Inverted snobbery in Crewe and Nantwich

What school a candidate went to, and who his or her parents were, should not be a major factor in an election, certainly not when compared his or her abilities and policies.

The comments I am about to make are a criticism of the childishness and hypocrisy of the Labour campaign in Crewe and Nantwich, not about the origins of the Labour candidate.

All parties have unfortunately been occasionally guilty of petty stunts at election times, but the Labour party dressing people up as "Toffs" was sillier than most. This would have been unwise at the best of times.

To use such a tactic just after the party got themselves in their 10p tax shambles when they increased taxes on the poor to pay for tax cuts for "Toffs" was spectacularly incompetent. And to do so in a by-election in which it is the Labour candidate, not the tory, who has an entry in Burke's Peerage and Gentry - go to the URL below if you don't believe me - is elevating both hypocrisy and stupidity to an art form.

You can find the entry for Labour's Crewe and Nantwich candidate TAMSIN DUNWOODY [Mrs Tamsin Dunwoody-Kneafsey) in Burke's Peerage and Gentry at the following URL:

http://www.burkes-peerage.net/familyhomepage.aspx?FID=0&FN=DUNWOODY-KNEAFSEY(MOYRA)TAMSIN

Bransty & Harbour forum tonight 7pm, Bransty Legion

The Bransty and Harbour neighbourhood forum will be meeting this evening at 7pm at the legion on Bransty Hill.

Agenda items include the management of Parks and Open spaces in Whitehaven: this was placed on the agenda at my request following a letter I received from a Whitehaven resident who was concerned about the condition of one particular area and asked if the forum could discuss it.

Copeland Refuse strike likely from 27 May

The Unite union's T&G section has notified Copeland Council that their members working in the council's refuse department have voted for indefinite strike action from 27th May. The dispute is about the duration of the working day.

It is not yet certain what services will remain available. The council says that it intends to give priority to black sacks, black bins, trade waste and clinical waste collections. Garden waste and bulky collections are likely to be suspended for the duration of the dispute. Kerbside recyclinlg services are also likely to be affected but recycling sites will not.

The council says that it has offered a deal which would include a reduced working week, and an increase in both the hourly rate of pay and the overtime rate, with a flexible working day of between 6.5 hours and 9 hours. The union wants a fixed standard day of 7.5 hours.

Attempts are being made to seek mediation to avoid a strike but at the moment it does not appear likely that these will be successful.

Post Offices

On Friday and Saturday Copeland Council's Economic Development committee, of which I am a member, sat for two days hearing evidence about the Post Office closure proposals for Copeland.

The evidence we heard demonstrated that the issues around post office closures are more complex than many people might imagine, but we also heard enough evidence to build a strong case that in several respects the proposals unfairly disadvantage the Copeland area

For example -

* Many post offices are not fully compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act
(DDA): the Copeland proposals target for closure an extraordinary proportion of
those post offices which are, including several offices on which both the Post
Office through disability access grants and the owners have recently invested
large sums on disabled access.

* The overall target fot the proportion of post offices to close is 18%. This is
supposed to be applied equitably accross the country. Yet the proportion of
offices proposed for closure in Copeland, one of the most remote if not the most
remote district in England is much higher at 25%. This is grossly unreasonable

The 10p compensation con

George Osborne has attacked Labour's plans to raise the personal tax allowance, saying, "First we got the tax con - and now we are getting the compensation con."

The Shadow Chancellor made it clear that he supported any effort to compensate those hit by Gordon Brown's axing of the 10p tax rate - but that Labour had failed to address the root cause of the problem.

"This help is for one year only. It is a one-off payment, a one-off solution for tax rises that hit every single year."

George criticised Alistair Darling for not putting in place a long-term plan to compensate people, and accused him of only acting because Labour were "panicking" about the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.

He also pointed out that 1.1 million low-earners, on incomes between £6,635 and £13,355, will still lose out by up to £112 a year.

Feedback from Millom Neighbourhood Forum

I attended the Millom Neighbourhood Forum this evening in the Network centre at Millom School.

Main subjects for discussion were

1) the Minerals and Waste plan from Cumbria County Council, the Core Strategy and Development Control principles of which are currently out to consultation and awaiting examiniation in public in November

2) the future of neighbourhood forums, which may be adjusted to reflect the proposed "locality working" which the government is keen to introduce.

