I’ve been flicking through some of the old Salford City Council results over the last few days. I’ve got some interesting analysis which I will share with you on this blog in due course, but also a few question marks, the first of which is this; what happened to the Salford Liberal Party?
Now I don’t mean, of course, the Liberal Democrats, who are still very much with us, although I haven’t seen much of them in Walkden or Worsley over the last few years! I mean the Salford branch of the rump Liberal Party.
The Liberal Party consistently fought a number of inner-city Salford seats until 2004, after which they disappeared abruptly. They performed creditably in Langworthy, coming within 84 votes of victory in 2000 and polling over 500 votes in the revised Langworthy ward in 2004. If I remember rightly, they took out papers for the 2005 by-election in the same ward but did not complete them. This was surprising as they had finished a decent second there in 2004 and could have had a shot at actually winning in the by-election. Electorally I have seen and heard nothing of them since.
So where did they go? Do they still exist? Why do they not run candidates any more? Anybody know?
How bizarre to post this today of all days and then minutes later stumble across this…
Have you been delivering leaflets in Irlam today Iain? Who was responsible for writing that drivel?
A few points,
“Our local councils will have to repay £2Billion of loans to pay for the congestion charge, so council tax is likely to rise as a result.”
A complete lie! The loan is “1.2 Billion and would be paid off from the profits of the congestion charge.
“Non-drivers will also be hit hard by the cost of the congestion charge…”
Not true!
“Anyone travelling into the city will pay…”
Well anybody who crosses the congestion charge zones during the weekday, peak-time only period. Not really everybody is it?
“At around “1,200 a year, the new charge will be a further blow for local residents…”
The charge is not a standard £1,200 and you know that Iain.
“Sign our congestion charge petition…”
What’s the point in that? They have a vote on the issue!
Sorry Iain, a poor leaflet.
There’s a big difference between a poor leaflet and one you don’t like, Adam.
Completely off-topic, but have you seen the giant inflatable turkey on Sunflower Meadow? Brilliant.
Believe it or not I haven’t seen it but it sounds impressive. I will make a point of going to see it tomorrow.
What a strange piece of synchronicity. I can’t help wondering if Tim’ll return to Wolverhampton where he started his political career, has family, and where there is a comparatively strong Liberal Party.
Now I don’t mean, of course, the Liberal Democrats, who are still very much with us, although I haven’t seen much of them in Walkden or Worsley over the last few years! I mean the Salford branch of the rump Liberal Party.
Morning Iian
With regards to the Liberal Democrats in worsley. I was asked if i would stand in the General Election by the party. Of course you are right we had a great base in worsley of which i was proud to be a member, which was run by Bob. With Bob droping of the scene and of course sadly missed this took a back seat to areas of which we felt we had chances of picking up. Norman is adamant we force the issues into worsley and of course i hope to take up that challange. Again with Walkden we had debbie who came close, you have a base there which of course would be hard to crack. But with all seats like you we will allways offer a face for the people and offer a choice.We have to look at the choices in 2010 and consolidate our efforts to gain as many seats as possible,Our first set of leaflets will be hitting the streets soon. My only problem is to fit it all in
Regards
Joe
I agree with Joe one has to concentrate on the area’s where one has the best chance.
I imagine that’s what all political parties do. If you stretch your resources too far you end up with nothing.