Liberal Democrat protest voters be warned — it could be a costly endeavour
Written by ANNABELLE SANDERSON
Originally published in the Express.
July saw a record 72 Liberal Democrat MPs elected to Parliament as the Conservatives took a punishment beating for their recent record in government.
Whilst many on the left and in the public sector will have been drawn to the manifesto pledges of the party, in many parts of the country they are viewed as a protest vote. But the Lib Dems have a reputation amongst those who work in politics of being sly; hard to pin down on what they actually stand for – apart from election.
And because they have never been the main party in government, they are able to promise the earth without ever really being held to account on their record. But across the country there are examples of what this very left-wing party get up to when they are given a bit of power.
In Wiltshire, the Labour Party are virtually non-existent and the battle for seats – whether it is at Westminster or at council, is between the Conservatives and Lib Dems, so we have some experience of this.
Take my local town, which faces constant traffic due to roads built long before cars were invented. Given we have some of the worst pollution in the county caused by queuing traffic, you would have thought our Lib Dem run town council would want nothing less than to solve this issue and get the traffic moving.
Wrong.
At a town council meeting which was packed out with local people wondering what our elected local representatives have been doing for years about this issue, we were told by one Cllr Tim Trimble, a double-jobber who also sits on Wiltshire Council and takes home a decent taxpayer funded stipend, he said, "Frankly I don’t actually care if people have to queue for an hour".
Never mind people who need to get to work. Never mind people with hospital appointments or social care staff who need to visit vulnerable people to provide care. Never mind the small businesses who need the town to be a place where people visit and spend money – he doesn’t care and his Lib Dem colleagues, including the new MP for Chippenham Sarah Gibson (also a town and unitary authority councillor – kerching!) didn’t raise an eyebrow at what he said.
They did appear to have some sympathy with one of their colleagues who complained that they were tired, however and there was great enthusiasm for hearing that the town’s mayor had enjoyed a lot of cake.
This is the same council who has just spent nearly £500,000 hiring a "heavyweight" litigation lawyer in its dispute with a conservation group who are trying to protect an ancient woodland.
Or in Corsham, where the Town Council spent some £50,000 on what they call a "Town Gateways Heritage and Public Art Project" but what I call "six brass sheep and some local stones".
It’s quite cute, I suppose. The "Cross Keys Sheep project" – six sheep which will be coloured in by local school children and rotated so their artwork all gets a look in from drivers queuing at the traffic lights, is estimated to cost between £20,000 to £30,000 plus VAT. That £10,000 difference is quite a lot of money for a town council where local residents have just seen Labour remove their winter fuel allowance, but those are the vague estimates provided.
The other project, the Park Lane Trolleys is estimated to cost between £21,000 to £25,000 + VAT. It’s designed to remind people of the local heritage in Corsham, but I think that money would be better spent on other, vital, projects than on two blocks of Bath stone by a mini roundabout. It’s lovely stone – but perhaps private funding could have been sought?
Because it’s money from the Community Infrastructure Levy which could be used for projects including transport, flood defences, schools, hospitals and other health and social care facilities. And brass sheep, apparently.
Or take the California Crossroads in Wokingham which, according to Sir John Redwood, cost £5.5 million of taxpayer money. The plan was to turn a section of the road into a "more pleasant place village centre environment" but which has been described by local people as "looking like a playground".
After local concerns were raised that the confusing markings on the road including a new "leaf" marking intended to "encourage drivers to move slowly" made the area an "accident waiting to happen" the Lib Dem councillor responsible, Paul Fishwick dismissed them, saying: "All roads can be described as ‘accidents waiting to happen’, because accidents happen on all roads."
Yes, Councillor Fishwick, but it’s more about the frequency of those accidents and how preventable they are depending on sensible road layout.
Imagine if police never bothered to investigate burglaries in a specific area because "all burglaries happen in properties" or hospitals didn’t investigate unexpected deaths because "everyone dies and many of them in hospital"? I think we’d be raising eyebrows at the very least.
What has been noticeable about this new intake of Lib Dem MPs is how totally forgettable and utterly beige they are. Abstaining on Angela Rayner’s dreadful Employment Rights Bill which will harm businesses and jobs and on the Great British Energy Bill which could see us rationed on our energy usage, they’ve been unwilling to pick a lane.
This makes it much harder to hold them to account except by saying they don’t actually do anything. But at a local level when given the power, they cause havoc.
So, remember that in May when many councils will be fought over and don’t let their appearance of being "terribly nice" and "harmless" tempt you to put your town or village at the mercy of people who value brass sheep above lunch clubs for lonely elderly people, spend hundreds of pounds per tree they wish to axe or turn your roads into danger zones.
