We’re only a few months from the last possible date for a General Election, and yet in the last few weeks Gordon Brown has suddenly shown an interest in electoral reform.
It’s really sad to see a Prime Minister so focused on the interests of his own Party rather than the interests of the country that he is suddenly prepared to embrace an alternative electoral system when the polls suggest he is about to lose. As David Cameron put it:
“Thirteen years into government, and 90 days from a general election – what was it that attracted him to changing the voting system?”
Even more interesting, however, is the reaction of the Liberal Democrats. My Liberal Democrat opponent from St Helens, Richard Gadsden, has today waded into the debate on Twitter. He wants to see the Liberal Democrats and Labour team up against the Conservatives.
So there you have it – from the mouth of their candidate. A vote for the Liberal Democrats in Worsley & Eccles South is a vote to prop up Gordon Brown and his discredited Labour Government. Our local communities desperately need change – and the only way to get that change at the forthcoming General Election is to vote Conservative. A vote for anyone else just helps Gordon Brown and Labour.
Published on February 4, 2010
in Salford.
Hazel Blears is on her soapbox again, praising a scheme designed to encourage women to be community leaders. She rightly praises some stalwarts of the Salford community, but there’s a fair dose of hypocrisy here; Councillors are supposed to be community leaders, and Salford Labour’s record when it comes to female Councillors is nothing short of rotten. I certainly won’t be taking any lectures from Hazel Blears on opportunities for women, when in her own backyard Salford Labour have failed miserably.
Of 36 Labour Councillors here in Salford, only 7 (19%) are women, and I understand that 2 of those are standing down at the forthcoming election, both replaced as Labour candidates by men. In Labour’s ruling cabinet, it is even worse, with only 1 woman and 9 men.
Contrast that with the Conservative group which has 7 women out of 13, including the leader and deputy leader, all selected on merit. Of the 7 remaining Liberal Democrat Councillors, 4 are women.
Hazel should show some real leadership and get her own house in order before getting on her high horse.
Tomorrow lunchtime (Sunday 31st January) I’ll be a guest on Andy Crane’s Sunday lunchtime show on BBC Radio Manchester, along with Liverpudlian comedian Steve Gribbin.
The show is broadcast live from the Lowry centre from 12 noon until 1pm. Local residents in Greater Manchester can tune in on 95.1fm and you can also listen live online on the BBC Manchester website.
Do tune in!
Published on January 29, 2010
in Salford.
I’ve been a Councillor on Salford City Council since 2004, and every year on budget day, the Conservative group have tried to give something back to hard-pressed local residents by proposing real-terms cuts in Council Tax.
From the reaction of the Council’s Labour leadership, you would think that the four horsemen of the apocalypse were on call in the event that – god forbid – we might seek to give local people some value for money by way of a Council Tax freeze. One by one they rose to their feet to give dire predictions about the effect of a tax freeze on local services.
So I’m glad that – belatedly – the Labour Council have accepted that we were right all along, and that the Council could make sufficient savings to allow a Council Tax freeze. It is a shame that they are five years late – how much lower would our Council Tax be – and how much more efficient would our Council be - if they had accepted Conservative proposals over the past few years?
It is a shame also that, rather than a concerted effort to return money to hard-working local residents, this is nothing more than a one-off shameless bribe in advance of the most difficult set of elections for Labour in a generation. For local residents, Labour are offering nothing more than “buy now, pay later” – and Salford taxpayers will pay a heavy price if Labour are returned again in May.
Tonight (27th January), the BBC programme Crimewatch will feature a reconstruction of the fire at Little Holme Walk, Bolton which killed Alana Mian, aged 4, and her grandmother Hameeda Begum and left Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) Firefighter Steve Morris with extensive injuries including 50% burns.
The programme will include a filmed reconstruction of the events of the night of the incident, which Steve’s colleagues from Bolton and Farnworth Fire stations volunteered to take part in.
It will also include interviews with Mumtaz Chisty, Alana’s grandfather and Hameeda’s husband, Detective Chief Inspector Jeff McMahon from the Major Incident Team at Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and FF Steve Morris.
County Fire Officer Steve McGuirk said, “The terrible events at Little Holme Walk, which took the lives of Alana and Hameeda, and so drastically affected our colleague Steve Morris have left a lasting impression on each and every member of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.
We support wholeheartedly Greater Manchester Police’s appeal for anyone with any information to come forward, and help to find who caused this terrible fire and give justice to all the people it has affected”.
Anyone with information is urged to contact GMP’s Major Incident Team on 0161 856 2197 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
(GMFRS press release reprinted in full – if you have any information, please pass it on to the police or via Crimestoppers)
The Tweetminster website, which monitors UK political activity on social networking site Twitter, has produced an interesting report which details how politicians and aspiring politicians of each party are connecting with the audience on Twitter.
It is a bit of a crude tool, as there’s no way of knowing whether the references to each politician are positive or negative; Bristol East Labour MP Kerry McCarthy tops the charts by some considerable distance, but she very much has the “marmite factor” with multiple references to her by both strident supporters and opponents.
Nonetheless, as a broad measure it works, so it is pleasing to see that I’ve made the top 20 lists of Prospective MPs – ranked the fifth most “retweeted” candidate and the eleventh most mentioned candidate in the UK. Thanks to everyone who follows my Twitter posts – @cllrilindley.
Now I’m not going to make a song and dance about social networking, but I’ve always believed that politicians should be as accessible as possible. As a Councillor and now Prospective MP I have always tried to use as many methods as possible to keep local residents informed of my views and of the work I’m doing on their behalf – be that through sites like Twitter, through this website, or through the time-honoured methods of leafleting and knocking on doors!
I was very pleased to have the opportunity to meet with David Cameron down in Westminster last week.
A Message From George Osborne