Labour losing touch?

Neath MP Peter Hain has been pontificating at the Labour Conference this weekend.

According to the BBC Mr Hain said: "We have got to be constantly on guard to make sure we don't repeat the disease which afflicted us in Westminster - which is the more you stay in power the more managerial you get and the more you lose touch with your supporters."

Maybe he could pop up and have a bit of a chat with his mates in RCT.  He could start with dear Leighton, although in his case maybe arrogant is a better word than managerial.  Now there is a man who has lost touch not only with his supporters but with reality.  He knows best, and he doesn’t care who disagrees with him, he is not for turning.

Then there is the loveable bunch of rogues in the Council Chamber.  Well, ok, maybe not so loveable, but again completely out of touch with the people they are elected to represent.  They announce a Council Tax increase of 2.5% so they can continue to protect public services.  Well how much more could they protect them if they didn’t spend £65K on their ‘Outlook’ magazine – nothing more than a Labour propaganda rag.  Then there is the £85K on newspaper advertising  - which they think buys them the right to dictate to the press what they can and cannot print.

The £1million they spend on salaries in the Public Relations and Strategy department could be tailed back.  But then what would there be for Mr Hanagan to manage?  Who would take the photos that are then used by Labour on their website?  Nice that, wonder if they would acre to send a photographer out to take some for us?

Their supporters don’t have chauffeurs to rely on to run them around to free events – at the taxpayers’ expense.  It turned my stomach to see Russell Roberts and his wife along with the then Mayor Simon Lloyd quaffing back large quantities of free booze at the inauguration of the Llantwit Fardre mayor last year.  Especially when two chauffeurs were hanging around all day waiting to take them home.  Taxi not good enough for our Russell. 

The problem is that there are still too many people who allow themselves to be taken in by the veneer  - the outward gloss that says Labour is the party of the working class. They vote Labour because they have always voted Labour, as did their parents.  They rage about the waste of money and the laziness of their Councillors and the state of the streets, but many of them won’t do the one thing that would make a difference – don’t vote for them!