Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Lib Dems and Greens work together in Richmond upon Thames local elections

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Dave Hill's On London site brings news of an electoral pact in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

In next month's elections six of the borough's 18 three-member wards will see one Green and two Liberal Democrat candidates on the ballot paper. The Greens are giving the Lib Dems a clear run in the other 12 wars.

As the website says:
Zac Goldsmith’s famous parliamentary by-election defeat by Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney in Richmond Park in December 2016 may have been helped by the Green Party choosing not to field a candidate. 
The Greens said at the time of that decision that they had "begun discussions with the Liberal Democrats about how to best secure a non Conservative-run council in 2018".
When I lived in Richmond in the days when we first took control of the council, the Liberal Party's support for local conservation was one of its trump cards.

These days, however, Lib Dems tend to be more centrist, so the Greens pose an electoral threat to us in places like Richmond.

Yes, I yearn for the days (1986 to be precise) when the Liberal/SDP Alliance could win 49 of the borough's then 52 seats, but that was a long time ago. Besides, I have always been more of an environmentalist than I am a social democrat.

So until we have proportional representation in local elections I am happy to endorse pacts like this where they give us a realistic chance of taking control of the council.

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