Another political bombshell hit Salford over the weekend, as Liberal Democrat Cllr Joe O’Neill (Swinton South) announced that he was quitting his Party to stand in the General Election as an independent.
The decision is a huge blow for Cllr Norman Owen, LibDem group leader and Parliamentary candidate, who has now lost most of his credibility as well as his campaign team in Swinton.
One can only ask – if Cllr Owen cannot even command the support of his Liberal Democrat colleagues, how can he expect to gain the trust of local people in Salford, Swinton and Eccles?
Here in Worsley & Eccles South constituency, where there are no Liberal Democrat Councillors, residents already know that they have a clear choice between a fresh start with local Conservatives or five more years of Gordon Brown’s Labour.
It is becoming increasingly clear, amongst Liberal Democrat disarray, that voters in Salford & Eccles constituency have the same clear choice between our excellent new local candidate Matthew Sephton (pictured) and five more years of Hazel Blears MP. Don’t forget of course, that across Salford as a whole, Conservative candidates polled almost level with Labour at the local elections last year.
The people of Salford desperately need change. Local residents have been ignored and taken for granted by Labour. Only your local Conservative team can provide that change.
As a LibDem voter I’ve been disappointed with Nick Clegg and I’m not surprised that people are beginning to walk. I’m sure he’s a nice man but he seems to make no impact. It’s really only Vince Cable who has given the party any sparkle over the last year or two.
I don’t think they’ll do particularly well in the general election.
I think you have misrepresented affairs quite badly here.
Councillor O’Neill decided to quit his party and stand as an independent candidate only after he was not selected as the candidate for Worsley & Eccles South. The reason for this is accurately described in Cllr Norman Owen’s blog – Cllr O’Neill was an ideal choice for the constituency, but he had simply not gone through the necessary processes to be approved as a candidate. A decision had to be made since there is now talk from David Cameron (quite possibly accurate) of an early March election, and it would have been less than ideal to have gone any closer to the election date without a PPC for the constituency.
Councillor Owen continues to enjoy the support of the constituency party, and whilst this affair has certainly been unfortunate, I would not go so far as to say he has “lost most of his credibility”.
I understand the Conservative PPC for Salford & Eccles will be visiting my Debating Society at the University next semester? I do hope you will accompany him. Mean time, please pass on my regards to Alistair and best of luck with your campaigning.