Sixty Church of England bishops along with leaders of other religious groups, are urging ministers to rethink the two-child benefits cap. In a letter to the Times, they say the policy is likely to tip an extra 200,000 children into … Continue reading →
Here is all us should not forget, the next time MPs and Councillors ask for your vote ask them which they voted on Public Services pay
London Mayor was right to call on Theresa May to appoint commissioners to run Kensington and Chelsea Council after its leader resigned over the Grenfell Tower fire as public trust could not be restored by other members of the council, residents quite rightly felt desperately neglected and wanted action. It is understood that Kensington and Chelsea have chosen a new council leader. Nicholas Paget Brown will continue to be in place until 19 July when Elizabeth Campbell takes over as new leader.
I’m glad that Justice Minister David Lidington has complete confidence of Sir Martin Moore-Bick(Grenfell Tower Public inquiry chairman) is prepared to be very broad when investigating the causes of the fire. He will be looking at the construction which dates back to the 1970s when the tower was built to examine warnings that may have been missed. It’s a pity that the inquiry will not include the social issues in Kensington and Chelsea. However, I have more confidence in Emma Dent Caod Labour Member Of Parliament said that Sir Martin Moore – Brick was a “Technocrat who lacked credibility and the victim lawyers representing some of the families called for him to quit.
It transpires the government has ordered a taskforce to take over parts of Kensington and Chelsea Council in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire. The council has been heavily criticised for its handling of the disaster on 14 June that killed around 80 people and still counting.
Weak and wobbly Maybot promises housing would be offered by Wednesday 5 July 2017 to those by offering temporary accommodation but only nine have so far been accepted and many are still in hostels. The Grenfell Response Team allegedly claimed 139 formal offers have been made. But North Kensington Law Centre which represents many victims, said some had been offered homes in other towers, other areas, or without enough rooms.
English Local Authorities a £5.8bn funding gap by 2020 without new sources of revenue, council leaders are warning. Services are running on a shoestring and councils must be at the front of the queue for extra cash. Lord Porter(LGA) argue they must be free to raise more council tax and keep all businesses rate income.
Headteachers in England are calling on MPs for answers on school funding shortage saying that they are still no closer to knowing their budgets. About 4,000 heads across 17 councils, mostly in southern England wrote to their member of parliament warning that schools face job loses and cuts to subjects. They say that the current levels of school funding is unsustainable.
Here is another U-Turn from the Conservatives manifesto scrap free school meals Nick Gibb(School Minister) is now saying the government would retain the existing provision having listened very carefully to the views of parents checkout Conservatives manifesto on Restricting free lunches to infants from poorer homes with free breakfast for all primary school pupils funded instead
It was alleged to save £650M a year but was left out of the queens speech
What a joker the chancellor of the exchequer has become insisting that the pay policy has not changed and the right balance must continue to be struck in terms of what is fair for workers and taxpayers and he understood people were weary after seven years of austerity. He rejects calls to take the foot off the pedal. Government must hold its nerves in the face of calls for a different path of higher taxes and borrowing.
Notice how David Cameron joined the debate in defence of Maybot by stating opponents of fiscal discipline are selfish not compassionate. Those who believed in sound finances were wrongly painted as uncaring. The exact reverse is true giving up sound finances isn’t being generous. He was the former Prime Minister who introduced the pay cap for public sector.
Demonstrators marched against the UK government’s economic policies which started from BBC Broadcasting House to Parliament Square. All of a sudden senior ministers are calling to lift the 1% pay cap, but don’t hold your breath can’t see it happening at the present time as the chancellor of the exchequer is saying on yer bike and wait to the autumn budget. It’s no wonder why public service workers feels undervalued and leaving the services to either set up their own consultancy or work abroad to put food on the table.
All well and dandy, you may think what about those who has not seen an increase on state benefits in line with inflation as food prices, children uniform, and cost of living increases. Some people may think those people on state benefits receive enough already. The truth is those who pass judgement don’t know the full facts as to why they are on benefits as each case should be judged on its merits as one side does not fit all. There is a job shortage in the country to employ skilled workers and unskilled workers and the situation will get worse before it gets better. Instead successful Governments are happy to bash the unemployed to gain votes as this seen as vote winners.
Nasty Party has admitted that they have to change hard to win over young power who voted Labour in June’s General Elections. Damian Green is on a mission to tell his party after losing their majority to form a government.
It’s been alleged by John Chapman(former chief of staff) Maybot had implemented “red lines” in Brexit talks and has hamstrung David Davis on European Court of Justice and among other things. It is further alleged that Theresa May would not get a Brexit deal through Parliament unless she showed more flexibility. This sounds like a warning to David Davis if you want my job as leader of Conservative Party I’m ensuring that I will give you a very hard time and ware you down to keep my job. Therefore taking all into account I feel that public service workers deserve more than 1% pay rise
Theresa May reminds me of the original song of Don’t Cry For Me Argentina
Wow don’t know, whether to cry or knock my head around a brick wall over Theresa May apology to her cabinet ministers for her incompetence and mismanagement of the election manifesto. This remind me of a song Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.
This is very rich coming from Gavin Barwell “Anger over Brexit and austerity caused the Tories to lose seats and Labour had tapped into concerns about the impact of years of years of public sector pay freezes and that his party must do more to listen to Remain voters concern”. Could this be his retaliation reply for losing his Croydon Central seat.
Got to hand it to May for wittingly delaying the Queen Speech on the grounds of she is afraid of going to the Queen to let Labour to form a government as her on ministers are very desperate to save face by wanting this sweetheart deal with Democratic Unionists Party(DUP).
It’s no wonder why Arlene Foster is alleged to say “deal between DUP and Tories could be a tremendous opportunity for Northern Ireland”. In other words kiss my arise first and give us more money to play with our voters and we will open up the heavens and bring forth rain to save you mam. This will come as no surprise that Scotland and Wales would want to benefit in a similar way for any cash boost as well.
Already we are seeing the cracks unfolded for ex-prime minister Sir John Major to say “he is dubious about the idea and its impact on peace process”.
John Major and Maggie Thatcher who were the former prime ministers were responsible for introducing and action PFI to sell of mental health homes, and hospitals, and ridding the cleaning services in NHS by introducing the private sector into the NHS to do the cleaning of hospital wards.
George Osborne also said “The government not to change its economic strategy after being left without a commons majority. A so-called end to austerity would lead to a loss of economic credibility”.
Cor blimey, I would never in a million years would I have thought that I would concur with the former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne calling “Theresa May dead woman walking” who now is the editor of the Evening Standard.
David Cameron also said “Theresa May will have to listen to other parties as she reviews her Brexit strategy in the wake of the election. There would be pressure for a softer exit from the EU after his party did not win an election majority.
It’s very noticeable the former heavy weights of frontbenchers in Conservatives are coming out in force shooting warning shots to Theresa May to get her act together. David Cameron who gave the nation the referendum vote and he lost the vote decided to resign from politics and sucking up to EU by informing them he will win the referendum.It is said that a week in politics is a long time. I would like some answers from any Conservative members is what do you think of your dear leader, who is weak and wobbly leader, are you just waiting for the backstabbing Johnson to take the helm which he can always deny as much as he wants. He will still be keeping his eyes on ways how to stab his leader with the handle of the knife from behind the scenes.
What I don’t understand is during the campaign trail your dear leader did not want to have a face to face debate with her equal which made her look like a sausage am I missing something as some of your Conservative Supporters have said quietly that she should resign post general elections?
To put the icing on the cake because of a hung parliament they decided to go into a sweetheart deal with the Democratic Unionist Party(DUP) which already a representative is in Northern Ireland wittingly that the DUP has a anti gay and abortion policies and the Scottish Conservative leader is in panic mode with all the assurances in the world you can’t change a leopard spots it’s like eating very soggy rice.
The tide has turned again we have another hung parliament, Conservatives were eight seats short of an overall majority and they turned to DUP have concurred in principle a confidence and supply deal to support a Tory government. This maybe a conspiracy theory in return it looks like two of Theresa May advisors had to be banished into the wilderness or face a leadership challenge by her ministers.
Forgive me if I have my doubts I don’t have any confidence of a Conservative Government on the grounds of witnessing 18 years of underfunding in our public services and decimation of the manufacturing industries during my teenage years as it was more about loads of money to the private sectors and most of all greed.
