Michael Edwards for South Derbyshire

The latest Conservative poster cites a member of the public saying - "... but I like their plans for families".

As Captain Blackadder said in "Goes Forth" - There's a plan? 

The voter is from Llandudno.  The SureStart there provides -

The Tory party says they'd rather SureStart was just for the families that need it most.  (Contradicted by the aspiration for Sure Start health vistors to serve all parents.) 

Instead all funding for early intervention and parenting support will be put into one budget, to be overseen by a newly created Early Years Support Team within the Department for Children, Schools and Families. 

So co-ordination at the Whitehall level, instead at the local level. 

Meanwhile, the Tory party have had to recover after claiming 54% of 15-17 year women in the top 10 deprived areas become pregnant.  The Tories didn't twig, even when proofing their publications, that they were out by a factor of 10; not even when they claimed the figure was 19% for the least deprived areas. 

Note, in the same 10 deprived areas, there had been a 10.5% decline in the under-18 conception rate since 1998, reversing a previous upward trend. 

-

For information of activities at South Derbyshire's Sure Start centres, surf -

Castle Gresley - http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/images/Castle%20Gresley%20Activites_tcm9-117078.pdf

Etwall - http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/images/Whats%20on%20at%20Etwall%20Childrens%20Centre%20%20January%20to%20April%2010_tcm9-132293.pdf 

Newhall - http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/images/Newhall%20Activities%20Jan%202010_tcm9-117112.pdf

Woodville - http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/images/Woodville%20Activities%20Jan%202010_tcm9-117418.pdf

News broke last week that Gordon Brown had cried on televison whilst being interviewed on television. 

And it was a topic of conversation on the doorsteps this morning.  Some fear that this was a new level of spin. 

In fact, the spin turned out to be that he had cried on television.  There might have been a slight catch in his voice, and a moistening of the eyes, but not actual tears.  No doubt, the story that he cried was put about by the programme's presenters to get more people to watch.  Now that's spin!

The first example of this kind of interview is often cited as South Derbyshire's own George Brown with David Frost in 1967. 

The South Derbyshire Conservative Councillors application to vote on a matter on which they have a prejudicial interest has been declined by a meeting of the District Council's Standards Committee. 

The Committee voted 7-1, allowing them to speak on the matter but not to vote. 

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/politics/Council-s-Tories-banned-votes-land-connected-party-donor/article-1832110-detail/article.html 

Despite their members declaring a prejudicial interest, South Derbyshire Conservatives are saying they don't really have one, because all the donations from this particualr donor went to the purposes of the General Election.  But it's not clear from any of the evidence submitted to the Electoral Commission that they've ring-fenced finances in this way. 

South Derbyshire Conservatives could have been more graceful on this matter.  By pointing out the possibility of a prejudicial interest, Labour Councillors saved the Tories from falling into a trap that would have taken some sorting out with the Standards Board of England.  And the Standards Committee decision has saved the Council from a risk to their reputation and the possibilities of judicial reviews on decisions that the Tories might have voted on. 

Politics in South Derbyshire has been made more transparent. 

One MP protested on Wednesday about the influence of money in elections in marginal seats from certain individuals. 

Q6. Mr. Gordon Prentice (Pendle) (Lab): Has my friend visited gordonprenticemp.com today to see how the next election in my constituency is being bought by a tax exile?  Does he agree that he needs me here, and that Pendle is not for sale?

The Prime Minister: The Conservative party cannot talk about new politics or transparency unless it answers the central question about the tax status of its chief fundraiser, Lord Ashcroft. The Information Commissioner has already said that the party has been “evasive and obfuscatory” about the Ashcroft scandal.  The Opposition have questions that they have to answer.

“Pendle is not for sale!”

And so say all of us. 

It’s clear Gordon Prentice has a view about the impact of money in elections, and cites Lord Ashcroft’s words and deeds. 

http://gordonprenticemp.com/index.php/reportingto-you/campaigns/buying-the-election  

But it is frustrating that still the Conservatives can’t be straight about Lord Ashcroft. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/feb/09/lord-ashcroft-conservatives-tax 

“A senior source said Sir George Young had "mis-spoken" when he told the BBC that Ashcroft was a "non-dom"  - allowing him to avoid paying British tax on ­overseas income and assets.”

-

Things are tricky in South Derbyshire for another reason. 

On Friday, nearly all the local Conservative District Councillors are seeking a dispensation on a prejudicial interest (at a Standards Committee to be held in the Council Chamber). 

