I read with interest an article in today's Gazette about the possible defection of Colchester's Tory-LibDem MP Bob Russell to Labour.
 
There has much speculation nationally about which Lib Dem MPs may switch to Labour over the coming months. At the weekend it was Charles Kennedy, today it was Lembit Opik... who next?

As reported in this blog only the other day, Colchester Labour Party has already seen a big increase in its membership and many of those joining the local party in recent months have been former Lib Dem members and supporters. 
 
The Gazette report quite rightly said Mr Russell has already been a Member of the Labour Party. Bob left Labour in 1981 to join the SDP, and then went into the Lib Dems. Today, he sits in the Commons as a de-facto Tory.

If Mr Russell wishes to come home to Labour, then of course we've got a membership form ready and waiting for him to sign. However, he may wish to court the local Green Party or UKIP first in order to add some more colours to his political career rainbow.

Over twenty-five local Labour members and supporters turned out in Greenstead yesterday for a question and answer session with Shadow Cabinet Minister Rosie Winterton. It was a testiment to their dedication that with just 48 hours notice they were able to lay on such a fantastic event.

This is, after all, a very exciting time to be a member of the Labour Party. In Colchester, we have had nearly 100 new members - many of them young people and ex-Lib Dems supporters. Many ex-Lib Dems feel cheated - they voted Lib Dem to keep the Tories out, both in Colchester and nationally, and were then sold down the river by Nick Clegg.

But from whatever background or section of our community, all our new members have come with the same views - that they felt cheated or let down by the Lib Dems and that the only real opposition to the savage cuts in public services we see today was Labour.

Our Councillors, activists and supporters work tirelessly in every part of Colchester for the benefit of local people. Colchester's Labour Councillors are a small, but dedicated and hard working group who are striving to make Colchester a better place in face of Tory-LibDem Government cuts. Whether that's Tim Young and Tina Dopson defending public services in the Council, Julie Young working to restore a public subway in Greenstead or Dave Harris clearing hedges from foot paths in Berechurch, they're work is unrivalled. But don't take our word for it - the electoral evidence is there with Julie Young now Labour's only county councillor in Essex.

It is unsurprising then that in her closing remarks, Rosie Winterton thank us all for the work we do within the community. "Colchester Labour Party is clearly committed to improving the lives of local people", she said.

At the beginning of August, a YouGov poll showed that support for the Lib Dems (or ConDems as I prefer) had fallen to its lowest level in three years.

It said that if an election were called now, the Liberal Democrats would get just 12% of the vote. Add to this the fact that Nick Clegg's personal approval rating has collapsed, from 72% in to just 8%. Much of that slump could come from Clegg's home turf in Sheffield where he has seemingly shafted Forgemasters in favour of his ministeral limo.

It seems that at every point in the last 100 days, the Lib Dems have sold out. Sold out on policy, sold out on principle.

During the election, the Lib Dems campaigned against any increase in VAT, but in June they support the Tories decision to raise VAT to 20%. This directly contradicts what they had said in the election. Nick Clegg and his 22 Lib Dem ministers are allowing a virtually unchallenged agenda of cuts in public services, which Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham referred to as "public service vandalism".

Lib Dem minister Chris Huhne has admitted that support for the Lib Dems would fall further as they continue to support Tory cuts.

As people desert the Lib Dems in their droves, it's clear that many no longer agree with Nick.

** UPDATE **
14:39 17/08/10

According to Sky News, more than half of Nick Clegg's own supporters believe his decision to join a coalition has been a bad thing for the party and more than 40% of Lib Dem voters said they do not plan to vote for them again as a result.

Jordan Newell, Colchester's Labour Party Chairman and former Parliamentary Candidate, on why he's backing Oona King for London Mayor.

Colchester was the capital of Roman Britain until it fell to Boudica in AD 61. She was chosen by the Iceni and the Trinovante tribes to lead an uprising against the unpopular Roman oppressors. Sound familiar?

