MP s’ expenses

This is the beginning of the end of this sorry chapter for Parliament. It is essential that all MPs pay back the amounts recommended. If they refuse to do so, the money should be taken off their salaries. This should be part of a broader reform of politics that includes cutting the size of the House of Commons, cutting Ministers’ pay, and complete transparency on expenses.

Chilcot Inquiry: Brown guillotined defence spending

It is becoming clear from the Chilcot Inquiry that the Government in general, and the Prime Minister in particular, made a series of bad decisions that meant that our Armed Forces were not equipped properly when they were sent into harm’s way. Gordon Brown’s claims are completely at odds with what witness after witness has said to the Chilcot Inquiry. Soldier after soldier has complained about the lack of body armour, vehicles and equipment, and we now know that the service chiefs threatened to resign en masse. The evidence is mounting that the Prime Minister ignored the welfare of our Armed Forces right up until the moment it became politically convenient to do otherwise.

The conversion by Gordon Brown to the `Alternative Vote`method of electing our MP`s is no more than a cynical attempt to win over voters who have deserted the Labour Party and more particularly Liberal Democrats. It seems to be a desperate attempt to hang onto power by laying the ground for a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in the event of a hung parliament. The fact that this is raised so close to a general election belies this apparent interllectual conversion and appears to be final confirmation that he accepts that he cannot win his first election as leader of the Labour Party.

The problem is that it will nothveth desired effect. It is just naked self interest and based upon the calculation that the Labour Party will win more seats on current votes cast. The Conservatives would win less seats on current votes cast.

It seems that Gordon is keen to have referendum on electoral reform, but would not have one on the EU Lisbon Treaty – which was a manifesto pledge.

Clare short was damning about the Tony Blair style of govement and was of the view that the then Attorney- General Lord Goldsmith, had misled te Cabinet about the legality of the proposed Iraq war. Perhaps the most damaging piece of evidence was that she belived that he was sincere in his belief that he was right about the war. It was that absolute belief that he was right, that made him prepared to deceive. A deadly session at the Inquiry. She was applauded by the members in thepublic gallery at the conclusion.

An interesting day overall.

Severe child poverty going up

These figures are a damning indictment of Labour’s record. Despite targeting child poverty, Labour’s approach was failing even before the recession. We can’t go on like this. Labour’s one dimensional approach with its focus on shifting people from just below the poverty line to just above it has failed to tackle the long-term causes of poverty, such as children growing up in workless households, educational failure and family breakdown. We need a change to tackle these issues and address the causes of poverty. A Conservative government would give specialist help to get people into work through our Work Programme to get Britain working, would bring in a pupil premium which would target more help at poorer pupils and would remove the couple penalty in the tax credit system which would lift 300,000 children out of poverty.

Inequality at highest level since WWII

It is truly shocking that after 13 years of a Labour Government, inequality has grown to the highest levels seen since the Second World War.  It is unbelievable that Labour thinks it can claim to be the party of aspiration when its failure to tackle the causes of poverty has let down so many lives. 

We can’t go on like this. We need a change from Labour’s failed one-dimensional approach to tackling poverty and inequality. Conservatives will tackle the causes of poverty and inequality, not just the symptoms, through radical policies to address educational failure, family breakdown and worklessness.

In my New Year message three years ago, I said that I wanted the modern Conservative Party to be a voice for change, optimism and hope.  What was true in the good times is even truer now that times are tough, and getting tougher.  People are looking to us for hope in these dark days, and we must be ready to offer it: hard-edged hope, built on a clear-sighted analysis of what has gone wrong and how we can put it right.

That provides this Party with three important tasks for 2009.  First, we must show that we have learned the lessons of Labour’s Debt Crisis and will never let it happen again.  Second, we must offer constructive and positive ideas to help keep people in work and in their homes, and make sure the recession is as short, shallow and painless as possible.  But third and perhaps most important of all, we must set out our positive vision of change: to describe the new economy and the new society that we want to build once the recession is over and the recovery underway.

Labour have failed in these tasks, and that’s why the country needs change.  Far from learning the lessons of their Debt Crisis, Labour are making it worse by choosing to borrow even more.  Instead of constructive and positive ideas to help save jobs – like the National Loan Guarantee Scheme that we have proposed – Labour are wasting billions of pounds on useless schemes like their temporary VAT cut. And above all, instead of moving forward to a new economic vision, they are taking Britain straight back to the arrogant, big government-knows-best ideas that bankrupted our country the last time Labour were in power, in the 1970s.

This means that the choice facing the country will be clearer in 2009 than it has been for a while: a choice between the past and the future.

Labour say that their Debt Crisis calls for even more borrowing, even bigger government, and a return to 1970s-style subsidy and state control – with every utterance from Gordon Brown now confirming that ‘New Labour’ is dead.

By contrast, the modern Conservative vision is of responsible government and responsible business helping to build a responsible 21st century nation – where social reform and decentralisation strengthen our society, where a stronger society reduces demands on the taxpayer, and where lower taxes, a less interfering, bureaucratic state and green growth combine to produce a sustainable economy.

