Anna Soubry cannot be faulted on her Brexit stance

Anna Soubry’s email newsletter contains the following statement on Brexit. Since Brexit she has been consistent and adopted a position which can reasonably be described as ‘cross party’. I re-publish here with no further comment:

Hello again, Well there’s certainly a lot going on! I was tempted to keep this week's email newsletter Brexit free but it would be irresponsible to ignore the most important decision we have taken since the Second World War. In short, Parliament will begin a five day debate on Tuesday and then vote the week after on whether to accept the Prime Minister’s Brexit “deal”. I will not be voting for it but will be supporting a cross party amendment which rejects Theresa May’s “deal”, ensures we will only leave the EU with a good deal in place  (so it rejects a “no deal’ Brexit) and keeps Parliament at the heart of what happens next. As you know, I believe the best deal is the one we currently have with the EU - it’s unique, cannot be replicated if we leave and has served us well. However, I have argued that if we leave the EU we should retain our membership (in effect) of the single market and the customs union, the so called 'Norway plus' model. I’ve made that case and voted for it for the last two years. Whichever Brexit “deal” Parliament settles on, it should be returned to the people so you can have the final say now we know what Brexit looks like. Three things are for sure; firstly, whichever way you do it, Brexit will make us poorer; secondly, people are entitled to change their minds and; finally, young people who will be most affected have a right to a say over their future.

An e-mail to my MP Anna Soubry — Why the NHS, housing (and general wellbeing) needs a bipartisan approach — and the reply

As  you can see I sent the e-mail below two weeks ago come tomorrow. In the absence of a reply I have to assume my MP has no interest in a bipartisan approach to our NHS and the even greater housing crisis which has bedevilled us for decades. In fairness Ms Soubry is not alone. Many other MPs, including Labour, want to keep the NHS and housing party political. It is not a view I've ever shared.

From: Robert Howard <robert@parkviews.org.uk>
Date: 9 January 2018 at 5:54:09 pm GMT
To: anna.soubry.mp@parliament.uk
Subject: NHS, housing (and general wellbeing) needs a bipartisan approach

Hello Ms Soubry

First, please forgive this long email, but please bear with me.

You write in your latest e-letter  'We really do have to grasp the challenges our NHS and social care system face. Extra money is important but so too are better systems and integration.' Over 40 years ago Old Boot, an English sheepdog character in the Daily Mirror strip cartoon 'The Perishers' said of a comment: 'As a statement it cannot be faulted for its accuracy, but it hardly throws a blinding flash of illumination on the dark mysteries of the universe (or in this case the NHS and social care).

I have long held the view that the NHS (and social care) needs a bipartisan approach involving politicians of all political parties, health workers, regardless of their status, the voluntary sector, related businesses and the general public, and that we need some kind of national convention to come up with a framework which supports local innovation and diversity alongside standards and a funding formula based on some kind of  health & care tax/charge, which also covers dentistry and eyesight (hearing is still part of the NHS, whereas the other two cost considerably more than many can afford).

I would also argue that housing needs to be considered as part of our health and social care system, because lack of decent housing impacts on personal wellbeing, and lack of wellbeing feeds into health needs big time (alcohol, drugs, diet, mental health and so the list could go on).

You are well placed to argue the case for a national convention to consider health care and related issues in the widest sense, perhaps suggesting that someone like Graham Allen could chair it (we live in an age when 'experts' rule when we what we need are sensible adjudicators who come to a problem not thinking they know the answers). He was an able honest MP with capabilities not utilised because he was a bit of a maverick - which is how I regard you.

Less than 12 months ago I had open heart surgery to replace a faulty aortic heart valve I was born with 73 years ago and 3 weeks ago my wife had a mastectomy after a recurrence of breast cancer after 11 years, so we both know the value and quality of the NHS first hand.

Between 1971 and 2006 when I retired I worked for two voluntary health care charities. BPAS Development Officer and Regional Manager/Head of Housing Management Advance Housing & Support (mental health/learning disability support), and chaired a community health council for six years, so I have a personal interest in health related issues and the local historian in me rate the provision of municipal housing in the 20th century as a greater achievement than the creation of the NHS.

I was lucky enough to grow up in the post-war period when, it can be argued, there was a (albeit competitive) bipartisan approach to health and housing by political parties. Public buildings all around us attest to this fact.

If I have a political wish for the future this is it!

