Judging by the volume of traffic headed to the article I wrote about news of a new political party, this should hopefully be what you’ve been waiting for.
It’s been in the making a while but rising from the ashes of a disillusioned Fylde UKIP membership comes Integrity: a party that offers something a bit different from pretty much any party I can think of.
Integrity has been started by former Fylde UKIP chairman Bill Whitehead. It is essentially an umbrella group for independents: it in no way forces its representatives to vote in one way or another. It is registered with the Electoral Commission. It believes in democracy above all else, and aims to support independent councillors and prospective parliamentary candidates. For people that want to become an elected representative but cant find political affiliation, Integrity could be a good starting point.
I don’t know about you, but it really fucks me off when I read about politicians being forced to vote in line with their party even if they don’t believe in what they’re voting for, at both a local level and national one. I’ve just been to Wales, I know, but sheep mentality isn’t for me. Integrity believes that every councillor or elected member should have an equal say and vote upon every decision, rather than be whipped into line by party officials.
Furthermore, it means that elected representatives can vote in the best interests of those that voted for them, provided of course that those interests are lawful!
This means candidates will be elected based on the merit of the candidate themselves, rather than the spin applied to the election campaign by dirt-digging character assassins in Whitehall.
They do have a website, which you can check at http://www.integrityuk.info
Since I think Integrity is a noble cause, I will be keeping you up to date on any developments. Bill does read the site and I’m sure he’d love to hear any comments or suggestions you might have.
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I wish them well but I would prefer it if the Party was just a Blackpool centric party, a grouping of people whose only wish is to be for and about Blackpool and Blackpool only.
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I know what you mean, it’s be nice to see a party with the best interests of the town at heart. With Integrity, this could be realised.
Any Blackpool conscious candidates could be supported by Integrity, and they would vote in the name of their constituents and not be whipped by party apparatchik.
I think the trouble with a lot of what we all say is that it’s not realistic. It’s easy to come out and say “I’d do this, I’d do that” but in most cases there are a hundred and one obstacles in between, notwithstanding the funding requirement which would have to be obtained.
For instance, it’s easy to talk about turning the Winter Gardens into the Printworks, but that currently relies on First Leisure pumping endless money into it and relies on there being such a demand that modern bars and cafes would want to move there. Even under council ownership, it would require serious money from Europe or ratepayers, none of which can be promised.
It’s easy to talk about connecting the tram system to Blackpool North, but as you know from your discussions elsewhere with real clued up tram afficionados, there is no business case for it. Of course, that doesn’t mean to say that there should never be such a tram line and that it should never be in a future plan.
As you may know I would like the council to make a decision on what form of transport they want us using and I would expect an Integrity candidate to take a stand against this laissez-faire money-lashing approach.
The mainstream (including little boy Nick “No Policies” Clegg) keep telling us that fossil fuel burning is the pathway to disaster yet they continue to approve fossil fuel burning power plants and don’t spend on efficient mass transit.
They reap £25bn from road tax and £30bn from fuel duty, but only £8bn gets spent on roads. I think for £47bn per year you could build a fucking lot of public transport. Then add in whatever billions they get from compulsory MoT tests that go up every year and that even Euroland says should happen biannually, then add on top of that the VAT from new car purchases and the new registration costs.
Might as well add into the mix the fines from speeding and parking as well, but those figures aren’t available so we can’t find out how much they’re shafting us (reportedly some busy roads reap up to £1million per week in speeding fines).
Lots of billions anyway, but it’s not being spent on public transport. That means that even Nick “I’ll give any profit from my second home back lol yeah right” Clegg doesn’t care about it.
But for one of those little billions you could implement a tram network in Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre that would take a significant amount of cars off the road, would provide a new earner for the council and would mean some of these god awful buses can be taken away too.
I’d like to see business cases for projects like the Talbot Gateway produced. I can’t for the life of me see one. Okay, nice new buildings for the sake of it, but it doesn’t benefit anyone apart from people that work in the town hall. Moving the police station and court there is going to turn anyone away from moving into whatever apartments they build there, and there are no leisure facilities included in the plan.
The reason it gets scaled back every 6 months is because slowly but surely they’re realising it’s not a realistic proposition and it won’t have any impact on improving the town’s prosperity.
An Integrity candidate would hold the council to account for these rash decisions.
It would question why the £200m+ Talbot Gateway was conceived and why that money was not being directed into known problem, deprived areas instead. Central Drive would have been a great start.
