Month: June 2024
Pro-proportional representation group Compass backs Richard Foord and Paul Arnott
Compass East Devon, a local group affiliated to the national cross-party campaigns group Compass, has come out in support of Richard Foord, Liberal Democrat candidate for Honiton & Sidmouth and Paul Arnott, Liberal Democrat candidate for Exmouth & Exeter East.
The group says: “Crucial to these endorsements is that both candidates are public advocates for proportional representation (PR), a voting system where everyone’s vote counts equally, politics is fairer and Parliament reflects how we vote.
“This decision is based on Compass East Devon’s close analysis of both seats which shows that these PR-supporting candidates are best placed to win with the help of a tactical voting campaign.“
In a press release, the group also notes that the by-election points to Richard as the main contender in our constituency, and successful local election results in 2023 and 2024 point to a Liberal Democrat win in Exmouth & Exeter East, and that both constituencies are on Labour’s own ‘non-battleground seats’ list -suggesting it is not seriously contesting either seat.
In other constituencies local groups are supporting parties other than the Liberal Democrats – for example, in Jacob Rees-Mogg’s North East Somerset seat the Compass local group is backing Dan Norris, the Labour candidate.
Compass, through the election-focused campaign Win As One, aims to facilitate collaboration between Labour, the Lib Dems and Greens in key seats to help a progressive government win power and change the voting system.
Compass local groups aim to back the best-placed progressive candidates who support wholesale reform of our democracy – starting with replacing our First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system with PR.
This is because FPTP stifles productive debate, promotes short-termism, tribalism and timidity, and blocks us from pressing ahead with the bold and transformative solutions that our age of permacrisis demands.
At the next election, voters in these constituencies have an opportunity to elect two Members of Parliament that will fight to change the voting system so that every vote counts, at every election, and every vote can be genuine.
A spokesperson for Compass East Devon said:
“Just a cursory glance at Westminster politics over the last few years shows our politics is quite clearly not fit for purpose. That’s why we need an entirely new system. To get one, we have to begin with electing people committed to reform – starting with proportional representation.
“With progressive MPs representing Exmouth & Exeter East and Honiton & Sidmouth, we can begin to build towards a new democratic politics where tactical voting is unnecessary, where our vote counts, and where our needs, as a county and country, finally come first.”
Paul Arnott only 1 per cent behind in new projection for Exmouth
Electoral Calculus now puts the Tories on 30.6 per cent, and Paul (for the Lib Dems) on 29.4 per cent, in the Exmouth & Exeter East constituency. Labour are trailing on 19.4 per cent – a small shift of Labour voters towards the Lib Dems would give the Exmouth area its first ever non-Tory MP. Paul is picture above with Claire Wright, who blazed the way for this result in previous general elections.
In our area (Honiton & Sidmouth), Electoral Calculus puts Richard Foord ahead by 46 per cent to 34 per cent, but they estimate that the Tories still have a 21 per cent chance of winning – none of these predictions are cast-iron!
Labour reminds ‘non-battleground’ candidates not to spend time campaigning in those seats
The Labour Party has reminded candidates in ‘non-battleground seats’ – which include Exmouth & East Exeter as well as Honiton & Sidmouth – not to spend too much time campaigning in those seats. In our seats, candidates and members had already been advised to campaign in Plymouth instead. This is further confirmation that ONLY the Liberal Democrats are seriously fighting to defeat the Conservatives in our area.
The Labour candidate for Honiton & Sidmouth, Jake Bonetta (pictured), had already signalled his support for this strategy, writing to members about Plymouth and saying ‘We cannot let the Tories win here’, as this site has already reported. Unfortunately, Jake has had to spend recent days in hospital – we wish him well. Labour’s Exmouth candidate has yet to comment. The Green Party has a similar strategy, with members travelling Bristol to help elect its co-leader Carla Denyer.
Jake Bonetta: “We can’t let the Tories win here”
Town Council asks for comments by Monday – the Green Wedge Group’s views are below
The Save the Green Wedge Group has sent me these comments about the Seaton-Colyton Green Wedge – they ask people to send in their views to the Town Council before its planning meeting on Monday (17th) and to EDDC by the 27th:
“Retention of the Green Wedge between Seaton and Colyford. The current Local Plan states “Seaton’s outstanding natural environment is its most precious and defining asset, and policies for the conservation, enhancement and sensitive management of the landscape, heritage and wildlife of the area will be prominent.” Seaton is the only East Devon town with such a designation, identity and protection through the Local Plan. This Green Wedge is vital in preserving this unique natural environment and any reduction in its size to enable any house building on it would have a hugely detrimental effect on:
1. the exceptional local natural environment;
2. the town’s tourism offer and future economy;
3. its role of preserving the identity of the settlements of Seaton and Colyford which ensures that there is no coalescence of the two communities;
4. would increase the likelihood of urban sprawl;
5. would, particularly importantly, irreparably destroy the current foraging and commuting habitats for a number of European Protected bat species, the grey long-eared being one of the rarest mammals in the UK and the rarest bat. The preservation of this habitat is essential in maintaining the conservation status of this colony. Natural England states, in response to a proposal to build within the Seaton/Colyford Green Wedge, that it is not possible to ascertain that such a proposal would not result in adverse effects on site integrity.
