Gareth Lyon: To say Labour has failed to deliver in Rushmoor is a colossal understatement

Cllr Gareth Lyon is the Leader of the Conservative Group on Rushmoor Borough Council.

We live in an age of party political loathing, of increasing public contempt towards politicians, and of genuine anger at the inability or unwillingness of parties to show leadership and take the tough decisions needed to get Britain working again. It is therefore understandable that many have responded to this by adopting increasingly aggressive and partisan rhetoric, revelling in the unpopularity of their opponents and seeking to boost their own popularity by polarising debate even further. But by doing so, they forget the truth that people expect their politicians to be able to get things done. With the prospect of five or six national parties being a serious factor in national politics, that means at times being able to work constructively and professionally with people with whom we disagree.

There is a belief I encounter amongst many people across the political spectrum that it is only possible to work with your friends or people with whom you have most things in common. Thus, when different parties support the same or similar policies, they are depicted as being in cahoots or part of some kind of cosy consensus.

This bizarre outlook is particularly surprising as, regardless of your line of work, almost everyone will have to work together with, negotiate deals with, or at least function professionally with, people with whom they disagree on many things. It is surely part of being an aware, functioning, and professional adult to be able to focus on areas where progress can be made on behalf of our employers or bosses.

For us in politics, that means the electorate.

In fact, I’d argue that the clearer and more consistent we are on our principles and values, the easier it is to do business with one another. This consistency and authenticity makes us easier for our thinking opponents to understand and predict, it makes it easier to map out where progress can be made and deals struck, and it certainly makes us easier for other parties and the electorate to relate to, rather than the oleaginous, game-playing, superficial and vacuous alternatives.

We are seeing this playing out in Rushmoor.

Last year Labour took overall control of the council with 21 out of 39 seats, with a campaign run out of Labour HQ and accordingly, with messages and promises which bear a strong similarity to their national ones. To say that they have failed to deliver is a colossal understatement. Just as much locally as nationally they are being found out. Their promises were empty, contradictory and unachievable. Their leadership, vision and principles seemingly non-existent and their approach to communication has been to seek to silence debate, shout down public concerns, and intimidate residents seeking transparency and democratic engagement.

Some of the more capable Labour councillors recognised early on that their position was completely untenable and have been working with us on Council committees and panels over the past 16 months to make improvements to council policies, to highlight weaknesses, and to do our best to keep the council functioning.

We have also found ways of working effectively with the Liberal Democrat group to highlight problems with Labour’s local government reorganisation and treatment of small businesses as well as the need for more genuine community engagement around community tensions – when Labour’s instinctive reaction had been to ignore concerns and to stick to the Government line. Across the board we have had some success with our attempts to nudge the council into more reasonable positions.

In our conversations with Reform, who have no local councillors, we have heard that they too support the efforts we are making on local residents’ behalf on these issues.

Locally, as nationally, Labour’s leadership has swayed with the wind, constantly forced to play catch-up with public opinion which they neither listen to nor understand.

This has recently become apparent to a large chunk of the Labour council group – and we have seen recent resignations from the Labour group, of five of their councillors – wiping out their majority and leaving the council in no overall control.

This presents huge opportunities for Rushmoor residents for potential improvements in local policies and decision-making. Labour will no longer be able to ram badly-thought-out and damaging plans through committees and full council; indeed we may now be able to force genuine debate, engagement and improvements for local residents – as well as more democratic and community engagement.

We do, of course, have many important differences from the other groups at Rushmoor but we are already having productive conversations about where these opportunities lie – even some of Labour’s own backbenchers can see our case in some areas and are quietly working with us on certain issues.

These kind of mature, professional and focussed conversations are inevitably the best way for us to get better outcomes for our residents and are in complete contrast to the easier but ultimately pointless shouting and posturing which we see so much of in the media.

What makes us an easier partner for these others to work with is our strong and clear policy principles – at the heart of everything local Conservatives are doing is a desire to improve local services, deliver value for money by reducing the cost of Government, free our town centres and local businesses to thrive, and to make Rushmoor a safer, cleaner and more prosperous borough. They know that we are not afraid to work with anyone to achieve these outcomes for our residents.

Rushmoor’s results last year very much reflected national trends, and the political situation here certainly reflects the implosion we’re seeing from Labour nationally. It is also likely that after the next General Election, Parliament could be in a similar situation with no overall control and clear need to work with other parties to get things done.

We must all remember that doing so is not to abandon our principles, but rather that strong clear principles are the best possible foundation on which to serve our residents and to get things done.