We are now in a new phase in which the party forming the UK Government has changed.

In the December 2019 election, while the Johnson Government claimed an overwhelming mandate from the British people for their policies, there was a strong sense that those who voted for the Conservative party were more rejecting their impression of what a Jeremy Corbyn Labour Govt would mean rather than wanting a Johnson led Tory Govt. The 4th July 2024 election result seems to have been even more strongly a rejection of the Tory party rather than an enthusiastic endorsement of the Labour party.

The euphoria that greeted the election of the Blair Govt in 1997 is noticeably absent, but that may not be a bad thing.

What this means for Goole is not yet clear. It now has the MP that previously represented Howden and Haltemprice, so different MP but same party. East Riding Council is still run by the Conservative Party. The leader of East Riding Council, Goole Counsellor Anne Handley is clearly very ambitious, with strong signs those ambitions are to be the mayor of East Yorkshire, and a sceptic might argue, certainly many residents seem to feel, that this is why the “consultation” on an East Yorkshire mayor that was only lip service to what the public actually wanted, and designed to support creating an East Yorkshire mayoralty.

There were already signs in the run up to the election that some things in the town were getting better. The town centre atmosphere is a great deal better in the evening for example than it was 18 months to two years ago when teenagers were rampaging round disrupting supermarkets, shops, the library, the pedestrianised precinct and throwing missiles at pedestrians in the subways. The pedestrianised part of town is a much pleasanter place to be.

In the 12 July 2024 issue of the Goole Times there was an interview with outgoing MP. He talks about liking to tell it as it is (i.e. how he perceives it) and speak bluntly. He says he inherited a mess which he has had to work hard to clear up. Elsewhere he is sharply critical of people who have reservations or criticise any of his party’s plans for Goole, and especially the Town Deal,  dismissing them as very in number, moaners, negative, and running Goole down and also accuses anyone who makes criticisms as damaging the town.

There is a double standard here. He can speak bluntly and tell it how he sees it, but if others do so they are negative, moaning, running the town down and damaging it. The silent majority all approve of the Town Deal we are told.

In the past few days we have been told of “exciting news”. A brewery from York is to run the Market Hall operation after £4 million of Town Deal money has been spent on it. The objective seems primarily to be to use Town Deal money to create a new source of income for East Riding Council - for any money raised on the market hall will it seems, unless evidence is provided to the contrary, go straight into Beverley’s coffers, so out of town. The York brewery will of course take its profits to York. TRhe reactions I have heard are not the excited euphoria that the Town Deal Board instructs citizens to feel. People tend to wonder how the work on the market hall can possibly add up to £4 million.

Apparently the market hall will be at the heart of what is now being described as Goole’s cultural quarter - Junction, the museum, but not, unless East Riding Council and the Town Dealers stop being so stubborn, not the public library. It’s absurd to take the public library away from the museum out of the “cultural quarter’, reduce it even further in size and shove it in with the sports centre. This chimes with the stubborness of kicking athletes in the teeth by destroying their international standard length running track because that’s what the football contingent demand.

Still we are told that apart from an infinitely small number of “moaners” the great majority of people fully support the Town Deal plans.

Conversations with people around the town, topics initiated by them, not me, show that this is not true. There are a lot of people unhappy with the Town Deal. A lot of people seem to think the town has declined very seriously in the last 10 years. A lot of people seem to think Junction 36 and the Town Deal are to benefit business and a select few, and neither are doing much to benefit the older parts of Goole. Also, many people seem to feel much greater antipathy towards Beverley and East Riding Council than Nigel Farage felt towards Brussels and the EU.

This and related petitions, and the petition updates have been based on chance conversations out and about in Goole. I have not raised any of the issues when I have encountered people myself, they have raised the subjects and I have then included comments in the petitions and the updates. There is a large group of people, publicly silent, who are not happy with the Town Deal. They, we, raise concerns and make criticisms because we care about the town and the people who live in it, and have equally valid concerns that decisions are being taken which are detrimental to the people who live, work, go to school and run businesses in it.

There is no doubt the previous MP for this town worked hard and believed what he was doing was right. However, it is undemocratic, and should be unacceptable behaviour, that an elected MP or councillor should described members of the public as “negative”, “moaning”, “running the town down” and “damaging the town” because they express the view that things could be better. He also describes people who express concerns as “haters’. This is inflammatory language, irresponsible and is a discredit to the former MP when he has a good deal of which he can justifiably be proud.

Goole is not a business. It is a town made up of citizens. Goole Town Council is not a business, it is a Parish council which should be answerable to the citizens. East Riding Council is not a business, it should also be answerable to all its citizens, not just the clique. Citizens are not the subordinates of MPs and councillors in some sort of line management structure. MPs and councillors are answerable to the public, not the other way round. That at least is how things should be in a healthy democracy.

Unfortunately democracy in Goole is so sick it needs to be in Intensive Care.

Whether a new Government can change things remains to be seen. If they do not, the consequences for democracy, and Britain, could be very serious.