ANZIO Digital Unfair Representation Of Lincolnshire Electoral Candidates

by Patricia Montgomery, LincsMag Writer.
Date: 16 April 2010

Unfair Representation Of Lincolnshire Electoral Candidates - Lincolnshire Magazine - LincsMag.com

Well the old status quo are up to their old tricks and ever eager to keep the public in their place ... clueless and powerless!

It is almost as though Independents and other parties (other than the usual corrupt three) are being gagged.


Below are just two letters showing their disgust at this treatment!




Dear Mr Partridge,

FAIR REPRESENTATION OF LINCOLNSHIRE ELECTORAL CANDIDATES ON THE RADIO

Is BBC Radio Lincolnshire a local radio for Lincolnshire or is it a national propaganda machine for London?

We are amazed that an interview has been set up for the three national political parties to promote their campaigns and other major players in the field have been excluded.

Marianne Overton, is leader of the official opposition at Lincolnshire County Council because there are more Independents there than either Labour or Liberal Democrat.

Have you looked at the results of the last County Council election in 2009 where Independents were first or second in almost all seats where they stood? If you are looking for proportionality then this may help you.

We ask you to put this outrageous bias to rights by inviting all standing candidates to have air time at our local radio station. Now more than ever, people are interested in escaping from this three party system and having a proper dialogue about how we are to be represented.

It may be too late to amend your immediate broadcast plans but you could certainly put things right by fixing a slot next week to prevent this London bias creeping into Lincolnshire, where it has no place and is certainly very unpopular with the electorate.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Angela Newton
Leader Independent Group
South Holland District Council


Radio Lincolnshire interviewed three candidates of three parties from Lincoln, Grimsby and Hull East last week. It was well publicised in advance, and took an hour at peak time and during the election period which started on April 6th. Other candidates were only mentioned in passing as standing.

By contrast, our local candidate, Marianne Overton, standing for Sleaford and North Hykeham, leader of the Lincolshire Independents had only a very few minutes at lunchtime outside the election period, more or less unheralded and nothing in the critical election period.

Representing Lincolnshire should mean dealing with what we have in Lincolnshire, not a national ham-fisted approach that ignores the Lincolnshire identity.

When tackled on the issue, Charlie Partridge said he was following national guidance so air-time would be proportionate to the vote obtained by each party five years ago. What a daft idea! He obviously he wasn’t following that as the three had equal coverage in the interview.

Lincolnshire Independents are working to achieve a Lincolnshire identity to encourage communities, business and tourism in this county. Independents are different and must be seen to be different.

Lincolnshire is special and has more Independents than almost anywhere in England and strong support across the County. Lincolnshire is naturally Independent. At the last election, 38 Independents stood in the county, at their own expense, determined to demonstrate that Lincolnshire people have a voice, not just national parties.

Independents took 30% of the vote and came first or second in almost every seat they stood, with some of the highest turnouts and landslide scores. Even with our first-past-the-post system, Independents are now the second largest group in the County Council, second only to one party.

Now there are four standing for MP in Lincolnshire, Marianne Overton. Mark Horn, Daniel Simpson and Gary Walker and one in the District by-election in Branston and Mere, Peter Lundgren. They all pay their own expenses, determined to offer a proper voice for the people of Lincolnshire.

What do they do at the BBC? Try and clone us with London but ramming the three party system down our throats at every opportunity. Their recent totally unrepresentative coverage with Peter Levy was a disgrace. Not just coverage but very extended coverage for nearly an hour.

They even allowed one candidate to lie, completely unchallenged, when he said he was the “only candidate with a house in the constituency”.

It is probably true that he has bought his second home, but his children are still at school in London.

Marianne Overton lives and works in the heart of the constituency, supporting our communities for twenty years and is ready to step up as our MP. She knows and understands what it is like to live here, but more than that, she is prepared to listen and respond, rather than trot out party lines.

The BBC is demonstrating the same arrogance of the parties. The assumption that we will put up with a party puppet from London, Leeds or wherever is breathtaking.

They clearly demonstrate that our views simply do not matter, it is the party machinery that will make the decisions for them. When funding tightens, decisions will have to be made as to whether resources go to urban or rural areas.

How can Lincolnshire possibly get a fair deal when most MP’s are from urban areas, and even the ones they send us are urban.

How can they begin to understand what we need, and when it comes to the crunch, will they really care?

We need local Independents, with a proven track record of success to put our case strongly and gain cross-party support for Lincolnshire.

David Suiter
Independent Councillor at NKDC

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