Robert Howard
Beeston NG9 2PJ

PS. Brexit has to treated as a political beast with a life of its own and not one which we are all in thrall to at the expense of all else (ie. health, care, housing).

AN E-MAIL REPLY DATED 24 JANUARY 2018:

Dear Robert,

Thank you for your email and apologies for the delay in replying.

Anna very much supports the introduction of some sort of bipartisan commission or body for the NHS. At this stage Anna would be open as to exact nature of this commission and looks forward to considering proposals put forward by her colleagues and others. Anna sends both you and your wife her very best wishes, and would like to thank you for your work in this field.

Please be assured that this Government intends to significantly increase the number of houses being built. That is why the Government has committed to a total of at least £44 billion of capital funding, loans and guarantees to support the housing market over the next five years which will help deliver 300,000 net additional homes a year on average by the mid-2020s.

I hope this provides you with some reassurance.

Best wishes,

Emily
Emily Horner I Parliamentary Assistant to the Rt Hon Anna Soubry I Member of Parliament for Broxtowe.

The bad news: Soubry hangs on with a little help from Labour. The good news: Labour now has a government in waiting if it chooses not to be an opposition.

As I feared, softly softly did it for Anna Soubry and for that she is to be admired and congratulated. She was keeping her powder dry, just in case it led to a call today from Theresa May.

On BBC-TV's election coverage in the early hours of this morning she looked tired and shell shocked, not, I suspect by the fact that she survived Labour's onslaught in Broxtowe, but by what had happened across the UK. Seeing the game was up for Theresa May, she emerged from the shell she had made for herself and said '(Theresa May) should consider her position'. When asked by Dimbleby about her reduced majority she pointed out that she had got elected in 2010 on a smaller majority.

Anna Soubry in her eve of poll email listed '10 pledges', 9 and 10 being:

I will continue to campaign in Broxtowe and in Parliament for a fairer society based on tolerance, openness, free speech and democracy.

I accept and will continue to honour the EU Referendum result. We are leaving the EU and must now get a good deal. I will continue to make the case for the positive benefits of immigration and the single market.

Personally, I don't doubt her commitment to these things and I suspect her decision to stay away from public debates was to protect herself from saying things she might later regret, since the general thinking at the beginning of the campaign was that the result was going to be a landslide for Theresa May. In the event the election I described as 'madness' for Jeremy Corbyn and Labour turned out to be madness for May. The result nationally is as a good as a victory, if not better, given the fact that I cannot imagine another general election now until after Brexit in 2019. But I digress, I want to stay with Broxtowe for the moment. Here is an updated version of my Broxtowe constituency general election results summary 2001–2017 (click on table to enlarge):

Last night Greg Marshall got more votes than any Labour Broxtowe constituency candidate from 2001 to date and only the 2001 percentage turnout for Labour (48.6%) beat Greg's 45.3%. He was just 864 votes from victory. Put another way, had 431 fewer voters pit their cross next to Soubry and 432 more had chosen Greg, he would have won — a margin of less than 2%. Labour's mistake in Broxtowe was as I feared and said in a couple of my posts — it made too much noise and in the process pulled out Conservative voters as well as Labour voters. I hope this lesson will be learned and learned well so that come the next general election Greg can win handsomely. The awful truth is that, as I have also pointed out in recent posts, high turnouts work against Labour and my summary table demonstrates this point.

Nationally, I claimed that the very best Labour could hope for was a hung parliament. I didn't expect Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party to achieve this, but I am joyous and proud that they did. The media this morning in all its talk of Theresa May and the Conservatives hanging onto power makes no mention of parliamentary 'pairing', which allows MPs to be absence from Parliament because a Labour MP 'pairs' with a Conservative MP so both can be absent from Parliament at the same time. I hope Corby will tell May there will be no pairing during the course of this parliament with Conservatives and that Labour will only pair with the SNP, Liberals and Caroline Lucas.

I also hope Labour behaves like a government in waiting and not an opposition. Oppose May on nothing, put forward an alternative policy instead and dare the other parties to vote the policy down. 

I heard Corbyn say that if he became PM he would ensure the rights of EU citizens in the UK today. He still can and Anna Soubry will have to support him or break her 10th pledge (see above). Voters will see Labour being positive all the time and the Conservatives as being anti everything. 

My overwhelming wish is that Labour will work with the SNP, Liberal and Green parties to ensure the next UK Parliament is elected by the same PR system as the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. Abolishing the House of Lords is taken as a given. Personally, I see no need for a second chamber.

