Tiverton and Honiton by-election to avoid splitting the LibDem vote – and stating my support for alliances until we have Proportional Representation (PR). This is already used for Police and Crime Commissioner elections in the UK, and is the electoral system used in almost every country across Europe. Unfortunately,  once the Elections Bill becomes law in this country, this too will regress to First Past The Post (FPTP) which favours the Tories.. 

I expected my tweet to be of interest as it was so topical. What I didn’t expect was the monumental level of support it received.

In just a few hours the tweet had sparked thousands of likes, with hundreds of retweets and comments. The total number of likes now stands at almost 13K, with over 1,500 retweets and almost 600 comments, mostly thanking me, with others debating the merits of PR.

My tweet was screenshotted and appeared on PR-campaigning Facebook pages, with hundreds of likes and comments of approval. A few political commentators with large followings also retweeted it with appreciative remarks.

The bind we are in is this. For all the Conservative Party’s outrage about the possibility of a quiet pact between Starmer and Davey, the Tories kill off competition from right-wing parties as soon as a general election is on the horizon, because officials are all too aware that any realistic competition from the right of the political spectrum could fatally wound it.

Nigel Farage twice attempted to challenge the Tories and achieved success, in that he pushed our national politics significantly to the right, with all the associated toxicity that we observe every day.

Farage stood down his Brexit Party candidates from Tory constituencies in 2019. The deal was that the Tory Party effectively morph into the Brexit Party. It has been obvious over the last three years that we are indeed being governed by the Brexit Party, in all but name.

In the meantime, we have three established left-of-centre political parties in England, which almost always run candidates in every seat to “fly the flag” and test their vote. In short, the far-right vote, undivided, can still win with a minority of the votes while the opposition votes are split across the three main opposition parties. Johnson garnered a minority (43.6 per cent) of the total votes cast in 2019 but still ended up with a massive 80-seat majority.

It really looks as though the opposition parties’ approach of standing candidates regardless may now be out of step with voters, many of whom are so disillusioned by our government that they simply want their local Conservative representative ousted.

There are rumours circulating that the next general election will be in the autumn of this year, as the prime minister believes it will be better for him to schedule it earlier than next May, when inflation and the cost of living will be even more crippling – and a recession may be in full swing. He also hopes the electorate will give him a bigger vote of confidence than his own MPs, many of whom are now plotting to move against him.

If political parties are serious about seeing the big picture and addressing the damage done by this government, they will make progressive alliances work. I know it is tough and complicated, but it is possible with determination and fair play.

The worst government in history endlessly cheats by ensuring it change the rules in its favour – see the removal of the Electoral Commission’s teeth, the weakening of the rules on overseas donations, voter ID and the proposed boundary changes. It then plays dirty tricks and smears its opponents.

The only way decent people can defeat these charlatans is by working together. Until we have PR we don’t have a lot of choice, and to get to PR we need this government out: and that means working with the FPTP system to defeat the Conservatives and deliver urgently-needed electoral reform.

Stop press: for an example of the importance of cooperation, take a look at this result:

60.3 per cent of the votes to opposition parties. Conservative elected on a minority vote.

Tories need to be fully transparent and candid about their relationship with John Humphreys, especially from the date of his arrest in 2016. – Owl

It has been revealed that East Devon MP Simon Jupp stayed at a property owned by former councillor John Humphreys the year before he was charged with sexually assaulting two teenage boys and subsequently sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Joe Ives, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

East Devon MP was unaware of investigation

It is believed Mr Jupp stayed at Mr Humphreys’ vacant flat on Salterton Road in Exmouth in the run-up to the 2019 election.

Mr Jupp, who is from Plymouth, had won the local Conservative’s party selection process after East Devon’s previous conservative MP Sir Hugo Swire decided not to stand for re-election.

Humphreys, 60, who was also previously an Exmouth town councillor and at one point served as mayor of Exmouth, was convicted in August last year of sexually assaulting two boys 10 years apart.

Simon Jupp states unequivocally that he knew nothing of Humphreys’ crimes at the time.

In a cabinet meeting [on Wednesday 4 May], leader of East Devon District Council (EDDC) Cllr Paul Arnott (Independent East Devon Alliance and Democratic Alliance Group, Coly Valley) sought clarification from the East Devon Conservatives about whether Simon Jupp stayed at a flat owned by Humphreys in 2019.

This was before Humphreys was charged and appeared at Exeter Magistrates Court, where he was bailed to appear at crown court in 2021.

Cllr Arnott said: “If I had been the person who, as it turns out, was the tenant of John Humphreys, who had just been elected to parliament, on hearing that he had been convicted and sent to jail for 21 years I think what I would have done is issued a press statement about that.”

In a statement following the council meeting, Mr Jupp said: “First and foremost, my thoughts are with the victims of John Humphreys’ horrendous crimes.

“For less than two months in 2019, I lived at a flat owned by Mr Humphreys but was completely unaware of his abhorrent crimes for which he was jailed in August 2021.

“I deplore his actions. Had I known anything about his crimes, I would not have lived at the property and would have immediately reported my concerns to the police.”

