Author Archives: Victor Chamberlain

Liberal Democrats and Labour want the Tories out, but we must resist the descent into cheap culture-war politics

Liberal Democrats and Labour both want the Tories out, but we must resist the descent into cheap culture-war politics

 My job as the Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition in Southwark is to hold Southwark’s Labour Council to account. There’s much we don’t agree on: the lack of affordable homes for local people, rising crime, the state of our estates, poor customer service from the council, Labour feathering their own nests and marking their own homework, the lack of urgency on the climate emergency… to name but a few!

 However, Liberal Democrats and Labour are both progressive parties and have more in common than divides us. We share a goal that becomes more desperately important every day – getting the Tories out of government.

 The last decade of Conservative government has been a financial, social and environmental disaster for the UK. Public services are crippled by strikes, people are feeling the pinch and the economy is set to shrink, Brexit has been a disaster and any kind of meaningful response to the climate emergency is entirely absent.

 The only response the Conservatives have to their endless failures is to drag political discourse down to cheap, culture war battles. They attack the vulnerable and heighten divisions to distract from the downward spiral they have left the UK in.

 It is vitally important that the opposition parties resist this degradation of our political landscape. Unfortunately, Labour seems unable to resist the temptation. We all want rid of this terrible Tory Government. As Ed Davey said at Spring Conference “ only goal seems to be: “Not as bad as the Conservatives”. Talk about a low bar!” We all deserve so much better.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 17 Comments

ALDC’s Local Elections appeal

Victor Chamberlain, standing as a candidate in the Borough and Bankside ward, Southwark Council in this May’s local elections, tells us why ALDC’s appeal needs your generous support.

The challenging set of elections taking place across the country on Thursday 3 May provide a fantastic opportunity to put the Liberal Democrats back on the map in local government.

As a candidate, I wanted to help promote ALDC’s Local Election Appeal, knowing first-hand how important this financial support is for teams fighting to win this May.

HOW YOUR DONATIONS WILL HELP

In Southwark, we’re up against a well organised Labour party who can call on more activists than we can. As a result, we need to do everything to ensure our supporters’ voices are heard and we know they’re far more likely to vote if they have a postal vote.

Most residents in my ward lead very busy lives and are rarely in when we call round to speak to them. And the majority live in blocks of flats that we struggle to gain access to.

This is where ALDC’s Local Election Appeal is helping to overcome these problems by targeting postal voters in key battleground wards across the country.

HOW YOU CAN DONATE:

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Advert



Recent Comments

  • Leekliberal
    We pro-EU activists are NOT asking our leadership to 'wang on about reversing Brexit'. It would just be good if they could even occasionally mention it! We coul...
  • David Symonds
    I wrote to the Labour Party asking them to back off their cynical and unfair attack on Lib Dems. I do not understand how Labour (a so called Progressive Party) ...
  • Peter Martin
    @ Joe "Foreigners need to lend us the money to buy more than we sell so that we can live beyond our means...." No one is forcing them to. It's...
  • Joe Bourke
    Dieter Helm is professor of economic policy at the University of Oxford who has been writing about the issues of nationalisation of public utilities for years. ...
  • Maureen Treadwell
    I am not altogether sure we haven't already got enough homes. It is just that the empty homes are all a long way north of the M4! We need more investment in the...