The Manchester Evening News has the story:
A Liberal Democrat candidate for the next General Election has defected to Labour. Paul Moss had already been selected as candidate for Denton and Reddish but has now quit the party.
Mr Moss said: “Nationally the Liberal Democrats are a complete joke. And I have seen how the Lib Dems in Stockport have completely ignored local people and have helped to seriously damage communities like Reddish through their uncaring policies.”
A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: “It’s a shame he feels this way. He certainly didn’t express these views when he was trying to become our candidate for the council by-election in Stockport this month. It seems a bizarre decision to join the directionless Labour Party, which is crumbling locally and nationally.”
I don’t think you have to read between too many lines to infer that this is more about personalities than policies.
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62 Comments
Heavens above, I know we Lib Dems will often instinctively take the side of the underdog, but this is going too far! Never heard of a rat wanting to board a sinking ship before.
I know Paul was upset not to be selected as the Lib Dem candidate in either the Stepping Hill by-election or the upcoming Reddish North by-election.
But if he thought the Lib Dems were a joke and their policies bad for Stockport, he did a truly fantastic job of covering it up when he was doing everything he could to become a Lib Dem councillor.
I spoke to him at length at one of those selection meetings and never had an inkling.
A shame to see him go; I’m sure people will draw their own conclusions as to his motives.
Manchester is a weird little bubble politically. I’ve noticed, living here for a few months now, that not everyone splutters with laughter when they talk about the Labour party (yet). That line about us being a joke is quite chortlesome elsewhere in the country, but in Manc probably not many people will laugh at him.
Again, this indicates a tendency for us to select as PPCs people who say the right things but lack the deeper commitment. Underneath, they are saying what they think needs to be said in order to get personal promotion in our party, rather than because it’s what they truly feel. Was this person the sort of glib extrovert who comes across well in things like PPC approval and selection?
This is an indication that long-term commitment to the party ought to count for something, as it does suggest someone who’s not just going to jump off and embarrass us simply because s/he gets turned down for something. Also, someone who shows signs of having thought through party policy and doesn’t always agree to it, is probably better long-term than someone who instantly spouts the party line on every issue as if they’ve learnt it in order to pass an exam.
If my assessment is wrong, someone let me know. But my feeling is that people who switch to other parties through principled reasons generally go through an agonised phase when it’s clear they’re uncomfortable before the switch – I have no problem whatsoever with someone like that. People who are enthusiastic for us one day, next day joining another party and slagging us off, are in general people who’s only real concern is their own ego, they’re best got rid of, and our procedures should be carefully investigated to see what went wrong to allow them to get to be PPCs or whatever in the first place.
Alix
Manchester City or Greater Manchester?
Truly bizarre. Interesting comments, Alix, about Labour’s perception in the North. A friend was saying much the same about politics in Hull. Hard to believe from down here in London!
Another example of the consequences of standing candidates in unwinnable seats. If candidates were only stood where they could win, not only would this kind of embarrassment be avoided, but it would also yield a powerful slogan, ie ‘If we’re on the ballot we can win’, and prevent more seats being lost (eg Aberdeen Sth, Dorset West, Durham, Guildford) where people unknowingly wasted their votes on the third-placed candidate.
@Hugh and who decides where we can win? I am sure that we have won seats over the years that no one thought we’d win
Hugh, if we’d followed that tack then we wouldn’t have won by-elections like Dunfermline, Christchurch and Eastleigh. Also, there are usually around 1000 Lib Dem voters in each no-hope seat during a GE and we owe them the right to cast a vote for a Lib Dem candidate.
Alix’s point about Labour is also valid in a lot of Scotland too – I think the mass turn away from them could be in the SE, with politicos generally assuming it’s the same everywhere.
Matthew- I think that’s true but not a Lib Dem thing, there are candidates and MP’s in all parties whose selection amazes me. Shaun Woodward in St Helens South for instance.
I know that Paul was very committed to a particular local issue, to which the ruling Lib Dem group did not sympathise and perhaps Labour did. But then as they always said, it’s easier to do this from opposition.
Clearly a PPC resigning because of this (and other reasons culminating in him being frozen out of the by-election selection) is one thing; defecting another.
But when you have a party so committed to local issue campaigning with political principle as something of an afterthought too often, perhaps the surprise should be that this does not happen more.
