Wealden's Liberal Democrat PC and Parliamentary Spokesperson Chris Bowers greeted the news that Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have been elected as the Labour Party's new Leader and Deputy Leader respectively with positivitity and cautious optimism, saying he hopes that this marks the beginning of a new era of progressive cross-party cooperation and bridge building. Speaking shortly after the announcement was made on Saturday April 4th, Chris commented, "I think all people who believe in working towards a compassionate and just society should welcome the fact that Labour is now led by someone who understands the broad range of progressive views somewhat better than his predecessor did. What we will be looking for now are signs that Keir Starmer understands the need to work across party boundaries, and doesn't continue Labour's habit of thinking it can offer an alternative to the Conservatives all on its own. He will have to tread carefully, but we should be willing to embrace hints that he is willing to build bridges.
"In Angela Rayner, he has a deputy leader who understands at first hand what it's like to have to struggle to survive. She has emerged from a challenging childhood to become one of the most admired MPs in Westminster today. Let's hope they can both use their respective experiences to work with others to create a truly modern Britain."
Update March 30, 2020: Wealden District Council has put together a Community Support page.
The current Covid-19 Coronavirus situation is changing rapidly - we therefore urge everyone to please check the latest (frequently updated) guidelines from the NHS and the UK Government.
LibDem's challenge Tory council tax rise for Wealden
Liberal Democrat councillors on Wealden District Council put forward an amendment to the Conservative controlled council's budget asking for a freeze in Council Tax rises for this year. The Liberal Democrat group and many Uckfield residents are frustrated with the mismanagement of the Wealden Plan by the Conservative dominated council which has recently been rejected by the government planning inspector. The development of the Wealden Plan had taken place over many years at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds, and has been rejected due to a catalog of failures. Wealden currently faces a planning "free for all" whilst a new plan is developed. Not surprisingly the amendment was defeated. Follow the link to the full article in the Sussex Express
All Members & Supporters of Wealden Liberal Democrats are invited to attend a meeting to be updated regarding the recently withdrawn Wealden Local Plan:
WHEN: Saturday 15th February from 7pm until 9pm
WHERE: Council Chamber, Uckfield Civic Centre, Uckfield TN22 1AE
Last Saturday December 7th, Crowborough Community Centre hosted Wealden's only pre-General Election parliamentary hustings debate with all four parliamentary candidates participating - Lib Dem Chris Bowers, Labour's Angie Smith, the Green Party's Georgia Taylor and incumbent Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani. The debate was moderated by BBC political journalist Helen Catt.
Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Chris Bowers has said he is "really pleased" that Wealden voters will at last get a chance to hear all four Wealden candidates speaking at a live hustings debate on December 7th in Crowborough. The news comes after over a month of silence from the Tory candidate following Chris' open challenge to Nus Ghani to debate him at a live hustings before the December 12th General Election.
Wealden's Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate Chris Bowers will be participating in the upcoming live 'Climate Emergency Question Time' this Wednesday November 27th, an event which has been organised by Wealden's Extinction Rebellion (XR) group.
The debate will be held this Wednesday November 27th from 8pm to 9.30pm at Michael Hall School Theatre in Forest Row (RH18 5JA). All four of Wealden's parliamentary candidates have been invited, though so far only Liberal Democrat Chris, plus the Green and Labour candidates have confirmed they will be there. Organisers say they are still waiting for a reply from incumbent Conservative candidate Nus Ghani, who has apparently been sent numerous invitations (incidentally, she also still hasn't replied to Chris Bowers' open invitation to debate him at a hustings during the general election campaign!). Perhaps she plans on making a surprise entrance, but for now she is being creatively depicted on XR's event poster as a mysterious piece of topiary on a desert island (see pic)!
We've updated our General Election 2019 FAQ page - Wealden's LibDem Parliamentary candidate answers questions about the environment sparked by an RSPB initiative...
QUESTION: What are you personally pledging to do to help protect the environment?
A number of people have written to Chris asking him to use his voice to protect the environment. This was an initiative started by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds called Let Nature Sing in the General Election, but covers a number of environmental topics and asks candidates to answer three questions amounting to a pledge.
Wealden's Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Chris Bowers welcomed the Unite to Remain agreement which involves candidates from the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru standing aside in 60 constituencies in order to avoid splitting the Progressive Remain vote and to unite behind the one Pro-Remain candidate in each constituency who stands the best chance of winning.
Chris described the announcement as "a shot in the arm for grown-up politics" and "an encouraging sign that there are people in UK politics willing to put the welfare of the country and its people ahead of their local party".
The arrangement involves two of the three candidates in 60 named seats standing aside to enhance the chances of a pro-Remain candidate beating a pro-Brexit candidate.
Although Wealden is not one of the 60 seats, Chris Bowers, who has a long track record as a passionate environmentalist, said: "We accept and respect that the Green Party will not be standing aside in Wealden, but we urge voters tempted to vote Green this time to put their weight behind the party most likely to beat the Conservatives, which in Wealden is clearly the Lib Dems." This is backed up by extensive data analysis by the leading cross-party tactical voting sites including Best For Britain's getvoting.org and the People's Vote Campaign's tactical-vote.uk where voters can look up their postcode to receive unbiased pro-Remain advice.
"We all thank the Green Party and Plaid Cymru for their brave decision," said Chris. "Brexit is a national crisis. This groundbreaking agreement, facilitated by the Unite to Remain campaign group, will help to secure more Remain-supporting MPs in the next Parliament. And the more LibDems that are elected, the higher the chances are of us finally bringing about long overdue and much needed electoral reform - which would finally mean getting a fairer voting system in Britain, in which tactical voting would no longer be needed."
Despite a sizeable majority, and long being considered a "safe blue seat", the Conservatives are by no means home and dry in Wealden, which has an unpopular and oft-absent MP and an electorate which, since 2018, has switched to being more than 50% in favour of Remain according to a Best For Britain report.
Ahead of the General Election on December 12th, constituents and campaign groups have, understandably, been contacting parliamentary candidates to get their views on specific topics. In order to respond as fully and clearly as possible to all those who've been sending him questions, Wealden's Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate Chris Bowers is providing written answers to the most frequently asked questions, starting with his detailed response to many queries about the controversial Loan Charge.
