Latest leaflets show LABOUR as the best choice in B&R by-election
What a pleasure to have something good to say about one of the by-election leaflets pouring through my letterbox!
It comes from Labour candidate Tom Davies; it’s down-to-Earth, makes no promises it can’t keep, and it addresses issues that are affecting us all – now.
He rejects ‘no deal’ Brexit and backs a final say referendum, in which he will be campaigning in support of remaining in the EU.
He supports Welsh Labour’s commitment to achieve a carbon-neutral public sector by 2030, and a shift away from fossil fuels across Wales – to combat the climate crisis.
He supports the Labour Assembly Government’s policies to provide 100,000 all-age apprenticeships, 20,000 more affordable homes and the best childcare for working parents in the whole of the UK.
And he says a Labour government in Westminster would end austerity, invest in public services, introduce a Real Living Wage (in other words it would be enough to ensure no working person would have to claim benefits), and a cap on energy prices. He doesn’t say he would bring this in immediately, because we don’t have a Labour government now – but adding him to Labour’s ranks would make it more likely in the future.
Compare this with the leaflet from UKIP’s Liz Phillips. If elected, she would be that party’s sole MP in Westminster, yet she claims she would:
- End the TV licence
- Control immigration
- Make Brexit happen
- Save the countryside and
- Scrap the Welsh Assembly
That’s quite a tall order for 1/650th of the MPs in Parliament. How’s she going to get everyone else to go along with that wish-list?
Oh, and she’d oppose windfarms, too. Apparently she doesn’t feel quite as sure she’ll get support on that one.
Most risible of all is the letter from Nigel Farage of the Brexit Party.
If his candidate – Des Parkinson – is elected, he would be the Brexit Party’s sole MP in Westminster – so he’s in the same position as Ms Phillips.
The letter states that if elected, this solitary MP would “refuse to pay the £39 billion ransom” – Mr Farage’s word. My understanding is that this is money the UK committed to pay into the EU before the 2016 referendum – “… scrap the multi-billion pound HS2 vanity project. And… cut the bloated, wasteful Foreign Aid budget”. How, exactly, does he intend to get at least 326 other MPs on board for that? This letter doesn’t say.
“Then we’ll take £200 billion and invest it in transport and digital infrastructure projects around Britain… That’s more than twice as much as they spent rebuilding post-war Europe.” And once inflation is taken into account, how much is it then? And there’s still no information on how Mr Parkinson intends to sway all of Parliament to his massive Brexiteering will.
“It will be areas such as Wales that will reap the benefits.” This is the bribe. Mr Farage wants you to think his party would get money spent here – and directly after the election on Thursday. Impossible.
The rest of the letter is an attack – not on the so-called “bookies’ favourite”, Jane Dodds of the Liberal Democrats, or even on former incumbent Chris Davies of the Conservatives – but on the Labour Party which is currently considered to be behind in public opinion (despite the clear worthiness of Tom Davies’ position and policies).
How bizarre. Does Mr Farage think stealing Labour’s votes will leap-frog his candidate beyond Mr Davies or Ms Dodds?
Well… it’s possible, I suppose.
Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds has built her campaign on stealing votes from other parties. Her local policy platform is non-existent – she might as well have come out and said, “I won’t do a single damned thing for the people of Brecon and Radnorshire.” But she thinks she can win tactical votes from Labour supporters by claiming to be the only candidate who can beat Chris Davies, and from Remain supporters by claiming to represent the only party that supports staying in the European Union.
Mr Davies has been relatively quiet – unless his leafletters have simply been avoiding Vox Political Towers. His attitude is that he belongs to the party that is currently in government, so if you want Brexit, you should vote for him, despite the fact that he has been convicted of falsifying his Parliamentary expenses. He seems to be relying on the rump of 7,000+ voters who’ll put their tick in the Tory box, no matter what.
Mr Parkinson may take some of the right-wing vote from Mr Davies, and is certainly likely to take pro-Brexit voters away from the Tory. He may also take pro-Brexit voters away from Ms Dodds. But Ms Phillips is likely to do the same – and who knows what harm UKIP and the Brexit Party will do each other?
And then there’s Tom Davies. He has made it clear that he supports remaining in the EU, and is in a party that has far more chance of ensuring that happens – if another vote takes place – than the Liberal Democrats will ever have. A remain-supporting vote for Jane Dodds is a useless protest, nothing more. But will his offer lure Remain supporters away from her? Or has she fooled too many Labour supporters into wasting their vote on her? Remember: her canvassers have been telling voters that Labour doesn’t even have a candidate in this by-election – a flat-out lie.
So these are the choices for voters in Brecon and Radnorshire on Thursday (August 1):
Two candidates who’ll be able to do nothing if elected; a convict; a liar; and Labour.
I’ll be voting Labour – because democracy is about choosing the right representative, not about trying to work out who’s most likely to beat whoever you think is the bad guy.
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
The UKIP and Brexit parties are both utterly loathsome but HS2 is not really a progressive idea and probably should be scrapped.
As for foreign aid, this matter does need to be looked at because there are problems. It actually benefits the donor rather than the recipient and so some reform is needed.
Years ago, I think that George Monbiot said that the foreign aid budget included £9 million for the Adam Smith Institute to study water privatisation in the Third World!
And so there is a progressive case for looking at foreign aid to ensure that it benefits rather than harms the recipient.
I thought that you were against people ” spamming ” you with leaflets, Mike ? Or were you objecting solely based on your political views ?
That’s right – I am against people spamming me with leaflets. So the Tories, Labour, Brexit Party and UKIP leaflets remain, if not welcome, then tolerated because I’ve had a maximum of four from each (less in two cases). The Liberal Democrats have been stuffing my letterbox practically every other day (sometimes several times in one day) – that’s spamming.
So: No – I wasn’t objecting due to my political views. Yours appear to be showing, though.
I’m glad someone’s calling out these blatent lies. The most shocking one was Nigel “forgetting” to take inflation into account- how can one of the UK’s largest politicians get away from that level of misinformation?
However, it’s fairly well-known that Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t like the EU, can we really trust Labour to meaningfully fight against Brexit?
I know that I can’t trust the Fib Dems to do anything about it! Their influence on Parliament is negligible and will continue to be negligible if one gets elected here. She will be worse than useless.