Anston and Woodsetts Labour Party meeting
Chair Robin Stonebridge Treasurer Liz Bridges
Secretary,
Judy Dalton, 213 Nursery Rd, Dinnington, Sheffield S25 2QU
01909 569481
Judy@littlepotstove.com
13.02.2014
Minutes of Trigger Ballot
1. Welcomed by Chair and introduction of Executive Committee member JD to oversee proceedings
2. Membership check undertaken. There were 9 members eligible to vote for A&Woodsetts Ward. There were 3 members present eligible to vote for Wales Ward.
3. Procedure was outlined by the chair according to the NEC procedural guidelines.
4. Election of Tellers-KW and JD
5. Distribution of statement from Member of Parliament and Chief Whip’s report
6. Members allowed 15 minutes to read statement and report.
7. Discussion on the merits of the Member of Parliament – It was noted that the sitting candidate had an excellent voting record and was a hard working constituency MP.
8. Ballot Papers were distributed to the members, 3 of which were adjusted to read Wales ward, as they had all printed as Anston and Woodsetts Ward. The ballot papers were then collected and counted by Tellers.
9. Chair declared the result of the ballot, which was a unanimous endorsement of Sir Kevin Barron. 9 votes in favour – A&Woodsetts ,
3 votes in favour – Wales Ward.
There followed a political discussion on campaigning.
Judy Dalton Secretary
Rotherham Politics 
Good to see Stalinism is still alive and well in Rother Valley?
The real concern here, is how few members the labour party now has!
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If you are really concerned, why not join the Labour Party? You could get a few mates to join as well and have a take over (looks like you only need a football team to take over a ward party).
Are you concerned about how many members the local Tory Party has, or the fact the Lib Dems are non-existent in Rotherham. If so, you could join one of these, if they are more to you liking, and then may be do some campaigning, and put up some candidates in May. Who knows, you might even win a seat.
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The executive member wasn’t Judy Dalton, was it?
Is that why they were so coy, referring to them simply as JD in the minutes?
If so this would breach labour’s own rules as there is more than the potential for a conflict of interest here!
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Why is Rotherham Politics concerned how many (or few) members Labour has?
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“Robust scrutiny of all things political in and around Rotherham. Speaking truth to power since 2008!” would cover that?
A party with no members is a dead party walking! The voters understand this, which is probably why labour’s vote across Rotherham will be an all time low, in this years local elections?
Thanks for paying Rotherham Politics a compliment. If we are worth our very own labour attack dog, we must be doing something right!
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“Why is Rotherham Politics concerned how many (or few) members Labour has?”
It is not a ‘concern’ .The comment reflects on the dwindling support for the Labour party and the failure of Anston and Woodsetts Labour to open the selection procedures to the wider Labour membership and Labour supporters.
12 members of this Labour clique have taken upon themselves the right to speak for every resident who votes and/or supports the Labour party. Where is the empirical evidence to show Sir Kev has overwhelming support in Anston and Woodsetts?
Like the budget meeting Rotherham last week this is another ‘done deal’ without reference to anyone outside this local Politburo whose members claim to speak for the majority.
To echo Rik’s other comment; They have learned their lesson well from Stalin.
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Would it really cover it? This forum is distinctly anti-Labour so I fail to understand why you would concern yourself with Labour’s membership level. I understand the Conservative party membership has nearly halved (to 134,000) under Cameron and the Lib Dems membership is just over 43,000. Compared to those figures Labour’s 180,000 doesn’t look too shabby!
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This blog is not anti-labour per se, but pro open political discourse.
I should also point out that Jahangir Akhtar, has made it ‘a hanging offence’, for labour members to comment or contribute to Rotherham Politics, a full on boycott even!
It is labour throughout Rotherham Borough that needs to be held to account. They, after all, have held hegemonic political power in Rotherham since 1974!
That being said, labour’s untrammelled power in Rotherham, has led to a degree of complacency, an understatement as it happens, I am sure.
It is that complacency they need to overcome, the status quo ante, is no longer an option so scrutiny is the only way forward, hence Rotherham Politics.
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“Anston and Woodsetts” Labour Party Meeting ?. So why were there people from Wales ?. Its obvious there is not many people who hold Membership, who are willing to be seen in the same company as Dalton, Stonebridge, St John and Co. One could assume that those 9 who were present, were all the card carrying Members of Anston Parish Council. So its not surprising that other Labour members did not turn up. Mr Barron is fully aware of the “Events” that are being carried out in the name of the Labour Party at Anston Parish Council, He probably did not want their backing and is probably cringing as we speak.
It will come as no shock at all to those in the know, that they chose to “adjust” the Ballot Papers.
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Wales & Anston Woodsetts labour party have merged because Wales no longer have enough members to organise a branch of it’s own. Once upon a time Wales had over 100 members.
Some years ago Wales was the only branch in Rother Valley NOT to endorse Barron as their candidate. Of course this was never reported.
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No wonder Dominic Beck feels lonely!
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I suppose the Empirical Evidence that Colin looks for in A&W will be discerned at the 2015 GE where we will get a good idea of support for Sir Kev himself. The dwindling party figures demonstrate that the political system in UK is broken and vulnerable to manipulation by political minority elites. We need alternatives to the “big 3” – who should perhaps be renamed the “Not as Big as they Once were Three”- who are willing to consider issues dispassionately and intelligently and listen to voters. The May Council elections will show more clearly the empirical evidence for support for Rotherham Labour in W&S (nb: this ward already has one Independent and will possibly have another non-Labour Councillor after May) Unfortunately I am unable to stand because of work commitments this year but I urge folk to vote for any Independent candidate.
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Its just occurred to me, If you take out the names of both Dalton and St John, who both live in Dinnington, then the numbers look decidedly sick for Anston and Woodsetts Labour Party. It may be the case that one or two of the other 7, may also be from outside, if so, I would question the right of these persons to “represent” the ward.
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3 votes from whole ward to endorse a candidate! I consider this as a totally failed and non-endorsement. Mr Barron I think should consideration not to stand and go on to join war criminal Blair whom he supported with his lies and mislead British public. At last the people of Rotherham are beginning to understand these con men’s of labour brigade
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To be honest I am coming to the conclusion that Ukip is no better than the others. In a democratic society, people should be able to over ride their government and have a a referendum when they decide. Once that’s the case, it wouldn’t matter who was in government, because they would be a lot more careful what the do.
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