The reports describing the situation are available on the internet -

Meeting to be held on 12/02/2010 

Agenda 

main report

Appendix B

Standards Committee membership

20 Conservative Councillors are seeking dispensations;  2 are not (Heather Wheeler and her husband).  Heather Wheeler is reported by the Burton Mail in March 2008 as saying –

“As a matter of policy I do not sit on planning committees. I have no intention of falling in to the trap of conflict of interest.”

I’m not sure how comforting that will be to the other 20 Conservatives Councillors who are appear to have to navigate their way through such a “trap”, including Councillor Lisa Brown, who only in December was saying as an independent how important it is to be independent and in the run-up to the elections last year said- “You pay for your own campaign.” 

The “matters shortly to be considered” are –

“1. Buying out of mineral rights to progress mixed affordable housing at Wilmot Road on [South Derbyshire District Council] land;

“2. Secure a 125 year lease on land adjacent to the Older People Extra Care Village to acquire the right of way and parking space;”

And the nature of the prejudicial interest is -

“Knowledge that the mineral rights owner, who is also the owner of said land (at 2.) above is a donor to the local Conservative Association.”

The reports do not name the donor and whilst people in the know seem to know, the general public might only be able to infer who the donor is. 

A donor whose donations might well have enabled the Conservatives to win a majority on the council in the first place. 

It’s to be hoped that fuller understanding of the situation can be made more publicly and more widely available, although the local newspapers have not yet wanted to publish anything on this matter (as of Thursday, 11^th February). 

None of this implies any wrongdoing. 

And the Standards Committee are presented with a Standards Board report with criteria to evaluate the applications.  The most important thing this largely independent committee can do, is give the matter full and proper consideration. 

Especially the first test -

Q. Is the nature of the member’s interest such that allowing them to participate would not damage public confidence in the conduct of the authority’s business?

 -

The issue received local media coverage on the Friday –

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/news/Land-deal-council-Tory-vote-dilemma/article-1827787-detail/article.html 

http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/burtonmail/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=483442 

.

In the Derby Telegraph, Heather Wheeler is reported as explaining that the donor's previous donations was only used to campaign for South Derbyshire's Conservative parliamentary candidate, not by any councillors.  But it's not clear from their statement of accounts that the money has been kept separately and the explanation may have overlooked the use of their campaign headquarters last year for the election of County Councillors.

-

Meanwhile, it’s worth revisiting Heather Wheeler’s reported comments to the Burton Mail from 2008 -

"We are delighted to confirm that individuals have kindly donated to the General Election fighting fund.

"Mr Perkins is a neighbour and Mr Tyler is a friend from London.

"I'm not giving you his first name. If you want to find that out, do some investigative journalism and look on the Electoral Commission website.”

Mr. Tyler also appears to be a “friend from London” with Broxtowe Conservatives, Nottingham South Conservatives and Amber Valley Conservatives. 

-

Inofrmation on donations to political parties can be found at the Electoral Commission's web-page.

I was pleased to be able to take part in a health debate on Monday. 

Celebrating an increase of average lifetimes of 4 years in the last 10 years. 

A public consultation event on reducing smoking and healthy eating found people calling for a range of measures including better communications and better labelling of food. 

Better labelling is something Glenis Willmott MEP is working on now.

The nature of ill health being treated is changing.  Dementia is becoming more common.  There is a demand for more research into the condition. 

We have to plan for the challenges an older population will bring and I welcome the creation of a National Care Service. 

Free personal care at home for the most chronic cases, and protection from charges for good from October.

I attended a South Derbyshire 50+ Forum last year when they were discussing the green paper with Mark Todd MP in a very constructive way. 

So I share Gordon Brown’s frustration (expressed at Prime Minister’s Questions) - when the Tories launched a campaign against a death tax – a parody of one of the options in the green paper, which as it happens, when it was discussed in Parliament, the Tories agreed with. 

Finally, the Labour Party has launched a web-site to show its determination for a better health service -  visit - http://www.votenhs.com/ 

• Labour pledges a new NHS guarantee of cancer diagnosis within one week of being referred by your GP. The Tories would scrap your patient guarantees.
• The "Target Cancer" campaign aims to save up to 10,000 lives by backing a pledge to create a new NHS guarantee of cancer diagnosis within one week of GP referral, allowing patients to be tested and told their results in just seven days.
• The Tories would scrap Labour's patient guarantees, including the right to cancer diagnosis within one week and to see a specialist in two weeks. They would also scrap our agreement with doctors, so that under the Tories, GPs' surgeries would be allowed to cut their opening hours.

