There’s a General Election on December 12th. You probably hadn’t noticed. But it’s probably the most crucial vote we’ve had to make in decades. And the choice is simple. It’s not about Brexit, it’s about leaving all that division behind us and transforming Britain by voting Labour or sticking in the morass and voting Tory, which will mean seeing Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal cost the UK economy £70 billion. And that’s of course fine for the super rich and the far right Brexiteers who now control the Tory party, but it’s far from alright for the 99% of the country who have been living with austerity since the Tories backed by the Lib Dems brought it in back in 2010. On December 12th it’s a clear choice between Labour rebuilding public services, facing up to climate change with the Green New Deal, taking on the dodgy landlords, going after the bad bosses, stopping the big polluters in their tracks and building a future for all our people, at the heart of that the NHS and saving it from the clutches of Donald Trump or more of the Conservatives. The choice Nationally is Labour or Tory and in Bridgwater and West Somerset that’s the choice as well.
The election is a battle for control nationally and here in Bridgwater and West Somerset Labour recognise that and have selected Oliver Thornton who epitomises not just the fight ahead but the future of Britain. 32 years old and from a farming background engaged on the frontline of the fight against financial crime in London and with a young family in their West Country farming community,who he wants to build a future for , his mission is simply to unite a divided country and build a fairer society. Naturally Oliver is a passionate environmentalist and a highly educated, talented and caring community minded individual who knows which side he’s on. And that’s Labour.
Topple the Tories
In Bridgwater and West Somerset the seat has been held by the Tories for generations. Ian Liddell-Grainger, the current incumbent, fights elections by hiding and then relying on voters he takes for granted.
This time he will have a fight on his hands. Labour have steadily campaigned over the years from their strong local Government base, where they run the Bridgwater Town Council and form the Opposition on Sedgemoor District Council and are , on 17,000 votes from 2017, the party that people need to get behind to topple the Tories.
No-One Trusts the Lib Dems anymore
The Lib Dems will tell you that they are the ‘tactical vote’ to beat the Tories. In reality they have slumped to 6,000 votes in this constituency and it’s not hard to see why. It was the Lib Dems, including their new leader, who allowed the Tories in power in 2010 with their coalition from which they not only gained nothing but reneged on their own promises just to get a fingernail on the passenger seat of Government. This time round they are clutching at Remainer Straws and are looking like a one trick pony. ‘Only the Lib Dems can stop Brexit’, ‘unite behind us’ ‘vote tactically’...but in Bridgwater and West Somerset that claim is hollow. Anyone looking at the election results can see that even a ‘tactical’ vote to take on the Tories in this constituency is a Labour vote. A vote for the Lib Dems is NOT an anti Tory vote and will just help keep them in power.
Now, is this wise Mr Rodrigues…..?
And then there’s the independent option. The disappointing news that former Labour Mayor Diogo Rodrigues will stand as an ‘independent’ has been greeted with frustration by Labour activists who helped him win his council seats and elected him as Mayor and now find that thrown back in their faces. Labour Leader Brian Smedley has written to him asking him to ‘think again’ saying “Diogo, if you are serious about wanting to defeat Ian Lidell-Grainger and the Tories then please rethink your plans to stand as an independent which will only split the anti Tory vote, a mountain to climb at best of times. Independents have consistently lost their deposits in this constituency and in fact most start by assuming from a local fan base that they have a popularity which belies the reality. I recall Bob Cudlipp-a popular local activist, standing in the 2010 election at a time when the Tories had closed the Sedgemoor Splash in the face of popular opposition. He got 315 votes out of 54,493. Naturally still asked for a recount….The fight against the Tories is not about individuals, it’s about a movement of people working together. The Government in London will not be formed by independents but either by a strong cabal of the rich and powerful or by the organised working people of this country through the movement they have built up for over a century now. The Labour Party. The Party that put me and you in office because the members, the people who formed that party, worked to do that and meet and organise in democratic structures for a common goal. That goal is that together we are strong and divided we are weak and can be picked off. Bob Cudlipp’s lost deposit was about £1,500. I’m sure you’ll have made the decision that you can afford that, and even if you get about 2,000 votes you’ll still lose your deposit- but that’s 2,000 votes that are in no way anti-tory votes and will only help keep Liddell-Grainger in power. I implore you to stand with us and join our campaign and throw your weight behind Oliver Thornton as the only person who can beat the Tories here in Bridgwater and West Somerset.”
