Local residents in Walkden have been represented in Parliament by a Labour MP since 1935, with the exception of the two years from 1981-83 when the sitting Labour MP defected to the SDP. It may well be that this long run is set to come to an end - throughout most of the last year, the national opinion polls have shown that on a uniform swing the new Parliamentary constituency of Worsley & Eccles South is set to be a competitive marginal.
Of course, anyone with the slightest interest in electoral politics knows that swings in individual seats are often anything but uniform, so from a Conservative perspective it is encouraging to read today’s in-depth report from PoliticsHome on the situation in marginal constituencies. PoliticsHome have polled and analysed over 35000 voters across the country in marginal seats, looking at local and regional issues in depth, and are predicting a Conservative victory in Worsley & Eccles South as well as many others in the North-West.
This of course ties in with results from the last set of local elections - in the wards making up the new constituency, Conservative candidates had a lead of over 12% from their Labour counterparts. Locally and nationally Labour have let down local residents across the area -in Walkden, Little Hulton, Worsley, Boothstown, Ellenbrook, Winton, Eccles, Barton, Patricroft, Peel Green, Irlam and Cadishead - and only the Conservatives are listening and responding to local concerns. It’s time for a change!
One would expect that there would be plenty of things to occupy delegates at the Labour Party Conference (speeches, fringe debates, receptions, parties, plotting the downfall of the Prime Minister…) but from reading my site statistics it seems that one or two visitors are taking some of their time at Manchester Central out to read this blog. Greetings, comrades!
Published on September 20, 2008
in Salford.
I wrote last week about the appalling mess that Labour has cooked up for the Council finances. We had a long debate about this in the Council Chamber on Wednesday and the lead member responsible (Cllr Bill Hinds) did little to reassure. In fact, he was entirely unrepentant about the levels of unsupported borrowing and was a mere whisker away from expressing pride and delight in the fact that Labour have subjected the Council taxpayer to these massive liabilities.
I think there are two points to raise here.
Firstly, this is I’m afraid “another fine mess that the Labour Party have gotten this Council into” - if they’d listened to the warnings from the Conservative opposition over the excessive waste and profligacy then the Council would not be in such dire straits.
Secondly, I was appalled by the justification used by Cllr Hinds to support this new addition borrowing (nearly £17m additional borrowing in August alone). He said that the borrowing was justified because the repayments were low! Well, in which case, I might as well go out and blow £500 on a new laptop on my credit card, because it’ll only cost me £10 per month. Of course, that’s just to service the debt, I’ll still have to pay it back eventually - just as the Council taxpayers in Salford will have to pay for Labour’s financial failure.
Recent Comments