I was born and raised in South Shields; for the uninitiated it’s an old industrial town on the North East coast of England, at the south of the mouth of the river tyne. (Historically it was the site of the Arbeia roman settlement, garrisoned by Gaulish Auxilleries and Asturian Cavalry. It was Royalist in the Civil War, bombed in the Second World War and it’s from here that John Simpson Kirkpatrick – hero of Galipoli – hails.) The town has changed a lot since I was growing up here and not in good ways. The town centre is a shadow of it’s former self and King Street seems to be becoming worse and worse. Significant unemployment has not been addressed. In short it feels as though the town has been put out to pasture by it’s elected representatives and is left in a state of neglect. It has been failed by it’s politicians on both a national and a local level.
This election is a straight two way choice for the people of South Shields between the Conservatives and Labour; the Liberal Democrat has been notable only by his absence. I don’t want to dwell on the national issues of the past thirteen years, we all know them. I want to look at the town. Why has business declined? Why has retail declined? Why are jobs in education being cut? Why has unemployment not been addressed?
I’ve been paying attention to this campaign and have a pile of campaign literature on the table. The Conservative candidate, Karen Allen, has consistently canvassed on local issues. She has talked about the town centre, talked about jobs, talked about the need for good local representation and talked about change. Karen has been a regular on King Street meeting the public and has spent a lot of time canvassing around the constituency. David Miliband has not mentioned his constituency on his blog recently at all, he doesn’t even mention it in his about me text and he has spent most of this campaign away from the town trying to get plenty of support for his own leadership bid once Gordon Brown steps aside. The constituency has been, as always, largely ignored. The campaign literature from the Labour party has consisted of attack ads, smears and lies. To David Miliband this constituency is not his home, it does not matter, it’s just the place he uses to get elected to seek higher office. Karen Allen was born here, attended Harton Comprehensive; she knows local issues because she is local.
The South Shields constituency has a somewhat dubious claim to fame in being the only constituency in the country never to have returned a Conservtaive MP. People will tell you that it always has to be this way, that no party other than Labour can win here. That is not true. People in this constituency are showing a desire for change. Labour no longer represents the people of this town, it has taken the trust given to it by the electorate and abused it. Failure should not be rewarded. I have asked Mr. Miliband in a comment on his blog why he does not engage on local issues and why he has not put in the effort on a local campaign. This comment has not yet been authorised or answered. (I will update this post accordingly if he answers my questions.)
This May 6th I’ll be voting for Karen Allen, the only candidate that can offer this town the change that it needs. The fact that she is the only candidate to have ran a concentrated campaign on local issues while the man who claims to represent the town is off touring the country speaks volumes of where their respective priorities lie. If you have a vote in this constituency I’d encourage you to make it count for change too and cast it for Karen Allen.
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On a national level I wouldn’t want the Conservatives to be in power. Local voting, however, is different, and you’re quite right in that you should vote for the person, rather than the party. Karen Allen sounds like a really good candidate. Like yours, my constituency is currently labour – Glenda Jackson, since you ask. Who has an address in Lewisham East, on the opposite side of London. Also like you, I’ve voted local, for people that actually live in the area. It makes sense, because if they live in the area then it means that their interests are also at stake when they make changes.
It just seems to me that Labour have generally lost the connection they were supposed to have to the everyday people; they’ve become precisely what they used to say they were against. David Miliband sums that up for me, he has neither connection nor care for this constituency. (I am also in favour of the Conservatives nationally, mind you, I think Labour has really damaged the countru. I just didn’t find those points pertinent to this post because like you say it’s about the locality. Our MP is letting us down so he needs to be replaced.)
All parties are guilty of ‘parachuting’ candidates from London to ’safe seats’. Tony Blair, David Cameron, they were all sent from London to fight elections in ’safe seats’ (Although Cameron had to dislodge a sitting Tory MP who had defected to Labour).
My friend in Bromsgrove is shocked by the Tory candidate. Bromsgrove is a white middle class constituency, less than 5% of the population is non-white. The last MP was Julie Kirkbride, one of the biggest scandals in the expenses saga. The Conservatives have sent an Asian, muslim man to fight the seat. The local party is not happy, and the local people are not happy, but they will most likely vote Tory out of habit. Conservative Central office is hoping that this will count towards their ‘quota’ of ethnic minority MPs.
I am lucky in that both the Lib Dems and the Conservatives in my constituency have very, very good local candidates, who have strong roots in the community, and both of them have been very good MPs in the past (The Lib Dems lost the seat in 2005).
I think all MPs should be local, one of the advantages of the first past the post system is the local link between MP and constituency, and it’s a shame when the MP has no real link.
I was listening to a podcast from the Guardian yesterday, they went to Witney (Cameron’s constituency), and some of the locals feel that during the last floods, Cameron did not pay attention to his local constituents, he was more interested in taking a trip to Africa.
It’s a tough call with ethnic minority MPs. I totally disagree with forcing someone onto a constituency against the will of the local party. But, I also think we should remember that when the Tories don’t have candidates from minorities many in the opposition parties and media look for any opportunity to say ’same old tories’ and accuse them of racism.
I’m glad to hear you’ve got two very good candidates in your constituency. I was impressed with what you said earlier about the Conservative candidate visiting you after your email – it’s encouraging that he does that, lots of incumbents rest on their laurels but from what I’ve read about him he seems a good fellow. To have came out of expenses clean is a major achievment as most people in those circs, I believe, would have fiddled at least a little. (Cary Grant explains this theory wonderfully in ‘To Catch A Thief’)
You’re spot on about the link to the constituency being an advantage of first past the post. It should allow real representation, if it works properly; I hope the people here take the opportunity of having that.
I have thought about your point about Mr. Cameron’s trip to Africa, it coincides with my own anger when my MP is off being Foriegn Secretary. I don’t think we can say that PM or Foriegn Secretary are part time jobs so it’s inevitable that constituency doesn’t get full attention. I do like the American system where a person can prove their abilities in congress or the senate, representing an area, and then become part of government as a full time job. This allows someone else to take over local representation.
Karen could have had her pick of safe seats around the country – instead she insisted on fighting South Shields – she is passionate about her home town and really wants to represent it in Westminster.
Stephen Castle
Former president of the Conservative Party
Thank you for the comment, Stephen. It is greatly to her credit that she has done so and I really hope that the people in the party are taking note of her commitment and campaigning.