Chris Whiteside's Blog

David Cameron came to the new Copeland constituency today as part of a tour of Cumbria. During a visit to Keswick DC spoke to a number of the people involved in running Pubwatch, a scheme to ensure that licenes premises can support one another, particuarly by ensuring that someone who gets barred from one pub for getting drunk and behaving unacceptably is banned from all pubs in the area. He then went to Keswick police station and heard more about the scheme from a police perspective and about the other policing issues in the area. Pubwatch is a great Cumbrian success story which has delivered a huge reduction in alcolhol related crime, and indeed in total violent crime in the area.

The expenses scandal is still the number one topic of conversation across the country. In offices, on buses, at home, the strength of anger being voiced is like nothing we've heard for a long time. But I don't think that anger begins and ends with expenses. I believe it stems from a long, deep dissatisfaction with the way that politics and power work in our country. The fact is that people feel they have very little control over the world around them - and they're right. While some areas of our lives offer us choice and control as never before - in media, travel, shopping, entertainment - when it comes to the things we ask from politics and the state, there's a sense that someone else is always pulling the strings, always pulling power away from people. Today, in a speech to the Open University, I set out our plans for a radical redistribution of power back to the people: from the state to citizens; from Whitehall to communities; from bureaucracy to democracy. This is a...

At the launch of our European Election Manifesto, David Cameron announced that he was turning "the campaign we had planned for these elections into the campaign Britain now needs: a campaign for a General Election." He said the scale of the problems facing Britain - the recession, the debt crisis and the political crisis caused by the abuse of MPs' expenses - "all point in one direction". And he stressed, "There is now only one way of sorting out the mess, and that is for Parliament to be dissolved and for a General Election to be held right away."

I was pleased to see that, at long last, it has been agreed that Gurhka veterans with four or more years service should have the right to settle in the UK. People who are good enough to risk their lives for a country are good enough to be allowed to live in that country.

The past few weeks have been extremely embarrassing for everyone involved in politics. Some MPs and MEPs of all parties have brought politics into disrepute. David Cameron has shown leadership in addressing this issue. On Tuesday, he announced a series of immediate measures to start to rebuild trust in politics and take action on the issue of expenses. He banned Conservative MPs from claiming for furniture, other household goods and food shopping; put an end to the practice of 'flipping'; and set up a Scrutiny Panel to review all excessive claims and arrange repayments where appropriate. In addition, the Shadow Cabinet are publishing online all the expense claims they make to the House of Commons - and you can view all the claims made since Tuesday here . You can also view this week's Conservative election broadcast, in which David Cameron addressed the issue of MP's expenses and described the action he is taking about them, here .

This post records the full list of candidates of all parties who stood for Cumbria County Council in the council and European elections on 4th June 2009. I wrote in the original post on 13th May 2009 that only the Conservatives were standing a full slate of 84 candidates for 84 seats on Cumbria County council. That was correct at the time nominations closed. Numbers of candidates put up by other parties were: Labour 81 Liberal Democrats 50 BNP 42 Greens 15 Socialist People’s Party 6 (all in Barrow) UKIP 5 There were also 18 Independent candidates. The full list of candidates is: ALLERDALE Aspatria & Wharrels: Jim Buchanan (Con)*; Martin Pugmire (Lib Dem); Rob Rimmer (Lab). Bowness, Thursby & Caldbeck: Duncan Fairbairn (Con)*; Bill Goldsmith (Lab); Margrit Scott (Lib Dem). Cockermouth East: Mark Hayhurst (Lab); Juliet Henderson (Lib Dem); Eric Nicholson (Con)*. Cockermouth West: Bill Bacon (Lab); Alan Kennon (Con); Dianne Standen (Green). D...

