How Can anyone vote Tory next week? Post Reply

[janee]

Tory Wandsworth is very selective about where it gives service. My street rarely gets cleaned and I am constantly picking up rubbish in the road and on the open space opposite - which never gets cleaned - just mown occasionally.  We are a cul de sac and, therefore, out of the public eye.  However since we pay the same council tax we should get the same service - but we don't.  I bitterly resent the discrimination displayed by WBC.  Lowest council tax = poorest service if you are not on a road people travel through.

[janee]

[SouthLondonDaddy]

Local elections are about local issues. Voting Labour in Wandsworth won't reverse Brexit, won't cancel the shameful Rwanda refugee policy, etc.

I have never voted Tory at a general elections, but local elections are different.
I think Wandsworth is run quite decently overall.

The one difference which is very clear between Conservatives and Labour is that Labour is very likely to introduce road closured, low-traffic neighbourhoods etc and not listen to the feedback of local residents, because that is exactly what they have been doing in most of their boroughs.
Wandsworth introduce low-traffic neighbourhoods but listened to local feedback and removed them.
Most other councils did not.
In Labour-run Lambeth, a disabled resident launched a legal challenge because her journeys now take forever (and no, she can't cycle). It took a legal challenge and all the publicity for the council to let her (but not her family or carers) through the barriers installed in her road, but not through the other barriers installed elsewhere in the borough. If this is not shameful I don;t know what is. https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-lo ... k-23052649

LTNs are a typical champagne socialist policy, because they move traffic from the richer side streets to the main roads where all the poor losers live. Closing one road to avoid a rat run is fine, but closing an entire area and forcing people on much longer detours is not (more miles driven, more time on the road, more traffic, more pollution).

If we want to talk national politics, let's remember that Labour was run by a man stuck in the '70s, who considered the dictators of Cuba and Venezuela his friends, and whom I personally hold as one of the main responsible of the hard Brexit we have had, since his policies pushed many people to vote for Boris.

[SouthLondonDaddy]

@janee, do you know for sure that cul de sacs are cleaned better / more often in Labour-run councils?
I used to live in Labour-run Southwark. Both Southwark and Lambeth have some streets which are cleaner and some which are dirtier. I think it comes down more to the area within the council than to the council itself.
Also, a single road is not necessarily representative, you cannot generalise that to the whole borough.
Oh, and also bear in mind that many of the firms to which councils outsource these services (Veolia etc) work for both Labour and Tory councils!

I agree that the wheelie bins which some councils have, and which can be emptied automatically into the trucks, are better than the Wandsworth bins which have to be emptied manually, but I don't think the bin-emptying mechanism is a sufficient reason to vote Labour - also because it's not like Labour would realistically change the bins overnight, imagine the cost and all the waste that would create!

[MrBalham99]

Easily!
It’s a local election and the figures speak for themselves.

Tory Wandsworth is extremely well run and I don’t see any reason to change it.

Perhaps you prefer Lambeth’s money wasting tactics, badly run services , 12 million spent yearly on debt repayments!
Things are falling apart along the common, broken benches, missing fences, paint needed everywhere!
Ridiculous bin collections with several bins…
Oh and Lambeth and Merton charge well over ours like £1660 and £1781

Plenty of reasons!

Let me take your post apart:

1) Funnily, the Tories never mention our neighbours Tory-run RBKC..where council tax is £1364.

2) Council tax is main set by Block Grant from central government, local authorities can only vary it 3% without a referendum.

3) So whether Labour, LDs or Tories run Wandsworth is pretty much irrelevant, regarding CT

4) Every local election has national issues and if you're someone who supports the most wasteful, corrupt and authoritarian government this country has ever had, that's your choice. But we won't get on.


 

[SouthLondonDaddy]

279490496_10223499784537431_1086091245059429648_n-1.jpg

An article from 3 and a half years ago https://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/ne ... er-reveal/

mentions Westminster, Newham and Haringey as the worst councils in terms of homelessness.
Westminster has mostly been run by the Tories, while Newham and Haringey by Labour.
See, you cannot generalise and imply that Tory-run councils are always worse when it comes to these things.

Plus, one should distinguish between the deprivation of a borough, which is not entirely the fault of the councillors running the borough, and what the borough does about it.

[SouthLondonDaddy]

@MrBalham99, you are right that the low council tax of Wandsworth and Westminster is mostly an anomaly, and that most Tory-run boroughs charge much higher council taxes.

However, what on earth would be the link between local and national elections? A Tory defeat MIGHT accelerate Boris' backstabbing by his fellow Tories, and his replacement with another Tory, but it won't lead to a general election, it won't reverse Brexit, it won't cancel the shameful Rwanda refugee policy, etc.
If you disagree, please do enlighten me on the constitutional mechanism through which any of this would happen!

Local elections are about local issues. I like our Labour MP (dr Rosina Khan) and I believe I will continue to vote for her at general elections.
I dislike local Labour councillors and will never vote for them. Like I said in my other post, local Labour has been hijacked by a bunch of out of touch eco-extremists.
Someone else posted the tweet with which Jo Rigby bullied a local shopkeeper, I think a butcher, who had dared oppose low-traffic neighbourhoods (he doesn't give a flying f* about the environment, she tweeted, and soon the eco-extremists jumped on the bandwagon and wanted to boycott his business!!!).
Ever wondered why Rigby, an Earlsfield resident, is now being parachuted into the Balham ward?

