Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
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by Lib Dem team on 9 December, 2011
In yesterday’s election, Offerton Parish residents have rejected Labour and elected ten Parish Councillors from the “No More Parish, No More Bills” non-partisan campaign supported by the Lib Dems and others.
Why did we have Parish Council elections in December in Offerton? Here’s the background:
Following an extensive public consultation last year, Stockport Council had agreed to follow the will of the people and wind up the parish council – the only one in Stockport Borough. Most residents didn’t feel they were getting their money’s worth and wanted to see it go.
A Labour former councillor Eddie Gallagher disagreed and fought a rearguard action, taking the issue to the courts. In a ruling which the Lib Dems strongly disagreed with, the judge decided that – although the consultation had been carried out completely correctly and a clear majority of those who expressed an opinion wanted the Parish wound up – not enough people had expressed an opinion. The judge felt that the existence of a silent majority meant the consultation was invalid.
The Lib Dems – with support from the Conservatives and the Local Government Association – decided to appeal the decision in the courts. Labour opposed the appeal.
In parallel with this, a parish election was called (the previous election having been delayed from May until after the court case).
The Lib Dems worked with others under the “No more Parish, No more Bills” name and put up ten local candidates.
Labour alone decided to run candidates under a party banner, and picked ten candidates from outside the Parish. It was a hard-fought campaign on both sides, with several leaflets being put out by both sides.
In the end, the voters of Offerton Parish roundly rejected Labour, with all ten “No more Parish, No more Bills” candidates elected and not a single Labour candidate making it. All ten Labour candidates across the two parish wards lost by more than 2:1.
The ten new parish councillors will now begin to carry through their election commitment to wind down the Parish.
Election details can be found here – at the time of writing the results haven’t been published on the Council website, I assume that will happen later this morning.
2 Comments
I’m a Labour supporter, and I accept the vote of the residents of Offerton.
I find it exasperating that the Lib Dems will go to such desperate lengths to have a dig at Labour. Knowing they’d have no chance at election using their own name, the Lib Dems pal up with the Tories to create a puppet party to get rid of the Parish Council they never really liked. Not only will Lib Dems admit to setting up a puppet, they’ll gloat about it.
I once respected the Liberal Democrats for their commitment to subsidiarity and local democracy. Stockport Lib Dems, particularly those on the borough council, have shown they care nothing of a sort about this, instead congratulating themselves on undermining local democracy.
Interesting interpretation – not quite sure where it connects with reality in any way, but there you go.
Since Offerton returned a Lib Dem councillor in May, the suggestion that there would be “no chance” of electing a Lib Dem doesn’t seem to be supported by – well – any evidence at all, really. Labour fighting as hard as they did and losing all ten seats is an excellent boost for the Lib Dem campaign for next May.
Labour chose to stand candidates under their party banner, knowing that the Lib Dems were supporting “No more parish, no more bills” to avoid it becoming a party political issue. That was Labour’s decision.
Despite Labour’s best efforts, the people of Offerton voted not to have a Parish Council and rejected all ten Labour candidates.
As you say – we accept the vote of the people of Offerton!