Boris Johnson Even Lied In His Last Speech In Downing Street! Is Truss Any Better?

 

The Times, June 2020

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"Truss lied to Conservative Party members to become Prime Minister. Keir Starmer did the same in the Labour Party... Meanwhile, it's ordinary residents that continue to suffer crisis after crisis."

Somerset Independents puts residents first. During the Pandemic, we held Boris Johnson's Government - and his crony Tory councillors at Somerset County Council - to account. We stood up for Somerset residents.

As The Times cartoon from June 2020 suggests, Johnson failed across the board.

Over two years later the BBC has done an analysis of the claims Johnson made about his record during his last speech in Downing Street. It shows that Boris Johnson even lied in that speech.

Leader of Somerset Independents, Andrew Pope, says:

 

Andrew Pope

"Boris Johnson is totally disgraced as Prime Minister and as a man. But he is in denial. If he wants to lie about his record as Prime Minster to himself and his latest wife, that's up to him.

What matters more is that he has lied to the British public. Not just once, but on very many occasions. And he has lied on a wide range of topics, some of which are a matter of life and death, including the Pandemic.

Boris Johnson is a proven liar and a fraud. Having stopped the investigation into corrupt Tory MP Owen Paterson, he is now trying to stop the Parliamentary investigation into himself misleading Parliament.

It's disgraceful that there are those in the Conservative Party who wanted Johnson to stay. This includes Somerset Conservative councillors and Conservative Party members in Somerset who still defend him.

That says a lot about the Conservative Party and their lack of principles. I remember a time when the Tories had principles, although I did not agree with their principles, they seemed to have some.

Now the Conservatives just want power for its own sake. And Liz Truss is just the same as Boris Johnson. 

Truss lied to Conservative Party members to become Prime Minister. Keir Starmer did the same in the Labour Party.

Labour still want Corbyn, and have Starmer. Conservatives still want Johnson, and have Truss.

Meanwhile, it's ordinary residents that continue to suffer crisis after crisis.

Labour or Tory, same old story!"

Who Are Somerset Independents?

Join Somerset's own campaign group and political party to celebrate Somerset's past, protect Somerset's present and prepare Somerset for the future. 

Our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page is here.

We can be contacted at the link here and via Twitter @SomerInds, via Facebook at the Somerset Independents page and via email at somerinds [at] gmail.com.

Information Regulator ICO Tells Us It Will Get Tough On Persistently Failing Councils

 

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“Will you be publishing data on councils or other public agencies who are repeated offenders on Freedom of Information requests (FOIs)? If you do already please let me know where it is. For example Bristol Council claims you said they don’t have to meet deadlines and could do a % of” Questions By Somerset Independents Leader Andrew Pope to Regulator ICO

 

Andrew Pope

Somerset Independents puts residents first. We find out the information that the Westminster political parties do not want you to know. We hold the Liberal Democrats, Tories, Labour and Greens to account. And we publish information for the benefit of Somerset residents.

There is a huge variation in how Somerset's councils deal with us.

We give a case study below of our investigations - led by our Leader Andrew Pope - since 2021 into councillors who did not pay their council tax.

Some are more secretive than others. Some councils are more obstructive. Some take more time than others. Some fail to meet their legal obligations. Some answer questions that we did not ask. And some are more helpful than others.

 

Who Are The ICO?

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) regulates requests for information from public authorities including councils. This is governed by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, brought in by the New Labour Government led by Tony Blair.

Because of the persistent failures by some councils, the ICO has pledged to get tough. We asked them some questions about the ICO publishing the details of repeat offenders. They have responded. And their response is very promising.

The ICO told us that they:

"would commit to delivering more systemic enforcement action against public authorities that clearly and consistently fail to meet their FOI obligations"

 

A Case Study: Councillors Who Did Not Pay Council Tax

Here is an example of the variation in FoI compliance by councils. During our investigations into councillors in council tax arrears, below is a comparison of the responses from Somerset's - and nearby Bath & Bristol - councils. Our FoI requests were very similar to each of the eight councils, in investigations that began in 2021 and some of which are still continuing:

• Sedgemoor District Council responded to say that no councillors had been in arrears
• Somerset West and Taunton responded and gave information about six councillors in arrears and two councillors who had been in persistent arrears. One repeatedly declined to answer our questions. The other paid up and then was removed from the council.
  
