Chesterfield's Labour MP Abandons Ideals

Chesterfield's recently re-elected Labour MP has this week shocked local people by failing to vote against the new Conservative Government's Welfare Bill - despite having spent the previous five years vilifying the more measured cuts made by the Coalition Government.

The Bill includes £12bn of ideologically driven cuts which the Lib Dems blocked whilst in Government and continued to oppose by voting against on Monday. These cuts would potentially affect some 15,000 people in Chesterfield - with wider indirect impacts on the local economy.

Whilst the Lib Dems have been consistent in their opposition to these cuts, which they view as totally unnecessary, some in the Labour Party, led by those on its Blairite Right Wing such as Labour's Chesterfield MP, seem to have altered their view since the election. They apparently now believe that the only way to regain the economic credibility they lack is to start copying Conservative positions on issues such as welfare - even if it means abandoning the people that voted for them in constituencies like Chesterfield, which would be disproportionately affected by these proposals.

However, the Lib Dems will continue to stand up for for the least well off in our society - we will not let the Conservatives, by their choices, or Labour by their failure to oppose these plans unpick our welfare system.