It’s election time again. Yawn. Next Thursday we go to the polls to elect a successor to the disgraced Tory ex-MP David Warburton.
Judging by the number of posters to be seen in our villages, there is little enthusiasm. The Libdems seem to have the most, but even they are few and far between. The Tories have none, and a source tells us that none have been distributed!
Maybe there are posters in far away Somerton or Frome, after which this huge constituency is named.
The bookies have the Libdems as odds on favourites. We find this surprising as Sarah Dyke had a disastrous interview with the Guardian, during which she professed no knowledge of Somerton or of economic conditions in this area. A Somerset councillor since 2022, she spearheaded the cancellation (or is it the postponement?) of the Wincanton regeneration scheme. She shouts a lot.
The Tory candidate, Faye Purbrick is an experienced Somerset councillor, and probably a safe pair of hands. She inherited a massive 19,000 majority from David Warburton, but can she hang on to it?
Labour’s Neil Guild is running a very low key campaign, and judging by the party’s track record in Somerset, is unlikely to make an impression at the ballot box.
So that’s the big three. But what about the outsiders?
Voters should remember that whoever is elected will only be in parliament for just over a year before the scheduled General Election. After which, the constituency will be split, with a different demographic mix, and we start all over again. The new MP will unlikely be able to change anything in Somerset or Westminster, since the Tories will still have a good majority in Parliament.
So why not tick the “None of the above” box and vote for one of the outsiders?
You have a wide choice – The Greens (who already have four seats on Somerset Council), UKIP, Reform UK , Christian Peoples’ Alliance and an Independent candidate (an ex-labour RMT member).
It would send a strong message to the Government and the established parties to get their act together before the next big election.
The full list of candidates for the Somerton & Frome by-election is:
- Lorna Corke – Christian People’s Alliance
- Martin Dimery – Green Party
- Sarah Dyke – LibDem
- Bruce Evans – Reform UK
- Neil Guild – Labour
- Rosie Mitchell – Independent
- Faye Purbrick – Conservative
- Peter Richardson – UKIP
Each of the candidates have set out their stall in interviews in “The Leveller” available free from the usual outlets.
Voting is at St Margaret’s hall in Horsington. Don’t forget to take some photo identification with you.
Sarah Dyke and her colleague Nicola Clark have done more in the short time they have represented our villages in the new unitary council than the previous Conservative District and County Councillors did in years. And let’s not forget our last MP, a Conservative, continued to take a salary for more than a year whilst doing absolutely nothing to represent us. Don’t waste your vote on candidates that can’t win and risk re-installing another Conservative that will do nothing for our community. Sarah will make an excellent MP.