Is Kevan Jones one of the ‘minions of hell’?
You might have thought that our Prime Minister had learned the hard way that playing the man rather than the ball hasn’t done him much good in the past, but it seems that Labour’s reputation for bullying and smearing those who dare to question its record is about to plumb new depths – for even soldiers are now in the Government’s firing line.
Earlier this year, we heard that the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt – a man who has given a lifetime of selfless service to this country – had been declared by a minister to be “fair game” for political attacks in his retirement. General Dannatt, you see, wasn’t all that happy with Labour’s appalling neglect of the Armed Forces, and dared to speak out about pay, equipment and conditions. Clearly, as far as our increasingly vindictive Government is concerned, this meant that the General absolutely had to be discredited.
Should we find it a surprise he was one of the forces of hell unleashed against Alistair Darling?
Durham MP Kevan Jones said: ‘The Chancellor and the rest of the Cabinet should start talking the Government up, not down. The economic picture is a mixed picture, it is not all black.’
Given that Jones of starting a smear campaign on Brown’s behest, we should be taking Brown’s denial all the less seriously, and more into whether Jones is one of Brown’s ‘minions of hell’.
Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods – 4 percent council tax hike due to political posturing on policing.
Labour MP, Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods, confronted Nick Clegg when he arrived at Durham railway station, with apparent fury. The PCS union claimed that Liberal Democrat plans for policing would cost white collar jobs in the Durham passport office if they were implemented pledging to reverse cuts in frontline officers and add 3,000 policemen across the country over five years, by scraping the fiasco that is the national identity card scheme. Roberta Blackman Woods has been a cheerleader for the ID card scheme dismissing any opposer’s as scaremongering, how ironic then she takes part in it gleefully when it comes to saving her own skin – after all she has a majority of less than 3,000.
Perhaps she suffers from a bit of amnesia when it comes to policing in Durham?
“I am grateful for the opportunity to raise specific issues relating to the funding of the Durham constabulary. Will my hon. Friend the Minister acknowledge that that constabulary is facing particular problems with its budget over the next two years, and that substantial cuts in front-line services are likely to occur unless urgent action is taken by the Department to address the problems?
There is particular concern about pensions and how they are funded, not least because Durham has had an historically low level based budget. I shall demonstrate that by referring to a recent communication between the Durham constabulary and my hon. Friend Mr. Jones. It is said that the funding gap for the authority, given a 5 per cent. increase in the council tax precept, will be £6 million in 2006–07, rising to £7 million and then £8 million in 2007–08 and 2008–09 respectively. We can use some reserves in the short term to try to close that gap, but we are looking to reduce our base budget by £8 million over the next three years. That will impact on the performance of the force as it will require a reduction in the number of police officers and police community support officers. Overtime will also be reduced as well as the number of civilian staff, leading to de-civilianisation. In addition, there will be a scaling down of support services. Clearly, we do not wish to see such consequences.
Can the Minister give reassurance to my constituents that the gains that have been made across the county in terms of increased police numbers and a reduction in crime levels will not be jeopardised by a failure to take action to solve the current funding problem?”
I personally would have thought that protecting the frontline of policing for her constituents would be more important than her white elephant and cynical vote winning as Labour lose their clutch on the region, but then when have Labour MP’s ever fought for Durham’s interests?
Update 27/2/2010: PEOPLE in the region will pay four per cent more for their police force from April. Durham Police Authority, the parent body of Durham Police approved a 3.99 per cent rise in its council tax levy on Wednesday. Its overall budget will rise by 2.9 per cent to £122.93m, but taxpayers face a steeper tax hike because the Government’s annual police grant will rise by only 2.5 per cent.
It seems that Dr Blackman-Wood’s begging for more money in Parliament came to nothing, and because of her insistence on sticking to a now discredited policy her constituents must now pay 4 percent more in council tax. Given the state of the North-Eastern eeconomy, and the social issues it faces this is a hike the people here can ill afford. When asked to comment on her contradiction there was no reply from her office.
When will Brown do the right thing on constitutional reform and defence?
The Government finally released the funds to pay for helicopters and equipment so urgently needed in Afghanistan, but not without reluctance from Gordon Brown who guillotined defence spending according to evidence from The Chilcot Enquiry, and in a letter he wrote to Tony Blair revealed in the Times today purposely diverted funds away from those helicopters that the army were begging for to be successful in Afghanistan.
He then proceeded to mislead the house in Prime Ministers Questions. In response to David Cameron bringing up the claims from Chilcot he reverted into the mentality of opposition – albeit one which can’t get it’s facts right. Brown claimed that the Coonservative party planned cut defence spending at the 2005 election, however as Nicolas Soames set the record straight in a speech to the RUSI.
‘There has been a great deal of misinformation from the Labour Party about Conservative defence expenditure plans and I am grateful for this opportunity to put the record straight. My party is committed to spending £2.7 billion in cash more than the present government on frontline defence.
He then proceeded to outline how a Conservative government would reallocate resouces to meet the demands of our commitments abroad.
