I struggled to find acceptable vocabulary to describe Labour’s delay to the proposed Sussex mayoral election. It is democracy denied because the government fear the verdict of the voters. As if that was not bad enough, in Parliament the government announced overturning centuries of liberty by scrapping jury trials for many cases – literally overturning Magna Carta and one of the oldest protections against the overreach of the state. The delays and backlog in the justice system are bad but could be fixed through more funding, sitting courts for more days and better administration. Or if they want fewer cases, how about not treating the BBC licence fee as a criminal offence or trying to prosecute people for freedom of speech? I will certainly oppose this removal of a fundamental defence of the individual. As one MP put it, ‘to describe this as a dog’s dinner is offensive to the makers of Pedigree Chum!’. I’m afraid there is a pattern emerging and it is positively sinister: forcing changes on democratic local government without asking the people, changing the voting system and who is eligible to vote, suspending elections when the prime minister feels he wouldn’t win, scrapping jury trials, introducing mandatory ID cards, deploying facial recognition policing and prosecuting people for what they say. The government should now shelve all its plans to mess around with local government reform – none of which were ever asked for by the people of Sussex – and instead get on with dealing with the many challenges our country faces.
The other atrocious decision last week was Chichester District Councils planning committee voting for a huge solar farm on 61 acres of farmland between Wisborough Green and Kirdford. The decision to approve was carried by a majority of Lib Dems and a green councillor with the developer specifically citing the Climate Emergency Action Plan adopted recently by the council as a reason to proceed. Ignoring hundreds of residents to build Chinese solar panels made with energy from coal on West Sussex farmland is completely shameful.
