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Time for the Ribble Valley to get the gravy?
FOR weeks, I have been obsessed about the county council elections on June 4th, but today, I turn to the European Parliament elections.
Like most English people, I am a democrat and feel uncomfortable about the European Union.
If our own Parliament wants to reintroduce hanging for mass murder, I do not think it is any business of Estonia to interfere.
If we want to nationalise the banks, it is not for the French to control the process. The Germans have no business telling us whether or not we should import lamb from New Zealand and it is nothing to do with the Hungarians whether we should privatise the Post Office. Neither is there any reason why Italians should decide how many hours we are allowed to work.
There are four political parties which are wholly committed to foreign interference in these areas and I therefore cannot vote for any of them. They are the Conservatives, the Liberals, Labour and the Greens.
If I just wanted to make a protest about this, there are quite a number of oddball parties for which I could vote. There will be the Christian Party Proclaiming Christ's Lordship and the Socialist Labour Party. Or I could vote for the Jury Team or the English Democrats. Unfortunately, the Monster Raving Loony Party is not standing, but the British National Party, Libertas and No2EU would fill that gap.
But I do not want to make a protest. In my own boring and rather old fashioned way, I just want us to be able to trade freely with the EU while running our own affairs. It is not much to ask and, as there is a boring and old fashioned party which stands for exactly that, I will be voting for it. It is the United Kingdom Independence Party. I hope I am not alone in supporting it.
Funnily enough, in the county council elections, I will be voting Conservative, but only because I have such a low opinion of politicians. For the past 28 years, Labour has run the county council and, so far as possible, it has spent its 700m. a year in towns and villages that vote Labour. It is terribly unfair, and I think the Conservatives are just as bad.
With only a 4% swing, the county council will go Conservative this time and, if we have a Conservative councillor in Clitheroe, we are likely to get the next new school or old people's day centre. This will not only benefit our children and old people, it will also be a boon to Clitheroe people who work in the construction industry and are on very hard times.
About three quarters of our council tax is spent by the county council and, under Labour, Clitheroe – with its Liberal councillor – got hardly any of it back.
When the county council goes Conservative, next week, we have to decide whether we are going to be on the winning side and get the gravy.
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Weather for Clitheroe
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: West
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Cloudy
Temperature: -2 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
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