Tony Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 (edited) Interesting. Councillor Ben Curran has joined Labour. He's the councillor for Walkley rather than Broomhill as stated in the article below. His majority is a very slim 290 votes. Broomhill councillor Ben Curran has defected from the city’s Lib Dem group to the Labour group. This leaves the Liberal Democrats with only 41, meaning a combination of Labour’s 39 and Greens’ 2 councillors could vote down Lib Dem motions and amendments. Paul Scriven, leader of Sheffield council said: “”Clearly this has come as a real surprise to us as Ben hasn’t spoken to me or anyone else in the Group to let us know he was thinking of resigning, let alone defecting. He was only elected in May and just a couple of weeks ago he gave a speech in the Council chamber deriding Labour’s record. “Obviously this is a personal decision for Ben, but it’s clear that the move has been orchestrated given that it is on the eve of our national conference in Liverpool. I find it hard to understand how he could have joined a party that has pledged to take money away from the area he represents, took us into an illegal war in Iraq and has bankrupted the entire country.” I'm all for people holding standing by their personal beliefs so I hope that Cllr Curran will honourably resign his seat to allow the people of Walkley decide who and which party they want to represent them as a councillor. Somebody has deleted his campaigning material from his election website but Google Cache remembers. I wanted to post my letter to the Star here. It is in response to a previous letter by an ex-Labour Councillor. Unfortunately, Labour are campaigning in Walkley and promising local people the earth. Their PPC Paul Blomfield was Chair of the Sheffield Labour Party whilst they took money away from Walkley and, in November’s Council meeting, Labour Councillors continued to pledge to take money away from Walkley Ward so they would have more money to spend in their favoured areas. Here is the text: It is a bit rich of ex-Labour Coun Veronica Hardstaff to talk about fairness (Apr 27). Under Labour, money was funnelled from communities like Netherthorpe, Upperthorpe, Langsett and Walkley to fund projects in their favoured areas. The Lib Dems created Community Assemblies to ensure money is spent in every area and people have a greater influence on how it’s spent. Unfortunately, Labour insist on having more for its favoured areas and asked the council for an additional £138,000 for these areas. Labour may call that fair but I certainly wouldn’t. Edited September 17, 2010 by Tony Added links Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy-Lastic Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 Thats not good at all - I for one am annoyed as I most certainly did not vote for Labour:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem1st Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 Next election will probably see a Labour candidate in Walkley. He probably doesn't want to back a dead horse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgharston Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 Next election will probably see a Labour candidate in Walkley. Every election since about 1895 has seen a Labour candidate in Walkley. Thats not good at all - I for one am annoyed as I most certainly did not vote for Labour Being the person who quietly stood to one side after being deselected in his favour, and am more than particularly annoyed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteM01 Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 Interesting. Councillor Ben Curran has joined Labour. He's the councillor for Walkley rather than Broomhill as stated in the article below. His majority is a very slim 290 votes. . I don't suppose that he will be the last LibDem defector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgharston Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 He's a councillor for Walkley rather than Broomhill as stated in the article below. His majority is a very slim 290 votes. That's not a slim majority, that's a typical majority. 36 (what I was elected on) or 31 (what Diane lost by in 1995) is a slim majority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.B.Yaffle Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 Thats not good at all - I for one am annoyed as I most certainly did not vote for Labour:( Did you vote Tory? I presume he is now having to vote for Tory cuts on Sheffield Council as his party's national leader has broken his election promises and joined the Tories. I can understand why a libdem councillor would feel the need to leave the party now, but maybe it would be fairer for him to stand as an independent and campaign for the same policies the libdems campaigned on before Clegg joined the tories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem1st Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 Every election since about 1895 has seen a Labour candidate in Walkley. Being the person who quietly stood to one side after being deselected in his favour, and am more than particularly annoyed. http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/elections/election-results/2010/walkley ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgharston Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/elections/election-results/2010/walkley ? Yes, there was a Labour candidate in 2010, your point being???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 Yes, there was a Labour candidate in 2010, your point being???? I think the poor chap is confusing de-selection with losing an election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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