Cllr Bill Tomlinson is a great friendly guy, well respected and well liked around the Council and his own Ward of Shawbirch Telford, but talking with residents on the couple of occasions I have been out with the Conservative Candidate for Shawbirch Cllr Anthony Lowe, I’ve been asked how supportive, if at at all Bill Tomlinson is of the Conservatives? After all it was not that long ago that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats had a coalition Government.
I asked officers to help out with this and they kindly supplied me with a list of Bill’s voting record in this Council cycle, so May 2015 until now 10th February 2019. This table only shows the recorded votes, ie issues which the main parties feel a formal record of voting should be kept for:-
With Labour | Against Labour | With Conservatives | With All Parties | Abstained | |||||||
Party | Names | Administration | Administration | Opposition alone | Unanimously | ||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 18 | Never | Never | 7 | 2 |
Note Bill has in fact during this time NEVER voted against the Labour administration and NEVER voted with the Conservative main opposition other than when everyone voted unanimously for a matter.
We all supported for example attempts to save the hospital and he joined with all parties when that was voted on.
But interestingly Bill Tomlinson supported the adoption of the Telford and Wrekin Local Plan which included the development site in Shawbirch where around 1,000 residents objected to the recent toilet roll factory proposal. Strange that Bill supported the plan for a site with industrial development, but then opposed an industrial application on the site. I do accept that this application was not appropriate but all the same.
Many supporters of the Conservatives nationally who live in Shawbirch have in the past supported Cllr Bill Tomlinson, but I don’t think in doing so they expected his voting record to be so fully Labour supporting as it appears to be. It seems that his opinions are very close to those of his Labour colleagues and not at all like those of the Conservative main opposition group.
I don’t know of any arrangement or formal support and supply type of agreements but I feel residents should be aware of the voting records of their Councillors, and that locally at least the Liberal Democrats are very close supporters and sympathetic to the policies of the current Labour Administration.
Bill is a great guy and has worked hard for his residents, he is liked by many including myself, but I am not certain that his voting record is known in the same way.
See his more detailed record here:
Date | Motion | With Labour | With Conservative | Abstained | |||||||
Administration | Opposition | ||||||||||
09/07/2015 | Proposed changes to Arriva Bus routes | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
09/07/2015 | Close Newport Recycling Centre | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
09/07/2015 | Against Bedroom Tax | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
26/11/2015 | Against Government Grant Reduction | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
03/03/2016 | Service and Financial Planning | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
24/11/2016 | Protecting Children | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
07/12/2016 | Future Fit | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
02/03/2017 | Service and Financial Planning | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
02/03/2017 | Retention of Services at PRH | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
20/07/2017 | Overnight Closure of PRH | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
21/09/2017 | Shortfall in School Places | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
11/01/2017 | Telford & Wrekin Local Plan | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
11/01/2017 | Reverse Parking Charges at PRH | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
01/03/2018 | Service and Financial planning | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
10/04/2018 | Inquiry into CSE | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
26/07/2018 | Retain Childrens unit at PRH | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
26/07/2018 | Against merger with Shropshire | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
20/09/2018 | White Ribbon Town | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
20/09/2018 | Slow Progress with CRE | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
29/10/2018 | Overnight Closure of PRH | ||||||||||
Liberal | Bill Tomlinson | 1 | |||||||||
Cllr Anthony Lowe really wants to win this ward, and is out and about as often as he can be. If you see him on the doorstep make sure to ask him about Bill’s voting record.
Please support the Conservatives we really need your help and support to win the Telford and Wrekin Council on 2nd May 2019