Shane to run for MP...

[The Great Dictator]

They promised much and delivered nothing, all wind and bluster..

[Inspector Knacker]

You have to face the fact that Drummond was the shining example of  derailing Labour . However, they didn't vote for Drummond, they voted for H'angus, indicating that the electorate where clearly rubbishing the establishment, as if to say none of the above thank you and from the reaction of all the politicians, it was obvious they were fuming.
Now I'm not suggesting we put a monkey up, but a strong character who appeals to the electorate and shares their ambitions as opposed to some party lapdog.....voters only resort to established parties when there's no outstanding candidate. We need a political streetfighter who is on the elecorates level and puts a smile on their face, we need a champion we want to win.

[Ryehill]

                The costs incurred in running for Parliament at a G.E. are capped to , I think, no more than £10K . In a parliamentary by-election candidates are allowed to spend upto £100k. From the point of view of cost having an Independent candidate becomes feasible. At the last G.E. votes for non-Labour Party candidates were much greater than those for Iain Wright This town is not the Labour stronghold it was 20 years ago.

[steveL]

I struggle to get excited about who our MP is. In terms of effectiveness, 1 MP amongst 630 won't get us very far and we've surely learned from experience that it doesn't really matter who our MP is, nothing much changes for the better.

Hartlepool has had a Labour MP for all but one of the last 50 years since the last shipyard closed and if Labour had really wanted to do something about the long-term employment and economic problems of Hartlepool they would have done so by now.

Ironically, the only significant change in Hartlepool in all of those years, the Marina Development, came about as the result of a Tory initiative. Even then, it was cocked up by Labour once its control had been handed over to the local council.

Even so, I don't really see the election of a Tory MP or of some other description helping much other than the general thought that the town would be better off if it was viewed as a marginal rather than a Labour certainty.

We'd do better under the Tories if they followed their natural instincts and put the North East under 'overseas development'.

[DRiddle]

I agree with a lot of that Steve. The real battle in Hartlepool should be to get a grip on the council. If the MRA/WCNE thing is anything to go by, there must be a hell of a lot more wastage that the general public aren't aware of.

All the moaning about the cuts and such like, is being used to hide the fact that our council is sitting on reserves in excess of £31 million, other assets worth millions, and the key decisions are being made by the wrong people for the wrong reasons.

I actually find the whole 'local council thing' very bizarre. There aren't many situations in the real world where people with no experience whatsoever in business, who may not have even had a job of any significance before, are suddenly put in charge of tens of millions of pounds.

Personally, I'd rather see all 30 odd of them replaced by 3 or 4 people with a proven track record in business and/or meaningful public sector services. Pay the 3 or 4 of them £70,000 each and in a heart beat you're saying about £250,000 which is currently being split between 30 odd people, most of whom don't speak.

However, as the council in its current form is the system we have, all that can be done is to pick off the bad apples one by one. 

[The Great Dictator]

That means its a quango Dave, jobs for the elite or 4 Drummonds 

[DRiddle]

I don't see it like that. But anyway, it's not changing so I guess it's irrelevant.