GOVERNMENT U-TURN ON BARMY PLANS TO DESTROY BUZZARD NESTS

The coalition government has performed another embarrassing u-turn on plans to destroy buzzard nests in order to protect pheasant shoots. The controversial proposals which involved spending £375,000 of public money on controlling birds of prey have now been shelved.

This is yet another example of the coalition proving how out of touch it is with public opinion.

How these plans made it off the drawing board is a mystery, even for this out of touch and predominantly pro-bloodsports Government. To think the general public would support spending hundreds of thousands of pounds destroying a native bird species to protect a non native bird reared for shooting purposes is ludicrous.

It is another example of this Government’s warped priorities. Not content with giving massive tax cuts to millionaires, they wanted to use public money to indulge the well-heeled green welly brigade’s penchant for blasting live targets for fun.

But the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs said the u-turn was made “in light of public concerns expressed in recent days”. It came to light following the announcement that documents produced by the Government acknowledged that it was actually unknown how many pheasant chicks were taken by buzzards and the decision was based on anecdotal evidence. You couldn’t make it up.

League Against Cruel Sports CEO, Joe Duckworth said: “It is a huge relief that this ridiculous decision has been overturned, but one can only wonder what madness will come next from the department supposedly tasked with protecting our rural environment.”

DEFRA has confirmed it will look at developing new research on buzzards before a further decision is taken.

NOW OUT OF TOUCH GOVERNMENT HAS FORCED DOCTORS INTO TAKING UNPRECEDENTED INDUSTRIAL ACTION

Doctors will take industrial action for the first time in almost 40 years over major changes to the NHS pension scheme, the BMA confirmed today (Wednesday 30 May, 2012). The first day of action will take place on 21 June 2012 and will see doctors providing all urgent and emergency care, but postponing non-urgent cases.


BMA Council made the decision after considering the results of its ballots on industrial action which closed yesterday. Overall, 50 per cent of the 104,544 doctors eligible to vote took part. Across separate ballots covering six branches of practice, a clear majority of: GPs; consultants; junior doctors; staff, associate specialist and speciality doctors, and public health and community health doctors said they were prepared to take part in both industrial action short of a strike and a strike, while a majority of occupational medicine doctors voted against industrial action.

Although the BMA’s planned action does not constitute a strike as the term is normally understood by the public, the two questions were asked in order to provide maximum legal protection. Doctors will still be at their usual workplaces.

The government has begun to implement major changes to the NHS pension scheme, despite widespread criticism of its approach from organisations representing health professionals. In 2008, the BMA, other health unions and the government negotiated a major reform of the NHS scheme, which all agreed made it fair and sustainable well into the future.

The NHS scheme currently delivers a positive cashflow of £2 billion a year to the Treasury, and NHS staff have already accepted responsibility for any future increases in costs due to improved longevity. The latest changes will see doctors paying up to 14.5 per cent of their salaries in pension contributions – twice as much as some other public sector staff on a similar salary in order to receive a similar pension. They will also have to work longer to receive their pension – up to 68 for younger doctors.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of Council at the BMA, said:

“We are taking this step very reluctantly, and would far prefer to negotiate for a fairer solution. But this clear mandate for action – on a very high turnout – reflects just how let down doctors feel by the government’s unwillingness to find a fairer approach to the latest pension changes and its refusal to acknowledge the major reforms of 2008 that made the NHS scheme sustainable in the long term.

“Non-urgent work will be postponed and, although this will be disruptive to the NHS, doctors will ensure patient safety is protected. All urgent and emergency care will be provided and we will work closely with managers so that anyone whose care is going to be affected can be given as much notice as possible. Patients do not need to do anything now.

“We will also run our own publicity campaign to make sure that members of the public understand what the action will involve and how they can find out what it might mean for them and their families.

“This is not a step that doctors take lightly – this is the first industrial action doctors have taken since 1975. We have consistently argued that the Government should reconsider its position, and even at this stage we would much prefer to negotiate a fairer deal than to take action. We are not seeking preferential treatment but fair treatment. The government’s wholesale changes to an already reformed NHS pension scheme cannot be justified.”

PLAN FOR JOBS AND GROWTH NEEDED NOT BEECROFT’S FIRE-AT-WILL MANIFESTO

The Tories showed themselves to be the same old ‘nasty party’ this week after revealing plans to make it easier for employers to sack their staff.

The Government-commissioned Beecroft report proposes allowing firms to fire their staff at will – something that will cause alarm for employees already facing great uncertainty in the current jobs market and economic climate.

The introduction of a ‘no fault dismissal’ procedure could result in people being fired almost instantaneously and for no valid reason. Adrian Beecroft, the report’s multi-millionaire venture capitalist author and Tory donor, admitted his proposals would mean that bosses could sack employees simply because they didn’t like them and that this was a “price worth paying”.

