East Devon parliamentary seat now a marginal

Zorro opened his edition of the Sidmouth Herald this morning to see a handy set of information for electors about the East Devon parliamentary election.

Providing electors with Parliamentary candidates' manifestos summaries

On page 31 there is a full page spread on the five candidates who are standing in the parliamentary election. This provides electors with a helpful synopsis of each candidate’s election manifesto. Zorro was unsurprised when reading both election manifesto summaries of Hugo Swire (Conservative Party) and Andrew Chapman (UKIP) that they read as if they could have been plucked out of both parties’ national manifestos. Not a mention or recognition by either candidate that they were fighting to represent electors in East Devon!

So no wonder therefore that the Sidmouth Herald had this parliamentary coverage all under the headline – “East Devon now a marginal seat”.

East Devon is a marginal seat and Hugo Swire has the fight of his life on his hands! It is clear from all of the press and media coverage, from the reactions on the doorstep and from the bookmakers, that the only meaningful and credible challenger to our incumbent and absentee MP is Independent candidate Claire Wright http://www.claire-wright.org/.

Hugo Swire. His future is in the electors' hands

Claire Wright’s manifesto summary in the Sidmouth Herald demonstrates why she is the candidate who is likely to beat Hugo Swire. She is absolutely in touch with the concerns of the electorate across East Devon.

Claire Wright. Independent Parliamentary candidate

The Sidmouth Herald “East Devon now a marginal seat” article is at –

http://sites.google.com/site/realzorro1/17.4.15SidmouthHerald1.pdf

We are now under 3 weeks away from the general election on 7 May. Across the Constituency you will continually stumble upon “Vote Claire Wright” posters as they are confidently displayed by her supporters. Indeed Zorro notes with satisfaction that Claire Wright has had to get more of the large poster boards printed to keep up with demand for them.

Vote Claire Wright. Proudly displayed across East Devon

Whereas you will struggle to really find similar public displays of support for the other challenger candidates, let alone for Hugo Swire. Indeed, the East Devon Conservatives have struggled to get sufficient electors to put posters up supporting Hugo Swire that they had to resort to erecting some on the public verge in Claire Wright’s locality. This cannot have been a mistake, as the Conservative Party full well knows the rules for what it can and can’t do in elections.

East Devon Conservatives. Illegally fly posted on public land

These actions by East Devon Conservatives is fly posting. It is an offence under the Highways Act. Therefore Conservative run (oh the ignominy!) Devon County Council has had to write to the Conservative Party agent instructing that all the illegal Hugo Swire posters be removed forthwith. This is the text of the letter that Devon County Council sent -

Devon County Council. Forced East Devon Conservatives to remove posters from public land

Dear Sir or madam,

Under the Highways Act it is an offence to Fly post on Highway verges and street furniture.

Please can you remove the advertising signs within 7 days.

If you fail to do so we will arrange to have them removed to our Office at Rockbeare.

After that time of removal, if you require the signs back you will be charged a fee per sign.

Yours Sincerely

The Express and Echo newspaper carried this embarrassing story under the headline “Illegal Fly posters taken down ahead of election”. This article is at – http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Illegal-Fly-posters-taken-ahead-election/story-26330886-detail/story.html#ixzz3XYUgzVAl.

As the election runs into its final three weeks no doubt we will see more attempts by an ever increasingly worried Hugo Swire campaign to find ways to get their message across to electors. It feels to Zorro as if Hugo Swire and the East Devon Conservatives are sleep walking towards a disastrous 7 May.

Voting for change!

Change is in the air!

It’s time for change! It’s time for challenge!