Every vote should count and that is still not the case. This is an injustice we should not lose sight of in the heady days ahead as Labour Party members come to terms with what, by any measure, is a stunning victory for Labour.

I will return to the national result in a weekend post, having watched the rest of Nottinghamshire, Stoke South (which we lost), Hastings (which Amber Rudd held by a whisker), Greenwich, Birmingham and the Black Country closely, all places in which I have some kind of interest.

What I would like to see on eve of poll this coming Wednesday

All the candidates in Broxtowe will be trying to reach their supporters with eve of poll leaflets. I am of the mind that it is not too late for all the candidates to work with Broxtowe Borough Council to produce a shared eve of poll card encouraging all registered electors to vote on Thursday. Below is my stab at a simple A6 card printed both sides. If all the parties work together they could reach every home in the Brtoxtowe constituency on Wednesday.

No doubt someone could design something better, but, somehow, all the political parties, have to come together to ensure that despair and cynicism do not result in a low turnout on Thursday. It behoves all politicians and would-be MPs to show leadership. Right now they can unite in Broxtowe in encouraging every elector to vote on Thursday.

I know it's not going to happened, but it doesn't stop me imagining the possibility — just like leaflets containing 500 word election statements from all candidates published by the Election Commission via local councils and sent to every voter. This is what is done for many elections, such as trade unions, pension funds etc. 

Anna Soubry heads straight for the gutter

Within hours of the General Election kicking off Anna Soubry's first e-mail shows that she intends to spend the next five weeks in the political gutter. To quote:

'Support from More United (for me) came shortly after Broxtowe Labour broke its long standing tradition of selecting moderates as their parliamentary candidate. Broxtowe Labour have selected a member of the hard left to stand in the June General Election. He is not just a full supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, but someone who has named John McDonnell as his political hero "the epitome of a progressive socialist". The Shadow Chancellor is one of the most divisive figures ever in the Labour movement. When I called him out on BBC Question Time for failing to stand up against vile sexist abuse from the hard left towards moderate Labour women MP's, many thanked me both publicly and privately.

McDonnell said of the IRA it was "about time we started honouring those involved in the armed struggle. It was the bombs and bullets and sacrifice made by the likes of Bobby Sands, that brought Britain to the negotiating table. The peace we have now is due to the action of the IRA".

John McDonnell has never apologised for the content of what he said - only (and only recently) for any offence he caused by his comments.

I very much hope Broxtowe Labour's parliamentary candidate disassociates himself unequivocally with McDonnells comments about the IRA and might consider some less unpleasant and extreme Labour figure as a fitting hero.'

Notice how she does not name Greg Marshall. If a named Labour Party candidate doesn't exist he cannot defeat her - this seems to be Anna's approach from day one.

The 55% Irish in my DNA is enough to ensure the 100% Englishman that I am understands that Conservative Unionists have, historically, more experience of state sponsored terrorism than any group of Irish nationalists and to draw attention to Ireland today of all days, well, that shows Anna Soubry has no intention of addressing the important issues facing Beeston residents both locally and nationally.

I had thought until today that Mrs May was going to box clever and that Anna was going to follow her example, but now I see hope. Both have chosen personal abuse instead of taking the imperious path.

I admit to still being fearful about the outcome of both the county council and general elections because of the way elections work. Yes, I would like the Liberals and Greens to give Labour a free run in Broxtowe and, in return, Labour should stand down in seats where a Liberal or Green candidate has a better chance of defeating the Conservative candidate. I know it won't happen, but today Anna Soubry and her sidekick Theresa May have given me hope that wasn't there this morning. I thank them both.

Labour's collective madness continues - what else explains supporting May's call for the General Election in June 2017?

Nick Palmer's latest blog (20 April 2017) begins: 'I have been asked by Labour whether I’d like to be considered as our candidate for Broxtowe. I need to decide by this weekend, so I thought I’d consult you. 10% of the homes in Broxtowe get my emails, so it's a good sample'.

I have posted a comment as follows:

'Strikes me that you are between a rock and a hard place. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. This is a situation Labour has made for itself and I applaud the MPs who had the courage to vote against May and oppose having this unnecessary general election.

In the circumstances it has to better to go into the election with Broxtowe having a recognisable face and name like yourself. I agree with your analysis. If you have the energy go for it, it will be tough, but if you say ‘no thanks’ I, for one, will understand why. I will help as best I can, but I am presently recovering from open heart surgery seven weeks ago. I wish you well whatever your decision'.