There was a good discussion - I found particularly powerful the comment from one or two local Millom residents and councillors that if we are going to have locality working it is a shame that it appears to be being driven top down from central government rather than bottom up from the localities concerned.


Forthcoming meetings - Copeland and Allerdale Councils both have their annual meetings in the next two days. The next Bransty and Harbour neighbourhood forum meeting is on 20th May.

Ironic comment of the week ...

Have been following the internet debate about the local elections. I did enjoy the following comment by "Mirthios" on the Political Betting site this morning - only the last line giving away that this post was actually an ironic one ...


"The YouGov/Evening Standard internet polls have been transparently used to try to influence the election by suggesting incredible leads for Boris Johnson when all conventional polls by companies like Ipsos-MORI and ICM have shown the election to be neck and neck.

A YouGov/Evening Standard poll on Thursday was just another attempt to deflect voters from the enormous stakes for London in this election by suggesting a Johnson lead which simply does not exist. The fact that it was accurate is even more annoying."

Local Election Results

This week's local elections represented a very positive move forward for the Conservative Party. These results are not just a vote against Gordon Brown and his Government. They are a positive vote of confidence in the Conservatives. People see a Party that has changed for the better, that is united and that has a strong team of leaders. Increasingly, they are looking to us to speak out on the issues they really care about - on improving our schools and the NHS, keeping down the cost of living and dealing with crime on our streets.

So far, the results show that we have achieved a 44 per cent vote share and have already gained 256 seats in these elections. We have taken control of 16 councils, including Bury, North Tyneside and the Vale of Glamorgan, and gained seats from Labour from Sunderland to Southampton, and from Cardiff to Great Yarmouth.

This looks like Labour’s worst vote share – at 24 per cent – since records began in 1973. Labour are now in third place, behind the Liberal Democrats (25 per cent) and have already lost 331 seats.

Local elections reflect local factors and cannot be regarded as an infallible guide to to the result of national elections. However, changes in local election performance are often associated with changes in General election performance.

There have been many cases in recent British politics of "mid-term blues" where governments who have bad council election results in which they were up to and including 11 percentage points behind going on to win the subsequent general election. However, there is no precedent for a government which more than 11 percentage points behind in local polls going on to win the following Westminster election. For the present government to come back from 20 percentage points behind an win would be the most extraordinary political recovery in British history.

That does not mean that we Conservatives can afford to sit back and take victory for granted: one Conservative spokesman said yesterday that we will not regard a Conservative win in the coming general election as being in the bag until the results have actually been announced.

David Cameron and his team will do everything we can to prove that we are ready to form an alternative government.

Whitehaven Golf Course

There have been two chains of debate on this blog about Whitehaven Golf Course.

* One relating to the planning aspects where it is clear that the developer failed to one of the conditions of the planning approval relating to the siting, and

* Concerns over whether the council obtained "Best Value" for the sale of the couA second issue relating to the sale of the course. This is also the subject of a complaint to the Auditor.

Unless and until the Auditor's report brings a new perspective to bear I stand by my earlier comments on this blog about the sale of the course, but in the interests of accuracy I have removed comments about the planning permission on some earlier posts which further investigation has established were not correct.

The current planning situation is that

1) The course was built in the wrong place and in breach of one of the conditions

2) This breach of planning control has not yet been resolved or regularised

3) The course was built in a location which obstructs a right-of-way.

4) An application to move the right of way around the golf course has been
submitted to the County Council and a proposal to do so is currently out to
consultation.

5) I am now advised that when a decision has been made about the right of way,
Copeland council's planners intend to take whatever action appears appropriate
in the light of that decision, to regularise the planning position.


I stand by my previously expressed view that this issue should be taken to Copeland's Planning panel.

Rubbish bin saga

The fine imposed on a Whitehaven bus driver for putting four inches' worth too much rubbish in his bin has been paid by an anonymous donor. A Shewsbury company which makes Refuse compactors, "Waste Pact" has donated to the family one of their products called “The Little Crusher” which should prevent the issue from arising again. fits in the kitchen.

The Rector of Whitehaven, the Reverend John Bannister, had orgaganised a collection to pay the fine: he said that several hundred pounds had been pledged to pay the court penalty, with donations ranging from a few pounds to £50, but the amount was covered in full by one anonymous local donor.

Tory group leader David Moore, who had repeatedly urged at full council meetings that refuse collection policy should not be managed in a draconian way, said that “Some of us had asked for restraint, not a court case. The council has made itself a laughing stock nationally through all the adverse publicity.”

