onionbagblog

Here’s an interesting pre-election night story coming out of South London as we prepare to select Parliamentary candidates who are going to be directly accountable to us (yeah, right…) for the next four or five years (or even four or five months - cripes.)

The results have been counted, and the good people at @democlub have published the #hyperlocal answers to the #hyperlocal issues that were raised by @democlub activists back in February. I was at the Kennington meeting of @democlub, and helped to formulate the questions that I wanted answering from my future MP.

The rationale for selecting a Westminster MP seems to have changed since that miserable South London evening sheltering from the SE11 rain in a Kennington boozer. The Leader’s Debate has made the general election a beauty contest, and an old woman in Rochdale who went out to buy a loaf of bread has changed the world.

But back in my little patch of South London, and the key issues for me remain the same: housing, leisure, cycling and the local economy. It is with these thoughts in mind that the South London branch of @democlub came up with ten questions to put forward to the PPC’’s.

Six of the nine PPC’s for Vauxhall responded to @democlub. I wouldn’t seriously suggest that your voting decision is in any way altered by the failure of Jose Navarro (English Democrats Party), Larna Martin (Christian Party - Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship) or even Tory Boy Glyn Chambers to bypass @democlub.

But then again, if they can’t be arsed to answer a few simple online questions, then I can’t be bothered to put a cross next to their name.

But anyway - what of the issues?

Daniel Lambert of the Socialist whatever party is strangely “neutral” on the question of:

“The council should commit to running their own leisure services as all three swimming pools in Lambeth are operated by third parties and are closed or under limited operation.”

Kate Hoey agrees with the statement, which is not surprising seeing as though the current Labour MP has given @LambethLabour something of a rough ride over the meltdown of leisure in the Rotten Borough.

Green Joseph Healy strongly agrees with the statement, as does @VoteDrinkall, showing that yes, both Left candidates have a good grasp of the local agenda and the problems that Lambeth leisure users have had to suffer over the past six months.

At the risk of writing a Labour party love in, Hoey also comes out fighting in answer to the question of:

“Extra public money should be spent on more safe cycle storage in the neighbourhood.”

In what seems like a complete reversal on the Vauxhall MP’s previous “lycra lout” stance, Hoey seems to have found a new cycling agenda. Or maybe even votes in embracing a cycling agenda.

Either way - well done Kate for putting your name next to such a progressive idea for our constituency.

Other statements that the candidates are asked to rate include:

“The 17% raise in Lambeth council tenants rent is not justified.”

“Extra public money should be spent on an increased provision of social housing.”

“The deadline for the Elephant and Castle / Aylesbury Estate redevelopment needs to be established.”

“Driving a car in South London should be more expensive.”

“The expansion of the Brixton pound concept should be encouraged.”

The answers are no substitute for a sustained, local debate, but they do at least give an overall indication as to what type of ideology we are being asked to vote upon in the next twenty-four hours.

The mostly “neutral” response from the Socialist whatever candidate draws a similar response from me, in terms of my commitment to endorse him as my next MP.

The @democlub exercise is not so clear-cut in the neighbouring Vauxhall constituency of Streatham. With the big guns (and Gordo) being rolled out in SW16 over the past few days, make no mistake - Streatham has now become a key national political battleground.

Which makes it all the more disappointing that Labour’s @ChukaUmunna hasn’t answered any of the questions asked of him by @democlub. The Guardian endorsed online initiative has found nationally that it is the Tories who aren’t taking part in the exercise. Only 6% of Dave’s Tory toffs decided to reply to @democlub.

Buy why has the Streatham PPC managed a very decent online campaign locally, yet hasn’t answered the simple questions that his LibDem rival, @Chris4Streatham has kindly offered his opinion on?

The Streatham question (a bit like the West Lothian question…) asking:

“The Streatham Hub is, on balance, a good thing for the area,”

…plus the supplementary Streatham Question of:

“Tesco must be closely monitored during the Streatham hub development,”

…really should be the bread and butter for Chuka and his SW16 campaign. Chuka has been incredibly approachable offline, happy to talk to anyone about any issue. He passionately backs the cause of Lambeth leisure users. It would have been decent though to have this data online, and on record for all to see.

Causing slightly more embarrassment for the Labour PPC may have been the statement:

“There is a conflict of interest in having the local MP as the Chair of Lambeth’s Housing company Lambeth Living.”

Ouch.

So has @democlub been a decent exercise in local democracy? Maybe not so much in terms of the actual responses given, but it has been an interesting exercise in understanding which candidates are actually committed to putting their name by specific policies.

The real benefit will not be seen until the next Parliament starts to mature. It is only then that we can go back to the data, and truly hold our local representatives accountable.

Perhaps this is why Labour’s @ChukaUmunna hasn’t participated? Let us not forget that it was a local @LambethLabour candidate that asked me back in February:

“What mandate do you and @democlub have for criticising elected officials?”

*every* mandate, my friend, especially so when candidates don’t have the decency to put their name to their polices as part of a national campaign that has been rolled out in collaboration with The Guardian.