Cllr Alan Dean

Liberal Democrat Councillor for Stansted North on Uttlesford District Council and former Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group Learn more

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Pretend politics!

by Alan Dean on 15 March, 2017

We seem to be living in an age of pretend, unreal politics.

We have a prime minister who pretends to be compassionate and wanting to help the less able in society. Yet as soon as she does something that upsets the Tory right-wing, such as paying for better social care services by increasing National Insurance charges to higher earners to better match the benefits the self-employed receive – she and her chancellor cave in. This week’s spectacle of:

  • “We’re doing the right thing to be fair”, to
  • “We’re doing the right thing and we never said we wouldn’t in our election manifesto”, to
  • “It’s right, we should, but we’ll think about it until the autumn”, and finally today
  • “We said we wouldn’t and our fractious back-benchers won’t let us – so we won’t”,

is a sure symptom of a prime minster who pretends to be tough, is actually weak and is a front-person for her rampant right-wing. The EU Commission and Parliament will eat her for a Brexit breakfast after she has alienated the whole Continent with her “toughness”.

Meanwhile, the left wing of the Tory party cowered before her on Monday and voted on Article 50 re Brexit to neuter themselves and dissolve parliamentary sovereignty. Wasn’t Brexit all about restoring parliamentary sovereignty and not establishing an authoritarian, elective dictatorship? It seems many MPs, including our local one, have abdicated the responsibility vested in them.

And if the national scene wasn’t bad enough, here in Uttlesford we have a party that operates under the pretence that it doesn’t dabble in politics and that its elected councillors are simply housewives and odd-job men. It wants to offer voters £54,000,000 to spend as they like? I’m not sure whether every one of us can collect £54 million, buy a yacht or two and sail off to the Bahamas; but it does seem like a double false prospectus. Even Philip Hammond wouldn’t try that trick!

I think I need a pint with some politics in Saffron Walden tonight; the King’s Arms, 8 p.m.

 

   3 Comments

3 Responses

  1. Andrew Ketteridge says:

    What’s the £54M about Alan?

  2. Tony Morris says:

    Is “the country must come together” a polite way of saying “David Cameron was a lucky bastard – he had Nick Clegg and Norman Lamb in his cabinet to give him ideas – not like my bunch of no-hopers and I do wish Boris Johnson would resume his old career as a stand up comedian”.
    I watched the most infamous statement in British politics being made and Phillip Hammond was sitting nearby and I swear the lights were on but there was nobody in at that seminal moment in our future.
    Hint:- think Wisbech North 2005 – hope you are well – Rod for Mayor of Cambridgeshire.

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