Right now a tragedy is unfolding in the Middle East. Hundreds of civilians have died in the bombings in Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine and the death toll is rising every day. The situation is volatile and could escalate into a catastrophic regional conflict. Despite the bloodshed, our government has been slow to act.
However, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for an immediate ceasefire and the deployment of international troops to the Israel-Lebanon border. This is the best proposal yet to stop the violence, but for it to succeed our government, and specifically the Prime Minister, needs to get behind it immediately.
Now is the time to act. We must tell our leaders to speak out and support Kofi Annan’s proposal. If we can persuade our government, amongst others, to demand a ceasefire, all sides in this conflict will be pressured to stand down.
To this end we have called for a vigil/demonstration to take place in St. George’s Square, in Hebden Bridge on Saturday 12 August at 12 noon, to mark the one month since the opening of hostilities and to commemorate all the innocent civilan bloodshed, especially those of the hundreds of children, on both sides.
There is, much ado about not a lot, in the local rag this week about our local Liberal Democrats allegedly forming a pact with the BNP to oust the ruling Conservative group. This misses the fundamental issue which is that they, along with some of our minority parties, are purely doing this, not for the benefit of democracy nor the people of our fair borough, but merely as an attempt to disrupt and it is also a blatant rush to put their snouts in the trough! The Liberals quite openly said at annual Council when they were excluded from Chairs of Scrutiny, that they would cause disruption whenever they can . This appears to be just that. Another despicable example of the true face of Liberalism! Shame, Shame and more Shame!
[edited from a letter from Cllr. Patrick Phillips (CMBC Lib Dem Group Leader)published in the Halifax Courier 16/10/06]
May I make it 100% clear that at no time has any member of the Lib Dems in Calderdale either asked for BNP support nor offered any reward for support.
It has been our policy ever since the BNP appeared in Calderdale to oppose their policies whenever we can and not to treat with them under any circumstances. That policy remains in place to-day.
We have put down a motion to remove the Tory Cabinet. What the BNP do about this is not a matter for us to decide and we certainly have not made any attempt to influence their or any other councillors? voting decision other than to inform people of the reasons for the motion to Council.
In July, the Council considered the Tory plan to permanently shut 5 local libraries. The Council majority voted against the closure. Days later the Tory Cabinet went ahead and closed them anyway.
This flagrantly flies in the face of democracy and renders the Council impotent. It disenfranchises the majority of voters who returned 32 out of 51 non-Tory councillors at the last elections.
We believe that we cannot allow such a cavalier disregard of the people of Calderdale just to slip by without challenge which is why we have tabled the motion to sack the Cabinet.
The Labour group chose to put the Tories in a position to enact this defiance, made legal by Mr Blair?s government. It is for the Labour group to show whether they are content to continue to prop them up now that they are aware that their support denies them the right to have their voice heeded in the future.
The Liberal Democrats are not.
The voting intentions of the 2 BNP members is an irrelevance in this context. The defence of democracy lies in the hands of the 10 Labour councillors, many of whom seemed to be very angry about being ignored last July.
A Liberal Democrat Cabinet would provide a seat for both Labour and Tory members. It would also change the way in which Cabinet operates by allowing any member of the Council to speak on any subject on the agenda.
Perhaps most significantly, a Liberal Democrat Cabinet would ensure that never again would the minority disregard the will of the majority.
Those who believe in these principles will vote with us next Wednesday. Those who prefer to play their own power games will not. We offer no further incentive to anyone and make no promises of rewards to anyone other than that afforded them by their consciences.