Friday 29 March 2019

Local Elections 2019

This year's local elections will be a new experience as I'll have my name on the ballot paper having been nominated to stand for the Liberal Democrats in the Clubmoor ward in Liverpool.

I'm definitely not going into these elections with dreams of a landslide victory, Clubmoor is a solid Labour stronghold, but with the local party having ditched a long serving councillor and chosen a new candidate at least I'm not going up against an incumbent.  I also won't be producing any paper leaflets, you get enough rubbish put through your doors without me adding to it.

Why the LibDems? Well having been a member of the Labour Party for a quarter of a century, I thought the long dark days of Militant, and making promises we couldn't keep, were behind us. Whilst the Thatcher government deserves much of the blame for the near death of Liverpool in the 1980s, the then local Labour Party was another side of the same coin, driving business and a generation of people away from the city.  Pragmatism and the building of a business friendly approach saved Liverpool, making it one of the fastest growing cities in the country. However the decline of the 70s and 80s was so deep that the rebuilding of our city and its reputation still has a long way to go.

I was a supporter of Joe Anderson and I approve of much of what he has done, but I couldn't sit back and watch the  Momentum takeover of the local party put at risk what has been achieved by both the LibDems and Labour Councils over the last 30 years.

Having left the Labour Party I looked around at another party that best met by political instincts and found that home with the LibDems. Especially with their pro-European identity. Now I'm certainly not blind to the damage done to the party during the coalition government, indeed I lost my job in the civil service less than one year into that regime. But I'm can also see that they acted as a brake on the more extreme aspects of the Tories ideology, and what has happened since 2015 is testament to that.

What about me then, raised in a one parent family, missed a lot of school time when my mum had a mental health illness, left school with no qualifications, but was determined to dig my way out of the hole I was in, and have worked in both the public and private sectors all of my working life. I was born and lived in Seaforth until my early 20s, moved south to work in London for a year, which turned into 20 years! before returning home 8 years ago.

I'm also a strong believer in putting something back into the city and community so I spend most weekends volunteering in the tourism, culture and sporting sectors.

My main focus if elected to the council would be jobs. Once you've got a job, paying a real wage, then everything else becomes easier.  But getting investment into the city to create those jobs is only part of the solution. Issues around transport, childcare (and adult care), health care etc all impact on your ability to get and keep a job.

I'd also want to hold developers to account for what they building, some of the recent new buildings are just plain shoddy, and simply not good enough for a city like ours. The number of failed projects which leave empty frames in the city and developers walking away with their pockets full of other's money is a scandal which must be stopped.

Whilst there is no justification, or need, to building on our green spaces, we cannot afford to just leave them empty and unused. They must be seen as assets for the public good, safe spaces for children and adults alike to play in, socialise in and enjoy.

Finally, I can promise you one thing - honesty. Whilst I've never run for, or held political office before, I have always been interested in politics, and something that infuriates me is when politicians refuse to give a simple answer to a question. That won't be me.

So if you, like me, struggle to see what the Labour administration is actually achieving in the city, if you want a progressive alternative, if you want someone to represent you on the council and not the other way round, then please vote for me in Clubmoor.

Thanks
Seán

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