Question needs to be answered as to why thousands of votes were not included in the results in Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, have I missed a trick or two or has the constituency have muggings written on their foreheads call me syndical for mentioning it in the public domain.
The Tories are on the ropes nationally and it looks like those who had previously refused to serve on Labour’s shadow cabinet under , are ready to serve now.
I don’t think Conservatives will last for very long it’s just not good enough to say “I got you in this mess and I will get you out of it”. Voters wants to see substances, job security, more investment in public services and local government.
Surely something must be done to address the rating cost of foreign package holidays and imported computer games help to push the UK inflation rate up to 2.9% last month from 2.7% in April. The latest inflation rate is the highest since June 2013, and above the Bank of England’s 2% target. The price of food and clothing also went up slightly but fuel is alleged to have fallen for a third month in a row. The pick up in inflation is likely to continue the squeeze on consumers. Theresa May need to address this urgently as foodbanks, soup kitchens, and homelessness continue to increasing rapidly people want action to be taken and not just giving the talk and not doing the walk.
The Guardian has been doing some analysis of the election result and has found some quite startling things: Labour’s percent of share went up best in areas where the average income has risen the most since David Cameron’s Tories came to office in 2010. By contrast, the seats with the largest falls in income saw the highest increases in the Tory vote. The poorest seats in England saw the biggest Tory advances from 2015. Turnout went up by the most in seats with a higher percent of young voters and students: this explains why Labour took Canterbury (For instance). The education divide is also growing. Labour used to do much better with voters on lower education levels. However in 2010 and 2015, this pattern was reversed, and has continued to do so in 2017. Give credit where it’s due, the Guardian puts it eloquently,” Britain’s class politics has been turned completely upside down in 2017. Wealthy professionals in leafy suburbs have swung behind a Labour leader who pledges to sharply increase their taxes, while it was struggling blue-collar workers in deprived and declining seats who were most attracted by the party of austerity cuts to public services and welfare.”
I would urge the Prime Minister should rethink its Brexit strategy, Social Care, more investments in public and civil services most importantly the disabled, mental health, learning disabilities, young and grey powers following last week’s election. For the PM to survive she should be more open and transparent to our nation if not she will not survive. On saying this I would rather have a Labour Government in power instead of a Conservative who are willing to do sweetheart deals with Democratic Unionist Party(DUP) only time will tell if the prime minister survives.
Who can recall this message to the Nation from Ice Queen Theresa May:
Congratulations to those who refuse to vote and think everything will remain the same or continue to think that politicians are the same you have played right to the conservatives hands. Well done. In return the Conservatives continues to stuck two fingers at you and say thanks for the low turn out. Now you will have the following to consider of more of the continuation of the same of the Conservatives who just don’t care:
Brexit divided the country and will continue to be more of the same. I want to see the Nasty Party deliver a Brexit which put jobs, the economy and living standards first. Many EU citizens have made their Homes in UK. For the first time in modern history, the political and corporate elite who have ruled the UK for decades are edging dangerously close to being removed by the people.
After seven years of a Conservative Government, the majority of people in the UK are worse off. The poor have got poorer and those in the middle are increasingly finding it difficult.
Wages have stood still, while people in work have seen job security and working decline. Small businesses are struggling and cuts in welfare have hit working families who rely on tax credits, while many of those on benefits have been unfairly targeted and sanctioned.
Throughout the UK has been hit particularly hard by local government funding. This has put a squeeze on what can all city councils can deliver for local residents. Rent in the private sector are raising. Homelessness is increasing rapidly across all councils.
Anyone who works in the National Health Service or uses it as a patient, knows how stretched it is. It is harder to get a GP appointment and hospital waiting lists have risen. Meanwhile, £4.6bn in Tory cuts has created a crisis in social care.
The Conservatives are determined and eventually privatise state education. Forcing all schools to become academies bringing back grammar schools and selection and wasting vast sums on so called ‘Free Schools’ are part of their plans to end universal education for all which has existed for over 70 years.
Under the Tories the number of people on zero hour contracts has increased to nearly one million. These jobs give no security to employees and their families often leaving them at the mercy of unscrupulous employers. If re-elected the Tories will continue to destroy the rights which workers have painstakingly won over many years. House building has fallen to its lowest peacetime level since the 1920s. There are 200,000 fewer homeowners than 2010.
The Tory ideologically dislike public services because they believe that everything is run better in the private sector. They consistently undermine our public servants, whether they be nurses, teachers, local government workers, police, or member of the emergency services. They have capped public sector pay at a derisory 1% and yet they have no problem about hospitals buying in agency staff at much higher rates of pay.
Conservative Government under May would completely jeopardise both their domestic and international plans which have been in full effect since the Thatcher era.What has happened in Manchester and London is truly horrific and who’s responsible for it will probably remain unclear for many years to come.
One thing is for certain though, that this has come at an unbelievably ideal time for those in power and over the next five weeks the media will now be entirely focused on this terrorist attack and not the disastrous Conservative party campaign that was losing support daily. It will be entirely focused on using this attack as further proof of why we need a ‘strong and stable’ leader and not a man of peace with ‘terrorist links’. It will be focused on the need to get behind the party that will take the fight to the Islamic state and not the party who want to reduce military action in the Middle East. It will be used as proof of why we need to invest in nuclear weapons instead of social care.
Ultimately it will be used to further divide and conquer society and to try and stop the current progressive left uprising in its tracks. Don’t let this tragic loss of innocent life be used as a campaign tool for the people who inflict so much misery on the world. We need to double up our efforts and remind people of exactly why we need a government committed to equality and peace, not warmongering and western imperialism because the lives of people both here and overseas are depending on it more than ever. !
Are we beginning to see the first main signs of the Brexit recession? May likes us to assume there will rainbows everywhere and stardust will fall as rain by leaving the EU. Yet back in reality the economy is hardly ticking over, inflation is up and set to go higher! Peoples living standards are falling and wages for most are stagnate and below the rate of inflation. And when you take out the con of counting zero hour contracts as people in paid work unemployment is likely to be rising not falling.
May clearly is out of her depth with the EU negotiations, she stamped her feet and the EU just said, well you want to leave so its by our terms not yours. Of course May has no answer but to threaten to make us ridiculously poor and use World Trade Organisation rules. It’s a bit like saying if you do not give me all what I want, I will dump my car or van in the water, so there!
You can see the EU just yawning when they have to listen to Mays demands. And yet she makes out she needs a landslide to give her the ability to negotiate with the EU!!! Well Newsflash the EU have already said it makes not a jot of difference how many Tory MP’s there are when it comes to the negotiations!
Labour is now judged in two polls to be 5% and 8% behind respectively. That is an astonishing closing of the polling. Corbyn’s personal rating has improved significantly. All this is part of the mosaic of evidence that indicates Labour has conducted a far better campaign. Our policies are popular. The Tories’ are failed and uncosted. Everything they touch turns to dust. If Labour can deny May the landslide she craves we have done OK. If we stop her improving her number of seats, she is in trouble. If we deny her a majority, she is in crisis. That we are even talking about restricting her or even winning this election is evidence of a remarkable sea change. Nobody in the Labour Party should now be sowing disunity. We have a leader who is repairing our reputation after two demoralising election defeats and he is doing it on an inspirational and popular programme. This is an appeal, if you want to drive out this reactionary and weak government, join us out on the doorstep. When we talk face to face with the public we can correct the media lies. All out for the next two weeks. If you abstain, you will regret it.
The Tories are not being honest with people. Michael Portillo said David Cameron told him if people knew what he intended to do with the NHS he would not be elected because the British are wedded to the NHS. This is what David Cameron said in 2006.
“But when your family relies on the NHS all the time – day after day, night after night – you really know just how precious it is. I know the problems. Turning up at A&E and the children’s one is closed. Waiting for the doctor when you’re desperate with worry. Waiting for the scan that is so desperately need. It can be incredibly frustrating. But more often than not, it is an inspiration – thanks to the people who work in the NHS. The nurses who do everything to make you comfortable. The doctors who desperately want to get to the truth. And the army of support staff who get forgotten so often but who make such a difference to all of us. For me, it’s not a question of saying the NHS is ‘safe in my hands’. My family is so often in the hands of the NHS. And I want them to be safe there.
