Sheffield Lib Dem councillor defects to Labour on eve of party conference

[A.B.Yaffle]

I hope you're all watching Nick's speech and seeing just how much influence he's wielding in the Cabinet. When you get your tax break, remember who to thank for it! And Trident being postponed, who do you imagine brokered that? And the fine hand of Liberalism tempering so many Conservative policies, give them a chance.

 

How much of the tax break will be cancelled out by Clegg's new policy of increasing VAT (in spite of warning people not to vote Tory because they might raise VAT)? I'm glad I didn't vote for a party who's leader campaigned on policies to make life better for the poor and has now changed his mind and agreed to make the poor his main targets for saving money. I think anyone who got elected as a LibDem on promises made before the election is to be applauded if they decide they can't support the new Party and leaves.

[sccsux]

Boorrrinngg!!! This is last week's news.

 

You may think so, but you've got vested interests, haven't you?

 

If people are talking about, then it's current news.

[natjack]

,,,I think anyone who got elected as a LibDem on promises made before the election is to be applauded if they decide they can't support the new Party and leaves.

Fair enough to leave and become an Independent, but to use one party's funding and resources to get yourself elected somewhere where you wouldn't have got elected as the other party and then join that party a couple of months down the line? That's underhanded. I wouldn't want that sort of user representing me, thanks.

 

You may think so, but you've got vested interests, heven't you? If people are talking about, then it's current news.

You mean vested in the way that the poster was deposed in favour of the turncoat? That worked out well for the LibDems didn't it?

[wednesday1]

Boorrrinngg!!! This is last week's news.

 

 

The OP WAS last week!

 

Never mind, here's some news from this week:

 

North East Lib Dem defects to Labour as Conference closes

Richard Moss | 14:30 UK time, Wednesday, 22 September 2010

 

A Liberal Democrat flag flies above the Conference Centre in Liverpool

So I'm leaving Liverpool. Not on a Ferry Across the Mersey, but on the Transpennine Express (express only in the loosest sense of the word judging by the journey here).

The Lib Dems are leaving too, and generally they're a happy lot.

 

But back in the North East there is some trouble.

 

Away from Liverpool, and one North East Lib Dem has decided enough's enough.

 

Gateshead councillor Yvonne McNicol has announced her defection to Labour.

 

She'd represented Dunston Hill and Wickham East since 2004.

 

She says: "By acting as cover for the Tories as they savagely cut our public services, the Lib Dems have shown they are no longer concerned about the people of the North East."

 

The resignation won't shake the party to its foundations of course, but it's a sign that away from the largely trouble-free conference there are a small number of Lib Dems who do feel disillusioned.

 

And even here there are senior Lib Dems who want their party to be flexible.

 

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron for one.

 

 

He's seen as being on the left of the party, and admits he cut his political teeth fighting Thatcherism.

Although thoroughly supportive of the Coalition and Nick Clegg, he has warned of the dangers to the party too.

 

I was keen in particular to see if he was as signed up as his leader to deep and immediate cuts in public spending.

 

He told me the answer is, yes, but up to a point.

 

He accepts the need to bring down the deficit quickly.

 

But with one qualification. He says that if the cuts beging to seriously damage the economy in Cumbria and the North, then there will need to be a rethink.

 

If unemployment rises significantly, or the economy slips back into recession, he says the cuts will have to happen slower.

 

I suppose the question is, will the Lib Dems have enough muscle to rein the Conservatives in, and if so, might it be too late by then to reverse the tide?

 

You can hear his views on the Politics Show this weekend, as well as those of Redcar MP Ian Swales.

 

In many ways, Tim Farron's comments mirror the approach of a sizeable number of Lib Dem delegates here.

 

They believe their Conference has proved that the party can still be in control of its own destiny, rather than becoming an offshoot of the Conservatives.

 

Policy motions critical of Coalition policy on free schools, Trident and cuts have encouraged them to feel that they can draw a line in the sand.

 

None of those motions will change government policy, but delegates have told me that they think it will give Nick Clegg ammunition if he needs to resist unwelcome Conservative policies.

 

The test of that tactic will come soon, when we start to get more details of the individual cuts, and see their impact.

 

In that regard, there was a really interesting fringe meeting last night organised by the Smith Institute about the North-South divide.

 

The speakers included Ed Cox, from the IPPR North thinktank, and John Tomaney from Newcastle University.

 

Both told delegates there that they believed government policy would worsen the North-South divide over the next 12 months.

 

They are certainly both left of centre, but insisted they were approaching the issue from a neutral perspective.

 

Ed Cox said cuts will hit the North worse than the South, and would be compounded by the scrapping of the Regional Development Agencies just at the time when organisations will be needed to generate new jobs.

 

Both were also critical of Conservative thinkers who believe it will only be possible for the private sector to grow in the North, once the public sector is cut back.

 

And there they have the agreement of many Lib Dems.

 

At the same meeting Newcastle's Lord John Shipley, said the North East's problem was not an oversized public sector, but an underdeveloped private sector.

 

That may be a crucial divide with at least some Conservatives.

 

John Redwood may not be part of the Government at the moment, but if you check out one of his blog entries today, you can see that many Conservatives do believe public sector cuts will actually help the economy.

 

So as the Lib Dem gathering winds up, I'm already looking forward with some anticipation to the Conservative Conference in Birmingham in 10 days' time.

 

Just how different will be their approach to the issues their Coalition partners have wrestled with this week? These are fascinating times.

[Tony]

Don't overexcite yourself. You'll do yourself a mischief.

[wednesday1]

Don't overexcite yourself. You'll do yourself a mischief.

 

 

Hmmmm, looking forwards for a really big scalp to defect like Charlie.

Wonder how long Vince Cable will be able to stick it out before the Tories hound him out of his position.

[Tony]

Don't you like the idea of a government that doesn't feel the need to be constantly 'on message'?

 

Isn't an open debate with differing views that put a consensus into action an incredibly healthy position for our democracy and our nation?

 

Or should all the politicians turn up and vote according to this morning's Blackberry Mandelson Message from Labour Central HQ?

[sccsux]

The OP WAS last week!

 

Never mind, here's some news from this week:

 

North East Lib Dem defects to Labour as Conference closes

 

Seems like I was correct in this post.

 

It's getting rather humiliating for the Glib Dims now. They're looking like a laughing stock.

[wednesday1]

Don't you like the idea of a government that doesn't feel the need to be constantly 'on message'?

 

Isn't an open debate with differing views that put a consensus into action an incredibly healthy position for our democracy and our nation?

 

Or should all the politicians turn up and vote according to this morning's Blackberry Mandelson Message from Labour Central HQ?

 

 

 

I don't give two hoots whether or not the Govt. is 'constantly on message' or not. What counts are the policies!