• Somerset County Council responded by saying that they did not hold the information and that it was for the district councils to check on councillors. In other words, they passed the buck. This led to us making representations to them on the serious implications for the standards set by their councillors and whether their budgets are set lawfully. We showed that one councillor had broken the law.
  
• Mendip District Council (MDC) responded and revealed that a councillor had been in arrears. The councillor refused to resign or answer questions. MDC declined to give other information. We had to complain to the ICO to get the other information. Once the ICO had enforced over MDC, the council revealed that the same councillor had been in arrears over more than one year.
• Bath and North East Somerset Council responded to say that their councillors had all paid up by the time of the 2022 Budget Full Council meeting. This was an interesting interpretation of our questions, which may lead to further questions from us.
  
• South Somerset District Council (SSDC) did not respond quickly. They declined to provide information. The names of councillors were covered up. We had to contact the ICO, who enforced their powers over SSDC. Over a year later, our complaint to the ICO is still under investigation.
  
• Bristol City Council did not respond. They had to be chased to even respond. We had to involve the ICO to even get a response. Then Bristol refused to give the information. We have had to complain to the ICO again. The ICO are investigating.
• North Somerset Council did respond, but it was late. And the information they gave was completely bungled, with one councillor's arrears being missing when asked by us to do it again. This led to an apology to us by the Leader of the Council Steve Bridger. Eventually, three councillors were named - not two. We had to pressure the head of legal at NSC to get proper answers. The information that NSC failed to provide was eventually revealed to us.
  

So you can see the variations in responses to FoI requests to eight different councils. To say again, the questions were very similar but the responses and how the councils responded, or whether they responded at all, were vastly different.

It has been reported more than once by BristolLive (a.k.a. the Bristol Post) that Bristol City Council (BCC) is failing on FoI requests. BCC has claimed in public that the ICO has allowed them to only make a percentage of responses (see our question above).

It is clear that the ICO have had enough of persistent offenders like Bristol and South Somerset District Council.

We hope that the ICO will be true to its word and this will lead to better compliance with the law by Somerset's councils.

Who Are Somerset Independents?

Join Somerset's own campaign group and political party to celebrate Somerset's past, protect Somerset's present and prepare Somerset for the future. 

Our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page is here.

We can be contacted at the link here and via Twitter @SomerInds, via Facebook at the Somerset Independents page and via email at somerinds [at] gmail.com.

UPDATE (22/9/22): TWO MONTHS LATE & MILLIONS OF POUNDS - SEE Monster Art Project Named As Part of "Festival of Brexit" With Lib Dem Councillor As Promoter

 

Liberal Democrats Robbing Public Money

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UPDATE (22/9/22) 

The Weston Mercury has reported the further delay to SEE Monster, on top of the other delays and huge expense to the taxpayer. We revealed the cost, which could go higher.

We gave those figures to the Weston Mercury, as they said they wanted to do a story on our investigation.

Today, we have asked the Mercury's reporter Charlie Williams why they have not quoted our figures, which were evidenced and sourced.

Somerset Independents is holding Somerset's councillors and MPs to account, in the public interest. It seems that we also need to hold the media outlets to account too.

You may be interested to know that the Weston Mercury is making its editor, Paul Jones, redundant. The source for this information is himself, via his own Twitter account.

The Festival of Brexit has also made its way into recent Private Eye lampoons.

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Somerset Independents puts residents first. We investigated and published the cost of Weston-super-Mare's "SEE Monster" arts project. Councillors at North Somerset Council did not want residents to know. 

The Chair of the Council's Scrutiny committee - a Liberal Democrat councillor - failed to find out the cost and had complained about the project to the Weston Mercury reporter Charlie Williams who has published his comments:

However, some councillors have become restless with the organiser's 'lack of communication and unwillingness to come clean'. 

Senior town and district councillor and chair of North Somerset's scrutiny panel, John Crockford-Hawley, said: "I'm not one of the councillors directly involved in the See Monster project, so I wouldn't wish to speculate about reasons for the obvious delay in bringing remaining platform stages to the Tropicana. 