Again, local elections are about local issues. I think the Tories have done well locally. Council tax won't double overnight under Labour, but road closures, low-traffic neighbourhoods etc would be added - that is a huge difference between the two parties. I know I don't want this champagne socialist policy of closing the richer roads to shift traffic onto the poorer ones, and making access more difficult for emergency services.

E.g. see an ambulance which had to park far away because of road closures:https://twitter.com/SaveColumbiaRd/stat ... 1411414017

or the chaos they have created in Lambeth https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=deskt ... PFNXL3rPls

[SouthLondonDaddy]

PS Those who think that only angry car-supremacist white men oppose LTNs should have a look at the activity of "Little Ninja", an environmentalist who has been very vocal on the social injustice of LTNs and how they displace traffic from rich to poor roads. Oh, he doesn't drive.
https://twitter.com/littleninjauk
https://t.co/J9VKyYYjFq

 

[chorister]

SouthLondonDaddy  - "A Tory defeat MIGHT accelerate Boris' backstabbing by his fellow Tories, and his replacement with another Tory, but it won't lead to a general election, it won't reverse Brexit, it won't cancel the shameful Rwanda refugee policy, etc."  Probably all true, though the wheels seem to be coming off the Rwanda policy alredy.  But if it did accelerate a change, then don't you think it would be a relief just to have someone who was not a serial liar as Prime Minister? 

[Starr]

Locally Labour are going to lose many of their traditional voters over the LTNs throughout London. It was a shambolic scheme and the electorate, many working class, were treated with contempt.
I won't be voting Labour this time for the local elections. This will be my protest vote and I know I won't be alone.
I agree with all the people who've said cuts to services by the Tories have been appalling. However, this can be addressed by voting Labour in the GE, not locally and I feel we have a lot of idiotic Labour councillors at present throughout London and not just in Wandsworth.

[SouthLondonDaddy]

SouthLondonDaddy  - "A Tory defeat MIGHT accelerate Boris' backstabbing by his fellow Tories, and his replacement with another Tory, but it won't lead to a general election, it won't reverse Brexit, it won't cancel the shameful Rwanda refugee policy, etc."  Probably all true, though the wheels seem to be coming off the Rwanda policy alredy.  But if it did accelerate a change, then don't you think it would be a relief just to have someone who was not a serial liar as Prime Minister? 

And who would be this alternative?
IF there were a credible alternative, and IF it were plausible to think that this Tory alternative would be a more decent person and would not support the extremes of Priti Patel etc, then MAYBE your argument might hold some water.
BUT:
1) there is no such alternative in sight; until recently it was Rishi, but his chances are now over
2) Even if there were, I would not be ready to trade the CERTAINTY that the local situation will get worse under Labour (see my points about road closures, LTNs, etc) with A VERY SLIM CHANCE that MAYBE SOME of the extremes of this government might be watered down

[dinosaur]

Thank you for this thread OP. I agree with many of the comments on here and just want to say I have come to the conclusion that there are other options - I voted Conservative until now. Not this time. I have spoken to canvassers on my doorstep and I have listened to radio interviews. The best the Conservatives come up with is that under Labour our service will be worse and cost will go up. These fear tactics are shoddy, lazy politics and I find it insulting. 

Both parties have shown they have double-standards in their roles as representatives of the people. Both the Conservative party and the Labour party are treating this electorate with arrogance. Their petty debates are going to continue unless we empower other parties to step up and actually govern the country with honour. 

I sincerely hope there is a good turn out today for the Green Party and the Lib Dems. When I speak to their representatives I have seen integrity and the willingness to listen, not preach fear. 

I believe this is the only way we will see true change. You say Local Government has nothing to do with Central Government. In my view, any candidate standing outside a polling station today wearing either the blue or red rosette today is associating themselves with the parties that conveniently forget about the people they represent when it suits them. This will just continue unless we use our vote. 

[Astolat]

Just returning to this, looks as though enough people used the chance to send a message.

Hopefully on threads like these and in conversations with voters the new councillors have heard enough of the fears & hopes people have for labour and can ensure they run the council well, for all the people of the borough.

I’m optimistic that they will feel the pressure of having to do a good job so that it’s not a stick to beat the national Labour Party with at the general election.
But today I hope they just enjoy a well earned rest!

[Starr]

Best wishes for Labour but do hope they listen to legitimate concerns people have.
I can afford to pay more council tax but for so many and the unprecedentedly high living costs it would literally be a disaster.
The active travel policies need to be less shambolic too. Please no more money down the drain and help people who actually need it the most.

[NVHusband]

Wandsworth will resemble Lambeth in a few years time… higher council taxes, less quality services and spending on (Labour) pet projects… no doubt more loans taken out to fund these projects.

Just a matter of time before Wandsworth household waste is reduced to every two weeks and LTN makes an appearance… no doubt citing environmental concerns…

Voters get the (local) politicians they deserve.