Tony Blair once explained his priority in three words: education, education, education. I like to think I can do it in three letters. “NHS.” Who would have thought Tony Blair would use PFI on our the NHS to build more hospitals which was first used by a Conservative government to tender to the private contractors to rid the in house cleaning and catering services and then close Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Hospitals to sell off the lands to the highest bidders. Whilst those closures took place The then Conservatives introduced a bill Care into Community which opened the floodgate of increase demands in various communities which was not ready to accommodate the likes of support in the communities for mental health and learning disabilities.
It’s been alleged that this General Elections cost around £143 million an increase of 16% from £123 million it budgeted for the 2015 general elections. The price tag reflects the scale of operation to staff tens of thousands of polling stations, process millions of votes and distribution of candidates’ mailings. The EU Referendum was similar.
All the political parties uses the oldest trick in the world it’s more like a textbook example of this is, leaking documents to catch the attention of the press, social media, and bloggers to test the political climate then the party in concern will obviously will reply with textbook answers it’s like playing a game of(Chinese whispers). Voters are like marmite when it comes to voting patterns as they seek what political parties best represent them with their bread and butter issues and yes some may want jam or marmalade on their bread to etc.
Conservatives are famous for using the mantras that Labour is funded by the trade unions and Strong and Stable Leadership.
No doubt that Conservatives seem to forget that Labour born out of trade union movement which I’m proud to belong to a party for the many and not for the few. Labour believes by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we can achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many not the few where rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.
Can’t help but to have a little dig at the Conservatives they claim to be the party of working class, it’s more like the party for the fatcats. In a nutshell it’s who is best at producing the best spin and who can donate more to the Conservative coffers as they don’t really care about working class, small businesses, homelessness or public services. If Theresa May lost the elections this would pave the way for the kiss of death(Boris Johnson) in waiting to become the new leader of the Conservative Party. We are living in intriguing times post Snap General Elections was announced this was to cause the maximum effect just so the Conservatives receive a majority to railroad through the so-called Brexit negotiations in parliament and with the EU leaders by saying the people have spoken with one voice in Britain and so stick that up your pipe and smoke it.
I make no apologies by saying this elections was unwanted, unnecessary and opportunistic. The government had a working majority and nearly all votes in the commons by more than 30. There is no appetite among the population for a third national poll in two years. They were given a mandate in the referendum in June and they should carry it out. At the end of the negotiations process the deal should be voted upon in parliament and then put to the people through a general election or referendum.
Theresa May’s cynical decision is an attempt to eliminate dissent and to gain a larger majority in order to please the hard-right Tory agenda of dismantling the NHS, breaking up state education and undermining and selling off public facilities, while at the same time giving more tax cuts to the richest people. If this happens then inequality will rise even more dramatically and more and more people will rightly say that system is rigged against them.
All the political parties will have beaten their war drums to get their activists out on the doorsteps to promote their political parties who their candidate(s) are best to represent your area and of course it’s up to the voters to decide whether they will put their x on the ballot-box. The battle-lines had been drawn between the three main political parties this reminds me of a Chinese drama entitled Three Kingdoms where three kingdoms are at war with each other (Labour, Conservatives, and Libdems) who will best kingdom to serve the nation and the only way they can win is by using the best spin and which political parties has the best manifesto. Sadly there is only one winner which maybe or not be your choice of party that you voted in.
If any political party members are honest with themselves they will receive some negative views from various voters which include non-voters on the doorsteps then something needs changing to win over voters. Like I mentioned in my previous article https://gordonlyew.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/my-thoughts-on-local-and-metro-mayoral-election-results/ I’m not preaching to the converted why they should vote Labour it’s the unconverted and undecided which include nonvoters that we all need to convince to vote Labour. I’m not for one moment indicating that Labour policies were rubbish if anything it’s policies which many would concur.
If there were a roomful of undecided voters both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn turns up into the room the undecided voters were put on the spot with a random question who do they feel safe to run the country and say if they all indicated they will feel safe with Theresa May then there is cause for concern. In a nutshell it’s no good talking amongst ourselves and not listening to the voters as they will feel undervalued and less likely to return to Labour if we continue to ignoring them. That has now been eradicated.
I’m very glad that the former Labour leader, Gordon Brown was incessantly vilified. His way of speaking was mocked. His efforts to offset the banking crisis created by casino style speculators in the city suddenly turned into blaming Labour for overspending on public services to create the deficit. Similarly, Ed Miliband was reviled as not being a ‘patriot’, for being unable to eat a bacon sandwich gracefully, for being too left-wing and lacking the qualities a ‘leader’ needs. The media had no interest in Labour’s policies. Now, in 2017, it is the same as it ever was. Unless Labour offers a right-wing, Tory agenda it will be constantly attacked as not fit to run the country. The ruling elite the establishment wants their Tory party in charge.
Gordon Brown is correct to say that Theresa May is “waging a war against the poor” and risks leaving the country more divided than at any time in 50 years. Poverty levels were set to eclipse those last seen in the early 1990s. “No Tory prime minister ever should be given a free hand”
I’m glad that Tom Watson has is sing the almost sing from the hymn book in what I’ve been saying about a Maggie Thatcher Style majority by urged voters to back their local Labour MP in order to avoid Ice Queen Theresa May gaining a landslide that would make it difficult to hold the Conservatives to account. Labour’s deputy leader said the party had a “mountain to climb” over the four weeks until the general election and was lagging behind in the polls with all income groups, including working class voters.
It’s no surprise that Conservatives won four out of six new Metro Mayoral Elections which includes West Midlands, Tees Valley, Cambridge, and Peterborough. In kind, I take the view it’s better to have won two seats than none (Manchester and Liverpool). Some of our traditional Labour voters in some of our heartlands turned to UKIP as they were speaking their language then afterwards winning the Brexit argument they abandon them, they turned their attention towards the Conservatives which is very worrying times if Labour does not address this issue quickly.
There is no denying that the Conservatives have gained in council seats and mayoral elections by winning 11 new councils, and also holding on to their existing seats to form a majority, of course all the commenters will say that Labour will lose with high opinion polls indicating of high gains in the General Elections for the Conservatives. Intriguingly this reminds me of the old fart(Donald Trump) quoting fake news when he wants to promote positives and can’t get his way then he takes to twitter when he was receiving a battering in the opinion polls and the press. Well this is expected as the press and media are paid to sell their newspapers and to increase their readerships This brings me to the question how effective is any political parties with large membership if they don’t come out and help to get the votes for the political parties they are representing on the doorsteps to get any political party into power with a very clear message why they deserve your vote or have political parties gone very complacent to the extent they think that low turn outs is the business. Well I can put my hand on my heart and say this not acceptable and this trend needs to change now, not tomorrow. This election should have been about local issues such as street cleaning, investment in community centres, schools, parks, roadworks, nurseries, and street lighting but instead it’s been marred by national issues such as Brexit and personalities.
Here is a reminder to all feel free to watch this youtube:
It is alleged that local government elections count towards the results which party will hold the keys to number 10 Downing St, this is false on the grounds of its local parties decides what local issues that affect their wards which helps to build towards the local government policies to enhance to the quality of life in their wards. Most voters will vote on issues that impact on their lifestyles and what political party best represent them and when political parties get out of favour with the voters, voters are like marmite like it or not they get voted out to pave the way for a new government in waiting.
No doubt that there will be winners and losers in any elections which the democratic process has been resolved at the ballot boxes. The other side of the coin is some parties may continue to play the blame game and their lack of failures to look at the root causes of why they lost the elections and it’s just not good enough just giving a good talk and not taking action as voters will see through it they will vote for other parties with a heavy heart instead or they will refuse to vote. In all political parties there will be always be infighting between the so called left and right which really does not help as the public views it as a political party can’t get its act together. When this happens voters can only take so much before they vote for other political parties into office.
Not long ago the Conservatives were fighting amongst themselves and they were very unpopular at the time but they still managed to last for eighteen years in power. The voters in turn paved the way for New Labour to take office in 1997. They spoke in a language that the centre ground understood very well and they continued to vote Labour. About right now some people will be chocking on their breakfast, coffee, lunch, or dinner by mentioning this part of history that the Conservatives will want to bury and forget. (Nasty Party image)
Any political parties can have increase in membership, but does it really translate to influencing the voters to vote in a particular way. To the Jones and Smiths it means nothing to them unless it affects their bread and butter issues. Local turns out are different and normally lower than General Election turn outs.
