LABOUR PARTY IS SCARED

Labour Party councillors chose to ignore STC’s own Co-option Policy and handled the process differently, not only from the established legal framework, but also from the previous co-option meeting. Changes were proposed by: Michael Yates and Dale Smith, both Labour.

What is funniest is that Mr Yates was elected under the previous rules, but he didn’t like them, so, without a proper agenda item, he proposed changing the policy at the meeting. And… inexperienced opposition councillors went along with it without any protest. They voted “yes” together with Labour and automatically helped the Labour Party break the rules and co-option policy. Labour tricked you, councillors. I assure you — it won’t be the last time.

Any changes to STC policy require an agenda item. There are a very limited number of instances when a motion can be tabled without a proper agenda item. This one? Well… Labour’s way is the corrupt way, so I’m not surprised they sneakily corrupted this process.

I’M WRITING AFTER THE MEETING, SO…
…I still do not officially know the result. STC decided not to inform the candidates of the outcome at the meeting, as they did last time, but through email at a later date. Rules for thee, but not for me. Right, Councillor Yates? You corrupted STC procedures and broke the laws governing this body in your third meeting. Your wife must be proud! (Editorial note: at the time of publication I know that I was rejected by the Labour majority. I received an email from the Town Clerk.)

MY SPEECH WAS LIKE FIRE
You can read my speech below, and there is also an audio version if you prefer to listen to the AI-generated voice-over. It was one of the stronger speeches I have delivered. It was emotional, truthful, and uncomfortable for those who prefer to hide corruption, nepotism, and contracts awarded to family and friends. Sadly, STC is still under the control of a majority who prefer certain matters to remain in the shadows rather than in courtrooms or audit reports. No speech will sway them. Only real elections will. So — I lost.

Labour. You won this round.

I was apparently speaking too “aggressively” for the snowflakes of Labour and a few so-called independents. It seems that corruption and nepotism are, in the eyes of these councillors, far less harmful than speaking in a loud, clear voice.

Labour attacked me after my speech, saying that I should be more docile and behave as they wish. They stated that we should move on from questions about transparency, scrutiny, and past conduct, and work together for the future. The new slogan of the left appears to be: let’s work together, let’s leave politics at the door.

But how do you leave politics outside a political chamber, which is exactly what Shirebrook Town Council is? Everything that happens in the STC chamber is political. Every vote. Every procedural decision. Every silence. And Labour play that political game well. They didn’t leave politics at the door. They left it in the shadows of corruption, nepotism, and “friends and family” deals.

I LOST- BUT IT WAS CALCULATED
Labour is clearly uncomfortable with me in the room. They are scared of me because I know Standing Orders, I know how to use them, and I ask questions. I follow documents. I record patterns of behaviour. That alone makes me inconvenient — not because I am especially powerful or well connected. To them, I am dangerous simply because I have a moral backbone and I am prepared to speak the truth. Labour hates that.

I went in direct and uncompromising. I knew what would happen. No matter what, they would vote me down. But I will admit there was something that surprised me. I was surprised that Martin Barber and Shaun Cheeseman also went hard against me. They have seen the same procedural concerns, the same questions around scrutiny — and yet chose to align with Labour on this occasion.

That, I did not expect.

ONE MORE THING
Before you read my speech, you need to know that after STC threw its co-option policy out of the window, they discussed other matters. Among them, one very important issue: STC decided to start a formal investigation into Paul Harford’s decision on the “no fee for traders” policy on Market Square. The whole of Labour voted yes. And that is strange. The Labour Party is upset about the loss of income from traders, yet they have no appetite to discuss the £24,000 loss on pellets in a single year alone. They signed this contract for 20 years.

There were many more important issues discussed. I could and should prepare a report on it all, but I don’t have the time — I am focusing on writing the third book in my sci-fi series and I am at a crucial point in the story. My heroes are a day away from arriving at a new galaxy. I need to stick that landing…

Perhaps the councillors should do report or publish audio recording of that meeting.