Chris Grayling has attacked Labour for failing to take “real action” to remove innocent people from the DNA database. The Shadow Home Secretary warned that Labour’s latest plan to trim the DNA database “doesn’t go far enough”, and accused the Government of “trying very hard to do as little as it can as slowly as it can”. Under the current system, details of individuals who are cleared of crimes - or not even charged in the first place - are held for six years, or 12 in cases involving serious violent or sexual offences. Chris stressed the importance of remembering that people are innocent until proven guilty and of achieving the "right balance" – and he said: “I can see no reason to be storing the DNA of people who have not been convicted of any offence.” Chris promised that a Conservative Government would implement the Scottish system, where a DNA sample is taken on arrest but then deleted if the person is cleared, or kept for a maximum of five years if they are cleared of s...

This is the text of the speech David Cameron gave in North Tyneside to launch the 2009 Conservative local election campaign. On June 4th, people across Britain will go to the polls and decide who runs their councils. This isn't just any local election - it really matters. It really matters because you can make a difference. And you can make a difference because it's your best chance to save money and improve your quality of life, your only chance to transform North Tyneside with a dynamic new era of civic leadership and your last chance, until the General Election, to tell Gordon Brown exactly what you think of him and his tired, incompetent and failing Government. But this will only happen if you vote for change. MORE FOR LESS Increasingly, that's what people are doing. Last year, the Conservatives won control of fourteen new councils. We won over two hundred and fifty new councillors - meaning we now have more in England than Labour and the Liberal Democrats combined. And...

Such is the mess Labour have made of our finances that whoever wins the next election will have to make painful and very unpopular decisions. There have already been cuts in Labour spending plans even before the election, and there will be more after the election even if they win. It is extremely important that as much as possible of the pain is diverted away from front line services such as schools and hospitals. There are no easy answers. But if we are to avoid cutting nurses, doctors, dentists, teachers and policemen we will have to find less essential things to cut instead. Now let's make a simple thought experiment. Lets suppose you put a choice of two options to the British people in a poll or referendum Option one - sack thousands of doctors and nurses Option two - save billions by scrapping the ID cards plan instead. Does anyone in their right mind imagine that option one would get more than a tiny handful of votes, mainly those of Gordon Brown, Jacqui Smith, and those pe...

When I was a young man, British elections were among the cleanest in the world. They are still reasonably clean. But there have been a certain number of cases - with a minority of candidates from all the main political parties responsible - where people have been caught attempting to rig the ballot. In a recent case in Reading a candidate, agent and several people who assisted them in a bad case of postal voting fraud have been sentenced to a total of fourteen years in jail. Postal voting fraud and all other attempts to rig elections are totally unacceptable whoever does it, and should be severely punished. It is also unacceptable that the concerns expressed by the presiding judges in previous voting fraud cases over the past few years have not been acted on. The next government must implement individual voter registration as a matter of urgency, and we need a Speaker's conference, to get cross-party agreement if at all possible, on measures to tighten the integrity of the ballot. ...

Thirty years ago today, I remember sitting in my place in the choir stalls in St Albans Cathedral during the regular Friday morning service for the school at which I was then a sixth former. The BBC Parliament channel retrospective today of the election night special has strengthened the memory (though of course I have been a little too busy with this year's elections to spend all day watching a result from one three decades ago). A few months before the 1979 election, my father had been telephoned on the morning he was due to go into Guys for heart surgery, and told that, because the shops stewards who were taking industrial action against the Labour government's NHS cuts had ruled that heart valve replacements were "not an emergency" - apparently NUPE and COHSE shop stewards thought they knew better than doctors about this. I had joined the Conservative party when this happened and for the past few weeks had been campaigning hard for the election of a Conservative g...

Last week we had the Budget - when Gordon Brown ran out of money. This week we've had the votes on the Gurkhas and MPs' expenses - and now the Prime Minister has run out of moral and political authority too. Take the Gurkhas. They are the bravest of they brave. In WWI, in WWII, in the Falklands and today in the dust and heat of Afghanistan, they have fought and died for this country in some of its toughest battles. We owe them a huge debt. We need to treat them properly in return. That's why I believe there should be a presumption that Gurkha veterans who want to live in this country should be able to do so. This week the House of Commons stood up for the Gurkhas, by defeating the Government, and voting decisively in favour of allowing them to come to Britain. It was a tremendous victory for Joanna Lumley, who had campaigned so hard on their behalf. And Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg deserved great credit for calling the debate. And yet only hours earlier at Prime Minister's...

