VOTE ANDREW DOUGLAS POPE INDEPENDENT FOR SHIRLEY WARD ON SOUTHAMPTON CITY COUNCIL ON 10TH OCTOBER 2024

Andrew Douglas Pope
Independent Candidate for Shirley

"I pledge to listen and act for you. I will ask questions the other councillors do not ask.

I stand up for you in the media.

I have a proven track record of delivery.

I try to be the change that you want to see.

I've helped thousands of people over the years."

In Shirley Ward on 10th October, elect a proven winner for Southampton and its great people.

Vote Andrew Douglas Pope 

Independent Candidate for Shirley Ward on 10th October 2024

Andrew Pope Founded Southampton Independents With Other Residents

Andrew Pope was Southampton City Councillor for eight years in the Maybush, Millbrook and Redbridge areas of Southampton between 2011-2019, first for Labour and then after standing for Parliament in the 2015 General Election in New Forest East, he resigned from Labour in disgust at what the Labour Council were doing to the City and the people in the area that he represented passionately and skilfully.

 

 

With the support of other residents, Andrew founded Southampton Independents and became its first ever councillor. 

Andrew did not stand for Council in 2019. The Council was not bankrupt then. But having seen the dire state of the Council over recent years under new Labour MP Satvir Kaur's leadership before she quit the Council to vote at Parliament for cuts to pensioners, Andrew spoke to residents. He says:

"Standing as an Independent is different to the Westminster political parties. 

I asked them and residents encouraged me to stand for Council and said that they would vote for me."

So Andrew is standing in the Shirley by-election as an Independent candidate.

He runs his own business in Shirley, PopeyMon Games and Consultancy, a technology consultancy and also repairs and trades vintage toys and games.

As well as many years experience listening and acting for Southampton people, Andrew listens carefully to the public every day as a professional interviewer for official surveys. These surveys are run for Government and charities. Andrew listens and records people's views and experiences on the NHS, education, work, transport, housing, mental health, the signs of ageing and on broadcast media.

These surveys are used to make important policy decisions by Government and campaigners.

Councillor Andrew Pope on BBC South Today
Standing Up For Southampton

Andrew Pope's Proven Record of Delivery

 

Andrew Pope Campaigning For Safe Standing
At St. Mary's Stadium

 

As a councillor and campaigner outside the Council, Andrew Pope has a track record of winning for Southampton:

• EXPERT IN COUNCIL FINANCES, LEADERSHIP AND CAMPAIGNING - trained by the Local Government Association in council finance and leadership. Andrew is a proven campaign winner, shown across the Southampton Independents website. Click the links below, or search the website using the web version search, or scroll down on your phone.
  
• WON CAMPAIGN FOR SPRINKLERS IN ALL COUNCIL TOWER BLOCKS - a campaign that he started after the Shirley Towers deaths and after the Redbridge Towers fire, months before the Grenfell disaster later in 2017.
  
• WON 7-YEAR “SAFE STANDING” CAMPAIGN AT ST MARY’S STADIUM BY WORKING WITH SOUTHAMPTON FC
• STOPPED LABOUR COUNCIL PLAN TO CHARGE YOU TO USE YOUR VEHICLE ON OUR ROADS BY CALLING FOR A REFERENDUM AND THEY U-TURNED!
• IN 2014/15 (before Southampton Independents website was created), WON COMPENSATION FROM POWER COMPANIES FOR 100s OF RESIDENTS
• GETS RESULTS AND HOLDS COUNCIL TO ACCOUNT FOR RESIDENTS - this website shows some, but not all, of his results. Andrew's work is in the Daily Echo, on BBC South Today (see photo above), on BBC Radio Solent and on the local BBC News website and Wave 105 Radio. Nationally, Andrew's work has appeared in The Guardian, the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail (on the living wage and minimum wage) and other national printed and TV news.
  