Consider for example how many former Labour Councillors are on the LD group on the authority in question. Perhaps it is a Liberal Democrat Council in name only; a collective concerned only with localism, and his defection thereafter exclusively on that singular local issue with no wider (national, regional or even Manchester) context whatsoever.
I have long been an opponent of the Lib Dem Council decision to close my local swimming baths where I learned to swim, a pleasure to be denied by two young children.
Executive Councillor Kevin Hogg confirmed to me that he had approved a plan to sell off the site that includes Reddish Library , the community centre and the defunct baths. These are facts.
The Lib Dems polled less than the BNP in my locality.
Think about that !
David Wilson is a personal friend and will be an excellent local councillor fighting for the causes I believe in !
Last point on my personal journey. My 90 year old grandmother is in Trafford General Hospital & after visiting I looked at the pictures on the wall of the 1st NHS hospital and of Nye Bevan and I thought about the fortcoming 12 months in British politics and I knew what side of the debate I am on.
Did you come into politics to close swimming baths and build on sports/playing fields ( Harcourt Street )
Believe me it is principle why I have chose this course of action. I believe in localism.
Cllr Peter Scott also is a founding member of the Manchester & Stockport Canal Society .
A role he undertakes without pay. Check their website out !
Paul, thanks for coming back here, it is good that you are prepared to explain your position to former colleagues.
On the issue of the swimming baths, if you are going to oppose these plans, it seems to me you do need to have alternatives. I assume the baths are being closed and the land sold because there is not enough money to keep them running. So how would you deal with the hole in the budget that would result from keeping them open and not selling the land?
“Did you come into politics to close swimming baths and build on sports/playing fields ( Harcourt Street )
Believe me it is principle why I have chose this course of action. I believe in localism.”
Depends on the circumstances. Presumably you would be against these in any circumstances ever eg closing an outdated victorian pool in order build a new facility on a school playing field. If not what your talking about is a matter of pragmatism not principle.
“I looked at the pictures on the wall of the 1st NHS hospital and of Nye Bevan and I thought about the fortcoming 12 months in British politics and I knew what side of the debate I am on.”
Which “side” is that exactly?
Re Manchester, I lived there for 7-8 years…and it is a diff world, people are nicer and more down to earth then here (I’m from Kent originally and back here again) and so therefore it makes sense why they will always be Labour…because that was what Labour inherently was about, ‘helping the poor, working class etc’….
That isn’t what as far as they concerned the Libs are about…so it makes sense that this we hate Labour thing is more a southern thing who were never left at all!
Again, most people don’t know Lib Dem policies but that’s up to the Libs at the national section..
And to Matthew H…
Everything you say is in relation to YOUR personality and experiences…you said something similar with that asian girl who became a Tory..
How healthy is it to be completey subjective about a party, group or idea?? As a person looking for a cllr, I don’t want someone who just goes on and on about their policies because it’s all they know and they wouldn’t have an inkling what others feel or think or experience..
Can you not see that’s why despite the fact that Labour are failing and we’ve been right about soo much stuff (cable etc), people are STILL reluctant to vote for us??
Should we not be looking at that??
I go for policies, so to me it’s illogical to not vote Lib for the good of just society….but I honestly struggle with the archaic and inept attitude of my local party…
We’ve gone over this and people feel something when they join Labour or Tory-they have some sort of support unit..some sort of group thing…
We don’t do this at all. It’s like we assume that people should be grateful that they are a PPC….
To me, I’d bet my mum that the Lib Dems didn’t even bother to listen to Paul and ridiculed his opinion because he had no power…
Carry on..
So short sighted.
I know this sucks but for some strange reason, PPC’s or supporters or potential funders WANT to feel they are part of a group, movement that cares etc..not one that has an empirical attitude to people giving their time and energy..for free!
Denton and Reddish is where I lived for four years, and my parents still do (in Audenshaw).
Oh dear. LabourList seems to think Denton and Reddish is in Manchester.
Rantersparadise,
“As a person looking for a cllr, I don’t want someone who just goes on and on about their policies because it’s all they know and they wouldn’t have an inkling what others feel or think or experience..”
I agree. However, my experience of Lib Dem councillors is quite the opposite. The ones I know are extremely empathetic, good at listening to people and trying their best to help them. The very best are able to do this while at the same time continuing to promote our policies.
(By that I only mean that sometimes discussing people’s problems is not always conducive to discussing policy unless the councillor is particularly deft).
