Harlow Tories slam Labour leader for MP bid in Colchester
General / Thu 8th Sep 2022 at 06:59am
A NUMBER of Harlow Conservatives have slammed the leader of the Labour group for making a bid to stand as a prospective parliamentary candidate in Colchester.
Little Parndon councillor, Chris Vince announced his candidacy at the weekend.
But this has drawn severe criticism from Conservative councillors.
Mark Hall councillor, Matthew Saggers said: “You would love a general election to speed up you leaving Harlow to represent Colchester as their MP”
Chris Vince responded to this comment by saying: “”Well, that’s a particularly unpleasant and unnecessary comment. Expect better of you Matt.
Actually, I want a General Election because I don’t believe your party is fit to govern and is to blame for the cost of living crisis.”
Sumners and Kingsmoor councillor Nick Churchill made an extended comment but seemed to think that Cllr Vince was standing in Chelmsford.
Council Churchill said: “Considering Mr Vince has just announced he is seeking the parliamentary candidacy for Chelmsford that is more likely the reason he has poked his head above the parapet once more.
Considering his claims that he wants to work for Harlow and support his constituents it does raise the question, why is he abandoning Harlow and running away to Chelmsford, again?
“If you want to read all the nice things he is saying about Chelmsford you can here >>> https://www.chrisvince.co.uk/
“Perhaps he can enlighten his constituents in Harlow as to when he will be leaving them to go to Chelmsford after all being a parliamentary candidate is a full time job in its own right”.
Over the past few years, a number of Conservative councillors stood in constituencies outside Harlow.
In 2019, Harlow Council leader, Russell Perrin stood in Cambridge whilst Old Harlow councillor Joel Charles stood in St Helens, Lancashire.
Lostinthemiddle
2022-09-08 07:23:45
Great, more tit for tat. Didn’t the Harlow conservatives get all up in arms when McAlpine criticised Halfon for not being from Harlow. Now they go and do the same thing. Really pathetic. What if he’s from the area? Also Harlow conservatives can you remind me where councillor Charles has stood to be an MP…that wasn’t Harlow was it? No. Concentrate on getting things done rather than petty squabbles
Nicholas Taylor
2022-09-08 08:39:54
The simple fact is that Councillors from both Parties have stood for election in areas many miles from Harlow, indeed some are effectively professional politicians having had little or no experience of work in the public sector and are trying to work there way up the political chain. That's why so many of them are so poor at what they do and how they behave in the council chamber. Many people argue that politics should be taken out of the health service, the same could be said of the way councils are run, often at the behest of political doctrine rather than using common sense.
David Vincent
2022-09-08 08:54:08
If Chris Vince is successful in his ambitions, he will need to spend a lot of time dealing with Colchester issues. How does that square with what he told YourHarlow on 27 May 2019: "one thing I am very certain is that I love living in Harlow and having the opportunity to represent residents in Little Parndon and Hare Street. I’ll continue to work hard for you all year round."
Dave Summerville
2022-09-08 09:23:03
Ridiculous comments from the Tory group--Harlow Labour are quite capable of finding a suitable replacement for Chris--he has been an excellent local councillor, worked hard, and, bearing in mind, the fact that members of all parties commonly have an out-of-town candidate in General Elections--their statements are doubly stupid. Now, where was Robert Halfon born ???
Adam Osen
2022-09-08 09:33:04
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/two-thirds-tory-mps-no-previous-link-constituencies-87557 Another storm in a teacup. Over half of MP’s had no local connection before being elected. Should they have? Is Chelmsford really that distant or different from Harlow? Is there actually more difference within Harlow than between Harlow and Chelmsford, I believe Robert Halfon lives in Newhall, yet Newhall is very different from most of the rest of Harlow, in many ways. If someone living in Newhall can represent people in Mark Hall, why can’t someone living in Harlow represent people in Chelmsford?
Tom
2022-09-08 10:08:58
Adam Osen, your argument is odd. Newhall is in Harlow as much as any other neighbourhood. Are you saying that someone living in Mark Hall is incapable of representing someone in Newhall, for example? Towns are not static. If Chris Vince wants to stand in Colchester or the Shetland Isles for that matter is for him and the local constituency party to decide. It does however beg the question as to how he will exercise his role as leader of the opposition on Harlow Council and what time he will have for this. Maybe Labour have given up on Harlow.
Nicholas Taylor
2022-09-08 10:14:00
My earlier post should have said the private sector, not public sector.
Tom
2022-09-08 12:13:18
Dave Summerville, you say Chris Vince has been “an excellent local councillor”. Could please enlighten us as to what he and his party has actually delivered and achieved other than a constant stream of posts on Your Harlow.
