Sheffield’s Tories appear to be continuing their crusade to cut poverty and health inequality in Sheffield by getting street lights repaired more promptly, roads repaired a little quicker (which in Sheffield will still be an age) and by cutting the grass in local parks a bit more. The reason I say this now is because of a bizarre attack by a former Sheffield Tory, (now living in Brent), Richard Holloway, where he accuses Nick Clegg of ‘dropping a clanger’ because he believes that improving the health of the city’s population might be just that little more complicated than their proposals.
Yes, the Tories really are that daft. Richard refers to Labour’s ‘Closing the Gap’ policy, (also backed by the city’s one Conservative councillor), which is a programme to give preferential treatment to certain areas of the city on core council services like those outlined above. Hence, Sheffield’s Liberal Democrats dubbing it Labour’s ‘favoured areas’ policy. The Liberal Democrat opposition to it is based on the view that whilst the poorer parts of the city may need extra support for certain things, on basic services like street lights and road repairs all of the city should be treated equally. You would think that as the one ward represented by a Conservative heavily loses out under the policy they might realise that it was unfair, but clearly not.
In contrast to this, Nick Clegg realises that the key to reducing inequality and poverty in the country comes down to ideas like improving the health of its population and by boosting education in some the poorest areas, using initiatives like his ‘pupil premium’ idea. These are sensible proposals, that will make a real practical difference, and are hardly inconsistent with what the council group is saying.
I might have more sympathy for the Tories if they were as clear on where they stood as Nick is. But in a recent local election, the Tories managed to put out two leaflets in the same ward in the same campaign – one saying they supported ‘Closing the Gap’, whilst the other one said they opposed it. You’d think that when there were so few Tories left in the city, they might find it easier to be consistent.
If anyone has dropped a clanger, it certainly isn’t Nick Clegg.
2 responses so far ↓
Ian Turgoose // 22 January 2008 at 11:49 am |
Hi Anders, great blog. Interesting that this Tory fails to mention the other bit in our 2007 manifesto which clearly states our policy on tackling deprivation: -
“It is the fundamental belief of Liberal Democrats that everyone should be able to live in a fair, free and open society. Therefore we hold the principles of social justice and diversity as central to how we wish to run the council.”
“We oppose the council’s current policy of tackling poverty as it is short-sighted and unsustainable. But most importantly of all, it isn’t working. We propose social justice policies that would target individuals, groups and pockets of exclusion, rather than on just large geographical areas. Our social justice policies would also be implicitly linked to economic development to ensure sustainability, job creation and wealth.”
Given that the Council’s own figures show that the inequality gap in Sheffield is actually getting wider, you would have thought that the Tories would realise that we need a re-think. Obviously not.
Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #49 | Liberal Democrat Voice // 29 January 2008 at 11:55 am |
[...] Sheffield Tories claim Nick Clegg’s first clanger on Anders Hansons blog. See 1, [...]