Angela Rayner- So much for anti-poverty!

 by The Blue Knight.

September 2018

Ashton Waterloo by-election, 6 September 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Pauline Hollinshead	889	52.5	4.9
	Green	Lee Huntbach	448	26.4	12.7
	Conservative	Therese Costello	357	21.1	7.8
Majority			441	26.1	2.4
Registered electors			8,717
Turnout			1,697	19.5	7.2
Rejected ballots			3	0.2	0.1
	Labour hold		Swing	1.2

 Editor note:  The result above is of the election in Tameside's Ashton Waterloo ward in which poverty campaigner, Charlotte Hughes, was turned down by the local Labour Party as a candidate because she was behind with her council tax.  Only the Green candidate had an improved showing on a poor turnout of 19.5%.

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Angela Rayner‏Verified account @AngelaRayner

Angela Rayner in red centre writes on Twitter on the 6th, Sept.: Absolutely superb win tonight for newly elected Cllr Pauline Hollinshead in Ashton Waterloo Ward part of my constituency. Our local Labour teams worked very hard in this by election and residents backed Labour&Pauline. Nice to see the wretched Tories finish bottom!

 

THE most recent appointment of [Ashton] Waterloo Ward Councillor, in May 2018 was someone many of the residents had never heard of.  The campaigning was done underhanded and the Ward areas which would have caused some consternation and controversy were not visited.  Despite what will be inferred to the contrary, this was a safe seat, did not need a high density Labour party members canvass and this person was parachuted in to fill the vacancy. 

 

There appeared to be a pecking order as to who was next in line!

This caused some unrest inside the Labour party members. Feathers were rustled.

I have had no dealings with the person elected, but it appears that he is an officer of the neighbouring, next door, Oldham Council. Continuing the Nepotism route.

The By election now about to occur in Waterloo Ward is happening as the result of the death of a long serving, sometimes controversial Ward Councillor Cath Piddington.  She was a stalwart for her residents within the ward.

I believe certain people had been earmarked to fill this role from within the Labour group, but these people have now fallen from grace due to their differing views over the lack of involvement of residents and their views and their wishes not being responded to, by the council. 

 

The anti-poverty campaigner Charlotte Hughes was identified from within the local Labour group as being the ideal prospective candidate.  However it appears that someone within the Labour group decided that this now did fit within the well-defined nepotism route and highlighted the fact that Charlotte was behind on some of her Council tax payments.

This in effect caused her to be de selected from the group.  This has now caused ructions from sitting Councillors within Tameside.  There has been lots of cat calling and spats over the selection of the new candidate for the ward. 

 

However a recent, 22/08/18, public Twitter spat took place between the current Deputy Mayor, Leigh Drennan, Labour Ashton Hurst Councillor with residents and ward councillors of the Waterloo Ward.

This occurred as the result of Tameside Councillors and prospective candidates being accused of jumping on the bandwagon by attempting to draw in those essential votes by selectively agreeing to support a current campaign, which is causing problems for Tameside and the Waterloo Ward, over the sale and planning issues, regarding a small piece of public open space bordering Daisy Nook, known to the locals as The Backfield. (See Save the Backfield Campaign)

This has caused an unprecedented furore and backlash within the council.

The crux of the matter and in reality is that Charlotte did not fulfil the nepotism role, that Tameside Council appear to actively encourage.  Unlike Councillor Faisal Rana [in Rochdale] with his many houses in his portfolio, she would not fit in within the Shameside Council by owing council tax. 

 

Charlotte, unlike some of the Tameside Councillors does not own several other houses or property abroad, does not own property to rent out for a high income within the borough or further afield, does not own a holiday home where she can vanish for several months a year. Charlotte by her own admission is poor, in debt and working class.  The term working class will be a unknown phrase to most of the Tameside Council, as their own well paid safe seat jobs continue to provide a high level of income or “wage “as some councillors have recently referred to it.

How can you have a fair representation of the population if these people do not understand the true predicament of many of the people who find themselves at the lower end of the pecking scale and in debt?

Where is the support of Angela Rayner now? Nepotism continues to roll on.

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