21 Reasons to #VoteLabour on 4th May & 8th June

Join our fight for a fairer country

#ImVotingLabour on 4th May and 8th June and here's why:

1. For a properly funded and free at the point of use NHS

2. For appropriately funded safe and secure social care

3. For good education for every child irrespective of background or parental income

4. For good quality jobs across the country

5. For renationalised railway services that passengers can afford to use

6. For funding for rural bus services

7. For funding for repairs to roads and pavements

8. For funding for libraries, archives, and the arts to ensure good quality of life experiences for everyone

9. For environmental protection including air quality standards

10. For equality of everyone under the law

11. For a £10 hour National Living Wage

12. For affordable homes to buy or rent

13. For decent property standards and protection against landlord abuse of tenants

14. For the end of homelessness and people sleeping on our streets

15. For the proper financial support of those who are unable to earn an income

16. For the protection of children from harm and abuse

17. For the safety of those in domestic violence situations

18. For animal welfare standards & a continued ban on hunting

19. For the protection of women and girls threatened with FGM

20. For the retention of human rights and employment protections

21. For a sensible negotiated settlement with the EU re BREXIT that protects workers' rights and maintains the right of EU citizens already living and working in the UK

If you agree these are important to you too, then the obvious, indeed the only sensible, option is to #VoteLabour on 4th May and 8th June. 

Don't forget the local council elections on 4th May!

As a resident of the county of Cumbria this is written from a local perspective, but the same issues apply wherever you live in the UK! 

Although our attention is now focused on the General Election in June, the local council elections are very important too, as our county council set the budgets for many of the services provided in Cumbria.

Just so that you know, these are the services the county council funds, provides or administers:

• State Schools and Children's Services, including Foster placement and Education Welfare
• Adult Social Care Services
• Fire and Rescue Service (advice for emergencies here)
• Trading Standards
• Roads, footpaths and street lights (report a fault here)
• Libraries and Archives
• Blue Badge Scheme
• Public Health
• Public Safety
• Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths
• Civil Marriage Services
• Coroner Service
• Transportation
• Waste Management

I doubt there is a person in the county who is not a user of one or more of these services, yet we tend to overlook local council elections, especially when a General Election is looming as now. 

So, why should you vote on 4th May?

Currently here in Cumbria there are 84 county councillors - one each for the 84 electoral divisions the county is divided into geographically. 

The current make-up of the county council is as follows: 

Labour:  36

Liberal Democrats: 15

Conservatives: 25

Independents: 8

In the last county council election Labour won the most seats but did not have an overall majority (43 required) on the county council, so needed to form an alliance with another group, which after the 2013 county council elections was the LibDem group (presumably considered the lesser of two evils!)  

Currently county council funding is provided by a combination of central government grants, Council Tax (a locally set tax based on house value), Business Rates, and fees and charges from certain services such as "decriminalised parking enforcement."

The government's website gives the information that,

"At the start of the 2010 Parliament, almost 80% of council expenditure was financed by central government grant; by next year Revenue Support Grant will account for only 16% of spending power; by 2019 to 2020 only 5%."

A current example on the East Sussex council website gives the following proportions for funding: 

Overall, local government spending is paid for by three main sources:

• Central Government − 61%
• Business rates − 17%
• Council tax − 22%

Some of the money is what is classed as hypothecated (i.e. ring-fenced) meaning that it can only be spent in a very specific manner - in essence, it merely passes through a council's accounts on its way from the funding source to its intended destination, e.g. Dedicated Schools Grant, Health and Wellbeing grants, fines and charges related to vehicle parking and local road restrictions; whilst the other main central government grant - the Revenue Support Grant - is not hypothecated, and can be spent as the council wishes.

Additionally revenue is raised by means of the Council Tax levied on every household in the county. The level of Council Tax is determined by county councillors after consideration of funding needs but they cannot just set it to any level they choose. The county's portion forms part of the annual Council Tax bill sent out by the district councils before the start of each financial year. Currently Council Tax contributes only a small proportion (25%, on average) of local government revenue.

As to increases in Council Tax, historically, central government retained the right to cap an increase in Council Tax, if it deemed the council to be increasing it too much. During the Conservative - Liberal Democrat coalition govt of 2010-15 a change was made so that councils can raise the level of council tax as they wish, but must gain permission from their electorate in a local referendum on the matter, if they wish to raise it above a certain threshold set by central government, currently this is set at 2%. However, some councils such as Swindon in Wiltshire have found a legal loophole and have announced increases that will mean some residents paying 7.2% more in Council Tax without holding a local referendum!

Under plans put forward by the current government's Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government the amount of money raised locally rather than provided by national government grants will rise in the period up until 2020, when it is intended that the Revenue Support Grant will disappear and all money spent by a local authority will need to be raised by the council via Council Tax, local business rates, and the payment for other services, e.g. parking etc.

