Local Councillor says Balls to 2005 Betting Shop Legislation

Last week, courtesy of a kind invitation from Nilgun Canver,  Liz and I attended a local meeting where 'ordinary people' met some of Labour's Westminster mob. Ed Balls came along with a few less well-known shadow ministers.

There were few surprises in the topics that came up, but it was an appropriate meeting for the party to be running.  I do hope the grandees were listening (I certainly hope they were listening a lot more attentively than the little bunch of excitable party policy juniors sharing a table at the back. Instead of listening to the 'men in the street', this bunch seemed to spend most of their time giggling and attending to more important issues via their Blackberries).

One contribution which particularly impressed me was by St Anns' Councillor Zena Brabazon. Aware of the strong local sentiment on the issue of the effects of the 2005 Gambling Act, and ignoring any disapproval from any of the party grandees, national and local, Zena made her disdain of the last Government's gambling legislation quite clear.

Good for you Zena. Thank you for representing our views.