With the Tories in Northumberland reeling from the release of a poll this week which shows that if a general election was held tomorrow Labour would win back Blyth Valley, strengthen their majority in Wansbeck with both Berwick and Hexham becoming very marginal indeed through long term LibDems now happy to be voting Labour.
Three years in from a General Election you may think this type of Poll doesn’t matter, but were only a few weeks away from the local government elections, being held on May 6th and this poll really does matter. So much so that the Tories as well as having to fight the toxic stigma caused through the recent attempts to bully their Chief Executive Officer out of her job and in leaked e-mails sit accused of Corruption, Racism, Dodgy land dealings and mismanagement. Accusations which led to the sacking from office of the former Leader of Council, Peter Jackson.
They are also clearly in deep trouble through their well publicised mismanagement of ADVANCE Northumberland a company the Tories set up at great cost following their poisoning of the Brand of its predecessor ARCH, along with the handling of the use of public finance and the accusations that they have altered the minutes of a Cabinet Meeting of Council to cover their tracks in saving the face of the Tory chairperson of the Company, Councillor Richard Wearmouth.
This element of their reign has led to the removal £8m from Social Services reserves, much needed finance to help those in greatest need after the pandemic is over and they have appeared in Private Eye on this issue as they were going to use much needed by residents Covid finance and that auspicious magazine has exposed the Tories attempts at a cover up.
The mire doesn’t end there for the Tories in Northumberland as the recruitment of candidates to fight this election has thrown up some very dubious characters indeed, turning Conservatives off voting altogether in this election as it harks back to the days of the ‘Nasty Party’ an image many don’t wish to be tarred with again.
We will see the outcome on May 6th but the polls have been very accurate of late at predicting change and in Northumberland that change can only be for the better.
