Letter: Bus Wars and Party Allegiance

Published on: 3 Jan, 2019
Updated on: 4 Jan, 2019

From Brian Creese, Guildford Labour Party

I am afraid I find the declaration by Cllrs Colin Cross, Bob McShee and Tony Rooth that they think party politics has nothing to do with local government a touch disingenuous.

Between them they have stood as party candidates for a total of 26 years, apparently quite happy with that situation. All were elected in 2015 with the help of honest party members who will have done much hard work for them. But now, apparently, all will be better if they are simply their own men.

For me, the party labels tell you something about the candidate’s philosophy. To be a member of a political party means you subscribe to a vision of society.

Simplistically, Tories generally believe in the market as “good”, see market solutions such as out-sourcing to be the best way of delivering services and want a low tax economy.

We Labour people think that it is right to look at the needs of the wider society and plan delivery of services for them. We generally think it right that the rich should pay more to support the poor or the disadvantaged. We want to work towards a more equal society.

What has this to do with local politics, you ask? Well, let’s look at “bus wars”, a topic which has dominated the past few weeks of local news.

The current situation is exactly what Tories want to see – competition between bus companies.

Neither Arriva nor Stagecoach have any right to run bus services for the people of Guildford, so let them compete and see which can do the best job.

Labour people, on the other hand, see this as a destructive and wasteful war which puts too much resource in one area while not serving bus users across the borough as a whole.

If Arriva does force Stagecoach out of business it will not be for the long term good of bus users of Guildford. We prefer to look at what services are needed and try and provide resources to run those services effectively.

Your party allegiance really does affect how you understand “bus wars” – or for that matter academy schools, housing, provision of homelessness services, the future of the town centre, support for sport and culture, and so on.

These are all political issues as well as local ones. Will our friends Colin Cross, Bob McShee and Tony Rooth see these issues in a suddenly different way, now they are free of party allegiance? Or are they simply pretending that being independent is better than party allegiance because of their own disagreements with party colleagues?

Responses to Letter: Bus Wars and Party Allegiance

Bernard Parke Reply

January 3, 2019 at 9:08 pm

An interesting point raised here on party allegiance.

Allegiance to the party or to the electorate who voted for them, that is the question?

Many of the electorate were misled at the previous local borough election with the election pledge that “The Green Belt Will Stay” given by a leading national political party.

Is it not better to support a local independent candidate who will not be swayed by false promises made by national party associates?
John Redpath Reply

January 3, 2019 at 10:26 pm

Well done Brian Creese, you have explained exactly why politics and amateurish politicians should not be involved in how a borough council is run and what its residents need.

If your letter is read again slowly with no political interest or views one will see Mr Creese has shot party politics in local government in the proverbial foot!
Ben Paton Reply

January 4, 2019 at 8:59 am

Local government cannot change national policy. Vote for national parties to change national policies. Vote for local people to run the narrow range of things delegated to local government.

As for the market, good or bad? How boring! Everyone knows none of these things is completely black or white. Of course, markets are ‘good’, absolutely essential in delivering all the things that support our material existence. Of course, markets are not the only thing in the world and need regulation and management.

Jeremy Corbyn seems to think he’s the only one to have discovered Karl Marx. The fact is that Marx’s ideas permeate our thinking about all these things already. Marx may be new news to a peasant or a miner in some fictional Ruritania. But no one else needs another condescending history lesson.
Brian Creese Reply

January 4, 2019 at 10:17 am

I am genuinely interested to know if it is thought that someone like Tony Rooth, who has been a Tory councillor for 15 years, and was, at one time, the Conservative group leader, is now a better councillor because he has left the party that actually controls GBC? If so, how exactly has this happened? This is not to attack Tony, but I tend to think his views, opinions and instincts are likely to be the same as they were when elected in 2015.

Brian Creese is a spokesperson for the Guildford Labour Party
Jim Allen Reply

January 4, 2019 at 3:28 pm

As an independent thinker, I believe the council should work for the good of the local people. It’s time the GBC Executive stopped hiding their incompetence under party banners.
Eddie Rusell Reply

January 4, 2019 at 6:42 pm

I’m not sure Brian Creese understands the current “bus war”. There is no way Arriva would ever be able to force Stagecoach out of business. Does he, in fact, mean Safeguard?
John Perkins Reply

January 5, 2019 at 12:49 pm

This letter illustrates the problem with party politics generally.

It does not concern itself with the actual views or policies of the candidates mentioned; only that they were once party members and suggests they might, therefore, be motivated by personal grievances.

Without offering any specific solutions, the writer invites us to accept that a hotchpotch of generalised national groupthink can help us understand how to deal with specific local issues. As if the things that concern Islington have the same relevance to Inverclyde or those of Oxford to Orkney. Simplistic is the right word, but that’s how parties operate.

In answer to the latter question: “is [he] now a better councillor because he has left the party?” – his ability as a councillor should not be affected in any way, better or worse, except that he no longer has to obey any party whip, which can only mean he has fewer limitations.
Brian Creese, Guildford Labour Party Reply

January 5, 2019 at 4:29 pm

Thanks you for the correction, Eddie!
Colin Cross Reply

January 7, 2019 at 1:05 am

So Mr Creese has given us a socio-political analysis of the Guildford bus wars and the analogy this may have on the call for less national politics in local scenarios.

I think that before he charges off in that particular stagecoach that he should first safeguard his own credibility by getting his facts right.

Yes, I was re-elected in 2015 with an increased majority, but there was little or no help on the ground from my LD colleagues, who were all fighting in their own wards. It was the efforts put in by myself, family and friends that got me re-elected, nowt else.

But I would be pleased if he could pass on my best regards to Rob Woof and his mother, who I met at the 2014 by-election results evening and appreciated their company. See also: Lovelace [2015] By-election – Candidate Interview – Robin Woof Labour

Colin Cross is the Independent (formerly Lib Dem) borough councillor for Lovelace