Councillor Sean Fielding, Leader and Cabinet Member for Economy and Enterprise, Oldham Council

12 December 2019

Dear Councillor Fielding,

Impact of the General Election in Oldham Borough

In response to your recent letter about the General Election and how it will affect Oldham, I am glad that you recognise the Liberal Democrats as an influential player in the local debate.

Whilst you may congratulate Labour’s work on Oldham Council, studies such as the indices of deprivation indicate a slide backwards for the local area.

Fiscal Studies conducted in the lead up to this winter election show that it is the Liberal Democrats and not the Labour Party who are the party of business.  It is clear, the Liberal Democrats have the most financial responsibility and best costed manifesto.

Labour’s manifesto is built on a debt culture.  Spend, spend, spend with no responsibility and scant regard to those who will inherit the dreadful finances. 

Rather than reform and change of the system, Labour are throwing money at the problem.  Bribing voters with billions will only bring further problems down the line for our communities.

Labour’s plan might be described as ambitious but very risky.  A promise to raise investment by £55 billion a year in the public sector is false, the public sector does not have the capacity to develop so fast.  Your heart is in the right place, but the brain is not.  Doctors, nurses, police officers, social workers, teachers and alike cannot just be recruited at the drop of a hat.

It is more likely that a Labour Government would have to find other tax increases on normal folk than just on big business and the rich as your manifesto inclines.  Labour will need to find an extra £83 billion a year but are not telling people in the street about these impending tax burdens.

Rather more sensibly, Liberal Democrat proposals to put a penny on income tax would be simple, progressive and would raise a secure level of revenue that matches what we are promising in our manifesto.

People are searching for stability and certainty in this election.

I am happy you mention Oldham’s Greenbelt.

I find it interesting that you would blame an opposition party for what Labour in Manchester have been developing for years in their grand spatial framework.

Need I remind you that Oldham Labour is building on protected land already!

We have seen mass protests and community campaigns to object against Oldham Labour’s planning shambles and this will not be the end of this.

Furthermore, successive Labour and Conservative governments have been in charge over the last hundred years in the United Kingdom.  For so long now that the two are synonymous and the support for other parties is now on the rise, the Liberal Democrats are on the rise too. 

Liberal Democrat plans to improve education and early years support will go a long way in increasing the individual’s life chances in this uncertain world we live in.

Labour and the Conservatives want to perpetuate the two-party state indefinitely by not backing electoral reform.  Fortunately, people are wising up to this and a lack of change and investment in these former Labour and Conservative areas is changing the political landscape.

To provide people with real change and a brighter future the Liberal Democrats are investing in the north of England.  The party will provide home rule to England’s regions who feel they lack true representation in Government. The Liberal Democrats will break decades of silence on key local issues and overruling by the main parties and central government.

I fear we will wake up to a Conservative majority Government on Friday the 13th – and that will be the start of a five-year nightmare for most of Oldham’s residents.

Your party will have helped in that by again failing to offer an electable alternative that majority of the British public could vote for!

Labour appear more interested in attacking other progressive party’s in this election, like the Liberal Democrats, who are clear and honest and could stop Boris Johnson and his Conservative majority nightmare.

I hope I am wrong, however, if what I say comes true you your party will be to blame and you need to hang your heads in shame.

Best wishes – Howard Sykes