Articles & Speeches
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Articles & Speeches |
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Affordable Housing In Mid Dorset and North Poole, I will fight against overdevelopment in areas where residents oppose it. But, if communities wish to expand and provide affordable housing, I will campaign for their right to put such plans into action.
After-School Activities
Border Police Force To fund this, the Conservatives will scrap ID cards and spend some of the money that is saved on the creation of a fully-integrated Border Police Force which will have one clear focus: to check people when they enter or leave the UK. The new Border Police will be our eyes and ears and will take whatever steps are necessary to protect the security of our borders. Our proposal has widespread support, including from Sir Chris Fox, the former head of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and from the cross-party Home Affairs Select Committee.
Cities Bonds and business rates: on top of controlling capital funding currently held by quangos, the city governments should have the power to issue bonds and borrow on the open market, having their own credit rating. They should retain all the business rates they collect from new developments to provide incentives and funding for regeneration and infrastructure. Bold leadership and powerful remit: with over 50 different funding streams for regeneration, no-one is in charge, leading to inertia and inactivity. I call for elected mayors in the cities, similar to those in the United States, which would ensure clear leadership and direct accountability. They would be held to account by councillors and the electorate. The mayors' powers would be extended to include passenger transport and highways, fire services, the delivery of welfare and direct oversight of the police.
Community Cohesion Instead of promoting the equal treatment of British citizens, multiculturalism has been manipulated to create division. It has often treated ethnic or faith communities as monolithic blocks, and it has led to the growth in the translation of public documents and signs into other languages. We must ensure that all our citizens can speak English and that children are taught British history properly at school. Furthermore, uncontrolled immigration puts pressure on housing and public services, and helps create division, fear and resentment among British people of all ethnic backgrounds. We can only live together if there is proper integration, and we cannot have proper integration if people are coming into Britain at a faster rate than we can cope with. To unite communities, drawing from my own background in business and social work, I believe that the voluntary sector is critical. I stand for social responsibility, not state control, and that means giving priority to community groups in fighting poverty and family breakdown. To aid this, I support a new system that allows charities to claim gift aid tax relief automatically, to avoid present cumbersome bureaucracy. I also want to see a new law forcing government agencies to play fair when they contract with the voluntary sector, with long-term contracts that allow the voluntary bodies to plan ahead.
Crime I want to see real results for Mid Dorset and North Poole: that means more police on the streets, more funding for Police Community Support Officers, a real effort being made to integrate community leaders with those who cause the most trouble, and a system where paperwork and bureaucracy is cut back so police can actually get on with their job of protecting our communities. Furthermore, every member of the emergency services is able to claim an essential workers allowance to allow them to buy property in the areas in which they serve. I will campaign for more police officers to buy properties in the areas in which they police, thus allowing them to become a part of their local communities – something that will allow them to build a rapport with residents, much like in the past. This is the most effective way of having friendly, knowledgeable and integrated police officers in communities.
Drugs Control
Education The best way to help social mobility is to make sure our 24,000 schools have good standards of discipline and behaviour, and good standards of teaching and learning. Furthermore, I think that by removing the requirement for sponsors of Academies to contribute £2m to allow schools to become Academies should be looked at again. If donors wish to give money to Academies that is something for which they should be applauded. But there should no longer be any requirement for a contribution from an external donor on these lines as a prerequisite for creating an Academy. In essence, I call for more Academies and less red tape. I believe whole class teaching, setting and streaming, and a robust discipline policy are effective ways to improve standards. I would like to see a number of Academy providers who commit themselves in their contracts to run schools using traditional ways of teaching, and properly evaluate the results. After all, commissioning independent research to evaluate teaching methods before they go nationwide is a scientific and long-term basis for what works best.
European Union
Fiscal Responsibility
Grammar Schools I admit that academic selection has a place in society as it encourages competitiveness and produces better standards. However, social mobility is my top priority and I want to ensure that children and students from all walks of life have the chance to flourish. From independent schools that support local special needs colleges, to vocational institutions which produce high-quality apprentices, we are blessed with a variety of different institutions in our constituency – and I will work hard to protect and improve these standards and this element of choice.
Green Sky Taxation If introduced, I think that these should be replacement taxes, not new stealth taxes. Unlike Gordon Brown's hike in Air Passenger Duty, any additional revenue raised would be offset by reductions in other taxes. I am pleased that, so far, these consultations have attracted widespread, cross party, support. It is a pity that Gordon Brown has chosen to oppose the difficult measures needed to help combat climate change.
Home Information Packs (HIPs) All the expert bodies with an interest in keeping the property market stable have warned that the Government should not go ahead with these HIPs at this time. The country's solicitors, surveyors, estate agents, builders, banks and building societies are all asking Labour Ministers to go back to the drawing board. A cross-party Lords Committee has warned that these regulations are neither "sensible or worthwhile" nor "likely to be effective for their declared purposes". As a surveyor, having spent my life in property-related business, I believe in efficiency, not bureaucracy. Anything to increase mobility and lessen the burden on the taxpayer is an important measure. It is in my view that HIPs will do nothing but cause more aggravation for homeowners.
