OK so I need to hold my hands up and issue a correction on my column last week regarding the Kemptown MP fiasco, writes Steve Davis. I said that Labour councillors would no doubt be busily penning their CVs to represent the good people of Kemptown in the General Election but it appears had they done so it would have all been in vain as the decision had clearly already been made. No chance for hard-working local Labour members and activists to have discussions, read candidates’ statements or quiz them in a good old-fashioned hustings, nope just one of Keir’s mates dropped in.
An absolute affront to local democracy regardless of political party, which no doubt will be reflected in the ballot box come July. I spent this weekend canvassing the good people of Patcham, a part of the city not too far from me and a fabulous place. Great pubs, great chippies, great schools and a group of our neighbours very angry about the proposed Royal Mail sorting office, but also brilliantly mobilised to vent their frustrations about the proposed plans.
There are of course social media pages, posters in windows and there have been many public meetings to discuss the many negative ramifications the site poses to local people. With the election looming, Patcham residents are understandably seeking assurances from the prospective parliamentary candidates that they will support them challenging the application, as their former MP Caroline Lucas has so brilliantly done. Green Party candidate Sian B.
