Chris Whiteside's Blog

As we come to the end of a year in which it has more than once been the case that people with opposite opinions have voted the same way, each gambling that blocking the "centre" position will break things their way, it is worth seeing who called it right. It' wasn't always the side who one would have expected. I am reminded of a statement by William Lamb, a.k.a. Lord Melbourne: WINNER OF THE YEAR: Boris Johnson He pretends to be a clown but he is nobody's fool. I think it is time to recognise that the PM is a far smarter political operator than any of his enemies or some of his friends give him credit for. Yes, he's been lucky, especially in his political opponents. But he made some of his own luck - and exploited with ruthless effectiveness what was gifted to him. LOSER OF THE YEAR: Jeremy Corbyn And thank God for the good sense of the British electorate in making it so. WINNERS WHO OVERPLAYED THEIR HAND BUT GOT AWAY WITH IT: ...

There is an excellent article by the Economist on calling out politicians and others who say things which are not true - and when we should accuse them of lying, talking nonsense, exaggerating, misleading people, or making a mistake. If you are registered to read the Economist online, you can find a text version here . There is also a very good video version featuring Lane Greene, the Economist's language correspondent who I presume to have been the main author of the article, with similar but not quite identical script and this is available to watch via twitter here or on YouTube, which will play if you click on the window below - As they rightly say (in the print version) "Journalists should be tough when powerful people say untrue things. When those statements first hit the headlines , “false” packs plenty of punch. Reporters should demand to know the reason for the false statements." But, to quote the video version, after encouraging people to use word...

There is no perfect measure of inflation. I was challenged the other day for quoting the Retail Price Index (RPI) which was described as a "discredited measure." I don't accept that but I do accept that it might have been helpful to quote both the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and RPI measures and I have gone back and changed the post concerned to do so. There are various ways to measure inflation and about the only thing which most economists and statisticians agree on is that no one measure is ideal for every purpose. In my professional work I would usually look at all the main measures to get the best picture of what is going on and then use whichever seemed most relevant to the specific target group. There is considerable disagreement among economists and statisticians about whether the RPI or the CPI is the better measure of inflation. But many would concur with the view which the distinguished economist and statistician Simon Briscoe of the gave in a note pr...

Levels of domestic abuse in Copeland and in Cumbria as a whole are shocking and have been for some time. That would be true even just based on the figures for recorded incidents but it is suspected that for every reported case there are many instances for which no complaint is made. The stereotypical case, which does represent the most common type of abuse, is men attacking their female partners, which is of course completely intolerable behaviour, but the most recent figures show a substantial amount of violence by women against men and within same-sex relationships and this is also totally unacceptable. It does not help matters that the media does not always take violence against men seriously and sometimes publishes incredibly unhelpful stories. I recall being incensed when one national newspaper ran a disgraceful front page headline accusing two actors who played on-screen tough guys of being "big girls' blouses" in real life over suggestions that their female ...

"I think I know why reasonable argument is no longer possible. It's social media. When you had to express your displeasure in the past you wrote a letter and you enclosed your address so that someone could reply. This meant you had to watch your language and your manners. Not any more. Now your can hide behind a blanket of anonymity and say anything you like." ( Jeremy Clarkson , writing in the Sunday Times yesterday about the effect of anonymous social media posts on the level of courtesy and constructive engagement in modern public discourse.)

An interesting piece by Philip Thompson on Political Betting about Blair's legacy here . And a warning to all political parties, especially when messing about with the constitution: 1) Be careful what you wish for 2) Beware the law of unintended consequences 3) These warnings particularly apply when setting up one-sided changes to the constitution. Changes which you think will give you an unfair advantage can have precisely the opposite long-term effect ...

My previous post mentioned that Cumbrians honoured by Her Majesty in the New Year's honours list included: Paul Foster, departing boss at Sellafield, who has been awarded a CBE for " services to business "  John Hudson, BAE Systems, has also been made a CBE for " services to the Royal Navy and to Naval Shipbuilding and Design ."  Professor John Howarth, Deputy Chief Executive of the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Trust and visionary local health leader - and local GP - has been made an MBE for " services to General Practice. " Other Cumbrians honoured this year include: Ms Sascha Hilary Wells-Munro of Kendal who receives an OBE "for services to the NHS and patient safety."  Mr Ben Stokes of Cockermouth and the Enlgand cricket team receives an OBE "for Services to Sport."  Ms Elizabeth Cornford of Grange-over-Sands has been awarded the MBE "for services to Young People."  Mr John Butler of Ulverston also beco...

