tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3985711776365144891.post2584545271828705930..comments2023-05-19T11:22:45.301+01:00Comments on Your Coleridge Conservative Action Team: Vote Bower this Thursday!Chris Howellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00788153276499154335noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3985711776365144891.post-310451437902845792010-11-10T22:43:01.661+00:002010-11-10T22:43:01.661+00:00Tariq,
You can't be serious - unless I'm ...Tariq,<br /><br />You can't be serious - unless I'm missing a basic fact, when it came to the vote at the County Council you voted in favour of a TIF bid that included plans for congestion charging for Cambridge, having just been elected in the local elections claiming to be opposed to congestion charging - it would be negligent for local Conservatives not to point this out.<br /><br />To quickly re-run the whole debate, the County Council was put in a huge dilemma by the previous Labour government. In a policy that is I understand still supported by Labour locally, the former government tried to force Councils to build thousands of houses regardless of local opinion with their top down housing targets, then told the County Council that it would only provide funding for the transport to support this housing through the TIF bid scheme. The former government made it a clear condition of the TIF scheme that the Council had to propose congestion charging as part of the plans. Typical of the bullying way Labour did government - thankfully this approach has now been consigned to history.<br /><br />The last County Council elections in Coleridge had the surreal situation where Coleridge Conservatives were campaigning in opposition to the Conservative County Council's possible policy of pursuing a TIF bid including congestion charging as we were totally opposed to congestion charging on principle, and as much as we understood why the County Council took the position it did in the face of the crude attempts by the government to blackmail Councils into introducing congestion charging, if Andy had been elected he made it clear he would have voted against any plans including congestion charging. This may not have been a successful campaign in terms of getting Andy elected, and was always going to be a difficult point to get across as we were disagreeing with out County colleagues, but it was principled and honest.<br /><br />You on the other hand campaigned at the County Council elections on a platform of claiming to oppose congestion charging, saying it was nothing to do with pressure from government, and was all the County Council's idea (thus trying to association support for congestion charging with Coleridge Conservatives - that really was unreasonable) - the electorate to a large extent clearly believed you. But within months of being elected to the County Council, you then voted in favour of the TIF bid proposed by the Conservative leadership of the County Council that included congestion charging at some point further down the line. It simply won't wash to claim that the TIF bid you voted in favour of was completely different to the tentative plans proposed prior to the election - they both included plans to introduce congestion charging. The whole Manchester congestion charging debate may have passed you by, and you may have convinced yourself that the position you took when voting in the Council chamber was somehow consistent with your position during the election, but you certainly haven't convinced me that we aren't absolutely spot on to say you voted in favour of congestion charging.<br /><br /><br />ChrisChris Howellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00788153276499154335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3985711776365144891.post-87724115308958269232010-11-09T17:17:20.851+00:002010-11-09T17:17:20.851+00:00Tariq,
Thanks for your commiserations. You and G...Tariq,<br /><br />Thanks for your commiserations. You and George were both magnanimous in victory and it is great that we are able to have such civilised close fights in Coleridge.<br /><br />However, this constant sniping that we are taking credit for your work is getting a bit <a href="http://cherryhintonroad.blogspot.com/2010/06/lighten-up-labour.html" rel="nofollow">silly</a>. Just because you wish we weren't working and achieving results on some of the same issues as you doesn't mean we aren't. As we have written before, when two parties are working hard in the same ward it is inevitable that they will end up working on many of the same issues and this is good for voters.<br /><br />As for the supposed slights, a bit of self awareness from Coleridge Labour would help (Tawrie blue bird, two story tories, and less overt messages about my localness in earlier elections...) We didn't moan about these at the time - it's part of the knockabout of local politics, and importantly, there is always some subjectivity in judging these things.<br /><br />On congestion charging, you campaigned against what you called a 'Tory congestion charge' but you voted precisely the same way as the Conservative group and gave the same reasons. They too made it clear that they didn't want a congestion charge but needed to have it in at that stage to trigger the Labour govermnent's bribe.<br /><br />You secured election on the basis that you were opposed to something the county Conservatives wanted to do. Yet I pledged to vote against the scheme and would have done, as five other Conservatives did. It really is that simple.Andrew Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01369463381693803617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3985711776365144891.post-22454850123715589172010-11-09T15:10:53.315+00:002010-11-09T15:10:53.315+00:00Firstly, commiserations to Andy Bower on Thursday’...Firstly, commiserations to Andy Bower on Thursday’s election result, and thanks Chris for your work on local issues, particularly in your first year.<br /><br />Thanks Chris also for highlighting the distortions in the rather ridiculous and misleading Coleridge by-election leaflet put out by the Greens. I would however like to correct just one of the distortions in your own response which Coleridge Conservatives have put out repeatedly knowing it to be untrue - the idea that I voted for Congestion Charging, when you know that I and other Labour Councillors consistently opposed it and, working with Labour colleagues, we defeated a bad scheme.<br /><br />My full response is on our blog at http://coleridgelabourupdate.blogspot.com/County Councillor Tariq Sadiq (Coleridge, Labour)noreply@blogger.com