Somerset Labour

In Somerset we were meant to have a County Council election. However, these were cancelled as the battle for which ‘unitary’ outcome hots up and sitting county councillors are granted an extra year while people think about it. Not a very democratic solution to say the least. However, apart from the Police and Crime Commission election, which everyone had a ballot for but only 30% of us chose to use, there were a string of other elections across the county -largely reflecting the National trend of Tory wins. But here are some of them and their consequences.

Continue reading “Somerset Votes – a round up of the elections of May 6th 2021”

Whilst the people of Somerset might have missed out on the chance to have their say on Somerset County Council and it’s Unitary machinations on Thursday May 6^th there are nevertheless some crucial elections happening across our county -not least the key role of Police and Crime Commissioner, where Labour’s candidate KERRY BARKER is in prime position to grab the post. Kerry put Labour in 2^nd place in 2016 and narrowly lost a run off contest with outgoing independent Sue Mountstevens-who isn’t standing this time. Kerry needs to see off a challenge from the Tories to grab the victory and this means he needs ALL the Labour and tactical votes in Somerset he can get to add to the extremely large Labour vote coming in from Bristol, where they’re also voting for councillors and Mayor. So your vote really matters!

VOTE LABOUR ON THURSDAY MAY 6TH

Continue reading “No elections in Somerset?? OH YES THERE ARE!”

The campaign to save St Andrew’s ward, supported by Save Somerset’s Community Services, began over a year ago now on 29th Feb 2020, but the focus on saving St Andrew’s ward began in earnest on 24th September 2020, when the CCG announced, as expected, that the ward would be closed and the beds moved to Yeovil, in spite of the opposition of 52% of those who responded to the consultation run by “Fit for my Future”. The campaign is now starting to have an effect!  Organiser Emma King says “We have been very pleased to note that the closure of the ward has now been put back to “no earlier than summer 2022”. We have also found that the CCG, under severe pressure from our campaign, has e-mailed councillors to put ‘their side of the story’, even though they fail to mention the results of the consultation (whilst making a lot of the fact a consultation was held). They also say they ‘never send anyone out of county for treatment’, but, if that is true, we know that people in crisis in the Bath and North East Somerset area are often sent hundreds of miles for treatment, when they could just travel the short distance to Wells if the facilities were available to them!”

Continue reading “St Andrew’s Ward – Day Of Action 17th April”

Commenting on job losses and pay cuts at British Gas (today – Wed 14 April)  Terry Ledlie, Chair of Yeovil constituency Labour Party said, “Centrica, who now own British Gas, has behaved deplorably. They have imposed a pay-cut of 15 per cent  on their 5,000 engineers and have sacked nearly 400 staff  who would not accept  this massive salary  reduction. This is absolutely appalling corporate misbehaviour. Labour believes that employers should treat their workers fairly and with respect. To do otherwise is both immoral and bad for business, as a climate of fear badly undermines motivation and productivity. Imagine if all our employers behaved this badly. They would simply drive our economy into the ground, with all the hardship and misery that would bring.”

Terry continued “British Gas used to be our flagship national provider. Today it has fallen a very long way in our estimation. The company should set out to make a new start with its employees and their trade unions, but they will have an awful lot of work to do!”