My tale of me - Chris Jenkinson

More authoritarian nonsense, this time giving the police the power to harass anyone they don’t like the look of, whether or not the police officer has a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed! If the person objects to being harassed, it’s a £5000 fine due to “obstructing” the police!

Has the government got any ideas about dealing with crime which actually address the problem, which is a lack of social cohesion between communities, a failing education system, and a discredited foreign policy? Whatever happened to tough on the causes of crime?

As it turns out there will be a Labour executive propped up by the Tories in Bristol - one of the suggestions I made previously. Labour and the Tories previously combined to oppose a minority Lib Dem administration continuing in office after we lost two seats. It’s interesting that this new coalition is entirely Labour (the article tallies up the number of councillors wrongly, I blame the Labour executive edit: it’s correct now), so I imagine the Labour group will have given some concessions to the Tories.

I think this is good for both the Lib Dems and the citizens of Bristol. Firstly, the new executive has the support of a majority of councillors so it cannot be sabotaged by the opposition doing political deals - if it fails it will be due the Tories and Labour failing to work together, and given the current direction both parties are going that should not be a problem. The Liberal Democrats will be able to offer constructive criticism and will be properly able to hold the executive to account.

We should take pride in how we’ve turned Bristol around this past few years - especially the dramatic improvement in school GCSE results and the huge increase in recycling rates. Though a Labour/Tory coalition may lead back to the years of neglect before the Lib Dems took power a few years ago, it will not be from a lack of scrutiny - we’ve set the bar high and the Labour/Tory coalition will be hard-pressed to continue at the high standards Bristol’s citizens now expect.

I fail to see why LDYS needs a policy committee. Its members are volunteers doing the job in their spare time, and they don’t receive any special training - in other words they are just regular party members with a fancy title.

When committees are created they disenfranchise normal members. They take the power of things away from the people and give them to a minority of interested people (who often have an agenda). It discourages people from getting involved - they are instead encouraged to rely on others to handle their issues for them. They might not formally do this, but it is a matter of perception. If a committee is formed to handle an issue, it gives the impression that only the committee members are the appropriate people to handle the issue. It means people avoid taking ownership of LDYS’s policy by delegating: “that’s up to the policy committee to do”.

Committees do have their uses. For a volunteer group, as LDYS’s policy committee is, those advantages do not exist. A policy committee does not determine the governance of the organisation, it doesn’t manage anything, and it doesn’t really coordinate anything. The only thing a policy committee should do is research issues and report on them - and as a volunteer group of five or so people our policy committee does not exactly have the resources to do such a thing. Ad hoc working groups with funds would be appropriate. A standing policy committee with no resources is a pointless exercise in bureaucracy.

If LDYS sees part of its role as ensuring that the Liberal Democrats include the wishes of young people in their manifesto, then it must have an open and effective way to do so. It should encourage all party members to write policies of their own andto discuss them amongst all party members. LDYS members come from all walks of life and encouraging them not just to come forward with their own policies but to debate and discuss other members’ policies will be far more beneficial to the organisation. Scrap the policy committee and get members taking ownership of their suggestions.

Brown’s the next Prime Minister then. Congratulations I suppose. What’s the point of Tony Blair hanging on for another 6 weeks then? Say what you like about there not being a general election when Thatcher was booted out, but at least the Tories had a contested leadership election back in 1990, albeit one by MPs only.

The Lib Dems have always ensured that our leader was democratically elected, with one person, one vote, since 1976. The Tories’ system of MPs choosing two candidates for the party membership to vote on, and Labour’s system of allowing people extra votes depending on how many trade unions they’ve joined (the more you pay, the more influence you’ve got!), are unfair systems and anti-democracy. If you think that society only works if each person is an equal stakeholder, then the Liberal Democrats are the party to support.

Thankfully John Reid’s going soon. He recently gave a keynote speech in Venice attempting to convince his equivalent colleagues across Europe to change individual human rights law into some kind of system where only the State has the right to exist, to protect itself against oppression, to a fair trial (or even a trial). Is he the most dangerous Home Secretary ever? Hat tip and interesting commentary from Tom.

Despite some rather optimistic press releases from the Bristol Lib Dems recently about our chances of taking control of the city, we lost two seats including the executive member for social services, and already the other Lib Dem councillors have forced out the council leader, Barbara Janke. Now we’re down to 31 seats out of 70, so it’s time for some self-reflection. Can we really hold on as a minority administration? I don’t think so, and nor should we (I think Norfolk Blogger agrees). While Labour and the Tories on Bristol City Council could team up and defeat us before the elections, they can do so more effectively now. Should we allow them to scupper our flagship policies, watering down motions and then forcing us to take the hit from how unpopular those are? If we continue running minority administrations we will continue to lose council seats each year until we aren’t in charge any more, and it will be a long time until the electorate trust us again - even though the failings of the council would be engineered by the opposition.

We’re in an uncomfortable place. The Tories and Labour will obviously prefer the status quo of a weakened Lib Dem administration for them to criticise for another year. The Lib Dem group should not let that happen by refusing to run a minority administration, instead going into coalition with either the Tories or Labour or letting the Tories and Labour run a coalition of their own. This would be much better for all parties and especially the residents. The Lib Dems will be the largest party on the council with the most influence, and will not have their policies destroyed by the combined Tory/Labour group and look bad because of it. Whichever group goes into coalition will be able to demonstrate what they will do with power in Bristol, and the third group will form the opposition which would actually start constructive criticism rather than dodgy dealings with the other opposition party to make the Lib Dems look bad.

Constructive criticism rather than politicking, and a stable leadership will serve the interests of Bristol’s citizens much better than a weak minority administration.

This year’s been a much better year for the Lib Dems in Manchester than 2006, with us holding all the seats where our councillors were up for re-election, and gaining one seat in Chorlton - congratulations Paul Ankers! Lev unfortunately did not get elected in Northenden despite being a wonderful person (with the best campaign slogan). Over in Stockport, where I work, we gained one seat, consolidating our majority there. Chris Walker, another great guy, also narrowly failed to take Brinnington off Labour.

Things did not go well for the Tories as usual in Manchester with them failing to win any council seats, and ended up in third place in the City Centre behind the Lib Dems and Labour. The so-called Tory resurgence is clearly not occurring in Manchester. The Greens also failed to improve their number of councillors in Manchester, remaining to be seen as a protest vote by much of the electorate. The BNP did well in Higher Blackley coming a clear second (but still no where near winning). Respect also remained a protest vote for residents of Rusholme. I’m slightly concerned about the low turnout - down to 16% in places like the city centre. Why aren’t people voting?

Back home in Bristol things weren’t so happy with the Lib Dems losing two councillors to Labour, including one executive member’s ward, leaving the Lib Dems as the largest party but with even less of a lead. The Tories failed to make any gains in Bristol.

Apart from hearing the results from Scotland and Wales, I’m looking forward to seeing how Kate Little and Owen Griffiths do in Fylde and Bradford respectively. They’re both paper candidates, but you never know….

Congratulations to all Lib Dems elected and commiserations for those who lost their seats and who narrowly lost out on winning.