If I hadn’t witnessed it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it. I actually saw the ruling Lib-Dems and Residents rig a debate in Surrey’s Elmbridge Council last night to stop the SOLE Reform councillor joining the debate about migrants being housed in local hotels.
The Lib Dems had their say. The Residents Association had their say. The Tories had their say. But as Reform’s Harrison Allman-Varty got to his feet, the council leader (I’ve seen more brains in a butcher’s window) stepped forward and used a procedural stitch-up to end the debate.
Harrison threw his hands in the air. My hands would have been shaped into a fist. I was in the public gallery and got very angry that free speech was being denied in the cradle of free speech- a political arena.
The reason this debate was talking place at all was due to tweets and GB News columns I had written showing that in Elmbridge – it covers Weybridge, Esher, Molesey – there had been no scrutiny, about £5million plus being taken from the affordable housing fund (meant for local people) and used to buy 24 homes in the area for Afghans and other migrants.
As far as I can see, not one word of discussion a) Was it right to do it, or b) What would local residents say, or c) Could we spend it better on another cohort ever took place. All done on the nod. Until I poked my nose in.
This is the first time I have been in a council chamber since I was a junior reporter on the South East London Mercury, based in Deptford. I’m now so old I have to stop my wife putting me for sale on Vinted.
The reality is that these councillors are unused to scrutiny. There are no local paper journalists because there are no local papers. Advertising revenue has collapsed – it all went to Google and Facebook.
Going to bat for Reform last night shocked me. I witnessed how migrant scandals get buried - Kelvin MacKenzie
|Elmbridge Borough Council
This has meant (there was a shocking example of it last night) that democracy has been ditched by political parties in areas where you would have thought they would be held to account.
What difference would it have made had young Harrison given his views? Had he voted with the Tories, the coalition of dimwits would still have won comfortably.
The whole point of democracy is listening to views you don’t share. By agreeing to this stitch-up, Mike Rollings, the Lib-Dem leader, has rendered himself unsuitable to be in local politics. He should get out now, while people just think he’s dim rather than hanging around and having it confirmed.
The reality is that this Elmbridge coalition no longer represents the thinking of ordinary people. Everybody has concerns about migration, and to pretend there isn’t a problem would make these councillors unfit for office.
The only good news is that there are local elections next May. The manner in which these ‘’rulers’’ acted means they will certainly be thrown out and, more likely than not, Reform will be the dominant party, with Harrison as the leader.
Won’t that be a nice surprise for these anti-democratic turds?
My problem is that this is almost certainly not the only occasion over the last few years where local lefty politicians have been acting against democracy and the interests of the local people. So what’s to be done?
I am pondering, if I have the time, to start a site called Scrutiny where Elmbridge Council decisions are studied and debated outside the council chamber.
I’m sure it will be unpopular for the council. That will be one of its charms.