As you will know, West Country Voices is run entirely by volunteers. We are not trained journalists or professional editors. We are ordinary citizens who felt unable to keep silent in the face of lies, injustice, corruption and division that were the hallmark of the now-defeated Conservative government. The relentless tide of cruelty, wrong-doing and gaslighting was tough to resist, day in and day out. Exhausting. The endless ‘getting away with it’ wore us down. It wore many of our readers down, too. But we couldn’t give up calling stuff out, even though it would probably have benefited our mental health to do so.
July 4 really did change the mood. Here in the West Country, there’s been an almost complete clear out of complacent, complicit Conservatives and a new intake of MPs who, it is hoped, fully appreciate the weight of expectation that rests on their shoulders. For many voters, this was the first election in their lifetime in which their vote actually counted and resulted in change. The backers of the South Devon Primary were genuinely elated at the election of Caroline Voaden, ending 101 years of Tory rule. The Greens and Labour supporters who lent her their vote have felt vindicated as evidence builds that she is delivering on her promises – supporting the Climate and Nature Bill, for example, and an Early Day Motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
It’s very early days for this Labour administration, but we’ve been heartened to see what look like really inspired appointments to certain roles in government. For example, James Timpson as Minister for Prisons, Parole and Probation; Sir Patrick Vallance as Minister for Science; Richard Hermer KC as Attorney General. Experts, it seems, are back in fashion and thank goodness!
We’ve seen the creation of the role of the covid corruption commissioner; the scrapping of the Rwanda ‘plan’, the cancellation of the Bibby Stockholm, unequivocal support for the ECHR; the approval of three massive solar farms; the removal of the ban on onshore wind and a commitment to banning new petrol cars from 2030, to name but a few swift actions.
But where’s Leveson 2? Taxing the super rich? Where’s the axing of draconian protest laws? The two-child cap? And what about addressing the massive elephant in the room that is Brexit? And the £20bn black hole…
Well. As we said, it’s early days. The mood is definitely more positive. Prime Minister’s Questions was actually watchable. There is a real sense that the grown-ups are in charge and that sense of hope has been amplified by what is happening in the US. There was a story going the rounds at the turn of the year that Joe Biden had volunteered to take all the flak for as long as possible, get Trump confirmed and then step aside and watch his successor ride a wave of hope and optimism. Looks like it might have been true!
But where does this all leave us at West Country Voices? Well, we are all tired, as I’ve said. We’re all still triggered by the sight of dangerous idiots like Liz Truss continuing to strut her stuff, despite being obliterated in the GE, and refusing to take any responsibility for the calumnies she perpetrated. We continue to be horrified as the putrefaction of the Conservative party continues, with the likes of Tom Tugendhat selling out to the far right with his crazy talk about leaving the ECHR. We are heartily sick of seeing Tice, Anderson and Farage on our screens, sick of the BBC continuing to act as their promoters, while ignoring the Greens and Lib Dems. Somehow we have to stop the Right from sucking the joy out of life and generally taking up too much oxygen.
Where will our focus be? On the climate emergency, the environment and bio-diversity. On the NHS. Social justice. On electoral reform (root and branch overhaul of our entire governance system). We’ll continue to investigate freeports and to call out this government for breaches of promise or Tory-lite policies. We’ll also be trying to make sure that the Tories do not pull off the stunt of pretending that they did nothing but good for those 14 terrible years.
And we will most definitely be campaigning to get back into the EU, where we belong.
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What else would you like us to do? We will want to hear from you, please! Please send us your letters, press releases and articles. Our small team will be on hand to help hone your piece ready for publication, so please do give writing a go!
Thank you for supporting us by reading and sharing our output. We might take a little while to fully recharge, but we aren’t quitting the field!
