General Discussion
Mid Devon Advertiser/Dawlish Gazette informs us that 'Labour opt out of Teignbridge as a general election battleground' Surely a professionally qualified journalist would verify whether this 'interpretation' holds any water by checking with, say the local Labour party itself - and presenting their side of the story for balance.
This is just a rehashing of a post from the Lib Dem's Teignmouth Focus Team page , authored by Lib Dem Councillor for Teignmouth David Cox, who is well known for spreading untruths to further the political ambitions of his beloved leader and Westminster obsessive Wrigley.
Maybe it sold a few more copies or worked as clickbait online, but the local Labour party Chairman did write a letter to the paper in reply and Spolier alert; they are standing in the next General Election.
I imagine the Lib Dems hope their Trump-like tactics will work on some foolish would-be voters. What the paper and Lib Dems fail to mention is that Labour are currently predicted to be behind the Conservatives by 0.8%, whereas the Lib Dems are way behind these two larger parties.
Someone on this site recently explained why Dawlish Councillors don't get local issues like the Manor Park bridge sorted, they rightly point out it's because they're too busy politicking. Wrigley is most often found with his chum Cox in Teignmouth, repainting the underpass which is grafitti'd every 2 months or so, or onboarding the save Teignmouth Hospital campaign because it's 'popular'. perhaps he views Dawlish as a safe seat so why would he spend time in Dawlish with a General Election on the horizon?
He needs to get his face seen and cultivate his persona in Teignmouth and Newton Abbot and court potential lib Dem voters there. And of course get his picture in the Lib Dem mouthpiece that is the MDA/Dawlish Gazette/Teignmouth Post, which is pretty much guaranteed as the editor seems a massive fan-boy.
Although I fail to see how ignoring and infuriating a towns worth of residents and traders in Newton Abbot over the Queen Street disaster would benefit him becoming MP for the Newton Abbot Constituency, seeing as it's the largest town.
I'm just curious to know how many Labour cllrs there are in the parliamentary constituency of Newton Abbot. I know there are none on Teignbridge District Council but wondered if anyone could tell me if there are any on town/parish councils within this particular parliamentary seat and if so, how many and on which town/parish councils?
Thanks
There are no Labour Councillors at District or County level in Newton Abbot Constitiuency or the wider Teignbride District.
There are very few Labour Town Councilors in Newton Abbot Constitiuency or the wider Teignbride District either.
This is the standard question fielded by Liberal Democrats Councillors when it comes to the General Election and can be found on Lib Dem Councillor David Cox awful facebook page as well as in the column and letters pages written by Lib Dems in the far from impartial Tindle Newspaper Group owned MDA/Dawlish Gazette.
Which is precisely why I find it interesting that 2024 general Election models for the Newton abbot Constituency place Labour slighty behind the Conservatives, whith the Lib Dems way behind.
Here's a link to one;
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/calcwork23.py?postcode=EX79AP
The Lib Dems seem to think there is a correlation between how people vote in local elections (where they often do well) and general elections.
They fail to take into account that turn-out is as low as 25% in local elections and in the two recent by-elections in Bushell, Newton Abbot and Teignmouth Central wards turn-out was a disgracefully low 14% and 11.5% respectively. Nevertheless the main parties seem unconcerned with such low turn-outs despite claiming to be 'democrats'/
Lib Dem controlled Newton abbot Town Council, Teignmouth Town council and Teignbridge District Council and the local press did next to nothing to inform the electorate in those wards that by-elections were taking place, evidently to their benefit in terms of getting their candidate elected but at the expense of the wider community's participation in participatory democracy.
Turn-out in General elections is always higher than in local elections. The above prediction site puts it at 64% and given the state of the nation a high turn-out can be anticipated.
Many people do not engage or take any interest in local politics, for a variety of reasons.
Maybe the predictions of a close fought competetion between Labour and the Conservaties with the Lib dems as also rans is because people realize the Lib Dems will not win enough seats to form a government. and after 13 years of Tory austerity they want a change. Maybe people haven't forgotten the Tory-Lib Dem coalition that put the Tories in power in the first place. Maybe local people are fed up of our local Lib Dem-Tory coalition and their failings in local government how these two parties have largely ruined our towns with urban spread that only benefits shareholders who do not live in the area. Maybe people dislike Wrigley as a candidate given his roleas a Councillor on the TDC Executive at TDC since 2019 and his first controversial 9 months as leader. Who knows?
