Our Reaction To Result Of Local Poll On Stronger Somerset Unitary Versus One Somerset Unitary

 

Andrew Pope

Following the results from the local poll of Somerset residents, announced today at 3.30pm  Leader of Somerset Independents says:

"Only 1 in 4 eligible people voted in this deeply flawed poll - a Hobson's Choice between two options which no residents asked for. It has been a shameful spat between party politicians all the way, and during a Global Pandemic.

82% of Somerset voters rejected a unitary in 2007. But still they carried on.

If they were going to pursue this, Somerset Independents decided that - despite the Pandemic - to campaign for all of 2020 for a proper Referendum, including a "No Change" option and a "Modern Committee System".

We asked around 250 councillors on all four district councils and the county council to support our campaign. Very few councillors responded and no councillors achieved the right question in the Referendum. In fact, many councillors said the poll was a "waste of money". They changed their minds but only to suit their own agenda.

Somerset West and Taunton Council has passed a decision for a committee system. But they did not have the courage to implement it now in the current council. They were supposed to write to the other councils and also to recommend a committee system for any future Shadow Authority.

All current and future councils must reject the "Strong Leader" model that has failed Somerset and commit to a Modern Committee System, as the people of Sheffield recently did in their Referendum.

That is the Referendum that Somerset residents deserve, not this badly-run poll cobbled together at the last minute by party politicians desperate to save their skins, and who previously opposed our campaign for a Referendum."