“I honestly struggle with the archaic and inept attitude of my local party…”
Oh, I’d love to know which one you are referring to :0D
“…people feel something when they join Labour or Tory-they have some sort of support unit..some sort of group thing… We don’t do this at all. It’s like we assume that people should be grateful that they are a PPC…”
I have to say that is not my experience either. I think the Lib Dems are incredibly tribal – too much so, sometimes. But it does feel like being part of a group. Without being facetious, have you ever been to Conference?
I am a bit worried about the experience you cite, however. Not all local parties are as good at this sort of thing (I know that we don’t keep grass roots members as engaged as we should) and it may be a failing in your locale.
On the last point, being a PPC is a privilege and people should be grateful for the honour. But the party should not then treat them as a workhorse or expect them to be a party cipher. That risks burning them out. Treat candidates (or helpers) as workhorses and you risk chewing them up and spitting them out.
So do the Royal Mail, James. At least bits of it.
It straddles Tameside (Denton and Audenshaw) and Stockport (Reddish).
I thought it worked like London (don’t kill me!) with Metropolitan boroughs. So Denton is in (I think) Tameside which is a Greater Manchester borough and Reddish is in Stockport, which isn’t. Ergo, you can say either that it’s in Manchester or Cheshire and be correct, but the political mood music of the constituency is surely set by Greater Manchester? Just like Epsom and Ewell is in a Surrey borough but it’s still a Greater London constituency.
*Assumes tin hat*
The Reddish Baths question showed the Lib Dem council in a very bad light indeed.
There was arguably a better case for closing a different Baths in the Town if any had to be closed. They picked this one in a strong Labour supporting area – with several great mills still a striking part of the landscape and still in use, albeit different use and mainly thanks to Labour interventions from region and Whitehall – rather than picking one in a Lib Dem/Tory area. Strange that, eh?
No wonder there was and is huge resentment. Several SK Lib Dems have been disgraced in one way or another including that racist drunkard at Tesco not too far from Reddish. I don’t mean Hennigan who used to live in the borough btw.
The refusal of the Lib Dems to do business with the local community trusts – for building preservation (it is a classic Victorian complex – and save our pool etc over the baths only underlines that sort of disgrace.
That reads wrong. I didn’t mean that Hennigan is a racist drunkard. That was the other Lib Dem councillor chappy. Chris Davies employee etc. Can I take the comment down and re-edit it? Will stick a corrected version up anyway.
Alix, Stockport *is* a Greater Manchester borough, and furthermore it’s a LibDem controlled borough and two of its four (three-and-a-half?) MPs are also ours. Even Reddish has one LibDem councillor!
I can only assume that Paul is referring to Denton, which looks as solidly Labour as the rest of LibDem-free Tameside.
The Reddish Baths question showed the Lib Dem council in a very bad light indeed.
There was arguably a better case for closing a different Baths in the Town if any had to be closed. They picked this one in a strong Labour supporting area – with several great mills still a striking part of the landscape and still in use, albeit different use and mainly thanks to Labour interventions from region and Whitehall – rather than picking one in a Lib Dem/Tory area. Strange that, eh?
No wonder there was and is huge resentment. Several SK Lib Dems – and I don’t mean Hennigan who used to live in the borough btw – have been disgraced in one way or another including that racist drunkard at Tesco, not too far from Reddish.
The refusal of the Lib Dems to do business with the local community trusts – for building preservation (it is a classic Victorian complex – and save our pool etc over the baths only underlines that sort of disgrace.
By “Paul” I mean Paul Moss of course, not Chris Paul.
I love Chris Paul’s comments. If you’re going to spread around unsubstantiated smears – at least get them right first time!
With the Lib Dems in Northampton closing the famous balloon festival and putting up the councils services for privatisation they are far to the right of the Tories so it is no wonder Labour is seen as the right party for Paul.
My understanding is that the Reddish baths simply didn’t have the numbers coming through the doors to justify keeping them open; and the Council is investing millions in building sports facilities in Reddish which, it’s hoped, will be more popular and better used than the swimming baths.
…and I should add that Stockport Borough has more than its fair share of swimming pools, including one of only 22 genuine Olympic standard pools in the UK, just three or four miles from Reddish.
Reddish also homes the North West Regional Basketball centre – a fantastic resource used by thousands.