In my view, if the council had been looking to make a public example of someone we should started with a major push to catch and prosecute fly tippers.”

The Rev John Bannister said: “It’s shaken me rigid by the way this has escalated the length and breadth of the country. Fundamentally it means to me that the council has broken faith with a large number of this community and they have to find the means of repairing that.

“What it proves is that there is a far-reaching, wide ranging issue that has to be addressed. It has affected an awful lot of people who are deeply disturbed in case they could find themselves in a similar situation.”

Local Election Day

There are no local elections in Copeland today, but there are elections in many other parts of the country, including Barrow, Carlisle, London, and St Albans.

Some people, particularly in the media, will interpret the results as if their main purpose was some kind of "test" of Gordon Brown's government. Voters are entitled to cast their votes however they wish, but interpreting the results as a guide to what would happen in a general election is unreliable, because this is not one.

Voters are choosing who they think is best suited to run local government services in their area.

I have been to campaign with some of the local Conservative council candidates in Barrow and Carlisle: I think they would do a good job and I hope local voters in Barrow and Carlisle reach the same conclusion.

It seems far longer than a year since I stood down from St Albans council and was elected in Copeland. I see that one or two old friends are standing down in St Albans and other old friends are bidding to make a return. It is amazing to me how many new names are in the frame in these elections whom I have never met. I do notice, however, that the Conservatives in St Albans are putting up a good mix of both men and women from a wide range of backgrounds including some from an ethnic minority background.

I have always believed that candidates should be selected purely on merit and ability, and that if this is really happening there will be a diverse range of candidates coming forward: the fact that this appears to be happening is a good sign.

One other comment on today's elections. I am deeply alarmed by the conclusions of the Rowntree foundation about the security of the ballot, particularly the electoral register and postal voting arrangements.

Britain has long prided ourselve on conducting honest elections but in former times this was not always the case. In the 18th and early 19th century (later in Ireland) British elections were often corrupt, and only a strong campaign for free and fair elections backed up by severe penalties made vote-rigging unthinkable.

We have recently - and rightly - condemned Zimbabwe's government for trying to rig their Presidential election. We must also apply the strictest standards of probity to British elections. Arrangements to validate both electoral registers and postal and proxy votes must be tightened as a matter of urgency, and governments must stop ignoring the advice of the electoral commission.

The 10 tax fiasco

There may be those who are not themselves on low incomes and who imagine that last week's U-Turn has solved the problems created in Cumbria and elsewhere by the abolition of the 10p starting tax rate. Sadly, it has not.

The concessions promised by Alistair Darling may have averted a government defeat yesterday, but they have barely begun to work out how the promise to compensate those who lose out can be kept of how the money required can be paid for.

For a start, until the implementation of the promised concessions, full details of which will not be released until the "Pre Budget Report" in the autumn, the five million people who were adversely affected by this tax change will still be paying more. In a constituency like Copeland that probably means that nearly 10,000 people are currently losing out by anything up to £464 per family.

Affluent and middle class people who lose some money but are promised it back in a few months can afford to borrow against that promise or reduce their savings, but for people in the income bracket affected by the 10p tax change, this is much more difficult. What makes matters worse is that Alistair Darling could not give an absolute guarantee that everyone affected would get the full amount back. So at the moment, and for the next few months, this change is causing real difficulties.

And then there is the huge amount of government and civil service time which is being spent on undoing the damage in Gordon Brown's last budget - and the vast amount of time and effort which will be reguired to make the backdated payments necessary when they finally work out what they are going to do.

None of the major changes in Brown's last budget have survived unscathed - they backed down on the Non-Doms tax regime, they have announced compensation for the 10p tax change, and they climbed down on Capital Gains Tax changes.


It is welcome that enough Labour MPs have finally recognised, a year after the decision was announced, that a tax increase specifically targeted against those on low incomes is a bad idea to force the government to change this "Reverse Robin Hood" policy. Unfortunately none of the ideas being mooted - changing payments for pensioners or those with families, changing the minimum wage or working tax credits - will help everyone affected. Not all those who lose out are pensioners or have children, only five percent are on the minimum wage and the take-up of working tax credit is only 22%. At the moment what we have is a complete shambles, and the most vulnerable hard-working families are paying the price.

