I present: the Tories new friends in Southend-on-Sea

The Green Party are only attempting to unseat one Tory this year, in Belfairs ward; everywhere else they are standing it is non-Tories that are trying to get re-elected.

For some reason the Greens in Southend-on-Sea have decided not to trouble the Conservatives, which suggests some sort of pact. Vote Green get blue was never truer. Their agenda is to stop Labour, the Liberal Democrats and members of the Independent Group Party from getting elected. It is a strategy designed to maintain John Lamb as Leader of the Council.

The Greens are also pretending that gender balance is a priority for them. This is a lie; their election strategy is to unseat three female councillors – see this table.

ward	seeking re-election	party	gender of Green opponent
Leigh	Carole Mulroney	Liberal Democrat	male
Milton	Cheryl Nevin	Labour	female
Victoria	Margaret Borton	Labour	female

The Green vote here (in Southend-on-Sea) is a spoiler vote; they have only once managed to break the 5% barrier (2015 they got 7%). However, in a tight contest they can damage the progressive vote enough to secure Tory success.

Don’t vote Green, not unless you are content to see a Tory elected.

An electoral joke? Oh Clare!

I know Clare Fletcher, I like her. But she has damaged her credibility as a political aspirant with this leaflet, which recently hit my doormat (in Victoria ward).

Try as they might, the Green Party in Southend has yet to win a seat, or even come close. The Green record in Victoria is not that great, as this table shows.

	Winners	Green	Green %
2016	Labour	4th	6%
2015	Labour	4th	9%
2014	Labour	4th	9%
2012	Labour	4th	6%
2011	Labour	3rd	10%
2010	Labour	5th	5%
2008	Labour	5th	8th
2007	Labour	DNC
2006	Labour	DNC
2004	Labour	DNC
2003	Labour	5th	6%
2002	Labour	3rd	9%

When Labour won in 2016 they got 55% of the vote, some 49% ahead of the Green Party. This highlights just how ridiculous Clare claims are on this leaflet.

Clare asserts that “only local Green Party campaigner Clare Fletcher can beat Labour at this local election”. This preposterous claim is not backed up by any evidence.

 

This leaflet is so silly that I am now wondering whether this is an ill-timed April Fool’s joke.

On the call for a progressive alliance

On the call for a progressive alliance

Julian Ware-Lane, Labour’s candidate for Southend West, supports environmental policy, but will not support the call for a “progressive alliance,” or an electoral pact with the Green Party.

“I have a long-standing commitment to the environment,” Mr. Ware-Lane explains, “and I fully support the pledge made by the Labour Party to ensure a fair transition to a low-carbon economy, and drive the expansion of the green industries and jobs of the future.”

The Labour manifesto has yet to be published, but Mr. Ware-Lane is confident that environmental policy will feature prominently in Labour’s campaign. “We cannot leave the issues around climate change, carbon dioxide emissions, and rising sea levels, to the next generation. It will be too late. We need action now,” said Julian.

There have been calls for cooperation between centre-left parties as the way to stop the Tories from wrecking our country for generations to come.  As Julian points out, “in Southend West, the Party that got closest to the Tories at the last election was the Labour Party. If you want to see the environment protected then the only way to achieve this is to vote Labour.”

This comes in the wake of Green Party candidates in Oxford West and Abingdon, stepping down to give the Lib-Dems a clear run in seats where they came second in 2015.

"Only Labour can beat the Tories in Southend West", added Julian.