Vote for change by voting no change - Labour

 

It may be a late arrival but nevertheless, it's still funny! Yes, Labour have produced a leaflet in Low Fell for the local elections. For Labour, Low Fell is a place where they fly tip their failed candidates and rejects from elsewhere in Gateshead. Their current candidate is Robert Waugh who, until May last year was councillor for the neighbouring Saltwell ward. 

Saltwell had been solidly Labour since the dawn of time so Mr Waugh can lay claim to the title of "He who lost a rock solid Labour ward to the Lib Dems." So what nuggets of political though has Mr Waugh dreamt up during his enforced leave from Gateshead Council? Well, this one caught my attention. "Real change for the area can only be made by the party in power." In other words, the party in power remains the same and change only comes about within that party. Meanwhile, the rest of us hold the view that change requires one political party to be replaced as the governing party by another party (or parties).

The idea that voting Labour in Gateshead is a vote for change is ludicrous. Labour have been in power on the council for 50 years - the entire time Gateshead Council has existed.

But stick with Labour's logic for a moment. If they are arguing that people should vote for the party that is in power (as they do in Gateshead), to be consistent they are presumably arguing at the national level that people should vote Conservative. After all, "Real change for the area can only be made by the party in power."

Meanwhile, Mr Waugh states that the Lib Dems have been in power for the past 14 years. History is clearly not his strong point.

And finally, Mr Waugh claims that if elected he would be the "loudest" of the Low Fell members. Sadly, many other people are yet to experience even a fraction of a decibel from him. Last year when the council debated the Lib Dem amendment calling for funding to be made available to keep leisure centres open in Gateshead, then Councillor Waugh had nothing to say on the matter. Rather than being the loudest, if appears he took a vow of silence.