1097 people have been honoured by the Queen in the 2020 New Year's Honours list. On a first read through I noticed a number of distinguished Cumbrians were honoured These included * Paul Foster who has just retired as head of Sellafield, has been awarded a CBE * John Hudson, BAE Systems, has also been made a CBE * Professor John Howarth, Deputy Chief Executive of the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Trust and visionary local health leader, has been made an MBE. Congratulations to them and to all the people honoured. In relation to this honours list as a whole, 789 (72%) of the recipients are people who have undertaken outstanding work in their communities either in a voluntary or paid capacity.  556 women are recognised in the List, representing 51% of the total  9.1% of the successful candidates come from a BAME background  11% of the successful candidates consider themselves to have a disability (under the Equality Act 2010)  3.3% of recipient...

“Only twenty-seven people in Britain can explain why the day after Christmas Day is called Boxing Day, but that doesn't stop millions from marking it by staying home from work. An intriguing side effect of thus having two consecutive public holidays is that no matter what days of the week they fall on, the British can easily justify taking the whole week off." ( Alan Beechey , from "Murdering Ministers: An Oliver Swithin Mystery.")

The following quote is, of course, the promise made by the reformed Scrooge at the conclusion of "A Christmas Carol" -

No more political posts for a few days, though I shall put up a few uplifting quotations and some of my favourite Christmas music. I shall sign off with a similar message to the one I have used for the last two or three years: Warmest good wishes and seasonal greetings to everyone reading this To everyone reading this who is a Christian, may the spirit of the Christ child, the love of Mary, the faithfulness of Joseph, the joy of the Angels, the wonder of the Shepherds, the wisdom of the Magi, and the Peace of God be with you this Christmastide. To anyone reading this who follows a faith other than Christianity, may your God be with you at this time. To everyone reading this including anyone who does not have a religious faith, I wish you peace, health and happiness and hope you are refreshed by a wonderful holiday with the people you love. And to all of you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year 2020.

The January meeting of Cumbria County Council will be held at 10 am on Thursday 9th January in the Council Chamber at County Hall in Kendal. The meeting will be open to the public - or at least, to those members who can afford to take a day off and spend it in Kendal. The Agenda can be found on the County Council website here . Items of interest 1) The annual presentation from Cumbria Constabulary 2) A presentation from the "Children in Care Council." In the interests of transparency I should probably also mention that County Councillor's allowances for the forthcoming year are also on the agenda. The Independent Review Panel is recommending that the basic allowance and most special responsibility allowances be increased by 2%. This compares with the latest inflation figures from ONS of a 2.2% increase on the RPI measure but only 1.5% increase year on year to November on the CPI measure. Suspect there may be some debate around this ...

I have stayed out of the argument on Twitter about the Maya Forstater case because I do not believe it is possible to do justice to either side in 280 characters and feelings are running so high on both sides that you cannot get a nuanced argument into the debate. This was the employment tribunal case which got J.K. Rowling into so much trouble for a tweet which began with the words "Dress however you please.  Call yourself whatever you like.  Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.  Live your best life in peace and security."  but then went on to refer to the Maya Forstater case in a way which Rowling's supporters took to mean that women should not be sacked for expressing opinions that other people disagree with, and her critics took to be an endorsement of disrespect to trans people. This legal case has understandably caused great concern to people who believe in free speech. It is, unfortunately, all too easy to take phrases from the legal jud...

This Conservative Government will back nursing students with a new £5,000 grant – making sure the NHS has the staff it needs to deliver world-class care for you and your family. From September 2020, all new and continuing degree-level nursing, midwifery and many allied health students will benefit from guaranteed additional support of £5,000 a year to help with their living costs.  Additional payments of up to £3,000 will be available for students in regions or specialisms struggling to recruit, or to help students cover childcare costs.  The NHS is our number one priority - which is why this Conservatives administration will be the first government to legislate to guarantee our multi-year funding increase of £33.9 billion.

"From a historical point of view, I think when people look back at this period and they examine the extent of the Labour defeat. "I think people will look back and think, 'hang on - people voted for something in 2016 and then lots of people in the political establishment in Westminster spent three years trying to undo that. What?' "People thought we would be out the next day. Politicians on both sides, including the then Prime Minister David Cameron stood on platforms and said ' if you vote this way, it will happen.' "They said there was no going back, and that this wasn't a vote that you can have a second opinion on." "Lo and behold, three years later people are scratching their heads in the Labour Party, thinking maybe that was a bit of problem that they were trying to undo something that people voted for.  "There are perfectly legitimate reasons for people to campaign for a second referendum."  "But, cove...