So far from dropping our green agenda because of the recession, we will this year step up the pace because leadership on the environment will help create the jobs, wealth and opportunity Britain needs.  Far from dropping our commitment to make British poverty history, we will this year intensify it because we must not allow this recession to create social problems and costs for the future.  And far from dropping our commitment to help the poorest people on the planet because times are tough at home, we will re-affirm in 2009 both the moral and the practical case for fighting global poverty.

For us, the strong economy of the future will be built on a strong and responsible society.  The Emperor Hadrian, when asked how Rome would be rebuilt after a devastating fire, replied: “Brick by brick, my citizens; brick by brick.”

That is how we will rebuild our broken economy and our broken society – business by business, family by family, community by community.  Not through imposing some kind of state blueprint from above, like Gordon Brown wants to do, but by allowing the talent and effort and incredible character of British people to shine.  That is the greatest source of hope we have.  That is why I’m optimistic about our country’s future. And that is why we need change now.

People can see that Labour have been in power too long.  They have been corrupted by power, and their arrogance means they cannot now see their mistakes, let alone correct them.  It’s no surprise that the person who helped break our economy and our society won’t admit they’re broken. It’s no surprise that a Prime Minister whose decisions over a decade helped cause the Debt Crisis; who failed to prepare the country for the gathering storm, and whose irresponsible extra borrowing will now deepen and lengthen the recession turns round and tells us the recession will be a test of everyone else’s character.  The Prime Minister tells us to find our blitz spirit when he is the one dropping the bombs – the tax and debt bombshells that are taking Britain to the brink of bankruptcy.

This government has lost its moral compass.  Where is the morality in asking our children to pay off our debts?  Where is the morality in encouraging people who have already borrowed too much to borrow a little more?  Where is the morality in trying to reflate the bubble and return the country to the age of irresponsibility that led us to this mess?

It has to end – and the sooner the better.  The longer Labour are in, the worse it gets.  So let’s make sure we’re ready for an election at any time, and let’s do all we can to make sure that 2009 is the year when change comes to Britain too.

The post office sham: ‘Consultation’ on devastating closures was window dressing, says scathing report
By Becky Barrow

Labour railroaded the closure of 2,500 Post Offices with ’sham’ consultations and ‘a real lack of concern’ for the impact on people’s lives, a damning report from MPs will say today.  The report, from the Public Accounts Committee, said the brief consultation held into each closure was nothing more than ‘a piece of window dressing’.  People who complained about the controversial closures were ‘ignored’ despite the devastating affect on villages, towns and cities across Britain.  Railroaded: 2,500 Post Offices were closed with a ‘lack of concern’ for people.

‘An important factor angering local people about the consultation process was a feeling that whatever they said, nothing would change,’ said the report.

Fewer than 20 per cent of people even knew that a consultation was taking place in the early stages, the committee found.  Despite the fact that a post office may have been supporting the last shop in a village, ‘this did not always prevent closure’, it added.  Around 190,000 people submitted their views, but many felt they were ‘not being listened to properly’ or that ‘the decision had already been made’, the report said Edward Leigh, Tory MP and chairman of the committee, accused the Government of having a ruthless attitude to the ‘distress’ and ‘upheaval’ caused by the closures.

LibDem business spokesman John Thurso said: ‘It is typical of this government that their sham consultations have steamrollered the views of local people and showed a flagrant disregard for the many excluded from the process.’

Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Far too often, Government consultations are actually a pretence of listening to the people.’

It was in 2007 that Labour decided to axe thousands of post offices, a move described at the time as masterminding the demise of the village post office.

During the two-year programme, 2,432 outlets were shut, leaving a network of 11,500, compared to a peak of 25,000 in the 1960s.

The National Federation of Subpostmasters yesterday warned the entire network could collapse.

George Thomson, general secretary of the federation, said the loss of government contracts – such as the renewal of TV licences – was making it difficult for subpostmasters to earn a living.

He added: ‘We are bitterly disappointed with ministers’ failure so far to champion the network and to make better use of its unrivalled levels of public trust and geographical reach as the natural home for many government services.’

Mr Thomson said that if the Post Office is not awarded more government and local authority contracts, ‘it will signal the end of our much loved national network of Post Offices as we know it’.

Since Labour came to power, some 40 per cent of the post offices open in 1997 have disappeared.

Yesterday Lord Young, the postal affairs ministers, insisted there will be no more enforced closures, although there are still likely to be many voluntary ones.

He said the closure programme had been ‘difficult but necessary’ due to the network’s heavy losses, estimated at around £500,000 a day.

But the Public Accounts Committee said the money saved was ‘less than impressive’. Its report said the closure programme cost £157million, including £122million compensation to subpostmasters.

Yesterday a spokesman for Post Office Limited said: ‘ We have implemented the Government’s policy as sensitively as possible throughout the programme.