In the EDDC cabinet meeting, Conservative councillor Maddy Chapman (Exmouth Brixington) said: “John Humphreys did own a flat in town which was let out for a number of years to different people.

“It was empty at the time and Simon went into it for two or three weeks while he was waiting for his house. So he did not stay with John Humphreys…at no point did Simon Jupp stay with John Humphreys. 

“He rented a flat which I understand John Humphreys’ partner let to him for a couple of weeks while he was waiting for his house in Sidmouth to go through because he wanted to live in the constituency so I wouldn’t like any assertions to fall on Simon. 

“I think he’s a very good MP. He works for East Devon really really well and tries really really hard and supports the local residents. So I was not aware of anything on John Humphreys.

“None of my colleagues were aware and anyone that says that they heard rumours they should have told us.”

At his trial, it was revealed that John Humphreys had been initially questioned on suspicion of sexual offences against children in 2005 but police did not find sufficient evidence for a prosecution. 

Following a complaint by a second victim, Cllr Humphreys was arrested in 2016 before being released under investigation.

Neither incident was made public and Mr Humphreys continued to be a councillor until May 2019, eventually being awarded the honorary title of alderman by the council  in December that year. The title was removed by the council in 2021.

Conservative members of EDDC, of which Mr Humphreys was a member, have also denied having any knowledge of his crimes whilst he was in office or when he was subsequently given his honorary title.

The results of yesterday’s Somerset County Council elections are as follows:

 Liberal Democrat: 61                 

Conservative: 36

Green Party: 5                         

 Labour: 5

Independent: 3                         

www.mendip.gov.uk

Full details of the results for individual divisions and candidates can be found on the elections results page on the authority’s website  The results mean that Liberal Democrats take overall control of the council.

More than 430,000 people were eligible to vote for the 337 candidates standing for the 110 seats. The turnout at the election by district was Mendip – 39.3%; Sedgemoor – 30%; Somerset West and Taunton – 38.73%; South Somerset – 38.15.

This year’s election was different as 110 councillors were elected – two in each of the 55 divisions – as Somerset prepares for the biggest change in local government in decades. 

For their first year, the councillors will take responsibility for all current County Council services and oversee the local government reorganisation to establish the single unitary Somerset Council on 1 April 2023. District councils will remain until 31 March 2023 and the councillors serving on them will continue in their roles until that date. 

From 1 April 2023, the 110 members of the unitary council will be responsible for services that are currently delivered by the county and four district councils, ranging from adults’ and children’s social care to highways and housing, and from libraries to planning and licensing.

The current councillors will officially stand down from their roles and hand over to the newly-elected councillors at midnight on 9 May.

The Full Council Annual General meeting on 25 May will appoint the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Council, the Leader of the Council, and the members of the various Council committees.

Immediately after the Full Council Meeting it is expected that the new Leader of the Council will confirm appointments to Cabinet roles.

after 13 years of Tory dominance.

The only rural area of the South West having council elections this year. Not good news for Tory chances in the upcoming by-election! – Owl

www.bbc.co.uk 

Liberal Democrats Somerset leader Bill Revans was able to celebrate his party taking control

The Liberal Democrats have won the Somerset County Council election.

The party has won 57 seats so far, one more than the minimum needed to have overall control of the council.

As things stand, he Conservatives have 28 seats, Labour have four in Bridgwater, and the Green party have four in Frome.

The Conservative Party had been in charge of Somerset County Council since 2009 with the Liberal Democrats in second place.

The Lib Dems will now run the county council for the next year and then run the new unitary authority replacing the county and district councils for a further four years after that.

Bill Revans the new Liberal Democrat leader of Somerset Council said: “We’ve got some brilliant local councillors who’ve held their seats.

“After 13 years of the Conservatives being in charge of Somerset County Council I think there was [a feeling of] ‘it’s time for a change’ and people wanted to put the heart back into Somerset.”

Earlier, the party gained the Blackmore Vale ward, where long-term Conservative incumbent William Wallace received the fewest votes of all four candidates.

Lib Dem councillors Peter Seib and Jeny Snell were voted into the Brympton ward and Nicola Clark and Sarah Dyke were elected in Blackmoor Vale.

Coker ward elected Liberal Democrats Mike Hewitson and Oliver Patrick to the two seats available.

Labour took both seats in the Bridgwater North and Central ward.

After losing his seat Mr Wallace said “long-term Conservative voters” did not turn out to vote.

“The issues of central Government came up, the partygate problem.”

He said while the election was about local issues, so-called partygate had not helped the “local cause”.

A total of 337 candidates fought for 110 seats in the council’s soon-to-be abolished district and county electoral system.

The elected councillors will oversee the change from a two-tier system to a unitary authority in 2023.

The Liberal Democrats have won the most seats of those declared so far in the Somerset County Council elections.

With nearly half the results in the Lib Dems have won 38 and the Conservatives 12.

BBC News www.bbc.co.uk 

Earlier the party gained the Blackmore Vale Ward, where long-term Conservative incumbent William Wallace received the fewest votes of all four candidates.

Labour have held two wards in Bridgwater, with four councillors elected there

The Tories had been in charge of Somerset County Council since 2009 with the Liberal Democrats in second place.