It would question the reasoning behind Maxine Callow’s cutting of the railway links and would campaign against it.
It would seek to champion local business rather than put obstacles every step of the way. It would question the attitude of a council that sends heavies to accost a garage owner because he picked up someone else’s litter and put it in a public bin, or a council that blocks the casino-owning victim of arson from opening anywhere for the next 4 years.
It would get to the bottom of why the Police can’t seem to reduce crime in the town, why drug crime is on the up and why some areas are the worst in Lancashire for total crime.
It would campaign to open up planning regulations so that owners of failing holiday accommodation can start to develop them into houses themselves rather than hanging on to the hope of a Big Government handout to take on the Herculean task of compulsory purchasing a large area of ongoing businesses.
It would campaign run-down areas to receive priority funding in order to improve them aesthetically. It doesn’t have to be Mediterranean plazas and new buildings that are totally out of context with the area: smooth roads, even pavements, a regular road cleaning schedule, active police duty and some greenery would change the face of these areas dramatically.
Blah blah.. !
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Interesting, reminds me of another party: Veritas.
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same shit, different day!
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Hi Steve
Unlike the Blackpool First Alliance these people have put their money where their mouth is, and their stated aims have to be applauded. They will have about a year to build a base of members to challenge the existing sheep (councillors) I wonder how many candidates the Blackpool First Alliance or UKIP will be fielding?
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If you want me to stop reading and commenting on this blog just let me know please. You lot seem to hate me even more than the local Labour Party and most Conservatives hate me, and they really do dislike me.
It seems there is no place locally for ethical independents.
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Ahh you see you’ve gone off on one there Steven. Nobody’s actually said a bad word about you. Bruiser asked about BFA and you’ve gone into a sulk about it.
BFA often comes on here and tells us how useless we all are, well, someone’s actually going to try to do something, and whether it’s successful or not remains to be seen.
You might like to know that my own article I did ages ago when BFA promised to be making a new site is top of Google listings for Blackpool First Alliance.
Seems like BFA does have a similar mantra as Integrity, as some bloke called Ken Coups of the Winterpark Hotel on Albert Road, said, “what Blackpool needs is total accountability, open council meetings and the only Cabinets in the town hall should be those holding papers and documents.”
But if you go further down, it seems there was fighting within BFA and people resigning due to perceptions that it was more of a Liberal Democrat party political vehicle than a group of independently minded people.
Although on some websites BFA was labelled as just an “anti-casino group”.
Hopefully Integrity can take what BFA was to the next level, since BFA appears to be dormant at this moment.
On the subject of posting on here, you’re more than welcome to post, even if you fancy having a go at me or anyone else. I’m not going to go into a sulk about it or take my ball away.
I run this site for fun, not to achieve political aims because I don’t have any. And clearly, there are some people out there that are sick of feeling helpless with the current supposedly democratic system. Here, we can all feel helpless together!
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The Blackpool First Alliance has not existed for over 7 years. I just used the name (for fun) as I think did 2 other people during the last year or so.
I have no idea about this new party, but I agree (as usual) with Jon B that a “party” is a bad idea.
A loose group of Independents is good idea in Wyre, Fylde and Blackpool. In Fylde if they cannot work with Cllr Liz Oades and Cllr Paul Hayhurst then they are wasting their time.
In Blackpool they need to meet up and start to use their real names. Decide who they have in various Wards and ignore the rest.
Personally I feel, if they will not use their real names I want nothing to do with them.
Getting involved in the General Election is a silly waste of resources.
Campaigning in target wards should start soon after the General Election.
It is no secret that everyone in Ingthorpe Ward knows my plans.
However the language and comments on this site are so nasty, that I dispair that I could work on any community issues with most of the active bloggers.
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If Mr Steve Bates believes that the Fylde independents can work together then he is very mistaken, they cannot even sing form the same hymn sheet, as has been demonstrated many times.
The belief, that a loose group of independents would work, may well have been the downfall of the BFA.
I believe for any organisation to work it must have a structure, standards, and offer member support.
When members require assistance it should be given quickly.
Members should be encouraged to meet on a regular basis, to exchange ideas and information. This will have the effect of reassuring the membership and also help with their development.
I could go on but feel I would be abusing this forum.
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Steven,
Perhaps you should chip in with comments a bit more and be a bit less chippy when you do?
The more commenters here, the less ‘dominant’ others will be. I can’t think of more than one commenter here whose regular comments could be construed as ‘nasty’.
