As you probably know there has been a campaign in support of the Fire Brigade Union in Cornwall in the face of fire service cuts by the Lib Dem controlled county council, backed by the five Lib Dem Cornish Mps. Recently Councillor Ken Yeo, Executive member with responsibility for the Fire Brigade, attended a meeting last week with the Fire Minister, Parmjit Dhanda to plead for more money for the Cornish Fire Brigade. He did this knowing that the Executive had agreed to spend more money on a newsletter than it would take to maintain the current fire cover at Falmouth and Camborne.
He and the Cornish LibDem County leader and 4 of the countys Lib dem MP’s groveled for more dosh. Thay said Cornwall should get extra support because of its geography, demographics and the tourist industry. On local news Jula Goldsworthy MP was seen stamping her little foot, and saying that the meeting was "Very frustrating". The Fire Service is not the only area under threat, re-organisation following the move to Unitary Authority status is expected to bring huge job losses in Cornwall to add to those already gone or going at Imris.

But this morning my Snarfer found this press release. I am given to wonder if this decision was made on the return trip to Cornwall on the train. This is indeed a huge climbdown by the Liberal-Democrats on Cornwall County Council, and a victory for people power in the face of utter incompetence of the Lib Dems here in Cornwall. Although the last paragraph seem somewhat ominous with regard to fire service issue being revisited in the future.

It is not unusual for the party of protest to go into meltdown when they win power and are called on to take responsibility for their political actions. Nowhere is this more painfully obvious than in Cornwall, a county they like to think of as their heartlands.

Those lying Lib Dem leaflets sicken the stomachs of the hardiest Labour actiivst. But Southall offers us a chance to show the Lib Dems for the liars and fantasists they are. The F-Ds did their usual by-election exercise in making it up as they go along and keeping their fingers crossed that people might believe the hype.

All those claims in their fake newspapers about "Lib Dems set to overturn huge majority or "too close to call" or "set to go to the wire" or "it's neck and neck" can be shown up as just a lot of hot air. I'm not for a millisecond suggesting we rely on this too heavily, but it does offer an opportunity to countermand their usual claims.

Is there a role for Paddy Ashdown in Gordon Brown's administration?