Two days ago, I received a letter from a local resident whom I have known for nearly twenty years. She supports the Greens here in Shipley, and votes Conservative in the general elections. She is a wonderful member of our community.
She wrote to me on this occasion, however, to complain about the decision of the Green Party in Shipley to support Sophie Walker of the Women's Equality Party against Philip Davies in the upcoming election on 8th June.
I thought it might be of interest for me to share my response, simply to lay to rest any puzzlement that other residents here in Shipley may have about our decision to back Sophie.
In the meantime, I very much hope that local Labour and Lib Dem activists will also take this opportunity to stand aside, back Sophie and campaign for a progressive MP for Shipley.
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My reply reads as follows.
Dear X,
Green Party support for Sophie
Walker in the general election in Shipley
Thank you very much for your
letter regarding your support for Philip Davies in the upcoming general
election. Thank you as well for your very positive feedback about the work that
we do locally as Green councillors.
I am writing, of course, to
explain our decision to support Sophie Walker of the Women’s Equality Party.
As you rightly say, Philip has
worked hard for Shipley since he was elected in 2005. He is very responsive to
resident concerns and has supported the local councillors on a number of issues
over the years. We have a good working relationship with him and I have nothing
against him personally.
I also readily acknowledge the
fact that, on some national issues, he has done well. I am thinking, for
example, of his brave opposition to the tripling of university tuition fees in
2010 and his steadfast refusal to support the ruinously expensive and
unnecessary High Speed 2 rail project.
Unfortunately, from my political perspective,
Philip sits in the House of Commons as a Conservative MP. I therefore disagree
profoundly with the way he votes on my behalf in that chamber on a very wide
range of issues. I outline why in detail below. This is why I stood against him
as the Green Party candidate in 2010 and 2015, and why Bradford District Green
Party is supporting Sophie Walker’s Women’s Equality Party candidacy against Philip
in this general election. In addition, I should stress, Sophie is a very
impressive individual who would do a fantastic job representing the people of
Shipley in Parliament and, of course, her party shares the same broadly
progressive agenda that the Green Party stands for.
Our decision here in Shipley to
back Sophie Walker is, fundamentally, a matter of electoral arithmetic. If the
Green Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats ALL field candidates
against Philip in this election, the progressive vote will split and the
Conservatives will win. Even if the Labour Party ALONE runs against Philip,
with the backing of the others and without Sophie in the field, Philip will
win. Labour cannot provide the kind of broad cross-party progressive platform
that will bring enough Shipley residents on board to win the day on the 8th
of June. Quite simply, the only possible way to win Shipley back for the progressive
politics that I believe in is for everyone to unite behind Sophie and her
campaign. That is why I will be voting for her and why the local Green Party is
not fielding a candidate on this occasion.
As I mentioned above, I have
profound concerns about the way in which Philip uses his position as my MP to
back policies I disagree with. In this regard, of course, and despite his track
record as a serial ‘rebel’, Philip has on the whole backed Tory policies which
I regard as a disaster for the country. These policies have also undermined the
quality of life of many Shipley residents.
Philip and his fellow Tory MPs have voted repeatedly
for cuts in government spending and investment that have undermined the quality
of life for Shipley residents. He has supported budgets that have cut hundreds
of millions of pounds from Bradford Council’s services since 2011. These
excessive cuts in government spending, for which Philip has voted, have also
undermined frontline policing in Shipley and local crime is currently
increasing partly as a result.
Philip has repeatedly voted for cuts in welfare
support for the poor and vulnerable, including many of the people he represents
in Shipley - he has voted at least 49 times to cut welfare spending in the
Commons. Here are some examples. He voted to abolish the Education Maintenance
Allowance in 2011 – you will be aware that the EMA had encouraged many Shipley
young people to stay in post-16 education. He supported the introduction of the
bedroom tax in 2011.
He voted against excluding child benefit from the welfare cap in 2012.
He voted to cut local support for people in financial need who struggle to pay
their Council tax in 2012.
He has repeatedly opposed increases in welfare payments that would have kept them
in line with the rise in prices.
I disagree with him on all these decisions.
Philip has voted in defence of private health care and
in favour of the marketisation, fragmentation and creeping privatisation of the
NHS since 2011. He supported the coalition’s top-down NHS reforms in 2012.
I would strongly prefer our health care system to be properly managed by the
government and fully funded.
Philip has repeatedly voted in support of measures to
give schools greater autonomy from local authority control, including the
establishment of Free Schools, and has even voted against requiring teachers to
be either qualified or working towards a teaching qualification.
As a teacher and parent of school-age children myself, I am horrified at the
way in which our education system is becoming even more fragmented and am
concerned as well at the funding squeeze that is eroding the quality of our education
provision.
Philip has repeatedly opposed the imposition of higher
taxes on the wealthy. Indeed, in 2012, he supported the reduction in the top
rate of income tax from 50% to 45% on incomes over £150,000.
He has repeatedly voted against proposals for an additional tax on bankers’
bonuses.
He has repeatedly voted against proposals for a ‘mansion tax’.
He has repeatedly voted in support of cuts in corporation tax.
I believe that the better off should pay their fair share in tax to provide all
of us with the high quality public services that we expect for ourselves, our
parents and our children, and I want to live in a more equal society – more
equal in terms of outcomes as well as opportunity.
Philip has campaigned against increases in fuel duty.