Just like in 2015, important local elections are being shoved into the background in the sense that they will now be seen as a dress rehearsal for the main event in June. Last time it was the borough council election, this time it's the county council election. By the way, we are less than two weeks away from the county council election and still no Labour Party posters for Bramcote and Beeston North ward. Will I have to make my own again as I did for the Borough Council election in 2015?

The Brexit negotiations, assuming they take the full two years, will end in March 2019, leaving the Conservatives just 14 months to recover before the 2020 general election. Well, that would have been the case. Now they will have three years to recover. Corbyn's attitude, and that of many Labour MPs who otherwise oppose him, is a continuation of the collective madness which has possessed them for the past twelve months and I have blogged about before (click here for link).

Theresa May has done no less than I expected. She supported fixed-term parliaments when it was to the advantage of Conservatives and dumped them, despite saying she wouldn't, with the support of Labour MPs who, to be repeat myself, must be suffering from collective madness or hysteria of some sort.

The general election on 8 June 2017 is in danger of being one big national by-election, with low voter turnouts across the country. The lady in Bristol who went viral with her 'Oh no, not another one!' has caught the national mood wonderfully. When it comes to the news and the general election a good few of us are already reaching for the 'off' button or changing channels to watch yet another endless repeat.

As a Labour voter since my first general election in 1966, when I was aged 22, I say none of this lightly. In my lifetime this is the second most important general election ever. I was only 1 in 1945, but the working and middle classes had endured six years of war together and were ready for change. The media was more diverse and voters actually had to talk with one another, now they text and twitter. Westminster has become a cocoon for a political elite who have quickly forgotten the Brexit vote. As I heard someone say in Beeston High Road yesterday, 'Fuck the lot of them'.

This feels like 1983 all over again. Susan and I were there big time, with Martin Sloman, the Nottingham East Labour Party candidate staying with us in Lenton for six weeks, his wife in charge of BBC's radio election coverage and his dad deputy leader of Cardiff City Council. I was a full-time county councillor, an agent and Chair of East Midlands Airport. We acted as 'minders' for national politicians visiting Nottingham and were told more than once that Labour was doing well across the country. Nottingham, where we reported how bad things were, 'was different'.  I am in no doubt that this will be the case again. It has already started. I want to believe in a miracle, I really do!

If Nick Palmer does decide to take on Anna Soubry he will have my support, but he has earned the right to say 'Thanks for the opportunity, but no thank you'. She will be difficult to beat and I would not be surprised to see her back as a minister if Theresa May wins the general election. 

The working and lower middle classees are divided and that is never good for Labour. I will do what I can, but I tell you now I would encourage every voter who does not want to see a Conservative victory on 8 June to vote for the candidate with the best chance of defeating the Conservative candidate. In Broxtowe and other parts of the conurbation that will be Labour, but in Brighton I hope Labour voters support Caroline Lucas and in Scotland for SNP candidates, except where there is a Labour MP. Liberals even!

Labour has returned to the old politics at the first opportunity and runs a real risk of paying a heavy price. 

Only a seismic event during the next six weeks and six days will provide Labour with an opportunity to avoid the disaster which awaits. I will not vote for Corbyn again or any Labour Party leadership candidate who supported this madness. I have never wanted to be so wrong in my life. 9 June 2017 will come soon enough and we will all know if our next prime minister is to be Jeremy Corbyn or Theresa May.

I will leave you with one final request: Read Clive Lewis in The Guardian yesterday.
.

Anna Soubry more May's opposition than Labour - a truth we cannot afford to ignore.

I have pondered over making this post, but Anna Soubry has been speaking more for me of late than Labour MPs over Europe, open borders and Donald Trump.

I am not about to vote Conservative, but a good few Labour MPs and Jeremy Corbyn appear intent on upsetting Labour voters at every opportunity. When a political party loses credibility with voters, then voters stop listening and that is happening to Labour right now!

All Labour voters know Corbyn is no position to whip MPs simply because of his own voting record as a Labour MP and I have voted for him twice, but there won't be a third time. It is a problem of his own making and he is making a habit of doing stupid things. How I wanted him to succeed, but he has become the architect of his own failure and, at some point, I hope he will recognise this.