I question what does taking back control of the UK means to you, as it mean different things to many things to all of us. Does it mean immigration or watering down workers’ rights, selling off our NHS, decreasing our Welfare System, more cuts to our public services or more of Brexit which are all vote winners depending which party will deliver.
The snap general elections was designed to cause maximum confusion for a Conservative win not just to the the traditional conservative heartlands but they had the intention of chipping away into Labour, Libdem, and UKIP heartlands, to win Local and Mayoral Elections Maggie Thatcher did very well during her time in office.
It is been alleged that more than 930,000 new voters have registered to vote in this forthcoming Snap General Elections of those, is said to be under 25s. The highest number of the registration online 147,000 and 3,364 paper forms being submitted was done during Theresa May speech and another surge on the day of local government elections on 4 May. Now is the time to go on Labour doorsteps to convince voters that Labour is the party for the many and not the few.
To put it very bluntly I don’t give a flying monkeys if you voted for Corbyn or not in the Labour leadership contest. What matters is we all have a duty to our party to get a Labour victory out to help form the next Labour Government on 8 June. Don’t let the Conservatives use the Ed Miliband’s tomb stone manifesto plan in 2015 to hoodwink the voters to gain a landslide victory for the Conservatives.
This is not intended to preach to the converted how to suck eggs, but to encourage the converted to take the message to the unconverted why it’s important not to lose their rights to vote in this snap General Elections called by the conservatives by stressing the importance of returning a Labour Government into office on 8 June as every vote counts for Labour leaving no stones unturned for this to happen both camps will have to work together for a Labour victory and don’t sit on the sidelines and play into the press and media just so they can sell their negative garbage to the electorates. Labour does have positive messages to promote and recognise they have a historical scale to win back power this can only happen when it’s members are united. It’s just not good enough taking selfies and thinking it’s good enough to win over voters or feeling safe over their comfort zone just being councillors or career politician. In a nutshell I urge all to put away your difference start to fight for the Labour Party. Remember “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”.
By my estimation we have four an half weeks to turn around some of the misfortunes that has accrued by learning from the lessons of Local and Mayoral Elections to convince voters that the Conservatives are for the rich and not for the working class and take the fight to the marginal seats to turn it into Labour seats. Let’s face it Ice Queen Theresa May is the reincarnation of Maggie Thatcher promoting Thatcherism in this election and make no mistake she will promote it for the 8 June Snap General Elections to gain a landslide victory. I’m sure as hell I don’t want to wake up on the morning of 9 June to see another Conservative in government do you, if not then now is the time to get active and do your duty for Labour by joining in our telephone banks, Branch Labour Parties, Constituency Labour Parties by actively helping out on Labour campaign trails for a Labour victory on 8 June
Firstly, in solidarity with all who attended the pro-European protest march in London, calling for our nation to be strengthening its ties to the continent following the brexit vote. Our aim was to continue to apply pressure on the government to delay activating the formal process of leaving the European Union (EU).
I don’t normally concur with Ice Queen Theresa May but she does raise a point when she says “Britain needs to prepare for some difficult times” ahead as it leaves the European Union. This will not be plain sailing for the UK and that talks will be held in 2017 and that the process would not kicked into the long grass. However I don’t believe Ice Queen May rules out having snap general elections.
No surprise that the establishment will have to hire extra civil servants to cope with the “phenomenally large task” of negotiation brexit, a former top Foreign Office diplomat has said. Sir Simon Fraser was a trade negotiator in Europe and permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office and he is also quoted “serious thinking has barely began on the substantive issue”.
I’m glad that Ice Queen Theresa May acknowledged she has had a difficult start to the G20 summit as President Barack Obama said the UK would not be the priority for a US trade deal and Japan issued an unprecedented 15-page warning about the consequences of Brexit.
The prime minister had been hoping to pitch the UK as a global leader in free trade during her first major outing on the world stage at the G20 in summit in Hangzhou. However, she was immediately confronted with harsh warnings about the consequences of leaving the EU and diplomatic tensions with the Chinese over her concerns about their involvement in UK nuclear power.
After her first bilateral meeting with Obama, May was warned that the US wanted to focus on trade negotiations with the EU and a bloc of pacific nations before considering a deal with the UK. This was swiftly followed by a message from Japan to the UK that there could be a string of corporate exits from the UK unless some of the privileges that come with access to the single market are maintained.
The lengthy document from Tokyo gives a list of possible consequences of Brexit and a series of specific requests from Japanese businesses. About half of Japanese investment in the EU comes to the UK, including from companies such as Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nomura and Daiwa.
“Japanese businesses with their European headquarters in the UK may decide to transfer their head-office function to continental Europe if EU laws cease to be applicable in the UK after its withdrawal,” the report concludes.
It says: “In light of the fact that a number of Japanese businesses, invited by the government in some cases, have invested actively to the UK, which was seen to be a gateway to Europe, and have established value-chains across Europe, we strongly request that the UK will consider this fact seriously and respond in a responsible manner to minimise any harmful effects on these businesses.”
Earlier, Obama had promised to work hard to stop “adverse effects” of Brexit and assured the UK there was still a “very special relationship” between the two nations.
But he also raised the risk of some trading relations unraveling and made clear that it “would not make sense to put aside” existing negotiations with big blocs of countries in order to do an immediate deal with the UK.
Asked whether he stood by his warnings against Brexit and claim that Britain would go to the back of the queue when it comes to trade deals, Obama repeated his belief that the world would benefit from the UK being a member of the EU.
“I’ve committed to Theresa that we will consult closely with her as she and her government move forward on Brexit negotiations to make sure we don’t see adverse effects in our trading and commercial relationship. Obviously there is an enormous amount of trade that already takes place … That is not going to stop. And we are going to do everything we can to make sure the consequences of the decision don’t end up unravelling what is already a very strong and robust economic relationship.
“But first things first. The first task is figuring out what Brexit means with respect to Europe. And our first task is making sure we go forward on TTIP negotiations in which we have already invested a lot of time and effort.”
It comes after the prime minister warned on her flight to China that there would be “difficult times ahead” for the economy after leaving the EU.
The prime minister said the economy was in better shape than some had predicted following the vote for Brexit. However, May said she was not expecting an easy ride, as her ministers examine the possibility of a “fiscal reset” at the autumn statement – potentially abandoning some of the financial strategies and targets of former chancellor George Osborne.
Hey folks, it’s no surprise to read that Nick Clegg (Bed partner of David Cameron) spelling the beans on the former chancellor George Osborne of seeing welfare as a “bottomless pit of savings just to cut benefits to boost the Conservatives popularity”. This is in light of number focus groups suggested potential Tory voters were anti-welfare. He also claims that social housing created Labour voters. It’s no wonder the Conservatives are punishing desperate families by refusing to build more council housing. See article on my blog entitled Satire: shortage of housing and homelessness.
Nobody likes to go on strike, this is a last resort especially when it comes at the time of austerity, I refer to our junior doctors five day strikes in England. Sure I make no apologies for saying I’m in solidarity with our junior doctors. Put yourself in their position, you have a contract that you were better than the new one would you hold on to it and fight tooth and nail to keep it or will you take on a new contract that will less attractive and more workload with less pay which one will you keep. The British Medical Association Members (BMA) voted to keep the current contract and the establishment decided to pull the rug under them what would you do. On August 31 the BMA council voted to endorse a programme of further industrial action, proposed by the junior doctors committee (JDC), just weeks before the first group of junior doctors are to be faced with the new contract. Strike action is planned for October, November and December.
Consultants and others medics not classified as junior doctors will be staffing the NHS, as was the case during strike action taken earlier this year, in order to ensure our patients are not left without medical assistance.
The media spin is once again in overdrive and on cue to portray junior doctors as reckless anarchists who are striking to the detriment of patients in order to score political points.
One does not need a medical degree to figure out that individuals who make immense sacrifices to get into and through medical school, to be followed upon graduation by further sacrifices to their free time, comfort, social and family lives (to the extent that their own physical and mental health sometimes suffers) in order to care for the sick, would suddenly choose to put patients at risk and lose a week’s pay while doing so. Junior doctors, like most other people, are only a pay cheque or two away from being unable to pay their mortgages or rent or put food on the table.
I also use the NHS, as do my friends and family. As anyone who has visited a hospital during the weekend will tell you, a seven-day NHS already exists, albeit one staffed by overworked and overstretched staff.