The Future is for Everyone
In recent years the rise of populism has created a truly horrible environment around the world. In atmosphere of social interaction and in the reality of burning forests. Whether it’s Trump, Farage, Johnson or Rees Mogg, we’ve put some ridiculous choices down on our ballot papers. It’s no wonder the world’s in a mess. Only the people can redress this by realising what’s happening before it’s too late. It’s the unbridled greed of the big corporations that has taken the world to 1 minute to midnight on the ecological clock and it’s the Trumps and Johnsons that couldn’t care less about the consequences. There is no half way house. There are no partial solutions. There is no Planet B.
The time has come to decide which side you are on. Please vote Labour on December 12th.
You have failed your voters for the past two and a half years by going against them and going against your manifesto. Why do you think anybody are going to vote for a group of lying 2 faced MPs who totally ignore their core voter. Sorry you have lost my vote………..
I have done my research, and it’s Corbyn 100%. I was/am no fan of Blair & Brown, but Labour didn’t cause the crash here. In fact, Brown took steps that assured it wasn’t worse. The Tories backed EVERY penny of Labour’s plans then, as admitted recently by Osborne.
In 9 years the Tories have missed EVERY SINGLE ONE of their own fiscal targets. By their OWN figures, people will be on less on average in the mid 2020s than they were in 2007. TWO decades of unprecedented wage stagnation and regression. The Tories, in those 9 years, have borrowed more than every Labour government combined. Ever.
Borrowing is not the issue, but borrowing AND implementing the economically stupid & morally reprehensible austerity shows how shit they are re economics.
We are, literally, the most unequal country in Europe. Slowest growing major G7 economy.
Foodbank usage was 41,000-odd in 2010. It’s now 1.6 million. 14 million people below the poverty line. 4 million children. Meanwhile the top 1% have DOUBLED their wealth in that same time period. 60% of those in poverty are IN work!!! IN work!! Record homelessness, record suicide rates, record insecure work, record worker rights and union repression, record crime etc etc etc. Labour’s economic plans are backed by 130+ of the world’s top economists, including at least two Nobel Prize winners. They are based on the National & Regional Investment Banks as used so well in Germany and elsewhere. So, unless you think the best economic minds and Germany are economically stupid…Add to this that Johnson has REMOVED worker rights, enviro protections, consumer protections and food standards from his Brexit Deal, and them OPENLY admitting they will be changing worker rights if we leave…
Re Iraq, Corbyn organised the 2 million people march AGAINST it and his own Party. Check out his voting record. He was correct re Iraq X 2, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria X 3 now, not arming Saddam Hussein in the 1980s when we did, Apartheid where he was getting arrested for being anti-racist when the Tories were literally calling for Mandela’s head, the financial crash of 07/08 down to the specifics of the American sub-prime mortgage market issues (and was ignored), Israel/Palestine, the Birmingham 6, the Guildford 4, started the proper NI peace talks and is cited by both sides as doing so, he, along with Abbott & McDonnell was one of only 6 MPs voting against Windrush, AUSTERITY when he and anyone supporting him was told in 2015 that to be anti-austerity (which NO other Labour leadership candidate was) was a “Far Left, commie, utopian, unelectable, loony left fantasy” Now even Tory MEMBERS are anti-austerity!!!
Now Johnson & the Tories are *pretending* they will out-spend Labour while trying to claim Corbyn is a Marxist dictator?! You can’t have it both ways!!!
Corbyn has tripled membership of the party, making Labour the biggest Party in western Europe. He’s made the party far more democratic than ever before, and as with the famous, popular 2017 manifesto, it gets written by everyone from me up to Corbyn. He gets hourly death threats, has had assassination attempts on him (see court records), punched in the head etc etc. All for US. Not him, US.
