Election 2019 - shock, not really

Well the shock of last night is slowly abating and actually I feel quite relaxed about it, perhaps that is because deep down it wasn’t actually that much of a shock.

The fight for the UK to remain in the EU at this time is lost.  I accept that, I don’t agree with it, but I accept it.  The paralysis of the last 3 and a half years is over, England has chosen it’s path, and given Johnson the majority to take us down that path, and down that path we must go.  Those who wanted Brexit have got what they wanted, and they must now be given what they voted for.  Be it good or bad.  Boris Johnson has told lie after lie after lie and the English electorate have believed him.  Well that is their choice, their decision.  Johnson has promised them sunlit uplands, investment in infrastructure and skills and promised them better jobs and better pay.  He must now deliver on those promises.  The size of his majority will actually make his life more difficult.  He fought this election in his image.  He won it in his image.  He will govern in his image.  When it goes wrong, as I believe it will, he won’t be able to blame the last Labour government, he won’t be able to blame Corbyn, he won’t be able to blame the EU.  This is a personal victory for the brand called Boris, but he will occupy a lonely podium, and the cheers will soon turn against him when he doesn’t deliver on those empty words and meaningless slogans.

One bright light during the cold dark December night is that the non-party of Farage, Tice and Widdecombe left empty handed, they may have caused many causalities but there will be no spoils of war for them.

The most important thing for me, as a European, is the decades of peace and prosperity that a union of the peoples of Europe has brought to this continent too often at war with each other.  It is sad to see the UK cut off from that family, heading into isolation, but the prize of European peace is bigger than any one nation.  I am and will remain a passionate European Federalist 

 

2016 Elections

The polls open in the morning with 4 votes in the City of Liverpool. Two for Mayor, and one each for local ward councillor and for the Police & Crime Commissioner.

As you may be aware, I was, until last autumn, a Labour party member, I’m no fan of Corbyn or his clique, so Labour's success or otherwise nationally is of little importance to me.  Of course not being a member any more means I no longer feel the need to be tribal about how I vote and I don't intend to be. 

We currently have a Labour Mayor in Joe Anderson and on the whole I think he has done a good job in the role.  He made 5 election promises 4 years ago and has delivered on them all.  As I have said previously I wish he’d be a bit more Mayoral like and drop the playground routine especially when dealing with opposition councillors.  But he has achieved a lot, especially considering the draconian cuts to the city’s grant support from central government.

His manifesto is bold and ambitious, whether it is all achievable only time will tell, and of course the unanswered question remains on what happens next year if, as he has made no secret of wishing, he is selected as the Labour candidate for Liverpool City Region Mayor.

His main rival is the Lib Dem’s Richard Kemp, he is an experienced councillor, but his manifesto lacks ambition, being first of all bogged down in procedure.  He doesn’t like the Mayoral model and seeks to abolish it.  He also wants to hand control of the city’s parks and open spaces to non-elected community groups.  There is nothing in his manifesto to grab my interest and continue the rebirth of Liverpool onto the world stage.  It is a local councillor mandate, when the city needs a leader, not a committee member.

All the other candidates I only know of from their page in the council’s election booklet, none have put any material through my letter box to explain why they want the job, or what they offer Liverpool.  The Independent Alan Hutchinson and Conservative Tony Caldeira make the right noises about being business friendly but don’t put any meat on the bones to say what they would actually do in office to attract businesses here.  The others offer either little (Greens), chaos (TUSC) or bigotry (English Democrats).

So Joe Anderson wins my support.  He has, as I say, an ambitious programme for the next 4 years, I hope if elected he, or whoever takes over from him in 2017, can deliver.  The voting system for Mayor gives two votes, and although I cannot really see anyone else beating Joe Anderson, to knock him out of the top two, I don’t like to waste a vote, so looking at the other candidates, I did lean towards Tony Caldeira, however when I tried to follow his links I found a twitter account which hasn't been used for 4 years and a dead website, hardly inspiring, therefore Alan Hutchinson gets my second vote.

For my local ward, County, I've only had an election address from the Labour Candidate Kay Davies, so she gets my vote by default, if the other candidates can't be bothered seeking my vote, I see no reason to give them it.

For Police and Crime Commissioner, the current Commissioner Jane Kennedy is standing again, and she seems to have done a decent enough job over the last 4 years.  However I'm also interested in what the LibDem candidate Chris Carubia has to say. I've dismissed the other candidates as the Greens seem to only interested in stopping people driving at over 20mph and the Conservative candidate has too much history inside the police force in my opinion to be a truly independent figure. I'd be happy for either Jane or Chris to be Commissioner, so my vote will go to whichever way my heart goes when I'm in the polling booth.

So to summarise, I'll be voting:
Mayor of Liverpool: 1st preference Joe Anderson; 2nd preference Alan Hutchinson.
City Councillor: Kay Davies.
PCC: either Jane Kennedy or Chris Carubia (to be decided).