LANDSLIDE VICTORY FOR SIR KIER STARMER'S LABOUR PARTY - WIPES OUT CONSERVATIVE CRONIES - 4TH JULY 2024. The Conservative Party has never performed as poorly in an election since the United Kingdom assumed its modern form in 1922.

But the election was also historic in another way: The country’s smaller parties have also never performed as well as they did on Thursday. That continues a decades-long shift away from a two-party system, and means that Labour’s position may be more fragile than it looks on the surface. The Conservatives lost the most support in seats where Reform surged. In many seats where Labour won, Reform came in second place, delivering on Mr. Farage’s pledge to position the party well for the next general election, expected in 2029.

THE GUARDIAN 5 JULY 2024 - CELEBRATE: WE HAVE WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS ROUTING OF THE TORIES. AND UNBEARABLE RARE MOMENT OF PURE POLITICAL JOY

Hallelujah and hosanna! (If not now, when?) At the stroke of 10, the country knew it had liberated itself from the most contemptible government in living memory. The wreckers, destroyers, bullies, incompetents, cronies and crass self-servers are gone. The Tory reign of error is over; they have no God-given right to rule after all. Torn down by the people’s revenge, they were felled by their own hubris. Since the days of tumbrils and defenestrations are over, the loss of seats and ministerial car are small punishment for the suffering they deliberately inflicted on millions. The rise in infant mortality is only the most measurable indicator of the large numbers who have died needlessly during their great austerity.

They will skip away to City and company boardrooms unpunished; some prime architects of the worst cruelties had already escaped today’s final humiliation. George Osborne, chief villain, lives high on investment banking and podcasting – the axeman of the arts is now chair of trustees at the British Museum. Before the 2010 election he called accusations that he would cut public spending “a pack of lies”, then made an abattoir of health and education, bankrupted cities, denuded councils, stripped the courts, skinned defence and ripped benefits until food banks became the nation’s social security safety net. For the next 14 years the only growth was in public service decrepitude. That can be repaired in time, but Brexit caused irreparable harm, David Cameron putting the country at risk with a referendum to appease his party’s Europhobes.

Today, revel in this almost unbearably rare moment of pure political joy, all you progressives who have spent most of a lifetime losing, losing and losing again. No longer. Against all predictions after Labour’s 2019 catastrophe, this is the first time any party has leapt from landslide defeat to victory in one term. But it never felt like “leaping”: step by ruthless step Keir Starmer reshaped the party, inching towards the great crossover point of December 2021 when Labour pulled ahead, never to look back. Remember the growling and grumbling over his lack of charisma and vision? After Cameron’s louche self-satisfaction, Boris Johnson’s self-obsessed roguery and the ideological trauma of Liz Truss, Starmer’s solid decency and relentless determination counted for far more. No party wins without securing trust in its leader and chancellor, to run the economy, defence, the NHS, tackle the climate crisis and everything else. Let no one think trustworthiness was easily earned.

Rejoicing among most voters today may be muted. Many were glad to punish a deplorable crew, but voted with a grim lack of belief that politicians could make their lives better. Out with the scoundrels, yes, but faith in politicians and government has been at an all-time low, with only 58% almost never trusting politicians to tell the truth. (How much truth the public can bear is a question to put to them another day.) Starmer well understands this corrosive crisis in trust, and pledges that Labour will restore confidence in government. Brave, since among his hundreds of Labour MPs, some will do unscrupulous things: “Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made,” wrote Immanuel Kant. What matters is that when such cases arise, the malefactors are rapidly and publicly punished and repudiated; something the Tories failed to do, because they never really thought any wrongdoing was that bad. Straight-as-a-die chief prosecutor Starmer will allow no such equivocation.

There must have been that moment in the high command last night, amid the noise, to gasp in incredulity at what they had done: an echo of Shakespeare’s Henry V after Agincourt being handed the list of the dead, 29 English but 10,000 French and all their notables, as the roll call of Tory fallers emerged: Truss, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Grant Shapps, Penny Mordaunt, Michael Fabricant.

This is a moment to savour the worst of Tory sour breath being sucked out of politics, the malevolent stink of Go Home trucks and bedroom tax, of “safe” Rwanda and people pulling their own teeth, the crony contracts, deep cuts for the poorest, scapegoating foreigners and proroguing parliament. Unforgiven, will be No 10 partying while the country obeyed the government’s own rules, and relatives died alone. What will those massed ranks of culture warriors in the gigantic Tory media realms do now, brutally exposed as irrelevant to modern times?

