Independence? I hear from time to time the suggestion I ought to run as an Independent to be certain of re-election. Of course if I really only wanted to be an MP I would not have joined the old Liberal Party who were as low in the polls when I joined as the Lib Dems are today. If I was a career politician I would have joined the Conservatives or the Labour Party. Anyway, I promised to write something more substantive about the reasons why not, so here it is. Just think back to 2010 for a moment. Suppose I had stood as an Independent then and won. No Party had an overall majority. Would you have expected me to sit passively by and watch events, or approach the parties for what I could get out of them for my constituency? It would be a question of either putting your constituents first, or your dislike of one of the parties. The reality is that sitting passively by rather than negotiating benefits for your area and joining the Government side if successful would condemn you to five years of less effective advocacy of your constituents’ needs. The simple truth is that had I walked away and sat as an Independent last time I would have weakened the influence of our area in the decisions that Governments take over such things as roads, broadband, and other infrastructure investment. Over the designation of assisted-area status and how that enhances the area’s chances of accessing other funds such as the coastal community fund and the lottery, city deal support and growth funding – all adding up to millions and millions that would not have come our way otherwise. Given my Party, like every Party, exists to put its policies into practice it is amazing how many from our manifesto are now in place, for example; from income tax cuts for the low paid to the triple lock pension guaranteeing a 2% rise above wage or price inflation; from the massive extension of apprenticeships to the Green Investment bank; from health contracts on the basis of quality not price to halting the imprisonment of children. Locally we’ve got the by-pass, the South West Water rebate and superfast broadband to 97% of all business addresses ahead of the rest of the country plus a host of other goodies to stimulate the local economy. Not bad when you are 250 seats short of an overall majority! Being in Government has got more out of Government for Torbay than I could have achieved in opposition. But for me there is an even greater reason not to stand as an Independent. In my opinion there is nothing more dishonest in politics than pretending to be something you are not. I am a Liberal in politics - an old fashioned west-country Liberal - in a party that is going through a phase where that wing of liberalism isn’t reflected as much in the views of the leadership as I’d like it to be, but then leaders come and leaders go. As it is I can offer an independent voice within my party, but I cannot be independent from those of its values and principles that I share. Another reason is that standing as an Independent in Torbay would gift the seat to the Tories. Those who mention Martin Bell as the example of a successful Independent candidate forget both Labour and the Lib Dems stood down to give him a free-run against Neil cash for questions Hamilton. Interestingly Neil Hamiliton is another loyal Thatcherite Tory now in UKIP. Personally, I think it is unlikely the result of the next election will require my party to enter into coalition with another to form a Government. I hope that isn’t so but 2010 was a very unusual result under first past the post – in fact just a few more votes for the Lib Dems in seats like Totnes and Newton Abbot could have created a different House of Commons make-up with the prospect of a numerical coalition with Labour that wouldn’t have been dependent on nationalists. All you and I know is what the people have told the pollsters about how they will vote in Torbay, and that’s a result looking like a tie between myself and the Conservative Candidate with Labour in fourth place and out of the race. The result is in your hands, and as I have said elsewhere, all your vote does is elect an individual to represent you in Parliament. All that person offers you is their judgement on the decisions that come before Parliament, and how they reach those decisions will be based on their values and principles. If you want to guarantee that that individual is not a loyal Conservative Party member or a Thatcherite UKIPper then don’t just plan on voting for me, come and join my campaign team, you would be very welcome.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 09:39:03 +0000
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