Tory candidate boasts of stopping 20 mph zones

Posted on October 3, 2023

When I was county councillor, one of the biggest complaints I got was about speeding through residential areas. Virtually all the parishes I represented put in for 20 mph zones through their villages and towns – not that it did them much good with the Tory-controlled county council, which even before its financial crisis did everything it could to avoid meeting these requests.

But now Simon Jupp – the current Exmouth MP who is abandoning his constituents to try his luck in our area next time – has used his column to boast of stopping the “blanket imposition of 20 mph zones”. If only, Simon! Talk to the people who want to represent before trotting out Sunak’s latest pro-boy racer talking point.

www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/23829335.this-government-continuing-back-motorists-across-uk/

General Election forecast shows just how close it could be in our area

Posted on October 1, 2023

A projection has been made for the Honiton and Sidmouth seat (which includes Seaton), showing Richard Foord, our Lib Dem MP, potentially retaining his seat but with a majority of just 847, not the 6000 he had in last year’s by-election.

While projections like this are full of all sorts of imponderables, this is based on a lot of data and I think it’s a good best guess. Basically they’re assuming that while Labour and the Greens will not be in with a chance of winning (and that seems to be the Labour Party’s own view, as I posted yesterday) they could take enough votes back to make it very close for Richard Foord.

If they’re right, voters in this area will have a choice – do we want to be one of the few places still to have a discredited Tory MP, or do we want to keep our successful Lib Dem MP who is likely to give constructive, but where necessary critical, support to the new Labour government? To me it’s a no-brainer.

Here are the Stonehaven projections:

Lib Dem 16262, Conservative 15415, Labour 10121, Green 6148, Reform 2050. Lib Dem majority 847.

Labour won’t be putting effort into our constituency

Posted on October 1, 2023

The Labour Party has decided not to prioritise the Honiton & Sidmouth constituency, which includes Seaton. This gives the green light for Labour supporters to continue voting tactically for our Lib Dem MP Richard Foord, as most did in last year’s by-election.

Report from East Devon Watch:

Five Devon constituencies feature on leaked ‘non-priority’ list (including Honiton and Sidmouth). So the “progressive alliance” vote is now less likely to be divided in Honiton and Sidmouth, not good news for the chicken runner! – Owl The Labour Party won’t plough resources into trying to beat Tory Kevin Foster in Torbay at the next…
— Read on eastdevonwatch.org/2023/10/01/labour-party-picks-its-winnable-seats/