Lib Dem candidate slams Reform UK statements
“They are living in cloud cuckoo land”
The Reform UK candidates for the Staffordshire County elections on May 1 have said that, should they be elected, they will “oppose and frustrate” the plans of the district councils who have agreed on a plan to create a Southern Staffordshire unitary authority.
Andrew Rushton, Liberal Democrat District Councillor and County candidate for Lichfield Rural East, comments, “This statement by the Reform UK Ltd. candidates shows that they are clutching at straws, as a result of their fall in support following the internal split in the group at a high level, and the openly servile attitude of their leader Nigel Farage to Donald Trump’s erratic and dangerous policies and his tacit support of Putin’s Russia.
“Their wish to continue with the current Staffordshire boundaries as the unitary authority would decrease local power rather than increasing it. Such an arrangement could result in planners in Leek determining the future of Sankey’s Corner in Burntwood. Or do they perhaps think that somehow they can keep Lichfield District Council and the other districts, and retain the current system? If so, they are living in cloud cuckoo land.
“The accusation that the proposed Southern Staffordshire authority would be merged with Birmingham is nonsense, as the Leader of the District Council has already pointed out. We do, however, believe that the natural gravitational pull of such an authority is to the West Midlands Strategic Authority, which would give us much more say on regional housing, transport, and infrastructural matters than we enjoy at the moment.
“The statements of the candidates representing Nigel Farage show a profound lack of knowledge when it comes to the way in which local government works. Putting these people into the current County Council at a time when such important decisions are to be made would be a disaster. The Liberal Democrats have extensive local government experience nationwide and can draw on this – as of course can the other two major political groups. Reform UK Ltd. have no such deep knowledge – indeed, these latest pronouncements make me question whether they have any knowledge of the subject at all.”
“The position of the Lichfield Liberal Democrats is that, while the move to unitary authorities is in many ways a move towards better local government, it brings a new set of issues with it, and the order from London that this greatest change in half a century is to be made in a matter of only a few years is far from welcome.
“Nonetheless, we will work with other political groupings, taking the needs of individual communities into account, to ensure the best outcome for all residents, urban and rural.
“If elected to the County Council, I will work in the interests of Lichfield District to bring about a workable and fair solution to this problem that has been set before us.”
