Friday 30 April 2010

Visit from Andrew Duff MEP

Andrew Duff, Liberal Democrat MEP for the East of England, joined us on the campaign trail in March, handing out leaflets to shoppers in the town centre.

Thursday 29 April 2010

Who's backing real change?

Which candidates in North East Cambridgeshire are backing real change and a healthy democracy? Power2010 has been seeking the views of myself and other candidates about how to mend our broken politics. You can find out the answers here.

I believe in fairness

Tuesday 27 April 2010

Hustings

Along with the other main parliamentary candidates for North East Cambridgeshire, I took part in the hustings organised by the Cambs Times at Neale Wade Community College in March.

Some interesting questions, starting with 'Are you a practising Christian?'. It appears from our responses that none of us lay claim to that title, though the Conservative candidate's answer "I go to church, but I'm not a practising Christian" must have struck some as a little eccentric.

What's our view on pensions and bus passes? (See our policies for older people here). The Civil List - should the Queen have to make savings like the rest of us? (I'm a monarchist, but yes). Bishops in the House of Lords being able to determine the law on dignity in dying? (Time to shut down the House of Lords entirely and replace it with an elected second chamber).

Families? (The Conservatives' plan for a 'marriage bonus' makes me really angry: it judges families, penalises many people working hard in situations which are no fault of their own, only reaches one-third of families - of whom only one-third have children, and wastes half a billion pounds when David Cameron has already admitted that people don't get or stay married for money. So what's the point?).

Removing Gordon Brown from Number 10? (Sounds as if the voters might be about to do that). Punch & Judy in the House of Commons? (The other candidates seem to enjoy the knockabout, but personally I think all those shouting matches are just appalling).

Banks? (They've behaved disgracefully, still don't seem to understand this, and need to be broken up). MPs' salaries? (A considerable number of MPs have behaved disgracefully, but we mustn't allow ourselves to forget that, done properly, it's an exhausting, 7 day a week job played out in the public gaze with little time for family or normal life).

Public transport? (Tell me about it! We really need improved rail connections and the County Council to show some interest in holding commercial bus providers to account on behalf of the travelling public). Aid to developing countries? (All of us agree that we need to do more; interesting, as an aside, that it's the church community in NE Cambs that has been most vocal in writing to me about this during the campaign).

Global warming? (Lots of things we can do, including the little things - insulation of buildings, micro-turbines, cleaner-technology buses). Village life? (Worrying to see so many shops and services leaving our market towns and villages over the years). The UK in disarray? (I remark at the sense of hope that even people like me who didn't vote Labour felt when Blair was elected in 1997, and how that had been squandered). Education? (Tuition fees should be scrapped. Liberal Democrats will do so over six years - not, as the Conservative candidate said, in six years' time. If he doesn't know the difference I'm not going to ask him to negotiate a loan for me).

MPs' surgeries? (Very important for MPs to be available and accountable to their residents). GPs' surgeries? (Why do you have to register with the GP where you live, rather than where you work? We've said we'll give people the choice). Our 'legacy' to the area? (Gosh, it's a bit early to be thinking about that, isn't it, when we've not even been elected yet? Education and raised attainment in our schools - it's vital for a successful economy).

The pound? (We should have a referendum on in-or-out-of-Europe if any such change is proposed). Immigration? (It's migrant labour that keeps much of our economy and local services going, but the administration of immigration is in total chaos and needs to be sorted out, restoring the proper entry and exit checks that the Conservatives and Labour dismantled, and a national border agency with police powers).

Quite a lot to be packed into an hour and a half, with efficient chairing by the inimitable John Elworthy from the Cambs Times.

Turn things upside down

Liking this video from nathankw this morning:

Monday 26 April 2010

Out and about in March

Knocking on doors in March today with local campaigner Ann Elliott. Great to bump into ace deliverer Margaret assuring us that she'd almost finished her leaflet round!

Friday 23 April 2010

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire candidates' debate

Four of the parliamentary candidates for North East Cambridgeshire were at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire this morning for an hour's live debate on everything from crime and disorder to out of town supermarkets to migrant workers. You can listen here for an hour - start at about 1hr:03min into the programme. The link should only work for about seven days, I believe.

