Don't expect same old promises to be kept

If there is one thing in life which almost every one of your readers can agree upon it is the simple truth that you can never, ever rely on a promise made by a politician, and by default a political party.

The latest ‘promise’ from the Conservative administration which has run Swindon Borough Council for the past 17 years suggests they think the electorate is either stupid or naive.

According to your reporter Aled Thomas (SA, April 24), the Conservatives “promise” to have the Corn Exchange (the Locarno) and the Mechanics’ Institute restored by 2025.

It’s a promise which they will not keep.

The Conservatives have promised action before as readers will recall how in 2007 the council claimed to have signed a three-way agreement and developers expressed their hope to be ‘on site’ early in 2008.

In 2016 the Conservatives assured us that the developer had signed a three way partnership agreement with Forward Swindon with Coun Garry Perkins saying that "with an opening date of November 2019 the future looks bright”.

Sadly, promises are easy to make and the Conservatives are masters of the art of obfuscation.

The ‘cultural quarter’ has been a dream for over 20 years, while a new art gallery and museum is the ultimate ‘pipe dream’ of a political elite out of touch with reality.

Will the Labour opposition be any better, I suspect not.

However, after 17 years of the Conservatives plying the same old tropes about ‘government funded programmes’ and ‘private sector investment’ perhaps now is the time to call their bluff.

The council is in reality nothing more than a commissioning agent spending 80 per cent of its budget on 20 per cent of the population; something no council tax payer signed up to.

Des Morgan

Caraway Drive

Swindon

 

Trade deals show Brexit will never be 'done'

Arch-Brexiteer Des Morgan will, no doubt, be saluting the latest fantastic post-Brexit trade deal secured with Japan by Liz Truss and the Tory government.

I have to admit that, initially, I was in awe that Liz Truss had "secured many tariff wins with her Japan deal and taxes have been cut!"

But wait... on birds' eggs, raw hides, fur skins and ultra-strong spirits, amongst others – really?

As I quickly found out, sadly, the UK doesn't export any of these product. Just 10 of 9,444 products mentioned in the deal will enjoy lower taxes, experts say (Independent, November 8).

Liz Truss is messing around the edges of our global trade position because she can't get anywhere with deals with any other substantial country.

Our main market remains the EU.  Surely she needs to be spending her time persuading the prime minister that membership of the Single Market and Customs Union is the solution to our problems?

This Tory government is lying to us all, day after day after day.  

And this is just further proof (if further proof were needed) that Brexit will never "be done" – but that, one day (sooner rather than later) it will be undone.

Steve Cowdry.

Saddleback Road

Shaw