I’m just as baffled as Phil probably is that you think you’re ‘hated’ here, less so ‘welcome’ – I haven’t read anything to that effect!
Hell, I’m sure that if you wanted to air your views specifically, Phil would make the space for a guest article from you, as he has for others.
Perhaps you’d like to share your views on a ‘loose association of independents’ or even what a post-supercasino Blackpool should look like (because, by the look of things, nobody in power seems to know)?
Coming to the idea of ‘independents’… I don’t care what shape or colour councillors are – I just want to see some that can get on with the job! If it’s someone from the usual three parties – great. If it’s somebody without a party – great. If something like the BFA – or whatever it is called – can bring together people with the town’s interests at heart, then I’m all for it.
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Come on, this is the internet Steve, not a land of bunny rabbits and tea parties.
You’ll not find many free speech websites without swearing or perceived unpleasantness, and we’re all keyboard warriors.
Anyhow, maybe Jon and yourself think a “party” is a bad idea, but BFA didn’t take off either and seemed to have a few issues based on the very brief bit of Googling I did.
People in Ingthorpe might know your intentions, but why keep it a secret. Make a site, or tell us here. I’m genuinely interested to know, because whilst I might take pot shots at the council frequently for sleaze and incompetence, I know comparatively little about the workings of local politics. And I need people like you to tell me.
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I can’t say a bad word against you Steven Bate, I appreciate the fact that you and Jon Bamborough were the only councillors to speak out against the casino which I was firmly against. I think your views are an interesting input to the site.
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The Blackpool First Alliance was originally formed by john Finlay (former Blackpool South Labour Party Organiser), Beverley Moy (Open Space champion and former Lib Dem Activist) and Cllr. Eddie Dixon (Former Tory Councillor for Warbreck Ward).
They were joined by a few other people who I refer to as “The usual Suspects” a group of people who in the previous year or two have challenged the Council on various issues. People very much like the regulars on here and BTNL.
Now this group had structure, standards, offered member support and had money. Noone could doubt the excellent campaigning experience of Finlay, Moy and former solicitor Mike Edwards.
The Blackpool First Alliance certainly didn’t start out as an anti-casino group but it veered that way because of the total lack of any vision coming out of Blackpool Council.
Steven Bate and I never felt the need to join the Alliance because as Lib Dems we were NEVER told how to vote in the Council.
Whilst I welcome any new group coming along to challenge the status quo, it must also be noted that, at its formation at least, Integrity seems to consist wholly of UKIP members who lost the argument within their own Party. Whilst I disagree with UKIP as a Party, I certainly feel that Bill Whitehead and his colleagues were treated appalingly by UKIP but lets be clear – Integrity UK is the new Veritas!
An Alliance of Independants ie. all those candidates who are neither Lib Lab or Con is the only way to get a breakthrough. The description Philtheone gives of Integrity differs somewhat from what Bill says below!
To be honest though, why create something new when you have something here that already exists! The Liberal Democrats encompass a wide range of views, we are the only Party on Blackpool Council which doesn’t whip its members and they seem to be the only Party on the Fylde Coast who truly put Blackpool First!
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If my description differs, it’s through my own misinterpretation of their website!
I agree with what you say though, and to be honest your penultimate paragraph describes what I believe Integrity’s intention to be.
It might well be UKIP members at the moment – I don’t know but you’re probably right – but that doesn’t mean to say you can only be “in” the party if you believe in the UKIP manifesto.
I do also wonder what the benefit of a party is, rather than a BFA style thing, but then I’m happy to see what Bill has planned for his organisation.
Regarding the Lib Dems, of course, it’s great that the councillors don’t get whipped by their own party, but they must be allied with one of the other parties. Do they get “whipped” by them?
The Lib Dems could well be an alliance on the council, but it doesn’t really make the protest that a group called Blackpool First Alliance, or indeed Integrity would.
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Theres has to be an alternative to the likes of Clallow and Fisher who are almost identical in their ineptitude, will this party spred to Wyre?
I want WBC out on account of the fact that they must be rotten.
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Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Integrity is a UKIP mark2 but that its core are people that have have had very little or no electoral success. I still wish them well and would like to reassure readers that the Liberal Democrat group may very well enter into an “alliance” on the Council with any other Councillors who share the common goal of democracy and putting Blackpool First. I do think Integrity are right ion that a “corporate image” is required for fighting the election. The electorate need to know that your group, party alliance or whatever, could get a majority if they have enough support. Just voting for one isolated independent councillor won’t change fuck all on Blackpool Council. But if there’s 2 dozen of ‘em!!!!!!