In an e-mail to constituents today Anna Soubry, the Conservative MP for Broxtowe, has said:

'As I said before the EU Referendum, I will respect and honour the result and so will be voting for the Bill which will begin the process of our leaving the EU. I have said this for many months now. I appreciate and understand why so many constituents will be deeply disappointed by my decision and I know marginally more - will be very pleased. I believe almost everyone is getting somewhat bored by Brexit and wants us to get on with it.'

Of Trump she said:

'Like most constituents, I was appalled to learn that President Trump has decided to impose a temporary ban on people and refugees from a number of countries which are predominantly Muslim.  This ban has no moral or factual justification. There hasn't been a single terrorist attack since 9/11 in America involving anyone who emigrated from or whose parents emigrated from any of the 7 countries on Trump's list. However, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt are not included in the ban even though their citizens have mounted terrorist attacks on the USA. 

We can accordingly be sure Trump's ban is based entirely on prejudice and unjustified fear which he seeks to stoke and exploit - meanwhile it appears he's keen not to harm his own financial interests.  In any event it is deeply offensive and plain wrong to stereotype any faith, religion or race on the wicked actions of a tiny minority. 

Our deep rooted sense of tolerance in Broxtowe is best exemplified in our Deputy Mayor Halimah Khaled and her family.  Like the overwhelming majority of British Muslims, Halimah embodies our traditional values of family, hard work, being involved in your community, respect for the rule of law, and tolerance. Perhaps President Trump would like to meet Halimah ,who is a Conservative, when he comes to our country.'

Now I know Anna Soubry has her critics, but I do not fall into the camp which says she can't be right because she's a Tory. Only if life was that simple.

Those MPs in England thinking of voting against Article 50 may ignore Corbyn, but MPs like Anna Soubry get stronger by the day because they appear to be the opposition to the Government - not Labour. Listen to ordinary voters and they are giving up on us. Corbynistas appear to be living in a world of their own making - as do many of the Labour MPs who oppose him.

Harriet Harman's interview in The Guardian/Observer today only compounds my frustration. Once upon a time I was a fan, but she lost me when she did not support Robin Cook in opposing the invasion of Iraq. Read the interview and despair!

How projects like The Tram and HS2 turn politicians into chameleons and vultures

The following quote is from a news item in Anna Soubry's e-newsletter dated 5 November 2016:

Beeston’s Central College set to close

Central College has announced that their Beeston site will close after 2020. I met the Chief Executive John van de Laarschot yesterday; he said the plan is to cut costs by reducing the number of campuses and instead build a new £50 million College in Nottingham. 

I am far from convinced this is a good idea. 500 students use Beeston College and whilst I accept the buildings at the rear are in poor condition, the front is modern and attractive - and it has its own tram stop. The closure will be yet another blow for Chilwell High Road. I am very concerned that yet again, the City is taking precedence over areas like Broxtowe.

Now  a quote and link to a page on Anna Soubry's website headed 'HS2 in Broxtowe':

Anna Soubry has welcomed plans to place the HS2 East Midlands hub at Toton Sidings. But the planned line will cause disruption to a small number of houses in Broxtowe, some of which will have to be demolished. There is also real concern about the affect on the environment at  Strelley Village, Nuthall and Trowell. Anna Soubry is committed to getting the best deal for those affected by HS2.

The impact of the tram on parts of Beeston and Chilwell is pretty much as Anna Soubry sees it, especially when she writes 'I am very concerned yet again (that) the City is taking precedence over areas like Broxtowe'.

Personally, I would prefer existing railway lines electrified and modernised so that there can be more, faster, trains to cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester instead of wasting billions on HS2. Another argument used by opponents of HS2 is that the this new high-speed line is all about sucking more business and jobs into London. Those who support HS2 are of the view that if HS2 is good for London, then, by default, it is good for the rest of England too, especially the Midlands.

Downscale these arguments and replace 'HS2' with the Nottingham–Chilwell 'Tram extension' and you have much the same scenario and arguments. The Tram has not gentrified or improved things for Bulwell or Hyson Green in twelve years and, as yet, it has done nothing of note for Beeston or Chilwell — a fact which Anna Soubry recognises. In her own words 'The City is taking precedence'. She could be talking about London and HS2. In fact she probably, albeit unknowingly, is!

I will be long gone come 2036 when the occasional HS2 train stops at the Derby-Nottingham (or Nottingham-Derby) HS Station at Toton, but I have learnt enough in my 72 years to know that Anna Soubry's successor in Parliament (if she is not Mother of the House by then) will also be complaining that 'The City is taking precedence'.