I can understand that some people are sore at the closure of the Reddish Baths, but suggesting that Reddish is somehow missing out and not getting sporting facilities is very wide of the mark.
Stockport is also a Greater Manchester borough. One of the ten. The whole of Denton and Reddish is in Greater Manchester.
Stockport used to be in Cheshire, but is now a metropolitan council.
Rantersparadise
That isn’t what as far as they concerned the Libs are about…so it makes sense that this we hate Labour thing is more a southern thing who were never left at all!
Oh, yes, everyone in the south is a Tory because every MP in the south is a Tory?
Hint – go away and look at how FPTP distorts things.
Actually, it tends to be LibDems who are in places where it’s a LibDem-Labour contest hate Labour a lot more than LibDems in Tory areas where Labour are a weak third.
Everything you say is in relation to YOUR personality and experiences…you said something similar with that asian girl who became a Tory..
Yes, I experience it as a common pattern. Having seen it in several places, I suggest it is the same here. If what I’m just guessing is wrong, someone who knows more, please say.
As for my own personality and experience, I plead guilty as charged – yes, here and and elsewhere I do rely in my own experience, and what I say is obviously influenced by my own personality. I am not writing a dispassionate academic paper here, just commenting. But I’m not sure what point you’re making – first you accuse me of judging things from my own personality and experience, then you say what we need is more people who’s thinking is based on feelings and experience rather than just going on about policies.
Dan. What are you on about?
There was a word order issue after I’d inserted a new clause, not an “unsubstantiated smear”. Civilised blog platforms have the option to amend or delete ones own contributions. Sadly this one doesn’t. And sadly my request to remove the post has been ignored.
The particular Lib Dem councillor and Chris Davies MEP worker was guilty of being drunk and abusive, while trying to get more booze after a Lib Dem office leaving do, not his own as it goes, being racist, and being homophobic.
Not in the Lib Dem group at the moment. But still on the council. What a charmer. Meanwhile Reddish Baths were closed in what was a very odd Lib Dem decision. See local papers for coverage of that.
PS Reddish Baths had similar numbers to another baths. In a ward with a different politics. It was I think picked on. The rationale escapes me. And the SERCo run 50 metre pool to which you refer is teetering as SERCo don’t want to renew as they’re losing money hand over fist.
It is of course highly amusing to see brave in power Lib Dems saying that XY and Z had to closed when out of power they spend their time on hoaxes that XY and Z were to be closed …
Clearly the Lib Dems must have been doing a terrible job in Reddish North for two of the three Labour councillors in that ward to decide to join the party.
The LibDems have stitched up North Reddish – closed the baths and transferred assets from it worth £500,000 to the affluent area of Hazel Grove, which has a baths already, decided to put a school on a former toxic waste dump with no – repeat no contamination investigations done over the site of the proposed school, which is directly over the old tip extensively tipped from 1954 to 1974. There were 500 objection letters at planning and two petitions of around 500 names. The Council admits the traffic proposals are inadequate, they are stealing a legally binding 7 acres of public open space for the proposed school. Local people attending full council meetings were treated with absolute contempt by the LibDem Executive Councillor responsible who rudely gestured over his shoulder at “those people”, whilst simultaneously accusing them of planting asbestos on the site.
The fuly LibDem Executive have refused to condone the calling of the police over 70 times to our gentle, kind, simple town hall protester, dropping his court case last time on the day of the hearing. He is now charged with assault with a sneeze with intent to inflict a council employee with a cold. You really, really couldn’t make it up. The Executive are quite willing to see an innocent man possibly get a prison sentence. Why can’t the Council just deal with his problem which he has been trying to sort out for a decade without success.
I have been publicly branded a liar by our Council Leader, the LibDem Councillor Goddard, who has quite an interesting hinterland. No evidence has ever been produced of any lies I have told despite asking him for almost a year.
This is LibDem land and it stinks.
Denton and Reddish has no ELECTED Lib Dem Councillors. Audenshaw ward in Tameside used to be their stronghold where they had all three seats. Now Labour has all three… something to do with the hidden past of one of the Councillors there!!!
Ann Graham in Reddish North defected because ‘no-one took her seriously any more’. Will be interesting to see just how ‘seriously’ the Lib Dems take her too!
