“Why I’m Quitting Labour to Support Stephen Ferguson!”

I have been a loyal Labour supporter and was even a Labour candidate at the District Council election in 2018. But today I resigned from the Party to sign the nomination papers for Independent Candidate Stephen Ferguson.

To some this may seem like a strange move, as the UK doesn’t have a strong record of Independents on the national scene – Martin Bell as MP is one of the few to breakthrough.

But politics has changed. In Cambridgeshire, 10% of councillors at the County Council and 30% of my district councillors are now independents.

Independent candidates are no longer a wasted vote in our area.

I joined Labour because I saw the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition using the policy of austerity to dismantle much of the fabric of our civic society for ideological reasons, and felt compelled to take a stand.

At the time, Labour seemed the obvious place to be. But as I say, politics has changed, and Labour’s central decision to field a candidate in our constituency with zero track record in a rural area, let alone in Cambridgeshire, was a sign that it is no longer the party for me.

In Stephen Ferguson I see a person of the calibre we need in public life. A person dedicated to serving the best interests of his constituents rather than the best interests of his party. A man who listens to all of the arguments and is prepared to make up his mind about where the right place is to stand on an issue – irrespective of whether it makes him more popular or not.

He’s voted with the administration he is part of at the County Council when the policies are right, and he’s voted with the Conservative opposition when the policies are wrong, like the Coton Orchard issue.

He is a person who does the right thing without fear or favour, not what he is told by a party whip.

Stephen is my County Councillor as well as a District Councillor, and I’ve seen him putting in the hours at Parish Council meetings, staying for the whole meeting rather than just emailing in or putting in his report and leaving – because he listens. He’s interested in all the issues we face in the villages he represents, and his inputs are intelligent and thoughtful. He will work with anyone who is doing the right thing for our communities – and will challenge and hold to account anyone who is doing the wrong thing. Stephen is a person capable of delivering the kind of politics we need in Parliament. This is too important to just be left to political parties, and to politicians who just do as head office tell them.

Talking to my elderly father about politics, watching the succession of Johnson, Truss and Sunak his frequent refrain bemoaning the lack of the heavyweight politicians of the past has been “Where are the grown-ups?”

It’s time for a grown up. It’s time for Stephen Ferguson, and I believe he can win.