Lib Dem councillors Peter Seib and Jeny Snell were voted into the Brympton Ward and Nicola Clark and Sarah Dyke were elected in Blackmoor Vale.

Coker Ward elected Liberal Democrats Mike Hewitson and Oliver Patrick to the two seats available.

Labour’s local leader Leigh Redman was elected in the Bridgwater North and Central ward. Labour also picked up the second seat in that ward.

A total of 337 candidates are fighting for 110 seats in the council’s soon-to-be abolished district and county electoral system.

The elected councillors will oversee the change from a two-tier system to a unitary authority in 2023.

Somerset County Council has been controlled by the Conservatives since 2009 with the Liberal Democrats in second place.

All the wards declared so far are in South Somerset.

Significant Green gains – Owl

A third of the seats on the 39-seat council were up for election on Thursday.

Previously Labour had a majority of 28, Conservatives held 18 and the Liberal Democrats and Greens had two each, with one Independent and four vacant.

Now Labour holds 26 seats, Conservatives have five, Liberal Democrats have two, Green have five and Independents have one.

Figures reveal the overall turn out of voters was 37%, Exeter City Council confirmed.

Labour won 12 of the 17 seats, but lost two seats overall.

Labour Leader Phil Bialyk said: “I think what people in Exeter have voted for is continuity. They’ve actually seen us deliver.

“We are investing in our city. We’ve had the most people voting Labour in Exeter.”

From BBC

Plymouth City Council remains under no overall control after elections were held across the city. The balance of power is held between Conservatives and Labour, who have 24 councillors each, while there are eight independents.

James Johnson www.plymouthherald.co.uk

Of the 19 seats which were up for elections Labour won 11, the Tories won seven, and independents won none. The remaining winner was Cllr Ian Posyer, who became the first Green Party councillor in the city.

Cllr Posyer said “one green in the room can make a huge difference” and hoped his election would focus debate on climate change and help engage with communities.

Meanwhile Labour’s Dylan Tippetts became the city’s first openly trans councillor , who said being elected is an “amazing feeling”.

At least 75 of London’s most powerful local councillors are also working for the property and development industry, openDemocracy can reveal.

Lucas Amin www.opendemocracy.net 

Our analysis of hundreds of council documents shows how scores of lobbyists and other workers for the sector simultaneously hold senior roles in local government, working in council cabinets or on the influential committees that are supposed to hold developers to account. All but 11 of the 75 have stood for re-election in 2022.

We looked at the councillors with the most say over housing supply, demolitions and new builds, and found 13% of Conservatives had financial ties to the property industry. The figure is 6% for the most powerful Labour councillors.

We also found a number of cases that illustrate just how close local politicians are allowed to get to the development sector while acting within the rules.

In one example, a Tory cabinet member in Havering, north-east London, boasted about a “win” for his lobbying firm after its client was awarded planning approval – by his own council.

In another case, a Westminster councillor who sat on a planning committee was hired to advise a property firm as it tried to secure the council’s approval for a major development. Both are standing for re-election today.

Financial interests were declared in each of these examples, and there is no suggestion that lobbying rules were broken.

But campaigners warned that having so many local councillors with ties to property development “does nothing to help the perception that the planning system favours industry over communities”.

In most English councils – including Havering and Westminster – the code of conduct says members should not “place themselves under a financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties”.

Steve Goodrich, head of research and investigations at Transparency International UK, said: “Given the controversy often surrounding major planning decisions, it’s crucial to confidence in the process that they are made impartially and free from bias.

“To provide greater trust in local development, councils should not allow members to hold briefs where there is a clear tension between their public roles and private jobs.”

He added: “This is a ticking time-bomb for the lobbying industry, which should get on the front foot and stop this practice before it gets out of hand.”

Analysis by openDemocracy looked at financial interests declared by 941 of London’s most influential councillors, who sit on planning committees or make decisions as part of council cabinets.

In total, 75 of these had ties to the property industry, including developers, consultants and lobbyists.

‘Cause for celebration’

Osman Dervish has been a Conservative member of Havering Council since 2010. He has previously held the planning portfolio and served on the council’s planning committee, and is now the cabinet member for environment, earning almost £40,000 a year in allowances.

But Dervish also works as an associate director for Cratus Communications, which offers “strategic political advice” to clients making planning applications.

In 2020, one of Cratus’s clients secured permission from Havering Council to build 88 new flats on a car park, 35% of which were to be “affordable”. Cratus said it had provided “stakeholder engagement” for the developer, Caerus, throughout the process, including “engagement with senior politicians in Havering”.

When the planning application was approved, Dervish took to social media to describe the decision as a “win” for his firm.

Dervish’s lobbying job was declared in his register of financial interests at the time, and Havering Council told openDemocracy it was satisfied he had not personally taken part in the planning approval. Cratus said he had not been part of the project on the company’s side, either, despite his post on LinkedIn.

However, through his work with Cratus, Caerus admitted Dervish had met with its managing director to discuss other projects outside the borough.

In a second case examined by openDemocracy, a senior councillor in central London declared that he had advised a property company on a “landmark” local development. The council said he had had nothing to do with its subsequent decision to enter into a partnership with the developer, which secured it up to £151m of public funding.

