Monday – 10 March , 6pm Labour campaigning
Thursday – 13 March, 6pm – Ipswich Borough Scrutiny meeting
Saturday 15 March, 10am – Labour campaigning – South East Ipswich
Not a great week for Tories in Suffolk, but we are unable to gloat as it has been an even worse week for all Suffolk residents because of the local Tories.
First of all we had the damming report on the Tory run Suffolk County Council School Improvement team, more concerning for me was the refusal of those meant to leading the County Council to see that things need to change. We were almost deafened by the silence of the counties Tory MPs. I suppose I should be thankful that the Tory MP for Ipswich, Ben Gummer did criticise the County but there were very few words from him and he was certainly not ‘extensively quoted’ as he made out on twitter.
Something has to be done and done quick but that seems unlikely with the current Tory cabinet, so it is good to see that Labour have called for a vote of ‘no confidence’ in the Tory Cabinet member responsible for education. Will be interesting to see if all Tory councillors vote with their own group, in particular those from the west of the county who seem to be in open mutiny on the direction the Tories are leading the county on education.
Then we had the Tory Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk deciding not to go ahead with the merger of the Suffolk and Norfolk Police control rooms, now at least one Tory blogger is trying to spin this as an attempt to show that Mr Passmore has the interests of Suffolk as his main concern when deciding on budgets but those of us who heard Mr Passmore speak at Scrutiny will know that is far from the truth as it from what the Tory PCC said at that meeting the merger was a ‘done deal’. It also seems that is what the Norfolk PCC and both Chief Constables thought.
Yesterday, I received my council tax demand and in his spiel, Mr Passmore mentions savings of £2.3 million in 14/15 rising to £6.1 million in 17/18 – was that written before his U – turn on the police control room merger?
Wonder where the savings will come from now?
There was one other bit of bad news for the Ipswich Tories that did bring a smile Ipswich Labour faces, the Tories decided to change their group leadership, but it seemed not all the Tory councillors were happy with the changes with a number wondering how those who abstained on the Tory budget amendment seem to have escaped any sanction – never trust a Tory – even if you are a Tory!
3 comments:
When I first read this blog it would/could have been easy to assume it was written by somebody young, or maybe just out to demonstrate belligerence and contempt. These are two qualities I certainly wouldn't expect to be displayed by somebody in your position Alisdair. How anybody can look upon you (based on your rhetoric) as a credible professional who actually cares about his local population is beyond me. Local politics is not a game Alisdair. You are dealing with real people, who contribute their hard earned money in taxes in hope it might create a better life for them; not for this money to be wasted on foolish individuals, acting in a playground manner of name calling and general idiocy.
Perhaps a period of reflection might assist you in the realisation that your blogs are merely slander and pathetic.
The local voters of Ipswich specifically Rushmere, need a no nonsense individual!,Who demonstrates transparency and integrity. Two core skills that seem to be lacking from your personal portfolio.
Should you actually have the guts to publish this comment I would applaud you.
I look forward to becoming more involved in local politics.
I tend to agree with Kingsley having posted before on this blog under a anonymous posting ( this due to my connection in a non political way to IBC ) The level of political debate is poor with a great deal of smoke and mirrors a legacy from Tony Blair and the his spin doctor Alasdair Campbell. I personally feel there should be no shame for a politician to acknowledge that the other side sometimes have a better solution to a problem and be unafraid to acknowledge the mistakes of the past. This is local politics where ultimately the local populace, people who you live amongst should all benefit from the decisions you make in there name and not be following some national dogma with one eye on forthcoming general elections
Thank you for both your comments, I hope you will also be commenting on the official Ipswich Tory website and also the site of one of their activists - name calling seems to be an 'art' with them
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