Councillor John Hemming, Lib Dem Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council's Conservative dominated coalition is quite rightly upset over the issue of alleged fraudulent abuse of the postal ballot system by some individuals in the Labour Party last June. Where Hemming tips over the edge of sanity though, is when he accuses the Labour Party in general, or the Government of "undermining democracy." We need to be clear about this. The Labour Party issued strict written instructions to members about the use of postal ballots which made it absolutely clear that there should not even be a suggestion of interference in how individual voters cast their vote. If Hemming is suggesting otherwise he should put up or shut up. If the Labour Party has to accept the responsibility for people who "allegedly" (and that is important) fiddled the vote... will John Hemming and the Liberal Democrats accept responsibility for the Scottish Lib Dem MEP who so 'liberally' interpreted his expenses that he claimed mileage expenses in a single year equivalent to driving "three and a half times around the world?"
Also on his blog Hemming is getting concerned about kids and anti-social behaviour. A bit rich for a Party that have opposed almost all Labour's proposals on anti-social behaviour but who's Culture spokesperson wants to to reduce the legal drinking age to 16. That should stop the kids spraying graffiti... they'll be too busy getting pissed!
