Throughout this general election period, the Labour Party has made a habit of parachuting in candidates – or in most cases dropping them out of planes without a parachute – into constituencies they think are Labour safe seats.
Labour’s candidate for Thirsk and Malton, Lisa Banes, appears to be one of them. According to a couple of social media searches, she has no history in Thirsk or Malton. Instead, it seems she has been taxied in from Sheffield:
I haven’t seen or heard of you at any of the campaign trails or hustings, and I’m told you are not living in the local area, is this the case?
— Mark Calvert (@Mark_Calvert) July 2, 2024
Earlier this year she stood in the Sheffield local elections and failed to get elected. However, she was previously a local councillor in Sheffield until 2018. Looking at her attendance history, she seemed to skip 50% of all council meetings in 2019. Yet she wants us to trust her to show up to Parliament?
Sheffield is not that far from Thirsk and Malton – it’s in the same county in fact, unlike some of Labour’s other fly-ins. However, the two places are completely different. What does a city girl know about a tiny town like Thirsk?
Labour: a candidate missing in action
Since this election trail began, she has not been seen in the constituency and she failed to show up to the hustings on Friday 28 June. But of course, she had time to pop to Scarborough to join the wanky battle bus – and no doubt stop for fish and chips:
Interesting to see @tandmclp candidate @LisaBanes_ made it to North Yorkshire today. Shame she wasn’t able to stop by in Malton and talk to many people in the constituency who’ve been asking to meet her. Vote for the candidate who cares about Thirsk and Malton. @stevemason2111 pic.twitter.com/wKm8LSHyAU
— Thirsk & Malton Liberal Democrats (@ThirskMaltonLDs) July 2, 2024
She hasn’t personally tweeted once since 13 June, and even then her tweet was clearly a party line with a link to the manifesto. Her X profile is almost robotic – not an ounce of personality, opinion, or anything that looks like actually giving a shit about the constituency she is standing in.
Are Labour HQ thinking they can just parachute her in, like they are doing with Akehurst in North Durham, and win it without a fight?
She didn’t attend the hustings, no one in the Thirsk at least has seen her, and her social media doesn’t appear to show her taking part in any campaign related activities in her own constituency:
Maybe if she had actually appeared at some point in the constituency, attended the hustings, generally made any attempt to actually win people’s votes, she might have earnt people’s votes
— Sam Boam (@SJBoam) July 2, 2024
A guessing game
Her Labour Party profile has zero information – how do we know who or what we’re voting for? Do we just presume that she is toeing the party line? With no voting record to go from it’s hard to figure out where she stands. Even her local Labour Party page has very limited information. A generic paragraph about hands-on community experience? What the fuck do you stand for?
I agree .. never heard of Lisa Barnes and can’t find anything about her .. 🙄
— Mark (@mjpalmer70) July 3, 2024
In an age of social media there is really no excuse. And if you can swan off to other constituencies to drink tea on a big red bus, then you clearly have time to meet with local residents:
Hi Lisa, I’d like to vote Labour, but I have no idea who you are or what your background is — and I can’t vote for you unless I trust you as a potential MP.
Please could you publish some information on your experiences and background as soon as possible?
— AC (@myrninerest) June 26, 2024
This is indicative of a much bigger problem within the Labour Party. There’s this expectation that people are so sick of the Tories that they will automatically vote Labour. Well I think they’ve got it massively wrong. People want change. However, they do not want Starmer’s idea of change – which seems to be picking out a red tie instead of a blue one. I hope he at least remembers to change his pants on Friday morning:
@lisabanes I’m frustrated by your lack of presence in the constituency, your poor leaflet, and very limited understanding of you. You’re behaving like a no-hoper, but I want to support Labour. You’re not helping the cause, but behaving like you’re resigned to losing.
— Steve T (@TykeTown) July 2, 2024
The best of a bad bunch
In Thirsk and Malton, we don’t have much to choose from.
Obviously we have the standard options: Greens, Labour, Lib Dems, Tory, and Reform UK. Lets face it, that last one is probably the local racist who fancies a few days out in London. We also have the Yorkshire party – who appear to be a bunch of clowns that want a devolved parliament in Yorkshire. They’re taking “Gods own country” to a narcissistic extreme.
Unfortunately, there is no independent candidate standing here. So for anyone with a conscience, the choice is between the Greens or the Lib Dems. Both of these, according to voting predictions, don’t stand any chance of winning. But how much do we trust the predictions? How likely are they to take into account the boundary changes of the constituency since the 2019 election?
And how can anyone with a fucking conscience vote for the genocide-enabling Labour Party?
So today I will be voting with my heart, and I urge everyone else to do the same. Fuck tactical voting – stand up for what you believe in.
Feature image via the Canary
