I was a member of the Green Party once. I was an enthusiastic Labour Party officer for a while. I am out of patience with party politics altogether just now – and you know, my opinions haven’t changed much. What is the point of going on supporting an organization because it once had policies you agreed with?
Our country is crying out for a government that supports its people, for example the vast majority of us want essential services taken out of the inept hands of companies like Southern Water, who have presided over floods, sewage problems and endless roadworks that seem to solve nothing. We want our public transport and GP services run in such a way that we can both gain access and afford to use them, we want a government that gives local councils the funding and the freedom to actually run our towns properly (what’s the use of yelling at councillors for financial failure when they’re desperately underfunded and tied up in corporate-friendly ‘privacy’ laws?) and most recently, whatever your views are about Israel / Palestine (I know, it’s difficult if you haven’t been following the story for years!) – whatever you think about all that, the vast majority of us wanted our politicians to stand up for international law, and to say, loudly and publicly, stop killing kids – Ceasefire now!
Guardians of democracy
Did you know that that national newspaper (which I can no longer bear to read, now it’s yet another corporate pile of nonsense) is called the Guardian because it was once run to ensure that people knew what they needed to know in order to use their vote wisely? Another thing our country lacks in recent years is decent journalism, so I was delighted by local journalist Hugh Sullivan’s leader in the Hastings Independent (there’s that word again) this week.
Given all the snits and snarls that have spread over social media since our council developed an independent group, you’d think everyone in town had previously been madly in love with the tattered remains of the Labour Party, that they were so offended to see a passel of councillors leaving it, but Sullivan has given us a good, detailed account of what happened and why. The Labour Party has changed beyond recognition since we first voted for Paul Barnett and his team and yes, at the time, most of us agreed with the Labour Party values that they stood for – such as public ownership of essential services (for Hastings, the main benefit being getting rid of the expensive and laughably incapable Southern Water), protecting the NHS (yes, the current Starmerite Labour candidate says she wants to support the NHS, but like Starmer’s Shadow Health Minister Wes Streeting, she seems to think you do that by privatising it) and as for the supremely distressing sight of the children of Gaza dying daily before our eyes, the local Labour Party have said precisely nothing.
No wonder half their councillors left the party. And all that is not just my opinion. That Sullivan article does what decent journalism should, and allows Labour to make the point themselves. “with Keir Starmer as leader, the Labour Party has changed fundamentally. The fact that these councillors … no longer feel the party is their home is conclusive proof of that.”
Absolutely right. Our Independent councillors appear to be unchanged. They still want the decent funding, decent wages and decent services the former Labour Party stood for. They want to defend our town from the very obviously corrupt and ineffective government we currently suffer from, they are frustrated by the way the less favoured parts of our town get no attention and no help. Let’s be clear – most of the Labour councillors feel that way (although it’s hard for them to do anything about it until the government restores council funding to what it used to be) and, when I spoke to some of them in October, most said they seriously wanted to speak up for the kids in Gaza, however complicated the rest of that situation may be. Whilst that is all true, half of them let themselves be silenced by The Party, and the other half said ‘no, we ARE going to speak up for what we believe in, and for the issues we campaigned on.’
You know, I don’t agree with Barnett and Co on everything but they do know that people need decent wages, decent houses and a decent health service, and they know that no decent politician will sit quiet and watch kids die. That’s a very good start. I am not going to grow old waiting for a local candidate who’s a carbon copy of me — what I do expect is local politicians with the guts to stand up for what they believe in, and stand up for the people in their constituencies. Isn’t that what we all want?
What will we vote for in May?
The same goes for all that talk about representation. Sullivan’s Hastings Independent article quotes a local petition (which really doesn’t have many signatures, but it’s a view) and the local Green Party, both of which express concerns about representation – how can it be fair, they say, to have a whole range of parties represented on council and only one in cabinet? Well again, I say this: Council Leader Paul Barnett (Independent!) did put together a cabinet with representatives of other parties in it, and the Labour Party attacked, because co-operative working is illegal in the Labour Party. I daresay that’s on the list of reasons the now independent councillors no longer support Labour.
I have to say I’m hoping desperately for an independent candidate in my ward come May. Tories are out of the question. Our one halfway decent Tory councillor left the Conservative Party a while back, for the same reason the Hastings Independents left Labour. The Party had become too right-wing and too abusive for his taste. That leaves us with the Lib Dems (who? Standing for what?), the spineless half of the Labour Party or the Greens – well, they did at least speak up for Gaza, but I still think we need to be wary of the ‘Tories on bikes’ effect. If they think boxes on wheels is going to ‘green up’ our town (don’t we have enough effing ‘street furniture’ to fall over?) Or that you can save the world by using washable cotton swabs for your twice-daily facial toner (what?) and posting photos of your used ones on social media (urghhh!) I don’t think so.
There’s also the not-insignificant fact that the Green Party are every bit as authoritarian as Labour, but more insane with it. They are still hounding people out of their party for carelessly going around knowing what ‘woman’ means. Do you want councillors who’d stand up for the likes of Eddie Izzard sharing a changing room with your daughter? Not for me, thanks.
How about you?
I have a feeling I’m far from the only one who’ll be looking for an Independent candidate to vote for come May so, if you’re not lucky enough to have one in your ward already – how about it? Are you independent? Do you want councillors who will stand up and speak up – loudly and confidently – for Hastings? Do you want to be one of them? If you do feel that way, why not get in touch with Paul Barnett, Maya Evans, Simon Willis, Andy Batsford, Ali Roark, John Cannan, Mike Turner or Nigel Sinden, and find out how you go about standing as an independent – they’re easy to find – they’re all well-known, councillors-about-town. Or, if they’re too lefty for your taste, talk to John Rankin, former Conservative, now independent councillor – or just pick up a copy of the 5th Jan edition of the Hastings Independent (link above) read all about it, and do some of your own independent thinking.
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Dear Reader,
Times are hard, and so the articles on this site are freely available but if you are able to support my work by making a donation, I am very grateful.
Cheers,
Kay
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Kay Green 