Quiet revolutions getting louder in Westmorland and Lonsdale

Continuing our series looking at how the campaign is working on the ground across the UK – Johnathan Todd, PPC For Westmorland and Lonsdale gives us the view from his campaign.

“There is only one word for it. I’m sorry. But Tony Blair has ruined this country. Ruined. That is the only word for it”. I must have had these words said to me three or four times, before managing to politely edge away from the darkness of the elderly lady’s doorstep – and into the glorious spring sunshine of Ambleside; one of the jewels in the Lake District’s crown. If this is what Britain ruined looks like, then, I’m a Dutchman.

Bliss it was that dawn to be alive, but to be Labour was very heaven! As William Wordsworth, fondly remembered son of Westmorland and Lonsdale, where I am the Labour PPC, did not quite say of either the French Revolution or the General Election 2010. But quiet revolutions have been going on in Westmorland and Lonsdale, nonetheless.

First, there has been much change here since 1997, which my elderly friend in Ambleside evidently hasn’t quite seen. 3500 children in the constituency have Child Trust Funds and are able to attend one of four Sure Start Children’s Centres: Will we be able to say either of these things if a party other than Labour forms the next government? There are 825 more businesses in South Lakeland and 110 more secondary school teachers in Westmorland and Lonsdale than in 1997. While visiting tourists, attracted as they are by the charms of Ambleside, no matter how ruined Britain may supposedly be, are served by workers who have been moved from poverty pay by Labour’s combination of a rising minimum wage and tax credits; such workers would be made only 7p a week better off by Liberal Democrat income tax plans, as the richest in the country are made £7 better off.

Second, with a proud record of Labour delivery such as this, set alongside viable proposals to improve the area still further (a People’s Bank to give the rural Post Office network a viable future; investment in the green economy to diversify away from tourism; high speed rail and universal broadband to reduce distance to market for local firms; etc, etc); it is no surprise that the CLP has rediscovered a vibrancy and campaigning zeal in this supposedly most un-Labour of areas.

The first quiet revolution that Westmorland and Lonsdale experienced was the positive change that thirteen years of Labour government has brought and the second is to home to a CLP that believes in this change and is absolutely determined to work for the best possible Labour vote at every level in May; Parish, District, General. It has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to see the CLP take the fight to a locality let down by a Liberal Democrat District Council and increasingly unconvinced that the Liberal Democrats are capable of offering the progressive politics that they purport to offer. I will resist any comparisons with Iain Duncan-Smith as hard as I resist the suggestion that the Liberal Democrats are a progressive party, but my prediction is that the volume of this quiet revolution will be turned up in Westmorland and Lonsdale before 6 May.