Given the Lib Dems came a poor FOURTH in May 2008 (which were hardly great elections for Labour) in Reddish North – behind Labour, Tories and BNP incidentally AND came an even more disastrous FIFTH in the Euro Elections (Stockport MBC very helpfully counted in wards) behind Labour (who topped the poll), UKIP, Tories and BNP I don’t think the Lib Dems’ have much to crow about in this constituency.
ALSO WATCH OUT FOR ANOTHER HIGH PROFILE LIB DEM DEFECTION IN DENTON AND REDDISH VERY SOON…
If Paul Moss had any misgivings about remaining in the Lib Dems these were not evident just a few days after Cllr Maggie Clay was found by mmyself passed away at home.
Paul was delivering his election material to my door two days after Maggie’s death extolling his virtues as a candidate. This material gave great weight to his commitment to the Lib Dems.This was before the local members who were in deep shock were even able to think about a by-election. I think this is enough to give an indication that our “loss” is no real gain to Labour.
Councillor Weldon is Executive councillor responsible for the school on the toxic waste dump in Reddish. I have constantly raised this issue with him at Executive and full council meeting only to have him sneeringly wipe the floor with me (I feel sure the local newspaper reporter would confirm his attitude).
I state the following and can email anyone documentary evidence of what I am saying should they require it:-
There are no contamination investigation points over the site of the proposed school, which is directly over the old tip. Children are to be protected from contamination hotspots (50% investigations of the land that was actually surveyed showed contamination hotspots) by means of prickly bushes. What happens when the plants take up the contaminants and lose their prickly leaves? Still these are just Reddish kids, so if they get sick and die so be it! They will be venting landfill gases possibly with asbestos fibres into the school and playground. The Council didn’t inform the Environment Agency of the scheme until three days before the planning meeting; when the EA emailed back to tell the council not to decide the application on contamination grounds the Council “forgot” to tell the planning committee. Also three days before the planning meeting the Senior Highways Officer said he had had no idea how big the development was to be and the traffic arrangements were unsuitable. We had had a meeting with him six months before to explain all this. The ones he has come up with are even worse, but these are only Reddish kids, so who cares about their safety?
Over the years the land has grassed over and become vital open space in a very built up area. There is a legally binding Section 52 agreement signed by the Council and the land’s then owners stating that 7 acres of public open space suitable for ball games must remain on that site. There won’t be 7 acres left and Councillor Weldon has ignored all requests for a straight answer regarding this legal requirement.
Because the proposal is taking playing fields, Sport England (bless ’em) is forcing the Council to cough up £600,000 for replacement sporting facilities on that site and others; this means the already small school site will be further reduced. So, there are 565 children who need to attend and the birth rate is rising sharply in that particular area. There will only be room in that school for 500 children now and the proposed nursery places have been reduced from 79 to 50. Still, these are only Reddish kids – not rich ones like in Marple and Hazel Grove – so who cares? There will be no room to hold a sports day on the site and for coaches to enter the school for trips out and to take the children to the baths, which is part of the curriculum, four spaces will have to be left free in order for the coach to turn. The kids could have walked round the corner to the baths, but the LibDems shut it and plundered it.
The cost of the school was £5.5 million in October 2005 and in the official schools closure notice a place was offered to every child who wanted it. This was a lie even when the notice was published, as even before Sport England’s demands there wasn’t enough room at the school. On December 12th 2005 the cost had gone up to £7.5 million. Why? Dunno, I am banned (again) from asking any FOIA questions on the subject. The cost is now £10 million and no proper estimation has been made of the true cost of removing the contamination, if they bother at all. A state of the art replacement for 5 council buildings is costing £12 million. Why is this school, described by the planning committee as a shoddy building with a tin roof, costing £10 million +++? There is another suitable, safe site at the Fir Tree which the Council wants to flog off for housing.
When I originally started asking FOI questions about this subject I was told it would take 84 hours of council officer time to read through the documents I wanted to see and £300 for photocopies. Total cost £2,500 – request refused. I knew this was a lie as I had already seen the files and just wanted to re-read those and take note of any updates. I didn’t want any photocopies. Everyone else in the town was also banned from asking any questions on this subject. I was also roundly told off for writing to the local paper. They ignored all requests for an independent review for 6 months. The LibDems were pontificating in Parliament about how good they were regarding the FOIA as opposed to the other parties. I wrote to David Cameron, the Editor of the Guardian and Gordon Brown saying don’t take any rubbish from those LibDems over the FoiA – look what is happening in Stockport. Within hours the information started to come through. It was about four folders on a current subject. How could that have taken a council officer almost three solid working weeks to read through and redact! Although it was to take 84 hours to read, after one afternoon’s reading of the files I was forbidden to see them again. How could they expect me to read them in 2.5 hours if they claimed it would take them 84 hours? Liars.