In comes this sea-changed social democratic air, elected on values in tune with a country the Tories badly misunderstood. Rishi Sunak’s campaign appealed to the basest instincts; he became more desperate by the day, throwing tax-cut bribes like meat to the wolves. But the public knew that money came straight from their hospitals, schools and children’s futures. Neither bribes nor threats of £2,000 tax rises under Labour shifted the dials. People are nicer and better than Tories know, time and again backing not cuts, but more tax and spend. Twice as many want spending on public services increased “even if it means tax rises for households like theirs”, finds abrdn’s Financial Fairness Trust. The people may be ahead of Labour’s cautious manifesto. Today marks the final stake through the heart of Thatcherism, killed off by the consequences of rail, mail, water and energy privatisations. Here ends austerity ideology, after the bankers’ crash, Covid and the cost of living crisis left people needing more, not less, from the state. No Conservatives will be electable again until they understand a country whose instincts have turned social democratic.

Time enough tomorrow and ever after to contemplate the dire legacy of this shameful government, its scorched earth and landmines visible in unpaid debts and bursting prisons. Time later to worry what remedies will be adequate. National pessimism over a broken country, fearful that little can be done, is the grimmest mood pollsters have known. But at least Labour inherits the lowest of expectations and the lowest of bars to rise above. The threatening rise of Reform can only be challenged by bold government that improves people’s lives.

Early first steps will be establishing rights for workers, ending no-fault evictions, hiring teachers, dentists and doctors, reforming planning and housing policies, social care fair pay and nationalised energy. New ministers have been waiting, yes, “like greyhounds in the slips” to do what they have planned for years. Success is the best rebuttal of nativist populism. But on this first day, marvel at what they have done: Starmer, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and a frontbench of heart, brain and optimism. The only way is up.

We aver that the only way to force corrupt councils to the trough, is to make it a legal requirement to build low cost housing as fulfilling the basic human right to affordable accommodation - that has seen so many families rack up debt like there is no tomorrow. This might also include a cap of council taxes (rates). Every human in the United Kingdom should be provided with shelter. No more sleeping rough on the streets. No more Liability Orders!

MAY 2003 LOCAL WEALDEN ELECTIONS

In a staggering turnaround, the Conservative Party hold over Wealden was trounced during the May 2023 local elections. As you can see from the roster below, the Liberal Democrats have 13 seats, closely followed by the Green Party, with 11 seats. And then another blow came in the form of 11 Independent seats, with Labour bringing up the rear, with just 2 seats.

It appears then that if Labour want to win at the next General Election, they will have to do more to win over the public. At the moment, Prime Minister Rishi Sunack is under attack from rampant inflation (broken campaign promises) that, according to speculators is beyond control. As of 22nd June 2023, the Bank of England is said to be on track to kick interest rates up to their highest level in over 23 years in a bid to rein in inflation that is withstanding prior increases to borrowing costs, markets are betting.

City traders ratcheted up their bets on peak UK interest rates in response to numbers from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this morning that showed inflation is still plaguing the economy. Market participants now think Bank Governor Andrew Bailey and the rest of the monetary policy committee (MPC) – the nine-strong group who set official UK borrowing costs – will lift rates to at least six per cent.

That would be the highest level since February 2000 and mark a huge shift in monetary policy since the financial crisis. For over a decade and up until December 2021, rates were near zero per cent. We can blame post-pandemic disruptions, Putin’s war in Ukraine, or Boris Johnson. All have played their part in creating the predicament in which the UK finds itself. Brexit is also a malign factor, and Britain’s unique misfortune.

A distinguished economist who sits on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee as an independent, calculates that Brexit has meant prices are around 4 per cent higher than they would otherwise be thanks to the cumulative effects of the 2016 EU referendum decision, when set against comparable economies, not least because “no other country chose to unilaterally impose trade barriers on its closest trading partners.

In London, housebuilders were among the worst-performing stocks at the close on Wednesday. Barratt Developments, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey were 3.9%, 4.1% and 3.5% lower, respectively.

The stocks came under pressure from the heat of inflation numbers, as concerns of a slowdown in the housing market gathered pace. AJ Bell's Danni Hewson said it was "no surprise" to see housebuilders among the top fallers as the prospect of higher borrowing costs "could prove damaging to the property market as affordability issues become more acute."