A number of articles by some of Britain's most thoughtful journalists this weekend make grim reading for the government. Doutless the dwindling band of labour loyalists will ignore what Matthew Parris had to say because he is a former Tory MP who has long been a sharp critic of Gordon Brown. Though in my opinion his criticisms both of the Prime Minister and of a cabinet which has failed to stand up to him ring true. They will have much more difficulty in ignoring Polly Toynbee in the Guardian who was originally one of Gordon Brown's cheerleaders. Her piece this weekend flays the Prime Minister as having "no ideas and no regrets," says that "Under his leadership Labour has become a rotten, defeatist rabble" and begins "In free fall without a parachute, unassisted suicide, accelerating the wrong way down a motorway – the death metaphors are flowing in a dark torrent of despair from Labour MPs. What made Gordon Brown hurl himself on that row of Gurkha ...

After weeks of putting out what politicians call "peacetime" literature (e.g. when you are not in an actual election campaign) and preparing the ground for the 2009 County and Euro elections, Campaign 2009 started in earnest today. With the majority of our candidates in Copeland validly nominated we now begin a long five-week campaign. I started campaigning today at 8 am and finished at 7pm. This will be an opportunity to vote for constructive change in Cumbria and for representatives in the European parliament who will stand up for British interests on issues like the working time directive, which threatens to do great damage to our NHS and fire services. I always regard the primary purpose of any election to be for the voters to choose the best people to run the authority which is being elected. But we could hardly blame voters if they also use this election to pass a verdict on an incompetent, sleazy, confused, dishonest, failed government, whose conduct over the past few...

Conservative, Lib/Dem, and nationalist MPs voted for the Gurhkas. The Lib/Dems have told the BBC that the following 28 Labour MPs rebelled against the government over the number of Gurkhas allowed to live in the UK: Dianne Abbott Ian Cawsey Harry Cohen Jeremy Corbyn Paul Farrelly Mark Fisher Neil Gerrard Kate Hoey Kelvin Hopkins Joan Humble Glenda Jackson John McDonnell Shona McIsaac Andrew MacKinlay Gordon Marsden Bob Marshall Andrews Julie Morgan Nick Palmer Stephen Pound Nick Raynsford Andy Reed Linda Riordan Alan Simpson Andrew Smith Paul Truswell Keith Vaz Robert Wareing Mike Wood This list includes several MPs who are normally arch-loyalists but not, interestingly and disappointingly, any of the Labour MPs from Cumbria despite this being a county with strong service connections. Postscript: when the full list came out, we learned that the Labour MPs for Barrow, Carlisle, and Workington voted against the Gurkhas. The MP for Copeland did not vote.

Iain Dale put You Tube to far better use today than the Prime Minister did a few days ago, calling on the PM to resign and suggesting that people sign the petition to that effect on the Number ten website You can sign the petition here.

DC issued the following statement this afternoon: "Today is an historic day where Parliament took the right decision. The basic presumption that people who fight for our country should have a right to come and live in our country has been set out very clearly. And the Government has now got to come back with immediate proposals so that those Gurkhas who have been waiting so long for an answer can have that answer. It can be done, we've set out a way for it to be done so that it doesn't ruin our immigration system and it should be done. "I think that everyone would like to say congratulations to Joanna Lumley for the incredible campaign that she's fought with all these brave Gurkhas, some of them very old and very infirm, coming to Parliament again and again. "The Government attempted a shoddy deal today to try and buy off some of their backbenchers and I'm proud of the fact that it didn't work and I'm proud that Labour joined us all in the lobby a...

