REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN: Andrew Pope Writes To Leaders of Councils and Groups Again About A Referendum... and Complains About the BBC

 

Andrew Pope on BBC South Today about "Devolution"
Photo: Southampton Independents

UPDATE: A new petition has been created by Andrew Pope. You can sign it here. It has been offered to all MPs in the region and many councillors - will these party politicians sign it? We'll see...

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Andrew Pope says: "A sham consultation of Southampton and Hampshire people is not enough to change how we are governed. The big political parties should be made to persuade us, not force us, in a vote, just like the EU Referendum but conducted in a more informed and balanced way by a citizens jury first". 

After yesterday's dreadful announcement that Southampton City Council is to be merged with others in the Region, Andrew Pope has given another chance to leaders of Hampshire councils, and leaders of political groups of councillors, to support a Referendum on (a) council reorganisation and (b) an Elected Mayor.

He has written to the leaders of the following councils:

• Hampshire County - Conservative Councillor Nick Adams-King
• New Forest District - Conservative Councillor Jill Cleary
• Test Valley Borough - Conservative Councillor Phil North
• Portsmouth City - Liberal Democrats Councillor Steve Pitt
• Southampton City - Labour Councillor Alex Winning

and previously had been in touch with the Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, Independent Phil Jordan.

Some of these leaders had responded to previous correspondence on the issues at hand. Others did not.

None had supported a Referendum. 

Andrew has also written to the leaders of all political groups in Southampton City Council again. Some had engaged with a debate, but again...

• Conservative Group Leader Councillor Peter Baillie
• Liberal Democrats Group Leader Councillor Richard Blackman
• Labour Group Leader Councillor Alex Winning
• Both Green Councillors Matt Renyard and Katharine Barbour
• The sole Reform Councillor Sarah Powell-Vaughan 

None have supported a Referendum, although the Southampton Liberal Democrats did, and then changed their mind.

The author of the article Jason Lewis, the Local Democracy Reporter funded by the BBC, that only includes the views of Labour elected representatives in Southampton, and nobody else in Southampton, was cc'd. The BBC is required to be impartial. Andrew has written to Jason Lewis and the Editor of the Echo, Ben Fishwick, to complain.

 

 

REFERENDUM DEMAND on "Devolution" and Council Reorganisations: Andrew Pope's Letter To Daily Echo

Southampton Independents Councillor Andrew Pope
on BBC South Today About "Devolution" in 2017
Photo: Southampton Independents

Member of the Independent Network Andrew Pope has had a letter published in the Daily Echo. The wording is below.

Do you agree with him? 

Then get in touch and help the campaign for a Referendum. Andrew forced one in Somerset and helped to defeat previous proposals here in Southampton by working cross-party before. He was the ONLY councillor of forty-eight on Southampton City Council to fight the previous proposals and defeat them.

Andrew says in the letter:

 

Andrew Pope

 

"Dear Editor, as I have said since 2016, there should be a referendum before any changes are made to how we are governed.

Neither Labour nor Tory governments have stood up to Whitehall mandarins who want to take local democracy away.

I have, both here with Southampton Independents and when I was there for three years, in Somerset Independents. I forced a referendum in Somerset.

We defeated the "Solent Devolution Deal" here in Southampton and in the region before, by my working together across the region with political parties and independents, but it came back from the dead like the vampire that it is.

I disagreed with the former Hampshire County Council leader Roy Perry on almost everything, but he was right when he said that a stake needed to be driven through its heart.

I demand a referendum and ask that residents do the same to save themselves from democracy being watered down.

Regards, Andrew Pope, Independent Network, Southampton Independents"

Sign Andrew Pope's Petition For Sprinklers at the SGH and Make Them Mandatory In All Hospitals and Care Homes in England

 

Southampton General Hospital
Photo: Southampton Independents

You can go straight to the petition at the link here.

You can find out more about the petition here. 

People died at Grenfell Tower because there were no sprinklers. Kensington Council didn't bother. Firefighters died at Shirley Towers in 2010. Sprinklers would have saved lives and property, because they are proven. Don't let it happen again. Please sign the petition. 

