Reaction to that vote
May 11, 2012 4 Comments
I am hearing of rumblings within my own party about the vote in the council chamber yesterday. It is no exaggeration to say that some are angry, others disappointed, some confused. Some can understand and support what we did.
Firstly, it is important to state that we were unanimous, both in our discussions beforehand and during the vote. Our view was that we campaign to remove the Tories from power in Southend, and that was what we tried to do in the vote.
I have been asked why we did not put up a candidate. To stand any chance of success we had to have one candidate; two or more would only have made Nigel Holdcroft’s attempts to cling to power a lot easier. It then comes down to a judgement call as to whether a candidate from the fourth party would either have been credible or unifying.
Given that we did not put up, we were then faced with three choices: Conservative, Independent, or abstention.
We will be debating within Southend Labour this decision, and I am acutely aware of the problems that the Lib-Lab coalition caused within the party in the 1990s. I will not shy away from the debate, and hope that I can at least convey that it was not an easy decision for us. I think the wider populace will see that we compromised to try to rid the town of its failing ruling Tory elite. I am not for the comfort of opportunistic opposition – if you want real change you have to be prepared to compromise.
I have come in for criticism from the Tories; I have not been shy from expressing my views about the Independents and their anti-politics stance. I still hold that view. My vote for Ron Woodley is not an endorsement, merely pragmatism.
To view wider reaction I suggest the following reads:
How many councillors does Blenheim Park have??
Lib Dems tell Southend Tories to clean up their own mess
Lib Dems and Dr. Vel allow Tories to retain control of Southend Council
Lib Dems show their true colours!
Yellow Bellied Yellow Buddies: If You Don’t Stand For Something, You’ll Fall For Anything.
Julian's musings 
No arguments here. You made the right decision!
No criticism from me. You made the right decision – Tories out by all means!
Oh… and congratulations by the way! 🙂
Not in keeping with thread but…my FIRST motivation for getting involved localy was to destroy the BNP. That is done. Now we have to remove the sheeps clothing and destroy the Eng Dems.
If you have any nonsense from them I will be standing alongside you.
So you are declaring ukip are anti- nationalist aswell as i had always believed them to be nothing but a government safety valve for nationalism this all fits quite well, so thats what they mean by plastic patriots.