Westminster councillor Tony Devenish is one of the most influential figures in London property development, serving as deputy chair of the London Assembly’s housing committee.

The international property firm LinkCity spent years trying to get the first phase of a massive 20-year regeneration scheme off the ground, via planning chiefs at both Westminster City Council and the Greater London Authority (GLA), of which the London Assembly is part.

At the same time, LinkCity was paying for advice from Devenish through his personal consultancy business.

In accordance with the rules, Devenish updated his register of interest in 2018 to declare that he was advising the developer. He had been copied into an official letter from the GLA handing the final say on the first phase of the scheme back to Westminster just weeks earlier.

The following year, LinkCity set up a joint venture with the council to develop the site, securing up to £151m of council cash in the process.

During this period, Devenish was also a member of the council’s influential Planning & City Development Committee, although there is no record of him or the committee becoming involved in the project.

The Church Street regeneration project was not without its own controversy: the wider 1,750-home scheme has been criticised by other Westminster councillors over the amount of affordable housing it would provide. Local groups have condemned the project as “gentrification”, “designed to price the community out”.

One councillor criticised the way the plans were dealt with, saying: “Time and again, we saw the council waiving the affordable housing and taking a diminished amount of money in its place.”

Devenish did not respond to questions from openDemocracy, but the council said it has “absolute confidence in the integrity of the planning process”. A spokesperson said Devenish had not been part of any discussions or decisions about the LinkCity project.

Records show he earns more than £58,000 from the GLA, on top of a £9,622 allowance from the council.

Croydon hotel development

A third case involves the deputy leader of Croydon Council, Stuart King.

As well as his political role, King holds a senior position at a public affairs firm called Terrapin Group.

The company specialises in property and development in London, offering clients “targeted political engagement”.

In January this year, one of Terrapin’s clients bought the council-owned Croydon Park Hotel for £24.9m – £5m less than King’s council had originally paid for it three-and-a-half years earlier.

Before the deal was complete, a government-appointed panel said the council should consider delaying the sale due to the economic impact of the pandemic. But Croydon Council went ahead.

Records show that King, who earns £42,000 from his job as deputy council leader, had to withdraw from at least one meeting about the plans, citing a “conflict of interest”.

King’s employment at Terrapin was fully declared in his register of interests, and lobbying rules were adhered to. He told openDemocracy: “I do not work on any Terrapin client work in Croydon as this would be a conflict with my role as a councillor in that borough.

“The disposal of Croydon Park Hotel was a matter that fell within my cabinet portfolio of responsibilities. Once I became aware that Amro were one of those bidding for the site, I declared that interest and recused myself from all further involvement.”

Neither Amro or Terrapin Group responded to questions about the development, while the council refused to comment.

Election advice for developers

The findings come ahead of Thursday’s local elections, which property developers are already assessing to maximise their political influence on planning.

London lobbying firms have offered advice sessions for developers, to help them navigate the political landscape.

Terrapin’s Peter Bingle took to social media to encourage developers to get in touch for political advice, saying: “Worried about the local elections next Thursday? Will your scheme be impacted by a change of political control? Have you been speaking to opposition councillors who might be in control on 6th May?”

Cratus Communications also offered political advice sessions “for developers and planning consultants” ahead of the local elections. An advert for the events boasted that Cratus would help property bosses “shape the way we approach development proposals”.

The Cratus advice sessions were led by two serving London councillors, including Dervish at Havering Council.

The other session leader was Vanisha Solanki, the cabinet member for housing and homelessness at Redbridge Council, who also works as an account director for Cratus. On the lobbying firm’s website, her biography says that Solanki has previously sat on the council’s Planning Committee, “which has allowed her to gain a deeper knowledge of the planning process”.

The Government has said it will not be appealing against a High Court ruling which stated its care home discharge policies were unlawful.

Isobel Frodsham www.independent.co.uk 

Last week, the High Court ruled policies in March and early April 2020 were unlawful because they failed to take into account the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from non-symptomatic transmission of coronavirus.

It came after a claim was brought against the Government by two women – Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris – after their fathers died from Covid-19.

Former health secretary Matt Hancock apologised for people’s “pain and anguish” following the ruling.

On Wednesday, the Government said it would not be pursuing an appeal.

A spokesperson said: “The Government notes the court’s judgment and that the court dismissed most aspects of the claimants’ judicial review.

“While we are disappointed that the court did not accept all of the points we put before it, we do not see a public interest in an appeal on those points, as the right place for these matters to be considered is the public inquiry.

“Our thoughts are with all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic. Our aim throughout has been to protect the public from the threat to life and health posed by Covid and we specifically sought to safeguard care home residents.”

In the early part of the pandemic in 2020, patients were rapidly discharged into care homes without testing, despite the risk of asymptomatic transmission, with Government documents showing there was no requirement for this until mid-April.

The judges said there was no evidence that Mr Hancock – or anyone advising him – addressed the issue of the risk of asymptomatic transmission to care home residents in England, or that he considered or was asked to consider the question of isolating asymptomatic admissions.