Tomorrow, Sunday 22nd December, is the winter solstice (in the Northern hemisphere): the shortest day of the year. It's not the coldest day of the year - it will continue to get colder for several weeks yet - but it is the darkest and for many people, the most depressing. Going back for thousands of years, most cultures have had a celebration at about this time of year, to mark the fact that we have passed the point when there is least daylight and from here on the days start getting longer again. For modern societies whose culture is based on Christianity, the festival of Christmas conveniently serves this purpose. There is nothing in the bible from which the precise date of the birth of Jesus can be derived or even which year (it is most likely to have been between the years which our current calendar labels as 6BC and 6AD.) Whatever the basis for the selection of 25th December as the date for Christmas, this decision was made a long, long time ago: the earliest known rec...

Parliament has passed a historic milestone towards leaving the European Union, backing Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill by a thumping majority of 124, a week after the Conservatives won a landslide victory in the general election. After comfortably passing its second reading by 358 votes to 234, the withdrawal agreement bill is on track to complete its passage through both houses of parliament in time to allow Britain to leave the European Union at the end of January. Speaking ahead of the vote, Boris Johnson called on the British public to discard the labels of leave and remain as MPs prepared to take a historic step towards withdrawing the UK from the EU. As far as I am concerned, once this had been put to the public in a referendum, the result of that vote had to be honoured. It was no longer just about Brexit but about democracy. Brendan O'Neill has a piece in Spiked called " The End of Remain " which amplifies the point.

Yesterday's radical Queen’s Speech, the most radical in a generation, set out how we will deliver Brexit and unleash Britain's potential – it will take us out of the EU, overhaul our immigration system, and will enshrine in law record investment for the NHS.  It will take our country forward with an ambitious One Nation programme to unite and spread opportunity to every corner of our United Kingdom. The Queens's speech set out how we will: Enshrine in Law an increase in NHS funding - Legislation will enshrine in law the largest cash settlement in the NHS’s history and we will deliver the NHS Long Term Plan in England to ensure our health service is fit for the future.  Bring an end to free movement and introduce an Australian-style points based system – Our Immigration and Social Security Co-Ordination Bill will create a modern, fair, points-based immigration system which will welcome skilled workers from across the world to contribute to the United Kingdom’s economy...

Today, with the EU withdrawal bill moving forward in parliament, we  start to get Brexit done and deliver on the promise we made to the British people - meaning we can move forward and then, at the beginning of the new decade, at the beginning of a new dawn for our country, our parliamentarians will return to Westminster to immediately finish the job, take us out of the EU on 31 January and move this country forward. After years of delay in Parliament, we will get Brexit done and deliver certainty for hard-working businesses and people across this country will have a firm foundation on which to plan for the future. Next year will be a great year for our country – the year we get Brexit done, boost NHS funding, invest in infrastructure and level up access to opportunity and prosperity across our great nation.  It will mark the start of a new decade where the United Kingdom will champion trade, innovation and science and meet global challenges with old friends and new acro...

New figures this week showed that the employment rate is at a record high – and wages have risen faster than prices for 21 months in a row, showing how this One Nation Conservative Government will continue to help people with the cost of living. Figures show that average weekly earnings for employees increased by 3.5 per cent compared with a year earlier.  In addition, the employment rate, and the number of people in full-time work are at record highs, just showing the progress we've made on improving our economy since 2010.  This Conservative Government will invest in people’s priorities, and help them with the cost of living, including by increasing the National Living Wage to £10.50 per hour by 2024, and raising the National Insurance Contribution threshold, saving around £100 for 31 million people next year.

"Following last week’s remarkable election result, in which scores of working-class, Leave-backing Labour seats went Tory for the first time ever, anti-working-class bile was spewing from various prominent Labour supporters in the media. Labour activist and journalist Paul Mason wrote in the New Statesman that ‘at no point did Labour “desert” the working class. But a section of it deserted us last night, and I am not going to flinch from stating that in the places it did so there is now a toxic narrative of nativism and xenophobia’. " Leave voters have been accused of racism and stupidity time and again since 2016. But up to now, Remainers would at least pretend, some of the time, that they were talking about middle-class Leavers in the Tory shires. But the defection of working-class Leavers to the Tories has brought to the surface the clear class-hatred element of all this. Months of left-Remainers spuriously suggesting that working-class people didn’t really back Brexit...

