Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Harringay Ward By-election 28 July 2016: I support Karen Alexander
Ever since Karen and I ceased to be members of Haringey Council for this Ward, I have made it no secret that if a by-election were to present itself, I would want Karen to be the Lib Dem candidate.
I was therefore delighted when she agreed to stand in the forthcoming election.
Because of her tireless, conscientious and effective work during the eight years when she represented our Ward she has clearly earned a chance to represent us again. Unquestionably, everyone here will benefit if the voters decide to elect her.
The selection of our candidate has not yet taken place, but I wanted my personal view to be known beforehand.
I am very grateful for the kind things that a number of people have said about me, and I am even more grateful for the fact that many of these compliments have been directed at both of us.
We have been working as a team for many years now, and this will continue, both before polling day and (all being well) after her election.
David Schmitz
Lib Dem Former Councillor
Harringay Ward
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Justin Hinchcliffe on
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As a Labour Party member, you will appreciate that it was your party who abolished the grant and introduced up-front tuition fees. Although the Lib Dems reneged on this - you can't have every policy accepted when joining another party to form a coalition - they did make it fairer (ie asking students to pay after graduating).
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Permalink Reply by Philip on
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Yes but the Tories could never have done this without the support of the Libdems. Likewise the farcical AV referendum set the cause of PR back a decade. The Tories must have split their sides at the pathetic deal they offered. Remember the Lib-Lab pact? Another case of principle free politicians grabbing some 'power' at the expense of their parties. There are good people in all parties, even the Tories, but the experience of the electorate of the Libdems dishonesty will not be forgotten. Of course compromises have to be made in a coalition, but Nick Clegg made a promise, knowing he could only be in a coalition, so he is a complete and utterly false individual and the Libdems will never recover from that.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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The shame is, of course, that local politicians end up not being judged on their ability to ably represent their community but on the actions of a national leader. Whilst there is a very real thread connecting local and national, in my view a real distinction should be made.
My fanciful hope, particularly when council control is not in question, is that at a local level people would look at an individual and judge them on how well they think that person would represent us on local issues. To be honest on most ward level issues there's little difference between the parties. In general a good councillor will represent local people on very local issues. How good a person is at doing that seems unrelated to their party affiliation. Or, am I missing something?
Perhaps someone can point out to me what the party differences have been on Harringay's recent issues - traffic, parking on Green Lanes, HMOs, planning issues etc. Apart from those issues, a good councillor should be energetically representing residents on any number of small matters. I contend that at a ward level party is nudging towards irrelevant. If council control is in question, then I can see a different set of arguments being added to those I make.
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That is true, Hugh, as far as it goes; but it does raise another question; real local power has largely been clawed back to central government and councils like Haringey are effectively governed by star chambers, where individual councillors have very little say. The big issues, like council housing, education etc are thus removed from the remit, and we have councillors arguing the toss over petty issues like school crossings and litter.
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I think the role of local councillors has ever been thus and long may it be so. As far as voting on the bigger issues is concerned, yes that's part of their role too, as is the committee work, but the votes are almost always along party lines. So if you're voting to get a certain administration, go vote with your tribe if you must. Other than that vote for the right person.
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Permalink Reply by CanadianMichael on
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It amazes me that people continue to hold the Lib Dems to a standard of autonomy that would have been impossible for a junior coalition partner.
I believe they moderated the Conservatives in a good way.
I'm saddened that Brits don't seem to vote center left. Corbyn is unelectable, and look what the right has done.
Call me a friend of St. Jude, but the LibDems in Canada (over there we call just call them 'Liberals', but they're aligned. Labour in Canada is called NDP -- unhelpfully the opposite colours used here) did manage to come back after severe electoral defeat.http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/oct/20/canada-electio...
I'm still hoping...
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Permalink Reply by matthew cuthbert on
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Malcolm Fraser left the Liberal's in Australia, (a party he served for most his life,) because he felt they had gone too far to the right.
He was our prime minister after our progressive, pioneering Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, was sacked by the Governor General of Australia.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/baillieu-tells-of-sadness-after-fras...
Norman Gunstan's take on Australia's Constitution Crisis, 1975: 'Stop Laughing this is serious'
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A4jfR2u_9Kk
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Except the Libdems are not centre left, they are wholesale on the right.
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However you wish to classify them, although I think it's safe to say they are not as far right as the Conservatives.
They are the same place in the spectrum as Trudeau's Liberals are in Canada.
Americans call them 'pinko communists' :-)
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Permalink Reply by Peter Chalk on
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Corbyn's party has won by elections, hotly contested mayoral elections in London and Bristol - why do you repeat the media mantra that he's unelectable? We could be witnessing a massive rejection of elitist politics.
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Correct: "Corbyn's party" has won. Not Corbyn.
Come on, I'm a British LibDem voter -- I think I know a thing or two about unelectable ;-)
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