Central College is doing what is expected of it in a society where education has been commercialised and serves the interests of business before the students it is meant to be helping to educate. It is as simple as that. The financial and logistical problem the college is trying to address is one created by Parliament and all three main political parties in England.

I can imagine local Conservative, Labour and Liberal councillors on Broxtowe Borough Council saying much the same thing as Anna Soubry. Political elites in 2016 are like chameleons, they morph colour to please whoever it is they want to please on any particular day. They share policies like vultures share a corpse.

An educated population with access to decent public services and housing should be the No.1 priority.

FOOTNOTE. The new runway at Heathrow Airport also comes to mind. The vision offered  bears little resemblance to the awful reality it will bring about, if you consider the negative impact it will have on the environment, public services and public expenditure.

Changing the way we do politics has to come

'A lot of the (Momentum) audience had a rather different take. Some said their affinity with Labour was complemented by occasions when they had voted for other parties. They liked Caroline Lucas, a lot. They also liked the idea of, as one speaker put it, “negotiating the future” via a revolutionised voting system, rather than imposing it with the support of a small minority of the electorate.

These were not the hardliners and ideological desperadoes that some people might imagine: their politics felt open, self-critical and realistic about the huge tasks it faces. They may not yet have a clear idea of how a new left politics might decisively cohere – but no one (not even gobby newspaper columnists) does, as yet. The point is to at least begin with a sense of how it might start to mesh, and the breadth of people who will have to be involved.'

John Harris, The Guardian, 29 Sepember 2016, 'A Labour Party of the future is begining to emerge'. An account of a day spent attending the Momentum event which ran alongside the Party's annual conference.

This is the political 'me' he is writing about, with which I have identified for many years. I can trace my willingness to work with others across political parties and within the wider community back to my days as a Birmingham city councillor, and I have the evidence. Becoming a Labour councillor aged 25 was a shock to the system insomuch as I sat on my first council committees and in the council chamber finding myself agreeing with individual Tory and Liberal councillors, whilst disagreeing with Labour councillors.

I broke the Labour Group whip quite soon after my election in 1971, when the Labour controlled Birmingham City Council decided to allow the city's chief librarian to go to South Africa for six months. Back then it took nine councillors to call a special meeting of the city council to oppose the decision, and a small group of Liberal and Labour councillors, led by a left-wing Liberal councilor, Graham Gopsill, got the required signatures, of which a I was one, together with Theresa Stewart (who represented the same ward as me and later became Leader of Birmingham City Council). We lost the vote, but no action was taken against us because we had the backing of what was then the City Labour Party. 

Over the years, other disagreements followed. The truth then, as now, is that the Party is capable of being extremely conservative in its attitudes and cannot see that working with other politicians from other political parties is seen by many voters as a good thing.

Take Theresa May and her plan to create grammar schools. Labour needs to remember that members, activists, councillors and MPs in the Conservative, Liberal and Green parties are also opposed to their re-introduction and Labour should work with them to defeat Theresa May on this issue - which means the Labour Party has to avoid turning this into a campaign which the Party tries to claim as its own.

Labour in Broxtowe should be asking Anna Soubry how it can best support her opposition to grammar schools in Parliament, as she has already spoken publicly against the proposal. Tomorrow morning I will be going to Beeston town square to support the Labour Party on this issue, but I will tell any one I speak to that this is a cross-party issue and I have already told Anna Soubry in an email that I support her opposition to grammar schools - as I support her when it comes to the tram and the cross-party 'Open Britain' campaign.

The way we do politics is changing and Labour has to be part of that change or be left behind. John Harris's article in The Guardian yesterday is a great piece of writing which deserves to be read widely. If you have not read it, then please follow this link.

A letter to the Nottingham Post

On Friday 1 July the Nottingham Post published this letter which I sent to them. They published it in full.

Dear Letters Editor

I share Anna Soubry's disappointment with the result of the EU referendum last Thursday. I live in her constituency and happily admit to never being a Conservative voter. I suspect that I also qualify as one of her 'white working class', being 72, leaving school at 15 and without any qualifications. If only life was as simple as opportunistic soundbites.

Ms. Soubry supported the referendum and cannot complain about the result, nor can she blame it on the 'white working class'. The Conservative Party with its referenda promise was fighting for UKIP votes across England and won enough MPs to form a government, whilst Labour, to its credit opposed UKIP.

