Red on Red in Corkickle
I raised an eyebrow when I read the "statement of persons nominated" issued by Copeland Borough Council (CBC); for the election of a councillor to serve on that authority for the new Corkickle ward and for Town Councillors for the "Corkickle North" and "Corkickle South" wards of Whitehaven Town council.
I imagine that there will have been a few more electors in "Corkickle South" who raised a similar eyebrow on receiving their postal votes.
It's not every day you see members of the Labour party (or any other organised party) standing against one another in a public election.
However that in itself would not have been worth calling out.
As I wrote on this blog a few days ago, the Conservative party nationally does not insist that local Conservative associations the same policy of putting up a party candidate for every seat on Town and Parish councils in the way we do try to contest all seats on district and county councils, and those members of Copeland Conservatives who are standing for Town and Parish councils have, almost to a man and woman, done so without a party label for that particular local election.
Town and Parish councils have very little formal power, and the functions they perform are around community leadership which does not necessarily follow national party lines, so it is a perfectly defensible position to believe that these community councils do not need to be contested on a party basis. even if you believe that elections for larger and more powerful authorities should be.
We have not carried this policy in Copeland to the point where Conservatives are actually standing against one another, but the logical consequence of deciding that you are not going to put up party candidates for a body like Whitehaven Town Council and that members can stand for that body as independents or without a label is this effectively means that the normal rules of party discipline do not apply to that election.
Two leaflets were delivered to me yesterday lunchtime, apparently together, of which one was the Labour party election address for the Copeland Borough Council election in the ward where I live, and the other, which had a very similar colour scheme to the Labour party document, was not from that party at all. It was a leaflet published by two town council candidates, one of whom is also the official Labour candidate for Copeland Borough Council in the ward in which I live, in which she effectively endorses a member of her family who is standing against the other official Labour council candidate seeking my vote on 2nd May.
Here is one side of each leaflet.
Most of the people reading this who are active in political parties will be quite surprised by this. Most of those who are not will probably be wondering what the fuss is about.
To answer, ask yourself this - how long would it take most people, getting these leaflets together, to realise that one is a Labour leaflet and the other isn't, that the second one is in fact asking voters to support a candidate standing against the official Labour candidate?
I think many people would take a while to realise that, if they spot it at all. Hence my describing this as a "Red on Red" trick.
I will, of course, be supporting the Conservative candidates in the Copeland Borough elections - Ged McGrath for mayor of Copeland and Andrew Wonnacott as CBC councillor for Copeland.
I imagine that there will have been a few more electors in "Corkickle South" who raised a similar eyebrow on receiving their postal votes.
It's not every day you see members of the Labour party (or any other organised party) standing against one another in a public election.
However that in itself would not have been worth calling out.
As I wrote on this blog a few days ago, the Conservative party nationally does not insist that local Conservative associations the same policy of putting up a party candidate for every seat on Town and Parish councils in the way we do try to contest all seats on district and county councils, and those members of Copeland Conservatives who are standing for Town and Parish councils have, almost to a man and woman, done so without a party label for that particular local election.
Town and Parish councils have very little formal power, and the functions they perform are around community leadership which does not necessarily follow national party lines, so it is a perfectly defensible position to believe that these community councils do not need to be contested on a party basis. even if you believe that elections for larger and more powerful authorities should be.
We have not carried this policy in Copeland to the point where Conservatives are actually standing against one another, but the logical consequence of deciding that you are not going to put up party candidates for a body like Whitehaven Town Council and that members can stand for that body as independents or without a label is this effectively means that the normal rules of party discipline do not apply to that election.
So my initial response to the fact that Edwin Dinsdale, who sought the Labour nomination for Mayor of Copeland, is standing to be my town councillor against the official Labour candidate, Paul Whalley, is that as my party decided not to apply party discipline to the local Town council, I wasn't going to criticise the Labour party for relaxing it either.
Nevertheless what came through my letterbox yesterday (Good Friday) is quite unusual, and sufficiently do as to merit comment.
Here is one side of each leaflet.
Most of the people reading this who are active in political parties will be quite surprised by this. Most of those who are not will probably be wondering what the fuss is about.
To answer, ask yourself this - how long would it take most people, getting these leaflets together, to realise that one is a Labour leaflet and the other isn't, that the second one is in fact asking voters to support a candidate standing against the official Labour candidate?
I think many people would take a while to realise that, if they spot it at all. Hence my describing this as a "Red on Red" trick.
I will, of course, be supporting the Conservative candidates in the Copeland Borough elections - Ged McGrath for mayor of Copeland and Andrew Wonnacott as CBC councillor for Copeland.
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