Tameside Election 2014. More Labour married couples join the council!

Carl Simmons is one of two ‘independent’ candidates who are standing in the Tameside 2014 local elections.  He is a reforming candidate, who seems to think that local government is badly in need of a shake-up. He wants to see councillors standing for election at the same time and not the current system of a third standing annually.  He also wants to see one councillor per ward and not three as at present. More significantly, he wants to limit the term of office for councillors so there are no jobs for life and wants to stop family members, also being elected to the council.

Anyone, who is familiar with the Shenanigans within Tameside Labour Party, as Simmons undoubtedly is, will be aware of the nepotism and cronyism that is endemic within it. Labour politics, in this part of Greater Manchester, has become so incestuous, that it is now a family affair. There are so many spouse’s and partners and family members on Tameside Council, that its begun to resemble the game show Mr and Misses that was once hosted by that jovial northerner, Derek Batey.

Two of the three Tameside MPs, Jonathan Reynolds and Andrew Gwynne, have wives on the council. Then there are the ‘Chuckle Bothers’, Jim and Philip Fitzpatrick, whose father Joe, was once on the council. Jim’s partner, Jan Jackson, is also a councillor. The leader of the council Kieran Quinn is married to his fellow councillor, Susan Quinn. Barrie and Anne Holland, are also item, and are councillors for Droylsden. Dukinfield councillor, Jacqueline Lane, also sits on the council with her hubby, Dawson Lane. Councillor Denise Ward also sits on the council with her partner David McNally.

Although the Conservatives, who are standing 19 candidates in the elections, have been highly critical of the number of Labour couples on the council, they now seem to be trying to play catch-up with their Labour rivals. In Audenshaw, Colin White is standing for the Conservatives and his wife Carol, is also standing for the Conservatives in Denton North East. A former Labour councillor, Colin White was banned from standing in the local elections by his Labour colleagues following allegations of ‘unauthorised spending’ and poor performance as a councillor. He then defected to the Conservatives.

In Mossley, former Ashton Town Centre Manager, Frank Travis, is seeking election so he can join his wife Lynn on Tameside Council. And over in Dukinfield, Eleanor Ballagher, is seeking election as a Labour candidate. Both her father and mother were also Labour councillors.

Apart from the Labour and Conservatives, the Greens are standing 19 candidates. The BNP are standing 2 candidates. There is a candidate standing for ‘Trade Unionists and Socialists against the Cuts’ and a candidate standing as a ‘Patriotic Socialists’.

Although the majority of people will not be voting in either the local or European elections and would be unable to tell you the name of a candidate, UKIP seem to have caused some anxiety amongst the time-serving Labour elite who make up the one party state of Tameside. We understand from sources that postal votes that are already in, show an upsurge in votes for UKIP in Tameside, and that this is giving some people within the council the jitters. UKIP are standing 11 candidates in the local Tameside elections.