Wednesday 1 June 2011

Llanegwad By-Election

I see that two candidates are standing for the Llanegwad County Council by-election to be held on the 23rd June. One is an 'Independent', Mr Clive Pugh, and the other is Mr John Charles on the Plaid ticket. I am sure the two gentlemen are eminently qualified for the job but suffice to say there doesn't appear to be a rush of enthusiastic 'new blood' clamouring for a seat in County Hall, maybe that will happen next May (I hope). Still, the outcome will be interesting - will Meryl Gravell's Independent/Labour coalition/regime strengthen it's hold over the Chamber or will Plaid increase their majority?  By the way Mr Pugh's letter extolling his suitability for the seat is the lead letter in today's Carmarthen Journal and I suspect, that if elected, he will fit well into the current group of Independents. In the interests of fairness, I suggest the Plaid chap gets his letter in quick!

3 comments:

Egwad said...

Mr Pugh's letter ends with a ringing endorsement of the ruling "Independent" group, which he intends to join if elected. This group, propped up by a much smaller Labour contingent, consistently votes as a bloc with little or no dissent on everything they are asked to approve by the executive.

"Independent" councillors elected to serve the interests of the people they represent have found themselves voting to close schools, day centres, public libraries, scrap subsidised travel for the elderly and for groups of school children; they have voted for a string of massively expensive white elephant projects, and even now when very elderly and vulnerable people are seeing their day centres axed, they have voted through a £1 million plus donation to an American-style evangelical church planning to build a bowling alley.

The truth is that the Independents have an appalling track record when it comes to looking after the interests of their own communities. Too often the only interests they serve are their own and those of their business chums.

Last year there was a by-election in Newcastle Emlyn caused by the death of the local Independent member. Although there was a huge funeral and generous tributes were paid by the great and the good, nobody could be found to stand as an Independent in the ensuing election. That tells you something about what people really thought.

Yes, if it looks like a Tory, walks like a Tory and quacks like a Tory, then you can safely assume that it is a Tory.

Anonymous said...

May I ask which ward?

caebrwyn said...

yes, it's the Llanegwad Electoral Division