I am again banned for being rude and offensive from asking any FoiA questions. They Council had to prove to the Information Commission that I was rude and offensive and they have completely backed down on that claim now and started to let me see other FOIA responses, but nothing – repeat nothing – to do with the North Reddish school or the presumably very dodgy finances. The Information Commission has ordered them to supply him with the documents and he will decide if I can see them or not. They have seriously dragged their feet with regards to submitting those documents to the ICO.
I am not some disaffected Tory – I voted for these LibDem so-and-sos for about 20 – 25 years. They stink on the environment, given Hunter and Stunell’s attempt to push through a billion pound bypass through the Goyt Valley, they stink on the way they treat council taxpayers – and there should be a high profile case hitting the courts soon about what has gone on with the scandalous case of the town hall protestor – and they are incredibly arrogant with very little intellectual ability.
As for Maggie Clay, I attended a State of the Area/Health Debate at Stepping Hill Hospital – I assume Weldon was there. When I tried to say something the reply from the LibDems was: “This is not a debate, Mrs Oliver”. Yes, it flippin’ was. I remember Maggie Clay flying out of the room and laying into the poor council officer (Craig) who had allowed me to “Look, Sheila…”. My comment was: – It is Mrs. Oliver to you.
The LibDems need to put their house in order in Stockport or they will shame you all nationally.
Sheila
Some of my last posting got a bit mangled at the end, sorry.
I must say I have never heard Ann Graham utter a single word at any council meeting I have attended, even the local state of the area debate.
I am looking forward to questioning her in the future council meetings and seeing how she stands up to detailed, well-researched questions ;o)
Paul Moss quotes “I have seen how the Lib Dems in Stockport have completely ignored local people….”
How true Mr Moss, how very true. How nice to see a councillor that understands how people feel about this current council.
Ignorance is totally bliss at the council , and has been for many ,many years.
Regarding Mr Moss, a lib-dem spokesman states “It seems a bizarre decision to join the directionless Labour Party…”.
Well,spokesman for the lib dems,[ notice no name !! ], at least the labour party are at the top of the political pile, which I believe is the right direction to aim for. It is not directionless, they have achieved a lot , lot more than the uncaring lib-dem councillors and M.P’s could ever even dream of achieving.
Does any one agree.
The lib/dems in Stockport are terrible. The leader was a Labour councillor when it suited him, so too was david White. They have not got a clue about the area of Reddish North. I understand Anne Graham may have gone over to the “dark side” but the people didn’t elect a lib/dem. The lib/dems have closed this section of the town, turning it into a polluted car park in the name of “Quality Bus Corridors” what is quality about buses ground to a halt?
I attended a Stepping Hill Area Committee (all LibDems). There was an agenda item put before them for an integrated bus corridor in their area – I think along Bramhall Lane. They kicked that one into touch pdq – refused in seconds. Fine to destroy North Reddish but certainly not suitable for a LibDem area.
This is the website of the Stockport County supporters:-
http://members3.boardhost.com/marionsboard/thread/1246434018.html
Quote from one – “I would rather vote BNP than for Gormless Norm”. This is the LibDem candidate for North Reddish.
Hello and goodbye to some astroturfers, including the particularly keen person who decided to don six different personalities. Amazingly, all six thought the Lib Dems were awful.
There are massive problems with the LibDems in Stockport – maybe it would be in your party’s interests to have a word with them – certainly the case of the town hall protester is a complete scandal. He is charged with assault with a sneeze. From the public gallery at a full council meeting in a Walter Wolfgang moment he commented: Arrest that councillor, when Councillor Derbyshire sneezed. They called the police to him again for that. We are allowed to heckle. No-one was prepared to wait after the 10pm close of the meeting till the police came, so he waited himself outside the locked town hall till the police came to tell them why they were being called, so as not to further waste police time. You need to sort them out before they bring you into national disrepute, especially regarding the case of this poor chap who after waiting a decade for his complaint about his troubled adopted daughters to be sorted out and having no success over that decade, decided to stand outside the town hall day in day out for two years till he got some help. He has stopped now, since the Council’s action was becoming more brutal and he is waiting for his court case to see if he will be imprisoned. Of course, the Magistrate’s Court is run by Stockport Council and some of the councillors are magistrates – so expect a fair trial for him, eh! Why didn’t they simply help him with his problem instead of pushing him to the brink of suicide and having the police called to him 70 times with many arrests and nights spent in a police cell?