However, they added that the “growing appreciation that asymptomatic transmission was a real possibility ought to have prompted a change in Government policy concerning care homes earlier than it did”.

They pointed out that these risks were highlighted as early as March 13 by figures including the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, who said it was “quite likely”.

In a previous statement, Mr Hancock’s spokesman said Public Health England had failed to tell ministers about asymptomatic transmission and he wished it had been brought to his attention sooner.

The Telegraph reports that Lord Frost, said to be seeking a speedy return to Westminster politics, has been ruled out as a prospective candidate for the Tories in the Tiverton and Honiton by-election.

The local Tory association is said to want a local candidate, given the Liberal Democrats – the biggest threat to victory there – are sure to criticise anyone “parachuted” into the seat.

Ideally, they are said to be looking for a woman candidate despite Oliver Dowden, the Conservative Party chairman, ruling out all-women shortlists as “blunt instruments”.

So should we be scanning the list of Tory District and County councillors?

An open letter to my MP, Simon Jupp, from a Budleigh Correspondent:

As a Times reader I was horrified to discover the long list, compiled by Alice Thomson, of Southwest neglect compared to the rest of the country. (Tory voters in the seat vacated by Neil Parish feel abandoned: education, transport, housing and health are all below par) I would like to know what you are doing to rectify this.

Here is a list compiled from the article of neglect, supplemented by my some of my own.

House prices have soared in the area generally. Recent figures for February 2022 show the Southwest and the East have the highest increase in the country, pricing many locals out of the market.

Long term rentals have now come to a frightening low number.  Alice Thompson quotes only four homes for rent, compared with 326 airbnbs, in Ilfracombe. In Budleigh Salterton there were two properties for rent compared with 60 airbnbs when checked a couple of weeks ago; and BS is not the most popular coastal hotspot.

We have the highest number of universal benefit claimants in work.

The area has the worst educational outcomes for disadvantaged young people.

17% of disadvantaged pupils go to university. 45% do in London according to a report by Professor Lee Elliot Major and Dr Anne-Marie Sim of Exeter University.

School attainment levels between poorer pupils and others are the largest for all English regions.

The problems of high speed broadband are well known. Alice Thompson: “As Parish regularly explained in the Commons, there is no fast broadband in many areas — except in the prime minister’s holiday cottage where they have spent a fortune laying cable along his family’s remote valley.” 

We have only one major train line into London which gets flooded at Dawlish, cutting off the peninsula. (The Waterloo line cannot call itself a “major” line when it is only SINGLE track in places). As I write this I hear that Crossrail is about to open at an estimated final cost of £19bn.

The motorway stops at Exeter.

Investments in transport is £308/head compared to the national average of £474. In a rural area where cars are often the only way to get to work. 

The number of hospital bed /head of population is the third worst in the country – 9,916. The North West has the best with 15,212. But the Southwest has the oldest population and lowest number of critical care beds per head of population

Life expectancy is low in coastal towns.

No NHS dental appointments available in the region.

South West Water discharges sewage into the sea at popular bathing beaches. Alice Thompson mentions South West Water’s 43,901 hours of discharges into bathing beauty spots. In Budleigh Salterton in 2020, 83 episodes lasting 850 hours Perhaps one of your many tasks could be to regain a functioning prediction board on the parade.

The southwest was mainly a Brexit voting area and yet Cornwall will only have half of its EU funding replaced by the government.

Finally, with this by no means exhaustive list, the area has been subjected to a colossal amount of house building with no new infrastructure. How long has Cranbrook had to wait for a thriving town centre? Has this resulted in affordable homes for those locals who need them? No, great swathes of valuable farming land has been built on. Developers, use their economic viability “get-out” clauses, to reduce the proportion of affordable homes in a development as the outline permission is “refined”. Despite all the building around Exmouth we still have a shortfall of 591 affordable homes for Exmouth. For example, Goodmores Farm affordable homes requirement has been successively reduced from 88 to 33.

AND YET, Simon, our local growth fund is £134.40 and the Northern Powerhouse is getting £210.80.

Finally, can I express my disappointment that more urgent matters called you away from your long standing appointment to discuss how to help with local problems with the Leader and CEO of EDDC?

I feel I am being taken for granted.

What interests Owl is that the Tory Nottingham PCC, Caroline Henry, is also the wife of a local Tory MP. Keeping it in the family!

Josh Payne www.independent.co.uk 

A Tory police and crime commissioner who pledged to crack down on speeding has been caught breaking the 30mph limit five times within a 12-week period.

The PCC for Nottinghamshire Police, Caroline Henry, admitted the offences, including two committed on consecutive days, at a previous hearing in February at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.

Magistrates were told Henry, who is the wife of Broxtowe MP Darren Henry, had written a letter to the court saying she was “very sorry, embarrassed and ashamed”.

Her defence solicitor Noel Philo said the letter was written on “advice I did not give”.

The 52-year-old, who was elected to the post in May 2021, was caught speeding in a blue Mercedes and a silver Lexus with a personalised number plate in 30mph zones at four locations in Nottingham in March, May and June last year.

Court documents relating to the charges she has admitted show Henry was caught speeding twice near a primary school in Daybrook, Nottingham, as well as roads in Chilwell, Beeston and the city’s A610.