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This sounds interesting, any chance this movement will migrate into Wyre?
We need you!
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If 6 Independents and 3 Lib Dems were elected next year, I would expect the lib Dems to “join” the Independent group for the purpose of getting things done on the council.
If there were 15 lib dems and three independents, guess who would have to join which group. STILL NO WHIPS.
As Jon says you need 24 for power or about 10 on a hung council to SHARE power.
I am willing to say these things in detail FACE TO FACE with serious Council candidates.
Otherwise I do not want the enemy to know anything about my plans.
Unless you live in Ingthorpe Ward, why should I tell you anything.
You have to learn the people in your ward must come FIRST.
Looks like in Fylde this new group are a waste of time.
Bill work with the Lib Dems (Tony and Howard) and best Independents and fight the Tory enemy or pack up.
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I fully understand that people in the ward you represent must come first, however the small mindedness displayed in your comment about Ingthorpe ward suggests that you care not about the bigger picture, but only your own little clique.
Would this be a fair assumption?
In fact stepping slightly further on from that, it seems that his attitude is replicated within current councillors anyway.
I have emailed a few people (red and blue) about various local issues and received uncooperative replies such as “sorry, this isn’t in my ward”.
I can see why they say that, but a co-operative council – as any business would do if you phoned the wrong department – would pass on the message to the appropriate person.
How are you any different to this?
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Integrity UK is not a new Veritas. UKIP would have been in a far better position today had Kilroy Silk been leader.
When I first joined UKIP I mistakenly believed it was an honourable party, how mistaken I was.
Many who know me will tell you, I have had the idea of a formal alliance of independents for some years, and expressed the same on several occasions.
Having experienced the Fred Carnos like performance of the Fylde independents at the 3rd of March FBC budget meeting, I realised an informal group would and could not work.
There has been talk of the Fylde Ratepayers and the independents merging but they can’t even agree to meet. so what chance has a merger.
My only way forward was to either join an existing party which closely reflected my personal beliefs or to form a party with all the work and expense that entailed.
I now have strong grounds to believe that the UKIP hierarchy are corrupt, and therefore I have parted company along with several other honest individuals.
After much consideration we decided to start Integrity UK.
We believe the name should represent the ethos of the party, and that Integrity UK should have no politics, policies or manifesto and no party whip.
It should be a structured alliance of independent people who are prepared to challenge and endeavour to change the status quo and to support each others independence.
Not wishing to be rude but the Lid-Dems are not without problems of their own and whilst they may not have a party whip locally they do have policies which do not follow my personal beliefs.
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Theres always a place for independents as for hatred, well thats normally down to me and my swearing, lol
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Hmm. You’re not Troobloo.
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yes it is but I use 2 comps Phil! I’m certainly not Steve!!!! I assume they meant Steven Bate!
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I think there’s about a 99.99% chance that it’s Mr Bate, yeah
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Veritas, I forget all about them, that is the way UKIP are heading with the recent antics.
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UKIP are losing the plot,adding Hamish Howlett is an insult to plankton
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Next they will be adding peter sutcliffe (the ripper) who is trying to get out of prison, actually labour will appoint him as a minister for equality, yes Sutcliffe should join the labour party, he will be among friends.
The Harman/Sutcliffe dream ticket of equality awaits us all!
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When he attends a parole hearing he an just say ‘I am not a murderer’ as I should have a choice whether or not to let someone live. I disagree with the laws on unlawful killing, it is a silly law, I am innocent. Pretty much what Nick Hogan’s delirious wife was saying yesterday. But being serious I cannot believe they are even considering releasing such a dangerous psychopath. Its all very well a psychiatrist saying ‘He is stable and unlikely to reoffend’ but how many times have we heard that before ‘Not likely to reoffend and they kill someone and flee the continent 2 weeks after release’
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Not like you to cast doubt upon the views of your fellow health professionals
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Fair point, but I don’t believe all health professionals are good at their jobs they make mistakes like anyone else. Like I say I have heard this so many times before ‘Unlikely to reoffend’ and they brutally murder someone 2 days after.
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Best of luck to them.
Much like you Phil it really pisses me off when I see MPs being forced to vote for or against issues purely on the basis of some whip standing over them. To think we supposedly pride ourselves as one of the world’s most democratic nations. Absolute tosh.
Billy Connolly once remarked about the desire to be a politician should immediately ban you from ever being one. I think he was bang on the money there.
