Vote today for the candidates best able to defeat the voter-suppressing Tories
Seaton: Dan Ledger (Independent), Steve Hunt (Lib Dem)
Coly Valley: Paul Arnott (Lib Dem)
Beer & Branscombe: John Heath (Independent)
www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/voter-id-law-faces-criticism-8406487.amp
A final message from John Heath (Independent candidate for Beer/Branscombe/W Seaton)
Hi Everyone,
I hope you’ve had a great bank holiday and are looking forward to yet another one just around the corner. Viv and I will be at the Coronation party in Beer next weekend.
It is time to have YOUR say on how our communities are run so I urge everyone who has a vote to use it on Thursday because we need EDDC council to change for the better and the wards in East Devon deserve councillors who care about their local communities and not be controlled by political parties with their specific manifestos curtailing what they can and cannot say.
It is my hope that the independents will have a major say in reshaping the district council. These local elections are just as important as national elections because having local councillors who are motivated and committed to their communities is essential to get things done.
If I am elected than I will continue to meet people individually and at community gatherings and ensure your voice is conveyed to EDDC and I will report through the social media outlets on what I have raised as agenda items and the responses from the council.
As a member of Beer Parish Council, I will be taking parishioners’ concerns to EDDC. If you elect me as your district councillor, I will also be attending Branscombe Parish Council and will offer to work with Seaton Town Council so that West Seaton has a voice.
Don’t forget voter identity is now required so make sure you take one of the following: passport, drivers license, older persons bus pass, disabled persons bus pass, blue badge, proof of age identity card, an EEA identity card or voter authority certificate. You can still use your out-of-date photo identity as long as it looks like you.
John Heath
Beer best seaside ‘town’ in Devon, according to Which? survey
It’s 11th nationally and well ahead of Sidmouth & Lyme Regis (Seaton is not listed). Results HERE.
Now Voter ID deadline has passed, thousands of East Devon voters have been disenfranchised
As the deadline for applying for the government’s new Voting Authority Certificate passed this evening, almost 2 million voters who don’t have passports or driving licenses had lost their chance to vote in May 4’s local elections. Maybe 3000 of them are in East Devon.
The Tories have calculated that the voters who are disenfranchised will be mainly voters for the opposition parties. It’s Donald Trump-style Voter Suppression and no East Devon Tory has disowned it. Shame on them. They’re complicit in destroying our democracy.
Will Tory candidates condemn Photo ID policy which will see voters turned away from polling stations on May 4th?
When campaigning for JOHN HEATH (Beer & Branscombe ward) in the local elections I handed a leaflet to a neighbour in his 90s who always votes, by post, without fail. I want to vote, he said, but I haven’t got any photo ID – I’ve handed back my passport and driving license. Fortunately, his daughter and I were able to point out that as a postal voter, he didn’t need ID. But if we hadn’t been at hand, this conscientious citizen might have lost his vote due to the confusion the new policy has caused.
On May 4th, this confusion is likely to actually cost a lot of people their votes. They’ll turn up at polling stations without knowing that you need ID and they’ll be turned away. Or they’ll bring their bus or rail pass – because they haven’t got a passport or driving licence – and they’ll still be turned away. Or, because they haven’t got round to getting new ID, they’ll just stay at home.
One honest Devon Tory, county council leader John Hart, has admitted the whole policy isn’t necessary. Will any of our local Conservative candidates – Marcus Hartnell, Del Haggerty or Helen Parr – join him in criticising this shameful anti-democratic move? If they remain silent, they’re effectively hoping to benefit from denying people their votes. Another very good reason for those who do manage to vote NOT to vote for them.
If you need the government’s new Voter Authority Certificate, today is the very last day to apply for it – link in previous post.
Richard Foord’s new constituency newsletter (do sign up to it)
Richard Foord MP Reporting Back – April 2023
— Read on mailchi.mp/24d47743e527/reporting-back-april-2023
Just 7 days now to get Voter ID – or your vote will have been stolen from you
THERE ARE JUST OVER 2 WEEKS TO THE LOCAL ELECTIONS.
THE GOVERNMENT HAVE DELIBERATELY MADE IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE TO VOTE, by introducing a completely unnecessary requirement for you to show Photo ID to be allowed to vote.
This discriminates against young people and women who are less likely to have passports and driving licences than older people and men. It’s a deliberate political stitch-up because young people and women are more likely to vote for non-Conservative candidates.
IT’S TO STOP PEOPLE VOTING – SO DON’T LET THEM STEAL YOUR VOTE FROM YOU!
PEOPLE WHO VOTE IN PERSON HAVE ONLY UNTIL 5 pm on TUESDAY 25th APRIL to apply for Voter ID.
- If you’ve got a Passport, Driving Licence of Blue Badge, that is accepted as Voter ID, as are some others (CHECK HERE)
- If you haven’t got one of these forms of ID, APPLY HERE for the government’s new Voter ID, the Voter Authority Certificate.
POSTAL VOTES
If you’re a Postal Voter, you DON’T need Voter ID. Just fill in your forms as usual.
You can only apply for a Postal Vote up until tomorrow, 18th APRIL: GET THE FORM HERE.
ELECTORAL REGISTER
Are you on the register at your current address? If not you must ACT TODAY – APPLY HERE by 11.59 pm tonight.
Modular homes ‘coming soon’ to provide ‘social housing solution’ in East Devon
Modular homes that can be craned into place could play a key role in providing ‘truly affordable’ dwellings in East Devon, says the district council.…
Modular homes ‘coming soon’ to provide ‘social housing solution’ in East Devon
Paul Arnott writes a letter to the Times
His is the first of three, but the others are also worth a read.
Government plans to scrap housing targets
Sir, My authority spends thousands of officer and councillor hours per year trying to ensure that planning permission is granted to quality schemes (“Housing targets scrapped”, Apr 8). Yet the arbitrary housing need number — about 900 homes a year in east Devon — makes this impossible to achieve. Our real problems are not nimbyesque. They concern unfit-for-purpose sewage and drainage infrastructure, the lack of GPs, places in education, transport and local jobs.
When major schemes are approved, experience has shown many to be poorly built, with gardens, at best, the size of a cricket wicket. Meanwhile, any landowner able to ensure their grassy patch is designated as developable will make millions for nothing more than assigning rights.
If councils try to build social homes, there is…
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