Dirty tricks

The old parties in Hartlepool are getting more and more frantic in their attempts to hang onto power and the tricks are getting dirtier and dirtier!

The Labour Party have become desperate enough to chose as their as candidate someone from the other side of town who just happens to be called “John Marshall” This is not the same John Marshall who is already an Independent St.Hilda Councillor. The real John Marshall is not due for re-election for another two years.

Independent Candidates are becoming more popular but the Independent in St.Hilda Ward is an open supporter of the Labour Party. St.Hilda voters got rid of him four ago after he went on a Councillor’s freebie trip to the USA just a few weeks before seeking re-election. Since then he has tried twice, unsuccessfully, to get the seat back.

As a Councillor I have never shirked from speaking out and I have never taken the path that was popular rather than the path I thought was right. The Mayor, Labour, Conservative and Lib Dems cannot stand me because I will not be silenced and keep asking questions the political class and senior council officers do not want to have to answer.

The only way to guarantee having a Councillor who is not just a Lib/Lab/Con or an Independent under possible false colours is to vote UKIP!

Councillors should make a decision based on conscience, principles and beliefs. In actual fact most are just told by their party how to vote and discipline is enforced by the “Party Whip"

UKIP does NOT have a whip AND has a policy of NEVER having a whip. True independents don't have a whip but the Lib/Lab/Con Party is not above using false independents as Trojan Horses to fool the voters and capture seats that they can't win under their own party colours.


The last time I was elected I promised three things;

to work hard on behalf of the ward and its residents;

keep residents and businesses informed about what was going on in the Civic Centre; and

listen to the views of residents and businesses.

I have kept all three of these promises!

I have worked hard for the residents of St.Hilda Ward. My opponents have critisied my attendance at meetings but I have always said it is not how many meetings you go to that count, it is what you do when you are there that matters. A Lib/Lab/Con Whipped Councillor might attend 100’s of meetings but all they do is vote with the party whip. They are not there representing the people who elected them! They are there to work for their party first, second and third.

I have published regular newsletters and residents surveys. These are printed and distributed at my cost. I have not had any money from the Council to pay for these newsletters or surveys. How many other Candidates have been willing to spend their own money outside election time to keep you informed and ask for your opinions?

I write regularly in the Hartlepool Mail; publish a blog about Council matters; and recently I have started to “Twitter” How many of the other candidates even try to communicate with anyone on anything like a regular basis?