IS DEVOLUTION A DISASTER FOR DONCASTER? - MORE LABOUR MISINFORMATION
I think it really has been a disaster for Doncaster and for South Yorkshire too. Tell me what you think.
The Doncaster Free Press have now reported on my revelation about the local NHS ICB spending of £41,000 for a marquee at the drive through. No mention of who the Doncaster MP is though until you get to the 6th paragraph. Still, it’s progress of sorts. The link is below.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=892565046205687&id=100063565992652
It got me thinking yet again about devolution and the benefits it’s supposed to bring. It’s great on paper. Local decisions made locally. It sounds attractive. We all thought so, didn’t we? It was voted for by us all.
This decision to spend £41,000 on a marquee in Doncaster was made in Sheffield. Should we have even more devolution to enable it to have been made in Doncaster? I’m not sure it matters. At the end of the day it depends on the right decisions being made. That means we have to have in place people who have the skills, expertise and judgment to make the right decisions.
So far devolution has been a disaster for Doncaster. We’ve seen the loss of our airport as the two mayors pretended they didn’t have any powers and blamed the Government. Do they have “the skills, expertise and judgment to make the right decisions”? So far I’m not seeing much evidence of that.
The airport is a proven economic asset. We have report after report saying that to be so. The two mayors accept that is the case. It generates far more for the economy than Supertrams in Sheffield or Buses can ever do. Their own reports show that to be so. So why have they thrown £596m at Sheffield for its Supertrams and now decided that Buses are their Number 1 priority? What about the airport?
The two mayors are now finally (after enormous pressure from me) exercising those powers although still not the CPO. Yet the blame game has just been started up again by Labour politicians and their Labour supporting Admin of the Facebook group. This makes me uneasy. Is it a distraction from the focus being on them?
Do these environmental green zealots who campaign against carbon intend to reopen the carbon producing airport? Is their heart in it? Why is this new campaign to blame the Government being coordinated from Newcastle. Why is it on the national Labour Party website? Why is every Labour candidate promoting it? They weren’t to be seen in the last 18 months but now they are popping up everywhere.
Why do the two mayors want to scrap the rail link to the airport we all fought so hard for? Why is this £30m essential when they have £900m available through gainshare? Why is it essential when they have so much money for transport? £1.455 billion. They have never had so much money. Why this misinformation? Why now? What’s going on? Are we being prepared for an announcement from The two mayors that we don’t want to hear?
Lots of questions. We need answers. I won’t be muzzled. I will get those answers. If they let us down again then I will take on the fight on my own if necessary to get our airport reopened.
Keep the faith.
Nick
