Lib Dem defection to Labour akin to jumping onboard the Titanic

I read with interest Betsan Powys' BBC blog today about a Welsh Lib Dem defection to the Labour Party in Neath Port Talbot.

I can't say that I know Cllr John Warman. His face doesn't register with me and I've been an active member and conference go-er now for nearly a decade so Betsan is right when she says that he his hardly the high profile kind of defection that they'd love to welcome to their ranks.

The Welsh Liberal Democrat response I felt struck the right measured tone. I don't like it when political parties go all personal after a member has defected to another party and we were right not to this time.

This is the party's response:

"It's very sad that he has gone back to the Labour Party that has wreaked havoc in the Welsh economy.

"John Warman is returning to a party that has left families in his ward paying thousands for their mishandling of the economy, ran our health system into the ground and made a sham of our education system."

It's true and I know personally from speaking to friends who live in the Neath Port Talbot area that they are fed-up with the one-party dominance that Labour has executed over their area for so long. Cllr Warman may believe that he is 'going home' to the Labour Party after 30 years but I wouldn't want to be associated with a party that has caused so much havoc for our country during recent years. Their disdain for civil liberties also shows them up as not being the progressive party that they purport to be.
 
No, I'd rather stick with a party that is putting its liberal credentials into place for the good of those I represent whilst also taking responsibility for putting right the mess that was left by the previous government back in May.
 
It's called being 'grown-up'.
 
Coalition government means having to compromise at times as Labour themselves know in Cardiff Bay with their power-sharing executive with Plaid Cymru. It is for the common good that we work with other parties when no-one of them has won an outright majority.
 
I wish Cllr Warman well but I fear that he has been greatly misguided in his decision.