Following the news last month that several Isle of Wight councillors had signed up to the ‘Councillors against Austerity’ campaign, this update from Labour councillor for Newport East, Geoff Lumley – Ed.
A fortnight after launching the national campaign ‘Councillors Against Austerity’ in the Isle of Wight Council, there have been 18 signatures in support of the founding statement.
However, Labour’s Cllr Geoff Lumley (who organised the launch with the Leader of the Council, Jonathan Bacon) is expressing disappointment that 22 Isle of Wight Councillors have not responded to or have declined his call for support.
22 haven’t responded, or have declined
The 18 supporters are made up of all but one of the ruling Isle of Wight Independent group, plus the two Labour and one openly LibDem councillors.
Those that have not responded or declined include all the 14-strong Conservative group, both Ukip councillors, all five of the so-called Individual Members Group (Cllrs Blezzard, Chapman, Gilbey, Jones-Evans and Priest) and Cllr Peacey-Wilcox (IW Indy).
Gesture politics – “I could not agree more”
Cllr Lumley commented,
“One of the decliners, the LibDem agent at the general election, told me that signing was gesture politics. I could not agree more. A gesture of active opposition to austerity and how it is affecting Councils, not least our own.
“What I find surprising is that most of these councillors will tell you that they want a better deal for the Island through ‘Fight for the Wight’. However, they fail to make the logical connection that a better deal will mean ending austerity for our Council. Indeed Conservative group leader Dave Stewart told me,
“I shall not be putting my name to the ‘Councillors against Austerity’ statement as I am actually in support of our overall government strategy to reduce the deficit
“It seems to me that the Tories are very confused. Apart from anything else the deficit has hardly been reduced since 2010.”
Image: Michael K Donnelly under CC BY 2.0