Jeremy Hunt’s claim, based upon carefully chosen statistics, which an additional 6,000 annual deaths occur during the weekend, has been soundly debunked. Furthermore, a report leaked by the Department of Health earlier this year indicated that there was no evidence that increased staffing levels on weekends would actually reduce mortality among patients admitted during those days, removing a linchpin from Hunt’s argument that extra staff are needed.
The report also showed that if hospitals are to function on weekends, as they do Monday to Friday, an additional 11,000 staff (including doctors and nurses) would be required, on top of an annual cost of £900 million.
Further evidence indicating junior doctors are already overstretched is provided by the Mind the Rota Gap study which showed that in London, as across the rest of England, there is a massive shortage of junior doctors.
This often results in extra work being piled upon existing medics or gaps in rotas not being filled.
Further depleting existing junior doctor numbers Monday to Friday, in order to spread us out across the whole week, will not only put patients at risk during the first five days of the week but will also not reduce weekend mortality.
We all want to give our existing and potential patients, which include ourselves, our colleagues and our families, the very best possible care but we desperately need the additional staff and funding to do so.
Otherwise the NHS is being set up to fail in order to usher in a system of private healthcare, perhaps even a US-style healthcare system complete with the shortcomings for those unable to afford what is surely a human right.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry it’s been purported the establishment should ignore calls to limit future increase to the national living wage a think tank said. The Living Wage of £7:20 per hour was introduced in April, benefiting more than a million staff aged 25 and over. Some business organisations have been lobbying the government to restrain future increases in hourly rate.
It’s been rumoured that a construction of a UK funding a Great Wall near Calais. It will be 13 feet wall will run for 6 miles along both sides of the main road to Calais port. This does rings some alarm bells and reminds me of the Great Wall of China to keep illegal immigrants during the Ming period.
Like or loath Mark Carney he has hit the nail on the head, no doubt the Leave Campaigner want their pound of flesh as he defended his action to mitigate the impact of Brexit. He said “Timely, comprehensive and concrete” action, which acted to “support cushion and help the economy to adjust”. Last month’s rate to cut to an historic low of 0.25% helped support house prices and the wider economy, he added. He further added he was “absolutely serene” about the Bank’s preparations for the impact from the Brexit vote.
Since David Cameron stepped down as Prime Minister after 6 years it has been alleged that enough local authority places to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next four years have now been secured. U.K. was on track to deliver on the promise by the previous prime minister. A total of 10 million has been pledged for language tuition to help refugees integrate. I bet my last pound that the likes of BritianFirst, UKIP, and BNP will be happy with this statement as they are more incline to send them back to their homes in the war torn country. Hope not hate is my message to those ignorant people.
I’m glad that Ice Queen Theresa May has begun to cast doubt on the feasibility of a points-based system for controlling immigration into the UK, one of the key promises of Leave campaigners during the EU referendum. She acknowledged people had voted for more control on the numbers of people moving to UK will work.
Here is something to remember what Theresa May said at the Police Federation Conference:
It is alleged that hate crime prosecutions in England and Wales fell by 10% last year even though the number of recorded incidents increased, figures have suggested. Freedom of information figures suggest hate crimes increased by 20% last year to more than 60,000 yet police referrals to prosecutors fell by 1,379. Experts say hate crimes are now at a more predictable level since the spike was reported around the EU referendum. If I’m honest I think if the Conservatives had their way they would be more than happy to get rid of freedom of information (FOI). Give thanks and praises for a Labour Government for introducing the act.
Conference, conference, oh before Labour delegates starts to get into panic mode I’m not referring to the Labour Conference. I’m simply referring to the Conservative Conference in Birmingham which will be held at the International Conference Centre for the next three years and to add insult to injury it’s the West Midlands Police has to folk out the sum of £1.5 million for safety operations. It’s estimated around £500,000 a timeworn the Fatcats meets in Birmingham in October and return in 2018, and 2020.
I understand that the Police Crime Commissioner has written to the Home Secretary Amber Rodd to ask for a discussion about a “fairer arrangement”.
As much one disagree that the West Midlands Police having to pay for this expensive junket in my opinion it should come out the Conservative budget. The money spent could be put to more use by recruiting more bobby on the beat. Yes, I like a good moan too and when I look around in the West Midlands Region with the increase in foodbanks and poverty in place and across the United Kingdom the establishment lives in their own bubble in the Westminster Village. The next time you speak to or visit your local councillors, Member of European and member Parliaments ask them what they have done to help feed the homeless and needy in their ward and constituency.
It’s worrying times to know that Queen Theresa May gets her coronation to be leader of Conservatives and Prime Minister of our nation. Let’s look at the wider picture we still have foodbanks, homelessness, big, medium, and small businesses going into administration just before and post brexit UK. Some parts of society will not recognise that Hatecrimes organised by far-right groups by using selective targeting both EU and Muslim disabilities communities in UK, UK football team knocked out of European Match which includes Wales. Intriguingly it’s been purported that some Labour voters have more confidence in Queen Theresa May as prime minister which is dangerous. Here is something I remember listening to and it really hit some hometruths:
I do recognize that we have a fix term Parliament which was introduced by the nasty party whilst in a coalition with the Libdems however there has been calls from certain quarters for Queen Theresa May to call for a snap General Election as voters did not voted for her as Prime Minister and she has said she will not call for one that is her right to call the shots on this I won’t be one bit surprised that Tories will be mobilising from behind the scenes preparing for it. This sorts to remind me of one Gordon Brown who backed out from calling a snap General Elections. I’m sure this will be timed when they announce it at a time when they think the oppositions will be off guard which I would not put it pass her to do so.
How can I even forget this another song that hits home again:
Even at this moment it’s still not clear what the timetable of all the cabinet positions at the choosing of Queen Theresa May who will be the brexit cabinet minister he or she will have to produce the results of the will of the nation which is a minefield to for the Conservatives given half the party are very much split between remain and leave somewhat like Labour when it came to campaigning in the referendum. One thing is for sure David Cameron vision and legacy has been very much marred with increased foodbanks, homelessness, people with disabilities having money taken off their benefits, lack of investment in public service which have resulted in cuts and closures of some services. The contracts of junior doctors being ripped up and the possibility of imposition of a new contract this is so much for we are all in it together under conservatism one nation for all of us whilst the poor get poorer and the rich gets greedier with their wealth and very happy to stick two fingers at the establishment by putting it into off shore accounts.
What the nation can concur is that the Conservative have seen two women succeed as Prime Minister one dead(Maggie Thatcher) and the other as we know her as Queen Theresa May whilst in Labour a storm arises with the Parliamentary Labour Party between hurricane Jeremy Corbyn this must be a very bitter pill to swallow when 172 MPs resigns from shadow cabinet and a vote of no confidence. There is a two reasons why there is a vote of no confidence this is on the grounds of that Members of Parliament wants to see a change in the way how the leader operates and wanting to see a change of attitude in the leader or the working relationship is so unbearable.
I’m in the opinion that they wanted a change of direction in the leadership to offer more in policies and leadership. However the vote of no confidence must be used as a last result which seems to fall on deaf ears in some quarters of Labour. Let me make very clear that nobody should have their property damaged or be intimidated and any incidence should be reported to the relevant bodies investigate it instead of alleging which groups or fan club is responsible. Members will have a choice who they want to be the leader of Labour Party there may be a third candidate that has thrown their hat in the ring. I’m sure that Labour Party members have seen many leadership changes in the pass to last a life time and deep down did not want this to happen as we all know that passions are very high and at times get out of hand. Let us all have a comradely debate who will be the best leader to lead the party and unite and heal all the fraction(s) which I take no comfort in saying this publicly as one chapter closes and another one begins whoever wins the leadership I will continue to give my support to no matter during the bad, good, and ugly times of the premiership of Labour. The public does not want to see our party carry on with the infighting as this will lose public confidence the party. When I receive my secret ballot papers one will accordingly and shall not divulge which way I voted in the coming elections of both leadership and Labour NEC.
Here is something to wet your appetite please take time to listen then lets debate about it:
I was once a euro sceptic but no more. I use to think the European Union was all about our fishing policies and a bunch of Germans who wants to maintain their world domination and this is why there want the euro so badly but when I was home after traveling from Europe with a trade union delegation to Brussels and totally forgot that my then partner was holding a house warming party a someone knocked on my door at about 8pm and this was the turning point of my life. A short woman who I recognise said “Hello Gordon it’s been a while since we last spoke”.