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Official Announcement:
The government has today announced that it is changing its official emblem from a Union Jack to a red, white and blue condom because it more accurately reflects the government’s political stance. The condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects pricks, and most importantly from their point of view, gives you a sense of security while you’re actually being screwed.
It doesn’t get more accurate than that!
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What would this site do without you Harold.
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Lol, absolutely classic Harold but very true
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well, when I get sectioned,you will all find out, lol
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Good Luck to Integrity
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I must say I do like the sound of them, it is good to have a party that bases its politics on individuals not party politics. I will be interested to see what they have to offer in the future.
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Good luck Bill with your party. ’bout time there were people with integrity in politics.
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can we vote to NOT have a government?
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Thank you all for your kind comments, our aims are as stated. It will be a long haul with lots of potholes “especially round the Fylde”.
I believe the way forwards is to start at the bottom, steadily and progressively work towards our goals, one step at a time.
The party was not named Integrity by accident, it is meant to represent the character and ethos of Integrity UK, hopefully we can build an active membership, and in the next round of elections field a few honest people as candidates. Who, whatever their political beliefs, work together for the common good with the interest of their electorate being paramount.
I know this sounds very idealistic, but who knows we may succeed is some small way and improve things.
The members will be supported and encouraged to work together to challenge the bad parts of our current cabinet system.
We have a good strategy for the future, which will take time to implement.
Bill Whitehead Integrity UK
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cheers Bill!
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Nice one Bill, if you need any help with leafleting just let me know.
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Good luck to Bill Whitehead and is new party INTEGRITY UK.
The current system with conservative then labour running our councils by the cabinet system is unfair,Blackpool has 51 councillors elected and for the leader of the council and an handfull of selected sheep to be able to control the decision making is wrong,this system needs changing I support what you are trying to do Bill.
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Actually there are 41 Councillors in Blackpool (well, there should be 42 but one of the Tory Councillors can’t be arsed attending more than 2 meetings a year)
I wish Bill and his Party well too but from what he has said tonight, him and Steven Bate are singing from the same hymn sheet!!
They both feel that a non-aligned group of Independents can do well. The fact is, if the Independents do get their act together then they will succeed. However, the sucessful groups (Labour and Tory) bully their members/supporters into towing the line. Obviously this won’t happen with a bunch of Independents so it is much more difficult. Bit like herding cats!
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Thank you Jonbamboro for your kind comments.
I think Perter was meaning Fylde with 51 councillors.
I do not think Steve Bates and I are singing from the same hymn sheet at all any more than the old Lib-Lab or pure Liberal are akin to the current Lib-Dems.
Integrity UK will be more structured, supportive of its members, and family orientated.
We believe Integrity should be fun for the family, because the support of the members families is crucial to the successful development of Integrity.
It is difficult to change the voting habits of a lifetime, therefore the youngsters are our future.
You may say big ideas maybe, maybe not, but we will give it a shot.
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Hi Bill, If you are not going to have policies or a manifesto or rules what exactly is the point of being in a Party?
Surely the members need to have at least some terms of reference?
Anyway, I do like your ideals and honestly wish you well. The one thing I really urge you to consider very seriously is to target very carefully where you place your candidates in order to end the decades of two party rule!
I am pretty sure that other groups such as the Lib Dems, BFA and others will also play ball either on an unofficial or official basis!
I do not think Party Politics should be involved at local level but the facts are that they are involved. I consider myself a Social Democrat and the Liberal Democrats best represent my views. This is why I stand as a Liberal Democrat for Council. If there were a credible alliance of Independents however, I would be very happy to work with them or even join them.
I firmly believe that the best decisions are those that have been thoroughly discussed and democratically voted on.
A much better way than Steve Weaver telling the Council Leader what is needed and the Council Leader telling his members to vote his way!
It is not difficult to get elected if you are determined to so do! All it takes is hard work and perseverence.
I have a lot of experience of elections and I can honestly say that with enough determined candidates this Council can be transformed in 15 months!
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Steve Weaver is a CUNT and will hopefully die of cancer.
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Hi John,
Thank you for your interesting comments, certainly food for thought.
Integrity is still at the early stages of development, and we have much to learn as what we are trying do is somewhat innovative and has not really been done before by a formal party.
Alliances of two or three parties do not work successfully over time, as they are only ever marriages of convenience.
Perhaps you would like to give me a ring at your convenience.
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[...] in the Gasjet about Integrity UK – the new political party founded on the Fylde Coast that I discussed 2 weeks [...]