LibDems ordered to act shamelessly by HQ

by Paul Scully | Feb 4, 2009 | News | 2 comments

Shailesh Vara MP has revealed to the House of Commons what many of us knew already, that the LibDem campaign manual explains in great detail how to treat their electorate as mugs.

Yesterday, the LibDems initiated a debate in the House about parliamentary standards. However, they were not so keen to have some of their own played back to them. The manual published by the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors tells their elected representatives in Opposition to “Be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly.” It goes on to instruct “Don’t be afraid to exaggerate” and “you can secure support from voters who normally vote Tory by being effectively anti-Labour and similarly in a Tory area secure Labour votes by being anti-Tory.”

Political activists from the two main parties have seen this last instruction in action for many years. It is the one thing that unifies them. Politics is what it is. We seek re-election every few years and can’t expect residents to know everything that we are doing on their behalf…or not… without telling them. However, it is this sort of approach, embedded in their party, that gives rise to people’s antipathy to politicians. The Conservative council group will continue to oppose when appropriate, agree when we can but always ask the tough questions that make for a better-run Borough.

Council Talks To Itself Over Budget

by Paul Scully | Feb 3, 2009 | News | 1 comment

The Council Executive considered responses to their Budget Consultation this morning. It didn’t take long as they only received 72 responses from a population of 180,000. They seemed reluctant to see the imbalance of speaking to 0.04% of Sutton’s population to reach a decision that will affect 100% of Sutton’s taxpaying public.

Granted the 72 responses was better than the 22 surveys last year. They could have improved this by a factor of 2 if councillors had asked people that they knew to complete the form. The Conservative Group distributed several thousand alternative questionnaires and were able to supply over 1000 additional voices to the process.

I’m afraid the LibDem leadership hasn’t learnt the lessons of last year. This is another example of ticking a box, suggesting that they have completed an excercise required by Government, rather than showing a genuine interest in local views. It is true that discussions have been held with groups and organisations that represent several hundred people but this is not a substitute for wider communication.

In addition, the general open question of “What do you think of our budget?” having supplied a single page of information does not encourage a sensible discussion. It is the polar opposite of last year’s survey when they used irrelevant but loaded questions. One such question, something along the lines of “Do you agree that the Council should act in good time to pre-empt problems”, was shown to be worthless after £5.5m was frozen in an Icelandic Bank. At the time, the lead councillor for Finance’s response was effectively – we can’t think for ourselves in situations such as this because we are paying Capita to think on our behalf.