Having received front-page coverage for the announcement of the roads mtce. programme in Derbyshire, South Derbyshire Tories then voted down a package of measures including £500,000 for tackling potholes across the county. 
Instead, the Tories pressed on with a budget that included £4 million for moving an existing library in the Tory leader's own ward. 
And despite public pleas for investment in school buildings from their portfolio holder, Tories also voted down the provision of two temporary science classrooms for William Allitt school in Swadlincote.

DERBYSHIRE'S LOST OPPORTUNITY BUDGET

There were angry exchanges in the council chamber at Matlock ... during the meeting to set the County Council's 2010-11 budget.
Tory councillors were accused of complacency towards the effects of the recession and the aftermath of the recent bad weather on the roads.
Proposals by the Labour group to:
- tackle youth unemployment
- help struggling community groups
- repair the roads after the winter ravages
- bring in tourist money to the north east of the County
were rejected outright by the ruling Tory administration, even though they could be easily accommodated within the 1.5% rise in council tax proposed.
At the same time, the Conservatives supported a £4 m pet project in the Leader’s home town of Ashbourne to relocate the library, despite impassioned pleas by their own education chief, Cllr Mike Longden, for more cash to repair and modernise schools.
Leader of the Labour Group, Cllr Anne Western (Barlborough and Clowne), argued that £2 million allocated for contingencies could instead could be spent on alleviating the effects of the recession by increasing apprenticeships for young people who were struggling to find work.
She also argued for £500,000 to enable Councillors to support community groups for older people and carers and help tackle health inequalities.
The Tories also had a bumpy ride after opposing a one off payment of £500,000 to Highways in order to mend the damage caused by the bad weather over the winter period, for example, pot holes.
Proposals to support Creswell Crags bid for UNESCO World Heritage status were also knocked back, whereas the Derwent Valley World Heritage site was allocated £150,000 funding.
Deputy Leader of the Labour Group and Shadow Cabinet member for Education, Cllr Alan Charles (Killamarsh), proposed that £6.4 m allocated for Ashbourne library and the Records Office should be postponed for a year and the money diverted to tackle essential works required in Derbyshire schools. (List in notes)
Derbyshire County Council has received the second highest increase in Government funding of any county council for 2010/11and the Conservatives inherited a healthy financial position from the previous Labour administration, thus allowing them to keep the Council Tax increase at a relatively modest level of 1.5%.  
Though all these measures could be accommodated within the proposed budget, and without further burden on the Derbyshire taxpayer, the Conservatives decided instead to add to the County Council's already substantial reserves. 
Leader of the Labour group, Anne Western says: ' There is a balance to be struck between saving for a rainy day tomorrow and helping Derbyshire people with the problems facing them today'

Labour’s Housing Minister John Healey today confirmed a good deal for council tenants after he announced the halving of guideline rent increases for the 2010/11 financial year. In doing so, John Healey emphasised that he remained committed to ensuring rents remain fair and affordable, and that the reduction would not lead to steep increases in future years.
The move means that for the second year running, the Government has taken steps to keep down council tenants’ rents.

The Tories' national spokesperson has been condemned by the national statistics office for misuse of government statistics.
The decision by the Conservatives to keep claiming an increase in violent crime in Britain is deliberate and cited as the main plank of the case for a broken Britain.
Alan Johnson challenged David Cameron on the matter last November and not received a reply. 
Labour changed the way it counted violent crimes offences in 2002, regarding the report of a violent crime as an instance, rather than the previous practice of letting the Police determine whether there had been an offence.
Further, Labour have encouraged people to report domestic violence, so that we might expect more reports, rather necessarily more incidents. 
A more accurate way to track crime trends is the British Crime Survey which has been asking people if they've experienced crime.  This shows a significant fall in the numbers of people experiencing violent crime. 
The British Crime Survey shows violent crime down by 41% since 1997. 
The British Crime Survey is not perfect - until very recently it didn't interview 10-15 year-olds and, obviously, it cannot talk to victims of murder.
It's to be hoped that South Derbyshire Tories won't join David Cameron and their crime spokesperson in the misuse of crime statistics. 

The latest Tory leaflet ties health and dentistry together in its survey and by citing some national figures on the issue.
Now, you might expect that discussion of the NHS would not be tied to one particular aspect.
Nevertheless, the provision of NHS dentistry has been an issue in the past.
However, canvass returns and other feedback suggest concern about the availability of NHS dentists has fallen considerably from 2 years ago. 
This follows the provision of practices in Woodville and Swadlincote Health Centre. 

