3 minute read
Politics
Johnson got the big decisions wrong
Everyone had a life event they could not celebrate, or worse commiserate, because of covid. For me, it was my parents meeting their grandchild for the first time. They couldn’t hold him because of social distancing rules. We met in a garden, but it was no party. When it rained, they sat in the shed. Yet I count myself lucky. My son’s grandparents are all still here. Many are not. The anger out there is real. But the scenes in the Commons these last weeks were unreal. The Prime Minister is, literally, unbelievable. Take for example the spectacle of him declining to confirm whether he attended an Abba homage party for the demise of Dominic Cummins in his own flat. Not the garden-
Greg Williams, on behalf of Dorset Labour
cum-office his staff frolic in. His own flat. This is not about party politics. Indeed, the best thing for the Labour party would be to fight the next election with the wretched husk of Boris Johnson still in power. It gives Starmer an open goal and he’s been excellent in articulating the anguish and the contempt the country holds the PM in. I have however been frustrated that Starmer doesn’t tackle one of Johnson’s key deceptions – that he ‘got all the big calls right.’ 153,000 people have died because of Covid. That’s worse per capita than Russia, Greece and South Africa. The UK’s post-covid GDP recovery is sixth out of the G7. £8.7bn of tax payers’ money spent on PPE has just been written off. I could go on. Johnson got the big decisions wrong. And we pay the price. It’s now been established in the country’s collective memory that Johnson’s government was boozing it up in Downing Street as thousands were needlessly dying. When we get the covid public enquiry, his poor decision making will be exposed and framed by the alcohol fuelled, personality feud chaos of Number 10. They will be no reprieve behind excuses of ‘we did our best.’ They didn’t. Johnson and his government were asleep at the wheel – or rather, under their desks. For a man who fancies himself a historian, he fails to recognise that his history has already been written. How many parties he attended, how much he gets fined, and how long he lasts will be mere end notes illuminating a character that presided over the ‘excess’ deaths of 10,000s and the degeneration of decency in this country’s politics.
Change is coming to Somerset; vote!
In May, residents will be voting for the councillors they want to represent them on the brand new unitary council. There will be 55 council divisions across Somerset, stretching from Porlock to Henstridge, and Frome to Wellington. Each division will elect two councillors, and the party with the most councillors will run the council. The councillors you elect will have the power to decide and scrutinise policy and spending on everything from dog fouling to protecting vulnerable children, local issues that affect every resident in the county. So why do so many people decide not to use their vote at the local elections? On the doorsteps, people tell me about the issues they care about, whether that be local planning and leisure facilities, bin collections and schools or adult social care and libraries. But it is clear that there is a disconnect between politics and their everyday lives. As councillors, and local political campaigners, we must do better to articulate our role, because it is the local council that has an impact on many of the services residents see and use every day. While national politics continue to dominate headlines there is often little attention paid to the role councils and councillors play in communities. Yet it’s the local authority that decides what to do with the money provided to them by council tax payers and central government. Which is why it is crucial to vote in these forthcoming elections in order to have your say on who is making these decisions on your behalf. Voting in local elections also sends a message to the national parties that you are active and they can no longer overlook your needs and priorities. Although councillors represent a much smaller group of people than MPs do, it means your vote is more likely to make an impact on the result. As testament to this, I was first elected to represent Milborne Port on South Somerset District Council in 2015, with a majority of just one vote: every vote does matter! Please take advantage of your right to vote.