Or you can read more about Andrew Pope's leadership on fire safety over nearly ten years in Southampton on this website by using the site search facility and searching for 'fire safety', or clicking the links below:

• here 
•   here 
•     and here. 

And if you are in the Shirley ward, please Vote Andrew Pope Independent Network. 

 

Independent Network Emblem

Andrew Pope Letter Daily Echo on By-Election
Photo: Southampton Independents

 

Did You Know That Your Council Leaders Are Doing Deals About How You Are Governed?

 

"Devolution" the vampire coming out of the coffin
Image: Giphy.com

And cancelling elections, claiming all of it as "democracy"?

We do. And we've been acting to challenge them. Like a vampire, it's come out of the coffin...

And it threatens to bleed you dry, of your money and your voice. 

Since last year, Southampton Independents campaigner Andrew Pope has been contacting the leaders of Southampton, Portsmouth, Hampshire and Isle of Wight councils, plus others, to ask them their positions on so-called "devolution" as being promoted by the Labour Government.

Their answers have been highly disappointing. Instead of standing up to the Labour Government, they are giving in. 

If this all seems familiar, that's because it is. The vampire is rising.

Back in 2016, Southampton Independents defeated previous proposals, called "devolution", to change how Hampshire is governed, and we called for a Referendum. We achieved this by working with any and all political parties and those of no political party.

We stood up for residents who were being ignored by the Southampton Labour and Southampton Conservative MPs and councillors. Our councillor Andrew Pope was the only Southampton councillor opposing it, but others across the Region also opposed it.

Former Leader of Hampshire County Council Roy Perry said that a stake needed to be driven into the heart of the Solent Devolution Deal.

It appeared to be dead. Yet we hear that like a vampire, it it rising out of the coffin. 

The Council leaders of Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight councils are having conversations behind closed doors about a new devolution deal in the Solent area.

And by rolling over to the Labour diktats, they are complicit in cancelling elections, as decided by the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner this week.

Our position has not changed. Andrew Pope says:

"We demand a Referendum for Southampton residents, before any change to how we are governed.

Thet is true democracy, not deals done behind closed doors with elections benig cancelled." 

In response to the announcement of cancelling elections in May for a large portion of the country, six County areas will lose the right to vote on the performance of their Councillors at a time when both Conservative and Labour are at a low ebb, Councillor Marianne Overton MBE, Leader of the Independent Network of Councillors across England and Wales, said:

“Cancelling elections is denying residents the democratic opportunity to vote. And the excuse? Local Government Re-organisation for which there is no mandate!

“These actions were not on the general election manifestoes and no resident referendum.

“There is still no clarity on how the cost of reorganisation will be met beyond asset stripping existing councils. This will move democracy further away from residents, putting power into the hands of the few, not the many.

“In making these announcements the Government are disregarding the views of local people – both residents and the district councillors who have been elected to represent their residents.“

If you want to find out more and to get involved and to help fight back, please get in touch.here.

 

 

UPDATE (29/10/24): Devolution Back From The Dead? Southampton and Portsmouth To Join? We need a Referendum!

 

Andrew Pope speaking for a Referendum
on BBC South Today

UPDATE (29/10/24): Is a Solent Devolution Deal back from the dead?

Below is an article from eight years ago. Former Leader of Hampshire County Council Roy Perry said that a stake needs to be driven into the heart of the Solent Devolution Deal.

It appeared to be dead. Yet we hear that like a vampire, it it rising out of the coffin. 

The Council leaders of Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight councils are having conversations behind closed doors about a new devolution deal in the Solent area.

Our position has not changed. Andrew Pope says:

"We demand a Referendum for Southampton residents, before any change to how we are governed.

I've written to the leaders of all three councils, asking for their positions, including on a Referendum and on an Elected Mayor.

So far, I've heard back from only one of them."

Stay tuned!

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Do you want Southampton to join with Portsmouth? Yesterday's Daily Echo reported an amusing mistake on a French airport's view of Southampton and Portsmouth.

This is what Labour and Tory politicians want to happen. And they're doing it without involving the people who live in the two cities that are separated by twenty-odd miles and some would say, other things.

