Monday 23 April 2012

Me Mouthpiece? Really?

Over the weekend I published this about Asbestosis, Mesothelioma and the Legal aid bill. It is good to see local politicians/commentators uniting for the greater good of their constituents and agreeing on this as Tracey Crouch (Con) and Cllr Osborne (Lab) have. This is too serious issue within the Medway towns to become a party political point scoring exercises.

I truly believe the Government was wrong to vote the way it did and I fully stand by my closing statement in the piece;

We, as a nation, talk a lot about looking after our servicemen and women post war and the Veterans of the Second World War who fought for this country but those who worked for the Dockyards in a civilian capacity also did very essential war and military work. How can we let them down and leave their families without monetary compensation?

As someone whose family have worked in the Docks and as someone who may have been exposed (I'm assured we were all perfectly safe but you know...) I think that legal aid should be made available for the families of sufferers.

I agree, also that it is sad that some of our MPs (By our I mean Libdems as well as Mark Reckless (who voted yes) and Rehman Chishti (absent) ) voted with the Government. I think they were wrong.

Sadly though National parties do not always vote the way local parties or indeed members would want. I'm sure Local Conservatives, Labour, Libdem members alike agreed with Tracey's stance and the Medway Messenger's campaign and are equally disappointed. This was a local issue that, like so many, has been glossed over by national politicians. I'm sure that the local parties do support Tracey's argument but Nationally the Libdems and Conservatives didn't.

I truly feel people have been let down. Nor will I pretend that the Party voted a way it didn't.

My main point is, and I'm sure I've said this before - I don't speak for the Medway Libdems, I speak for me.

Yes I do write articles on how we do things, what we are standing for but I also write for me. (For the official line you'll be able to check out our shiny new website which should be coming soon!) I'm sure the Liberal Democrat Party has no stance on the U-boat on the Medway, Shark attacks in the Pacific, Caroline Bell's new job or indeed the anniversary of my Grandfathers passing nor is the Medway Libdem party as supportive of Tracey Crouch as I am.

 So although I am honoured that I'm thought of as the mouth piece of the Medway Libdems I am afraid that as my bio (The bit under my pic) says;
Lib-dem party member and liberal theorist. Married with a daughter and live in Medway.I write about Liberal Democrats in National government and Local areas. I also write about anything that I find interesting, including law, Opposition parties, Sharks. My views are not necessarily that of the party but are my own.

I would suggest that if anyone wants to find out the Local Libdem party stance on anything please ask them or await the website. I'll even announce the arrival of it!

1 comment:

  1. Chris, I teach health and safety in Construction and one thing that worries me is the lack of knowledge on asbestos.

    Medway has the highest rate of mesothelioma in the country and it is due to the docks.

    Funding should be available for families that have been effected by it and there should be more support in Medway.

    A fact that annoys me is that the ancient greeks knew about the hazards of asbestos and it only took us 4000 years to take any action

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