The Invisible Men (and women)

     The list of candidates has been published. I'm disappointed to see no Greens in the Littleham ward, though I knew this would be the case.
     I am astonished to see that there are no LibDems either, in the district council election, in this ward. Last time around this was a hotly contested ward, with a strong showing from three LibDems and by far the highest voter turnout of any of the Exmouth wards.
     On paper this is quite a diverse ward and certainly should not be a foregone conclusion for the tories. I do feel the LibDems are letting their supporters down. They have built their party's growth over the last 30 years or so on a network of committed local representatives, people like Trevor Cope, now an Independent.  They have been particularly important in providing an opposition in areas like the West Country, where they have long been the second party.
     After they got into bed with the tories nationally, they lost a lot of these long term committed people who objected to the terms of the coalition agreement and to the constraints that this placed on the conduct of opposition. The local party has been very quiet since, unless you count the name calling when Trevor and Paull Robathon handed in their cards.
      If they are failing to provide adequate opposition both in the council chamber and on the ballot then they are letting down all the people who have supported them with their time and their votes for all these years.
     East Devon does not function as a representative democratic institution even when the LibDems are performing as an opposition should. One party having over 70% of the seats does not lead to good, effectively scrutinised decision making. When the next largest group of 17% are sitting uncomfortably on their hands we have a level of dominance that would make Messrs Gadaffi, Mugabe or Putin  happy.