The predictions do not take into account the possibility of a candidate from the South Devon Alliance either who gained an impressive 13000 votes in the local election alone, which could translate into votes in the general election, but I couldn't confidently say whether one would stand or whether thse votes would correlate.
We currently know the Conservative and Lib Dem parliamentary candidates, Morris and Wrigley. Anyone bar a Heritage or Reform candidate would be preferable to these two, a Labour candidate simply as a break from the entrenched self-serving norm. the least worst option.
@Lynne I'd be interested to know your thoughts on the MDA/Dawlish Gazette's article that a Labour candidate would not stand in the General election and that paper's editor allowing the circulation of Lib dem misinformation. Shockingly poor journalism isn't it?
The paper did print the local Labour party Chairman's reply, however it cannot be found on the MDA website, so effectively the paper has chosen to perpetuate a falsehood by leaving the original on its site, which is worrying for our so-called local democracy
I have no idea of the political slant of the MDA.
Suggest you contact them directly if you wish to complain - why not write a letter of complaint and see if they publish it?
BTW - I am 99.9% certain now of your party political stance. Can't prove it of course but you have given yourself(ves) away by dint of the contents of your posts. (Which, of course, you are perfectly entitled to make).
The paper's political slant is self-evident to anyone who reads it and takes an interest in politics and recognizes balanced journalism or lack of. Tindle Newspaper group existes to serve a certain section of society, hardley surprising seeing as Sir Ray was knighted.
For anyone reading this, from experience there is little to no point writing a letter of compalint to this paper, given their political slant. As if they're going to 'fess up and say, 'yeah we're biased'.
Indeed the letters pages which was weekly section is omitted seemingly whenever controversial issues whereby opposition Councillors, traders and local residents are critical of the Liberal democrat ruling party and the Tories who they were in coalition with in the last administration. Dr Halpin's article has disappeared, he happened to be very vocal in relation to the Liberal Democrats and the Tories both in Teignbridge, Devon and Westminster.
The letters pages of the MDA are dominated by Lib Dem's like Hook or Swain defending their leadsr Wrigley, Gary Taylor and his violent misconduct, anti0democratic projects like Queen st or the Alexandra Theatre.
Good for you regarding my political slant, Why do you need to prove it anyway? As if yoiu're some Miss Marple like sleuth.
Likewise I pretty much know where your political allegiences lie given you won't acknowledge or comment on the paper's shoddy journalism and Cox's Facebook page. Your political stance has been clear to me ever since the Warren Farm campaign.
At least I engaged in conversation with you (Many don't judging from your other posts, where you're often just replying to yourself) even if you won't discuss press bias -claiming you have 'no idea'. This is meant to be a discussion page.
Personsally I wish you well with the childcare campaign, ostensibly it's a noble cause, but I feel your campaign like many others will be manipulated for political gain around election time.
Effective childcare won't happen under a system where 'service providers' need to turn a profit and Directors of social enterprises and CEOs of charites layers of management pocket most of those funds leaving little left for underpaid childminders. They'd be better served if vital services hadn't been outsourced since 2010 when local authorities ceded accountability to these providers who unethically rely upon and in some cases exploit underpaid workers and volunteers.
This system came about because the Lib Dems played kingmaker and put the Tories in power in 2010 and then Cameron launched his 'Big society' which Wrigley and other politicians now just rebrand 'Community Powered Councils'.
Childcare has been privatized, underpaid, overwork people looking after kids for parents who are too busy working all hours, earning wages in jobs that do not pay a living wage - that mean they cannot spend much quality time with their own kids is unsustainable and just exacerbates the mental health crisis.
And I fear that you will also end up talking to yourself on this site. Has anyone else engaged with you other than me?
Having ventured forth I may well now disengage.
I actually don't give a toss as to how the child care crisis is resolved - as long as it is. I hope I am not a zealot of ideology. Whatever works the best in practice is my approach.
And I appreciate that you read my letters/posts concerning child care - truly I do. Someone asked me not so very long ago why I bothered writing letters to the MDA. "Who reads them?" this person asked. "The politicians" was my reply.
My political allegiances? Depending on where I have been living at the time, and the issues of concern, I have voted, and sometimes actively supported, Independent, Green, Labour and Lib Dem.
I don't 'do' facebook by the way so have no idea what any politician of whatever political hue is posting about.