Letter: I Didn’t Run Away From Anything

Published on: 11 May, 2021
Updated on: 11 May, 2021

From: Julie Iles

Former Conservative county councillor for The Horsleys

In response to William Brewster’s comment on As It Happened: Tories Lose Four Guildford Seats But Retain County Council Control

William Brewster says I didn’t even put up a fight and that “the Conservatives are running like they’re leaving a sinking ship”. Clearly, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

I worked hard for four years as the county councillor and I ran a good campaign (given the restrictions imposed by Covid). I’m proud of the achievements that we as a Conservative administration delivered at Surrey County Council and I’m pleased that the Conservatives still hold a majority at the council so that the programme can continue – especially in the improvements to children’s services and special educational needs.

I didn’t run away from anything and the ship is far from sinking. Colin Cross came to power on a tidal wave of anti-Tory feeling because of the Guildford Local Plan.

Ironically, one of the pieces of out of date information that R4GV used in their campaign literature was a claim that SCC Conservatives were imposing a unitary authority. We weren’t because the government aren’t moving any legislation forward on it.

However, R4GV now have their own unique version of that with R4GV councillors at GBC and SCC in the Horsleys. It means they will have no one else to blame or point the finger at, so let’s see what they do about delivering on their big campaign pledge from 2019 – that was to “Amend the Local Plan”.

Don’t hold your breath.