Labour: abandoned brownfield and executive homes in the countryside

 

£41 million in the bank and a 5% council tax rise

 

Keeping in touch - vote Lib Dem in Gateshead

 

Trips abroad and dirty streets

 

This is one of the slides Gateshead Lib Dems created to go onto Facebook. More to follow.

eFocus on NE16 and NE11 edition 157

The local Lib Dem Focus Team published the latest eFocus last night covering NE16 and NE11. Edition 157 covers:

1. Can you help to plant up Whickham;
2. History talk in Sunniside;
3. Fund boost for Whickham Library;
4. Dunston Leisure Centre to reopen;
5. Tidy Whickham clean up campaign to be launched;
6. Marley Hill Hedge replacement;
7. Vote in the Gateshead Awards.

You can view eFocus on this link.

Low Fell Focus no. 89

Yet more eFocuses from the Low Fell Lib Dem Focus Team. Edition 89 was produced recently covering:

• As postal votes arrive, Daniel and the Focus Team need your support
• Wrong colour tarmac used in Ravensdale Crescent
• Gateshead Awards - have your say
• Computer facilities in Low Fell library
• Opposing plans to cut Gateshead Schools' Music Service

You can read eFocus on this link.

Time is running out to use your postal vote

 

Time is running out to use your postal vote in the local elections. Please make sure you get it into the post to arrive at the Council on Thursday 6th May. You can also take your completed postal vote to your local polling station on Thursday. (Polls close at 10pm)

Backfiring in Labour's face!

Labour in Gateshead last year created a traffic management scheme that has added enormously to congestion and air pollution. Lib Dems exposed the cost of the fiasco - £500,000. Labour are not happy and in their typical one-party state approach, they are pursuing a complaint against Lib Dem Councillor Daniel Duggan who first exposed the costs. 

The traffic fiasco has not gone down too well with residents. Indeed, it has been an appallingly bad news story for Labour, but in their wisdom (or lack of) Labour keep banging on about it on social media. Yesterday they reposted the Labour post attacking Daniel to the Felling Group Facebook page, which has a readership running into thousands.

Alas, for Labour, their regaling of the traffic fiasco (which they claim is "fake news") has backfired spectacularly. There have been hundreds of comments from residents and, excluding the pro-Labour comments of the Labour activist who first reposted to the page, there are no positive or supportive comments about Labour and their traffic management scheme. Indeed, residents were lining up to put Labour through the shredder. Here are a few of the comments:

"Perhaps it’s time to vote a different way and lose the “I’ve Always voted Labour” Mentality in this area and give someone else a try."

"What a joke they should investigate themselves for all the money they waste , hopefully they will be out soon enough"

"Labour council for Gateshead has wasted a lot of publics money it's about time the people of Gateshead know what is going on!"

"Looks like labour are trying to deflect the point that they closed roads they created the chaos they spent the money"

"What Gateshead Labour Party did with that fly over was an absolute disgrace, not only costing the local taxpayers money we could ill afford to spend, it caused absolute havoc on the roads at a time we were already suffering under COVID rules. .... And what are our Labour council doing to apologise to its voters? Nothing. Not a single thing! Any apology to its electorates ? NO! Instead they are “investigating” some Lib Dem councillor for keeping it in the public attention!"

"Don’t think this post is going well, especially for the labour council."

"this post isn't getting labour any votes its doing the opposite"

"He [Lib Dem Councillor Daniel Duggan] does a good job for sheriff hill and low fell"

Why Labour were silly enough to repost about their attempt to silence Daniel is beyond me. It was an open invitation for people to get angry with Labour. They have done a great job for the Lib Dems - on the eve of the local elections they have put back into public consciousness what is for Labour a bad news story. Well done!

And the winner of the worst election video is.....

The Oscars have just been held. I wonder whether Labour in Gateshead will be entering one of their videos in the category of "Worst Election Video". The likely winner would be Calvin Lawson's cringe-making 7 second video in which he lip syncs to "If you're feeling like you need a little bit of company" by Dua Lipa. If you are feeling up to the task of viewing it (warning: strong constitution needed) feel free to click on this link. 

Interesting use of music which is, of course, copyright. Reproducing it requires various licenses and appropriate royalty payments which will need to be included in election expenses returns!

Labour talks up the Conservative vote

 

This is a Labour leaflet circulated in Saltwell ward in Gateshead. I was rather amused by the appearance of a bar chart, given Labour's regular attack on Lib Dems for using them! As you can see in the last local election in the ward, Labour were comfortably ahead and the 3 opposition parties were within 110 votes of each other. The headline of "Keep the Tories OUT" may come as something of a surprise to residents of Saltwell, indeed to residents across Gateshead. There is zero campaigning from the Conservatives in Gateshead. We are aware of only one ward in which they have distributed an election leaflet (and it isn't Saltwell!) and it went out after the postal votes were distributed.

So why talk up the Conservative vote in Gateshead in Labour literature? (And then use much of the rest of the leaflet to attack the Lib Dems?) The answer is that Labour knows they hold on if the opposition vote is split between different parties but they fear the consequences of non-Labour voters lining up behind the Lib Dems. After all, that has delivered victory for the Lib Dems in a number of wards in Gateshead. Perhaps Labour fears this happening across Gateshead.

Finally, the first para of the Council Tax article is a classic example of how not to write a leaflet! So a thank you to Labour for focusing on what is for them a bad news story, thank you for quoting one of our key anti-Labour messages and thank you for the admission that Gateshead's council tax under Labour is the second highest in the country!