He therefore shares responsibility, along with his Tory colleagues, for the worsening
air pollution produced by our over-reliance on car use. As a result, Shipley
residents are suffering the health consequences of illegal levels of air
pollution across parts of the constituency.
Philip voted against the smoking ban in 2006 despite
the huge health benefits that this has delivered for Shipley residents in the
decade since this ban was introduced. Since then, he has repeatedly tried to
block further measures intended to protect people from the harmful exposure to
tobacco smoke. My view is that
government action in this area of policy has led to healthier lives and has
been entirely reasonable and justified.
Philip has campaigned for a more flexible minimum
wage, to allow employers to pay people with disabilities less – including, by
definition, disabled residents of Shipley. He has done so despite of the fact
that this would create a situation where some employers will pressurise
potential (or existing) employees into accepting a contract that pays them
below minimum wage.
I worry about any watering down in employment protection for our more
vulnerable citizens.
Philip has, of course, always been one of the leading
Tory backbenchers who eventually forced David Cameron to promise an EU
referendum in January 2013 in order to hold the Conservative Party together. He
subsequently campaigned hard for a LEAVE vote in 2016. In doing so, he has
ignored the views of thousands of Shipley residents who support EU membership, including
myself, and continues to deny the mounting evidence that Brexit will damage the
UK economy and undermine our social and environmental protections. My view is
that the decision to leave the EU is the worst public policy decision made by
any government in my lifetime. My only consolation is that I hold an Irish passport
and have recently acquired Irish citizenship for my children, thereby ensuring
that all of us will continue to have access to the many advantages of EU
citizenship.
Philip was one of only five MPs who voted against the
Climate Change Act in 2008, and has consistently spoken out and voted against the
need for ambitious government action that would enable us to make the
transition to a low carbon economy.
He has therefore undermined the long-term environmental security of Shipley
residents. He also voted in favour of the forest sell-off in 2011 that was
later abandoned by the Conservatives in the face of a huge public outcry.
He also voted in favour of the badger cull in 2013 (although he subsequently changed
his mind in 2014 for some reason).
Philip has consistently supported the renewal of the
UK strategic nuclear deterrent and voted repeatedly for this in the House of
Commons. He has done so despite
the fact that most countries do not regard nuclear weapons as necessary for
their security (France is the only other EU member state with a nuclear
arsenal) and despite the huge cost of these weapons of mass destruction (it is
anticipated that renewing Trident will cost the UK at least £100 billion over
the next 30+ years).
Philip supports the restoration of the death penalty
in the UK. In my view, judicial killing of this sort is barbaric, unnecessary
and therefore immoral, and I find it hard to understand why any Shipley
resident shares Philip’s view. Reintroducing the death penalty would also necessitate
the UK withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights and the Council
of Europe, something else that would be a huge step backwards for our country.
Indeed, Philip has campaigned and voted for the repeal of the 1998 Human Rights
Act and supports its replacement with a so-called ‘British bill of rights. This
would undermine existing human rights protections for Shipley residents and I
profoundly disagree with Philip on this issue.
Philip was one of many Conservatives (a majority of
Conservative MPs, astonishingly) who tried in vain to block same sex marriage in
2013. Apparently he did so on the ludicrous basis that he was “in favour of
equality”. Fortunately, the UK has
moved on and Shipley’s gay residents are now able to marry in spite of Philip’s
views on this matter.
As you probably know, Philip has repeatedly
filibustered private member bills in order to block their progress in the
Commons. These include: protection against eviction for tenants requesting that
their landlord carry out property repairs; reducing UK international aid;
tighter regulation of payday lenders and reducing hospital parking charges.
Most recently, in December 2016, he tried in vain to block a bill proposing
better protection for women against domestic violence.
I wish he would spend his valuable time presenting his own legislation rather
than blocking decent bills brought to the Commons by other MPs.
Philip is, of course, notorious for his impatience
with ‘political correctness’. For example, he spoke at the August 2016 International
Conference on Men’s Issues, organised by the Justice for Men and Boys Party.
His comments there revealed his deeply dismissive approach towards making
further progress on women’s equality.
Another illustration of this is his criticism of the Women and Equalities Select
Committee, on which he serves in the Commons.
Why he wastes his time in this way is simply beyond me, considering the huge
range of economic and environmental challenges facing the country that he ought
to be concentrating on instead.
In addition to supporting cuts in fuel duty, despite
the pressing need to cut road congestion and traffic pollution, Philip has
opposed nationalisation of the UK rail network.
He has also voted in favour of higher rail fares.
He voted against allowing Councils greater control over local bus services.
In contrast, I want an MP who will work to deliver a high quality, publicly-run
rail network and decent, well-funded and managed bus networks that meet our
increasing need for low carbon and affordable travel.
Finally, Philip
has repeatedly opposed the kind of progressive constitutional reforms that I
would like to see in this country. He has voted against electoral reform for
the House of Commons; voted against an all-elected House of Lords or even the
abolition of the remaining hereditary peers; voted against devolving more
powers to Scotland and Wales or to local councils; and voted against lowering
the voting age to 16.
Bearing all of the above in mind, I hope that you will
understand why I cannot support Philip in this election and why I will be campaigning
instead for Sophie Walker to be my next MP.
In the meantime, if there is anything I can do to help
you in my capacity as your local councillor, please do not hesitate to get in
touch!
Very best wishes, as ever,
Kevin
