We need to send the Tories packing

by Siôn Simon

Fifteen years ago the country went to the polls, cast their vote for Labour and sent a message to the incumbent Tory government. People said: we won’t be treated like this; we won’t be lied to, conned, taken for granted; asked to work harder for less, while the rich get richer; we don’t want hand outs, but sometimes we need a hand up. And Labour voters delivered that message and sent the Tories packing.

But they came back.

It didn’t take long for David Cameron’s mask to slip, or for them to reverse the work of the last Labour government. Snatching tax credits away from millions of working families, scrapping the education maintenance allowance, increasing tuition fees and, with Osborne at the wheel, driving the country back in to recession.

Tomorrow we have another opportunity to send a clear message to the Tories and their Liberal Democrat houseboys that we won’t stand for their lies, cozy kitchen suppers, daily updates with media barons and shambolic handling of the economy. In polling booths up and down the country people have the chance to tell David Cameron and George Osborne exactly what they think of them.

The local elections aren’t just about individual communities, they are a report card on this government. Whether it be in Birmingham, where the Tory and Lib Dem controlled council has done nothing to support, speak up or stand up for our city against their central Government cronies cuts. Or in London where Boris Johnson has done nothing to help the woman on the street but managed to find time to campaign for tax cuts for his wealthy mates. We need to send the message.

Because if we don’t kick them out of power in Birmingham, if we don’t send Boris packing in London, then Cameron and Osborne will think they can get away with it. That they can keep looking after the few and make life harder for the many.

The message to wavering Londoners is clear: it doesn’t matter whether you like Ken. You need Ken. Because you can’t afford Boris. He is an out-of-touch playboy who has taken Londoners for a ride, and charged you 50% more for your bus trip on the way.

Ken has an unparalleled track record of putting ordinary Londoners first. Now, of all times, that is what London needs.

In Birmingham, eight years of Tory-Lib Dem misrule – during which they never won the popular vote – has devastated our city. They have attacked our must vulnerable people with disabilities. Twice their cuts have been found to be illegal. The fight back for ordinary Brummies needs to start tomorrow.

We must show them that we won’t stand for it – we won’t be made mugs of by these privileged chancers. We need to stand up and tell them no. Enough is enough. We want our great cities back.

There’s only one way to send this message: vote Labour on Thursday, vote Ken and vote Yes in Birmingham’s Mayoral referendum.

Siôn Simon is running to be the first directly elected Mayor of Birmingham


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20 Responses to “We need to send the Tories packing”

  1. simon gray says:

    Now, because I’m naturally on the left of the political spectrum, I’m almost certainly going to vote Labour tomorrow anyway (although I’ll be voting No in the referendum – sorry Siôn!), but

    …as a council employee who has just successfully survived a council restructure because our department’s restructure has been suspended for a year, but who has many friends who have been made redundant over the last year and many other friends who are currently facing redundancy…

    …is the hoped-for Labour return to power in Birmingham tomorrow going to result in a guarantee of all the current and planned further job cuts being halted? Are Albert – and yourself should the referendum go yes and you be elected in November – promising no more job losses?

    And when I say no more job losses, I mean that regarding individuals currently in jobs, not a promise that there will be no net job losses in the future? I mean, it’s all very well promising no net job losses, but if one happens to be, say, a transport planner, it’s no good to you if your department is cut whilst, say, the library service is expanded – you’re still a transport planner facing redundancy if you can’t persuade your library colleagues that your skills are transferable, can you?

  2. Guido Fawkes says:

    London is going to vote for the Playboy!

  3. test says:

    Obnoxious Brownite turd. This article is stamped all over with the hallmark of Gordon Brown’s economic illiteracy: “Fifteen years ago the people of Britain said they weren’t going to put up with a government that didn’t hand out benefits like sweeties. They weren’t going to put up with a government that didn’t bribe people with their own money. They weren’t going to put up with a government that didn’t seek to snare all classes in the welfare trap, so that everyone had an incentive not to vote Labour out”.

    Listen carefully Sion: you can’t spend money you haven’t got. And even if you do have the money to bribe everyone with more and more benefits into voting for your side, it’s wrong to do so. But amoral treacherous scum-eggs like you wouldn’t know right from wrong if it hit you in the face.

    And it has the pomposity to go on: “But then they came back”. Does the Government of Britain just change on its own, then, Sion? I thought changes of Government required some input from the people of Britain. Oh yes, that’s right: the people of Britain voted the Tories a bigger share of the poll and a bigger lead in 2010 than Labour had in 2005, only the gerry-rigged boundaries kept them out.