While I have no substantive reason for doubting See Monster's eventual arrival in the latter part of this summer, nor do I doubt its potential benefit to Weston, I do believe the recent minimalist approach to communication by New Substance has somewhat undermined public confidence, and led to a degree of sceptical social media chatter.

I look forward to improved public information and the project's eventual success."

Now Somerset Independents have had it confirmed by "The House" magazine that SEE Monster is funded by the "Festival of Brexit". 

 

Brexit

 

They name SEE Monster as part of a "Carnival of Brexit" in an article sub-titled "How The Government's £120m 'Festival Of Brexit' Went Rogue".

We asked questions to another Liberal Democrat Councillor Mark Canniford, who is a member of the Cabinet on the Council and is a ward colleague of the Chair of Scrutiny. But Cllr Canniford seems unaware of his ward colleague's criticisms, and has been chief promoter of SEE Monster.

This is duplicity that is typical of Liberal Democrats. Even ward colleagues who are in the same ward and in the same party contradict each other in public to suit themselves. 

We asked Cllr Crockford-Hawley - how can a Liberal Democrat scrutinise another Liberal Democrat in the Cabinet? He failed to give an answer although he confirmed that he does speak to Cllr Canniford.

Unlike his ward colleague and Lib Dem Party colleague, Councillor Canniford has openly hyped up the project and has been unapologetic about it. 

We asked Cllr Canniford some questions. He (kind of) attempted to answer our questions but has admitted that council staff and council time are being used and that it costs council money. Cllr Canniford has claimed that the costs are being paid for by the project. We are making more enquiries.

When challenged by us, Councillor Canniford also stated in public that he "would not apologise" for promoting Weston with SEE Monster.

Now it has been revealed that the millions for SEE Monster have come from a "Festival of Brexit".

So is it OK to take Festival of Brexit money to hype up a delayed and expensive arts project, but to oppose Brexit as a Liberal Democrat, as mentioned in "The House" article?

It seems more than a little hypocritical to us. This is why we use the above and below graphic to describe the Liberal Democrats. They hate it, which is why we know that it works.

Duplicity to Get Public Money

Who Are Somerset Independents?

Join Somerset's own campaign group and political party to celebrate Somerset's past, protect Somerset's present and prepare Somerset for the future.

We can be contacted at the link here and via Twitter @SomerInds, via Facebook at the Somerset Independents page and via email at somerinds [at] gmail.com.

VICTORY! Another Green Fields Campaign Won in North Somerset - But What Happens Next?

 

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"I am pleased that we helped to defeat it and to stand up for local residents, because that is what Somerset Independents was formed to do."

The Butts Batch development in Wrington by Strongvox has been defeated. The planning inspector G.D. Jones has dismissed the appeal after North Somerset Council had rejected the planning application.

Somerset Independents puts residents first. We stood up for residents of Wrington against a poor development. Our Leader Andrew Pope objected to the application and encouraged others to do so.

We worked with campaigners in Wrington and provided advice to the Keep Wrington as Wrington campaign.

We also held the local Independent North Somerset Councillor Steve Hogg to account, when he repeatedly refused to formally object to the application. We urged him to be stronger in his opposition and in fairness, he was.

But what happens next?

Andrew Pope says:

 

Andrew Pope
Leader of Somerset Independents

 

"This was the wrong development in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am pleased that we helped to defeat it and to stand up for local residents, because that is what Somerset Independents was formed to do.

However, it is just a matter of time before another application comes forward and it will start all over again.

Whether it will be Strongvox or another applicant, we will see.

So while the battle for Butts Batch has been won for now, it will be the site of another battle if the future application is not acceptable to local residents.

Whether us volunteers at Somerset Independents will campaign against it, and who we will work with or not work with, remains to be seen."

Who Are Somerset Independents?

Join Somerset's own campaign group and political party to celebrate Somerset's past, protect Somerset's present and prepare Somerset for the future.

We can be contacted at the link here and via Twitter @SomerInds, via Facebook at the Somerset Independents page and via email at somerinds [at] gmail.com.