Barry Stamp's Political Diary

Tonight France has voted no to the European Constitution. This will certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons as it now looks as if the constitution is dead in the water. Jack Straw has just given a TV statement which really says nothing apart from the suggestion that every European country should now take time to reflect on the French vote before deciding what to do next. I really can’t see any point in holding a referendum in this Country now. If nothing else it will save the UK taxpayers a considerable amount of money. If it is held I’m sure we would vote the same way as France and I suspect Holland which goes to the polls later this week.

It’s good to have a load of leaflets back from the printers. Since the election I was getting withdrawal symptoms from not seeing leaflets sitting in boxes in my office. However the first of the “Thank You” ones have now appeared. The two to come today are for the Doxey area of the County Division and my Borough Ward of Church Eaton. I’ve already got them bundled into delivery rounds so over the next couple of days they should be out with the volunteers who will deliver them for me. So by this time next week at least the first 1400 leaflets will have been pushed through letter boxes. At least it proves the point “Liberal Democrats Just Don’t Appear When The Voting’s On!”. It will be interesting to see if the Conservatives or Labour candidates bother to do the same!!!

This week has been extremely busy. I’ve had a meeting every night, although some were purely because I wanted to be there, not because I had to be! Monday was an exception – it was Haughton Parish Council. This was the annual meeting and as one might expect nothing changed. Mike Allen was re-elected Chairman, Ian Sunley accepted Vice Chair, but then was bullied into being Treasurer as well. After some argument he agreed, but did say he would probable resign from the Vice Chairman’s job later this year. At least it gives us some time to find a replacement.

Once again the relationship between the Villages Rural Safety Initiative Group and the Parish Council raised it head. It does appear that this group is getting involved with issues which in many other villages are left to the Parish Council. The situation is getting to the stage where as soon as the RSI group is mentioned eye brows are raised and the whole debate just falls apart. It is a real pity as both the Parish Council and the RSI group are working to improve the Village, however it has to be remembered that one body is elected and is accountable while the other is not!

On Tuesday I went along to the Gnosall RSI meeting. I’ve always attended this group as the County Councillor but intend to still go along as a member of the A518 Action Group. Gnosall RSI is completely different to the one in Haughton. Tuesdays meeting was only attended by 9 people, including myself. This group works with the Parish Council and does limit itself to community safety issues. On Tuesdays agenda was antisocial behaviour, vandalism and road safety. Tracey Simkin, who chairs the meeting is also a Parish Councillor and is keen to ensure the roles of both groups are clearly defined and are separate.

Wednesday and Thursday saw me at Norbury and Ranton Parish Councils this time just as a member of the public. It was nice that Norbury thanked me for the work I’d done as the County Councillor, but it was no surprise the same thanks were not forthcoming from Ranton as Mark Winington, who won the election, is one of their Councillors. Norbury was as usual well run and was over just after nine. Ranton lasted a little longer and I was concerned over one decision they took. The Councillors agreed to a suggestion by Cllr Winington to make a donation, from Council funds, to a leaving present for three staff from the Village primary school. This reminded me of the idea that Haughton Parish Council had a few months ago when we wanted to make a payment to the Village Handyman to show our appreciation of his hard work when he retired. Having taken advice we were told this payment would be illegal. I couldn’t see the difference between the Haughton handyman retirement and the head teacher at Ranton School.

Since the end of December the pressure of fighting the Stafford seat in the General Election and new County Council seat of Gnosall and Doxey has meant that this blog has not been kept up to date. Time and time again I've been asked by various people when they would be able to read about what I was doing. Everytime I had to apologies and just explain that there were not enough hours in the day to allow me to update this diary.

However since the start of the new years things have moved a pace. The General Election and County Council Elections have come and gone. I was quite pleased with the progress I managed to make in Stafford despite the fact both the Conservatives and Labour squeezed the Lib Dems almost to death in their attempts to either keep or win the seat. Stafford certainly had more than it's fair share of big names visiting the town. Michael Howard came twice and William Hague once in an effort to get residents to vote for David Chambers, their candidate. David Kidney was not to be left out as Gordon Brown and John Prescott, along with various other cabinet and minor government members also came to Stafford. Both parties also poured a considerable amount of cash into their campaigns. Many residents complained to me that they we sick and fed up with all the personal letters they were receiving from Michael Howard or Tony Blair pointing out the pitfalls of voting for the otherside. However despite this effort and expense nothing changed. David Kidney still won - abet with a much smaller majority and the Conservatives who were convinced they were walking the election came second. At least the Liberal Democrat vote went up by 50% so I'm really pleased! National much the same thing happened. Tony Blair held on to power, again with a reduced majority, and the Liberal Democrats gained a number of seats to give us the biggest presence in the House of Commons since the 1920s (62 seats).

I was certainly disappointed with the outcome of the County Council election for the new Gnosall and Doxey Division, although I always knew that with the new boundaries coming into play winning this seat would be difficult. As I suspected the Labour vote went up. Taking to a Labour Party member from Doxey during the count I was surprised to hear her say that of course everyone in Doxey went out to vote Labour as the two Tory Borough councillors for that area were rarely seen. I did point out to her that by increasing the Labour vote her and her colleagues had just let in the Conservatives and now they residents of Doxey were represented by three Tories not two! What is clear from this election is that a vote for Labour is just wasted as they stand no chance of winning and that all this does is let the Conservatives in! I'll certainly be pushing that message in the next few years!