The Tories have been distributing a leaflet in South Derbyshire. 
It takes the trouble to feature the Tory candidate and to cite the constituency's name. 
It doesn't take the trouble to cite a single South Derbyshire story or fact. 

And I'd taken care to publish a wide range for general use only in December -

http://www.labourblogs.com/public-blog/michaeledwards/26730/ 

- 

South Derbyshire Labour Party is currently delivering a campaign newspaper, and the pages can be seen in fuller detail at these addresses.

We are currently distributing a newspaper in South Derbyshire, which you can see at –
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4304456553_9e3e8231df_b.jpg 
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/4305200064_c024da0dcf_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/4305200530_62e095327c_b.jpg 
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4055/4305201318_1b14f07166_b.jpg   

Mark Todd, South Derbyshire's Labour MP, again gave his concern for manufacturing a public profile by asking a question at Prime Minister's Questions last week. 

By coincidence, a report was being published on the importance of manufacturing in planes, trains and automobiles by the local Chamber of Commerce.  It cites hopes that this sector can grow, and provide jobs and better paid jobs for the future. 
Manufacturing has been able to do better with the lower value of the pound. 

Our focus meanwhile remains on the present.
Britain is now out of recession.  Just. 
But it's important for business confidence and should be celebrated in those terms.
Anecdotal evidence from the doorsteps reflects the growing confidence, but we know there's long way to go.
It's why we must minimise the risks to securing economic growth.  

The Tories are still unwilling or unable to set out the most basic and fundamental economic plans. 
George Osborne would put the recovery at risk with plans to cut public services in the summer, after budgets have been agreed. 
But David Cameron, having sought credit for getting the debt down faster, has now contradicted what George Osborne was saying in terms of degree.
But, still, without giving numbers. 

Standards in public life has once again been given national prominence by the latest announcement on MPs' expenses. 
£1.2m in expenses has to be paid back following a report that has cost £1.1m. 
You can choose to see that as ironic; or recognise that it's the cost of trying to return credibility to Parliament. 
On expenses, Labour has introduced interim restrictions on the allowances scheme, with no more claims for furniture, household goods, cleaning, gardening, or stamp duty.  Members can claim a maximum of £1,250 per month for rent, mortgage interest or hotel bills, plus utilities and Council Tax.
I've also signed up to a new series of pledges on conduct in public life, including publishing claims on-line. 
It's not enough to regard allegations about standards in public life as proof of wrongdoing.
However, we've all got to work at demonstrating proper conduct and the article published in the Burton Mail is salutory -
http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/burtonmail-news/displayarticle.asp?id=479869

Gerry Sutcliffe also visited the Etwall Leisure Centre. 

TO BE WRITTEN AND PHOTOS ADDED

Gerry Sutcliffe, Minister for Sport, visited the equestrian centre in Scropton to hear of the sports' importance to Britain. 
Gerry is particularly impressed with the sport's work in helping the disabled. 

TO BE WRITTEN

Oil and gas are wonderful materials that we can not only burn for heat and energy, but process for plastics and a wide range of materials. 

The concern is that we may already be able to foresee the end of its wide availability.  And that for the sake of our futures, we need to be able to value more than the market allows.

A number of analysts are projection that the peak in our ability to produce oil will be reached this decade.

A point made in a presentation from Transition Derby.  (http://www.transitionderby.co.uk/)

As it happens, a report last Wednesday was published saying cost of energy is going to keep going up. 

It's possible that this report presents too simple a case.  In the last 2 years we've seen oil reach process of 0 dollars a barrell, and then fall to dollars a barrell. 

As it happens, reducing our dependency on oil neds similar policies as reduce the emisson of greenhouse gases.  If we can do more to be energy efficient, to tap the energy of the sun and the weather systems, the warmth of the earth only 30 foot down, and the tides caused by the moon, we can mitigate climate change and make ourselves less dependent on other countries for our energy, as well as conserve oil and gas for much longer. 

TO BE SPELL CHECKED and UPDATED WITH REFERENCE TO THE REPORT

Haven't logged an entry for some time cos of campaigning activtity, so I'll start submitting a series of entries that have been building up for some time. 

South Derbyshire Labour Party is currently delivering a campaign newspaper, and the pages can be seen in fuller detail at these addresses.

We are currently distributing a newspaper in South Derbyshire, which you can see at –
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4304456553_9e3e8231df_b.jpg 
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/4305200064_c024da0dcf_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/4305200530_62e095327c_b.jpg 
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4055/4305201318_1b14f07166_b.jpg