Also, I am trying to find out if the lady from Stockport who jumped off the Humber Bridge with her 9-year-old autistic son was also subjected to similar bullying by the Council if she complained. There is no data protection for the dead, but they have tried everything to stop me having access to documents. I will find out what happened there too.
They have been in power too long here, are arrogant, don’t even read documents put before them even in the agendas (details available on request) and think they can subject council taxpayers to bullying and humiliation, such as Goddard repeatedly calling me a liar at public meetings without any proof being provided.
I am going now unless anyone wants to ask me something and I will reply. I don’t like to linger too long with the LibDems.
However, there is one way Councillor Weldon can prove he is not cynically stitching up the people of North Reddish. There is a binding legal agreement dated April 1982 (evidence available on request) which states 7 acres of public open space suitable for ball games must be left on the site. If he would provide me with a map showing where this will be once the school is built (as I have been asking him and the Council for for months and months and months and which the cartographers at the Council tell me will cost about £5) then I will believe he is not abetting the illegal stealing of public open space from a poorer, very built-up area for the Council’s profit. If he ever sends it me I will let you know, if he doesn’t then that is proof they are up to no good.
Shiela, it might not be that people aren’t willing to rise to you, they may well have not checked the site this early.
Mark, that’s boring, if you’re going to do the multiple personality thing your six personalities should be distinctly different from each other. Some people just lack imagination, don’t they.
Biscit seems to have a better take on things. The lib/dems in Stockport are a timebomb. Sooner or later the chickens will come home to roost.
Well there we have it, Lib Dems can’t even field a candidate in the Denton North East by-election and pick a real loser for Reddish North. Great stuff. No wonder Paul Moss ditched the party.
So, according to the many, many people that appear to hate Stockport Council and have somehow stumbled onto Lib Dem Voice (which ain’t exactly a pillar of the internet), the Council is involved in wilfully poisoning working-class children and pressuring vulnerable women into suicide. I don’t know how well or badly the council’s run in Stockport, but I wouldn’t believe that of my worst enemies.
FC:
As they have made a net gain of 1 seat in the last three sets of elections (2006-8) they must be very good at covering it up. It just shows how effective the help Common Purpose and Bilderberg give is in practice.
Unless your suggesting that not everything I read on the internet is true.
Hywel
If you send me your email address I can send you documentary evidence regarding the school on the toxic waste dump. If you want to speak to the town hall protester, I will arrange that too. If you want to speak to the parents of severely disabled children who have been bullied and defamed, I can arrange that too. As I mentioned at the outset, I have documentary evidence or witnesses for all I have said. I don’t have evidence regarding the lady who jumped off the Humber Bridge with her 9-year-old autistic son, but I am trying my utmost to get it, despite all attempts to stop me.
So, which bits of what I have said don’t you believe and we can go through it with a fine tooth comb explaining all that has gone on with the written evidence.
Stockport’s Lib Dem 4* Council has adopted 0845 Call centres for most of it’s services. You just cannot get hold of anyone. Nobody signs letters personally. It is always “Council Tax team” etc. They should take a leaf out of this womans book and stop robbing the residents. Oh, and just try logging a complaint. That is a story in itself.
Euro-MP’s Campaign Against Premium Phone Rip-Off
11.45.06pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 13th Aug 2007
Liz Lynne MEP
West Midlands MEP Liz Lynne has again spoken out against commercial phone numbers such as 0845 and 0870 which are lucrative for businesses but costing their customers a packet.
West Midlands MEP Liz Lynne has again spoken out against commercial phone numbers such as 0845 and 0870 which are lucrative for businesses but costing their customers a packet.
Having taken up the issue on behalf of constituents in the past, and fallen foul of the numbers herself, Liz has had enough and is launching a campaign against their ongoing high prices and lack of transparency regarding pricing.
Liz said: “The biggest insult for customers is that so many of these numbers are helplines for products they have already paid for, such as BT Broadband Internet, that customers haven’t managed to get working properly.”
