Why I will never vote UKIP again

WELL, that’s that for another four years. I’ve already been told ‘don’t worry, you’ll obviously win in 2013’.
It has taken a couple of days to reflect on the disappointment of not being elected as a Somerset county councillor by just nine votes.
However, I am certainly not looking four years’ ahead, so those sorts of comments, well meaning, I know, do not do anything to lessen the disappointment.
What does help is to see that elsewhere in Somerset, one of my Conservative colleagues defeated a Liberal Democrat by only six votes, even closer than in my division.
I can understand how the beaten candidate must feel, and in some ways it helps to know that others are probably sharing the same emotions.
The only thing is, I cannot feel too sorry for him, because he was actively engaged in closing small schools such as those in Blagdon Hill and in Nynehead.
I recall attending a Lib Dem executive meeting where he justified the closure of Blagdon Hill School on the basis of the higher costs of educating pupils there, when compared to educating them in a bigger school.
He, along with the others on the executive at the time, showed a total disregard for the social value of rural small schools, so in the end he got what was coming to him.
I suppose up and down the county there will now be defeated candidates who will be thinking to themselves, if only I had done this or that ….
Yes, I’ve been thinking the same.
But when the election results are analysed, you can see that in fact more Conservatives voted than Lib Dems - it was just that they voted for the wrong party.
UKIP’s county council candidate took 332 votes and it was these votes - mostly, I believe, from Conservatives angry about the European Union increasingly dictating how we live our lives in Britain – which cost me victory.
So, there was not really much more I could have done, as to make a difference to the result it needed UKIP to concentrate on what they were created to do, which is to work to take the UK out of the European Union (note, not out of ‘Europe’).
Which leaves me feeling very bitter and twisted about UKIP.
UKIP were never going to get close to gaining even one seat on the county council, let alone taking it over. And even if they did, the county council would never be in a position to take Somerset out of the EU, let alone take the UK out.
It struck me as pure opportunistic politics, putting up county candidates because the elections were moved to be on the same day as the European Parliament elections and it would help to raise their profile.
I could understand it perhaps if they targeted divisions where they saw candidates who were pro-EU, but no, they were selfishly indiscriminate and through their actions individual UKIP candidates showed that they really do not care a jot about local politics.
As somebody who has often voted UKIP in the past because of my strong anti-EU beliefs, I can now state I will never vote UKIP again.
Many Conservatives (and quite a few Labour voters) I met on the doorstep during the campaign expressed their dislike of the EU and how they wanted David Cameron to take a tougher line on it rather than just promising a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty which we all know will be too late because Gordon Brown will have sealed our fate before he is finally kicked out of No 10.
I pointed out that I was passionately anti-EU, that I am a member of the cross-party Democracy Movement and have been for more than 10 years and that I have financially contributed to the DM and even marched through London with them and stood next to the widow and children of the late Sir James Goldsmith while listening to the late Peter Shore.
I suspect I’ve done more to promote the anti-EU cause than the majority of those who voted UKIP in the county elections last week.
The irony is that those Conservative voters are now represented at County Hall by a councillor from the most pro-European Union party.
Still, enough of the self-indulgent pity.
I really am extremely grateful to everybody who voted for me in the county council elections and to the many people who actively helped in the campaign, however small or large the assistance.
We really do have a great team working within the Conservative Party locally, and looking at the bigger picture, it is confirmation that my present sorrow will turn to joy next spring when Mark Formosa is elected as Conservative MP for Taunton Deane.
In the meantime, I wish Councillor Henley well in the coming four years as our county councillor and now that he won’t always have to do what he is told by his former Lib Dem executive bosses, I hope he will do his best for the people of the Blackdown and Wellington East division.
As to 2013, I’ll continue to work hard locally as the Taunton Deane councillor for the Blackdown ward and I’ll make my mind up about a county council campaign probably in 2012, if I can drag myself away from watching the London Olympics on the television.