But so-called “English Devolution” has largely been conducted without the say of English citizens.

Locally here on the South Coast, the vast majority of people haven't even heard of the "Solent Devolution Deal".

Yet self-appointed "leaders" of Southampton City Council and Portsmouth City Council have carried it on, behind the scenes.

And a sham consultation is being conducted.

Thankfully, people on the Isle of Wight have fought back - forcing the Council to agree to a referendum on any deal.

But in Southampton and Portsmouth, the "leaders" haven't agreed to a referendum - yet.

Independents in Southampton, including Councillor Andrew Pope, have been pushing for one ever since devolution was mentioned.

And now Portsmouth campaigner Blair Breton has created two petitions to enable citizens to have their say, and not allow devolution to be about politicians stitching it up for other politicians. Already, over 200 people have signed up.

One petition is aimed at local councils and the other petition is aimed at Government.

This is a cross-party campaign, and a campaign for Independents too, because it is so important.

PLEASE SIGN BOTH PETITIONS!

The Government petition is located at: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/165665

The Council petition is located at: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solent-devolution-the-people-not-politicians-must-decide

You can also respond to the “consultations” here. Sadly their deadline is 18th September 2016, as it was decided to hold most of the "consultation" over the summer holidays - how odd? Some would suggest they don't really want to listen to you!

Paying for Free Bus Passes? You must be joking...

Happy New Year to all my readers and your friends and families!

Labour and Tory councillors from Southampton and Hampshire have "agreed" that pensioners paying for free bus passes is a good idea. This follows the disastrous decision by the Labour Council, slipped in under the radar during budget cuts, to cut disabled bus passes - much to local people's dismay - and that of Unite Community.

I'm not joking about this! It just isn't funny.

Yes, minutes of the Council scrutiny meeting show (quoted below) that the current Labour Leader of Southampton City Council Councillor Letts* and Leader of the Conservative Group Councillor Moulton think that free bus passes should actually not mean free travel! When I asked them, the Southampton Labour Group of councillors confirmed they know about the proposal. Yet they have not stopped it! 

* (He whom I have regularly publicly criticised, following my rejection last May of his offer for me to join his failing Cabinet of cuts. I chose in favour of standing up for the people of Redbridge against this Council's cuts.)

"The Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee expressed support for outline proposals relating to the pensioner bus pass scheme, discussed at the meeting, where potentially a nominal charge might be introduced to enhance the sustainability of services."

Here is further evidence of their bonkers bus buffoonery, quoted from p.29 of the Devolution Prospectus for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, a mostly vague document that apparently has been fully signed-up-to by leaders of councils across the area:

"... A recent Hampshire County Council consultation on bus subsidy reductions indicated that concessionary passholders would potentially be happy to contribute to the cost of their journeys if that directly supported wider availability of bus services that they could use.
What HIOW will do - Establish a new local bus fund hypothecated to supporting socially necessary bus services, with emphasis on evening, weekend and weekday access in areas where the commercial service is very limited.
What we ask in return - Localise the national Concessionary Fares scheme in HIOW to support a new fund for wider bus service subsidies in areas where the commercial service is very limited."

Let me know what you think of this idea!

At the Extraordinary Council Meeting just before Christmas, I voted against the current plans for English devolution - and for those currently involved to continue to negotiate on "our" behalves.

This form of Tory Devolution, that Labour are going along with, is just wrong. They need to start again with the public properly involved. Surveys have shown that the public are not aware, or do not care, about devolution. But decisions are being taken in their name, without their permission.

This crazy proposal for bus passes shows how out-of-touch these "leaders" are, and how much they've got it wrong. 

I hear that even the Minister Greg Clark is unimpressed by the Hampshire proposals, and has asked for them to be improved!

It also shows that the people of Southampton deserve better councillors - in contrast to asleep-at-the-wheel Southampton Labour councillors, the Basingstoke Labour councillors don't support the bus pass idea. You can see them say it on Youtube here. In Southampton, these failing Labour councillors must be voted out in this May's local elections.

Andrew.