Human Trafficking The United Nations has described human trafficking as 'the modern slave trade'. Between 700,000 and 2 million women and children are trafficked across international borders every year. 60 per cent of illegal immigrants now in the UK arrived here illegally, the majority of them in the backs of lorries. In 2003, there were an estimated 4,000 victims of trafficking working as prostitutes in the UK at any one time. Between 2004 and 2006, there were just 30 convictions for trafficking offences. To date, there have been no convictions for trafficking for labour exploitation. Personally, I believe we should sign and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings 2005 (ECATHB); establish a UK Border Police Force with the expertise to intercept traffickers and their victims at our borders; ensure separate interviews are given at all airports to women and children travelling alone with an adult who is not their parent, guardian or husband, to identify potential victims; strengthen co-ordination between the relevant Government departments and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency to ensure a coherent, joined-up approach; ensure that each police force and every local authority has a strategy for dealing with suspected victims of trafficking; and set up a helpline to provide information for women who have been trafficked, and for those who suspect others of being the victims or perpetrators of exploitation.
ID Cards In particular, the Labour Government frequently states that ID cards will be used mainly to combat the threats from terrorism and illegal immigration. However, the former Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, stated "I doubt they [ID cards] would have made a difference" in stopping the 7/7 bombings, and the ID cards that are compulsory in Spain didn't stop the 2004 bombings in Madrid. Furthermore, in terms of illegal immigration, foreign visitors will not have to have an ID card unless they plan to stay in the UK for more than three months People would prefer that the money Labour will spend on ID cards is used for more worthwhile projects, such as a dedicated UK border police force, more money and personnel for our intelligence services, more prison places and on increasing the number of drug rehabilitation places.
Immigration Controlled immigration is not racist – far from it. It is a realisation that we need a proportion of new immigrants each year to boost our own economy. This quota should be flexible and the continuing products of immigration should be carefully assessed on a regular basis. With this plan, and when I apply this to Mid Dorset and North Poole, we should see an increase in productivity, without losing elements of our own culture.
National Security I believe the Labour Government has misjudged our national security situation in three ways: by naively underestimating the challenge of state-building in hostile environments, the Government has damaged our international reputation and the effectiveness of the transatlantic alliance which is the key to our security; that by treating minorities as members of groups rather than as equal individual citizens, the Government has damaged social cohesion and undermined security; and that by failing to understand the effect of the calls they have made on our armed forces, the Government has overstretched them, leaving them without sufficient reserves. I support those who wish to make more use of traditional diplomacy, with the UK taking a lead in promoting a new 'Partnership for Open Societies' which would bring together other leading democracies and regional powers to develop the institutions of stable, liberal democracy in the broader Middle East. Furthermore, I believe in giving homeland defence a new priority, and I want to place equal emphasis on enabling individuals in minority communities to make their way in society, ensuring that all individuals in Britain share a sense of national identity and adhere to the principles of a liberal democracy.
NHS I believe that GPs should be explicitly responsible for the health outcomes of their patients, and, speaking as someone who is a governor of Poole Hospital, I would reward GPs who achieve improved health outcomes. To do this, GPs should be encouraged to deliver improved health outcomes through their contracts of service, and GPs should be able to exercise greater control and influence over local NHS services by giving them real health service budgets to hold I want to put people back at the heart of the NHS. I will trust the professionals. Let's get rid of the top-down, centralising, interfering and insulting targets that drive our doctors and nurses mad. Progressively, patiently, carefully, we will usher in a new era of quality and care. An era where the allocation of money is determined by clinical, not political priorities. An era where hospitals succeed because people want to go to them; where they're not closed by the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen. I want an independent NHS, where politicians give day-to-day control of the health service to the people who are experts in their respective fields – on a localised level, with more money for treatment and less money for bureaucracy.
Pensions And Gordon Brown has failed a second time by refusing to provide a proper package of assistance to the thousands of people whose security he has wrecked. In contrast, the Conservatives have been developing constructive proposals as a first step towards resolving the crisis of lost pensions. Our amendments to the Pensions Bill will deliver a better package to all those affected by occupational pension scheme failures. In Mid Dorset and North Poole, I am keen to hear from those pensioners who have been directly affected by these cuts – together we will petition national government to rectify this most horrible wrong. Nationally, the Conservatives have developed constructive proposals as a first step towards resolving the crisis for people who have lost pension savings. Since 1997, around 125,000 people have lost some part of their pension due to the insolvency of the sponsoring employer or because the employer is no longer in business (Hansard, 30 March 2006, Col.1205WA). We have tabled new clauses to the Pensions Bill (with support from the Liberal Democrats), including: A new Lifeboat Fund to provide more generous benefits. Our proposals would set up a Lifeboat Fund to top up the pension income of thousands of vulnerable people who have lost pension savings. Benefits would be raised to the level provided by the Pension Protection Fund. Lifeboat will be funded by unclaimed financial sector assets and Treasury loans. Long-term, the Lifeboat would be funded by collecting unclaimed assets within the financial sector. But it would receive Treasury loans in the meantime to allow it to start paying out immediately. This would get money flowing quickly to those who have suffered most and who have seen little or no benefit from the Government's slow and bureaucratic Financial Assistance Scheme. People working for a solvent employer who have lost pensions would also be included.
