Don't let time run out, vote Dolphin

As you may know, today it election day. There is not much more to say than please take this opportunity to go out and vote. Sorry I can't write more, but i'm out on the doorstep getting the vote out

Vote Dolphin!

Stratton royalty

Barry Bryne has been a pillar in the community of Stratton for longer than I can remember so its a great honor to have his support in this election.

“Paula is an effective local champion.  She has years of experience as a councillor and knows how to get results for her electors.She knows her community well and I trust her judgement when it comes to the big issues we face." - Barry Bryne

DevonWall Defeated

After a long and sometimes hard campaign, Tory plans to create a seat that combined Cornwall and Devon into one area has been defeated. This was a controversial plan on both sides of the Tamar and you could almost hear the sighs of relief after the announcement.

The big question that this situation throws up for me is, who is standing up for what the people of their area wants and who is playing party politics with historic boundaries. Well that became clear at the vote when all 3 Cornish Lib Dem MP's voted against the creation of a DevonWall seat and all 3 of Cornwall's Tory MPs voted for DevonWall.

It could not have been clearer what the people of Cornwall wanted THEIR representatives to do (keep Devon and Cornwall as two separate areas) and yet the Tories chose to do what best suited there own parties interests! In elections to come people will have the chance to show who much they care about their elected representatives acting on their behalf. I hope they remember DevonWall when they are in the voting booth...

Poor tax introduced in Cornwall

Today i attending a Extraordinary Council meeting at which, Conservative run Cornwall Council introduced what the bureaucrats have called "Localised Council Tax".

What 'Localised council tax' is being called by some Cornwall Councillors is 'the poor tax'. What this is going to do is force all working age recipients of council tax benefit to pay an additional 25% contribution towards their council tax. This average at about £265 a year on the 26,000 poorest families of working age
Trees have been cut down to print 213 copies of a 302 page report with regards the Localised Council Tax, but at no stage I have seen in the report any suggestions about were the council could find 4.5 million to help the people that are already struggling. Last year, they wanted a Stadium for Cornwall and officers found 10 million....today, they struggle to make any suggestions...

 

So you might think that this had to happen, but that is not right... There were to options on the table today, one from the Conservatives to tax low earners at a time when they can least afford it. That other from the Liberal Democrats looked to retain the current system and to pay for this by cutting the spending on consultants and agency staff.
Cornwall Council currently spends more than £1 million a month on contsultants and agency staff. Some of this is absolutely essential - it is spending on social workers and call centre workers and the council could not function without them. But that total (according to the figures given to me by the council) is around £5 million out of the total of £13 million. So the council would still be able to save the money without threatening lifeline or essential services.

The Vote today shows just how heartless the Tories who run the council will be to protect their own, while attacking hard working families how need support to make ends meet.

Sheriff's of Nottingham

Please share this outline of what happened yesterday, when the people who are meant to be running Cornwall Council, got together to decide how much tax you should be charged next year.

Below is a press release about it followed by a few choice words from me!

-------- press realease -------

Cornwall Tories: Divided, Disruptive and Endangering Services say Lib Dems

Cornwall’s Liberal Democrats have slammed a divided and disruptive cabinet which is endangering essential services in Cornwall. The move comes after a full council meeting during which members of the administration were regularly arguing with each other.

“The Conservative led cabinet couldn’t agree among themselves about council tax benefit and they couldn’t agree about the budget,” said Cllr Jeremy Rowe, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Cornwall Council. “Cornish residents will rightly be asking what on earth is going on.”

“On the budget itself, it is clear that Cllr Ferguson, despite being the cabinet member responsible for the budget, does not agree with it. It appears that she will be proposing a wholesale change.”

“We are forced to ask how Cllr Ferguson can remain in the cabinet when she disagrees so completely with major aspects of Cornwall Council policy, including those within her own portfolio. Given that it is the Leader himself who is now writing and promoting the budget it may be that he could save some money by sacking Cllr Ferguson and using her special responsibility allowance to avoid some of the cuts.”

During today’s debate on council tax benefit, Fiona Ferguson, the cabinet member for finance, proposed an amendment that would draw money from the higher education bursary. This move was promptly rejected by Neil Burden, the cabinet member for schools, who apparently hadn’t even been consulted by his colleague.

Commenting on the proposal to strip funds from the higher education bursary, Cllr Geoff Brown, Lib Dem spokesman on Education,said:

“This is sheer madness. The bursary scheme was introduced to assist those young people from the poorest areas of Cornwall to access quality courses and thereby enhance their education and potential for a more prosperous and successful adult life. This is an investment in the future of Cornwall and brings to the scheme many millions of pounds of European funding. To plunder this scheme is like robbing Peter to pay Paul with the added negative matter of losing Cornwall a huge EU investment and I am delighted that Council saw fit to roundly reject it."

The lack of consultation extended far wider than simply among cabinet members. The Leader was forced to admit that he had talked to no organisations representing people affected by his proposal to slash council tax benefit, nor to any individuals likely to be affected. Cllr Fiona Ferguson complained that she “knew nothing about these people”.