At a more local level, the executive housebuilding stampede championed by Wealden's planners, makes the area less viable in terms of supporting essential workers on a low income. Those already built, overloading waste treatment capacity, leading to illegal discharges and fines for , while straining the capacity of reservoirs at Arlington, that may lead to issues similar to that where at Swindon Magistrates court on 30 May 2023, Wessex Water Services Limited was fined £280,000 plus a £190 victim surcharge. Costs of £21,656.60 were agreed out of court. WWS pleaded guilty to an offence under section 70 of the Water Industry Act 1991 for the supply of water unfit for human consumption.

In 2021, Southern Water was fined a record £90 million having pleaded guilty to 51 offences reported to involve the release of between 16 and 21 billion litres of raw sewage into sensitive marine environments.

The water company appeared at Canterbury Crown Court on 9 July 2021 for sentencing, after pleading guilty to the illegal discharges of sewage which occurred between 2010 and 2015 across 17 sites in Hampshire, Kent and West Sussex. It is reported that the allegations concerned 6,971 discharges, which amounts to some 61,704 hours of releases.

The Environment Agency (EA) commenced their investigation after shellfish were found to be contaminated with E. coli, a type of faecal bacteria. The EA found that Southern Water had deliberately diverted raw sewage away from treatment works and into the environment, which was said to reduce the costs associated with maintaining and upgrading their infrastructure.

Data released by the Environment Agency show Southern Water discharged sewage into waterways 16,668 times in 2022 – lasting a total of 146,819 hours.

At Lewes, the Ham Lane pumping station released sewage into the Ouse 146 times last year (2022), lasting a total of 2,419 hours. The Environment Agency data revealed raw sewage was spilled into English rivers by water companies 824 times a day last year. Sewage was released into Newhaven, by Seaford Bay 86 times, for nearly 500 hours. Ditchling saw over 1,200 hours of sewage released into the Bevern stream with 81 spills.

All of these discharges come from planning consents for major housing developments, without the infrastructure to properly deal with the waste thus generated. In our view, that makes those granting planning consents without first obtaining confirmation of additional treatment capacity to accompany the increase if effluence, just as guilty as the water companies committing these crimes. Town and Country planners and planning committees, are party to these environmental offences. There is no other way to see it. All the more reason, for affordable housing units that are Off-Grid water and waste wise.

It is much the same with potholes and dangerously rutted highways. The roads servicing the additional traffic from new-builds, are simply not up to the task, as with water and waste shortcomings. Our little island is limited in size, and in danger of becoming one large toxic suburb of cardboard boxes. All of which to generate CIL payments, as a quick revenue top-up, followed by the excruciating death on the nation. Shades of Maggie Thatcher's council house sell-off. And her Poll-Tax.

CABINET & MPS -MAY 2023 - MUSICAL CHAIRS & A LOT OF NEWCOMERS BRAVE ENOUGH TO TRAVEL UP SHIT CREEK WITHOUT PADDLES

The 'Pothole Party' finally loses control in Wealden in 2023. Presumably, the electorate fed up with impotent politicians, perpetually lying to them bald faced, as their mates get planning consents, and others routinely frustrated in a war of attrition - as the ruts in their economic policies are revealed. Basically, business as usual. Monkey business.

The state of any country can be judged by the state of their roads, and National Health Service. Both of which have reached rock bottom in a not very United Kingdom, headed by an ageing King Charles, woefully less popular than his late mother, Queen Elizabeth. About time for a radical shake up, perhaps with a written constitution and Republic, instead of a Royal family alleged to have links with slavers such as Charles II, and his Royal African Trading Company. Financial slavery is rife, with the electorate having to work harder to service a staggering National Debt or £2.7 trillion pounds, as the 'Pothole Party' seek to extract every last ounce of sweat from those who work for a living. Farmers, Carpenters, Bricklayers, Electricians and Plumbers, to name a few.

Savings (pension funds) are reducing at roughly 10% every year. £1,000,000 million pounds saved with the Tories in power, is worth roughly £50,000 less each year, even earning interest. Meaning that the Pothole Party will have cost savers £500,000 over ten years. Raiding your piggy bank to pay for poor performance. All the while ramping up taxes, capital gains, VAT, including death duties. Making inheritances so much less. Except for the Royals, who don't pay death duties. A continuation of the class system, and slavery in principle.

Then, there is the cost of living crisis. Energy and food bills going through the roof, in an inequitable society engineered to make the rich, richer, and the poor, poorer. What a shower! There are no genuinely affordable houses, or rolling stock for self builds. What use is a register. We need plots of land, no need for services for stand alone, off grid units.