Obviously I was not going to let her stay outside and speak to me so I invited her and her colleague into my humble abode. The kettle was on and we offered them a strong cup of chai before the rest of our guest turned up whilst I was entertaining my two guest the conversation led to the European Union which I said to both Neena Gill and Michael Cashman MEPs that I have strong reservations about the current trend towards the European Union. They naturally reassured me that it was not all that bad and don’t believe all those scaremongering stories that you have read in the press and some trade union were putting out on their newsletters to members. Well I can tell all the hype at the time was very convincing and I almost fell for it.
To be frank I would say if you are not convinced about the European Union, I have to say that I live in the West Midlands Region in a city called Birmingham and I look around to see the benefits of what the European funding has provide which has been very positive:
Whether or not you are for Brexit or firmly in the remain camp there can be no doubt that the European Union has shaped Birmingham’s development with almost £1 billion of investment.
From the International Convention Centre during the early 90s to the recent Youth Employment Initiative, Birmingham and the West Midlands have enjoyed many benefits of European Union funding.
There are 15 items on our list of things the EU has done for Birmingham. Of course that is not the whole story, there have been many smaller projects and, at the same time, the UK Government has paid millions in to the EU.
So one question for the politicians is whether, should Britain vote to leave, the Government will step in and replace the stream of funding from Brussels and support Birmingham’s future growth and development. The EU chipped in £50 million towards the ICC and Symphony Hall which opened for business in 1991. It most famously welcomed global leaders, including Presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin to the 1998 G8 Summit. Each year it hosts some 350 events including political and business conferences bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city.
There was further help for the city’s conference and exhibition industry with a £30 million cheque towards the refurbishment of the NEC – which of course is home to Crufts and many other major shows bringing thousands more to the city. Remember the upgrade of railway linking Birmingham to London, the North West and Scotland and reducing journey times in the process? The EU paid £66 million towards that.
Those folks in Brussels helped Birmingham rid itself of one its biggest mistakes of the 1960s. It paid £9.1 million towards the redevelopment of Masshouse Circus in 2002, including the breaking of the Queensway flyover, known as the concrete collar, which had held back the expansion of the city centre for more than a generation.
Built in 1834 the Town Hall is the city’s premier historic building. But just over decade ago it was in a pretty sorry state, covered in soot and neglected. The EU, with a £3 million handout, was among a number of backers which saw it cleaned-up, its stonework restored and its interior refurbished and reopened in 2007.
The home of the Thinktank Museum and Birmingham City University was completed in 2000, it was, through a £25.6 million investment, the the UK’s largest ERDF funded project at the time.
Over £6 million invested in Innovation Birmingham, the former Aston Science Park, bringing digital and high technology businesses and jobs to the city.
Only last month the city council accepted a £33 million EU social fund grant towards its scheme to get 16,000 Brummies age under 30s into employment.
Between 2007 and 2013, as the economy nose-dived, the European Regional Development Fund provided financial support for 24,910 West Midlands based businesses. At the centre of Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter is the Assay Office, one of the few places that precious metals can be tested and hall marked. Part of the cost of its expansion and relocation last year was covered with a £1.5 million EU grant.
The collapse of MG Rover in 2005 directly caused 6,000 redundancies, plus many further losses along the supply chains. The task force was set up to create jobs, invest and help get those workers back into employment. More than a third of its £176 million pot came from EU emergency funds. In the West Midlands alone between 2007 and 2013 universities benefited to the tune of about £260 million, funding research into health, food, energy, climate change and transport. They are receiving similar amounts under the new funding package.
Grants totalling £741,000 over six years helped get the festival launched in 2008 and established. In 2014 the festival was estimated to be worth £2.6 million to the city’s visitor economy. The EU gave £530,000 towards the setting up of this vital community centre in Winson Green. The ERDF stumped up £2.5 million, of the £6 million cost of developing this facility for the Sikh community and wider population of Handsworth. It opened in 2006.
I received lots of emails from Friday until today I have had a number of people email, text, call me on my thoughts around the EU referendum so i thought it i best if i put my thoughts together for you all to consider.
On the 23rd June 2016 we have an opportunity to decide the future of our United Kingdom with the EU Referendum. It is a once in a lifetime chance, and we cannot afford to get it wrong.
I pondered over the last few 15 years, and like a lot of you I’m unhappy with the undemocratic status of the EU, the lack of credible accounts, wasteful neglect of our resources, and the perception of a wider capitalist agenda on the cards.
However I did my own research, listened to colleagues, and attended debates to reach the conclusion that despite the scepticism the alternative of not being a member of the European Union is far too risky, and something that we as a country can ill-afford. The cost of the membership is alleged to be approx £18.8 billion but we have a special rebate that returns allegedly in the approx of £14.4 billion out of which £9.8 billion is given to the farming industry, and £5.7 billion to universities. This leaves around £89 per head for EU membership which is minuscule in comparison to the fact that Norway for a mere trade agreement contributes approx £134 per head without having a vote or indeed much influence in the EU.
We have around 2.5 million British in the European Union, and a similar number of EU citizens here but overall they contribute more than £2.6 billion that access to welfare benefits which we hardly hear of.
Imagine if we left the EU, and car makers such as Jaguar Land Rover were forced to pay a tariff for every car exported to the EU who are our largest importers of goods. There was be no sound economical reason for Jaguar Land Rover to stay in the West Midlands and it would have a devastating impact on us.
The EU is not perfect but we can work together with other socialists within Europe to bring about a fairer more transparent, democratic Europe. I fear the far right will take hold if we exit.
TTIP is a threat either way but being part of a united Europe puts us in a stronger position to negotiate in our interests. I believe being out would give big corporations free reign and too much power see article below:
The EU in a rational and coherent manner. Whatever your final decision maybe, it’s important that you use your right to vote, having weighed up as much information as possible on this complex issue. The outcome of this referendum will affect us all for generations to come. Please vote wisely.
I cannot see how more than 40 years of EU legislation that has had an impact will unravel if we left the EU, and the consequences that would have on everyday life for us. I recently went to five events across the West Midlands and London all speakers agreed it would be very messy divorce indeed. I am voting Remain, alongside my three local councillors and Member Of Parliament along with my fellow Labour Activists on 23 June and urge all to vote Remain.
Hey folks have a listen to this, this will want you to join the Junior Doctors Strike:
Recently the establishment decided to curb charity organisations from using funds they received in the form of grants whilst I have always highlighted this in the public domain and I agree with the sentiment somehow I can’t help but feel this government has a hidden agenda. Ah do I hear people saying. Yes you are reading correct the establishment has got it partly right they do need to close the loopholes from some charities abusing their funding. How do you distinguish which is private funds from private organisations that is the question.
The Tories are using the Trade Union Bill to try and break our relationship. Hidden in the Trade Union Bill is a clause that is deliberately designed to restrict trade unions supporting the Labour Party financially – while doing nothing to limit the hedge funds and millionaires that support the Tories.
The union activists who set up the Labour Party all those years ago did so to ensure working people had a voice in Parliament. The Tories are trying to silence that voice. The Bill is not just an attack on the relationship between the unions and the Labour Party, but it’s an attack on our democracy.
Just like those activists in 1901, we have to pull together as working people to protect our voice in politics. That’s why we’re asking if you could take two minutes to sign and share the petition against the Bill –
Well it’s not surprising from this government that they want to curb trade union funds which has been on the cards for a long time coming. Even during the Thatcher years there were talks of this happening ever since the miners’ strike which was but on the back burner then it came back to life again from 2010-16 under the Conservative coalition and a Conservative Government does this have a familiar echo within the trade union movement.
Now the establishment wants to subsidised rents for households earning more than £30,000, or £40,000 in London, will be scrapped in April 2017.
Social housing tenants will be asked to pay rent at or near market rates.
Ministers say it “better reflects people’s ability to pay” – but Labour and the Local Government Association say it would hit hard-working families.
The department for communities and local government argues that is “not fair that hard-working people are subsidising the lifestyles of those on higher than average incomes, to the tune of £3,500 per year”.
Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said people who could afford to pay more in rent “should do so” – but it would be graded, so that those on lower incomes would not have to pay full market rates.
“We have always said we would consider carefully how much more people pay as they move through the pay scales, once they get over £30,000,” he told BBC Radio 5 live’s Pienaar’s Politics.
He said the government would “listen to what comes in before we make a final decision in the period ahead of us”.