Of course some Labour supporters voted out, as did Conservatives and voters of all ages, and I understand why. I suspect for a good few it was a protest vote and they never expected to wake up on Friday morning having helped the 'out' campaign win - that is certainly my take on conversations I have had over the last few days.

As far as I understand it, the referendum was/is 'advisory'. If so, Ms Soubry and all the other MPs who are pro-EU could start earning their keep and choose to ignore the decision, buying some time until the next general election, when 'out' candidates can try to get a majority. I think they will fail.

What is unacceptable is Ms Soubry blaming the white working class for her own failure to take responsibility. I will vote Labour given the chance, for a party preferably led by Jeremy Corbyn and with candidates who share his agenda, but that is another argument for another day.

Yours

Robert Howard

Reading it again, it may seem to say that I think the decision to leave the EU should be thwarted and I don't believe that. My point was that Anna Soubray and all the other MPs in the remain camp could do something about the decision to leave the EU had they a mind to. Ms Soubray has already decided to support Theresa May in the Conservative Party leadership election. In other words she is happy to leave it to a pro-remain candidate to negotiate the best deal for Britain. I have no problem with her choice, but I will be amazed if Britain can still be part of the EU common market whilst restricting access to EU citizens.

I do not fall into the camp that believe Britain has suddenly become a racist country, but Susan and I are long-time friends of the HOPE not hate charity and campaign, and I used to deliver leaflets for them in Lenton. I share their concern at how the Labour MP Ruth Smeeth was verbally abused at the launch of the Labour Party report into anti-semitism within the Party. Ruth Smeeth has published a damning statement of what happened on her website (click this link). Jeremy Corbyn's behaviour was a big disappointment. He should have told her vile critic to leave the meeting and told him is attitude has no place in the Labour Party. Instead he actually spoke to the man at the end. Jeremy Corbyn is under a lot of pressure right now, but then so are Labour MPs and all of them are, in part, responsible for what is happening to them.

By any measure, these are sad sad days for the Labour Party, when we should trying to offer Britain a positive post-EU vision. The Labour Parties in England, Scotland and Wales have to have their own visions. Northern Ireland is SDLP territory and we should respect that. Of course, all the national parties need to work together, but there has not been a better opportunity in decades to campaign for a fairer, better England.

All those Labour MPs who championed the cuts in local government led services (led by Blair, Brown and Darling lest we forget) at a time when more and more people we coming to Britain from Europe to work are discredited.

The cuts were dressed up as necessary austerity measures at a time when, instead of funding more public housing and improving public transport, the same MPs were supporting HS2.

Blair and Co. blocked East Europeans from coming to Britain for two years whilst cutting local services. Labour politicians are as much to blame as Liberal and Conservative MPs for the cuts — which is why the electorate may well turn on them, having tasted blood so to speak in the referendum result.

Corbyn and a few others, like Alan Simpson, spoke out and vote against the cuts and this is something we should remember when voting for a new Labour Party leader, as we will have to.

Right now, Corbyn holds on, maybe in the hope that the Chilcot Report will remind the electorate of how right he was to oppose the Iraq war (and our earlier intervention in Afghanistan). A lot of Labour MPs must be squirming right now at how the focus will shift to them on Wednesday and I have heard it suggested that it was the real reason for the attempted coup by Labour MPs after the referendum.

A leadership campaign post-Chicot will sink Eagle and open the door to Owen Smith who, according to the media, has increasing support among Labour MPs. Perhaps he will emerge as a 'unity candidate'. Who knows?

I am not committed to Jeremy Corbyn and how he treated Ruth Smeeth makes me question his stength to manage the far left (for the record, I have never been a member of any Labour Party faction).

The coming days, weeks and months and years are going to be interesting. I hope I have another ten years in me to see what happens. I will be 82 then.

The truth that dared not speak its name on a day I enjoyed

From just before 7am yesterday (election day) until 7.45pm Susan and me collected numbers for the Labour Party at the Beeston North ward Beeston Fields polling station. We took in turns to enjoy the company of the two Liberal candidates, Steve and Barbara Carr for every minute of that time.

The view from the bowling green pavilion is lovely and the polling station workers were friendly and supportive, as was everyone who turned up to vote. Only a few voters declined to share their polling card numbers or address with us, but no one was rude or aggressive. It really was a most enjoyable day, especially since we had shelter from the heavy rain which rolled in from the west for fifteen minutes every hour or so.