Speed cameras clocked the PCC’s speed as high as 40mph in a 30mph zone, with other excess speeds recorded at 35mph and 38mph.

The offences took place on 17 and 18 March, 2 and 27 May, and 8 June last year.

On her official PCC website, Henry listed ensuring an “effective and efficient” police response to speeding as one of her priorities.

She campaigned for election using the slogan “Make Notts Safe” and promised to “reduce crime with action, not words”.

The case was adjourned until 19 July where Henry is expected to argue that two of the five offences were due to “emergencies”, with one being when she was “very concerned for one of her children”.

Henry did not respond to questions over whether she would resign from her position.

In a written statement issued after the hearing, Henry said: “For technical legal reasons, the court has constituted that they cannot deal with the case today. I cannot comment on the ongoing case. I will be explaining the context of this matter in due course.”

Clarity sought after number of splits and sackings leaves council divided

Ollie Heptinstall www.devonlive.com

A series of political splits and sackings at Mid Devon District Council has led to calls for clarity about three newly formed groups and the future of the authority’s leader. Since 2019, the council has been run by independent-led coalitions – firstly with the Liberal Democrats and then the Conservatives – after the election resulted in no overall control.

Leader Bob Deed (Cadbury ward, New Independent) has been in charge throughout but his independent group recently split following a disagreement, with most members later joining forces as the Non Aligned Group (NAG). As for Cllr Deed, he and two other colleagues formed the New Independents. The delicate balance of the council meant the Tories could have taken exactly half of the 42 seats at the recent Cullompton South by-election, meaning its then-leader Bob Evans (Lower Culm, Ungrouped), who was also deputy leader of council, may have been able to challenge Cllr Deed for the top job. However, the Liberal Democrats won the by-election, and the state of the parties has been further muddied by Cllr Evans being replaced as leader of the Conservatives and sacked as deputy leader of the council.

Cllr Deed was accused of “political manoeuvrings” by Cllr Evans for the decision, as reported by DevonLive, but he claimed it was down to a “matter of trust.” Councillor Clive Eginton (Taw Vale, Conservative) won a vote to replace Cllr Evans as top Tory, while Councillor Stuart Penny (Yeo, Conservative) has taken on his cabinet member job for housing and property services. To make matters even more complicated, Cllr Evans has since resigned from the Conservative group and now sits as the council’s only ungrouped member.

Hoping to clarify the state of the parties at Wednesday’s full meeting of the council, Councillor Frank Letch (Lib Dem, Lawrence) said: I’m sure if the public looked at down table of allocations we have the three obvious parties, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Greens. Now we have New Independents, Non-Aligned Group and Independent No Group with one member.

“I’m presuming that the leader isn’t the one member of the independent No Group, because if he is we would all feel very sad for him. I remember in 2019, and I’m sure he does, that he was elected as an independent. So is he now the New Independent, because if he is, surely he is the old independent because he’s still there and he hasn’t gained anybody?

“I think the public really do need to know what these three groups mean because at the end of the day, some of these people would have been elected under one banner, like I was. If I changed to another group, I would stand down and I would put myself forward to be re-elected as a No Group, Independent, Non-aligned or whatever.

“Can we just find out if the leader has any plans to join these people together to find some way of getting the New Independents, the Non-Aligned groups plus the Independent No Group, number one, if they could get together to form a more cohesive entity.”

Cllr Deed replied: “In terms of the number of groups within this council, it isn’t unusual. And even within some councils you have two groups of the same party because there is a difference among members and so on.”

But he acknowledged Cllr Letch’s “very good point” adding: “I take your point, which is a very good point and maybe, because I think my column in the Gazette comes up next week or the week after, that’s something that I will address in the Gazette in terms of the different parties and what they mean.

“I don’t know how we slipped into the group that I’m now in, which is the New Independents. We should have just stayed as New Independents and the NAG should have got on with their nagging.”

The leader was asked by Councillor Graeme Barnell (Non Aligned Group, Newbrooke): “We’ve seen three replaced over the last year and this seems unrelated to performance in post because he congratulates all of them on their performance on his sacking of them. Can he please tell us how these sackings are related to the needs of the people of Mid Devon?

While he would not go into the reasons, Cllr Deed said: ” As you would expect Cllr Barnell, I’m not going to respond on the reasons for the removal of – some would like to say sacking – the removal from cabinet of certain members.

“In each case I felt it was justified, and therefore I took the action that I did. As you know, under the constitution I have the facility to hire and fire, but I do take the view generally as a leader that I should try to maintain a cabinet, which is, the best minds available to undertake the various cabinet posts. If for some reason individual members are finding it uncomfortable to maintain the job of a cabinet member within the cabinet, then there have been from time to time changes.

“Relating to the press this week, I would congratulate Councilor Luke Taylor (Bradninch, Lib Dems) because at least we have one mathematician within the council. He has managed to make sure that I’m reminded that I have removed seven cabinet members in the last three years.

“I hope that that number will not increase, but who knows? Somebody once said a week is a long time in politics. I have no intention at this time of changing any cabinet members, and I trust that we will go through to the elections in May 2023 and we will have a very good story to say in a year’s time.”

