Alliance and Progressives Part Company

Posting from the sick bed, The News Desk is reporting that the South Tyneside Alliance of Councillors and the Boroughs Progressive Councillors have parted company on the grounds that the latter feel their identity is being lost as time goes on.

The split is not the political catastrophe that some people will make of it. The Alliance maintains that the pre requisite for both groups remains the same: that of opposing Labour domination of the regions affairs. This stance will therefore continue unabated within the Chamber and at the ballot box. The difference is that from now onwards the two groups will adopt this approach as separate entities. Clearly then, we will not be seeing the Progressives mirroring the sycophantic antics of their opposite numbers in the Conservative Party.

Anybody therefore expecting any radical change will be very naive and somewhat ignorant of local politics. The Progressives were elected to oppose Labour, not to be part of their private club. If they wish to keep their seats, then they will have to adhere to this concept. Without the Alliance’s support on the administrative and logistical side however, they are going to have their work cut out maintaining their seats, but that’s another matter all together.