Standing up to male violence against women

https://www.whiteribbon.org.uk/

Westcliff Town Council

For most residents in Southend-on-Sea there is just the one level of local government, and some (if not most) may see this as a cause to celebrate.

This is not true for everyone though, as Leigh residents enjoy being covered by a Town Council.

Surrounding local authorities also have Town and Parish Councils; Rochford is entirely covered, compared to half of Castle Point. Of course, being in Essex residents in these authorities therefore have three tiers of local government.

Town Councils provide a voice for a community that may otherwise be lost or ignored. My home town of Westcliff-on-Sea, arguably the hub of the borough, has no such voice and I think it is the poorer for it.

This extra layer of democracy brings local government closer to its residents, avoiding the feeling of remoteness and detachment that can prevail when an area, which like Westcliff, has its distinct identity.

Westcliff-on-Sea can feel neglected at times, as whilst much of it is wonderful (and not only do I currently live there, I was also born there too), without doubt there are parts which could do with some TLC. This is not going to happen (well, at least has not happened so far) when it looks to the Borough Council to take action – it needs local voices who both know and cherish the area, and are determined to champion it too.

It is about time that Westcliff-on-Sea had its own Town Council. This idea has been mooted before, including by me, and I again call for an investigation into the feasibility of such a proposal.

Westcliff needs representation!

Yet another Southend Conservative Councillor makes a racist comment

Cllr Floyd Waterworth states in his latest leaflet: “Resist Labour’s plans for a gipsy site ..”

Aside from the lie contained in this statement, ‘gipsy’ (sic) is a racist term.

Southend Tories are not dealing with a very disturbing trend, despite Equality and Diversity training being laid on for them by the Council (largely ignored and avoided) after Cllr Walker’s vile comments (still no apology from him).

The Conservative Council Leader (John Lamb) has promised to deal with all race-hate language – let’s hope he comes good on his promise.

Peppa

I attended Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s International Women’s Day event on Thursday. I bumped into Cllr Anne Jones whilst there, and we were introduced to Peppa the robot.

An empty building in Southend's High Street

This is one of several possible sites for Forum 2 - we do not need to build on one of our few, precious open spaces

This is a lovely open and green space

Let's ensure it is not built on

 

Let’s have a fairer voting system

The benefit of having a first past the post electoral system, we are told, is that it produces decisive results. This has proved to be a largely undelivered benefit in the last three General Elections (2010, 2015, 2017). Of course, not only is FPTP now failing to produce decisive (sometimes ascribed the abjective ‘strong’) government, it produces a Parliament that does not reflect the opinions of those that vote (and likely those who abstain too).

No wonder we (politicians) are struggling to engage. We have an electoral system designed to maintain the status quo (and I write as a Labour member and activist whose party more often than not benefits from our antiquated voting system). The only change that can realistically be offered at General Elections under the current system is either blue or red. This encourages tactical voting, and perhaps as a beneficiary of this last June I ought not to complain too much (second, but with Labour’s best ever result in Southend West). But I do complain because my sense of fairness is offended. Also, as a radical and progressive, I want a democracy that actually works properly.

So much for the promise of strong and stable government.

Since we have got somewhat used to the idea of coalition we should be unafraid of change/progress. If we have a fairer, and thus proportional, voting system then allv otes would count – none would be wasted and the complaint that “my vote won’t change anything” largely goes away.

Last June we saw a Conservative Party gain 49% of the seats in the House of Commons based on 42% of the vote. (Ironically, Labour got 40% on both counts). The Liberal Democrats are perennial sufferers, this time seeing 7% of the popular vote rewarded with 2% of the seats. The minor parties suffer even more.

There are many ways to implement a more proportional, and fairer, voting system. We stand alone in Europe (Belarus excepted) in having such an antiquated and unfair system. I want to see greater participation and engagement with our democracy, and changing it it so that all votes count is surely the way to go.