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Lewes Lib Dem councillor defects to the Tories


A Liberal Democrat councillor defected to the Conservatives saying his dedication to his town was not recognised by his old party.

Robbie Robertson, who represents Newhaven Valley on Lewes District Council, announced his decision to cross the floor after his party raised council tax by 16% in Newhaven.

He said: “I am a dedicated and hard working councillor but sadly in my present position my skills are not utilised.

“Becoming a councillor was for me driven by the desire to involve myself in the Newhaven and district community and be instrumental in driving forward change and improvements.

“Unfortunately I can only be of use to the community if I am given the opportunity and this has certainly not been the case in recent times. The time has come I believe for me to associate myself with a party which hopefully will recognise my dedication to the community of Newhaven and district and give me the chance to work effectively on their behalf.”

Coun Robertson is a former mayor of Newhaven. His defection reduces the Lib Dem majority to three.

The Conservatives and the Lib Dems have been at loggerheads over plans for a waste incinerator at Newhaven.

Coun Ann De Vecchi, Lib Dem leader of Lewes District Council, was reported as saying: “The people of Newhaven who voted for a Lib Dem councillor against the incinerator can feel rightly angry at his decision to move to the proincinerator party.”

Comments(12)

bibble says...
5:09pm Mon 25 May 09

This fellow should stand for re-election under his new colours.

Let the people decide...

Jim BB says...
5:31pm Mon 25 May 09

Politics should not be about egos - he's thrown his toys out of the pram and signed with his opponents whose philosophies are so different from his own - that's not how to serve his constituents.

Fight Back says...
7:22pm Mon 25 May 09

He's done the right thing. Anyone who wants to associate themselves with the Lib Dems like Norman Baker and Coun Ann De Vecchi who are PROVEN liars and hypocrites needs their head testing.

stickman says...
12:15am Tue 26 May 09

What were the lies and lets see the proof? I'm not doubting, just interested.

bugmenot says...
12:43pm Tue 26 May 09

Notice he has nothing to say about the benefits the Tories bring.

Just that they might pay him a bit of attention.

Fight Back says...
1:17pm Tue 26 May 09

stickman wrote:
What were the lies and lets see the proof? I'm not doubting, just interested.
I'll list one for each although there are plenty :

Norman Baker - that it takes 25 minutes to walk from Brighton Station to Sheepcote Valley ( in support of his claim that it would be a better place for the new stadium ).

Coun Ann De Vecchi - helped produce the leaflet opposing the new stadium. Claimed it would affect the local views of the country side and "accidently" using a photo of Ditchling Beacon to support the arguement. Not to mention her thug of a husband who attacked a photographer.

Lib Dems - probably best avoided !!!! Join or vote for anyone else rather than them.

Security word "away-stay" - I kid you not.

Jason Sugarman says...
2:37pm Tue 26 May 09

Dear Sirs,

I write with regard to Cllr Robbie Robertson joining the Conservatives.

We are delighted he has decided to join and look forward to working with him to ensure Newhaven has a brighter future.
Cllr Robertson explained in his own words why he joined the Conservatives. There was no spin or spite in what he said. He had thought carefully about his reasons for joining us and concluded that it was in the interests of the community he represents in Newhaven to join the Conservatives who he felt had the best policies for delivering badly needed regeneration and improved public services in Newhaven.

As a former Mayor, Town councillor and District Councillor he has the experience and knowledge of the problems in Newhaven and we are very fortunate to have him on board with our party's attempts to offer the people of Newhaven a better deal in the future. He clearly considers the 16 per cent council tax rise imposed on Newhaven by the local LibDem town council completely outrageous. He sees merit in the incinerator and has said there has been a large amount of unnecessary scaremongering and distortion of the facts. Can anyone ever trust the LibDems again after the true facts on this have been revealed by Cllr Robertson?

In the last few weeks I have been canvassing in Newhaven, Seaford, Polegate and Lewes. People are very angry with their politicians for seemingly selfishly feathering their own nest at a time of economic turmoil. There have been many examples of MPs, for instance, claiming huge amounts of taxpayers money for basic maintenance, paying mortgages that do not exist or running a constituency office from their home and claiming thousands in rent for themselves. This cannot be allowed to continue. David Cameron is the only party leader ensuring MPs who have abused the system should stand down. This is in contrast with the lack of action taken by the Liberal Democratic leadership over MPs who have abused the system and still remain in place.
Honest and transparent rules need to apply to the entire remuneration system of our politicians. It is time for some new blood and individuals that understand the real world because they have had jobs that have not been connected to politics.

I hope that others will follow the example of Cllr Robertson putting the future of the people of Newhaven before party loyalties. Cllr Robertson clearly thinks that it is time for a change and that the Conservatives represent that change. He is not alone in believing that.

If I am elected as the MP for Newhaven I will make the regeneration of Newhaven a priority and I have demonstrated this by introducing leading politicians to Newhaven over the last two years. So far we have welcomed Theresa Villers MP, Shadow Secretary for Transport, Jim Paice Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Oliver Letwin who both recognised the massive opportunites a Conservative government can deliver for the people of Newhaven. This is a time for massive change and opportunity for Newhaven.
Yours faithfully,


Jason Sugarman
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for the Lewes Constituency which includes Newhaven, Seaford and Polegate.

stickman says...
3:08pm Tue 26 May 09

Next time keep it short and punchy Jase.

Andre Spooner says...
3:43pm Tue 26 May 09

Jason Sugarman! I knew it was you! Now where's my money? You owe me £120 for the stash of "goofballs", and £30 for hire of my horse. If you don't pay up soon, I'll break your legs.

Wow, my security word was "gored-in-the-eye-by
-an-angry-bull"!!

Carl Bugenhagen says...
9:04am Wed 27 May 09

Jason, if you're elected MP you'll do what the party tells you and carry on the 30's years of national asset stripping that got us into this mess in the first place. Your ideas are bankrupt, the country is bankrupt (new labour, tory, no difference, no get out there.). You can't get on the expenses bandwagon when your own party were so eager to delay publication of expenses until July - because there is something the press have been missing - your David Cameron did not want details of family members employed by MPs published, hence the delay - to give time to sweep another scandal under the carpet. By 'real world', do you mean you have had a manual job?

FrankKeys says...
2:50pm Wed 27 May 09

Right - so now you are in favour of the incinerator Jason? Its just cos on your website there is a section called 'No Incinerator' http://www.jasonsuga
rman.org.uk/local-ca
mpaigns/no-incinerat
or/
Tory MPs claimed for moats and duck houses, while Lib Dem MP Norman Baker was the one who exposed this info in the first place.

Scorpion says...
11:25pm Wed 27 May 09

Vote for change they say. Given that the Tories have been running the County for 8 years and forcing the incinerator through against thousands of letters of local opposition... I think I might support the idea. Vote for change - Vote anybody but CONservative.


Robbie Robertson Robbie Robertson

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