Post Office Closures It's estimated that 3 of Mid Dorset and North Poole's nineteen sub post offices could close as a result of the Government's plans. In 1997 there were 20 sub post offices in this area – and I don't think the Liberal Democrats have worked hard enough to stop this number from beginning to dwindle. That is why I pledge to do all I can to protect an institution that has a direct impact on our daily lives.
Poverty Around a billion people worldwide still live on less than $1 per day; almost three billion live on less than $2 per day. War has killed over 4 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone, the largest loss of life from war since World War Two. Africa's share of world trade is currently 2 per cent – down by two-thirds since 1980. One in five people around the world lack access to clean drinking water. Malaria continues to be responsible for over a million deaths a year; 90 per cent of these are in Africa. I pledge to raise awareness of these problems and lobby central government to increase funding for meaningful international development.
Recycling In Mid Dorset and North Poole, most areas have access to a kerbside recycling scheme – a convenient way to recycle. But, I have also been working with our local councillors to try to convince businesses that they should start recycling as well – for example, paper waste alone reaches a staggering amount and this can be easily recycled, a process that actually saves businesses a lot of money each year! In essence, recycling is a win-win situation by cutting waste disposal bills by as much as 50% a year, whilst giving our area an air of green progression and environmental friendliness. On a related note, I believe one of the greatest contributors to our national waste problem is the sheer amount of packaging that manufacturers bundle our goods in nowadays. I want to encourage such manufacturers and producers to reduce this excess packaging, or face the other option of being forced to by new legislation. The onus should be on the producers, and not the consumers, to reduce waste from the origins of the production line.
Social Responsibility In contrast to Labour's approach of state control, I recognise that the state can't solve everything – that our social problems need social solutions. Our country is stronger if we have big, socially responsible citizens and a limited state rather than smaller citizens and an unlimited state. For example, on crime, I am committed to putting local communities directly in charge of their respective police forces, so that the police follow the priorities of the public, not the Home Office. On poverty, I want to see an expansion in the number and range of social enterprises, which are so much better at dealing with entrenched social problems than the Government. One of the primary tasks of Government is to set the framework and incentives for a healthy society – and to tackle the incentives for bad behaviour. For example: encouraging personal responsibility means removing fiscal disincentives against marriage; encouraging corporate responsibility means removing tax and regulatory disincentives against environmental responsibility; encouraging professional responsibility means removing disincentives in the NHS target regime against treating patients according to clinical need; and encouraging civic responsibility means removing disincentives against local councils following local wishes.
Sustainable Communities I believe that we should promote local economic activity, such as local shops and services; protect the local environment; tackle social exclusion and poverty, both on a local and national level, which also includes an increase in funding for social services and local housing associations; increase local participation in democracy; and ensure the prudent use of natural resources. Above all else, I believe that local councils should be given the power, after detailed consultations with residents, to work out their own local spending plans – and the ability to allocate public spending as they see fit.
Trains (Green Transport)
Transparent Government Decisions to go to war or to commit troops to areas of conflict should require Parliamentary approval. Decisions on war-making should no longer rest solely on the unfettered use of the Royal Prerogative by the Prime Minister; treaties with financial, legal or territorial implications for the United Kingdom or its citizens should require Parliamentary approval prior to ratification, and they should no longer involve the use of the Royal Prerogative. Full independence should be given to the Office of National Statistics, and an annual audit should be made of the use of statistics in all government departments; current numbers of political special advisers should be reduced by about half, and their role clearly defined as one of advice rather than having any capacity to give directions to career civil servants; the objectivity of the Civil Service must be restored and protected, and political interference in personnel decisions limited by means of a Civil Service Act.
Wimborne Square Development Over the past few months the Council has received news that East Dorset District Council is willing to invest £500,000 into the project to enhance the Town Square. We are also seeking to claim around £80,000 from Dorset County Council to boost the scale of the redevelopment. However, my concern is that this project remains largely faceless. No one has a concrete idea of what needs doing, or how, and I question whether it is prudent financial housekeeping to spend over half a million pounds in such circumstances. Simply re-routing the buses if necessary - and perhaps removing one bus stop in the process - would surely solve the Square's largest problem, that of traffic congestion, for a tenth of the cost. Similarly, improving the aesthetics of the Square by working with Cllr Anthony Oliver's Wimborne in Bloom team – basically by creating the impression of artificial green space at a low cost, but one that will greatly boost the atmosphere in the Square – is a cheap way to address most residents' unarticulated desire: a more congenial, pleasant place in which to do their shopping and socialising. I am more than prepared to listen to the opinions of Dorset County Council, East Dorset District Council and our own team on WMTC. I am just of the mind that unless someone can give me concrete evidence that the Square needs such improvements – and ones which are inextricably linked to the £580,000 price tag – I will be sitting on the fence with regard to this issue. I am sure there are many other causes which are more deserving of such a vast amount of public money.
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Promoted by Margaret Roebuck on behalf of the Mid Dorset & North Poole Conservative Association, 2 Westfield Close, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 1ES. |
