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| Standing Up For Residents |
UPDATE (Monday 4/1/21): ANOTHER SPECTACULAR U-TURN BY BORIS JOHNSON IN CLOSING SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES.
Having said yesterday that schools are safe (Sunday 3/1/21), the Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now closing them in his address to the nation tonight at 8pm Monday 4/1/21.
Leader of Somerset Independents Andrew Pope responds:
Andrew Pope
"We knew that schools and universities were not safe yesterday. In fact we knew last year. But the PM didn't. How is he so ignorant and incompetent? He is supposed to be the Prime Minister and have highly-paid advisers to guide and inform him. We do this off our own backs!
This decision proves that we were right to point out that schools and universities are NOT safe, to question the Tory councillors at Somerset County Council and that we were right to say that they should not have been opened in September.
How can it be that Somerset Independents, that is run by volunteers and with no money, can get it right, but the Prime Minister cannot with all those resources at his disposal? The same goes for the County Council!
Incredibly, the Tory-run County Council "led" by Councillor David Fothergill, went along with their mates in the Tory-run Government, and opened schools. Boris Johnson allowed universities to open, and students to be ripped off.
Neither Fothergill nor Johnson "followed the science" back in September.
The Tories' empty slogan seems to have been abandoned now.
They put our lives at risk by spreading infections. Their own Public Health Consultant Alison Bell said as much in her interview on BBC Radio Somerset last week.
This latest lockdown is clear proof of their failure to protect Somerset residents.
We know that Councillor Fothergill has received our letter, questioning his failure to act for Somerset residents.
We await answers as to how he has acted to protect us, but at the time of writing, we are unaware of any pushback at all on the Tory Government from him, now or in September, or June last year.
At Tory-run Kent County Council, they wrote to the Tory Government to protest about the re-opening of schools. We are not aware of any such action by the Tories at Somerset County Council, prior to Johnson's VERY late announcement of their closure.
And the "opposition" from the County Liberal Democrats is still pathetic. They do not seem to offer any resistance either.
Like we often say, Labour, Lib Dem or Tory, same old story."
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We are called Somerset Independents because we are independent of the Westminster political parties - Labour, Green, Lib Dem or Tory - they are all the same failures.
We are called independent because we encourage independent thinking and independent thought.
We stand up for Somerset residents and we want to enable you to make your own decisions, armed with the facts.
Once again, there is a debate about whether schools and universities should re-open for the new terms. This follows similar debates in June and September in 2020.
On all three occasions - June, September and now, there were and are significant differences between what the authorities - the Tory Government and Tory County Council - and what the people of Somerset - thought and think.
In July last year, Somerset Independents asked Somerset residents what they thought of our Think Piece: Education Is Compulsory - School Is Not, where we reminded parents that they can choose how their child was educated - at home or at school. We received support.
And this was evidenced by the fact that children stayed at home, because responsible parents wanted to protect their children.
Somerset Independents also asked whether you thought it was the right decision that 94% of children did NOT return to school in June, despite the Conservative Government and Conservative County Council wanting them to put their children, families and communities in danger. The feedback that we received was very positive.
This 94% figure was obtained by us with questions that we put to Somerset County Council, who are responsible for education in Somerset*.
It was clear to us then from our sources that the vast majority of parents did NOT trust the Government or County Council to protect them from Coronavirus/Covid-19.
This is unsurprising when there were so many critics of the Conservative Government and County Council. National newspapers and campaigners were critical. Residents were critical.
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| The Times June 2020 |
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| Campaign Group Led By Donkeys Showing the Hypocrisy of the Government (Dominic Cummings Scandal) |
Children were being educated at home, by responsible parents and by school teachers and staff. Teachers, children, parents and communities were being kept safe from infection. It was obvious to the vast majority of people that this was the right thing to do - EXCEPT FOR THE TORIES AND DIE-HARD TORY SUPPORTERS!
Then during the summer school holidays, there was time for the Government and County Council to get their act together to plan for the new school year and for the new university year which would start later.
Instead of making the right decisions, the Government threatened parents with fines if they did not send their children back to school.
The Conservative Government and the Conservative-run County Council failed to get it right. Infections rose, as the graphs show, almost in tandem with the returns to schools and universities.
It was obvious to everyone except the Government and County Council that this would happen.
Yet as we noted at the time, and as is very clear now, instead of making the right call - the Government was threatening to fine parents who did not send their children back to school.
As we wrote in October, because the Government failed to get it right, and the evidence showed that infections rose due to the wrong decisions, Somerset Independents decided that we should stand candidates against the Conservatives at the next County Council elections due in May 2021.