In counties such as Cumbria this presents huge problems, as despite having a massive geographical area (6,768 km2 or 2,613 sq miles for pre-metric thinkers) the county's population is comparatively small (498,000 as at 2015.)   Consequently the amount of revenue that can be raised in the county is considerably smaller than a smaller, more densely populated, area. In a rural county where roads are vital, bridges are many, and funds are low, we inevitably see potholes, poor footpaths and pavements. We have seen closures of a whole array of public services, from libraries to police stations, care homes to hospital units. We have poor public transport links at high costs to passengers. We have housing that is unaffordable to first time buyers, and rental accommodation that is either inadequate or that locals cannot afford to rent.  Wages are relatively low for many in employment whilst, due to the low numbers of big employers in the area, there are many people who have become sole traders or set up small businesses  of their own, to try and keep earning an income.  We simply do not have a wealthy electorate to tax to pay for council services, so the central government grants which are funded through taxation are vital for the county.

Labour councillors will continue to their utmost to protect key services despite budgetary restraints imposed on it by central government, but you can help too by voting for your Labour candidate in your ward. By having a majority on the county council it means Labour can continue to honour its manifesto commitments.  Our best hope for the county and the country as a whole is for a Labour government to be elected in the #GE2017 on 8th June, but in the meanwhile please do not neglect the county council elections.

#VoteLabour on 4th May

Polling Day is Thursday 4 May 2017

Polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm. Use your vote - #VoteLabour for a society that works for everyone not just the privileged and richest few. 

To vote, or not to vote, that is the question... and if not, why not?

Every vote does make a difference. Please vote on both 4th May and 8th June. 

In 2015 only 66.1% of those on the Electoral Roll voted in the General Election. (Click images to see larger views.)  Why was this?

But of the Voting Age Population (i.e. anyone over the age of 18 years) only 60.1% of those entitled to vote did so. Why was this?

At the last General Election in 2015

• 50.8 million people were of voting age.
• 30.5 million people on the Electoral Roll voted.
• 15.9 million people on the Electoral Roll didn't vote.
• 4.4 million people of  voting age were not even on the Electoral Roll!

Why was this?

This meant that 20.3 million people who could vote did not do so. Why not?

Given that those we elect to Parliament to represent us and who form the government, which then makes decisions that affect every aspect of our lives, and the lives of our families and friends, affects our communities and neighbourhoods, our public services and utilities, why do people not vote?

In 2017 why not make sure you are on the Electoral Roll  and  cast your vote and get the government you deserve? 

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"They say if you don't vote, you get the government you deserve" 
[E.A. Bucchianeri: Brushstrokes of a Gadfly]

62% voted for Jeremy Corbyn as next Prime Minister!

So Theresa May has called for a General Election, which has been approved by a massive majority of MPs: 522 for and 13 against. I'm not sure happened to the other MPs, as there are 650 of them in the Commons...  but whatever, it was an overwhelming vote for a General Election on Thursday 8th June.

Why she has chosen to do this, only a week after saying yet again that the next GE would be in 2020, is anyone's guess. Speculation abounds that there may be a connection to the ongoing police enquiry into Tory election fraud from the 2015 GE, whilst others have suggested recent polls suggesting poor results for Labour have been the trigger.

But, on Wednesday, the morning after the PM announced she was requesting a GE in June, the ITV This Morning programme ran an online poll of viewers, asking who the viewers wanted to be the next PM. The results were astonishing for those who only take note of what the biased mainstream media have been saying about Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the man who the media have spent most of the last  two years trying to discredit, dishearten and destroy.  The poll found that of 89,600 votes, 62% wanted to see Jeremy Corbyn as next PM, as against just 24% of votes for Theresa May. That is some poll!

Meanwhile, those of us who have been supporting Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party and are fully behind Labour's policies for a better Britain are smiling sweetly, and resisting the urge to say, "I told you so."  #BloggersWhoVote

A Yorkshire revolution?

I see that the Daily Mail is off on one of its tirades again... the targets this time are the Labour MP for Leeds East, Richard Burgon and his partner, Shelly Asquith. Under a headline proclaiming,

"Jeremy Corbyn's justice chief, 36, poses with his 'lawbreaker' lover, 26, who believes religious extremists should have the right to break the law"

it says that the MP,

"has gone public with the romance in classic Corbynista style – by posing with Miss Asquith alongside a statue of Karl Marx." 

So there we have it... all us Corbynistas have a BIG problem now:  we have not posed with our lovers alongside the statue of Karl Marx so we cannot be proper Corbynistas!  Perhaps we need to organise a mass outing to put that right - does anyone have a bus big enough to take half a million of us to Berlin and back tomorrow afternoon?

But wait, the headline said that Ms Asquith is a "lawbreaker"  - is posing with a statue of Marx now an offence?   The DM goes on to assert that, 

"Miss Asquith, vice-president of welfare for the National Union of Students, has campaigned against the Government’s drive to stop young Muslims being radicalised in colleges, describing it as ‘racist’ and a restriction on free speech." 

