Time for new leadership at IBC

So Ipswich has voted for five more years of Ben Gummer as the MP – well 45% of them did, and that’s usually considered a majority when Labour get that much of the vote.

They also voted for the Tories at the council – though by a much lower margin.

Yet we don’t seem to have any change. By all accounts, Labour are going to fudge their AGM on Monday and elect David Ellesmere to remain as the Borough leader.

I like David. I think he has good in his heart, and I think he believes that Labour’s policies are better than the Tories. I think he believes that the Tory market ideology is wrong for the town and wrong for the country. And I think he is wrong there – rather than focussing on systems and structures, the only focus should be on outcomes, and where the market is capable of producing a better outcome it should be allowed to.

But the fact remains that regardless of how well-meaning David is, he stood on his record as council leader – and he lost.

I’m sorry David, but I think you have to go. It is time for new leadership at Ipswich Borough Council – leadership that will focus on working with the new leadership at SCC, and the MP, rather than on ensuring dividing lines for partisan gain. Ipswich desperately needs a leader who will work with others to deliver for everyone. Perhaps David has the capacity to become that leader. But his record – the one he ran on – doesn’t show that yet.