Today's Queen's Speech set out the priorities of the re-elected Conservative government. In last week’s Election, millions of people – many of whom have never voted Conservative before - put their faith in this People’s Government to deliver on the people’s priorities.  We have no time to waste, we will begin today, with the most radical Queen’s Speech in a generation. Our first task is to get Brexit done and we will leave the EU at the end of January.  Our new deal is ready to go.  We will avoid the trap of further dither and delay and rule out any extension to the implementation period beyond 2020.  But our number one domestic priority is our NHS and at the heart of our Queen’s Speech is the first ever commitment to enshrine in law a multi-year NHS funding settlement, with an extra £33.9 billion per year – the largest cash injection in the history of the NHS.  This is a radical Queen’s Speech – it will take us out of the EU, overhaul our immigrati...

"Thank you for the trust you have placed in me.  "We are going to level up and unite our country. We are going to get Brexit done and deliver the change that people voted for. And we are going to protect and invest in our amazing NHS." (Prime Minister Boris Johnson responds to his election victory.)

"Leave voters thought we were a Remain party and Remain voters thought we were a Leave party."  "It wasn’t that we were taking the wrong position that wound most people up, they told us it was we were taking *no* position, or every position in a single day, that was driving them to distraction."  ( Peter Kyle , Labour MP, in a thread on Twitter about Labour's ambiguous position on Brexit)

"It is ludicrous to say we won the argument at this election – because we lost." "If we are truly honest with ourselves, Labour simply did not put forward a credible candidate for prime minister or a believable set of priorities for governing." "Labour’s shocking and repeated failure to tackle anti-Semitism was totally entwined with the failure of leadership. It’s been extremely difficult for me personally to see how the Jewish community has been made to feel by the Labour Party for years on end." "We know the NHS was the number-one concern for many voters at this election, not Brexit. But trust in Labour’s ability to run the NHS, as well as other public services, collapsed. Perhaps more than anything else, losing to the Tories on the NHS is the most damning indictment of all." (Sadiq Khan, Labour Mayor of London, excoriates Labour's failure at the 2019 election, in an interview with the i/Independent which was headlined " The...

An interesting YouGov analysis here of how 2016 Leave and Remain supporters voted in 2017 and 2019. The Conservatives won by holding on to 92% of their 2017 support among Leave Voters and 65% of their 2017 support among Remain voters, while gaining the support of 33% of those 2017 Labour voters who also backed Leave and 46% of 2017 Lib/Dem voters who also backed Leave. The Lib/Dem policy of revoking Article 50 helped them picked up 22% of 2017 Conservative voters who had backed Remain but cost them 70% of their 2017 support among Leave voters and they only held on to 66% of their 2017 Remain support, with 21% going to Labour. Labour's policy of "constructive ambiguity" turned out to be an electoral disaster as they held only 79% of their 2017 Remain support and 52% of their 2017 Leave support: there were undoubtedly other reasons besides Brexit for Labour's defeat but these figures support the theory that Labour's Brexit policy appealed strongly to neith...

"Even when Blair reduced the Conservatives to their heartlands in the 1990s, the party still had heartlands.  Labour, in 2019, doesn’t.  It’s a collective noun for student Marxists, trades union hard-men, and spiteful anti-Semites.  That’s not a political party: it’s a pathogen. A pathogen with nowhere to replicate." ( Graeme Archer , from his Unherd article, " Does Labour understand why it lost? ")

From a statement issued by  Prime Minister Boris Johnson on his return from seeing the Queen over the weekend. "This morning I went to Buckingham Palace and I am forming a new Government, and on Monday MPs will arrive at Westminster to form a new Parliament, and I am proud to say that members of our new one nation Government – a people’s Government – will set out from constituencies that have never returned a Conservative MP for 100 years.  "And yes, they will have an overwhelming mandate, from this election, to get Brexit done and we will honour that mandate by January 31.  "And so, in this moment of national resolution I want to speak directly to those who made it possible and to all those who voted for us, for the first time, all those whose pencils may have wavered over the ballot and who heard the voices of their parents and their grandparents whispering anxiously in their ears.  "I say thank you for the trust you have placed in us and in me and we wil...