• INVESTIGATES AND PUBLISHES ON THIS SOUTHAMPTON INDEPENDENTS WEBSITE - just use the search on the web version, or scroll down on your phone to see his hard work
  

In Shirley Ward on 10th October, elect a proven winner for Southampton and its great people.

Vote Andrew Douglas Pope Independent for Shirley Ward on 10th October 2024.

 

Former Labour Council Leader Satvir Kaur Resigns As Councillor And Votes at Parliament to Cut Pensioner Winter Warmth

Labour Councillor and MP Satvir Kaur

NEW LABOUR MP SATVIR KAUR VOTES FOR CUTS TO PENSIONER WINTER WARMTH. THE LABOUR-RUN COUNCIL SHE LED, AND THAT SHE HAS NOW LEFT BEHIND, IS BROKE AND LOST YOU MILLIONS.  

 

New Labour Southampton Test MP Resigns and Causes Shirley By-Election

The by-election for Shirley ward on Southampton City Council was caused by the resignation of Satvir Kaur, the Labour Councillor. Kaur was elected the new Labour MP for Southampton Test, as reported by Southampton Independents. One of her first acts has outraged Southampton residents.

As the official Parliamentary record Hansard shows, on Tuesday 10th September, Kaur voted at Parliament for cuts to pensioner winter warmth. At the time of writing, she had not made any comment to the Daily Echo about her vote, despite being asked. The Southampton Itchen MP Darren Paffey has tried to justify his decision to also back the cuts.

Hard-up and cold Pensioners will now have to apply for Winter Fuel Payments on a very long and confusing questionnaire.

The Labour Government plans are very unpopular with the people of Southampton, and with the Unite and PCS unions. Ironically, Winter Fuel Payments were introduced by the last Labour Government under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. 

Why Did Satvir Kaur Resign?

Whether Kaur resigned in shame, or to help her political career, residents can decide for themselves. We have reported our investigations into Kaur and published them on this website.

However, as reported by Southampton Independents, Kaur is largely to blame for the City Council's dire financial situation. Satvir Kaur was a Labour Cabinet Member on the Council for over a decade. 

The Cabinet makes key spending decisions, consisting of only ten or fewer Labour councillors. Labour has run the Council since 2012, apart from a brief one year reign of the Conservatives, from 2021-2022.

Southampton Independents has exposed Labour and Tory councillors for spending on the wrong priorities, including tens of millions on the "Arts Complex". Satvir Kaur could not answer our questions on spending when put to her in the Council Chamber by our Councillor Andrew Pope. Now Labour has lost more millions on One Guildhall Square.

When the Tories lost control again, Satvir Kaur became the Leader of the Council from May 2022 to December 2023. Under her leadership, the Council received a Section 114 warning from the Chief Financial Officer, who then resigned. 

Despite denying it as a "lie" (as the former Labour Leader of Croydon did before it too was bankrupt), Kaur led the City Council to near bankruptcy before quitting as Leader, and then resigned. 

The Chief Executive Officer also resigned. 

So Kaur resigned as Leader in December 2023, and has now resigned as a councillor completely, leaving the Council behind and in a real mess.

Labour's Satvir Kaur and her Cabinet has spent millions on pet projects
and has BANKRUPTED the Council

What Mess Has Satvir Kaur Left Behind at the Council?

Southampton City Council remains in financial peril and is broke, selling assets off to pay the daily bills, after being given special permission by the Government to do so. Effectively, it is bankrupt, if it does not balance the books, and the Government has told it that it must do so. If it does not, it will have to serve a Section 114 notice, meaning the Council is bankrupt and cannot pay its bills.

Southampton Labour councillors also tried to secretly ask the Government to put up your council tax by 15%. Their secret became public, as reported by Southampton Independents. They are ashamed of their record, and so they should be.

The Council needs to be sorted out, yet Labour councillors are marking their own homework, with Labour councillors chairing committees that are supposed to check up. 

As the Stranglers once sang, Something Better Change!