Bad news for Liberal Democrats as one of thier most prominent councillors in Wales has defected to Labour.
Mike Priestley, a Cabinet member on Conwy council, which is a coalition of Independents Labour Plaid amd the Liberal Democrats said in a letter to residents that he had been “struggling personally” with the Liberal Democrats nationally since they went into coalition with the Conservatives four years ago, finding himself becoming more distant from their policies.
He said:
“I am a former trade union branch chairman and I feel like I am coming back to my roots.
“As both a councillor and a Cabinet member, I have had the privilege of working alongside the First Minister Carwyn Jones. Under his leadership, Labour in Wales is delivering real help for Conwy. Working alongside Ed Miliband as Prime Minister in 2015 there is real hope for the future.”
First Minister Carwyn Jones said:
“It is a pleasure to welcome Mike to Welsh Labour. We know he is someone who cares deeply about his local area and he is an important addition to our Labour group in Conwy and the party more generally. Many people, like Mike, who thought the Lib Dems stood for their interests have been badly let down by the party’s leadership and we are seeing more and more people coming back to Labour.”
A spokesman for the Welsh Liberal Democrats said:
“It’s particularly disappointing Coun Priestley has joined a party that has inflicted such chaos on our health service in North Wales. As a party, we have a proud record of delivery for the people of Conwy. Because of us, schools in Conwy have received millions of pounds of extra funding.”
This leads the Liberal Democrats with just four seats on Conwy council where they were once prominent .
I suppose the remaining four Liberal Democrats can claim that Councillor Priestly now resigns his Cabinet seat as Member for Highways, Environment and Sustainability as they now have none in a position of power within the ruling gtoup.
Is it worth their while being members of a coalition in which they have no reall say or maybe its time to sit with the Conservative group in opposition?
5 comments:
Strange how he waited for LibDem electoral collapse if his conscience had been paining him so much.
I'm a Labour voter and I live in Mike Priestley's ward. I'm delighted that Mikle has joined the Labour Party. I've doubt he will be a conscientious Labour councillor, now one of eleven on the council.
What a complete and utter scumbag, he truly does deserve to be a member of nu-Labour. Slagging off the coalition with one face and then bigging up Ed Milliband's one nation Labour party (who have not opposed any of the coalitions major cuts and have actually promised to make even more cuts than the Tories have) with his other face.
And as anon 18:22 points out, he's waited for Lib Dem collapse to jump on board with the donkey vote of Bill Chapman and chums.
Oh, we're donkeys, are we? I don't, by the way, accept the suggestion that it is wrong to follow your conscience and switch to a different party. Why does Welsh not British not establish a party to promote his views - whatever they might be? Why does he not go around listening to people and talking to them? This is what Welsh Labour members are doing - in both languages. Why does he not sit for hours with others, putting together policy documents, which is what members of Welsh Labour are doing at the moment in advance of the Welsh Assembly elections?
I think the clue is in his name. It's too easy to be 'not' for something, defining yourself by what you are not. He could be Welsh Labour, Welsh socialist, Welsh co-operative, Welsh Liberal Democrat, and so on. But he stresses his Britishness by that 'not' - the Welsh Not.
Mike Priestley will continue to serve his electors well. Perhaps Welsh not British would like to reflect on the matter of service to his community - or is even thinking about serving others too hard for him?
You are donkeys if you genuinely believe there is such a thing as a 'Welsh Labour'. There is only British Labour and they have branches in Wales where people like yourself pretend they want to make a difference for Wales only to see your own MPs vote no when it comes to giving Wales any say over its own resources. And then for your own AMs to timidly accept the colonial exploitation of Wales (even Carwyn has admitted to this) without kicking up a fuss.
There could be a Welsh Labour, but it would take Labour in Wales to split from it's British masters in order for it to happen. Incidentally today is the anniversary Bevan's death. He would not recognise the vermin that run his party these days.
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