‘The James Review has identified an additional £1.6 billion of efficiency savings over and above those identified in the Gershon Review and the Shadow Chancellor has agreed to reallocate a further £1.1 billion to defence from James Review savings in other departments’
In contrast, Brown has chosen to sound off about constitutional reform again. (As if they haven’t had a chance to do that for the last twelve years) When they start tinkering with the constitution then you know they’ve really got nothing valuable to say on real-life issues that actually matter to people. The move towards the alternative vote is merely one of party strategy, bring in AV, it’ll make it impossible for Lib Dems to even *mention* voting reform for 20 years, killing off all chance of serious reform that some in the Westminster village seek, and taking back Liberal Democrat votes from seats where Labour are under threat. In a nearby constituency of mine, the Lib Dems are biting at the heels of the sitting MP, will this so called ‘reform’ be enough to lure those floating voters back and reaffirm the Labour party hold on the North East?
If Gordon Brown was serious about reform he would be listening to the calls of the speaker John Bercow and give power back to the commons, especially to select committees. One suggestion in a report surrounding defence by the CPS is to follow the USA’s lead in accountability.
“In the US, when a +programme breaches its cost ceilings, the Department of Defense must testify before Congress. A similar procedure should be adopted here by the Defence Select Committee.”
Anyone who takes a gander of Private Eye will be aware of the cosy arrangements with the big contractors that this government have fostered and they must cease futhurmore this government has talked a lot about it’s pro-european credentials but wouldn’t allow EADS to do things the ‘best’ way but the way that ensures jobs and maintenance of expertise in member state so it becomes more needlessly complicated and drags on.
Just like this government it seems.
Support the Heart of Durham Appeal
The Heart of Durham Appeal aims to raise £47,923 to buy a 2D echocardiogram machine for University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City.
The new scanner, which would be the hospital’s fourth, would be capable of performing hundreds of heart scans every month and could cutting waiting times from four-and-a-half weeks to three weeks. It would allow care to be expanded into communities across north Durham, boosting early diagnosis of heart problems and potentially saving lives A Valentines Day walk is being planned to raise money for the Heart of Durham Appeal.
Being the charitable chap I am, (That and the fact my girlfriends away, and my friend Thomas and I have nothing better to do) I’m going to be taking part in this three legged three mile walk to make a bit of a fool of myself as well as raise some money for a good local cause. If anyone in the blogosphere would be able to contribute to sponsoring we and the people of Durham would be very grateful. I’m sure we’d be able to get some funny pictures to make it worth the while…
If you can help, send me a tweet @Byrnetofferings or drop me an email.
Can Labour regenerate the North East?
This is an old report from Policy Exchange I dug out recently which chimes in well with the attempts to ‘regenerate’ Durham, with not just a poor method, but an undemocratic one.
We did not claim, and do not claim, that these towns and cities have not improved since 1997. A decade of strong economic growth means that it is almost impossible to find any place that has not improved. Nor did we claim that the regeneration money that has been spent has achieved nothing. It is almost impossible to spend billions and billions, year in and year out, and achieve nothing at all. But we did claim – and no one has disputed this – that, far from catching up, the places we focused on, towns and cities that experienced wave after wave of regeneration initiatives, have fallen further behind the national average. In contrast, towns that were successful in 1997, and not the subject of regeneration policies, have pulled further ahead.
Looks like a resounding no.
Democracy dies in Durham City.
We have the alteration of Durham Market Place finally taking place to the tune of £5m that nobody wants, and if we were to refuse to move the Lord Londonderry statue, we lose the money to develop the city with it; such is the way that regional development agencies work.
Harvey Dowdy, director of Durham City Vision, has been quoted as saying of the plan: “I am really pleased, but that’s tempered with having a deep respect for the opinions of the people. I think this is a compromise that will help the city move forward”. What compromise? The decision to originally make changes to the marketplace was decided by the ONE regional development agency, and when the public speaks up the council let them down.
The Labour council members have stressed the authority of their position as “elected representatives”, yet the decision has been passed onto an authority with very little knowledge of the area, never mind understanding the wishes of the residents of Durham. The decisions were referred to the Government Office for the West Midlands, which was chosen over that for the North-East for its impartiality, is that ‘Government speak’ for pushing through a decision which the public don’t want? The most recent leader in the Durham Times echoes the public outrage.
There was certainly enough evidence to show that the vast majority of the public are opposed to the scheme. At least 6,000 people have signed petitions against the proposal, and a 4000 strong facebook group, and I have no doubt they feel resentful that they would lose the money if they ever were successful – there’s plenty in Durham that needs work upon.
‘The Gate’ shopping centre in Durham has had a number of stores open up for short periods of time only to close quickly due to crushing rent, and lack of money of Durham shoppers, heck we even had a Waitrose manage to shut down in a city full of students.
Now, since other shops cannot stay open, Durham has had two Tescos open up either end of the City. I’m not going to pass judgment as of yet, but speaking to friends in Scotland, they may not be so cheap and friendly in the future. Durham needs regeneration, we need to stop overburdening our local businesses with regulation and corporation tax, and put money in the pockets of our local residents – not top down unpopular schemes. A bit of localism to return democracy to our area wouldn’t go amiss either… time to scale back the unaccountable regional development agencies.