Colchester is only 60 miles from the capital. We're well connected to London by road and rail, making us a popular town for commuters and visitors alike. I spend a large propotion of my time there - for both business and pleasure. And that is why I have taken such an interest in the race for Labour's London Mayoral nomination.

In September, Labour's "selectorate" as the Guardian has termed it, will choose between Oona King and Ken Livingstone for that nomination. Both have many positive strengths and qualities, but I can also see individual weaknesses. That is why I have struggled to decide who I would like to endorse, even if I cannot vote for them.

A pro-Ken comrade said she was backing him because "I know what he's about", while that was the exact same reason why a pro-Oona friend was backing her - because Ken "has brought his ideas to the table before". "In with the new", another termed it.

So will it really come down to youth-versus-experience, and future-versus-past?

My interest is in the future of London's economy, employment opportunities, transport and tourism. Commuters like me fill about a 5th of jobs in London. This means that one in ten of us the employed residents of East Anglia and the South East depend on London for employment.

Commuting is perhaps the most obvious interaction between London and the rest of the country. According to the 2001 Census, the East of England provides 39% of all the commuters into London, while in 2005 it was reported by the GLA that commuters contributed around £28 billion to the London economy.

Tourism is the life blood of London. While David Cameron may try and blame Labour for not promoting Britain enough as a tourist destination, but the PM's argument is demolished by the UN who rate the UK as the 6th most visited tourist destination in the world. I want this to continue and for London to continue to captivate my friends from overseas who visit the city every year.

I agree with Oona that London needs "new ideas and a new approach to the issues", but I also applaud Ken's statement to "protect Londoners from the recession and the effects of the new government’s policies" - something that all of us in Labour politics are seeking to do, from local activists to our Councillors and the Shadow Cabinet.

But protection and preservation only goes so far, its now time to challenge, its time to change. I want us to offer something new to those voters who did not support Ken in 2008 or Labour as a whole in May 2010.

For me, the candidate that will challenge Boris Johnson, that will challenge the Coalition and that offers us change for London, change for the better is Oona King.

"We will continue to make the case to Government that volunteering is not free and that the Big Society won’t just happen on its own" - that was the view of a senior third sector chief this week.

It follows an article in last week's Guardian (Yes, we're still reading it) in which Polly Toynbee rightfully described the 'Big Society' as a big fat lie. "For all David Cameron's rosy rhetoric on nurturing a nation of volunteers", she said, "his government is slashing charities first and hardest."

Labour was always sceptical about the Big Society idea, for it followed another Tory myth - Broken Britain. There is no Broken Britain, just as there is no Big Society. As one local charity trustee told us, the withdrawal of so much key funding for the voluntary sector meant "the idea of the Big Society all rings rather hollow".

The latest news in Third Sector Magazine is littered with stories about cuts to the voluntary sector. Tory Ministers have already announced cuts of £11m by reducing third sector funding for Capacitybuilders, the Compact and for youth volunteering charity "v". The case of "v" is particularly worrying as it followed news from the Department for Education that it to had decided to cut the v-schools programme. A decision branded as "a big blow" and a "false economy" by its chief executive.

During the General Election campaign, Lib-Con MP Bob Russell and local Tory candidate Will Quince spoke avidly of their support for local Pubs. But now in power, their Government has cancelled Labour's £3.3m community pub scheme - actively backed by our election candidate Jordan Newell - that was set up to help communities turn local pubs into cooperatives.

Scrapping children's playground developments, squeezing funding for NHS cancer services, slashing public sector jobs and now massive cuts in support for charities - nothing is safe from the Tory axe.

The Big Society, like this Coalition, is just a big con.

Could you, or someone you know, be one of Britain’s lost talents?

This summer, thousands of young people will leave school, college and university and start the search for their first job. And in these are tough times, looking for a job is tough. That's why I believe Government (all Governments) should do all it can to support young people as they try to get their first foot on the ladder. But the Tories and Lib Dems, in their 'progressive' government, are cutting vital help for young people and slashing investment into jobs and training.
 
In Colchester alone, cuts to the Future Jobs Fund will affect over 300 local young people. They're also ending Labour’s guarantee to all 18-24 year-olds of a job or training place after 6 months out of work.