Thursday 22 April 2010

Reforming politics

I've recently taken part in DEMREF 2010, a non-party election web initiative that allows voters to compare the reform policies of their candidates - on fixed-term parliaments, free voting, the electoral system, open primaries, the voting age, recalling MPs and House of Lords reform. There is also space for candidates to put forward our own additional preferred reforms.

Following the expenses scandal that has seriously damaged public trust, voters want to know where we all stand on reforming politics. So it's interesting that neither the Conservative nor the Labour candidate for North East Cambridgeshire appears - so far, at least - to have taken part in DEMREF 2010. Will they now do so, so that the voters of North East Cambridgeshire can scrutinise our views and make an informed choice about which of us has the best policies for cleaning up politics?

Tuesday 20 April 2010

A fair deal for rural Britain

The Liberal Democrats have just launched plans to give rural communities a fair deal. These include
  • Keep local post offices

  • Improve local bus services

  • Affordable homes for all

  • Regulate supermarkets to ensure fair trade for farmers and a fair price for food

  • A Fair Deal for British Farmers.

Monday 19 April 2010

Last chance to register to vote!

If you want to vote on May 6 then April 20 is your last chance to register. You must post your completed form 1st class today.

Sunday 18 April 2010

Wisbech Driving Test Centre

Last night's email postbag includes a message from correspondents some miles outside this constituency - a group of driving instructors in Wiltshire. They are campaigning for the re-opening of the driving test centre in Trowbridge, which - like ours here in Wisbech - has been closed by the Driving Standards Agency.

The Wiltshire drivers have received the support of their Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Duncan Hames, as well as the Conservative candidate.

Both Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker MP and his Conservative counterpart Theresa Villiers MP have given a commitment to a full review of the Driving Standards Agency's test centre closure programme across the country.

The instructors particularly asked me to publicise these commitments, which I'm delighted to do, and which I fully support. They are apparently still waiting for a response from Labour's transport spokesman.

Saturday 17 April 2010

March Community Fair

I spent a very enjoyable morning at the Community Fair in March, talking with stallholders from a wide range of local groups and organisations, including Age Concern, Roddons Housing Association, Ormiston, Drinksense, Magpas, St John Ambulance and Cambridgeshire LINk. A great event.

Thursday 15 April 2010

Liberal Democrats party election broadcast

Watch it here:



I'm assured by my good friend Helen, who was there, that every bit of that paper was tidied up at the end!

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Wisbech North & Kirkgate

Tomorrow the voters of Wisbech North - at least those who don't have a postal vote - go to the polls to elect a new county councillor. Electors in Kirkgate ward also have the opportunity to elect a new district and town councillor too.

I've been busy in the last few weeks canvassing with and for Dave Patrick, who I believe will make a first class councillor for his home town. He's energetic, determined, and not afraid to stand up for what is right. He'll put the regeneration of Wisbech, and the interests of local people, first.

One-party states aren't good for democracy, they're not good for residents - and they're not even good for politicians. There's currently no opposition on Fenland Council; 38 of its 40 councillors are Conservative, with one 'independent' and the vacancy to be filled tomorrow.

It's time to break what the local press has described as the Conservative 'stranglehold' on Fenland, and Dave is just the man to do it.

(Hosted by Blogger; published and promoted by Gavin Booth on behalf of Dave Patrick and the Liberal Democrats all of 3 John Bends Way Parson Drove Wisbech PE13 4PS)

Liberal Democrat manifesto launched

The Liberal Democrat manifesto for the General Election is now available - online, in print, in an audio version, in an easy read format, and there's even an app for your iPhone or your BlackBerry. You can read the full version, summaries of particular policy areas, or mix your own video from your top three topics.

Our manifesto is positive but realistic, ambitious but carefully costed. It concentrates on four main changes the Liberal Democrats - and the Liberal Democrats alone - are offering:
  • Fair taxes that put money back in your pocket

  • A fair chance for every child

  • A fair future, creating jobs by making Britain greener

  • A fair deal for you from politicians.