The real problem being who will replace the 'Pothole Party.' We don't want another cabinet of limp members from another party, equally stymied and conflicted. We need politicians with vision, who know how to balance the books and turn a penny, offer transparency in all dealings - and with no consultancy positions on the side to cause conflicts of interest. We aver politicians should be subject to strict checks against offshore investments, shares, property dealings, etc.

Is it too much to ask that Legal Aid is reinstated, and the Criminal Cases Review Commission is replaced with sensible statute to correct injustices long overdue for openness and redress, that will cost more in the long term, as each year passes without an effective remedy. A remedy, deliberately denied and removed, with corruption in the CPS and police forces, rewarded for helping the State to cover up planning crimes. No wonder there are so many sex offenders in the Metropolitan and Sussex constabularies.

The potential cure to these ails, is/are:

AFFORDABLE ENERGY

To make better use of the free energy from offshore wind turbines, perhaps by generating hydrogen for fuel as gas for homes, and to generate electricity for fuel cell vehicles, and hydrogen for IC engines like that produced by JCB, or produce green methanol for other road cars, such as to use the existing service station infrastructure. Unfortunately, that presumes ministers are up to speed with such developments. It also presumes that funding development grants do not go to those already in business, with conflicts if interest. Such as oil companies, or their subsidiaries.

By this means the UK would become a net exporter of energy and technology. The energy cost crisis would be averted. Energy companies that do not invest in renewables, would be fined, and/or lose their franchise. The 'Pothole Party' would need to enact urgent legislation, and not concentrate of secondary businesses and consultancy deals.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Where councils are not providing land for low cost housing (just about all of them), they should be prevented from granting consents for executive housing. Requiring statutory reform.

The simple act of retaining a register, with the get-out that they cannot provide land with services, is not a valid excuse for failing to provide the five year rolling stock of land. Simply because, once land is identified and made available by earmarking for low cost housing, flatpacks and other mobile units can be installed Stand Alone, and Off Grid. With the latest technology, water, waste, electricity and Wifi can all be provided without connecting to conventional services. Further reducing the cost of living. Councils will not like this, not getting such a big slice of the cake they are used to as Empire builders.

Forcing low earners to rent at market levels, is pushing vulnerable families into unaffordable debt.

The 2021 National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) provides that there should be "Entry Level Exception Sites" (Section 65 (d)). And at Section 68 (a), where they have to identify Specific Deliverable Sites - for a five year period. Wealden District Council is just one geographical location taking advice from Local Government Association advisers, on how to avoid meeting their obligations.

Once again, this is a loophole that needs to be closed, via statute.

Money that goes to renting companies and wealthy landlords, frequently finds its way offshore, so out of the UK economy. Creating a loss of income, that would otherwise be spent on taxable goods. In Wealden, it is alleged that at least one senior councillor has registered her property offshore. It is unclear if this was to avoid registering conflicts of interest, or for tax advantage.

CREATIVE ARTS

We need to encourage entrepreneurs in films and publishing. One thing we are good at is creating original scripts and producing very exportable actors. The James Bond 007 franchise is one such example. Film production in UK studios, provides jobs for thousands of skilled people. This should be encouraged, along with books and comics.

FOOD PRODUCTION

Sadly, we are no longer manufacturers. We are reliant on the import of cheap goods, and much of our food. We should encourage fish farming, vegetable and grain production, to reduce as much as possible, imports.

MILITARY - PROCUREMENT FRAUD

We do not need any more submarines. All such building should cease. We only need stocks of missiles and other armaments, as they might be used or supplied to allies in need. This need not halt research into lower cost defence options, such as long range ocean going drones and robotic infantrymen - sustainably powered. Robotic weapons could reduce overheads and saves lives. Aerial drones have already proved this. When developed, such weapons could be exportable to IP NATO allies.

NHS - FRAUD

Doctors should be monitored for time working, much as the Dental Estimates Board was used to identify dentist frauds. Contracts for medicines and consumables should be carefully monitored for conflicts of interest, such as the Underwear Queen, and her offshore account (£29 million), presumably stemming from fast track Covid procurement. Patients could be digitally monitored (something like smart watched) to build up a map of the health of the nation. Useful when calculating future NHS expenditure predictions.