With Parliament returning this week we will immediately start repaying the trust given to us and deliver on the people’s priorities. During Thursday’s Queen’s Speech, we will start repaying that trust placed in us and delivering on people’s priorities. That means strengthening the justice system, providing a better service to commuters, giving better protection for renters, and stopping local authorities boycotting products from other countries, like Israel.   And, the Prime Minister will fulfil his election pledge to bring back the Withdrawal Agreement bill before Christmas. On our NHS, the Queen’s Speech will go even further, and the Prime Minister will enshrine in law the multi-year financial commitment to the NHS - a first for any government. The NHS was a totemic issue during the election - with Boris Johnson committing the largest ever funding settlement for the NHS, an increase in doctors and nurses, 40 new hospitals and nursing bursaries to support stud...

It is often said that " Oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them. " Although Boris Johnson certainly called certain things right - in particular the slogan "Get Brexit Done" clearly cut through - last week's election is one which the above saying really does not describe: this, like 1983, was an election which the opposition lost. After nine years in government taking difficult decisions I suspect that the Conservatives might have had real difficulty getting re-elected if we had faced a remotely competent opposition. Instead we had a principal opposition party with the strategic judgement of a demented wombat and a leader for whom any comparison with the late Michael Foot is quite literally a gross injustice to Michael Foot. Here are three views on why the Conservatives won: Dan Hodges (a former Trade Union and Labour party official) wrote in the Mail that " The Corbynites lost because they hate working Britain - and the feeli...

I spent a lot of time agonising which way to vote in the EU referendum and eventually voted Remain. But I accepted that Britain would and must leave the European Union early on the morning of 24th June 2016, at about the time it became mathematically certain that Leave had won. A disappointingly large number of very clever people have spent the last three and a half years trying to frustrate that result. Some of them convinced themselves that Leave voters were thick xenophobic racists who didn't understand what they were voting for. Others convinced themselves that the result was fraudulent and pushed ever more elaborate conspiracy theories about how the referendum had been stolen by Leave overspending, Russian money or bots, Cambridge Analytica, or lies on the side of a bus. The fact that none of these things, insofar as there was any truth in them, were either likely to have changed the result nor were unique to Leave - there were campaigners on the Remain side was a...

"England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings.  "It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during ‘God save the King’ than of stealing from a poor box." ( George Orwell )

"Jews have become the victims of today’s degraded form of radicalism. They are seen by many of today’s self-identified radicals as part of a conspiracy to control the world, with international bankers playing a particularly prominent role. They are alleged to be at the pinnacle of a hierarchy of privilege, with the bulk of the world’s population suffering beneath them. And they are attacked for supporting a uniquely malevolent nation state in a world in which nations are increasingly seen as problematic. "Anti-Semitism in the Labour Party goes way beyond a few errant individual matters." "However, there is one important point on which the defenders of the Labour Party are right. Anti-Semitism should not be singled out as a purely Labour phenomenon. Self-proclaimed radicals outside the Labour Party, like those within it, often share a similar worldview. These can include leftists who do not support Labour, as well as some of those who define themselves as greens....

"Actually my next plan is to go and have a cup of tea." (Caroline Flint, Labour MP for the Don Valley 1997 to 2019) Every election some departing former MP who has just lost their job manages to take their defeat with such dignified grace and humility or come up with some witty response which reminds all but the most sectarian of their opponents, who might otherwise have been tempted to gloat, that even politicians whose political views you don't agree with are human too. This year it was Caroline Flint whose Don Valley seat, which she had represented for 22 years, had just elected its first ever Conservative MP. She was asked what her plans were now and gave a quintessentially British response.

Polls are open until 10pm this evening - four hours to go at the moment this post was published at 6pm. This could be one of the most important general elections in British history, A Conservative majority government will: Get Brexit done Ensure there are 50,000 more nurses than there would otherwise have been and put record investment into the NHS Recruit 20,000 more police and gie the courts power to impose tougher sentences Invest in education, technology, and infrastructure to drive opportunity and prosperity Keep the UK  economy strong and debt low Take back control of immigration with an Australian-style points system

Polls remain open until 10pm this evening in what could be one of the most pivotal elections in British history,

Polls are now open in the general election and will remain open until 10pm this evening. If you have a postal vote and have not yet returned it you can hand it in at a polling station in the constituency. Every vote could count: however you vote, make sure you vote.

