Chris Whiteside's Blog

As today is the anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln:

I was campaigning in Millom today with Trudy Harrison: and yet again we had Conservatives out campaigning all over this huge constituency. Thanks both to all those people from Copeland Constituency who turned out, those from the rest of Cumbria - we have had fantastic support from the rest of Cumbria, particularly today from Carlisle and Barrow (though all the other associations in Cumbria have helped too) and from the rest of the country - Connor Burns MP came all the way from  Bournemouth, Graham Evans MP and a strong contingent from Lancashire, while National Conservative Convention chairman Rob Semple OBE came from Yorkshire. Here are some, but by no means all, of the Conservatives who were campaigning for Trudy Harrison today: Part of the Millom team (left to right above) Cllr Doug Wilson (Mayor of Millom,) Copeland councillor Graham Roberts, Millom councillor Jane Micklethwaite, Rob Semple OBE, Trudy Harrison, Sophie Evans, Graham Evans MP, mysel...

How serious a problem is corruption in Britain and throughout Europe? Nobody knows for sure but the one thing we can say for certain is that there is more than is good for our society or the continent. A report published by the European Union about corruption in the current member states (e.g. including Britain, we have not left yet) suggested that there are " breathtaking " levels of corruption in Europe (in the countries of Europe generally, not specifically in EU institutions.) Surveys of citizens in the current 28 member states found very varied levels of personal experience of corruption - in Britain five out of 1,115 people surveyed had been personally asked to pay a bribe, which was the lowest figure in Europe, but even here more than 64% of British respondents said they thought that corruption was "widespread" in the UK. Until comparatively recently we had a very tough code of ethics, with teeth, in local government and look at what happened to it. I...

"Hear me loud and clear. I gave birth to my four daughters at that hospital. I was born at that hospital and I look forward to being an MP in power who can work with the government to  support all services in this area." ( Trudy Harrison , Conservative candidate in the Copeland by election, makes clear her commitment to support maternity and other services at West Cumberland Hospital.)

Trudy Harrison explains that she will fight for all local services in our area including West Cumberland Hospital and that fighting to keep jobs and prosperity in West Cumbria is the best way to do this.

If nothing else, the by-election has been great from the viewpoint of getting exercise. Delivered another large chunk of the misleadingly named "Valley" area this evening.

A Lib/Dem election leaflet delivered to my home today by the Royal Mail has this to say about their candidate's education plans for the Whitehaven area "SHE WILL FIGHT FOR A SINGLE SECONDARY SCHOOL IN WHITEHAVEN" Good Lord! In view of her experience as a teacher in West Cumbria, I find it difficult to believe that this is a badly described expression of support for the former proposal for a new education campus in Whitehaven which was originally planned to include Mayfield School, St Benedict's School, and what was then known as Whitehaven School onto one site, but still as three distinct schools. There is still a "Campus Whitehaven" proposal which currently only includes Mayfield and St Benedicts but not Whitehaven Academy - see report here . If this isn't about the campus proposal, then either a) She wants the merger of St Benedict's and Whitehaven Academy, or c) She wants to close one of those two schools. The students and staff at...

In many parts of Britain one of the few things that Labour and Conservative councillors agree on is that the Lib/Dems in their areas are the party most prone to dirty tactics. Up to now that has not generally been the case in West Cumbria, though it certainly is in South Lakes. I have been campaigning all over the Copeland constituency for nearly two months now without seeing a single Lib/Dem out canvassing or delivering, with a few posts on social media the only sign they are doing anything much, but we have had freepost leaflets from them delivered by the Royal Mail, a facility offered to all candidates in parliamentary elections. The Lib/Dems would have a long way to go to equal the amount of nonsense which Labour have put out during the Copeland by-election, particularly about the NHS, but the degree of mendacity is certainly higher than I would normally expect from Copeland Lib/Dems and I suspect the malign hand of Westmorland and Lonsdale Lib/Dems may have had...

Great video article by Dan Hannan on why protectionism nearly always does far more harm than good but the vested interests that get the smaller benefits are very well aware of them, yet the much larger costs of trade barriers are spread over a wide number of people and often far less visible.

Out this evening delivering leaflets for Conservative candidate Trudy Harrison in the Valley area of Whitehaven. You might think from the name that would not be too bad, but the Valley concerned is the one between Hensingham and Kells - the flat bit at the bottom has rugby pitches on it, but the houses are mostly on the sides of the valley and they are quite steep. So up and down a lot of steps tonight. However, it was undoubtedly good for me: arrived home tired but with a sense of another job done. The Copeland by election cardiovascular workout continues apace ...

