WHAT KIND OF POLITICS DO YOU WANT?

Most of us have viewed with horror developments in American politics, where in the Trumpian world truth is presented as lies and lies are presented as truth.

Sadly, what happens in the United States has a habit of happening here not too long afterwards.

At the national level, in the years since the arrival of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, we have seen lies being told on an industrial scale by the party of government. Behaviour at the top level of politics affects what happens at lower levels, including here in Wokingham. A culture of selectively ignoring the past and distorting the present truth has taken root within the local Conservatives as well as in national politics.

Conservatives have shown no shame in attacking measures that they initiated while in control of the council for twenty of the last twenty-two years, or in stating falsehoods about the council and its Liberal Democrat leadership.

Just one example, but a really important one, has been a misleading narrative around our roads. When leaving office in May 2022, the Conservatives left behind a huge backlog of overdue resurfacing in the borough with no money or plans for how this would be addressed. They also cut the roads maintenance budget in their last two years in office by 23% and then 28%. Facts they have conveniently forgotten when complaining about the inevitable consequences in terms of potholes.

The local elections on 2 May are not only about the plans and approach that parties have for running the borough council. They are also a clash between two very different versions of how politics should be conducted.

Electors have a choice. Do they accept a partisan approach, focusing on blame and telling untruths about opponents? Or do they want an honest approach which treats them as adults, deals with reality and looks for cooperation for the common good?

I know which I want. I’m proud that my Liberal Democrat colleagues on the council have approached their responsibilities in an honest, calm, and rational way, avoiding a descent into negativity which has characterised the Conservatives so much this year. I’ve spoken with thousands of people on doorsteps this year and so many have been telling me how fed up they are of the negativity and ‘blame game’ in so much of their political literature.

If you share my dislike for this negativity, please cast your vote for the 3 Liberal Democrat candidates who have presented ideas, plans and a positive message of hope and aspiration for our borough, and for the Liberal Democrat Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Bearder, whose plans and positive vision and priorities for policing in the Thames Valley area will make us all safer.

With your help, we can continue to build the better Wokingham that we all want.

Clive Jones

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Wokingham.