A regional analysis of the best that could be achieved to compensate families in the North West using the tactics currently under consideration is as follows.

Before any concessions, approximately 565,607 families in the North West will lose out, even after tax credit changes.

Furthermore, only a limited amount can be compensated using the measures Alistair Darling has indicated:

• The maximum reduction in the number of losers is 32,016 from any changes to the Winter Fuel Allowance for women aged 60 – 64.

• The maximum reduction in the number of losers is 18,356 from an increase in the minimum wage.

• The maximum reduction in the number of losers is 128,062 from changes to the eligibility requirements (cut the age limit to 16 and the required number of hours to 16) for the Working Tax Credit.

• The maximum reduction in the number of losers is 32,016 from an increase in the Working Tax Credit

Total: This means that based on what the Government have said so far about their strategy for compensating the losers, a best estimate of the maximum total reduction in the number of losers as a result of the package is 210,450 out of 565,607.

Similar problems apply in the rest of the country.

There are only two things the government could do which would undo the damage. The simplest would have been to actually reverse the decision - but that would apparently have been too much of a humiliation for them.

The other approach, as George Osborne and others have suggested, would be to increase tax thresholds so that more of those on low incomes are taken out of the PAYE system entirely. The government have not explained how they will fund the concessions they have promised, but that would be the most effective use of whatever money they can find.

Valley Residents and Tenants Association meeting

I attended this evening's meeting of the Valley Residents and Tenants Association at St Gregory's & St Patrick's School.

The main item on the agenda was the road and traffic position in the area, with concerns expressed including -

1) The One Way system in Foxhouses Road, Calder Avenue and Esk Avenue is regarded by many residents as having failed, exacerbating the safety and congestion problems it was meant to help. (The same point was expressed local the Conservatives when we did a survey canvass of Harbour Ward). In particular it creates bottlenecks on the few legal routes out of the estate, particularly at the junctions of Calder Avenue and Station Road, Station Road and Coach Road, and the Eastern end of Coach Road.

2) The signing priority at the junction of Coach Road and Station Road results in some drivers rat-running round The Gardens into Station Road

3) Another side effect of the one-way system is to funnel a much larger amount of traffic through Calder Avenue than the foundations of the road was designed to take, which appears to be one of the reasons for problems with the drains and why the surface seems to deteriorate as soon as it the potholes are fixed.

At the time the one-way system was introduced, it was promised that it would be reviewed, and this appears to have been missed. County Councillor Bernard Kirk promised that he would aim to ensure that this review takes place within the next 12 months and that there will be an opportunity for public consultation.

Panorama report on hospital superbugs

I was very concerned about the information presented in the Panorama programme last night about the c-diff superbug, which now kills about 6,000 patients a year, more than MRSA.

I have commented in more detail on the "Save West Cumbria Hospitals" campaign blog, see link at right.

The 10p tax row - the problem is not over

Gordon Brown's U-Turn on the abolition of the 10p tax band may have forestalled an embarrasing defeat in the House of Commons next week but it has not solved the problem which this regressive tax increase has imposed on 5 million less affluent people.

Many of those affected may get a backdated compensation payment later this year, but for the moment they are paying the extra tax. Since the precise details of the compensating measures have not been agreed - and at least some of those who lose out through the abolition of the 10 tax band will not benefit from the proposed corrective measures - those who are affected will suffering a significant degree of uncertainty about how much of their money Gordon will give back in the Autumn. The fact that some of them will get some jam tomorrow does not alter the fact that all 5 million of those who lose out from the change are experiencing unnecessary government-inflicted hardship now.

And in the meantime all the civil servants who are frantically working out how to undo the damage, and who will then have to do the work to provide the backdated benefits, could have been doing something useful rather than picking up the mess from Brown's last budget as chancellor.

Gordon Brown gained the position of Prime Minister partly on the basis of a supposed reputation as a good Chancellor - a reputation which had more than a little to do with the strong economy he inherited from Kenneth Clarke and beyond this was largely based on one excellent decision - delegating the control of interest rates to the Bank of England. But the 10p mess has demonstrated how bad some of his other decisions as Chancellor were. And he is no better as Prime Minister.

European bodies infuriate both English and Scots patriots ...

It is ironic that on St George's day, European institutions have managed to annoy both English and Scots patriots.