But cutting their way out of economic difficulty, the Tories and Lib Dems will rob our young people - friends and relations of ours - of a fair chance of a job and to make the most of your talents, just when our country most need them.
 
This cut is one of a series of savage and unfair cuts the Tories say they have to make to “balance the books” in five years.  They say there is no alternative but the truth is that this budget is their choice to cut an extra £40bn for ideological reasons. This is the same old Tories at work – making cuts that hit the hardest those who can least afford it The Tory-Liberal government is wasting the skills and talents of an entire generation.

But Labour says, and I say, there’s a better, fairer way.

Labour’s plans would have halved the deficit over four years, encouraged growth and protected jobs – and without an unfair VAT rise, without putting the recovery at risk and without hitting people’s jobs.

It is now up to all of us to challnge the unfairness we see unfolding. We must not let the Tories ruin a generation of talent. So why not join me, andr tens of thousands of people whose jobs are at risk because of the Tories’ cuts and sign online Labour's petition.

    
www.labour.org.uk/BritainsLostTalent

When I walk around Colchester, I can't fail to notice things - projects, programmes, buildings, infrastructure - that are truely a great legacy of Labour's 13 years in Government. You might think, 'He would say that wouldn't he', but let me give you some examples.

North Colchester Healthcare Centre and PCT Centre on Turner Road is the first that springs to mind. Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham visited the centre on Tuesday this week, recalling that it was the 100th to open in country during his time at the Department of Health.

The £560 million re-development of Colchester Garrison, providing state-of-the-art facilities to our soldiers and their families has transformed not only the southern area of Colchester but now offers our hard working and dedicated armed services personnel first class facilities for training, medical care and sport.

For evidence of Labour's investment in Colchester, there is no more striking example than the new buildings at the Sixth Form College. These are impressive, modern education facilities that now dominates the landscape of Balkerne Hill. Maybe I appreciate this more than any of development - not because I know it was achieved by Labour - but because I was a student there in the days when we were taught in run down post-war buildings and porta-cabins on the exact same site where these new facilites now stand.

Go to Hythe Station, and you will see a regenerated local train station. The station has been modernised with £600,000 of Government money to make it safer, greener, cleaner and more attractive to passengers. This has an added impact on helping to ease congestion by encouraging people living in nearby to use the train.

From health to education, transport to defence, Colchester has seen massive change thanks to a Labour Government. Change for the better, change that is now threatened by savage public spending cuts.

Already Colchester faces having its local health services broken up, local schemes for young unemployment cut, cuts in funding for local government and a review of the old age persons' free bus passes. Add to this the VAT tax bombshell, then you can see why four in ten people who voted Lib Dem at the last election now regret it.

Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham came to Colchester yesterday with a simple message - that it was now up to Labour members and supporters to help save the NHS from the havoc and chaos about to be inflicted on it by ConDem Government.

Accusing local ConDem MP Bob Russell of complicity in "public service vandalism", Mr Burnham warned that the NHS would suffer due to the "unbalanced" spending cuts proposed by the Coalition. He also warned that the Tories were planning to "take the 'N' out of the NHS".

Mr Burnham's defence of our local health services came a few weeks after Shadow Education Secretary Ed Balls visited Colchester on the day the Coalition announced they were scrapping Labour's Building Schools for the Future programme, which would have brought £130 million of investment into our local schools. Labour nationally and locally had supported BSF funding for Colchester's schools, which would have seen a new academy in Greenstead and vital refurbishments for other local schools, like St Helena.

With local health and education services under threat, many people in Colchester would hope our MP would be defending them in Parliament. But no. Other than giving a weak defence of the Government's cuts to our school investment soon gave way to Parliamentary motions on protecting meerkats and praise for the Coalition spending £300 million of the UK's overseas aid budget on St Helena Airport.

Bob Russell has got his priorities wrong. He should be more interested in St Helena School and the need for vital education investment, than in an airport in a far-flung island dependancy. He should also be standing with those who are trying to protect local health services from the threat of Tory health cuts.