David Cameron says Tories will change law so that the British people have to give their consent in a referendum to any future transfer of power

The news that the American economy has emerged from recession with a strong 0.9 showing in the third quarter of this year is to be welcomed. It remains the engine of the world economy. Britain like many other countries sells its goods to America, and the good news there should help drag us out of our current worrying predicument.

It is however not only embarasing for the `Saviour of the World` Gordon Brown and his economic side kick Chancellor Darling, but confirmation of their inadequate performance in handling the economy over the last five years or so.

America led the world into recession, and now with other major european economies such as Germany and the wider G7 (as it was then) countries like Japan who saw recovery begin in the second quarter. That is in stark contrast with the 0.4% shrinkage of the British economy in the the third quarter of the year.

This sort of evidence is free of any allegation of manipulation in the presentation of the facts by the Conservtive opposition, and lends some important credability to the long standing Conservative criticsms of government performance in respect of the economy.

I am also conserned that a significant numberof students who are now some weks into their respective courses have still not recived their loans. I am hearing stories of an increasing number of students dropping out, and the vast majority of these students appear to be from the lower income families. This is an apalling outcome for people who probably are the first in their family to get to university or have young children. This government who claim they want to provide greater access to higher education have sat on the sideline for far too long. They need to roll up their sleeves and intervene and sort this problem out. If you are a Wirral Student and are experiencing these problems I want you to contact me asap.

It`s been an interesting week. The Labour Party was furious with the Sun new papers announcement that it was withdrawing support for the Labour Government after twelve years and intended to back David Cameron and the Conservatives. It was the failure to appreciate that the Sun was merely reflecting the view of the readership and the country that was most surprising. The Sun wants to back a winner and Gordon is looking anything but at the moment.
There was a unexpected U turn by the Wirral Lib- Lab Council Administration at the Town Hall concerning the proposed closure of 11 of the boroughs libraries. Very welcome, but the cost of this policy and the unacceptable uncertainty caused to staff and concerned local residents was unforgivable.
It has been another week of getting out and about tin Wirral South with Saturday seeing a visit to the Macmillan Cancer fair at the Heswall Hall. Plenty to see and the Mayor and Mayoress were on hand to lend support to a very worthy cause.
The most significant announcement this weekend was that Gordon Brown the Prime Minister has agreed to take part in head to head leaders debates. A welcome development, and without going through all the pluses of such debates it will give voters an opportunity to see those who would be Prime Minister of our Country after the General Election next year explain the policies and direction they want to take us in these very difficult times. David Cameron will i`m sure benefit from this process. It is also a clear admission from Brown, who would have refused i`m sure if he wasn`t so far behind in the polls, that he is in desperate straits.

So after all the will he won`t he …. It`s a go.

It has become clear that Labour during its tenure in Government have an obsession for creating new criminal offences. At the last count it was well over three thousand new ofences. Many ordinary law abiding people are now at risk of being caught by one of these new offences. The lastest example of the consequences of this government trying to slove problems by creating new criminal offences has dominated the early news coverage today. Two women police officers who have had children and have returned to work vis a jobshare have been told that there practice of each looking after the others child whilst they are at work is illegal. Absolutely bonkers. Where has common sense gone? We want to assist mothers to reintroduce themselves back in to the work place when they need or feel readyto do so. This sort of example would appear to suggest that there is a lack of real consideration as to the consequences of some of these new laws, as well as giving a real clarity as to the desire of labour to manage how we manage aspects of our daily lives. Back off Labour!

So finally Gordon gave up the pretence, and confirmed what everybody already knew – Labour will have to make deep cuts in public spending if they remain in power past 2010.

The strong smell of burning rubber as Gordon executed what can only be described as a massive u turn on his Labour investment versus Conservative cuts mantra he had repeated time and again in the last few months.

This is continues to demonstrate that the Prime Minister is time after time dragged kicking and screaming to a position that has been set out in a straightforward and honest manner by David Cameron and the Conservative team. Gordon is behind the curve and is playing catch up. A clear vindication of the Conservative position. The British public will no doubt have this very much in mind when they are allowed to cast their vote next May.

It is normally the case, that a Parliamentary Candidate will report a visit of the leader of his party to his prospective constituency area. It is more unusual for a candidate to report that he has been to the leaders constituency. On Saturday i found myself in Witney on what can only be described as a glorious sunny day. It was the first visit to the town since my visit as a fairly new qualified lawyer to the local magistrates court to prosecute a young local man for stealing all the lead off a local church roof.

Heartening news for local workers at the Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port, with the launch of the the new Astra at the Frankfurt motor show. I hope it will lead to the confirmation of all existing jobs at the site, and hopefully the creation of a few more in the not so distant future.

The weather this week has been great, and has sought to extend the feel good summer feeling. A few more days would be welcome.

I`m now settling down to watch the news, where gaffe prone Gordon and his new mate, slipery Peter try to persuade us that todays speech does not mark a huge change of government position. The observer will be able to spot when these two gentlemen is trying to bull**it them – their mouths will be moving.