GOLD STANDARD - OR AGRICULTURAL DOLLAR/POUND

We should not print any more paper money. We must not borrow any more money. These mechanisms are inflationary and contribute to over development, also increasing global warming. The economy needs to be scaled down, as it we were on a war footing. Where this is termed a recession, it is necessary to cool the super-heated economy that led to our staggering national debt. Eventualy, austerity measures will allow British people to breathe again. This is what happened in Greece.

One way of limiting artificial growth, is to tie the existing issue of £pounds sterling, to agricultural output & energy production.

BULLSHIT BOJO  - Could the former PM have been the first Plastic Free member of the G20? Not a chance, he could not tell fact from fiction. President Joe Biden is also under pressure to do something to curb the rising tide of ocean litter that is killing marine life and poisoning the fish we are eating. In the lead up to COP26, in November 2021, we imagined that plastic and climate change would be linked, to the burning of waste that is producing carbon dioxide at accelerated levels - especially in developing nations. The short answer is NO. He failed on all counts, resigning in the midst of PartyGate claims, and lying to Parliament, allegedly. Great speaker, but no policies to back up his rhetoric and no gumption. All blah, blah, blah. Eventually, in 2022, this contender was exposed for misleading Parliament, with further investigations of that ilk pending in 2023. He failed to conclude Brexit, increased the national debt, following his allegedly fraudulent Big Red Bus campaign, having also lied to Queen Elizabeth about proroguing Parliament - yet was not ordered to stand down - calling for another candidate. The result Britain further in debt, and NHS procurement fraud revealed in the case of Michelle Mone, and oh what a coincidence, a Tory peer. Boris did nothing to prevent plastic accumulating in greater amounts, as confirmed by the UN's report. And failed to kickstart renewable hydrogen, to make the UK an energy exporter, where North Sea oil is dangerously polluting, and the UK is paying massive energy fines, to stop renewables from reducing the price of heating homes and factories. All of which is down to promoting fossil fuels. With Jeremy Hunt falsely rating nuclear power as sustainable - to encourage investment in dirty power. When everybody knows nuclear waste can never be made safe. And sustainable, means safe to use, as well as renewable. Did you know that the UK exports plastic waste, and then the receiving nation dumps it in the ocean. Is that not fraud?

CONSERVATIVES - BREACHED AIR POLLUTION LAWS

The Conservatives are a political party that are happy for people to die from air pollution to allow their mates to profit from fossil fuels. Oh, and how about some nice nuclear power. Lots of nasty radioactive waste, for the next 100,000 years and more, but what the heck, the label "conservative" is anything but.  More like the "Spontaneous" or "Knee-Jerk" party.

The Government knowingly relied on 'optimistic' vehicle emissions tests and ignored 'higher, more realistic' figures in order to delay action by up to a decade, judge says. The High Court has ruled against the Government over its failure to tackle illegal air pollution (November 2016).

Environmental legal group ClientEarth described the decision as a "damning indictment of ministers’ inaction on killer air pollution".

Mr Justice Garnham decided the Environment Secretary had failed to take steps to bring the UK into compliance with the law "as soon as possible".

In an echo of the Volkswagen vehicle emissions scandal, the judge said ministers knew an overly optimistic model of pollution was being used, ClientEarth said in a statement.

ClientEarth's chief executive James Thornton said: "I am pleased the judge agrees with us that the Government could and should be doing more to deal with air pollution and protecting people’s health. That’s why we went to court.

"I challenge Theresa May to take immediate action now to deal with illegal levels of pollution and prevent tens of thousands of additional early deaths in the UK. The High Court has ruled that more urgent action must be taken. Britain is watching and waiting, Prime Minister.”

According to Government estimates, some 40,000 people die prematurely in the UK as a result of air pollution.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Garnham said:

"It is apparent that Defra recognised that they were adopting an optimistic forecast as the foundation for their modelling," he wrote, saying this was used to justify putting off the creation of several low-emission zones in urban areas until 2020 or 2025.

But the judge pointed to a Cabinet briefing note from last year which said "emerging findings from real-world testing by independent experts ... suggest emissions for Euro 6 [a group of vehicles] are significantly higher than previously thought".

This, he said, was "remarkable". "It means that the Government is acknowledging that its plan is built around a forecast based on figures which 'emerging data' is underminin g and that if higher, more realistic, assumptions for emissions are made the number of zones which will not meet the [air pollution] limit value in 2020 increases substantially," Mr Justice Garnham said.

"It seems to me plain that by the time the plan was introduced the assumption underlying the Secretary of State's assessment of the extent of likely future non-compliance [with legal pollution limits] had already been shown to be markedly optimistic."