He cannot be bought, hence The Establishment hating him and smearing him. He is the most lied about politician of all time (see independent LSE report, BBC bias report etc-there are several).
He’s defeated coups, has the ENTIRE media against him on all formats, with no mainstream media on his side (The Mirror & The Guardian previously turned on him).
Oh, and to nip this one in the bud…he has been made Right Honourable by the Queen. Which means he’s on the PRIVY COUNCIL-i.e. access to top level UK & world secrets, where you have to be vetted by MI5, MI6, GCHQ etc….therefore, he OBVIOUSLY CANNOT be pro-IRA murders, a Russian stooge, a Czech spy, an anti-Semite (to paraphrase the great Andrew Feinstein who was a South African MP under Mandela, lost 39 family members in the Holocaust & lectures on the Holocaust: “Jeremy was there from day one re Apartheid. He’s literally the least racist person I know. I am proud and honoured to stand as a Jewish man with Jeremy”), or whatever rubbish they try and make people believe he is, because they’ve lost the political argument-so try and discredit the individual.
He pays TOO much tax (check out his public tax returns), pays for members of his own team out of his pocket, donated his pay rise to charity as promised, then uses what money he has left to fund the local Credit Union for people who cannot get loans. Indeed, in the 80’s he took out a £30,000 to build a desperately needed community centre used by many different groups-it wasn’t even in his constituency!!! He was there day one re Orgreave, Hillsborough (we have a Corbyn & McDonnell banner on the Kop at Anfield), and was the lowest ever expenses claimer-£8.95 for an ink cartridge when some Tories were claiming £100,000+ to clean their moats amongst other things! Literally!
So, if you want an NHS, vote Labour. If you want a second ref-literally the ONLY way is to vote Labour. If you voted Leave and reject the dangerous Johnson/No Deal, Labour has already agreed a Leave option in theory with the EU-so vote Labour to choose that in the Ref if you are a leaver. If you want to end austerity, literally the only way is to vote Labour. Only two people can be PM-Johnson, a man backed by fascists & billionaires who is openly going to sell off the NHS to Trump, who voted AGAINST STOPPING privatisation of the NHS last week, along with the Tories. The Lib Dems abstained???!!! or Corbyn. I do not want to look future generations in the eye when they ask “Why did you get rid of the NHS as is, why can’t I buy a house or even afford the rent, why have I got unpaid hols, why in the environment getting worse, why is there no secure work, no pensions worth having etc” and then tell them “It’s because Corbyn didn’t sing the National Anthem, they believed the lies, someone didn’t like the way he wore a suit etc…”. Justify that! Justify my terminally ill friend having his benefits cut again to literally fund a tax cut for billionaires.
Whether you love, hate, are indifferent to Corbyn, this election is WAY beyond ‘normal’. It is a battle for the very soul of the UK.
Labour built the NHS, the Welfare State, a National Education system in their 1945-1951 government. From scratch. When the country was truly broke after WW2 with debt at 250% of GDP. It’s now 88% approx (up from 30-odd-% when the Tories took over in 2010). So I am quite sure we can easily do what Labour wants now. If WE fight for it and stop believing the white noise of lies. Corbyn is NOT a pacifist, but he is force ONLY as the LAST resort. Nor does he want to get rid of our armed forces-quite the opposite-he wants them properly paid, not sent to war on a lie or for some power/oil-grab, he wants them housed and not on the streets as many are, with proper kit if they do have to risk their lives. But this is a fight we MUST win. Let’s make sure we don’t blow it, eh?
For the last 70 years have refused to vote for a party. purely on the negative basis of keeping another party out of power ! Votes should be cast positively for the party which best suits one’s principles and my record is in tune with such opinion. There are more parties now than just Labour and the Tories. I look for good policies and COMMON SENSE !
Any doorstep delivery leaflets, drop 30 into Homecastle House (Chandos St) for Val Bannister flat 3 and I will drop them round all the flats (normal canvassers can’t get entry). Good luck.
Sorry I wont be voting Labour not while Corbyn is in charge. I have voted Labour all my life but sadly not now.