INDEPENDENT Great Sankey parish Cllr Nigel Catlow has announced he will not be standing as an independent candidate at the forthcoming General Election.
He had planned to give voters in Warrington South the option of voting for the person, not the party at the forthcoming election by standing as an independent.
But due to time constraints he said: “After much deliberation over the last 72 hours, it is with regret that I will NOT be standing in the forthcoming General Election on the 4th July.
“As one political pundit said this week, “it is not the right time”, with just six weeks, this is not enough time to conduct a thorough and effective campaign. Yes, I have been caught out by the timing of this election being called earlier than I had expected, as I genuinely thought Sunak would go to the country in October or November; but it is what it is.
“As an independent, I do not have the party machine behind me so the time is too short to get the financial and campaign team supporters in place, to give the task a meaningful and justifiable approach. You can’t just turn on an effective campaign on at the click of your fingers.
“Also personally, I do not have the appetite to fight another campaign so soon after the local elections on the 2nd May. I would need four weeks off work which can’t happen, unlike Government ministers and others I just can’t clear a diary at the stroke of a pen. You have to be realistic and use common sense.
“I feel that Warrington is not prepared for ‘dynamic change’ and seems more suited to retaining the status quo, as recently shown by the results from the Borough elections. The electorate need to have an MP that will work for the constituents first and foremost, not the puppet masters elsewhere.
“Warrington has too much going on, in the background, that needs resolving and must be put on a sound footing, for example Government Inspectors checking “best value” within the council, a safeguarding review after a dreadful murder is still on-going. I have to be pragmatic.
“The country, when listening to the media, is seeking change but do the general public trust either of the two national parties vying for the top seat. Clearly the country wants a new direction from the staid two party system but I feel the winners of this election on July 4th will be voter apathy with a low turnout because they just don’t know who to vote for, “they are as bad as each other,” was often heard on the doorstep.
“Who knows, we might end up with an ill-fated hung parliament, we might have a by-election caused by external factors, we might have a new political landscape, voting system and new parties!!
I for one, will be watching the outcome on Election night as I have for many a year previously and maybe, just maybe I will be back, god willing.
“And yes, like many residents I have spoken to, who do we vote for on Thursday 4th July?”
