Labour should stop the sniping and join me for a public debate (From Bury Times)

Labour should stop the sniping and join me for a public debate

1:54pm Thursday 14th May 2009

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If David Chaytor wants to retain the backing of his electorate, he needs to do two things urgently — stop dismissing unpalatable truths about his voting record and realise that opposition views are valid.

His tactics won’t win him an election, which I think he is on course to lose.

Mr Chaytor cannot brush aside his voting record. The people of Bury North can look at Hansard, the “commercial websites” he talks about or anywhere else, but he can’t escape the fact that he has voted for variable tuition fees which are sending students into financial hardship.

He has voted for ID cards which are costing billions for no clear reason. He has voted for control orders which threaten rights to a fair trail and then separately voted against giving powers to the courts to decide on them.

He has voted for extending detention without charge to 90 days.

In fact, despite having every opportunity to stop this Government leading Britain into the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, Mr Chaytor has only voted against Labour eight times out of 768 opportunities since the last election.

I do not accuse him of betraying anyone or of being a bad person. Quite the opposite, in fact. I just think he has been mistaken in some of the things he has supported.

I would have voted differently if I was MP for Bury North, as the Lib-Dems have done throughout this parliament.

I find it interesting that Bury Labour respond so angrily to letters like mine which criticise them. Their standard reply to anything that points out their flaws is the letters-page equivalent of “shock and awe”.

Not only did Mr Chaytor reply to my letter, but so did Cllr Byrne, a former leader of the council.

Both men have served this borough for many years. They have my respect. But, like the Government of their party, their time has passed. Their angry replies show that clearly — with lots of denials and accusations, resting on the forlorn hope that if they shout loud enough their detractors will run away.

I disagree with them on schools in Bury, congestion charging and many other things. I do so respectfully but their accusations that I am somehow without either facts or valid opinions is neither respectful nor correct. It is not the way I want my elected representatives to behave.

I suspect that, as well as being led to financial oblivion, led into suspect wars, fleeced for parliamentary expenses, and forced to endure continual cuts in public services, one of the things that really annoys voters with the current Government is the continual back-and-forth sniping in the media between politicians.

So how does this sound, Mr Chaytor? Let’s stop all that and get together to talk about the issues, in public, outside of an election time, to mobilise people behind whichever one of us they feel would best represent them.

I appreciated your invitation to one of your Q&As. I am no stranger to your sessions and I think they work well. If I get elected I’ll keep doing them. So let’s do a joint one, debate what’s important and let the people decide. Name the day.

Richard Baum Lib-Dem Parliamentary Prospective Candidate for Bury North Butterstile Close Prestwich

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