Cllr Iain Lindley – Conservative Councillor for Walkden South Ward
Today I’ve received through the post a glossy cardboard flyer advertising the “Recycling and Waste Management Exhibition”. Included in the schedule is a “waste minimisation zone” – sounds fascinating. Here’s a tip for the exhibition organisers on waste minimisation – don’t waste your money and paper sending me unsolicited junk! Thanks.
(For those of you wondering, the flyer is now in the recycling bin!)
There’s been a lot of guff from the Labour Party about coalition proposals to make our Parliamentary boundaries fairer and more equal, and it’s interesting to compare their holier-than-thou attitude with the actual rules for their leadership contest taking place at the moment.
Jonathan Sheppard from the excellent Tory Radio posed an interesting question on Twitter earlier today – how many votes could a Labour activist theoretically get in the Labour leadership election?
Well, the Labour Party website lists sixteen affiliated organisations and fifteen affiliated trade unions. Votes are also available to all party members and additionally to all MPs and MEPs.
So, in theory, a Labour MP or MEP who joined every affiliate and every Union would be entitled to a whopping 33 legitimate leadership votes.
It does seem in the Labour Party that all members are equal, but some are more equal than others. Democracy in action, eh?
The BBC move north to MediaCity:UK has generated an awful lot of comment, not all of it positive and some of it downright vindictive.
Last week, in response to the latest round of nonsense in the London-based press, our excellent local journalists at the Advertiser and the MEN launched a “come to Salford” campaign on Twitter. I’ve tried to do my bit to support the campaign and we can all chip in with positive reasons to relocate to our City and to our region.
I do hope that BBC employees do choose to relocate, because our area is a great place to live, but we must also be careful not to demonise those who don’t. I wouldn’t criticise anyone for staying put for family reasons, and criticising those who choose to stay brings us down to level of debate that we are trying to avoid.
It’s interesting reading the tweets from Labour Party members and activists that appear in my own Twitter newsfeed. There’s a clear pattern emerging – a relentless negativity, no original thought and a complete failure to recognise the catastrophic state in which they left our economy. They really are in a desperate state – sad really as a strong democracy requires a credible opposition party, and there simply isn’t one at the moment.
Today a colleague forwarded me an e-mail update about the work of the Association of Nuclear Free Local Authorities, a pointless tokenistic anachronism based in a bunker in Manchester Town Hall and funded (mostly unwittingly, I suspect) by Council taxpayers across the country.
Shortly afterwards, I received an e-mail from the Prime Minister David Cameron asking me for ideas on how to save public money.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking…?
I’m really pleased that the Government has decided to retain funding for Salford’s Building Schools for the Future programme, and that the school building programme can now proceed. This is good news for children across the City, although it would have been even better news had our Labour Council not managed the BSF process quite so incompetently.
Obviously some difficult choices have been made with the BSF programme nationally, as a result of the catastrophic financial legacy of the previous Labour Government, but this decision – along with the potential review of Labour’s maternity unit closure – shows that we are all in this together and that the coalition government is giving Salford a fair hearing.
Some very difficult decisions were taken today; decisions which I know George Osborne will have taken no pleasure in making, and decisions which I know under different circumstances would not have been made.
We have to accept the gravity of the situation, which is that the previous Labour Government planned this financial year to spend one hundred and sixty billion pounds more than they were receiving in income. That simply has to be dealt with, and the painful decisions announced today would be far worse if the deficit continued to spiral out of control.
It is refreshing to see a Chancellor be open and honest with the electorate about Labour’s disastrous economy legacy, and be up front about difficult decisions rather than hide them in the small print of the budget documents. I hope that many of the tough changes made today – such as the VAT rise – will prove to be temporary, and when the deficit is dealt with and the economy is growing strongly those decisions can be reversed.
Nevertheless, there were reasons to be cheerful within the budget statement. I’m pleased that nearly one million of the lowest-paid workers will be removed from income tax entirely, and that vital investment in the Metrolink and our local rail infrastructure has been protected.
Labour have been reduced to shrieking from the sidelines, and have no sensible alternative for reducing the deficit. Their own plans called for big cuts but they have refused to set out how they would have done this. I suspect that, had Labour been returned on May 6, they would themselves have implemented many of the decisions that they today decry.
Today has shown that the coalition has what it takes to govern responsibly and in the national interest. The previous administration mortgaged our future to pay for their wasteful spending, and now we have to make those repayments, but we can look to the future with renewed optimism. Today’s decisions will hurt, but the alternative would be far worse, and the future will be much brighter as a result.
Ahead of the emergency budget next week, let us not forget why the extra budget is necessary, and why the difficult decisions that the coalition government is taking are required.
This is Labour’s legeacy to Britain. Let us be in no doubt – the blame for the difficult decisions that need to be taken to ensure that Britain does not become another Greece should be laid firmly and squarely at Labour’s door.
The only way Britain can make a fresh start with a new government on Friday is if you vote Conservative on Thursday. Any other vote could leave Gordon Brown in Downing Street.
Labour only offer more of the same and their desperate campaign is designed to scare families, older people and the vulnerable
The Liberal Democrats’ policies on immigration, crime and the economy would damage Britain.
From Friday, we will start to fulfil our contract with the British people – to get the economy moving, improve front line services and deliver change for the better.
We won’t leave the poorest and the vulnerable behind because we’re all in this together.
Conservative Party News
Another Monument To Labour Waste
Fans of Yes Minister will doubtless recall the classic episode involving the hospital with no patients. It rather reminds of the North West Regional Fire Control Centre at Lingley Mere in Warrington – a giant, phenomenally expensive building lying almost empty save for a few meetings.
So I’m pleased that today, BBC Radio 4 have picked up the baton to draw wider attention to this catastrophic example of the obscene waste of the previous Labour administration.
The regional fire control centres (RCCs) are late, over-budget, and not to specification. They were supposed to deliver savings but any savings have long since disappeared in delays and budget overruns. The new Fire Minister, Bob Neill MP, has been left with the unenviable task of cleaning up the mess left by Labour, in the knowledge that cancelling the whole white elephant might cost even more.
Our control centre staff at Fire Service HQ in Pendlebury do a fantastic job, and it is unacceptable that they have been left in such limbo by the advent of the Regional Control Centres. They continue to work with dedication despite not knowing if or when they will be expected to move to Warrington, and they have been in this state of flux for a number of years now. For that alone – before we even get to the appalling waste of money – previous Labour ministers should hang their heads in shame.