A former Conservative councillor has called on voters to back Labour in tomorrow’s local elections.

Sophia Sleigh www.huffingtonpost.co.uk 

The dramatic intervention by Barry Macleod-Cullinane, who served as deputy leader of Harrow Council when the Tories were last in power there, said the prime minister was “destroying” his party.

In a letter, he called on residents to vote Labour to “send Boris Johnson a message”.

Macleod-Cullinane said: “We now know that Boris Johnson broke the law and has lied repeatedly to Parliament and to us.

“He’s taking us for fools – and we can’t let him get away with it. A vote for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives on Thursday 5th May will be a vote for his chaotic leadership. We deserve better. That’s why I’ll be voting Labour on Thursday 5th May.”

Other former Conservative councillors are telling voters to back the Liberal Democrats in tomorrow’s elections.

Meanwhile, HuffPost UK can reveal that Conservative associations have shunned visits from cabinet ministers as campaigners warn that brand Boris is “shattered”.

Candidates have also put disclaimers on their leaflets pleading with the public not to “punish” them for “mistakes made in Westminster”.

Staff in Conservative campaign headquarters [CCHQ] are braced for the fallout, with one survey even putting the Tories on track to lose nearly 550 seats amid the backlash over partygate and the government’s response to the cost of living crisis.

HuffPost UK has spoken to Tory candidates who say they have been reluctant to allow government ministers to visit their wards due to “toxic” Westminster politics.

Sources said a number of London associations did not want any CCHQ involvement in their local campaigns.

“I know associations have turned down cabinet member visits,” one Tory campaigner said.

After Conservative chairman Oliver Dowden recently visited Wales, a council candidate said: “A lot of people didn’t want him coming here because they have been told everything needs to be local.”

In Elmbridge, Surrey, a former Conservative councillor wrote to residents urging them to vote for the Lib Dems in two key wards.

Councillor Alan Kopitko wrote: “You only have to look nationally with the lies that Boris and his followers have portrayed denying parties that they engaged in during lockdown echoing themselves whilst the Covid infection was spreading, and people were dying. This is detrimental to our democracy, whatever your political affiliations.”

Tory candidates have been marketing themselves as “Local Conservatives” with hundreds listed under the label on the ballot paper for the first time. They have also been leaving the prime minister off their leaflets.

Others have been more blatant in their bid to distance themselves from the national party, with Hartlepool candidates writing on their pamphlets: “This Thursday, please don’t punish local Conservatives for the mistakes made in Westminster, we are local and proud of where we live, and like you, we want the best for Hartlepool.”

Senior Tory MPs including ministers and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab have also recently adopted green branding for their constituency material.

A Tory campaigning in London said: “Things aren’t great really for the Conservative Party. Partygate is still coming up, it’s really shattered trust in the government and Boris.

“People are now linking it to other things, for example the government doesn’t understand the cost of living because they are so out of touch. That comes up quite a lot.

“The Boris brand is completely shattered, a lot of people are saying things like ‘I don’t trust him, I thought he’d be different, I thought he’d be on our side, I thought he’d be funny’.

“None of that exists any more. There’s still a lot of anger. Ukraine is coming up a little bit, cost of living is probably the main thing and that personal trust in the government is coming up a lot.”

However, seasoned observers are less worried because they say the last time the elections were held the Conservatives did badly and Labour did well so the results might therefore mask the true level of discontent.

They hope by the time the next general election comes round that the government has improved its position and standing.

It is also quite usual that non-governing parties do well at local elections and some Tories on the doorsteps say that national issues are not being raised at all.

One Red Wall Tory MP said partygate had proved “a bit of an issue” on the doorstep but that only around 10 per cent of Tories were bringing it up.

They added: “I’m not detecting people going back to Labour in any numbers at all, it will all come down to turnout in terms of what result we get this week.”

Another Red Wall Conservative MP on the campaign trail remained fiercely optimistic, saying: “It’s all to play for in last couple of days, we’re very close to winning in a few traditionally Labour areas.”

Some of the main areas to watch include Tory flagship councils Wandsworth and Westminster, as well as Barnet, Southampton, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Thurrock.

The results could fuel speculation over Johnson’s leadership, with some MPs already seeing the election as a referendum on the prime minister.

HuffPost UK has heard that staff working for some leadership hopefuls have been trying to “tap-up” MPs for support for weeks.

One MP has also admitted they are a campaign manager-in-waiting for one hopeful.

Some MPs think any leadership challenge must take place in a “window of opportunity” soon after Thursday’s results are announced or Johnson will likely be taking them into the next general election.

However, it all depends on whether enough letters of no confidence have been submitted to chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady.

One senior backbencher is said to be in “full-on manoeuvres” as MPs across the party say they have been approached by his staff.

The Conservative Party has been contacted for comment.

Tory candidates in Thursday’s local elections are styling themselves “local Conservatives”, and in some cases urging voters not to punish them for “mistakes made in Westminster”, as they prepare to count the cost of Partygate at the polls.

Heather Stewart www.theguardian.com 

The Conservatives are braced for losses in Thursday’s elections, in which every seat in Scotland, Wales and London will be contested, as well as many other English councils.