Cllr Alex Folkes, Deputy Leader of the Lib Dem group, who proposed the amendment that would have protected council tax benefit said:

“Before Christmas I invited both Cllr Ferguson and Cllr Currie to come to Launceston to meet with people likely to be affected by their council tax benefit cut. Cllr Ferguson refused to come and Cllr Currie didn’t have the courtesy even to reply. I think that says a lot about the Conservative attitude to the least well off families in Cornwall.”

“The Liberal Democrat amendment would use the new income from cutting second home and empty home council tax loopholes to ensure there is no need for council tax benefit cuts. This amendment was narrowly defeated but we will be sticking to our position of protecting the poorest families in Cornwall and not trying to take money that they just don’t have.”

----------------- End of press release --------------

I will say to you what I said to them at full council on Tuesday: 

Having lived in Brazil, I have seen what happens when money is taken from people who don't have enough to get by, they become desperate and have nothing to loose. This causes is an increase in crime rates and violence among other things. I will not let that happen to my country, my electors, or to Cornwall! 

Postal voters, take your chance

Over the last few days postal votes for the Cornwall and Devon Police and Crime Commissioner have been delivered. This is a very important role and if the wrong person gets in things could get scary quickly. I am supporting Brian Blake who is a former policeman and is standing for the Liberal Democrats  If you are a postal vote, please use your vote!

The ballot for this position is happening on the 15th

We must stop DevonWall

Conservative plans are still in place to have a new parliamentary seat combining Cornwall and Devon (Bude will be part are this plan). I am working hard with my Lib Dem colleges to stop this, not because I don't like Devon (Devon is lovely), but because Devon and Cornwall are separate places with separate issues. They must be respected and have there own representation.

This is a case of the Tories playing politics with boundaries that have existed from time immemorial and they must be stopped. I will be talking to Dan Rogerson our local MP about this issue and I suggest you do the same.

you can email Dan on contact@danrogerson.org to let him know how you feel about Cornwall and Devon being kept separate!

Lib Dem Bloggs

As a Liberal Democrat I feel its really important to keep the electorate involved in what I'm doing. I really enjoy keeping local people up to date with some of the things I am doing as their Cornwall Councillor. It is only possible to post about a small fraction of what I am doing, I would not want to spend to much time blogging and not enough time working for my community :-)

If you would like to see what the Leader and Deputy leader of the Cornish Lib Dems are up to look here:

Cllr Jeremy Rowe Blogg - Leader of the Lib Dems
Cllr Alex Folkes Blogg - Deputy leader of the Lib Dems

Lib Dems acted with decorum

While the chaos and backstabbing was happening within the Conservatives and Independent groups regarding getting rid of Alec Robertson and replacing him, I am proud to say that the Lib Dems acted with extreme decorum.

Our leader Cllr Jeremy Rowe gave an very honest and subdued account of why the (then) leader of the council found himself in the position he was in. In a situation like we faced on Tuesday, Conservatives and Independents ripping themselves apart, it would have been easy for the Lib Dems to be vitriolic and join in with the attacks. I am glad to say that this did not happen and that we acted the professional manner the public would have asked for.

SERCO are leaving our area short

I have been working alongside other local Lib Dem councillors,Nigel Pearce and David Parsons, to fight to get back proper out-of-hours medical cover for our area. 

SERCOs decision earlier in the year to move the emergency doctor away from Stratton to Launceston left a lot of people facing real problems. Constituents who were having problems with the service, including

slow response times, misdiagnoses and long distance travelling late at night to see a GP, contacted us. I was concerned that the areas I represent were receiving an even worse service than the rest of Cornwall and we have been fighting their cases alongside trying to undo this terrible decision.

More than 200 people attended a public meeting and SERCO’s bosses were pressed to reconsider their decision, so that patients needn’t go all the way to Launceston or Bodmin to get out-of-hours care.

After a few meetings with SERCO, we agreed a 3hrs clinic Saturday and Sunday, but this is only a step forward. We want to make sure that we get the best possible local services. Nigel, David and myself are working with MP Dan Rogerson to monitor the service to ensure that we are getting an adequate cover out-of-hours for the area.

Minimum wage rise

Yesterday saw the coalition goverment raise of the minimum wage for people age twenty one and over from £6.08 to £6.19 an hour. I have to wonder if this would have happened without the Liberal Democrats in power?

Lets look at some of the facts:
The first national system of wage regulation was brought in by the Liberal Goverment in  1909.
The national minimum wage system we have now was brought in by the Labour goverment in 1999; it was supported by the Liberal Democarats and opposed by the Conservatives.

Click to read "the history of the uk's minimum wage" on Total Politics

Many Conservatives still oppose the minumim wage, they just don't shout about it very often! In 2009 a Conservative MP backed by a number of his colleges tried to introduce legislation that would water it down
click to read "minimum wage tory bill"

So the answer to my opening question is that we (the mortals) will never know, but my feeling is no, the Lib Dems were vital in this happening.