Manifesto pledges which just don't stack up

MANIFESTO season is upon us, the time of year, or, rather the time of the quadrennial, when local politicians make all sorts of claims about what they have achieved for you during the past four years and what more they will do in the next four years.
All you have to do is give them your vote and everything will be okay.
I never cease to be amazed at how these manifestos and claims of achievements can twist the truth to a point where what is being said is unrecognisable when actually compared to what was done.
One local politician who comes to mind must be nothing less than a superhero if they have single-handedly done all that they claim.
In fact, you wouldn’t need any of the other councillors at all, as they are so wonderful.
In truth, though, a single councillor in the political system we have at the moment can only work as part of a team and should share collective responsibility for both achievements and failures.
That is one of the reasons why you won’t find me saying that I have single-handedly saved, for instance, a phone box or a Post Office, as it wouldn’t be possible to do it on my own.
What I will say, is that personally I have done what I can and that it is the Conservatives (plural) who have achieved it.
Take the much-trumpeted zero council tax increase at Taunton Deane Borough Council as an example.
The credit for this rests with the Conservative opposition group of councillors, although most of the work was done by our group leader Councillor John Williams.
It was his alternative budget which was cherry picked by the Lib Dem administration on the very day they were proposing a 2.7 per cent council tax rise – with the effect that they then agreed with the Conservative zero increase proposal and put that to us at the evening budget meeting.
I played my part as a Conservative councillor by inputting to the alternative budget, but I’m not claiming any superhero powers and saying I did it alone so therefore you should vote for me.
Looking at the manifestos which have been published, it is interesting to read the ‘key facts’ the Lib Dems want you to remember when you go to vote, and then to compare them with what the ‘real facts’ are.
Lib Dem ‘Key fact’ – they ‘will continue to keep council tax increases among the lowest of any county’.
True fact – they have already doubled your council tax during their reign of power and are now so worried about losing control that they are trying to appear to be matching the Conservative pledge to ‘freeze’ your council tax.
Lib Dem ‘Key fact’ – they ‘have plans currently being actioned to invest in jobs and businesses’.
True fact – they have just been forced to publicly admit their claim to be investing £5 million in the Somerset Economic Recovery Plan was a crude spin doctor deception because all but £280,000 is money from other organisations or was already in the budget.
Lib Dem ‘Key fact’ – they have achieved the highest recycling of any county.
True fact – they have broken their promise to give us plastics and cardboard recycling and it will be 2011 before most people actually get it, if at all.
Other examples of bending the truth can be found in the Lib Dem 2009- 2013 manifesto published on their website.
It claims, for instance, they will ‘protect village schools’.
Well, we are in the middle of a savage Lib Dem cost-cutting exercise which is closing village schools such as Blagdon Hill and Nynehead and others, and leaving many others under threat.
Only Conservative councillors, including myself, have fought against these closures.
The Lib Dems claim, for instance, not to have closed any special schools – but they don’t say it is not for want of trying and that if Mark Formosa, the Conservative Parliamentary candidate, had not battled them in Wiveliscombe, then Kingsmead School would have lost its special needs unit.
They claim credit for the successful 'Handyperson Service' – it is actually called the Handyman Service, which shows how politically correct they cannot help being – but they don’t give any credit to the Taunton Deane Conservative administration which actually started it some years ago.
They claim to have eased traffic congestion on the Silk Mills road by building a railway bridge.
But in truth they have ruined the good work of installing the bridge by creating a mess of traffic light-controlled junctions and different vehicle lanes which now cause as much, if not more, congestion than before.
They promised to roll out 120 new transport schemes and to improve road safety, but they have done nothing to progress a new railway station for Wellington, or a northern distributor road for the town, while we have seen those yellow signs on 'Red Routes' advising of safety amendments to come in 2008 amended to read '2009' - and we are still waiting.
I could go on, but I suspect few people have even read this far.

Our pavements are officially the worst in the Westcountry

PAVEMENTS in Somerset are the worst in the Westcountry - and that is official.
My Conservative colleagues at County Hall have reacted with shock after seeing the latest performance figures showing that Lib Dem Somerset’s pavements are the worst of any council in the South West.
A report from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) collated data from the Audit Commission which showed the condition of Somerset’s pavements is almost twice as bad as the national average.
Somerset was also placed bottom of the list for South West local authorities.
CSP figures show that 42 per cent of pavements in Somerset are in need of repair, almost twice the average for the whole country.
The situation nationally has only marginally improved since last year, when the CSP called on local authorities to urgently address the problem of broken pavements, which can increase the risk of falls, especially for older people.
No wonder my county Conservative colleagues were so dismayed by the news of Somerset’s failings.
The CSP report showed that almost half of all footways in the county are in need of repair.
The practical reality of the situation is that every day, thousands of Somerset residents have to take their lives into their own hands just by walking down the street.
This needs action before any more residents injure themselves.
We must take action as a matter of urgency to put this right.
If we leave it, then it will only end up costing the county council - that means us council taxpayers - more in the long-run.
There will be more injuries, more claims against the council, and more misery for local people.
We deserve better.
The CSP wants councils such as Somerset to make 2009 the year for carrying out repairs to broken and uneven pavements, which will improve safety and help to protect people from unnecessary falls.
Lynn Sutcliffe, a spokeswoman for CSP and vice-chairman of AGILE (Chartered Physiotherapists working with Older People), said: “Once an older person has fallen, it can seriously affect their physical and emotional wellbeing.
“It can make them anxious and limit their enjoyment of activities they previously enjoyed.
“Walking on uneven ground requires older people to be fit and strong, and able to withstand disturbances to their balance.
“If local authorities act sooner rather than later to fix the pavements that need repair, many unnecessary falls could be avoided.”
The subject of broken pavements was the theme of National Falls Awareness Day 2008, run by Help the Aged.
The charity carried out research showing that 2,300 older people fall on broken pavements every day and nearly 80,000 of those who have fallen each year are subsequently afraid to leave the house.
Pamela Holmes, Help the Aged healthy ageing manager, said: “These new figures released by the CSP show that broken and damaged pavements still represent a significant problem for older people with mobility problems.
“Our own research suggested that councils are caught in a vicious circle.
“On the one hand they are required to sit on large sums of money to cover legal fees and compensation, and on the other they are cash-strapped when it comes to repairing pavements that may cause falls in the first place.
“It is vital that councils invest more money in keeping public walkways safe, as falls are a leading cause of death for over-75s and at the very least, one fall can shatter an older person’s physical and mental well-being.”
Mark Formosa, who is the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Taunton Deane, has already helped to collect a large petition in Taunton which complains about the state of some pavements in the county town.
Mark has presented the petition to the county council because it is responsible for maintaining the footways.