So it's not the posing with the statue that's illegal then? It must be campaigning against something she disagrees with...  but do you know something? I think she has a point, and I am not alone in that view. Writing in the Guardian last October, Ian Cobain reported, 

"Following a nine-month examination of the programme known as Prevent, the Open Society Justice Initiative has recommended a major government rethink, particularly on its use in the education and health systems." 

He went on to say,

"It is the second time in three months that Prevent has faced criticisms following a major study. In July, another NGO, Rights Watch UK, concluded that the programme stifles free speech." 

So, why would the DM have a go at Ms Asquith about it then, given that two major rights watch organisations have expressed the same concerns? Could that be because she is dating an MP that they don't like?

Ms Asquith did say at some time that,

"Well, I think there are some laws that should be broken",

but given that practically everyone in the whole country has, at some time, broken one law* or another either deliberately or accidentally is this something the DM should be pillorying her about? She only said that she thought it, she didn't say she broke them herself! Is thinking illegal too, now?

In fact, breaking the law is how we came to have many of the rights we now have:  the Tolpuddle Martyrs broke the law, the Suffragettes broke the law, sometimes it is the only way to achieve justice!

Meanwhile, Mr Burgon

"is a staunch Republican who staged a protest against the Queen while taking his oath to enter the Commons."

Ahhhh, so he's a red, a rebel, he probably should be locked up in the Tower of London for the next century then have his head chopped off and his innards draped across Traitor's Gate!  How very dare he suggest that not having a Queen might be a good thing for the country? All that pomp and ceremony, privilege and expenditure, all those big houses and expensive posh togs...  what is the world coming?  So what did he do? Spit in the Queen's face? Poke his tongue out at Prince Philip? Kick a corgi? Nothing so exciting it seems, he simply said:

"As someone that believes that the head of state should be elected I make this oath in order to serve my constituents."

He then said: 

"I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God."

Look at that! Not even an affirmation of a man without a religion, he swore by Almighty God to be faithful to the Queen and her offspring...  what sort of red-blooded Commie does that?!

Meanwhile, a YouGov poll of 1579 people in 2015 found a majority of the common people want to keep the monarchy (probably as they get a day off for Royal weddings and coronations, and it does bring in a shedload of tourists with money who like all the Royal ceremonial stuff and tea-towels with guardsmen and Big Ben on them), so,

"Over seven in ten (71%) adults believe the British monarchy should remain, with less than a fifth (18%) saying we should have an elected head of state instead."

Meanwhile, another much larger poll with 606,934 respondents produced a slightly lower figure of 67% against abolition of the monarchy, so although Richard Burgon isn't alone in favouring Republicanism, removing the monarchy is not something that is going to happen anytime soon, and that YouGov survey also found that 62% of those polled believe Britain will still have a monarch in 100 years' time (although probably not the same one!)

Mr Burgon's final misdeed appears to have been his attendance at a (whispers quietly) Communist event some 9 years ago, 7 years before he actually became an MP;  the DM stated,

"As recently as 2008 he was a guest speaker at a meeting of the Leeds branch of the Communist Party celebrating the 1917 Russian Revolution."

Celebrating a revolution eh? Now there's revolutionary...  of course the 1917 Russian Revolution (actually two revolutions, one in February and another in October) was about the overthrowing of a repressive Tsarist regime by a people so hungry and oppressed that they felt they had nothing to lose by doing so, and the formation of a state run by the people for the people. So was young Mr Burgon encouraging Commies in Leeds to follow suit and overthrow Her Maj?  Was he proposing chucking the Duchess of Cornwall off the end of Bridlington Pier? Was he suggesting converting Buckingham Palace into a refugee camp for asylum seekers?  Was he fiddlesticks!  The official programme of events stated,

"Yorkshire activists from the Communist Party & Young Communist League are leading the way in the annual international celebrations of the Russian Revolution of 1917 by declaring ‘Red October’ throughout the region this month. 

"The Party & YCL has worked with a variety of local progressive organisations to create a programme of public events to celebrate the 91st anniversary of the revolution, and to add some much-needed revolutionary heat to a dour Yorkshire winter.

"Events begin with a public meeting in Leeds at the Swarthmore Education Centre on the 1st October at 7pm, where Richard Burgon from Leeds Labour Party will be speaking about the current political crisis within Labour. Admission is free and all are welcome."

Ahhh not so much a Yorkshire revolution then, as a coming together of progressive organisations to try and build a better future at a time when the world was facing a huge banking crisis:  said crisis having been caused by various big business, banking and right-wing interests, of course. Those same sorts of interests that own national newspapers like the Daily Mail. Funny that, isn't it?

I wonder if they provided tea and biscuits at the public meeting?

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* What do you mean you haven't broken the law? Have you never exceeded the speed limit? Dropped a piece of litter? Written on a banknote? Bought a drink for someone who is drunk? Downloaded a bootleg album or video? Allowed your child to eat a packet of biscuits in a shop before you had paid for them? Used your mobile phone whilst driving? Hah! Thought so.... Gotchya!