ClientEarth presented evidence which it said showed that George Osborne had illegally blocked stricter controls of air pollution when he was Chancellor on the grounds it would cost too much.

Mr Justice Garnham ruled the Environment Secretary "fell into error by adopting too optimistic a model for future emissions" and also by deciding to comply with the law only by 2020 – and 2025 in London.

He quashed the Government air quality plan, saying the Environment Secretary must "aim to achieve compliance by the soonest date possible".

This is the second time ClientEarth has won a court battle with the Government over air pollution. In 2015, the Supreme Court decided the Government was not doing enough to reduce pollution levels to within legal limits. Ministers were forced to draw up a new air quality plan, the one that has now again been ruled illegal. 

Barbara Stoll, an air pollution campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “This judgment matters to every person breathing in the UK but it can only be called a victory when the levels of toxic air actually start to go down.

"Which means the Government needs to properly police the car industry who are still permitted to produce cars that emit up to 14 times over the legal limit.

The United Kingdom has many political parties, some of which are represented in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Below are links to the websites of the political parties that were represented in the House of Commons after the 2015 General Election:

POTHOLE POLITICS  - Pothole politics is the kind of short term, idiotic, patch-work thinking that isn't radical or gutsy, and doesn't take the political risks necessary to really accomplish anything properly. What you get is year after year of minor, ill-considered repairs, which make the road more patchy, rather than less. Why are our drivers' lives being put at such risk? We suffering from a funding shortfall that: “is the elephant in the room that none of the political parties are talking about”, because the recommendations in reports on the subject would involve slashing numbers of local government posts.

Potholes are a common problem on roads: they get damaged in small areas as they get older and the road surface starts to degrade, and it annoys drivers because their cars' wheels go into these small, sudden holes when driving, which is uncomfortable and can damage tires/wheels/suspension, and cost money, or even be dangerous. It's especially bad if you have many of them on the same stretch of road.

The proper solution is to resurface the entire road. However, the common solution is to patch the holes one at a time, with whatever spare money is left at the end of the year, after all the big spending is done.

CONSERVATIVE MPS 2017-2018

MP

CONSERVATIVE PARTY

CO-OPERATIVE PARTY

DEMOCRAT UNIONIST PARTY

GREEN PARTY

LABOUR PARTY

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

PLAID CYMRU

REFORM UK

SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY

SINN FEIN

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC AND LABOUR PARTY

UK INDEPENDENCE PARTY

ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY

Conservative Party

Co-operative Party

Democratic Unionist Party

Green Party

Labour Party

Liberal Democrats

Plaid Cymru

Scottish National Party

Sinn Féin

Social Democratic and Labour Party

UK Independence Party

Ulster Unionist Party

We are concerned with how the make up of the above parties and (reasonably) popular policies affects the Wealden district, because we are all brothers on two islands in the Atlantic Ocean and what we do or fail to do is likely to rebound on ourselves and our fellow man in other nations around the world. How we act today influences policies in other countries in our global community. It is not just about us and our patch despite BREXIT.

DISTRICT & BOROUGH COUNCILS

East Sussex has five District and Borough Councils, each with a border on the coast. From west to east they are: 

Eastbourne Borough Council

Hastings Borough Council

Lewes District Council 

Rother District Council 

Wealden District Council

There is also East Sussex County Council as the provider of services to the 5 East Sussex districts.

As near neighbours and with councils now sharing facilities and working together, these area of Sussex are included in our remit and an area where climate change and affordable housing are issues that need urgent attention. Where the coastline is a feature in every Council, Blue Growth is a food security issue, especially where this side of of our local economy is under-exploited.

LINKS

https://www.conservatives.com/

https://www.clientearth.org/

https://www.lgbce.org.uk/

THE GUARDIAN THURSDAY 11 JANUARY 2018 - Theresa May has said her government is serious about improving the environment after pressure groups gave a lukewarm response to a 25-year green plan, praising its ambition but warning that it lacked sufficient proposals for immediate action. May’s proposals were also criticised by Jeremy Corbyn, who said her pledge to stop all avoidable plastic waste by 2042 was “far too long” to take action - and that may prove to be the case, but let us give her the benefit of the doubt for a while so that we can see some action, or not.  What that could mean is that they want to appease the electorate and pass the problem onto the next generation - but - the whole point of taking action now is to try and stop the fish that we eat, eating the plastic in Marine Litter.