Kevan Lim

Well the reality of defeat hit home today. I had to go into the county council to close out all my files and transfer my emails to my own account.  Unfortunately someone had decided to switch off all the computer access for councillors who were defeated.  I never cease to be amazed at the insensitivity of some people.  Apart from the fact that I did not end my term as a county councillor until the end of today, how does anyone think you can access your files if they have closed down computer access.  It is important because I still have several important personal cases which I want to make sure are transferred to appropriate officers for action before I end.

Anyway when the computers were switched back on I received a number of emails both from opponents and residents regretting my defeat.  Whilst I appreciate the thoughts it only added to my depression.

The defeat also meant I am  no longer the UK representative on the European bodies I was involved with.  As a consequence I have to arrange  votes to be provided to the Norwegian vice president in connection with an important meeting in Odessa Ukraine this week.  Fortunately she is happy to vote on behalf of the UK delegation.

One good email arrives from one of my French local government contacts who regrets my defeat and complains I should have told him earlier so he could have sent over  his  Corsican brotherhood to campaign on my behalf.  I remember reading the book by Robert Ludlum “The Matarese Circle”.

Not sure having a campaign run by a brotherhood intent on world domination through corruption and anarchy would have helped, although it gave me a laugh and lightened my mood.

I have one final task which is to attend my last meeting of the European energy group in Brussels on the 19th June.  Then its time to really decide what I am going to do.

Chambers, Jane Liberal Democrat 678

Carter, Paul Justin Conservative 561

Lim, Kevan Labour 526

Cavanagh, Brenda Patricia Green 387

Bad result. This was my 7^th election, once in Bedfordshire, 3 times in Manchester and then this was my third in Ipswich. I had never lost so the defeat was even harder.

Its Saturday night and I am coming to terms with my defeat. Although in comparison with many other places especially Lowestoft, I can look on my result with some pleasure. I always knew it would be a tight call.

Based on last year I have only lost about 220 votes. The libs are hardly up and the conservatives have made limited progress with all the extra votes on the waterfront. In reality my defeat is down to a protest vote with labour votes switching to Green. I can live with that . In some parts of Ipswich and in Lowestoft the labour vote has gone to BNP or UKIP.

In some ways today was a difficult day. I have to start deciding what I do.

But it was helped by my daughter who performed with the co-op juniors at the Sidegate fate. She was great, 5 years old and a confident ballet dancer.

I have enjoyed my 6 years on the county council. At least I leave some things behind like the Explore card which I know would never have happened without me.

Will I stand again who knows. The one thing I do know is that some of the Labour Cabinet have betrayed every basic principle I believe in. Their first concern has been their own self interest and not that of the party or the country.

This will be my last post before the election results are declared.

Like 2005 the count is not until friday.  However in 2005 I knew on the thursday night I had won.  The first stage in the count is to verify the total number of ballot papers.  During this stage its possible to watch the ballots being checked and to calculate how well you are doing.  Unfortunetly this time that won’t happen until friday morning so it will be a very nervy thursday night.

The decision today by Hazel Bleers to resign from the cabinet is typical of the attitude of some at westminster who think that elections are all about the national government. Its quite frankly arrogrant disrespect for those of us who think the election is about local services and who is best to run the county council.

However I am still confident.  I think I have done enough to win.  All I can hope for is that people will go into the polling station and vote on my what I have done over the last 4 years and who is best to represent their interests in St Helens.

Thats all I can ask

The current campaign about the future of Heart Attack treatment being lead by the Ipswich evening star has generated an enormous amount of correspondence and views.

Everyone seems to assume that the transfer of some patients to specialist centres will be dangerous for those patients in Ipswich.

However it is clear that the professionals recommending this change seem to believe it will save lives.

The real problem is that none of the implications of the change were clearly spelt out a year ago when it was approved by the Strategic Health Authority which was a major blunder and the evening star never campaigned against the change until a few weeks ago just before it was due to start. Another big mistake.

That’s why I have been pressing the County Council’s scrutiny committee to discuss in detail the proposed changes to understand what they actually mean for patients and why it is claimed they are better for treatment.

That will now happen on the 20th July.

Unfortunately this whole debate has been turned into a political football with the leader of the county council claiming that the changes will put lives at risk and he will stop it.

I don’t think such statements are helpful. We need a decision that saves the most lives and makes the care of heart attack patients better. I am not certain yet whether that should be in specialist centres or in Ipswich.

What we need on the 20th July is a full and clear explanation of the implications of the changes and then the review needs to determine what is best for Ipswich patients.

The current campaign against the changes has given us a delay which now enables a sensible review of the implications.

That review should produce a decision that is in patients and families best interests whether or not it is necessarily in line with any editor or politicians view.

The final weekend before an election is always a very nervy time. You can never be sure if you have done enough.

If you read the newspapers and the opinion polls over the weekend it makes for pretty depressing reading if you are a labour politician. However I still remain optimistic.

Almost every house in St Helen’s has had a least 2 leaflets outlining some of my views.

I get the impression that people will vote differently between the county elections and the European elections. Indeed several people have said they will vote for me, but not for labour at the Europeans.

As my seat is the most marginal in Ipswich then i clearly will be under pressure if there is a swing towards liberal or conservatives..

However all I can do is ask people to vote based on my record over the last 4 years.

The most frustrating thing is when someone says to you, yes you have been a good county councillor, but I want to send the government a message. It does seem strange that often it is someone who does not like what the conservatives have been doing at the county council but are happy to vote against me even though the consequence is a return of a conservative county council doing the very things people have been complaining about. Its not a logic I can follow.

Certainly this is one of those occasions where if I am to win then I will have to persuade enough people to ignore national considerations and vote for me.

Come Thursday I will know if I have been able to do that or whether I will be reaching for the Valium.