Calling Conservative supporters: On the penultimate Saturday of the Copeland by-election campaign we will again be using all three Conservative Clubs in the constituency as rendezvous points for campaigning.   The main focus of activity on Saturday 11th will be in Millom where we will be joined by our excellent local candidate Trudy Harrison for canvassing and leafleting so it would be good to see as many of you as possible in Millom on Saturday.     Egremont and Keswick Conservative clubs will also be open from 10:30 am onwards. Egremont club will also be open from 10:00 am on Sunday.   If anyone wishes to have a poster to display in their window etc please pop along to Egremont Conservative Club to pick one up.

The by-election for a new MP for Copeland is two weeks today on February 23rd. I will be backing Trudy Harrison, the Conservative candidate, who was born and has always lived in the constituency, gave birth to her four children at West Cumberland Hospital, and would be the most effective champion for our area. I am convinced that Trudy would be the best placed of the candidates to fight to make sure we get the new nuclear power station at Moorside, to protect local infrastructure, to defend and return services to West Cumberland Hospital, Millom Community Hospital and the Mary Hewetson Cottage hospital at Keswick, particularly including consultant-led maternity and children's services at WCH. You can read about Trudy's plan for our area at  http://www.trudyharrison.co.uk/ Michael Crick from Channel 4 News was in Copeland earlier this week. He says he tried to contact all the candidates in the by-election for an interview and I do not doubt for a fraction of a seco...

"Yet again what we get from Labour are alternative facts - what they really need is an alternative leader." ( Theresa May at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday)

The bill giving the PM the power to activate Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty and thereby start the process of British exit from the EU cleared the House of Commons today by 494 votes to 122. A large number of amendments were proposed which ranged from blatant wrecking amendments to attempts to guarantee future rights of EU nationals, but none of these were passed. The bill now has to get through the House of Lords but this is expected to be completed in time for Article 50 to be triggered before the end of March.

Hat tip to Guido Fawkes here  for pointing out that, six months ago today, Susie Boniface wrote the following in her "Fleet Street Fox" column in the Daily Mirror: As of today the three Brexiteers, Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox are all still in their jobs without any major scandal. I'll pass on the first two parts of Susie's invitation but she's definitely "Mrs Flapjack" from now on.

The classic defence of free speech, usually attributed to Voltaire and certainly representative of his views, though he may not have coined the phrase , is But can the reverse be true? Today the Independent did a reverse Voltaire on Speaker Bercow , in that they agreed with what he said about Donald Trump but disagreed - though not quite to the death - with his right to say it. There argument is they share his opinion of Donald Trump but consider that as impartial chairman of the House of Commons he should be more careful about how he expresses that view and, quote, "The Speaker's sentiments were quite right, but he was wrong to express them in a fit of public political showboating." Whatever  your opinion of President Trump, he is the elected leader of Britain's most important ally and trading partner. This does not mean that he is above criticism but it does mean that it is important that any such criticism is not presented in a way which comes over a...

The government has set out a strategy to make more affordable houses available, helping people to buy and rent.   The new housing strategy for England includes giving councils powers to encourage developers to start building on land they own and are using as a "land back." Ministers also promised to make renting more "family-friendly," including offers of longer tenancies The government says at least 250,000 new homes are needed each year to keep up with demand. Mr Javid set out the details of the housing White Paper in a statement to MPs, with measures including: Forcing councils to produce an up-to-date plan for housing demand Expecting developers to avoid "low-density" housing where land availability is short Encouraging the extension of buildings upwards in urban areas Reducing the time allowed between planning permission and the start of building from three to two years Using a £3bn fund to help smaller building firms challenge maj...

Before Boris Johnson secured an exemption for holders of British passports, Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi, who was born in Iraq but is now a British citizen, appeared to be excluded from the USA by President Trump's executive order. He has written a piece on Conservative Home, which is called " I found myself banned from Trump's America: but I want his state visit to go ahead, and to tell him why he's wrong ." As a balanced piece of writing which sees both sides of the story I would commend it to a great many other people who have been taking positions on the subject. You can read it here .

Today is the International day for Zero Tolerance of the barbaric form of child abuse known as Female Genital Mutilation or FGM and the NHS is running an FGM prevention programme. This disgusting practice must be treated as seriously, and punished as severely, as any other form of child abuse.  There is no "cultural" or religious justification for the practice and all civilised countries must do their best to totally eradicate it.

This quote from John Stuart Mill was shared on Twitter last night. It is a very good point and also reminded me that he made this similar and equally powerful comment:

We still await the publication of the "Success Regime" proposals for healthcare in West, North and East Cumbria following the consultation last year. The consultation closed on 19th December and the Success regime stated at that time that "The public feedback is being analysed independently by The Campaign Company, and a report is expected in early February. Work will also be carried out to assess any alternative options suggested by members of the public and community groups. Local clinicians and regional specialists also will be involved in that process. Health leaders from across the system and NHS Cumbria CCG’s Governing Body will also spend time considering the public feedback from the consultation process. It is expected NHS Cumbria CCG’s Governing Body will make a decision in early March, ahead of the local government elections in May." You can still read the consultation document at http://www.wnecumbria.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NHS-Cumb...