“These numbers ought to be free of charge, yet many businesses continue to prey on the fact that most people think these numbers all cost the same as a regular call or are free.”
“Now that excessive mobile roaming charges have been addressed, we must tackle premium commercial numbers. A BT peak-time national call typically costs 3p per minute but 0845 numbers can cost up to 5p and 0870 up to 10p. Businesses often take a cut of this extra cost and are reluctant to give customers non-premium alternatives.”
I sent in an official complaint about anomalies regarding £5.6 million last July to the Assistant Chief Exec (Monitoring Officer). When by November I had heard nothing I sent a registered post reminder to the Council Solicitor, who ignored it. I asked and asked at council meetings since and it has been completely ignored.
If anyone from the LibDems wants to email me [email protected], I am happy to forward evidence of what has gone on in Stockport.
I did come across this site by accident whilst looking for details of the LibDem candidate in North Reddish.
Hi
I wasn’t lying, as people on your website thought. There are massive problems and people here are treated like scum unless they live in LibDem areas like Hazel Grove, Cheadle and Marple.
I have evidence and I can put you in touch with loads of really fed up residents. We even face arrest on trumped up charges for questioning what is being done here.
[email protected]
You have removed the comment about the further defection. Why?
Leading Denton and Reddish Lib Dem joins Labour
Another top local Liberal Democrat, Karen Wright, has formally joined the Denton and Reddish Constituency Labour Party today.
Karen, who represented the Audenshaw Ward on Tameside Council for over a decade has now chosen to become Labour’s newest recruit. As well as having been the Lib Dem Leader on Tameside Council, she has also held several senior posts in the Liberal Democrats, including Constituency Party Chair and Parliamentary Agent for Denton and Reddish.
She is now the second high profile politician in a week to leave the failing Denton and Reddish Liberal Democrat party. First it was Paul Moss – their prospective parliamentary candidate – who tore up his Lib Dem membership, and now Karen Wright has chosen to do the same!
Karen Wright said: “I have been thinking about joining the Labour Party in Denton and Reddish for quite a while. I know how hard they work in our communities throughout Tameside and Stockport.”
“The timing of my move was always going to be difficult. Whilst I’ve always believed in positive campaigning and have no interest in slating my old party, it has become obvious to me that the Lib Dems in Denton and Reddish have become disorganised and are now showing little sign of understanding what local people need.”
“The choice in Reddish North is simple; Labour’s David Wilson, or a Tory who would support savage public service cuts and a Lib Dem standing on a record of ignoring the will of the community. The other parties will use this election to peddle their programme of isolationism, extremism, hate and division.”
Sheila: it was removed because one person has been posting repeatedly, pretending to be several different people.
You seem to want to know what is going wrong with the LibDems at Stockport, although not one of you contacted me for any evidence. Our town hall protester got a CRASBO (a criminal asbo)for sneezing. The police were called over 70 times to him, he spent nights in a police cell, last time he had the charges dropped on the day of the court case, this time he was charged in the Stockport Council run magistrates’ court of assault with a sneeze with intent to inflict a council employee with a cold. Why did the Council not simply deal with his complaint over the preceding decade or the two years he spent on the town hall steps? Now he is banned from any council meeting or streets surrounding council buildings.
The LibDem Executive councillors condoned this bullying thuggery throughout.
Hi
I can’t see the result of the North Reddish byelection posted on your website but I have to say – I told you so.
Kind regards
The people of Reddish have spoken in the By Election, Over 50% voted Labour in its fight for local amentities.The Lib Dems polled less than the Tories & UKIP finishing fourth .
I hope they listen and reverse the plans by Executive Councillor Hogg for closing the existing Library & selling the site off and engage with our new Councollor David Wilson to improve the library/baths & community centre site which was originally a gift from the people of Stockport to gain Reddish tax revenues in 1907.
Adswood library was closed . I will continue to fight to save Reddish Library . My children cannot go swimming locally . I am damned if we lose the library as well.
Paul
Email me – [email protected] -and we can fight the dark forces of the LibDems together. I note LibDem voting Marple keeps its baths, library etc at all costs, although Councillor Bispham once told me they have deprivation in Marple Bridge too, as they no longer have a late night chemist. Bless!
Come and ask them a question about Reddish at Monday’s Executive meeting.