Policy ideas come from open debate and discussions

Dorchester Town Council is made up of 20 councillors, of whom 17 are Liberal Democrats.

It seems that even with so much control they do not allow dissent within their ranks. Councillor Tony Lyall has resigned his position on the town council, having been told that his views did not conform to the party line. He has also been critical about the council’s mismanagement of the town’s assets and funds. When one group has so much control it has a negative effect on democracy, stifling debate, and it’s time we heard from different voices. Councillor Lyall’s resignation may lead to a by-election and Dorchester Labour will put a candidate forward if this is the case.

By CLAUDIA SORIN West Dorset Labour Party

As a broad church, the local Labour Party not only encourages debate and discussion in our own meetings, but we also go out and speak to members of the public through street stalls, door knocking and encouraging feedback from our newsletters. Over the last few months, the local party has submitted ideas that will go towards developing the Labour Party manifesto at the next general election.

On transport we have said that local authorities must be allowed to take control of bus services, with funding to subsidise these as cuts have hit our rural communities and economies hard. We welcome Labour’s commitment to bring our railways into public ownership.

On tackling poverty, we call for recruitment of sufficient staff to be able to clamp down on tax evasion, bring in wealth taxes and reform of council tax to make it more proportionate. For young people we have called for a statutory youth service delivered by local authorities to support children and young people’s social and emotional wellbeing.

On a fairer voting system, we call for a form of proportional representation to go with reform of the House of Lords so that everyone has a vote that counts.

On housing, local authorities should be supported to build council houses, abolish right to buy, use powers of compulsory purchase and charge council tax to ensure developers deliver on affordable housing. Renters must be protected through longer tenancies, rent controls, and ending no fault evictions. More support for Community Land Trusts is needed.

On equality we welcome the Labour Party’s commitment to ensure that the single-sex exceptions in the Equality Act are maintained and clarified to protect women’s rights. Some of these ideas have already been announced as Labour policy and West Dorset Labour members have played a key role in developing what will be an excellent manifesto for a fairer, greener future.

Freelance copywriter ANDREW KNOWLES is based in Wyke Regis. He’s been freelance for nearly 15 years, including work with Dorset Growth Hub, helping to support and train hundreds of small business owners.

We must learn the lessons of failure

“If I wrote about why my business failed, would you want to read it?”

Someone tweeted this a few days ago. I replied immediately: “Yes.”

Years ago one of my daughters picked over the bones of a dead animal with macabre fascination. That’s not dissimilar to how I listen to the story of how a business died.

In the same way doctors learn through dissection, business owners should find tales of failure to be instructional.

Yet the majority of business stories pushed at us are all about success. The entrepreneur who founded a multi-million-pound empire from their bedroom/garage/garden shed - that sort of thing. Around one in five businesses fail in their first year.

Less than 40% make it to their fifth anniversary. The Office of National Statistics publishes data on what it calls business births and