    As for ramping Labour’s Islamist-coddling, anti-semitic London Mayoral candidate, with a manifesto of promises reliant on the magic money tree sprouting a bumper crop this year, you must be joking. There are plenty of Labour members in London who will not be voting for him, and until you get rid of him and his ilk your brand will remain rightly toxic.

  4. Anon E Mouse says:

    Couldn’t resist this….

    Two years ago the country went to the polls, cast their vote for both the Lib-Dems and the Tories and sent a message to the incumbent Labour government.

    People said:

    we won’t be treated like this – 90 days detention, increase in National Insurance, 10p tax

    we won’t be lied to – War in Iraq and the dodgy dossier, Blair serving a “full third term”

    conned – Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty etc etc

    taken for granted – No majority in Wales or Scotland, London Mayor, George Galloway

    asked to work harder for less – National Insurance increase, “green taxes”

    while the rich get richer – Fred Goodwin?

    we don’t want hand outs, but sometimes we need a hand up – are you serious????

    And Lib-Dem and Tory voters delivered that message and sent the hypocrites packing.

    And Labour won’t come back. – If this type of negativity doesn’t stop ASAP

  5. Clr Ralph Baldwin says:

    Just completed my Conservative Party Membership and no Simon the cuts will be implemented as enthusiastically by Labour as they would by Conservatives When i was a Labour Councillor I was shocked at the attitude of the “Executives” on my council they genuinely made the case for cuts brought to them by a Tory Government as Labour Policy, they had no idea what Labour was about and did not seem to care as they relied on the Local Council Officers to implement it all. They did eventually shed some crocodile tears when they finally grasped how some members of the public were but that took about three months. I am actually truly sorry for you and I fear the Unions best interests are not being taken seriously by Labour as Union Leaders merely continue with the “decline by negotiation”, but they will be fine.

    London City wins I’m afraid no matter the result in Birmingham 🙂 But at least you are experiencing some democracy, more than you’ll ever get from Labour and you’ll have more say in things as a citizen thanks to the Localism Bill. But in terms of wealth distribution public servants and the poor will not be aided by Labour. The whole point of narrowing candidate selections is to make sure fewer and fewer of you can argue your case in Parliament and disagree with the Leadership. But good luck in any case!

    Time to become a Tory tata Labour Uncut, you had some fantastic articles in the past and refreshing to see some questions being asked, Labour normally bans them……

  6. iain ker says:

    I remember working in a bank in London when the GLC was in power. One of our accounts was the (fill in your continent here) Peoples Organisation. There was a note attached to their file advising us to take care as one of the signatories on the account was a suspected fraudster.

    Said signatory walked in one day with a cheque for £17,000 drawn on (ie payable by) GLC Ratepayers Account. In line with banking procedure I asked the chap what the money was for. He replied,

    ‘A project’.

    Nothing I could do, in went money (once) belonging to the ratepayers of London and out again to God knows where.

    The GLC, the bulk of whose voters in those days weren’t of course ratepayers issued these cheques for ‘projects’ by the thousands.

    I wouldn’t vote Livingston if he were the last politician on earth.

    Sion, if I were you mate I would leave the political commentary well alone and stick to making *hilarious* spoof videos of David Cameron.

  7. dizzyingcrest says:

    Deficit reduction can be brought about in a number of ways the fairest would be to increase the burden on rich as there are huge amounts of wealth which can be unlocked through higher taxes, increases in inheritance tax as the value of the estate goes up and an expansion of council tax beyond where it is capped at the moment.
    One can here the screams of the wealthy Conservatives of unfair and unjust but the point is that the uk is a rich country where wealth is held by the few but generated by the many. it is hard to imagine anyone who is self made in economic terms. All wealth is dependant on ordinary working people in the following ways Most company’s need workers to make a profit. Share markets banks etc need company’s to speculate on (Thus Workers). Retailers and wholesalers need customers to make a profit (workers). The aforementioned would suggest a large part of the deficit could be paid of using the above measures to unlock the wealth of the few that has been produced by the many.
    The UK after the Second World War faced huge debts but was still able to set up the NHS and bring about the Welfare State. This was brought about by massive taxes on top earners” maintained under the Attlee government, with the top rate of income tax reaching 98% in 1949).” Thus now may be time to slim down our fat cats

  8. swatantra says:

    Not quite the Gettysberg Address, but it’ll do.
    Yes to all 3. But NO to Liam Byrne.
    I’ll certainly be voting Labour.

