Tories taking election gamble by avoiding established names
WILL this be the year the Tories take over Rossendale Council?
At first glance, things are leaning in the party’s favour after a decade out of power.
Stock in the national Government is high, if you believe the opinion polls, and at a local level, if the Tories choose to campaign on local issues, they can point to various schemes developed under the Labour leadership which they feel could have been handled better.
But in an unusual twist, the Conservatives have set themselves a tougher challenge by dropping a number of long-serving councillors in favour of new candidates.
In two seats they’d normally expect to win – Helmshore and Greenfield (Haslingden) – they now face competition from established councillors who until recently were members of their own party.
Recent history suggests that party politics don’t count for much when a well-known community figure stands for election.
In 2019, Labour in Stacksteads decided not to reselect long-time councillor Christine
Lamb, in favour of an alternative choice, Ross Charnock. Quite why local Labour Party members chose to deselect a long-serving, passionate, dedicated councillor is a mystery – but it’s a decision which left them with egg on their faces.
Well-known community champion Terence Haslam-Jones stepped forward as an independent candidate, campaigned on local issues, and won the seat with over half of the vote – a remarkable achievement.
The tributes to Mr Haslam-Jones following his death last month spoke volumes about how much local people value community champions who dedicate their lives to their local areas. The vote in 2019 at the ballot box in Stacksteads also showed that.
In addition to David Stansfield (Helmshore) and Val Roberts (Greenfield), there are also independent candidates in Facit and Shawforth (currently a Labour seat which Tom Aldred is fighting to retain) after Janet Whitehead put herself forward, and in Longholme, where Steve Hughes is looking to defend his seat for Labour. John Oliver has put himself forward there.
What’s driving independents to stand? There can be many reasons, but in the case of Cllrs Roberts and Stansfield, they must believe that their record in office is more powerful than the pull of a party political vote.
Cllr Stansfield in particular has a strong argument to put forward – he’s found himself out in the cold from the Tories after opposing Council
Tax rises at Lancashire County Council this year. His rationale is that people simply can’t afford it. The Conservatives’ rationale is that if you don’t vote with them, you can’t be part of the gang.
And so his election leaflet, which is a truly local election leaflet, not one of the pseudo-local ones we get from the main political parties which tell someone in Bacup as much about what is going on in Haslingden as they do about Bacup, is packed with challenges on decisions made by both Tories and Labour.
Cllr Stansfield is standing as an independent in both the local and county council elections. Can he win? He certainly has a strong majority at the moment – but what we don’t know is how much of that is voting for the candidate, or the party.
Is it possible that not being from a major political party enables you to be a more effective door-step campaigner, and more relevant to local voters?
There is evidence, beyond the Stacksteads vote of 2019, to support such a belief. For a good while now, Whitworth has been represented by the Community First party – councillors who are ultra local in their focus, not attached to a national party.
Will the Tories come to regret turning away existing councillors? Time will tell – but there’s enough local evidence to show they are taking a gamble.
The Scribbler’s views do not necessarily represent those of the Free Press.