• The photographs show the state of some pavements in Taunton, and also Mark Formosa with two residents with whom he worked to collect a petition protesting at how the county council was failing to properly maintain the pavements.

Speak up now to help save Blagdon Hill School from closure

THE governors of Blagdon Hill Primary School continue to have my full support in their fight to save the village school from closure under Somerset County Council spending cuts.
I visited the school again yesterday with Mark Formosa, who is the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Taunton Deane and who is passionate about the need to maintain small schools.
We are urgently calling for everybody in the local community to send their comments to the county council before the public consultation process ends on Friday, June 6.
Interestingly, Mark discovered by coincidence that as a youngster he went to the same school in Cornwall as Blagdon’s chairman of governors, Jonathan Langdon.
The county council say they are talking about the quality of education in small rural schools - but we all know they are really interested in cutting money from a budget they have mismanaged despite doubling our Council Tax in 10 years.
Now, rural residents are being threatened with paying the price of the county’s blundering through the closure of village schools not just here on the Blackdowns, but across many areas of Somerset.
Blagdon Hill provides quality education for the children who attend it, and the small class sizes mean pupils can receive a high ratio of one-to-one attention from their teachers.
Pupils receive excellent sports tuition, every child goes swimming every week of every term, every child plays a musical instrument, there is a computer in class for every two pupils rather than a once-a-week session in an IT suite, and children with special needs are able to make huge progress in such an environment.
All this is reflected in Ofsted inspection reports which rate the school and its teaching environment as good, good, good.
Yet, the county council are contemplating closing Blagdon Hill School and they are already putting off potential pupils by not telling parents moving to the area that the school is there.
I was extremely impressed by the strength of local feelings which came out of the recent open meeting and drop-in sessions, which I think rather took the county council by surprise.
They were gravely mistaken if they thought Blagdon Hill residents would be a soft touch, and I hope that if enough people put sufficiently robust arguments to them before the close of consultation on Friday, then we may have a chance of stopping this closure.
It does not make sense to be closing any school at a time when schools in Taunton are already over-subscribed and we face thousands more homes being built in the town with a huge influx of new residents and their children.

• The photograph outside Blagdon Hill Primary School shows (left to right) acting head teacher David Hawkins, chairman of governors Jonathan Langdon, Mark Formosa, parent-governor Jayne Simpson, and Blackdown ward Deane Councillor John Thorne.

From Gay Pride to hippies to Pitminster straw boater all in one day

IT was a day of contrasts on Saturday for myself and my wife Julia, as I attended the annual Pitminster and Angersleigh Playing Field Association fete.
While Julia was in Plymouth for the day helping one of our clients - they organise the South West's largest Gay Pride event - I started the day at the Sunrise Celebration festival over near Tintinhull, the organisers of which are also our clients.
Having spent a few hours surrounded by several thousand people from the travelling and festival-going communities, many of whom would be described as hippies, it was a quick change of clothing and a dash across to Blagdon Hill for the annual fete, complete with straw boater.
Yes, there are hippy-types on the Blackdown Hills as well, but the Sellicks Green playing field didn't have the organic loos or the yurts or the tipis or the windmill-powered generators or the horse-drawn transport of the Sunrise Celebration.
The only thing that all three events had in common was the sweltering heat and brilliant blue sky which prevailed all day.
The Blagdon fete was a brilliant event with just about everybody in the community near and far seeming to be there.
What impressed me most was learning afterwards that something like £5,000 was raised from the fete and will be used by the charity to help maintain the playing field for the benefit of everybody.
An amazing result for a small rural community, which demonstrates how there is such a strong sense of community spirit here.
It was good to see the plans on show for the proposed new community hall and I was pleased to able to introduce the committee chairman Duncan Meikle to our Conservative Parliamentary candidate Mark Formosa when he joined me at the fete.
We enjoyed seeing so many different stalls and events being held at the fete, with Mark showing a keen interest in the dog show because he is a dog owner - while I have two cats.

• The images above show a group of Sunrise Celebration festival-goers taking part in a drumming session, and the Pitminster fete programme.