Political Viewpoint

By Coun Kevin Buck, Prittlewell Ward, Shadow Cabinet Member for Transport, Highways & Parking.

THERE are few things that are certain in politics and we’ve seen that with the announcement of the general election for July 4. However, there seems to be some things that are entirely and reliably predictable.

With the local elections concluded for 2024, whilst disappointing to lose some very consciousness and hard-working City councillors, Southend Conservatives once again ‘bucked’ the national trend.

Defending 11 of the 17 seats across the whole city, in the current political climate, it was always going to be a challenge to say the least.

With that in mind and against a strong national political tide, we did relatively well locally and retained 7 of the 11 seats. In fact in some wards, Labour’s vote decreased from last year. That said, for the first time since becoming a unitary authority, the Conservatives are no longer the largest political group on the City council.

Of note, is a 2nd win for the Green Party in Leigh Ward. Whilst I might not agree with some of their sociopolitical ideologies and policies, as a staunch environmentalist myself, we have many shared values regarding the environment.

I therefore look forward to working with them to help promote and achieve environmental protection and sustainability in Southend. This aspect of our city and environment, has been largely neglected by the 3-party coalition administrations over the last decade.

Whilst I had a general interest in politics prior to becoming a Councillor in 2018, it has been a real revelation and education watching the cross party ‘politics’ from within. Here’s my take on it:

With the political horse trading over, the next City administration is in. With the predictability of Halley’s Comet, the outcome will perhaps be of little surprise to many. The return of the Labour led 3-party coalition. The Lib Dems continue to offer their unequivocal support to Labour locally and the local Independent Party have once again entered in to a formal political alliance with Labour.

Some of these political alliances are perhaps less opaque than one might initially think. It is widely accepted, that within the last decade or so, the Lib Dems will generally align with Labour.

That is certainly the experience in Southend in recent years and I believe that this is largely understood by many? It’s certainly a perceived likely outcome if Labour fail to gain an overall majority in the General Election and the Lib Dem party leader has already eluded to this since the announcement of the general election.

Of perhaps a much more opaque nature, is the political aspirations and allegiances of the local Independent Party, not to be confused with the Non Aligned Independents (the Independent Independents!). It would be easy to use this entire column to write about the politics of Independence in Southend, but perhaps that’s for another time!

What may make it easier to understand Independence in Southend, is to understand that the majority of Independent’s are either, past or present members of the Labour party, or are Labour/socialist supporters/sympathisers.

The current leader of the local Independent Party Coun Terry, unsuccessfully stood as a Labour Party candidate for election to Leigh Town Council some years ago. Labour’s political Trojan horse perhaps?

I don’t even believe the reformation of the 3-party coalition this time round was about egotistical positions of power and money, as discussions were had and equally generous counter offers where made. It has been a clear and unequivocal political choice by these groups to continue to support Labour.

So we go back to the ballot box on July 4. There is much political rhetoric and finger pointing about the current issues we all face today. As a reminder, if we’ve been lucky enough to survive it, we have endured a once in a lifetime global pandemic, which soon after, has been followed by a continuing war in Europe, the first since WW2.

Were mistakes made by some during these global events? Without question! We should be mindful though, that it is very easy to criticise others from the safety and comfort of our armchairs, without having the responsibility of making the key and sometimes, life threatening decisions ourselves.

I’m reminded of how Churchill was and rightly still is, revered as a national war time hero, to be unceremoniously ousted in peace time a few years later. The financial consequences of WW2, were felt by the UK economy until the turn of the millennium!

Given the tragic circumstance of Sir David that led to Anna Firth becoming our MP in 2022, in this regard, we have been extremely fortunate in Southend West. As someone born here, since becoming our MP, Anna has been a tireless champion of Southend.

She has been extremely proactive in the constituency and community, supporting many local charities and has also had more appearances in the House of Commons, ‘bobbing’ to champion Southend than almost any other MP.

I hope Southend West will continue to put their faith and support behind our incredibly conscientious and hardworking politician on July 4.

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