The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Don’t leave the election to chance
Many of you will have already voted by the time you read this. If you haven’t, please do as it’s really important in a democracy that we all exercise our democratic right. As the election slogan goes: “Don't leave it up to someone else; they could be leaving it up to you!”
I have outlined in this column over the past few weeks some of the local policies of the Liberal Democrats. How we want to see Peterborough governed in a different way: an end to the secretive and unaccountable cabinet system, and its replacement with decision making by committees meeting in public. And more than that, a council which genuinely values the opinions of its residents and responds to them. Also, how we want to see the council take its commitments on climate change more seriously, including helping people insulate their homes and install renewable forms of energy to help reduce escalating energy bills. And spending council money and deploying enforcement teams across the city to places where people actually live… not just in the city centre.
As I have canvassed in different parts of the city I have been hearing a message that people are eager to see change. Having one party (the Conservatives) running our city for 22 years is just too long. And it’s also been running the country for almost 12 years. The Conservative Party is a remarkable institution. It’s the world’s oldest political party, having been around in one form or another for over 300 years. Its main aim is and always has been to keep itself (and the groups in society that it represents) in power... and it has been remarkably good at that.
But when it thinks it may be losing power, it becomes desperate and starts flinging out abuse of the opposition and distortions of the truth. In these elections, we have seen Conservative candidates repeating the mantra of their MP that the city is about to be taken over by “an extreme left wing coalition of chaos”. It sounds good, and they keep saying it again and again, but fundamentally it’s a fantasy they have created to hide the financial chaos which they themselves have created in our city. Yes Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and Independent councillors have been working together recently; but it has been to campaign against library closures (in a city with poor educational attainment) and the closure of a hydrotherapy pool (in a city with above average rates of poor health). Fighting against policies such as these is not “extreme”: it is the right thing to do.
As I write this article, I don’t know what the results of the council elections on Thursday will be. Some years in Peterborough there is very little change, but maybe this year will be different?
If people vote for change by electing significantly fewer Conservative councillors, then Liberal Democrats will talk to other parties about the most effective way of delivering that change. We have set out our Eight Point Plan for Peterborough and we will explore how much of that we can deliver with support from other parties.… or indeed how much of their programmes we can support. That’s how things work in a mature democracy and that’s what the people of Peterborough expect of us: councillors working together to deliver what is best for the city.
And finally, I would like to end on a sporting note. On Monday of this week, Peterborough Sports won the Southern League play-off final to win promotion to the National League: a remarkable rise considering that less than 10 years ago they were playing in the Peterborough League. It was sad to see the Posh relegated, but it’s great to see Peterborough’s no2 football team going from strength to strength.
Many congratulations to chairman Grant Biddle, manager Jimmy Dean and all the players who have brought about this remarkable achievement.