According to the LGA-commissioned study, almost 60,000 households in England will not be able to afford to pay rents at the market rate or take advantage of the right to buy.
Councillor Peter Box, housing spokesman at the LGA, which represents hundreds of local councils in England, said: “Many social housing tenants across the country will be unable to afford market rents or take up the offer to buy their council home under this policy.
“A couple with three children, earning £15,000 each a year, cannot be defined as high income. Pay to stay needs to be voluntary for councils – as it will be for housing associations.
“This flexibility is essential to allow us to protect social housing tenants and avoid the unintended consequence of hard-working families being penalised, people being disincentivised to work and earn more and key workers, such as nurses, teachers or social workers, having to move out of their local area.”
The LGA figures, compiled by the estate agent Savills, show that almost 215,000 social housing tenants will be affected by the “pay to stay” policy.
The policy is expected to save £245m a year by 2019-20, ending a situation where higher-income social tenants benefit from taxpayer-funded subsidies of up to £3,500 per year.
Former head of the civil service, Lord Kerslake, now a crossbench peer, will attempt to amend the housing bill, which is being scrutinised next week in the House of Lords, to place the scheme at the discretion of local authorities.
The peer, who is now chairman of the Peabody Trust housing association, has warned that the proposals were part of a package that could “threaten the future of social housing”.
“When this was originally discussed in the coalition government, it was intended to deal with the very small number of high earners on over £60,000.
“The current proposals will affect a lot more households with earnings of half that.”
Well it likes the Tories out to get David Cameron between the legs and it seems that Tory MP David Davis said news of the proposed in-work benefits ban could encourage workers to head to the UK.
Sir Eric Pickles, a Eurosceptic who supports Mr Cameron’s reform proposals, said action had to be taken to prevent a “new influx” of migrants.
The ban has to be agreed by all EU nations at a summit on 18 February.
It will be graduated, so that the longer migrant workers stay in the UK, the more in-work benefits, such as tax credits, they will be entitled to, in order to top-up their wages. Mr Cameron says the move will “make a difference” to high levels of immigration by reducing a “pull factor”.
But it will have to be agreed by member states, as part of a wider package of reforms to Britain’s relationship with the EU, and will only apply for a temporary period as an “emergency brake”.
If Mr Cameron can get a deal on his reform package in two weeks’ time at the Brussels summit he is expected to call a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU in June.
David Davis, a former Tory leadership contender and leading Eurosceptic, said eastern European newspapers had carried numerous stories about the plan to terminate in-work benefits for the first four years after a migrant’s arrival in the UK.
At the same time, he said, Brussels has suggested the scheme could take 12 months to implement.
“Under such circumstances the incentive for anybody wishing to come to live in the UK will be to come as quickly as possible to beat the deadline when any such restrictions come into effect,” he said.
“Accordingly we are likely to see a surge in migrants in the next 12 months.”
Mr Cameron has suggested the “emergency brake” could come into effect within three months of the UK applying for it.
Eric Pickles defended Mr Cameron’s reform deal, on the BBC’s Sunday Politics, saying: “What we need to be clear is, we’re not trying to prevent people moving inside the European Union.”
The reforms were instead aimed at preventing people gaining “something for nothing” by claiming UK benefits before contributing anything in tax.
But Sir Eric. a Conservative former cabinet minister, said action was needed to prevent a surge of migrants: “Clearly as part of the negotiations we have to ensure that that doesn’t happen.” Meanwhile, speculation is continuing about whether a big cabinet name will lead the campaign to take Britain out of the EU. Other potential Tory “outers” include Justice Secretary Michael Gove and Employment Minister Priti Patel, who have said they will make their position clear when they have seen the final deal.
The hot potato of the day was on Sunday 7 February 2016 on the BBC Andrew Marr Show I did not know whether to laugh, cry or bang my head on the wall like many of the junior doctors when Jeremy Hunt quote that the British Medical Association(BMA) of being “totally irresponsible” over a lengthy industrial dispute. The doctors union had refused to sit down and talk about improving patient care and had spread “misinformation”.
Okay now that I’ve got this out of the way, I say what a load of poppycock or what a load of pile of manure coming out of his mouth. No doubt he is promoting a great message by using spin doctoring to put patents lives at risk and he think we were all born yesterday thinking we all will believe him when he says that hospitals should be open 24/7. Er we all know that hospitals are open seven days a week all year round. Don’t be taken in by this spin doctoring by Jeremy Hunt.
Well Jeremy Hunt to put it in a nutshell it’s okay to put health workers lives in danger by this he pointed the finger at the BMA for the breakdown in negotiations, sticking to the mantra of blaming patient deaths on NHS “inefficiencies,” rather than on the cuts and the need for more doctors and NHS staff — but at the same time he announced some shiny new baubles.
Hunt has continually misrepresented independent studies to claim that the 11,000 extra deaths per year over weekends compared to weekdays is as a result of a “five-day” service and the existence of “excessive overtime rates.”
On the Andrew Marr show he managed to twice misquote the contents of the report while trying to claim he hadn’t been misrepresenting it.
“If the government want more seven-day services then, quite simply, they need more doctors, nurses and diagnostic staff, and the extra investment needed to deliver it,” the BMA retorted correctly.
“Rather than addressing these issues, Jeremy Hunt is instead ploughing ahead with proposals that are unfair and could see many junior doctors voting with their feet.”
The cornerstone of his new strategy appears to be the announcement of a fresh round of investment into upgrading and “modernising” the NHS’s IT infrastructure.
Workers are well inoculated to “modernisation” programmes being used as cover for a fresh round of public money being forked over to the usual rogues’ gallery of privateers — an alarming number of which have former government ministers on their boards.
But the potential for abuse and massive waste of expenditure without any substantial improvements is rife, particularly if it’s left to the usual PFI which was introduce by the Conservatives in 1992 under John Major or PF2 as the government has now rebranded them contractors to deliver.
When the Labour Government came to power in 1997 it continued with the Tory’s PFI project NHS programme for IT provides a stark example. It took nearly seven years to complete at a cost of an estimated £10 billion most of which was pocketed by IT companies and PFI specialists before finally being abandoned.
But the Tories themselves already have form in this particular area. Under the coalition government, they attempted to introduce their own version of the NHS programme for IT in 2013.
The then health secretary claimed that the goal was to “go paperless across the NHS by 2018.”
The first element of this, the care.data project which aimed at creating a national database of health records that could be shared across the NHS in England, was quietly dropped in the run-up to the last general election after two years of failing to address critical concerns of campaigners and health professionals.
It was their steadfast refusal to drop the selling of this information on to the private sector that killed off this potentially life-saving project.
Lest we forget, the then health secretary in 2013 is the same as the current one — Jeremy Hunt.
But perhaps poor old Jeremy is suffering from a dose of selective amnesia due to the strain he’s been put under over the last few months and forgotten this.
Selected patient information is already made available to certain private medical research companies through the Health and Social Care Information Centre by many NHS trusts, raising questions about data security.
Aggregating of information and data mining have become a booming international market worth billions. And these are far from shadowy companies operating on the fringes of legality. One of the most notorious British-based data miners, Dunnhumby, is owned by Tesco.
The Tories’ unswerving commitment to the neoliberal mantra of “private good, public bad” will ensure that this latest programme is doomed before it begins.
Now that I have got all this my chest i urge all to join the Junior Doctors strike on 10 Feb 2016.
To all my followers I hope you all had a wonderful Xmas and Happy New Year please checkout this youtube as it has a message that we all cant afford to ignore:
I don’t normally mention the following Member of Parliaments John Speller MP, Jack Dromey MP, or Richard Burden MP or Kwasi Kwarteng MP .
On this occasion I have to concur with John Speller MP statement when he said “Modern day Scrooge Iain Duncan Smith new rules mean jobless and disabled could mean they will have their benefits stop during Christmas Eve”. He is correct to point this out I’m sure many would concur with his sentiments.
Jack Dromey MP quotes:
Since the new reforms started that has been no doubt an increase in deaths and sanctions of benefits from cross sections of society all in the name to reduce welfare spending. Here is an example of what Jack Dromey said when he was housing minister in 2012:
“The truly tragic story of Paul Turner shows all too clearly the human consequences of the Government’s welfare reforms.