Since Labour is again fighting an election based on scaremongering about the NHS, here is a reminder that less than three years ago they did the same thing in Copeland. And it's been long enough to give a useful case study of the accuracy - or lack olf it - of Labour's claims. Here is a cross reference of what Labour said about health during the Copeland  by-election cross checked against reality.

Tomorrow is polling day After all the weeks of campaigning, it is finally time for the voters to have your say. The only poll which counts is the one which takes place tomorrow. However you vote, make sure you are part of that decision.

There are now only two days to go until the election.  Key points you need to remember: This election is happening because a gridlocked and broken Parliament refused to respect the referendum result – or let the government govern. The choice is between a majority government that can act or another paralysed hung Parliament that cannot. A Conservative majority government will:  Get Brexit done  Ensure there are 50,000 more nurses than there would be with no action and put record investment in the NHS  Recruit 20,000 more police and ensure the courts have the power to pass tougher sentences  Invest in education, technology, and infrastructure to drive opportunity and prosperity  Keep the UK economy strong and debt low  Take back control of immigration with an Australian-style points system 

I wrote an article about the prospects of the two major parties as we entered the final few days of the campaign which was published on Conservative Home at the weekend. You can read it here . The title referred to the a possibility of a hung parliament in which Labour and the SNP are able to form a government, which I argued was still a real danger. A tweet from ConHome advertising the article was enthusiastically welcomed by Corbynistas and Cybernats who did not appear to have read it. If they actually had read it, they would have known that it was a warning against overconfidence and complacency, and about self-defeating expectations. Hence that by tweeting things like "a Labour government is coming" they wre enthusiastically flinging themselves into the same elephant trap which I had been warning Tories about! The last words of the article are as follows: "I want to end on a positive note. The nightmare of a hung parliament run by Jeremy Corbyn and the SNP ...

In the last three days before polling day, the Prime Minister is visiting every region in England and Wales. His tour will include visits to North Wales, West Yorkshire, Cheshire, Leicestershire, East Anglia and the South West.  Today, Boris has been in Yorkshire and the Humber, and the North East, highlighting that the only way to get Brexit done is to elect a Conservative majority government. In Leave-voting Sunderland, he set out the choice that the voters are facing this week: Either we will have another hung parliament, with Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon conspiring to frustrate Brexit again. They’d waste next year on two referendums on Brexit and Scottish independence. Westminster and the country would be stuck in neutral, would be mired in more dither, delay and gridlock, unable to move forward. Alternatively, we can have a Conservative majority government. Every single Conservative candidate – in Sunderland, the North East and across the whole UK – has pledged to...

A busy weekend's campaigning. My wife and I have been round various parts of the North West the last two days: Saturday morning delivering pledge letters  - for Simon Fell, Conservative candidate for Barrow and Furness:  Saturday afternoon delivering pledge letters   - for Jake Berry, Conservative candidate for Rossendale  and Darwen: Saturday evening stuffing envelopes with the Copeland Conservative team  - for Trudy Harrison, Conservative candidate for Copeland And today delivering pledge letters for Trudy in Keswick I can report that the campaign teams in all those places are active, working hard, and in good heart. And here is a little music to relax to after all that hard work.

With just four days to go to the general election, remember: This election is happening because a gridlocked and paralysed hung parliament was unable to decide anything about Brexit other than what it didn't want to do.  For three years parliament has failed to deliver what the British people voted for in the referendum.  The choice on 12th December  is between a majority government that can act or another paralysed hung Parliament that cannot. A Conservative majority government will: Get Brexit done  Ensure there are 50,000 more nurses than there would be if nothing is done, and put record investment into the NHS  Recruit 20,000 more police and ensure tougher sentences  Invest in education, technology, and infrastructure to drive opportunity and prosperity  Keep the economy strong and debt low  Take back control of immigration with an Australian-style points system

Five days to Thursday 12th December 2019, when Britain holds what may be one of the most pivotal  General Elections in our lifetimes. Polls will be open from 7am until 10pm. If you have a postal vote you can put it in the post or hand it in to your local council: for example Copeland electors with a postal vote can put it into the ballot box at the Market Hall in Whitehaven. However, you vote, make sure you use your vote. You cannot say you don't have a real choice at this election. Vote Conservative to leave the EU, with a deal, by 31st January Vote Lib/Dem to cancel Brexit and stay in the EU Vote Labour if you want to spend more months if not years arguing about it and have two more referendums.