  9. dizzyingcrest says:

    I fear undemocratic changes may make it very difficult to remove the Conservatives from office. Boundary changes, the increased concentration of poor people to safe labour seats (Through benefit capping) may turn some London marginals blue and the possibility of Scottish independence may Further reduce the number of labour MPs. Maybe Labour should make a full and binding commitment to Proportional representation I am sure this would be popular with people who have lived in safe seats where in effect their vote may never have counted. It may also encourage the Scottish to remain in the union.
    Moving masses of people to high unemployment areas will offer them no hope of escaping their impoverished retched situation and alienation from extended family will just make their plight worse.Even If you have no empathy with their social situation then moving people to unemployment black spots (Hull) cannot be economically wise.

  10. james says:

    why on earth should I vote labour when the person that won for labour in my area last time (now `people first` cllr) is lambasting them and supporting the Lib Dem incumbent as the best person for the job?

    why on earth should I give a `report to the government` when I have a strong Lib Dem led council that is good with money, produces a budget and supports things like construction academies while Labour would side with the Tories in using that money to prop up one small leisure centre in a politically marginal area?

    and finally why on earth should I vote labour locally when, despite being the official opposition, fail to produce a budget of their own?

  11. BenM says:

    I see AnonEMouse is ignoring the latest polls, as well as the ongoing fiasco of a government.

  12. swatantra says:

    Does that mean we’ve seen the last of ‘the clr’ now he’s joined the Tory-Lib Dem Axis? Or, will he return as a Troll?

  13. uglyfatbloke says:

    You think you’ve all got voting problems? What about Glaswegians? Unless the Gnats win outright then the curent bunch of dodgy crooks on the council will go into coalition with the Tories. Of course under PR the Gnats can’t win outright…there again, the Holyrood system was designed specifically to keep the Gnats out of government forever.

  14. swatantra says:

    … or even ‘a trol’

  15. Anon E Mouse says:

    BenM

    Mid term blues is all. How is Miliband polling personally and do you have nothing positive to say about the Labour Party?

    (Which bit in my list above isn’t true? If Labour won’t admit their mistakes I’ll never vote for them again…)

  16. SadButMadLad says:

    “Ken has an unparalleled track record of putting ordinary Londoners first.”

    No he didn’t. He put his cronies first and then any special interest groups who were mostly for other countries and then followed by some special groups of Londoners such as young kids. Only lastly did he put ORDINARY Londoners anywhere on his priority list.

    With attitudes like that Sion you will go far – to the bottom. Good luck with your Brum Mayoral ambitions. If you win, will the last person out of Brum turn out the lights – oh! that’ll be you then!

  17. uglyfatbloke says:

    Ed is polling worse in Scotland than in England; I’m afraid he’s pretty much finished here unless he can pull something really dramatic out of the hat – which I’m sure he can, but it does have to be something really good. Scottish PR for Westmisnter elections/full fiscal autonomy/ a proper bill of rights/ditching Trident replacement…any or (preferably) all of these could do the trick.
    OTH sanctioning Labour/Tory coalitions after the local elections will sink him. Labour/Green would be OK, but the Greens probably won’t get enough councillors to make the diference.

  18. Alan Williams says:

    I’m not a Labour supporter but I will definitely vote for Ken for Mayor because he stands up for London and Londoners first, regardless of party. I’ve not been impressed by the negative attitude some Labour members have to him and I think it’s because he is best for London, not for the Westminster Bubble, so I’m not sure if I will vote for Labour in the Assembly vote. But I don’t only want to send the Tories packing, I want who is best for London.

  19. Essexboy says:

    Good God, if it it wasn’t bad enough having to live in s**thole like Birmingham, imagine have a A* helmet like Sion Simon as your Mayor! Bloody hell.

    Sorry chaps but I’m voting for Boris tomorrow, the geezer’s a proper shagger with some sound politics to boot. What’s not to like?

  20. john zims says:

    The article reminds me of some drivel I read in the New Statesman in 2007.

    ‘Perhaps the magnitude of the moment we face is too great for us collectively to bear. Shortly there will be an election, in which Labour will increase its majority, and in so doing utterly shatter the glass paradigm of cyclical politics which has contained us for the century since 1906. This ought to herald another decade of strong, confident, consensual Labour government. Which will finally and irrevocably transform the nature of politics and civic life in Britain.

    That is a frightening responsibility. The young princes who now stride the parade ground with the confidence born of aristocratic schooling can never be afraid. They never have been. Like latter day Pushkins drilled in the elite academy of Brownian blitzkrieg, they are bursting with their sense of destiny. It’s not the Milibands, the Ballses or the Burnhams who are unconsciously nervous. This is the moment for which they were created. They are ready.’

    I only hope Brum votes NO and is spared from having this moron imposed on it.

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