Under government reforms, incapacity benefit claimants are forced to undergo assessments to see if they are deemed capable of working. If they cannot work, or need support to help them work, they receive Employment and Support Allowance. However, if they are deemed fit for work they are placed on Jobseekers Allowance – which means they have to prove they are looking for a job.
Mr Turner received a letter in February stating that officials believed he was fit for work. On April 2 he flew to France for a short family holiday with his wife and teenage son. Later that evening he suffered heart failure and died.
Richard Burden eloquently written in the Huff Post:
Last week, I called in to say hello at Northfield’s local Trussell Trust foodbank. Back in the Commons I always hear Government ministers talk about Britain’s strong economy and how the number of people without a job is falling. And, yes, for a lot of people, things are feeling a better than they were a couple of years ago. But there is another side of the story, and you see it for yourself at the B30 Foodbank.
The sheer scale of the operation these days is both astonishing and impressive.
The fact that it has to be so big, though, underlines that something is fundamentally wrong with the way Britain operates at the moment. My office is one of the local advice centres that is authorised to refer people to B30 foodbank for support. In the last month we have referred about the same number of people to the foodbank for assistance as we did in the ten months before that.
It’s not that we have suddenly started throwing foodbank vouchers about. It’s that the need continues to grow and the local MP’s office is one of the places to which people turn for help when they don’t know where else to turn. There is a wide spectrum of people who are running out of the money they need to buy food, toilet rolls and other family essentials these days.
Quite a few different reasons too. However, a common factor in so many cases is the way the tax benefits and tax credits systems operate. People facing sanctions; people moving from one benefit to another with delays in the meantime; people falling between one part of the benefit or tax credit system and another. And please don’t think I am simply talking about people without jobs. A lot of people who turn for help to B30 and other foodbanks across the country are in work. It’s just that they are on poverty pay.
It is a similar picture across the rest of the country too. Between April and September 2015 Trussell Trust foodbanks across the UK gave 506,369 three day emergency food supplies to people compared to 492,641 in the same period last year. And in December 2014 referrals to foodbanks were 53 per cent higher than the average across other months, with more than 130,000 three day food supplies being given to people in just one month. The charity fears this winter could be their busiest ever. There was a time when the term “social security” meant just that. However bad things got, the state would not leave you trying live on thin air. Those days have gone.
When I help with collections for local foodbanks, I am always touched by the generosity of local people around Northfield, often with those people who have least to give are those who proportionately giving the most. So I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those who give and to all those who volunteer in foodbanks across the UK. Maybe the best thanks we, as politicians, could give, however, would be to reduce the need for foodbanks to play such a key role in Britain today. That will take action across a number of fronts.
Right now, though, I just want to highlight two key ones: First, to get the benefits system operating in a way that focusses on people – not just systems or targets. A second, but equally important area for action is to tackle the scourge of low paid and insecure employment which blights the lives of so many. And part of that means by promoting the Living Wage – the real one that is, not the rebranded Minimum Wage which the Government invented this year.
Are you listening Mr Osborne?
What an insult from Author Kwasi Kwarteng who said who said in an interview with BBC on 11 June 2015:
Young unemployed people should be forced to repay their benefit money when they get a job, an influential group of Conservative MPs has said.
The proposal to pay benefits as a loan would give them “an additional incentive to find work rather than allow the debt to build up”.
The idea is included in a new book setting out a “radical” free market agenda for the Conservative government. The Conservative MP and junior ministerial aide argues that free enterprise – rather than government interference – is the answer to the problems facing Britain.
Chancellor George Osborne is understood to be considering reducing tax credits for millions of working families in his July Budget, as part of the government’s efforts to “make work pay”, although critics accuse him of making the poor pay for the mistakes of bankers.
Mr Kwarteng’s book argues for a more radical shrinking of the welfare state to return it to the contributory principle envisioned by its founder Sir William Beveridge – that you get benefits in return for contributions.
It says: “Strains on the welfare state are often blamed on benefits being too generous, but the truth is that welfare is so expensive – over £90bn for working-age benefits alone – because too many people are eligible.
“In fact, JSA – the main out-of-work benefit – is fairly stingy for those who have contributed to the tax system for years and find themselves out of work for the first time.”
The book says the government should “look at other ways to encourage work – while making sure that the system is not cruel to those who have simply been unlucky”.
“Young individuals who have not yet paid national insurance contributions for a certain period, five years say, could receive their unemployment benefit in the form of a repayable loan.
“An unemployed teenager would still receive the same amount of cash as now, for example, but they would be expected to repay the value once in work.
“Turning an entitlement into a loan would mean that people would still be supported while out of work, but would have an additional incentive to find work rather than allow the debt to build up.”
Even if someone was out of work for the entire seven years between 18 and 25, “the total sum repayable would be £20,475 – considerably less than the tuition fees loan repayable by many of his or her peers”.
At the same time, those who have paid into the system for many years should get a “fairer deal” if they unexpectedly lose their job later in life.
Other ideas in the book include scrapping maternity and paternity pay to ease the burden on business. Instead, new parents would get a flat rate “baby bonus” paid directly by central government.
It also calls for the scrapping of some government departments, tax raising powers for local authorities, a regional minimum wage, allowing free schools to generate a profit, encouraging banks to use a common IT system allowing “portable” bank accounts and scrapping the BBC licence fee.
The book pulls together policy ideas from the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs, set up by Environment Secretary Liz Truss and other members of the 2010 intake of Conservative MPs to promote a leaner state and boost entrepreneurship. It is backed by the Institute for Economic Affairs think tank.
Writing in the foreword to a Time for Choosing: Free Enterprise in Twenty-First Century Britain, published by Palgrave Macmillan, Mr Kwarteng says: “The capacity of individuals, companies and other groups to generate prosperity and well-being, when left to their own devices, is too often overlooked.
“We should allow a competitive and free economic environment to flourish in Britain, to challenge monopolies and oligopolies, and to allow individuals to create, innovate and take risks.”
Then to out the icing on the cake no surprises that high rents and mortgages in England means families are skimping on heating and winter clothes to make ends meet.
It is alleged more than a quarter (2.7%) of 853 parents of under 18s they had to cut winter spending to meet housing costs.
It comes no surprise that some families are found living in sub-standard conditions in garages with no heating let alone a shower. To top if of housing projects helping more than 400,000 vulnerable adults face closure because of the establishment welfare cuts.
The Treasury’s decision to cap housing benefit at the level available for private rents makes many schemes unavailable. The housing cap is part of a £12billion package of cuts from welfare bill.
Local authorities have a key role in implementing the mental health strategy and improving mental health in their communities. We want to support and encourage local authorities to take a proactive approach to this crucial issue. So this will be the challenge for local government to take on. The Mental Health Challenge and have produced a template motion to enable councils to promote mental health across all of their business.
1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem in any given year.
The World Health Organisation predicts that depression will be the second most common health condition worldwide by 2020.
Mental ill health costs some £105 billion each year in England alone.
People with a severe mental illness die up to 20 years younger than their peers in the UK.
There is often a circular relationship between mental health and issues such as housing, employment, family problems or debt.
On reflection in regards to Tax Credit forgive me for saying this but I think that this establishment should have force through the changes in parliament. It’s only then the voters would take noticed then take positive action to rid them out of power in 2020 to bring in a Labour Government.
This is why so many people are not least surprised Iain Duncan Smith by his Thatcherism attitude towards people who are disabled and people on lower incomes.
It’s no wonder why that the Local Government Association is up in arms over the flood defences are being abandoned or maintained at minimal levels because of the government spending cuts. It’s no surprise this can leave twice as much homes at risk within twenty years. It’s further alleged that employers have been awarded almost £300,000 in total causing outrage after the devastation over the Christmas as flood defences failed.
Labour lost the General Elections in 2015 for a second term and we’ve seen a new leader replacing Ed Miliband. For 2016 will see Local Government, Police Crime Commissioner, London Mayor Elections and our task is to win not just existing Labour safe seats but to gain some marginal seats too.
I know I keep harping on about its good to see that Labour win seats but remember that labour safe seats is one thing but to take marginal seats off from the Conservatives, Libdems, SNP, Plaid Cymru, Greens and UKIP will be ideal and will determine the outcome of the General Elections 2020.
I would urge where there is no Local Government elections in wards or regions that Labour activists can do is contact a neighbouring Regional Office to help out fellow Labour activists.
Our fight is with the SNP, Tory, and UKIP bashing resume on the 8 January 2016.
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