6. loss of biodiversity and rare wild life
7. loss of prime agricultural land
8. result in further flooding to surrounding housing and to the Wetlands which recently had to close because it became impassable to visitors.
9. impact on the ecology of the Wetlands, marshes and sea from increased discharge of sewage
10. would be unsustainable because there is no access to the town centre from this site that can cope with increased traffic, and the site is beyond the accepted 800m norm for residents to access services.
As the land designated LSE2 has not been developed for over 25 years, it should be returned to Green Wedge.”
Housing
- Reinstatement in the emerging Plan of EDDC’s commitment to restrict any further significant housing developments beyond the existing Built-up Area boundary by locating the majority of the required 150 houses within the existing town. The pressure to exchange Green Wedge space for housing should be resisted; this land can never be replaced.
- Seaton has already delivered or received planning approval for in excess of 779 dwellings against its requirement in the current Local Plan to 2026 of 638 dwellings. The town has therefore already contributed enormously to East Devon’s housing requirement and should not have to sacrifice its natural environment and therefore its identity and future tourist economy for yet further housing outside its built up area boundary.
3. Reinstatement in the emerging Plan of EDDC’s acknowledgement that community facilities in Seaton – school, health, social and cultural – are seen as borderline or inadequate with no capacity to serve additional residents. Such infrastructure has declined even further over the last few years with more housing but loss of hospital facilities, reduced bus services and fewer NHS dentists.
Town Centre
To reinstate the commitment as stated in the adopted Plan that the priority for the town will be the enhancement of the environment and business opportunities within the town centre.
Voting Liberal Democrat is not just a tactical decision
I was a Labour member for a long time – and even a general election candidate back in 1987 – but I have never voted blindly for the party. In 2010, when I lived in Brighton, I helped elect Britain’s first Green MP, the great Caroline Lucas. I have been part of East Devon’s Independent movement, being Seaton and Colyton’s only non-Conservative county councillor in recent years, and supported Claire Wright in her bids for Parliament. But now I am backing the Liberal Democrats.
This is partly a tactical decision – it is essential to defeat the Tories, and the Lib Dems are best placed to win in both the Honiton & Sidmouth and Exmouth & Exeter East constituencies. It helps hugely that Richard Foord and Paul Arnott are both excellent candidates – doughty, dedicated and experienced campaigners and genuinely decent human beings to boot (now you can’t say that about all of the candidates on the anti-Tory side).
But there are also political reasons. Labour is tacking to the right, not prepared even to end the terrible two-child child benefit rule, and showing its authoritarian face in brutally removing some excellent candidates. The Lib Dems actually have some better policies, for example on social care, Europe and Palestine.
Perhaps most important, electing a large number of Lib Dems in this election could make them the official opposition in place of the Conservatives. We would then have a constructive opposition, helping push the Labour government to better places on some issues, and consigning the far-right Tory party to history. And East Devon could be part of this, not part of a discredited and irrelevant Conservative rump. What’s not to like?
Sarah Wollaston’s resignation is a stark comment on the state of Devon’s NHS after 14 years of Tory rule
I am sad to see that Dr Sarah Wollaston, the Chair of Devon NHS who I met several times during our campaign for Seaton Hospital, has felt compelled to resign, saying she felt unable “to sign off on a further cut” with the “elastic already stretched too far”.
Sarah seemed genuinely concerned at the threat to Seaton Hospital, although she had signed off on the proposal and many other cuts. She seemed to be the person pushing the NHS to help us come up with a plan to mitigate the effects – which we are still doing, although progress is on hold because of the election.
That Sarah felt compelled to go is a stark comment on the state of Devon’s NHS after 14 years of Conservative rule. Tory underfunding has produced the threats to Seaton and the other community hospitals over the last ten years, the Tory decision to hand them to a property company made them vulnerable in the first place, and Tory MPs and councillors have sabotaged them.
No one who cares about the NHS or our community hospitals should vote Conservative – in Honiton & Sidmouth and in Exmouth & East Exeter, vote Liberal Democrat; in Exeter and in Plymouth vote Labour. Let’s make July 4th Devon’s day of independence from Tory domination.
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Seaton & Colyton MATTERS 