Delighted to see that the House of Commons defeated Gordon Brown's shabby attempt restrict the rights of Gurkha veterans to settle here. The number of Gurkha veterans and their dependents is small in comparison to the numbers who Labour has already allowed to come here, and they have proved their loyalty to this country. Congratulations to those MPs of all parties - Conservative, Liberal Democrat, nationalist, and Labour rebels - who showed by their votes tonight that there are still people in this country who think that those who risked their lives for Britain should be honoured by Britain.

I strongly support the campaigns by The Sun newspaper and others that the heroes of the Gurkha regiment should be allowed British residency. If they were good enough to shed their blood to defend this country, they are good enough to live here. What sort of "Human Rights" legal regime allows murderers like the killer of Headmaster , rapists like Ali Majlat, and hijackers to stay here but refuses to allow people who fought in our armed forces to do so? Like David Cameron, Margaret Thatcher, and Joanna Lumley I believe that the government must change the rules to let our Gurkha heroes stay.

First Job Temporary postal clerk at Grenada Publishing, Frogmore, Jan 1980 First Real Job Joined BT (then known as British Telecom) in 1985 as an Assistant Commercial Analyst First Role in Politics Press Officer of St Albans YCs in 1979 First Car An blue mini van which had previously been owned by a fencer and a nurse. On one side it had a sticker which said "Fencing, a modern sport" and on the other one which said "Give Blood" First Record Flanders and Swan "At the drop of another hat." First major sports match attended I watched David Gower's England side win the Ashes at the Oval in 1985 First Concert A joint primary schools music concert in about 1970. First Country Visited France, on a day trip to Boulogne with the school where my mother taught, at the age of 10 F irst TV Appearance "Cross Questions" which is the Anglia TV equivalent of Question Time in about 1984 (In the audience, not on the panel.) First Political Speech At my school...

Tim Montgomerie at Con Home gave his list of ten things which happened at the Conservative Spring Forum on Saturday and Sunday. My comments (I was there on Saturday) in italics (1) The media have decided that the Conservatives have won the next election. There has long been an expectation of Tory victory but it's become a near certainty because of recent events (particularly the Budget and misuse of expenses). Yesterday's announcement on primary school academies from Michael Gove led bulletins throughout the day. Tory policy matters because the media class has decided that it will be Government policy in a year's time. Regardless of what the media think, we must not take anything for granted. Victory is not certain until the returning officer announces the gain that gives us an overall majority and we cannot afford to be complacent. (2) The Tories have decided that Labour has reached the contempt phase. William Hague predicted in 1997 that New Labour would first produ...

The Budget can be summed up in one word: Dishonest. Wednesday was Budget Day. The borrowing figures got the headlines - and rightly so. We're in a new age of austerity yet this Government is trapped in the old age of irresponsibility. Sitting there in the House of Commons listening to the Chancellor tell us he was planning to borrow more in the next two years than all previous governments combined left me open-mouthed. I used to say this Government seems intent on saddling future generations with debt. I was wrong. After this week, they're going to crush them. But, as ever, the real story of Labour's Budgets comes after the Chancellor sits down and you get to unpack truth from fiction. And this year, there was more fiction than normal. Within an hour the IMF had rubbished his growth forecasts, suggesting Labour's Debt Crisis will be even worse. Then their claim that only the rich would carry the burden of their mistakes was dismissed - their tax rises will hit the many...

According to the ITN News, that's how long it will take to pay off the Darling debt. How accurate is this? I don't know for sure, neither do they, and neither does Alistair Darling. But we all know this for certain: ITN are right to point out that dealing with the burden of debt run up by the present government will take a long time.

A day to celebrate all the positive things about England.

