Alison Bennett's Monday Mail - Not Like Labour

On Sunday I was invited to present the awards at the shield finals for the U10s Lindfield Leopards vs Hove Park Colts. What a brilliant atmosphere!

Welcome to my Monday Mail for 29 April 2024, as I share a few of the things I've been doing and thinking about this past week, including Labour siding with Conservatives and our survey of residents' top issues.

Two times that Labour sided with the Conservatives in April

I was asked recently why it would be preferable to vote for a Liberal Democrat MP rather than a Labour one if Labour are likely to form the next government. As well as citing our Campaigning Victories, I said that there are times when we have taken a different and more principled stance than Labour in Parliament. Here are two very recent examples.

Rejecting proposals for a European Youth Mobility Scheme

I was beyond despairing earlier this month when not only the Conservatives, but also the Labour Party rejected a proposal from the EU that would have created a bilateral UK-EU youth mobility scheme. 

The opportunity for under 30s to spend up to four years living, working or studying abroad is something I can only see positives from. Ed Davey tweeted the benefits succinctly:

•  💷 boosting our economy, especially hospitality & tourism
•  🚄 offering great new opportunities for young people to live & work abroad
•  🤝 starting to fix our broken relationship with Europe

Voting to protect profits instead of reducing sewage pollution

This week, the Conservatives and Labour voted to push through a duty on Ofwat to prioritise growth. This will effectively weaken the water regulator’s ability to crack down on water companies as it forces the regulator to look at a water company’s financial situation and the impact on its growth if the firm is heavily fined. 

The Guardian reports that Labour backed the Conservatives because they did not want to be accused of being “anti-growth”.

It is devastating that both parties are happy to weaken the regulator's powers in preference to trying to sort out a broken water system.

Our survey says…

Thank you to everyone who filled in my “what is more important than potholes” survey last week. I can report that the top three broad categories that the responses fell into were:

• healthcare (25%)
• children/education/childcare (20%)
• climate and nature (17%)

Best wishes,

Cllr Alison Bennett
Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
Mid Sussex Liberal Democrats

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