The European Union is proposing to set up European "transnational regions" which link various areas of England and the UK with parts of other countries on the other side of the English Channel or North sea rather than the rest of our own country. Rightly or wrongly this has been seen as an attempt to wipe England off the map by breaking the country up between three regions which also incorporate parts of other nations

I'm not completely convinced that this was the intention - after all, the French are hardly going to go along with the break-up of France, which would also be implied by the proposals if you were to suggest that the transnational regions were to replace existing countries.

However, it is beyond dispute that this is another PR disaster for the EU and it is extremely likely that these "transnational regions" will be yet another bureaucratic talking shop the cost of which will outweigh any good they do.

And on the same day, Scots have been infuriated to learn that EU Health and safety noise limits have been imposed which means that bands who play the bagpipes are potentially illegal unless the musicians wear earplugs.

What an utter lack of common sense.

Happy St George's Day

Today is St George's day.

Just as Scots are right to celebrate St Andrew's Day, the Welsh celebrate St David's day, and Irish people throughout the world celebrate St Patrick's day, today we should celebrate the English national day.

What a load of rubbish

A Whitehaven man with four children has been fined because he put slightly too much rubbish in his wheelie bin and the lid would not quite close.

We have had a lot of fierce arguments at Copeland Council meetings about the refuse collection service. My colleague the Conservative group leader, Councillor David Moore, has asked on more than one occasion that the council's policies om rubbish collection should not be implemented in a draconian way.

No doubt we will hear more of this case, but at the moment the information available to me is what has been in the newspapers. On the basis of the story as reported, it appears to be unfortunate that David Moore's advice was not followed.

Swimathan completed

I completed the Swimathon on Sunday in one hour 47 minutes.

Thanks to all those who sponsored me.

Swimathon 2008

I will be taking part in Swimathon 2008 today at the Lakes Leisure pool in Ulverston.

I aim to swim 5,000 metres (200 lengths of the pool) to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer care and the Swimathon foundation.

If anyone would like to sponsor me, please drop me an email.

What the papers say

A leader in today's "Daily Star" newspaper, quoted without comment as it speaks for itself.

Darn Gord Thrashing

Gordon Brown has now been accused of trying to fiddle the forthcoming local elections.

Ministers are supposed to avoid making big policy promises in the three weeks before the poll. This is to stop them using their government powers to woo voters and gain an unfair advantage.

But yesterday they suddenly announced new anti-terrorism measures, including 300 extra police officers and support workers.

The Tories say this is shameless electioneering and have made an official complaint. But we would urge them to calm down.

Mr Brown could offer the country free beer and 10% wage rises all round ... and he would still get thrashed at next month's ballot.

Post offices, Flood prevention, Nuclear plans

This afternoon was the April meeting of Copeland Council.

Issues discussed included

* the Shoreline management plan and flood prevention (see previous post)
* proposed Post office closures
* Radioactive Waste Management
* A Copeland "Business Summit"
* Consultation on a possible Town Council for Whitehaven
* Next year's Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Copeland

On Post Offices closures, it was agreed that a special two-day meeting of the Economic Development O&S Committee will be held on 16th and 17th May. After interviewing interested parties, including the Post Office Ltd, sub-postmasters, and community groups such as Age Concern and the Disability Forum, that committee will make a response to the Post Office on behalf of the council.

Coastal erosion and a prospect which does not bear thinking about ...

During a discussion on coastal protection and flooding at Copeland Council this afternoon, Conservative group leader David Moore raised the situation of the coastal road into Eskmeals, which is likely to fall into the sea within ten years if nothing is done.

This is one of only two routes into Eskmeals, which contains a Ministry of Defence firing range, and the other road is tidal.

As Councillor Moore pointed out, the Eskmeals firing range employs a hundred people and provides a national facility. There is also a considerable amount of ammunition stored at the site.

If the coast road is allowed to fall into the sea and no alternative provision is made, that could potentially put those jobs and that service at risk. But how could we tolerate a situation where the emergency services might have to wait for the tide until they could get through.

The idea of a fire raging near an ammunition store while the fire engine is unable to get through until the tide goes out really does not bear thinking about!

The point was taken but there is not answer yet to the question of what can be done about the Eskmeals road and this will have to be pursued further.


During the same debate I asked about the funding for flood prevention measures in Copeland, and asked whether a rolling programme of pro-active flood prevention was being looked at. The Portfolio holder advised me that funding is "still tight" and added that such a rolling programme of flood prevention measures is being actively considered.