We successfully registered Somerset Independents as a political party, and we then announced our first candidate Andrew Pope. Other candidates are still under consideration, and we are about to announce our second candidate, Denise Wyatt.
Then incredibly the Conservative councillors on the County Council voted to cancel the elections in May 2021. It is perhaps unsurprising, when they are running scared of the views of the people of Somerset.
Also in October, SomersetLive surveyed Somerset residents to ask whether they thought schools and universities should be open.
The majority of respondents said that both schools and universities should NOT be open. It was obvious to Somerset residents, but not obvious to the Tory Government and Tory County Council. Why?
Looking at the results of this poll should allow for the possibility that the respondents may not have been a representative sample of the views of Somerset residents as a whole. They could be biased. Nevertheless they point to a substantial number of people who hold this view.
Other respondents to the survey thought that pubs, restaurants, schools and universities should be open and that we have to learn to "live with the virus", and that the economy should be prioritised over public health.
Now that we have had Lockdown 2, and the attempts at the confusing tiered restrictions, it is clear that these have failed to stop the NHS being under "pressure", as is being reported.
The vaccinations are not preventing this from happening. And now we hear that the Government is not even following the advice from the trials over vaccinations. This is another decision that they have got wrong.
The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is now worse than ever during the pandemic. Deaths are mounting. Infections are increasing. And the Tories are still getting it wrong.
The military are once again coming to the rescue of the Government, the NHS and schools, with reports that they will be running testing before schools return. We appreciate the military's efforts, but why should they need to be involved - this is a sign of a Government in panic mode.
Students at university are demanding refunds, as they feel they were duped into going to university and getting a sub-standard education. One student in Bristol, who is supplementing their income by delivering for courier firm Hermes, told us that they had JUST ONE PHYSICAL LECTURE in their first term. What is the point of them going to University. paying tuition fees for lectures and fees for lodgings? They may as well have stayed at home!
The situation clearly points to a terrible and lasting failure of the Conservative Government to take the right steps to protect us.
People do not feel safe, and they feel that opening schools and universities puts everyone at even more risk.
And the teaching unions, and members of the Cabinet, do not want schools to open without additional steps.
Somerset Independents therefore suggests that schools and universities DO NOT OPEN this term, and that all learning should be done remotely. This will give time for the vaccinations to be carried out, and for testing to be set-up. Do you agree or not? Tell us.
Our view is informed and supported by the views of the unions and health scientists:
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “What is right for London is right for the rest of the country." Dr Bousted was referring to the u-turn by the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to keep London primary schools closed, when he recently instructed some to stay open and some to close! This was despite all of London being in the Tier 4 restrictions. London councils pushed back, forcing the u-turn.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head
Teachers (NAHT), said:"The government appears to be following neither
the science nor the
advice of education professionals on how best to preserve the quality of
education for young people."
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and the NAHT have started legal action to get the Department for Education to share any information showing "why they think it is
safe to reopen schools on Monday, given the higher transmissibility of
the new Covid-19 variant.
It is interesting to note that Somerset is also in Tier 4 - BUT WHERE IS SOMERSET COUNTY COUNCIL'S PUSHBACK? Missing in action, that's Tory Council Leader David Fothergill and his Cabinet member for Education, Councillor Faye Purbrick. Councillor Purbrick is the one who we have put under pressure to stand up for parents. But she hasn't and the local Tory councillors don't - because like all Westminster parties, these Somerset Tories put themselves and their Party ahead of the safety of Somerset residents.
Still more have criticised the Government's decisions and their u-turns.
Prof Mark Harris, Professor of Virology, University of Leeds, said:"We need to learn from the lessons of the past year and recognise that by delaying and failing to act decisively our efforts to control the pandemic are less effective, and ultimately lives are at risk."
The Government's own SAGE group of scientists Children’s Task and Finish Group said, in their update to their 4th Nov 2020 paper on children, schools and transmission, on 17 December 2020:
"Overall, accumulating evidence is consistent with increased transmission occurring amongst school children when schools are open, particularly in children of secondary school age (high confidence): multiple data sources show a reduction in transmission in children following schools closing for half term, and transmission rates increasing again following the post-half term return to school (medium confidence)."
Denise Wyatt, Somerset Independents Spokesperson for Education, says:
"The Conservative Government and the Conservative County Council should have prepared the country for this back in the summer holidays, when they had the time.
But they didn't. Instead, they dithered and delayed - and lives have been put at risk.
So the Government got the advice from "the science", but it did NOT "follow the science" as they have so famously claimed and repeatedly claimed. They did the opposite - u-turned when they wanted to.
And the reasons are not sufficiently clear.
For all their failures, they need to be held to account - and voted out when the time comes."
* excluding the North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset areas, whose unitary authority councils are responsible in those areas.
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