Going backwards with the Tories in Blenheim Park

One of Floyd Waterworth’s priorities if re-elected is: “Work with Sir David Amess MP for the abolition of Inheritance Tax”.

Once again Mr Waterworth demonstrates his regressive tendencies with yet another attempt to drag Britain backwards. Almost everything that the racist and sexist Waterworth wishes for stands in contradistinction to my ideas of radical, progressive, and fair politics.

(Read here for some arguments for inheritance tax.)

Waterworth has forgotten to mention his election as a UKIP councilor, and subsequent rat-run to the Tories.

If Waterworth succeeds I sincerely hope his next four years are a significant improvement on his first term as councillor. He really could, and should,  do a lot better.

More Tory spin on the NHS, but it will fool no-one

Local Conservatives claims on the NHS are risible. It is a Conservative Government that is forcing deep cuts into essential services. Of course, local Tory candidates are worried because residents can see that their cherished hospital is in crisis.

The maintenance of A&E in Southend-on-Sea is not down to Conservative campaigning - they have largely ignored and argued against those of us who have campaigned. It is down to people like me who have used whatever platforms we have to highlight the real issues with our National Health Service.

The Conservatives have little chance of success in Victoria ward. They last won Victoria in 2000, under the old boundaries. They have not won the ward in its current configuration.

In 2016 the Conservative candidate attracted 15.35 of the vote, as opposed to 54.7% for Labour. However, we should not allow complacency to creep in. Make sure you vote for Margaret Borton on May 3rd (or before if you have a postal vote).

East Southend Tory hopefuls

In the eight wards that make up east Southend (the eight wards that are part of the Rochford and Southend East constituency) there is no Conservative defending in May 2018; none of these wards, when contested in 2014, was won by the Tories.

2014, as some may remember, was the year UKIP won five seats across the borough, and therefore won more seats than any other party. All of their councillors have since either resigned or defected.

The Labour v Conservative contest in 2018 looks like the following :-

ward	Conservative candidate	Labour candidate
Kursaal	Dave Clift	Matt Dent
Milton	Garry Lowen	Cllr Cheryl Nevin
Shoeburyness	Val Jarvis
Southchurch	Dan Nelson	Martin Berry
St Luke’s	Harry Mason	Ian Pope
Thorpe	Cllr James Moyies
Victoria	John Harland	Cllr Margaret Borton
West Shoebury	Denis Garne

Labour has still a few outstanding selections, and will have a full slate within the month. The Tory slate is a mix of experience and newcomers. There is one ex-Labour councillor amongst the Tories; Denis Garne once represented Labour in Kursaal ward and if successful will join Cllr Judith McMahon as a once Labour turned Tory councillor.

ward	Winner in 2014	Party now
Kursaal	UKIP	Independent
Milton	Labour	Labour
Shoeburyness	Independent	Independent
Southchurch	Independent	Independent
St Luke’s	Independent	Independent
Thorpe	Independent	Independent
Victoria	Labour	Labour
West Shoebury	UKIP	Conservative

The movement of some candidates across various parties will damage their chances of being successful in May, and I predict that Cllrs Davies and Moyies will exit the chamber.          

In 2014 the vote share for all 17 wards in Southend-on-Sea totalled as follows :-

30.2% Conservative

19.1% UKIP

19.0% Labour

17.5% Independent

13.0% Liberal Democrat
1.2% Green

0.0% National Front

I expect these numbers to be significantly different come May.