Cost of ignoring town council vote

The old Chinese saying is ‘May you live in interesting times’, and, politically, we are.

The Conservative government at Westminster is leaderless, rudderless and clueless and reduced to pleading with a near-Marxist opposition leader for help. Voters’ have rightly punished them for a craven capitulation to Remainers in the Commons, Civil Service and much of the media on the Brexit question. Whatever one’s personal view, there was a majority vote to leave the EU, both major parties promised to respect that vote and both have reneged on their promise.

Closer to home, in Bexhill, there was a large vote in favour of a Town Council, and like their big brothers and sisters in London, the politicians have ignored it.

The earthquake-like result is the loss of Rother District Council by the Conservatives.

The former leader didn’t even top the poll in his own ward, although he didn’t quite manage to do as badly as former Cllr. Gubby.

Tory writ no longer runs in Bexhill, the biggest town in the District. Wherever an Independent stood they were elected, with one exception.

The ruling party were humiliated here. It would have been very interesting to see what would have happened had there been more Independent candidates in the rural areas.

Perhaps the Independents’ will push for a Town Council, which I think they will. Perhaps the tin-eared Tories will at last listen to the electorate, which I think they won’t.

I should say that I was a Conservative party member in the past both here in Bexhill, briefly, and as a Branch Secretary in North Oxfordshire. There is almost zero possibility of this happening again.