So it came to be that Tamworth’s Sarah Edwards made her maiden speech in parliament on Monday 27th. You can see it right here. Debunking has had time to digest her speech and provide some observations.
Starting as she perhaps means to go on, her speech is very dramatic, Tamworth is in crisis she relates, “Pockets are empty, cupboards are bare and many are filled with despair.” Obviously a fan of alliteration, (which we don’t find any fault with, partaking in such ourselves on occasion) Sarah paints a very bleak picture of Tamworth as if we are some kind of third world country. Now if you believe some of the people on Facebook who comment on the state of our town, then you’d quite believe we were. Sarah joins the long list of people who talk our town down and make out there’s absolutely nothing being done, or that there isn’t indeed lots of help available in the community for those that need it. Naturally she does mention some help available, but rather than name and actually pay tribute to all of the main brilliant community groups in Tamworth, she only specifically makes mention of her Labour friends’ (former Councillors Simon and Sheree Peaple) Heart of Tamworth Cafe and food pantry, the latter being a facility one of our correspondents suggested was being used as a cheap supermarket.
Then we move on to a huge whopper:
I am proud to be Tamworth’s first female MP. Women have been able to stand for Parliament only since 1918. To date, just 563 female MPs—not even amounting to a full House—have been elected. That sets my recent by-election victory, with the second largest swing since 1945, in an even starker light, making me even prouder to have been elected against the odds.
How Sarah imagines the complete absence of 19,000 votes that put Pincher in power, and around 25% of the usual 65% general election turnout being missing in action a ‘large swing’ is beyond us. She was also hardly elected ‘against the odds’ since the landscape across the country and especially in Tamworth thanks to Chris Pincher is very much apathy all the way, with Tory voters staying away in their droves. When she says “The people of Tamworth voted for a fresh start and a positive vision for their town and villages” she manages to do it with a straight face at least.
Then she moves on to the Town Centre:
I intend to find creative ways to support the regeneration of Tamworth through its priceless heritage and, in particular, its high street, which so many people have told me needs regenerating.
Well unless those people have been living on the other side of the world in Tamworth Australia Sarah (which you may as well represent from your comfortable abode in Moseley), they presumably along with you, have not noticed that this has already started. Although some priceless heritage has admittedly been bulldozed in the process. Let’s see how much more Government dosh she can get us from her parliamentary perch to keep that going, since for all his faults, Pincher managed to do quite well.
Naturally, there is a reference to the police station front desk, or rather lack of one, that Sarah stated in her election campaign would be brought back under Labour, a promise she cannot keep as it is not within her or her party’s ability to do so. It is a nice campaigning package right there though isn’t it, playing on people’s inability to correctly judge whether in fact Tamworth actually needs a fully trained plod sitting behind a desk dealing with walk-ins full time. Let us not forget that Tamworth has not had a police front desk for quite some time now even before they moved from Spinning School Lane to Belgrave. Let’s also not forget dear reader that this particular political punchbag has changed over time from ‘Tamworth has no police station’ to ‘Tamworth has no police front desk’ which is a little less sexy but nonetheless shows you exactly that this is about point scoring rather than an evidenced need. Her assertion that she is campaigning for a front desk still also falls flat, since there is absolutely nothing she can do and nothing she has done since she was elected.
So her first speech, with references to ‘the villages’ as if her life depended upon saying it, was pretty much a snooze fest that sounded like she had read about Tamworth and its’ history from news articles and its’ Wikipedia page. We have yet to be convinced that Sarah who has yet to open a constituency office (despite the fact we apparently have plenty of empty shops) in Tamworth, is going to be of any positive use for our town. With most peoples bets being on October ’24 for the next general election, her trial period will have expired. What will she have to show for it we wonder.
