With so many last minute candidates being put into place before close of nominations on Friday, it was inevitable that some studious journalist would be digging away in their social media accounts for a story or two.
Here in Swansea, the imposition of a London-based thinktank boss with no connection to the city has aroused some interest, but in his case he appears to have already scoured his own twitter account for anything interesting. That though, has not stopped the inquisitive.
Nation Cymru reports that Labour's Swansea West parachutist, Torsten Bell has deleted social media posts from 2023 that conflict with the party’s current policies:
It has emerged that since he was selected for Swansea West, a series of social media posts he made in January 2023 have been deleted. The posts coincided with the publication of a report by the Resolution Foundation that criticised tax breaks given to those who invest in Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs).
Currently, ISAs allow individuals to save up to £20,000 per year tax-free, with no upper savings limit.
Mr Bell wrote a series of posts at the time of the report, including one that stated: “The problem with ISAs: they do work for the top. Evidence: 1.5m people live in families with ISAs worth over £100,000 per adult! Why on earth is the state spending billions subsidising savings that large?” It was deleted last week.
Another post, also deleted, said: “Our main policy to support saving does nothing for many on low/middle incomes – which is where the public policy priority to encourage saving lies – while doing a lot for the top who I promise you are going to save anyway. We should sort it out.”
Mr Bell’s deletion of the posts calls into question whether he stands by his quoted comments now that he is a Labour candidate.
This is hardly a smoking gun. Bell's deleted comments are backed up by a well-researched Resolution Foundation report and, whether you agree with them or not, are a valid contribution to the tackling poverty agenda. As chief executive it would be a surprise if he didn't support the think tank's conclusions.
The story here in fact, is not what was deleted but the fact that Bell thought he had to take the posts down. Are we being asked to vote for a man who believes that he cannot act or think independently of the party line? Is he a yes man after all?
I would have had a lot more respect for Mr Bell if he had left the posts up and defended them if challenged.
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