Something Rather Special

One million children with Special Education Needs and with disabilities are being betrayed in this country, and rather a lot of them are in County Durham, where the County Council has cut the pay of 472 Teaching Assistants by 23 per cent.

Yet that County Council is permanently controlled by the right wing of the Labour Party, which, in addition to the individual moneybags who hang around it, is the only section of English or Welsh politics to have a large and independent fiscal base, enforceable on pain of imprisonment.

The media have a recurring obsession with "left-wing Labour Councillors", but out of six thousand Labour Councillors in the country, no more than about one in 10 could realistically be so described. They are vanishingly rare on Durham County Council. The Right, and the people who being fundamentally apolitical will side with the Right as required, continue to control pretty much the whole of Labour local government.

That includes the great majority of the most populous local authorities. With their Council Tax. With their business rates. With their pension schemes, looking to invest. With their opportunities for backhanders and freebies. And so on. Most Labour MPs have emerged from that little world, and it has become clear in recent days, as if there had ever been any doubt, that most of them will continue to do so.

Another hung Parliament is coming, however, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. A new party is now in the process of registration. After nearly 30 years of suggestion, speculation, and even a sort of preparation, I will stand for Parliament here at North West Durham. The crowdfunding page is here, and buy the book here. Please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.