Thursday, March 13, 2008

Conservatives have curiosity value but nothing else on Tyneside – Liberal Democrats

With the Conservatives arriving in Gateshead to hold their spring conference in the Sage, a leading Liberal Democrat in the borough has said that the visitors will provide a rare, novety factor for residents.

Dr Jonathan Wallace, who is Councillor for Whickham South and Sunniside in Gateshead, said, “I am happy for the Conservatives to visit Gateshead and spend their money in local hotels and shops. This will be a nice but small boost for the local economy!

“Given the complete disappearance of the Conservatives from serious politics in Gateshead and Newcastle, the people of Tyneside are likely to look on any Conservative visitors they see as the temporary return of a nearly extinct species.

“I won my council seat from the Conservatives 21 years ago and during that time their organisation has collapsed into dust here. They lost their last seats on Gateshead and Newcastle Councils twelve years ago and have no winnable seats at all left in the area.

“Far from having a recovery in Gateshead or Newcastle, the Conservatives have simply vanished.

“The Conservatives may have curiosity value for local residents, but that is all they have to offer Tyneside.”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have three very active Conservative councillors in South Tyneside who get quite curious about the three very quiet Lib-Dems on our council.

Jonathan Wallace said...

We don't have any Conservatives at all in Gateshead to make a noise about anything.