Leaflets delivered in Hartlepool say: “This Thursday, please don’t punish local Conservatives for the mistakes made in Westminster. We are local, and proud of where we live.”

In many parts of the country, including Birmingham, St Albans, and in the Esher and Walton constituency of the justice secretary, Dominic Raab, Tories are listed as “local Conservative”, even on the ballot paper.

Leaflets delivered in Hartlepool say: ‘Please don’t punish local Conservatives for the mistakes made in Westminster.’ Photograph: undefined/Twitter

A leaflet for Keith Rowe, in Birmingham Northfield, carries a picture of the label “local Conservative” as it will appear on the ballot paper, and the claim: “This is a straight fight between Keith and an unknown Labour candidate.”

In Newcastle-under-Lyme, Conservative leaflets stress, “this election is about local issues, not national issues”.

Boris Johnson’s picture rarely appears on the scores of local election leaflets from across the country seen by the Guardian. Some MPs, particularly in the south of England, have warned that Partygate is coming up frequently in doorstep conversations – as well as the cost of living crisis.

The Liberal Democrats have accused Boris Johnson of failing to campaign in “blue wall” areas such as Surrey, where they believe recent revelations about the prime minister’s lockdown breaches are particularly damaging.

Conservative MPs will be watching closely to see whether council seats change hands in their local patch, potentially pointing the way to Labour or the Liberal Democrats challenging them in a future general election.

Labour hopes to come second in Scotland, and to make progress in councils covering swing seats in England and Wales they would need to win to unseat the Conservatives at Westminster.

Some Tory MPs say that the aftermath of the poll could prove dangerous for Johnson if the Conservatives have a bad night and he is then blamed for the loss of hundreds of seats.

Labour and the Lib Dems are playing down the likelihood of a large number of councils changing hands – but the main parties’ share of the vote will be scrutinised for signs that Johnson has become an electoral liability.

The deputy Labour leader, Angela Rayner, said: “It speaks volumes that Boris Johnson’s own Conservative candidates are ashamed to be associated with him and trying to pull the wool over voters’ eyes.

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“With no answers to the cost of living crisis, Tory candidates are trying to hide from their own government’s record. A vote for Labour on Thursday is a vote to send the Conservatives a message they can’t ignore. Britain deserves better.”

The Metropolitan police are continuing their investigation into Partygate. Johnson has received one fixed-penalty notice for breaching lockdown rules by attending a birthday party.

The prime minister has told allies he does not expect to receive further fines, but it is widely believed at Westminster that more may come. The Met has said it will not update the public further until after the local elections.

Dear Owl

East Devon faces westwards to Exeter for much of its vitality, so we need to take an interest in what happens there. So, for those who have the chance to vote tomorrow…[Thursday, correspondence received yesterday]

… you would have to have returned today from at least a decade long holiday on Mars to make the catastrophic mistake of voting for the Conservative party on May 5th. There is no earthly reason for doing so, and almost endless very good reasons not to. The normal caveat that these are local not national elections doesn’t hold water because the current regime has taken local power back to Westminster in an unprecedented fashion, leaving all local authorities with budgets now well below the basic minimum clearly needed to meet their responsibilities and suffering the dead weight of egregious privatisation. We should note that the PMs claim that Labour led local authorities are badly managed is just more bunkum – the earliest budget defaulter was Tory run Northamptonshire – and many more Tory run authorities, just as those where other parties are in control, are suffering from chronic underfunding.

Let’s just re-read the list posted by Owl on 30th May (Southwest suffers from profound inequality) on a few of the pleasures of living in the southwest … 

* Low earnings and poor pay are common in many parts of the region with four of Devon’s eight districts among the UK’s top 25 low wage “hotspots”

* Poor mental health outcomes for both children and adults

* Teacher recruitment, retention and training are challenges for isolated schools

* Schools have on average lower levels of funding than elsewhere

* The area has long travel times to pursue further education or work which has been linked to higher drop out rates

* Fewer professional jobs are available in most areas, which has contributed to a youth exodus

Not exactly Shangri-La is it?…

This ‘local’ election is a national poll and is a chance to make some important changes. We have a shambolic, seedy, shameless government lurching to the unpleasant and downright dangerous end of the right wing in politics. An urgent rebalancing is required, and the chance to start that happens tomorrow. Vote for whoever you like, but for God’s sake (just ask Justin Welby…) don’t vote Tory.

(And I didn’t even mention partygate, Rwanda, porn in the commons, misogyny etc., etc., etc.)

Regards

Worzelist

Boris Johnson ended his 1,791-day hiatus from Good Morning Britain with a car-crash interview with Susanna Reid over the cost-of-living crisis, the Partygate scandal and honesty in politics.

The Hound reaction.life (Extract)

The Prime Minister – who turned up 15 minutes late to the hotly-anticipated interview – did not seem prepared for the ITV presenter’s ruthless questioning and constant interjections.

In one calamitous moment, Johnson was asked about Elsie, a 77-year-old pensioner who has been forced to ride around on buses all day to keep warm so she does not have to pay for heating back home.

Watch the 3 min interview here.