A TIME FOR CHANGE: GENERAL ELECTION CALLED FOR JULY 4.

EDITORIAL, May 22, 2024

A general election has finally been called.  It will take place on July 4. If the polls are to be believed, the UK could be ready to say goodbye to 14 years of Conservative rule after five prime ministers, four general elections, several turbulent referendums – including Brexit – and a seemingly limitless supply of scandals.

The Guardian has been there helping to make sense of it all. Or at least trying to. And, whoever enters the doors of 10 Downing Street after the last votes have been cast and counted, will do everything to hold the next government just as closely to account.

We at The Dumbarton Democrat are not in The Guardian’s league, but we are experienced and professional in the way we go about our business. We are real journalists, trade unionists and proud of our achievements, including prestigious awards presented to us by our peers.

We are not rich, but we are completely FREE to access. We also make our advertising free to community organisations and that includes the Council which pours what it spends on advertising into the coffers of the two local newspapers, owned by by millionaires whose investment in them is minimal.

We are dismayed that the once proud town of Dumbarton has been brought to its knees by prejudice, graft, incompetence, corruption and cover-ups.

And that our council has a reputation for bullying which, in just one case alone, looks like it will cost more than £1 million in a compensation settlement to one of their employees who was victimised.

The Labour Party is now in power in Church Street. They took over from the SNP who squandered a fortune during times of austerity, leaving a black hole in OUR finances even after swingeing budget cuts, which Labour inherited.

But Labour appeared – in the case of the proposal to close Balloch Community Library, for example – far too eager to implement.

Elected representatives – that’s the councillors you, the local public voted for – have delegated too many important decisions to officials whose results show they are unworthy of their inflated salaries.

Not that the councillors are worthy of the generous payments they receive.

There has been talk that one Labour councillor was so looking forward to being elected he was talking about giving up his day job.

He would then be on an salary of around £50,000 and able to afford to devote the time he spent in his normal job working as a councillor and doubtless going round the doors delivering election leaflets.

Good people who would do a better job on the Council than the present incumbents – and let’s face it, that would not be hard – consider they would have no chance without the Saltire or the Red Flag wrapped around them. That they would have to be members of a recognised political party. That’s not true.

These good people are being duped, taken for mugs. We have a population of 100,000 in West Dunbartonshire and only about half of those who are of the age to vote turn out at the polling stations. Shame on them.

Democracy is a fragile flower which is being trampled into the ground here while incompetents fill their boots with taxpayers’ money.

It’s time for a change, but not the kind the political parties are calling for.

It’s time for ordinary working class men and women to step up and compete to represent their families, friends and neighbours as Independents.

• Candidates in the General Election are invited to send their manifesto for publication in The Dumbarton Democrat to heaneymedia@btinternet.com   And to include a picture of themselves.