Anger at gridlock

An open letter to borough council leader David Renard: As head of the current council, you must surely be held accountable for the abject planning of all the ongoing roadworks in Swindon. Utter chaos doesn’t really get anywhere near.

On Friday my wife left the garden centre in Hyde Road about two miles from home and took 40 minutes. The temporary lights on Oxford Road are set to allow incoming traffic against that outgoing at a ratio of roughly 15 to 1. Re; the workers at the Nythe junction (I use the term workers loosely). I wonder how much they get paid just to stand around? Totally oblivious of any perpetual traffic problems. That is closed for seven weeks and counting. Perhaps you would, through the medium of the Swindon Advertiser, explain exactly when any project might be completed. Some parts of this town are at a virtual standstill frequently.

Also kindly provide a detailed breakdown of the apparent £29 million cost of the ‘improved’ White Hart roundabout. Somewhat expensive for a few new barriers and kerbstones perhaps, so far at least.

I have requested feedback from your deputy Mr Holland with no response.

Rodney J M Wirdnam

Whilestone Way

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Let down by MPs on Brexit lawbreaking

On 23rd June 2016 a crime was committed against the British people. The Leave Campaign deliberately set out to mislead and deceive the British People about the EU.

The Leave campaign lied to us about how the EU works, claimed it was undemocratic when in fact it is more democratic than our own government. It lied to us about the EU being corrupt and never having its accounts signed off when in fact they have been signed off for every year it has been in existence, they lied to us about immigration from the EU and freedom of movement, they to us lied about trade.

The list of lies told by the Leave Campaign is almost endless. In fact, the Leave Campaign misled and lied to us, the British people, so much, that Professor Michael Dougan of Liverpool University concluded their campaign was ‘dishonesty on an industrial scale’ and that “Leave conducted one of the most dishonest campaigns this country has ever seen.”He went to say that their entire campaign was “at best misrepresentations and at worst outright deception.”

This dishonesty by the Leave Campaign created a huge schism in our country and turned not just friend against friend, but colleague against colleague, and family member against family member. That schism has still not healed five years later.

If that dishonesty was not bad enough, some months later, it emerged that the leave campaign had also committed multiple serious breaches of both electoral law and data protection law. These revelations lead to the referendum result being challenged in court.

Despite the fact that the Government told the British people that they had no choice but to do as instructed by the referendum, as soon as they were in court, they changed their tune and relied on the devious and underhand legal loophole that the referendum was actually only advisory to avoid the result of the referendum being annulled.

Everyone involved in that court case knew that the 2016 referendum result was seriously flawed, indeed, the Governments own Barrister was recorded openly admitting that in the Supreme Court.

The role of both our Local MP’s in Brexit is also questionable and both need to explain their actions.

Justin Tomlinson supported the Leave Campaign and has, on a number of occasions, made highly questionable statements relating to Brexit. For example, in 2018 Tomlinson claimed that the health service and other public services locally would benefit from the so called ‘Brexit Divided’ at time when it was already accepted the costs of Brexit were so large that there would be no dividend for the foreseeable future if indeed ever.

In September he made highly questionable claims that the EU was trying to stop food supplies being sent to Northern Ireland and that the EU was trying to break up the UK. Despite being repeatedly asked to provide evidence to support these dubious claims, he has failed to produce a single shred of evidence to back them up.

Tomlinson needs to provide an explanation for both these examples and others.

Robert Buckland claims to have supported the Remain campaign but has subsequently gone on not only to appease the liars and law breakers of the Leave Campaign, but also to actively help them achieve their goals. His constituents, whether they voted Leave or Remain, had every right to expect someone with his stature and seniority in the Government and his background in the legal profession to stand up for what was right and protect them from the wrongdoings of the Leave Campaign.

Despite knowing about both the dishonesty and the illegal actions of the leave campaign Buckland chose to put his career and party before his constituents and country. In my opinion that does not just make him as bad as the liars and law breakers of the Leave Campaign, that makes him worse. He needs to explain why he helped those who lied and broke the law to achieve their goals. Bluntly, Brexit has no legitimacy and never will.

Brexit is a Crime.

Dr Adam Poole

Savill Crescent

Wroughton

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