Nick Bye: How can we recover in the south west?

Cllr Nick Bye is a councillor for Wellswood and the Lead Member for Children’s Services on Torbay Council. He was Torbay’s first elected Mayor from 2005 to 2011.

How wonderful to be on the winning side for a change. I write these few words as someone who voted “Remain” in the EU referendum, for Jeremy Hunt rather than Boris Johnson to be Party Leader in 2019 then Rishi Sunak rather than Liz Truss in 2022.

I must confess my vote for Kemi Badenoch was initially sent off with only modest enthusiasm (and a second-class stamp) but as the contest entered its final stages I was impressed by Kemi’s performance in several interviews and came to the conclusion here is someone authentic, thoughtful and contemporary. I hope we can all wish her every success in this role.

So what does this mean for those of us toiling away in our Town Halls or even Village Halls, out in the sticks?

With the loss of so many MPs at the General Election it is councillors who now carry the torch for the Conservative Party in many areas. Down in Devon, we have just four remaining Conservative MPs, out of 13. In Cornwall there are none. Before July the electoral map was True Blue, now it’s anything but.

So Councillors need to step up to their role as the public face of the Conservative Party in the absence of MPs and before parliamentary candidates are selected. With the greatest respect, most members of the Shadow Cabinet are unknown. Residents are therefore much more likely to know the names and faces of their local Councillors than most of the crowd in Westminster.

Through our actions and campaigns we are best placed to get across what being a Conservative is all about, keeping taxes low, making sure Councils are run in a business-like way, encouraging economic prosperity and providing effective services for those who need support to live independently or kept safe from harm.

We are (just) in Control on Torbay Council, dependent upon the casting vote of the Mayor having achieved some surprising gains in last year’s local elections, one of only two places to move in the right direction in the whole country.

Having a Conservative administration enables us to put all this into practice and actually deliver on things which are important to people, so getting on with long-stalled economic regeneration projects in partnership with a developer, getting much-needed housing projects off the ground, improving our parks and public spaces. Sometimes it’s the basics which make the greatest impact for example dazzling refreshed road markings. It took me nearly twelve months badgering the previous lot to get the lines sorted at a pedestrian crossing where an elderly gentleman had been knocked down.

Now we have the equipment and personnel to refresh all the lines across the Bay over the next couple of years.

As Lead Member for Children’s Services, I am proud we have delivered a successful roll out of Family Hubs with much improved rates of breast feeding for example, likewise work is now underway thanks to the Conservative Government’s Youth Investment Fund to create much improved youth services in one of our most deprived neighbourhoods.

Indeed the Conservative Government was very helpful to Torbay awarding Future High Streets funding for Paignton, Town Deal money for Torquay and Levelling Up funds for projects on the Brixham side of the Bay.

But our best efforts to regenerate Torbay are like pushing water up hill if the Labour government fails to understand business. Listening to the October Budget I thought “someone doesn’t like the far South West”.

The increase in the minimum wage, National Insurance payments (for employers), also the reduction in Business Rates relief for many small and medium sized businesses comes on top of another tough tourist season, never mind the end of the Winter Fuel Payment for most pensioners. The far South West has the oldest population in the UK so this is a real blow to many and just feels unfair.

The increase in employers contributions to National Insurance will cost Torbay Council, a small unitary authority, £2 million a year and although the Government says this increase will be covered in the public sector, it hasn’t explained how. This increase will be catastrophic for many charities, care providers and other worthy organisations, never mind businesses.
How will this get the economy growing?

So our new Conservative leadership must stand shoulder to shoulder with Conservative councillors and council leaders making our Party a crusade for opportunity and prosperity, absolutely giving people the help they need to make the most of their own lives without dragging everyone down with high taxes.

We can demonstrate success at a local level which must be replicated in Westminster at the next General Election.

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