Political Opinion: ‘It is time to turn our backs on failure’ - Labour Group leader writes open letter to Derbyshire residents on eve of polling day

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With the Local Elections just 24 hours away, she urged people to “vote for real change” by backing Labour at the ballot box after a disastrous eight years of Tory control at County Hall.

And she warned staying at home or backing other smaller parties could risk a backroom deal between the Tories and Reform, leading to a coalition that would repeat the “chaos and decline we have all just lived through”.

Joan Dixon told residents her campaign to lead Derbyshire County Council had been “eye-opening”, adding: “As a councillor for over 20 years, I have seen up close the issues faced by our residents. But the strain families are under in Derbyshire right now is shocking.”

She pointed in particular to her meetings with families of SEND children, “hearing first-hand the hurt and the anger of parents and carers feeling ‘gaslit’ by their own council”, as well meetings held by other Labour candidates on the scourge of anti-social behaviour and the dire state of our roads.

The Labour Group leader added: “Whilst my fellow Labour candidates and I have been out on the doors across our county, holding community meetings and speaking to residents, finding the problems and offering solutions to fix them, where have the Tories or Reform been?

“One has been hiding from its own record, ashamed of the past eight years it has spent running the council – let alone the past 14 years the party in Westminster spent decimating the country’s public services.

“The other thinks one visit from their leader – when he isn’t in America looking into privatising our NHS – is enough to convince people he cares about Derbyshire, or can even point to it on a map.”

Joan Dixon acknowledged residents were “impatient for change”, having overwhelmingly voted for Labour MPs across the county at last summer’s general election. But she also detailed how Labour had already got to work, with NHS waiting lists falling six months in a row, free breakfast clubs beginning to be rolled out across our schools, and the first of 13,000 new neighbourhood police officers being recruited.

She said: “There is so much more to do. It will take to put things right, both in our county and our country, from the 14 years of chaos and decline we have all just lived through. But it is time to turn our backs on failure.

“What we need is the final piece of the puzzle – a Labour County Council in Derbyshire, working hand in hand with the government to fix the foundations and rebuild from the ground up. Not a Tory-Reform coalition failing our residents for the next four years.

“So, as someone who loves Derbyshire as much as you, who wants to see it be the best place to live, work and learn, who wants to see us thrive again, vote for real change on Thursday 1st May. Vote Labour.”

If Derbyshire Labour wins control of the County Council on 1st May, it has pledged to:

• Fix our finances and invest in Derbyshire
• Return law and order to our streets
• Fix our roads and fill the potholes
• Rebuild our local NHS
• Invest in children and families

Full text of Joan Dixon’s public letter below:

Dear Derbyshire residents,

I write to you as the leader of the Labour Group on the County Council to ask you to put your trust in us this Thursday.

The campaign for this local election has been eye opening for me. As a councillor for over 20 years, I have seen up close the issues faced by our residents. But the strain families are under in Derbyshire right now is shocking.

Some of the most powerful examples for me came from meetings I held with parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in both the north and south of the county.

It is one thing reading the Ofsted report into the Tory-led council and its “widespread and systemic failings” in SEND provision for some of our most vulnerable, or seeing the budget papers where the current administration is underspending on SEND, despite the growing need.

But it is quite another hearing first-hand the hurt and the anger of parents and carers feeling “gaslit” by their own council, unable to even talk to someone on the phone, all the while watching their children being deprived of the education they both need and deserve.

I know my colleague and fellow Labour candidate Mick Yates felt the same when he held a meeting with residents in Cresswell about the plague of anti-social behaviour in Derbyshire.

Whilst the Tories have been busy cutting funding to vital services, there are people in our county who have been left no longer feeling safe in their own homes, or are looking at their once beautiful streets, disgusted by the levels of litter and fly-tipping.

And let’s face it, we didn’t need the RAC to tell us we had the worst roads for potholes in the country. Allan Ogle’s videos from his campaign in Staveley felt like looking at craters on the moon – and left even the government minister for roads in shock! Yet another way the County Council has let us down.

Whilst my fellow Labour candidates and I have been out on the doors across our county, holding community meetings and speaking to residents, finding the problems and offering solutions to fix them, where have the Tories or Reform been?

One has been hiding from its own record, ashamed of the past eight years it has spent running the council – let alone the past 14 years the party in Westminster spent decimating the country’s public services.

The other thinks one visit from their leader – when he isn’t in America looking into privatising our NHS – is enough to convince people he cares about Derbyshire, or can even point to it on a map.

We know people are impatient for change. They voted for it overwhelmingly in Derbyshire at the General Election last summer. And so are we.

Labour has already got to work. NHS waiting lists have fallen six months in a row, over 1,500 new GPs have been recruited, the first of 13,000 new neighbourhood police officers have been confirmed, and free breakfast clubs are rolling out to schools across the country.

There is so much more to do. It will take to put things right, both in our county and our country, from the 14 years of chaos and decline we have all just lived through. But it is time to turn our backs on failure.

What we need is the final piece of the puzzle – a Labour County Council in Derbyshire, working hand in hand with the government to fix the foundations and rebuild from the ground up. Not a Tory-Reform coalition failing our residents for the next four years.

So, as someone who loves Derbyshire as much as you, who wants to see it be the best place to live, work and learn, who wants to see us thrive again, vote for real change on Thursday 1st May. Vote Labour.

Yours Sincerely,

Joan Dixon

Labour Group Leader

Derbyshire County Council