NE Cambridgeshire MP admits Tories need a 'miracle'

Retiring Conservative MP for North East Cambridgeshire Malcolm Moss has admitted it will take a 'miracle' for the Conservatives to win a majority in Parliament at the General Election in three weeks' time.

For all Cameron's 'rebranding' of the Conservative Party, it appears that more voters would like to see a hung parliament than one with either the Conservatives or Labour in outright control.

Thursday 8 April 2010

Candidates' and agents' briefing

Candidates and agents were invited to an election briefing by the council yesterday in March. We've received our nomination papers and sheaves of other information; told how to pay our £500 deposit - and more importantly, how to get it back afterwards; been reminded what the current spending limits are; and given some basic information about how the General Election will be run in this constituency.

The count will take place on Thursday night, at the Hudson Leisure Centre in Wisbech.

Ballot boxes from Littleport, Downham Villages and Sutton will be checked in at Ely and then transported to Wisbech.

Wednesday 7 April 2010

Spot the difference

No, not another comment on the Labservatives - though that would still be justified.

It's that I've got a meeting in March today, so I've had to download the new bus timetable. We had changes to the timetable from Stagecoach on 14 February, now it's another set of changes starting from Easter Sunday. With timetables chopping and changing like this, it's hardly going to incentivise people to ditch their cars and switch to public transport, especially when the service is so sparse to begin with.

Playing Spot the Difference between the February and April versions, I see the last bus from Cambridge Science Park to Sutton is now at 1757 instead of 1847. The last bus from Ely to Sutton is at 1845 instead of 1935. More salami slicing of public transport.

Sutton will now get a stop on the 0730 X7 bus going directly to Drummer Street in Cambridge, but that's at the expense of people travelling from further up the route in March, Wimblington, Doddington and Chatteris, whose bus will now arrive in Drummer Street at 0825 instead of 0810, which may be too late for some people travelling on from the city centre. Similarly, Sutton now gets a stop on the return X7 at the end of the working day, but it will leave Drummer Street at 1815 instead of 1735, getting to March at 1935 instead of 1900.

We really do need the Competition Commission to investigate bus services, particularly in places like North East Cambridgeshire where one company has such a monopoly.

We also need county councils like Cambridgeshire to take a far more active part in overseeing and regulating bus services, particularly in rural areas like this - and to be given additional powers to do so if necessary, in the interests of the travelling public.

Meanwhile, will the latest changes to the timetable last more than seven weeks this time?

Tuesday 6 April 2010

Ready, steady, go!

So the starting gun has been fired and the race for the House of Commons has begun. Pollsters and pundits are going into overdrive, as this election promises to be the most hotly contested, and the least certain in outcome, for decades.

Here in North East Cambridgeshire, I and my team will be campaigning hard to challenge the successor to Malcolm Moss as Conservative candidate for the seat. This area has a proud Liberal tradition going back to Clement Freud and further. We're clear about our policy priorities, for a fair tax system; a fair start in life for every child; fair, transparent and more local politics; and a fair and sustainable economy that creates jobs. You can read more about our priorities here.

The Conservative party under David Cameron has tried to airbrush itself into credibility, but it's nowhere near fit to govern. The public has waited in vain for details of its policies and its tax and spending plans. And whether it's the decision to ally itself with some incredibly unsavoury partners in the European Parliament, or the complete shambles over issues such as gay rights, those parts of the Tory world view we can see aren't at all encouraging.

As for Labour, even if their national record suggested they deserved another chance to govern - after the banking crisis and the recession, ID cards, the underequipping of our troops in a misjudged war, the list goes on - on the ground in North East Cambridgeshire they're next to invisible. In the Chatteris by-election last month, they scored 33 votes out of 656. In the forthcoming Wisbech contest on 15 April they're set to do scarcely better. In last year's county council elections, Labour came third or worse in every single part of this constituency. Any claim that they can challenge the Conservatives for Malcolm Moss's North East Cambridgeshire seat is frankly laughable.

It's time for a real change with the Liberal Democrats: no more to-ing and fro-ing between two Labservative parties who have run the show for over 60 years.

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