SPEECH
Read it for yourself (or listen) and ask yourself if this sounds aggressive, if this sounds like I have nothing to say or offer.

AUDIO

TEXT
Ladies and gentlemen. My name is Sylwester Zwierzynski and I am here to ask you for support in my mission to make Shirebrook better. Before I share with you how I want to achieve that, let me summarise my main advantage: I was a councillor of STC in the years 2021–2023, and at that time I was the only councillor of STC with 100% attendance. I was the only one to speak openly about corruption, nepotism and lack of scrutiny. And there was so much of it, it boggled my mind, so I needed to focus on one specific issue. I chose to investigate discrepancies in the net-zero contract for pellet deliveries to the Leisure Centre.

This scandal is so outrageous that I have documents confirming that pellet usage grew by 30,000 kilograms when the Leisure Centre was closed for the pandemic, compared to previous years when it was open. This scandal grew to such proportions that councillors of the Labour Party decided to vote yes on a motion to block the release of documents related to it. Let me underline that: they knew there were discrepancies in the net-zero contracts and instead of looking into them, they decided to sweep it under the carpet for political reasons. But that didn’t stop me. Enough to say that my anti-corruption campaign led to a drop in pellet usage from 80 tonnes back to the standard 50 tonnes.

You could ask: candidate, why are you talking about things that happened a few years ago? Why does it matter? First of all: some of the councillors who voted “yes” on that scandalous motion are still in this room, still acting as councillors who are supposed to take care of taxpayers’ money. Second: recently I decided to put the latest data about pellet usage into a spreadsheet. When I was leaving STC, the cost of this net-zero contract — thanks to my campaign to save taxpayer money — had fallen to £16,000 per year. In the first year after I left the council, the cost grew by over 60%, and by almost 150% in the second year after I left. Same building, same fuel, same heating system, same needs — yet the cost exploded by nearly 150%. On top of that, this contract forces Shirebrook taxpayers to pay penalty fines when we are not producing CO2. This is pure net-zero insanity and it is still ongoing to this day. This net-zero contract, among other net-zero contracts signed by the Labour Party, is bleeding this town dry.

Councillors, I know you are wondering why I am talking about this. After all, the question for me here is why I want to be a councillor, not what I did in the past. My answer is simple: although I was successful in attracting public attention to that scandal and limiting the waste for a short period, I failed to introduce control systems that would make such abuse impossible in the future. I am here, now, asking you for support to come back and finish my mission.

But that is not all I want to do. I want to help and work with anyone who wants our town to be cleaner, safer and more modern. I base my work on four pillars: no more tax rises, diverting funds from leisure into safety, transparency, and introducing AI to help streamline services and save taxpayer money. I want to live in the best town in the District and I will work around the clock to make that a reality.

Councillors, most of you are in this room not because STC was performing so well in recent years. Most of you sit here because the old Labour Party introduced such dysfunction into the operation of this body that it fell apart. Literally fell apart.

You might think — it is such an odd thing to try to win your vote NOT by sucking up, but by telling the harsh truth. But for me there is no greater duty than to be truthful and to obey the law. Yes, maybe my English is not perfect. Yes, maybe I cannot read the room well. But I can read documents, and every time I found a problem, I proposed a solution. In my first term, all my ideas, all my advice, everything I did fell on deaf ears — simply because I wasn’t “one of them”. How did it end? We all know. Dysfunction and complete chaos.

That is why this Council needs me. You need someone who will be truthful to the facts no matter what. Someone who will come to all meetings, participate, be creative and proactive, propose alternative solutions, and carry out their duties with the utmost dedication and respect for democratic traditions and the law.

I implore you to vote yes on my candidacy. Thank you.

THE END
As usual in recent weeks, the illustrations at the top and bottom were made by ChatGPT. This time I refined visuals with a new prompt, and I reframed the composition by rejecting the first drawing and adjusting the second iteration. If you like those illustrations, hold on to your hat- I’m taking part in the last stage of training the new model of Midjourney V8, and in a few weeks, I should be able to create even better illustrations.