How Can anyone vote Tory next week? Post Reply

[juliantenniscoach]

National or local?  You might be interested to know that The Green Party have a long term policy to leave NATO and unilateral nuclear disarmament.   Interesting to say the least, given the current situation.

[chorister]

I wouldn’t opt for Green but we all know they won’t be in power anyway so it would only be protest.

[Charlotte1911]

Very happily as a resident of Wandsworth. I feel it’s a well run borough (excellent waste collection services for example) and council tax lowest in country. I am very grateful I don’t live in Lambeth, it’s unaffordable!

[Lambethresident]

I’m a Lambeth resident and I think that looking purely at the amount you pay in council tax is wrong - it’s what you get for it. A lot of the services Lambeth provides are much better funded than those provided by Wandsworth. I am also still amazed by Wandsworth bin scheme - bags of rubbish left in the streets and easily opened by foxes - Lambeth’s is much cleaner and simpler with a recycling bin and an ordinary black wheelie bin.

Local politics should be local - Wandsworth is all about cutting. costs and getting a bigger share of the Government subsidy for towing the national party line. Lambeth isn’t perfect at all but when if comes to services for the weak and vulnerable, in my experience Lambeth delivers a better service.

I couldn’t tell you whether my local councillors are green, Lib Dem, Tory or Labour - but they are responsive , hardworking and I’ll vote for them - not the party they have on their ticket.

[Red5]

I think it would be good to have some different voices in local council, in my ward (Wandsworth Common) Lib Dems and Labour haven't even bothered to leaflet as they know it's just not worth it.
The only ones that are actually bothering are The Greens, so my vote is with them, it's not a protest vote (as I'm not a trad Tory voter) but I'd like them to be held to account on Green issues, I'd also like someone to champion re-investment in children and youth services, the Tories cut those services right back. Not all can afford after school activities, subsidised youth and children services would help improve life chances for many, evidence shows us these sorts of services have proved time and again that investment in peoples lives is of high value and eventually adds to the labour market. This is a diverse borough, we need diverse voices to challenge the one dimensional voice and hold them to account on decisions, make them think twice.

[ClaphamPkorNot?!]

I'd like to challenge the notion that the council's services are well run.

We don't have street cleaning on the day the bins are collected.  Somehow, the rubbish collection men conspire to burst a significant number of bags on their journey from the bin to the back of the rubbish truck and don't clear up after themselves.  The street clean is the next day and in the meantime, rubbish blows around in the wind and residents have to clean up the litter that wasn't there beforehand.

Our road is a rat-run.  No LTN on offer here despite numerous attempts at getting a width restriction or any better traffic calming measures in place. 

Our local Wandsworth schools are not rated outstanding, but the Lambeth ones are. Go figure.

The cost of parking a car outside my own home is outrageous.  Why a sensible 10-12 system can't operate and why it has to be 930-530 is beyond me.

Calling the council helplines needs to be done with a coffee, as you'll wait so long for it to be picked up.  A number of services are rightly run alongside other local boroughs to help reduce administration costs. 

As others have said, the fact we have low council tax is little do with how well the borough is run and more to do with the number of businesses in the borough.

I for one would be happier to pay a bit more and actually get some quality services.  

There we go, a load of reasons not to vote for the incumbents and I didn't have to mention what an absolute sickening embarrassment Johnson and his entire cabinet are.   

[Gillianiam]

You must know that the changes made by Khan were imposed by the Tories as conditions for the bail out. Condition they didn’t put on others, like Rishi Sunaka wife, a non dom, not paying tax from her earnings who claimed millions in furlough for her company. I’m not a Sadiq fan , quite the opposite but the changes were imposed by central government.

[Kitkat04]

As long as the Tory party is the only one who has the guts to say what a woman is and that biological men should not compete in female sport, I, as a woman sickened by the vile misogyny of the trans aggressive movement, will not be voting anything other than Tory for the foreseeable future.

[Kirstie’s Mom]

Except that is not true I have no idea where that comes from . Also fancy LTN’s and no monthly non collections? Then vote Labour

[wasateacher]

I realise that in some parts of the borough people get a reasonable service from Wandsworth for low council tax.  However, that is not the case in those parts of the borough which are less open to public scrutiny.  My road is badly maintained (for some reason it is not allowing me to post a picture.)
 

[Scottov]

Most certainly not a born and bred labour supporter. My dad canvassed for the Tories!

Ignore if you don’t want to talk politics. You don’t have to reply you know.

Gurning unserious cliches like an hysterical failing grade student at a protest isn’t exactly “talking politics”

‘I don’t know why anyone would Tory’ is not a good faith question asked by anyone with genuine intentions or interest in real politics

If you choose to be concerned with trivial matters that’s your business.

In the meantime, Wandsworth local councillors will continue to campaign on their records.

[BalhamBorders]

First off, how about reading the parties' local election manifestos which you can find by Googling so at least you know what you're voting for rather than simply 'cutting and pasting' the national situation. After all, there are different people involved locally who (usually) actually live in the area they represent rather than MPs who often get allocated to a seat.

Secondly, as to cost management: we live in Lambeth in a band F property and pay more than £200 per month which is double Wandsworth's - I don't believe our services to be twice as good across the board. I admit that's being a bit simplistic, but the general point stands that we get stung for loose spending by Lambeth Council.

Thirdly, Lambeth is all Labour at the moment except for the Greens in St Leonards ward and one Conservative in Clapham & Abbeville ward. Having so little opposition means that Labour steamrollers whatever they want to do in Lambeth and no policy is effectively debated. That cannot be good for local democracy and also means you don't get the best people being elected as there re too many shoo-ins. At least in Wandsworth there's a better mixture.

Finally, agree that nationally there have been unacceptable behaviours - and there are currently 56 MPs (about 8% of the total) under investigation across all parties. some will undoubtedly get reprimanded but we don't know who they are yet - innocent until proven guilty - but doubtless some will have to step down or be sacked.

Turn-out in local elections rarely exceeds 50%. So, let's all do our bit for democracy and actually vote!

[wasateacher]

I have lived in Wandsworth for over 40 years.  I have seen the cuts to services and the social engineering carried out by the Tories in Wandsworth.  They have off loaded problems to other parts of the country, rather than taking responsibility.  They have cut services to young people.  They have cut grants to community organisations.  Walk around the borough and you can see that in those places which aren't on general public view or not in the more expensive parts there is rubbish and there are badly maintained roads.

If you vote for the Tories in Wandsworth you are voting for segregation and preferential treatment.

[CvoM]

Thursday's election is for the council, it's not a general election. The council has been brilliantly run for over 40 years (and it's not just about keeping council tax low) so yes, can very easily vote Tory again. 

[MrBalham99]

Don’t get me started on lying…
You mean how the Labour Mayor Mr Khan LIED he would scrap £15 7 day a week congestion charge he sneaked in under Covid and without consultation !!
It’s was “temporary”, then promised to
Be scrapped in mayoral election when he felt threatened , now he’s apparently got zero plans to stand by his word.

Oh and as for Labour, Croydon has gone bankrupt !! Labour have a wasteful attitude to cash management.

I see a pattern and don’t fancy a hike in council tax to be wasted by incompetent people.

How much can a council raise council tax in % without a referendum? 3%.

On average bills in Wandsworth, that's about £50 per year. Ie, nothing.

There will be very little difference in council performance given that government employees actually deliver the services day to day, nominally overseen by their political masters.