The only surprise came at 7.45pm,when I was told I could finish, because the Labour Party was going to stop collecting polling numbers. I had expected to be there until 9.30pm at least, later if the election appeared too close to call. I have never ever known number collecting to stop so early. The person who came to tell me was just the messenger. He did not know why. I toyed with the idea of staying on, but it would have been dishonest to take numbers when they were not going to be used, especially when the post-election marked register would provide the same information in more detail.

I have always rated number taking at polling stations as being important for a number of reasons. Information gathering, welcoming potential voters and just being at every polling station to show that you care. Steve and Barbara Carr clearly know this and if the number of voters who stopped to have a chat was anything to go by, then they were already winners, whatever the result. I also liked Steve's campaign badge, which simply said 'Carr x 2'. His posters around Beeston Fields just read 'Carr' printed in black on orange paper. My own poster for the two Labour candidates in Beeston North (see my post dated 25 April) also just had their names. All too often candidates and councillors allow themselves become ciphers and forget they are individuals, able to have their own opinions and to be independent.

Back home I received a telephone call and was told that the Labour Party had been knocking up since the morning and didn't seem to need the numbers. I think one could assume from this that the person in charge was confident of the outcome and expected to win (why else would you pull volunteers off number collection at polling stations). All the Labour workers we saw on the day were upbeat, but I wasn't so sure. There were no Conservatives or Greens to be seen anywhere in my part of Beeston Fields and UKIP made a brief appearance, then disappeared again. There was just the Carrs, Susan and me.

Last December in my second ever post, I drew attention to the Toton and Chilwell Meadow by-election result and said 'I am sure that Labour will have noted that whilst both the Conservative (+2.6%) and UKIP (+15.9%) share of the vote went up, Labour's went down (-5.9%). You ignore any election at your peril'. I added that I wanted Labour to win.

On Tuesday this week I drew attention to this and added:

Based on the last Toton & Chilwell Meadow by-election (My second ever post last December referred to the Toton & Chilwell Meadows by-election result, which you can find on the Broxtowe Borough Council website athttp://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=14189), I suspect the Liberal vote in Broxtowe is more centre-right than centre-left, which should be to the advantage of the Conservatives. Then there is the UKIP factor and, somewhere on the edge, the Greens. I want Nick Palmer to win, but I suspect that I will wake up on Friday morning to a number of surprise results.

The unspeakable, which I feared, happened. This incomplete summary below shows voting numbers for the Broxtowe parliamentary elections in 2010 and 2015:

I am of the view that numbers tell you more than percentages ever do. I think the above summary proves my point. I have not been able to find the no. of spoilt/rejected ballot papers for 2010, but the no. of votes voted in 2010 was 51,305 and 53,640 in 2015. In other words, more people actually voted in 2015.

In terms of actual votes cast, Labour and the Liberals were the only losers. The Greens, Conservatives and UKIP all increased their vote.

The Toton & Chilwell Meadows by-election last December has turned out to be a good projection of what happened in the parliamentary election yesterday.

This time there can be no blaming the Greens. I suspect a good few folk like me voted Labour and helped them by delivering and taking numbers as I did, to try and bring about a Conservative defeat. We did not succeed.

Historically, when general and local elections have happened on the same day, the winning party tends to do well in the local election. Later today we will know. I am fearful. As I have blogged in a recent post, Labour's local election campaign has been pitiful, with all the effort going into getting Nick Palmer elected, assuming that Labour councillors would be elected as a consequence.

The Greens argued that we should follow our beliefs. Next time I will.

Susan was gutted when we woke up to the results this morning. Her actual words were: 'I warn you now Robert. I am going to spend the next five years in a state of underlying depression'.

I have no views on what the Labour Party nationally should do. They lost my support in 2013 because I believed then, and still do, that they were wedded to a right-wing agenda. I am sorry for Nick Palmer, but if he has taken local council candidates with him, then they have will have been the authors of their own demise by allowing the Broxtowe Borough Council elections to be buried — something else I have blogged about recently.

I will write about the local elections next week.

SATURDAY FOOTNOTE.

The Conservatives have taken control of Broxtowe Borough Council and Kimberley ward is so close that there will be a recount on Monday evening. You could argue that Anna Soubry and her colleagues snuck up on Labour and have given them a nasty bite on the bum. She looked genuinely shocked to have won. I don't like Conservative politics, but experience has taught me you have to come to some kind of accommodation if you don't want to drown in a sea of negativity.