Totnes Labour on Wollaston quitting Tory party
The following is a statement from Totnes and South Devon Labour Party responding to Dr S Wollaston’s recent action and commentary (emphasis added by Totnes Pulse).
“Totnes and South Devon Labour Party welcomes Sarah Wollaston’s resignation from the Conservative Party.
We agree with Sarah Wollaston that the Conservatives and their policies have been disastrous for her constituents. After ten years of cuts, we have lost hospitals, school services, and Childrens Centres. Conservative economic policies have made London and the financial sector richer, while people who work in healthcare, education, farming and manufacturing have lost out. Her government has completely failed to address the great inequalities of our society, and the introduction of Universal Credit has pushed many people in our communities into desperation and even homelessness.
We agree that Theresa May has bungled Brexit and taken the country close to disaster with her stubborn insistence on red lines, and her failure to create a cooperative solution.
However, Sarah Wollaston voted for every one of the policies that have punished the poorest in our constituency, and which led to the disaster of Theresa May’s Brexit. While everyone is entitled to change their minds – as she did during the EU referendum campaign – we feel that our MP owes it to her constituents to acknowledge the damage that has been done. The best way she can do this is to explain what policies she now stands for, and to put them to the people in a by-election. People would then have the opportunity to choose between her new ideas, or a Labour Party candidate who can offer a real alternative, and an unshakeable commitment to addressing the needs of the many not the few.
We also regret that Sarah Wollaston’s letter of resignation, rather than acknowledge the abuse she has received from within her own party, or the horrendous levels of abuse all women MPs are currently experiencing, chose to accuse the Labour Party of ‘failing to root out anti-semitism’. The Labour Party is taking strong measures to address anti-semitism to ensure that it will not be tolerated wherever it is found. Locally we have been active too in ensuring that our members are well-informed and can work together to challenge such prejudice and discrimination. The Tory party has failed to even begin to address these issues within its own ranks.
We campaign against racism and discrimination in all its forms, and take it very seriously within our party. The Conservatives, however, were happy to restore the whip to our neighbouring MP Anne Marie Morris after she made openly racist remarks.
We look forward to contesting the Totnes and South Devon seat with Sarah at the earliest opportunity and putting our alternative to the many in our constituency who have had enough of Conservative politics.
Totnes and South Devon Constituency Labour Party
Follow us on twitter: @Labour4Totnes or on the web: https://totnes.laboursites.org”
Statement ends.
Wow, it is shocking to read Sarah Wollaston’s voting record.
For an MP who gives the impression of having integrity and compassion in her local constituency, her votes in parliament are not in keeping with this and show disregard for ordinary people in her constituency and for the environment.
This is a selection of Sarah Wollaston’s votes.
Generally voted against measures to prevent climate change
Generally voted against financial incentives for low carbon emission electricity generation methods
Almost always voted for culling badgers to tackle bovine tuberculosis
Voted against greater regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract shale gas
Voted for raising England’s undergraduate tuition fee cap to £9,000 per year
Consistently voted against raising welfare benefits at least in line with prices
Consistently voted for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits
Consistently voted against paying higher benefits over longer periods for those unable to work due to illness or disability
Consistently voted against increasing the tax rate applied to income over £150,000
Almost always voted against a banker’s bonus tax
Almost always voted for reducing the rate of corporation tax
Consistently voted against an annual tax on the value of expensive homes (popularly known as a mansion tax)
Consistently voted against restrictions on fees charged to tenants by letting agents
Consistently voted for phasing out secure tenancies for life
Voted against largely retaining the EU “Charter of Fundamental Rights”
as part of UK law following the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union
Almost always voted for more restrictive regulation of trade union activity
Almost always voted for restricting the scope of legal aid
Generally voted against a more proportional system for electing MPs
I was absolutely shocked to read how Sarah Wollaston voted repeatedly out of sink with her constituents, against measures to address climate change and for measures which created greater hardship for ordrinary people whilst protecting the wealthy sector from taxes.
It really serves us to watch how our MPs vote and what they do, rather than rely on what they say or how they present themselves.
That is the only reliable way to know who you are putting into government.
I completely agree! Other than on the issue of Brexit Sarah Wollaston has always voted with the Conservatives supporting their deeply harmful, punitive austerity policies. I am very concerned to hear that the”independent” group she has joined have collectively agreed not to support a vote of no confidence in Theresa May. Where is the independence in that! Voting for a vote of no confidence would likely trigger a general election. This new group don’t want that because most of them, including Sarah Wollaston were facing de-selection!
If she has any integrity, she should stand in a by-election making clear her values and let Totnes constituents decide!
Ok she resigned from the Tory Party. Why did she need to even mention Labour at all. What she did was between the party she belonged to and her leaving. The sideswipe even mentioning Labour smelt of the Tory dirty tricks. her voting record spoke volumes about her and there should be a By election. Clearly stating what she intends to do about UC and about the poorer in our society. Until she does she will be a Tory and labelled as such.