The chancellor's description of the economic situation was bad enough, but the reality of the fiscal problems which the Labour government is leaving behind is even worse. The Chancellor described the worst recession, fastest rising unemployment, and the worst public finances since the War, but could not describe a credible solution. Even on the Government’s own figures: Over the next two years, the Government will borrow £348bn – more than all governments up to 1997. We will be borrowing £703bn over the next five years – £269bn more than the £434bn forecast in the PBR. The national debt will double again to £1.4trillion. Every baby will now be born owing £22,500. Interest costs have risen again to £43bn a year – more than the schools budget. But the Chancellor's growth predictions look highly optimistic. Within hours of the Budget the IMF predicted an even steeper recession this year and next. And Darling's predictions of 3.5% growth from 2011 onwards look unreasonably hig...

Conservatives want today's budget to include action to: * abolish income tax on savings for basic rate taxpayers * raise the pensioners’ personal allowance to £11,490 Local Tories in West Cumbria joined other Conservatives throughout the country last weekend in hitting the streets to campaign for action in support of Pensioners and Savers in the budget. Conservative campaigners and councillors have been out campaigning throughout the country at the weekend: in Copeland events were organised in Whitehaven, Seascale, and Millom to deliver leaflets . Those taking part included Ray Cole, Conservative county Councillor for Millom, Sue Brown, Conservative county Councillor for Seascale Whicham, and their local teams, and those out in Whitehaven included myself, Councillor Andrew Wonnacott (Hillcrest) and others. Since the disastrous £5 billion pounds a year raid on pensions in the first Labour budget, government policy has been toxic towards saving. By example and by failing to rewar...

The Guardian has an interesting page here which has quotes from those interviewed in a recent poll who plan to switch their vote compared with the way they voted in 2005. The switch voters quoted give one line explanations of their reasons for changing. It has three sections, with quotes from those switching from Labour to Conservative, Lib/Dem to Conservative, or Labour to Lib/Dem. No table for those moving in the other directions. If this were a right wing paper that might give rise to accusations of spin, but bearing in mind that this is the Guardian, that presumably means there were not many voters in the survey moving in those directions.

Tonight at Millom School there was a special neighbourhood forum on the nomination of a large area of land near Kirksanton as a possible site for new nuclear build. Very interesting meeting, about a hundred people there, many of whom, while not necessarily anti-nuclear, thought this was the wrong site. A lot of issues raised which will have to be carefully considered. Tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7pm at Calderbridge village hall there is a similar meeting to discuss the equivalent nomination of land at Braystones. We are currently in an initial one month consultation period on the nominated sites, which lasts until 14th May. This will not be the last opportunity to comment. You can have your say online at http://www.nuclearpowersiting.decc.gov.uk .

Matthew Parris in The Times commented here at the weekend that the media comparison of Gordon Brown and Richard Nixon is an insult ... to Richard Nixon. His argument is that Nixon had real achievements - going to China, ending the Vietnam War - while Brown merely uses spin to generate newspaper headlines about programmes that never happen or only deliver miniscule results. Trying very hard to be fair to Brown, it seems to me that his legacy will have two major good elements and six bad ones GOOD THINGS 1) Gave the Bank of England control of interest rate and monetary policy , thereby ensuring that the golden economic legacy Brown inherited from Ken Clarke lasted nearly ten years. That's his one major positive acheivement. 2) Stopped Tony from scrapping the Pound: without GB's delaying tactics it is likely that Tony Blair would have scrapped the pound and bounced Britain into the Euro before it became obvious that this would have been a really bad idea. BAD THINGS 1) Wrecked P...

The last holder of public office in this country who tried to have opposition MPs arrested for embarrassing the goverment was King Charles the first. The Home Secretary would be wise to reflect on what happened to him. If you want an indication of how little Labour has learned from the past week, you need look no further than the fact that Jacqui Smith was still trying to attack Damian Green this week after he was comprehensively cleared by the Director of Public Prosecutions. It wasn't just the Conservatives who found this week that the Home office had greatly overstated the national security implications of the material published by Damian Green: it was the House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs, which has a Labour majority, and their view was endorsed by the DPP. It wasn't just the Conservatives who pointed out that much of the information Damian Green was accused of leaking was clearly in the public interest, that much of it was already known by, for example, Lab...