Politics
The town is generally seen as a conservative area, and this can be backed up by the fact that in the 2010 national elections Mark Prisk was elected for the Conservative Party with a majority of the votes cast (53.8%). Bishop's Stortford's constituency, Hertford and Stortford, covers many other settlements including Hertford. Caroline Spelman, the Conservative Cabinet Minister, is also from the town.
The most controversial political issue for the town relates to the expansion of Stansted Airport. A long-standing protest group called Stop Stansted Expansion vehemently opposes unsustainable growth at the airport and is wholly against plans for a second runway.
The town has a Youth Council that meets once a month. It is made up of students from the local schools, and many local and youth issues are discussed.
The International Monarchist League is based here.
In December 2011 the Conservative council of Bishop's Stortford voted 13 to 3 in favour of cancelling its twinned status with Friedberg in der Wetterau in Germany and Villiers-sur-Marne in France. It is thought that anti-EU sentiment within the grassroots Tory party was behind the vote.
Read more about this topic: Bishop's Stortford
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“One might imagine that a movement which is so preoccupied with the fulfillment of human potential would have a measure of respect for those who nourish its source. But politics make strange bedfellows, and liberated women have elected to become part of a long tradition of hostility to mothers.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“Politics are for foreigners with their endless wrongs and paltry rights. Politics are a lousy way to get things done. Politics are, like God’s infinite mercy, a last resort.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country—and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians.”
—Charles Krauthammer (b. 1950)