Two years ago, former Manchester Withington Lib Dem MP was elected as a Councillor in Manchester. Since then he has valiantly provided the only opposition to the under-achieving Labour Council. Seriously, this lot are as good an argument for PR as you are ever going to find. They have a huge sense of entitlement to power and they really don’t like opposition which John has been providing in generous and disproportionate amounts.
John is great but it would be amazing if he could have some support in the Council chamber.
Standing in the Withington ward this May are April Preston and Alex Warren. April is amazing and no stranger to challenging things that just aren’t right. She crowdfunded the money to pay for one of the best fringe meetings I’d ever been to at a Federal Conference on feminism in York two years ago.
The Withington team has set up a crowdfunder for their campaign and it’s raised £500 in just a few days. They say:
Withington Ward Liberal Democrats will strive to put community back into the Council and with your help we will be able to challenge officials that neglect our beloved city.
Our candidates in this year’s elections are: April Preston, and Alex Warren.
April Preston was the first spokesperson for Stockport Young Carers and has been passionate activist from the age of 10 and continues to campaign on a wide on a wide range of issues from mental health to children leaving care. April is also a is a trustee of Autistic Association of Greater Manchester, she has campaigned to repeal Section 28, and against the Iraq war. April has also argued against the council’s treatment of our homeless and chaired events fighting for a more diverse and tolerant society.
In 2014 the Minehead community centre tragically burnt down, the local councillors failed to act. After tirelessly campaigning for the Council to address the issue; April was successful in 2016, by forcing Manchester Council to admit their refusal to replace the services available in the much-loved community centre. Still to this day no replacement services have been offered to local community.
If elected, we will continue to ask these fundamental questions and be a voice for the
Withington residents.We have campaigned against rogue landlords and as a councillor and has called for HMO licence rules to apply to all landlords, not just to large houses.
If you like the sound of this spirited campaign to stand up to an awful Council, donate here.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
2 Comments
This article is as effective an answer as there can be to the question raised by Katherine Pindar recently (- and subsequent extensive discussion-) about whether Liberal Democrats should consider any form of electoral cooperation with Labour, in any of its currently multifarious manifestations. The answer should be No , No and NO, everywhere and anywhere. Know them by their deeds , not their blandishments or apparent closeness on some aspects of policy. (You could identify similarities of policy in some areas with most parties.)
It’s clear that the behaviour of the local Labour group at Manchester council are not doing their constituents any favours, but a lot of that is down to the monopoly encouraging laziness and attracting the wrong sort of politician, rather than a reflection on the party as a whole. This sort of situation is the perfect example of the problems of using First Past the Post for local elections. This used to be a common problem in a lot of Scottish local authorities, and while I wouldn’t say that is entirely behind us now we have STV, but things are hugely improved, and I think will continue to improve as new generations of councillors that have only known the current system replace the dinosaurs.
I don’t think we should automatically be doing deals with anyone, but we should always be open to cooperate with anyone in the right circumstances, which includes our potential partners being reasonable. It’s wrong to tar all members of a political party with the worst behaviour in one part of the country. Tribalism of Labour in Manchester is letting the public down there, and it won’t help the public if we take the same attitude at a national level. IMO, our ire should be reserved for the individuals behaving badly, and the political system that encourages.
Good luck to April and Alex.