01 May 2023

The Lib Dems want people to think that voting for us, or the Greens, or an independent, is 'really' a vote for the Conservatives as 'only they can beat the Conservatives'. We rarely hear the same argument from the Conservatives who, for all their faults, do seem happy for people to vote as their hearts tell them.
Anyway: Firstly, the premise is rubbish. In the last elections, for Devon County, SDA candidates won in Newton Abbot South, with the Lib Dems second, and came second in Newton Abbot North, where the Lib Dems were third. If anything voting Lib Dem is the wasted 'progressive' vote in an increasingly large part of Teignbridge.
Secondly, it's not a parliamentary election. You're not trying to win an area to decide who the next Prime Minister is, and so going for the least-worst option. You're choosing who you would prefer to represent YOU in council. Who is most likely to court your opinion and least likely to ignore you. It is a far more personal preference than choosing an MP needs to be.
Third: Of course the party with the most seats gets to control the council. Four years ago the Lib Dems won a very convincing majority and took the council from the Conservatives. What followed was four years of waste, failed policy and corruption scandals ending in them being censured by the LGO, losing control and being propped up by the Conservatives against the only effective opposition: the SDA
Fourth: There is no vast ideological gulf between the Teignbridge Lib Dems and Conservatives. The Lib Dems have limped through their last year and a half as a minority leadership, with one arm around Phil Bullivant's Conservative group. Obligingly the Conservatives have not challenged the Lib Dems on a single matter of policy in four years. The Lib Dems installed Conservative Steven Purser on their Executive without a portfolio - so taxpayers money to do sweet FA except keep the Tories sweet. Phil's best friend in politics is once-Lib Dem mayor Richard Jenks, who's now standing as a Conservative again. The Lib Dems and Conservatives voted together and as one to build on wildlife sites, wreck the Alex, pedestrianise Queen Street and a dozen other bad ideas.
The bullying , intimidation and lawbreaking found by local government watchdog - including breaches of the Human Rights Act - were carried out under a Lib Dem administration. Decide for yourself what is 'progressive' about that. They were supported 100 per cent by their Conservative friends.
Fifth, Tories and Lib Dems are now an anti-SDA front and have already made plans to form a coalition against the SDA if they need to. They have stood just one candidate between them in areas where SDA is strong so as not to split the vote between themselves.
And fifth, here is a quote from Newton Abbot Conservative chairman Simon Walker: 'I don't care who wins, as long as it's the Conservatives or the Liberal Democrats'.
Because what's the difference, right Simon?
The question is not 'How do I keep the Tories out?' It's 'Do I want this mutual back-scratching shady shit to carry on for another four years or do I want to try something else?'