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Jonathan Wallace leads a group of 11 Liberal Democrat Councillors on Gateshead Council against a Labour group of 55 members. No other party is represented on Gateshead Council.
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Dear Fellow Gateshead Residents,
On Thursday 5th May, you will be able to vote in the local elections for Gateshead Council. Regardless of which party you support, I hope that you take the opportunity to have your say on who represents you on Gateshead Council. And naturally, I hope you will vote for your local Liberal Democrat candidate.
One thing is for certain about the elections: Labour will remain in control of Gateshead Council. Even if they lost all 18 of the seats they are defending, they will still have a majority. That's because only a third of seats are up for election and Labour currently holds 55 out of a total of 66.
It is not a very democratic situation where the ruling group on a council outnumbers the opposition 5 to one, but that's the situation in Gateshead. Against Labour's ranks there are 11 Lib Dem Councillors. No other party has councillors in Gateshead and no other party is strong enough to win any seats here. So the battle in Gateshead is between Labour and Lib Dems.
Lib Dem Councillors punch above their weight. In the past year we have beaten back Labour's plans to switch bin collections to once every 3 weeks and slash grass cutting and litter sweeping, fought Labour's plans for building on greenbelt and highlighted Labour's waste on refurbishing their own Civic Centre office.
In the wards we represent, we have led many local campaigns, such as fighting opencast mining near Whickham and Birtley, battling to tackle the stench from landfill sites near Ryton and Blaydon and pressing for better traffic management in Low Fell.
But we could do so much more if we were a larger group. Liberal Democrats are known for fighting residents' battles and with more councillors, your voice will be so much stronger. We will be able to do so much more to hold the Labour Council to account.
With 55 out of 66 seats, Labour have become arrogant and out of touch. Even Labour supporters tell us this! On 5th May, you have a great opportunity to change this by voting for local Liberal Democrat councillors to represent you.
Best wishes,
Dr Jonathan Wallace
Leader of the Opposition, Gateshead Council
PS You can help to make Labour-run Gateshead Council more accountable and less out-of-touch by voting for a stronger Lib Dem opposition on 5th May.
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