Following the death of Conservative councillor Bill Thompson in Lytham, the resulting by-election was last night fought. The Tories were able to retain this seat on Clifton ward, however they were run to the line not by the Labour candidate but by the Fylde Ratepayers’ Association candidate, former fireman Frank Murphy.
In fact, the Conservatives won by just 14 votes: 386 compared with 372.
Labour got 80 votes, and the Gasjet saw fit to give their prospective parliamentary candidate a soapbox claiming it was a bloody nose for the Tories. I agree, but it wasn’t because of Labour.
Clifton is now made up of two Tories and an independent councillor.
I like the way it’s going in Fylde with people being prepared to back independent councillors and those representing minority parties. I think it would be to the benefit of Blackpool if we could dilute the mainstream with some independent councillors or indeed a Blackpool Ratepayers Association.
There is a perception that Blackpool council is a giant gooey blob of mainstream politics full of career councillors that everyone might know the name of but nobody knows what they’ve actually achieved, and I think this perception is daunting and intimidating for an independent.
However, if you think of election time, do you get courted and canvassed by these mainstream parties? If you’ve had to contact a councillor, do they reply? Are they interested?
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Fylde politics is Conservatives against…. There is no major opposition party. The truth is the Borough is mainly populated with natural Conservative voters – who just aren’t happy with the “Conservatives” (though it’s hard to tell that’s what they are if you don’t look at the official titles) we’ve got.
We have independents (who have amalgamated into one group for political pressure), non-aligned independents who want to be completely free, Ratepayers and then Liberal Democrats – who whilst I don’t agree with their founding principles entirely, in Fylde are a pretty decent lot of people.
The Conservative councillors here don’t reply to you until they have of course consulted Helen France. If she’s not available then it’s silence.
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I’ve had a pretty poor experience with councillors. I’ve only had a response from Kensingtongate Cllr Jim Houldsworth (ooh, just got one from Cllr Valerie Haynes..)
I agree on the definition of Conservatives. They’ve really dropped most of the policies that made them Conservative, and turned into a mash up of Labour, Lib dems and Green.
But that’s why I’m interested in independent councillors because they don’t feel they have to represent a party, don’t get whipped into line and are driven and concerned enough about one or more local issues to put themselves through the hell of being a councillor so you know they’re sincere and trying their hardest.
Having said that, if an independent doesn’t side with any of the mainstream then they are quite pointless unless they self-publicise and generate support amongst the masses who may then press the mainstream into adopting his/her policy.
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For a good example of a truly independent councillor getting his viewpoint across, try googling Paul Hayhurst. He would be hard to miss in Fylde’s politics despite always being totally independent.
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Not seeing an awful lot about what he’s done: mostly about being hauled in front of a naughty boys committee. Perhaps I failed at Google?
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Its a shame we we need more independents and fringe parties, not another spineless party loving TORY twat!
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I would like to see more independents and fringe party councillors and MPs but like we all agreed the other day its not really going to happen without a new system like Proportional Representation. Under the first past the post system by not voting Conservative or Lib Dem depending where you are Labour will get back in by the back door. Labour supporters are usually blindly loyal whatever the situation.
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You make a valid point.
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Sorry – try googling “Paul Hayhurst Elswick” (Elswick’s his ward). He even managed to get the Lancashire County Council seat for his area this time (Fylde West) with a majority of 23 (unheard of for an independent to get a seat at LCC in Fylde – it’s a wide area that independents just can’t get around to canvass as they don’t have the big party machine to do it for them)
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That’s what I like about Fylde, they don’t say ‘We’re fed up with the Conservatives, vote Labour’ and vice versa. Like you say it is a solid Conservative area so they have the good sense to avoid Labour at all costs and go for independents. Good on them if only Blackpool would do the same. I dread the thought of Blackpool Council becoming Labour again.
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