James Leppard
2022-09-08 12:44:31
Chris Vince states in this article: “ Actually, I want a General Election because I don’t believe your party is fit to govern and is to blame for the cost of living crisis.” This Government is to blame for the cost of living crisis? Really. Has he perhaps overlooked the fact that the energy price hikes are a direct consequence of Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine. If not how does he explain the fact that according to ‘The Economist’ that the USA, Canada, and EU nations are all recording levels of inflation. Freed from EU red-tape, the UK was the fastest off the blocks with Covid vaccination licensing and rollout and furlough scheme. It was the most steadfast in the Free World on its support for Ukraine, dragging the EU behind. One only has to imagine how we would responded and coped with Covid and Putin under a Labour government: too awful to contemplate.
J Smithson
2022-09-08 17:22:47
Try again Mr Leppard, if France and Germany are much more dependent on Russia for their energy, and we only got 4% from them, then why have we had by far the biggest increases? These Tories must think we're stupid.
James Leppard
2022-09-08 17:59:44
J Smithsonite, just check ‘The Economist’ tables showing inflation rates. Should not be too difficult.
James Leppard
2022-09-08 18:11:44
Apologies. I meant JSmithson. I think you are confusing origin with supply. If France and Germany are reliant on Russian gas, they will have immediate problems. However, the price of gas, oil and most commodities are driven by global exchange markets based on supply and demand. If an important source of supply is cut (as has happened) whilst demand is unchanged, demand will exceed supply and push prices up globally, irrespective of origin. The problem is compounded by the fact that these products are denominated in US$ and a weakened Pound and Euro only serves to compound the problem.
JD
2022-09-08 18:12:53
Back in 2019, when Boris was trying to be the leader & PM, the Harlow Conservatives eagerly gave him their support. Back then it was known that Boris was a lier, racist, misogynistic, incompetent homophobe. But that was OK by the Harlow Conservatives, he still got their support. And now they are upset that a Labour councillor is trying to be MP for Chelmsford? Is Chelmsford so bad that it is OK to have a lazy PM who believes in right wing conspiracy theories, but cannot have a Harlow councillor as an MP? ------ As for the energy cost rises, see this: https://inews.co.uk/news/the-weird-energy-market-means-were-paying-ludicrous-gas-prices-for-cheap-renewable-electricity-1838876 ----- " Freed from EU red-tape, the UK was the fastest off the blocks with Covid vaccination licensing and rollout and furlough scheme." Dear [deity], these myths keep on going. Being in or out of the EU had nothing to do with the vaccination rollout. The UK always had the option to roll out any vaccinations we wanted when in the EU. And the UK was NOT the "fastest" with a furlough scheme. Ireland (a member of the EU) who made the first payments on 27th March 2020 was there before the UK.
Mark Gough
2022-09-10 15:38:25
Okay okay. Firstly on energy supply we are an Island so it is more difficult to get supply in the first place cos of the surrounding water. Secondly on Parliamentary Candidates, most Parties create a list of approved candidates and then they apply for available vacancies. That's how I became UKIP candidate for Chelmsford in 2015, and Harlow in 2019. It's how Joel Charles got St Helens having tried Ipswich I believe, because Robert is still in Harlow - so no vacancy. Chris Vince was my Labour Opponent in Chelmsford in 2015, and came to Harlow to improve his chances of becoming an MP. Unfortunately for him Labour made Harlow an all woman shortlist. Hence he is looking for another candidacy - hence Colchester. It has been this way for decades, and frankly the tit for tat is a bit daft. Robert Halfon came to us from Chelsea I believe.
Dave Summerville
2022-09-11 21:07:49
Answer to Tom--despite the Tory majority on our Council, Chris has championed on many occasions issues that concern us all, he has regularly given his views on yourharlow, to help make Harlow a better, fairer place for all--he is approachable and genuine in his concerns for our town--I have not seen the Conservatives in our area, beyond election time, when the canvasser was obviously embarrassed when I spoke to him of the character of Boris and how I could never vote for a party who could elect a PM like that--he did admit that many people he spoke to had said the same.
Connie
2022-09-12 23:07:40
Great David, but what has Mr Vince actually achieved? Having a nice chat over a cup of tea and a digestive doesn’t cut it. He and his party were on power for almost 10 years: 1. Did he or his administration make any effective efforts to regenerate our badly neglected Town Centre? No 2. Did they ever cut Council Tax? No. They invariably increased it every year. 3. Did they improve housing repairs and environmental maintenance via HTS? No. They left the town on a shambles 4. Did they build any new Council houses? Negligible. They bought a number on the open market at 4 x the build cost. The present Conservative administration has done more in 18 months than Chris Vince and his Labour mates did in 10 years!
Mark Paige
2022-11-19 01:37:30
I remember this https://www.yourharlow.com/2022/05/17/harlow-labour-claim-senior-tory-was-aware-of-disgraced-councillors-twitter-account/
Richard Porter
2023-01-01 11:51:56
Instead of attacking each other Conservative councillors ought to be helping voters many Conservative councillors don’t even bother replying .
Richard
2023-01-01 11:52:51
Instead of attacking each other Conservative councillors ought to be helping voters many Conservative councillors don’t even bother replying .
Leave a Comment Below:
19 Comments for Harlow Tories slam Labour leader for MP bid in Colchester: