Abandoned by Labour

This by-election has been caused by our Labour councillor outrageously abandoning Higham Hill to further his political career in the Mid-Bedfordshire parliamentary by-election.

Alistair Strathern was appointed as Labour’s Mid-Bedfordshire candidate on 16 June but only resigned as a councillor in September, later confirming on Twitter that he had been living in Shefford “for many months now”. It’s unclear when he abandoned Higham Hill, but in his own words it must have happened long before he resigned. It has been confirmed that in those 12 1/2 weeks, Strathern took over £9,000 of your council tax money.

Lib Dem candidate Alex Lewis, a resident of Higham Hill, said, “How on earth could Cllr Strathern fulfill his duties as a councillor while living in Bedfordshire full-time? Why was he kept in the cabinet while he campaigned to become an MP elsewhere? Instead of hedging his bets, he should have resigned when he moved and given locals the chance to elect someone who wants to represent them.”

“The Labour council leader has questions to answer around appointing Cllr Strathern to the cabinet in the reshuffle on 21 June. How could she not have known that he was planning to move out of Waltham Forest?” continued Alex Lewis.

Adding insult to injury, Labour have chosen a candidate from Leyton to fill the vacancy. It begs the question: Will they be around enough to understand the problems that local residents face or will Labour continue to neglect and abandon Higham Hill?