by Paul Scully | May 4, 2010 | News |
The news is all about the final stages of the closest General Election for a generation but there is another crucial decision for residents in Sutton to make this Thursday. Council elections mean that we also get to vote for our three local councillors and ultimately, who runs the Council.
After 24 years of Liberal Democrat control, the ruling party have become a tired, complacent administration, forgetting why they sought election in the first place. We need fresh thinking in Sutton. The difficult economic times will bring tough decisions and we will need strong leadership to protect key council services.
Sutton Conservatives have spent 3 years researching their 100 pledge manifesto. Our collective experience in running small businesses, employing people and working at the highest level in public services allows us to tackle this situation head-on, bringing new angles to problem solving and steering us all through difficult times.
We cannot reward years of taking residents for granted. The green garden waste charge cost us all £800,000 to reverse, the Sutton Life Centre is sucking up the equivalent of 10% of the entire annual Adult Social Services budget for the Borough to build and the repaving of Sutton High Street is costing us the same as four years’ worth of road resurfacing.
I don’t know about you but I’m simply not rich enough to afford the Liberal Democrats here in Sutton. Don’t just hope for a better Sutton on Thursday – join me in voting for it.
by Paul Scully | May 1, 2010 | News |
Among the hard slog across my ward and the rest of the Borough, I met Arun from Tweety Hall who interviewed me outside my house about social media and how it might affect this election. The interview looks very professional, so well done Arun.
I’m not convinced that this is anywhere near the ‘Internet election’ that some had hoped for, heralding new media as a game changing force. However, Twitter in particular has proved to be a fast way of spreading news and giving momentum to stories that may have been lost in a small diary column in a newspaper.
by Paul Scully | Apr 25, 2010 | News |
Whilst Nick Clegg is giving his best blokey approach to politics the truth is somewhat murkier. The Liberal Democrats took a £2.4m donation from Michael Brown, a man living in Majorca through a company that was registered in the UK but has never seemingly traded. Instead the money came from Brown defrauding people. The Electoral Commission inexplicably ruled that the Liberal Democrats did not need to return the stolen money because they accepted it in good faith.
In the video above, John Sopel gives Vince Cable a roasting over his claim to want to fix politics whilst holding on to stolen money. It seems that Nick Clegg is being allowed to sail through whilst Cable takes the flak on the real background of the Liberal Democrats.
by Paul Scully | Apr 22, 2010 | News |
It’ll be interesting to see how the Chancellors’ Debate gets reported in the media with Vince Cable’s foresight exposed as more Mr Magoo than the Oracle at Delphi. Andrew Neil and Stephanie Flanders grilled Cable about his flip-flops over the past couple of years showing how a third party politician with little prospect of having to deliver can appear polished without sufficient scrutiny of their track record, but will wilt under the heat of the spotlight. The quote of the interview was from Andrew Neil: “Isn’t it true Mr Cable, that the biggest myth of this campaign is your reputatation.”
I doubt if Adam Boulton needs too many lessons from Andrew Neill but we’ll see if tonight is the day that Nick Clegg understands that you can’t form a government simply by stepping away from Westminster and joining the finger wagging alongside the crowd. Even the most optimistic polls for the Liberal Democrats suggest that they will form a coalition with Labour. This either gives us 5 more years of Gordon Brown with him having come a distant third in the election or a second successive unelected Prime Minister if Brown resigns. This is hardly a good start in fixing our broken politics.
Hat Tip for video: Guido Fawkes
by Paul Scully | Apr 18, 2010 | News |
Over the last few weeks, I’ve shared our thoughts on 11 key issues from Council Tax to grit bins. However, the Councilin its entirety is much more than that with a budget exceeding £400 million each year. We have spent a number of years, speaking to residents, collating local statistics and researching good ideas from nearby Councils. Our Manifesto is the result of this with 100 costed ideas for positive change here in Sutton. You can read it in your browser by clicking on the image above or download a copy here.
Despite the economic climate, we remain ambitious for Sutton. We all live in the Borough and so know that Sutton is a good place to live, but we also know that it could be so much better. Our collective experience in business and the public sector gives us the knowledge and confidence that to better services do not automatically follow ever-increasing budgets. We want to see a Council working smarter, using our money more effectively, directing more of it to making a difference to residents rather than meekly meeting Government targets. The 100 pledges contained within will start the reintroduction of fresh-thinking in Sutton.
Let me know what you think and join us in changing the future of Sutton.
