As campaigning re-opened in the General Election after the Manchester Bombing tragedy, the Tories appear to be on the backfoot. So confident when she called the election was Theresa May with her 20 point poll lead backed up by constant media smearing of Jeremy Corbyn that she thought all she needed to do was repeat ‘Strong and Stable’ over and over again.
But suddenly the tables are turned and the lead is down to 9 points – so what happened?
Labour’s Socialist Manifesto
In Labour controlled Bridgwater, Town Council leader Brian Smedley said “The Tories took people for granted and people saw through them. When Labour’s Manifesto came out people thought ‘hang about, we like this’ and it’s proving the most popular manifesto in years, and then the Tories put out their smug manifesto of cuts and austerity and people said ‘wait a minute, we don’t want this, ’ and then Saint Theresa panicked. She suddenly realised people were seeing through her outrageous claims to be the party of the ordinary workers and saw them as just the same grubby money grabbing persecute the poor nasty party they always were. So she started doing U-turns. Looking totally weak and wobbly whereas the much maligned JC simply carried on politely , honestly and genuinely as usual, without resorting to personal abuse and his poll ratings soared. I believe the Tories are in for a shock.”
The latest YouGov poll suggests the Conservatives are on 43pc and Labour 38pc as campaigning is about to resume.
Wes’s Week
Meanwhile, Labour candidate for Bridgwater and West Somerset, the polite, unassuming Wes Hinckes, has been just getting on with the job. He’s visited social care units, workers on strike, community groups, met people in the street, attended hustings,and continued representing the people who elected him at council meetings.
Wes has also crucially been urging people to get out and register to vote-which is critical in a constituency where the Tories look to have such a massive majority that people might think it’s not worth bothering – certainly a view shared by Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger, who’s made a point of not even being seen….
In fact across the country over 2 million new people registered to vote by last Mondays deadline
It doesn’t have to be like this
Speaking in Minehead recently Wes Hinckes said “Bridgwater and West Somerset has what it takes to become a world renowned location to live, work, bring up a family, and enjoy a good life. We need to steer towards that opportunity. It can be reached when we change our direction.
Today, we need the cuts to stop. They are causing harm and risking our future. The services and infrastructure we all use are becoming non-functional, falling below national standards and a pale comparison of what we should expect.
Our local authorities have become unable to fully function as their funding from central government has been reduced beyond all reasonable need removing ‘our’ services and redefining the very standards they should protect, leaving the public at risk of harm.
How can our economy and tourism thrive when our roads, railways, buses and public transport are a national embarrassment? We know that it cannot.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
We can turn our constituency around and we can deliver success equally to our people, communities and businesses. More cuts cannot work, they are only damaging and causing harm to the lives of all of us. It is time for us to heal and it is time for us to recognise our strengths and to develop those assets”
Unity House opens its doors
In Bridgwater the Labour Party is back on action footing after a respectful 2 days break. The town centre headquarter Unity House is opening its doors daily, a special edition of the ‘Bridgwater (and West Somerset) Rose’ has been produced and the popular Saturday morning Labour stall at the Cornhill will provide an opportunity for voters to meet Wes and Labour activists.
Wes in the Community