But these proposals actually risk damaging the economic recovery further as cutting employment rights could undermine the confidence of millions of employees who could subsequently limit their consumer spending for fear of losing their jobs.

The UK already has the most competitive employment regime in the world.

The Tories and Liberal Democrats are demonstrating just how out of touch they are; having tried to blame Britain’s businesses for the recession they are now blaming hard-working employees as well.

This Government’s failed plan has resulted in a double-dip recession made in Downing Street and 2.6 million people unemployed. But instead of admitting their mistakes they are making the incredulous claim that growth is being held back by the employment rights we all enjoy at work.

These are tough times and people in Derby are already worried about losing their jobs without the Tories making it even easier for them to be made unemployed.

This Government’s cuts have resulted in Derby City Council shedding over 1,000 jobs in the last two years. And the Government’s decision to build trains in Germany instead of Derby saw 1,400 Bombardier workers losing their job last year.

We all want to feel secure in our jobs but this Government’s plans are leading to even more anxiety for hard-working families who want to plan for their futures.

To end this recession made in Downing Street we need a proper plan for jobs and growth, not Beecroft’s fire-at-will manifesto.

MAKING PEOPLE LESS SECURE IN THEIR JOBS WON’T END RECESSION

Day in, day out, the Tories and their Lib Dem poodles show how out of touch they really are.

This week saw the publication of the Beecroft Report. Written by a Tory donor, the report recommended bosses be given the power to fire at will.

When challenged on the report at PMQs, David Cameron stood by it, demonstrating how out of touch he is.

These ‘fire at will’ proposals, where bosses could sack employees simply because they don’t like them, will make people more insecure and worried about what the future holds.

Instead of helping business, they will push consumer confidence and demand into reverse.

Employee rights in the work place are not the reason why we are in a recession. We’re in recession as a result of this Government’s failed economic policies.

Families and businesses have got enough to worry about at the moment, so these proposals are wide of the mark.

Britain wants real economic change and an economy that works for working people.

David Cameron is more out of touch than ever if he thinks these proposals are on the right track.

TORIES SHOULD TAKE THEIR OWN ADVICE AND WORK HARDER INSTEAD OF ATTACKING BRITISH BUSINESS

The Tory-led Government refuses to listen to teachers, nurses, the police and their own MPs and to that list we can now add British business too.

The Tories have traditionally liked to think of themselves of the ‘party of business’, self-deluded as that might be, but this self-regarding reputation now lies in the gutter following Foreign Secretary William Hague’s comments last weekend.

In an interview in a Sunday newspaper he suggested that the Government’s business critics should stop “complaining” and “get on with the task of delivering more of those jobs”. He added: “There’s only one growth strategy: work hard.”

The “complaining” that Hague referred to was that last week’s Queen’s Speech contained very little that would actually help British businesses. If the Government really does want a return to economic growth then perhaps it should work with the business community to foster a healthy private sector instead of attacking it for not working hard enough.

Comments such as Hague’s demonstrate just how out of touch this Tory-led Government is. We have a flat-lining economy, the first double-dip recession in 37 years, the worst unemployment in 16 years and the Government’s strategy is to attack the very people who are going to provide the jobs and growth to get us out of a recession that was made in Downing Street.

Instead of blaming everyone else for the Tories’ economic policy failures, Hague should redirect his advice and tell his own Government to “work harder” to support British business.

The truth is that the Tories’ policies and ideology are to blame for the stagnating economy and double-dip recession. They are still wedded to the out-dated notion that active government is a hindrance to economic growth and their own business policies (or lack thereof) reflect this.

Labour is determined to listen to British business and do what is necessary to get our economy moving again. This means taking note of people like John Longworth of the British Chambers of Commerce who supported our call for a British Investment bank to increase lending to small businesses and who said of the Queen’s Speech: “There is a big black hole when it comes to aiding businesses to create enterprise, generate wealth and grow”.

British businesses are crying out for an active industrial strategy where government steps up and works with business instead of just stepping aside. This is the kind of input that British businesses require if they are going to create the badly-needed jobs in areas like Derby. We’ve already seen how this Tory-Lib Dem Government betrayed Bombardier and now we have ministers simply telling businesses to work harder. What utter nonsense.

It is clear that this Government has completely lost the plot, is out of touch and is doing immense harm to our economy and the social fabric of our country.

The last thing British business needs is a lecture from this ideological and incompetent government.

SUPPORT IS GROWING FOR LABOUR’S ALTERNATIVE TO AUSTERITY

THE National Housing Federation says the Government can provide a fast and wide-ranging boost to the economy by investing in new affordable homes.


Investment in affordable housing would assist people languishing on housing waiting lists and provide a significant shot in the arm for sustained economic growth.

Calculations by the Federation show that an investment of £1 billion in building affordable homes has the potential to:

• Deliver up to 25,000 new homes for social rent, affordable rent and affordable home ownership

• Create as many as 37,000 jobs in the construction industry as well as 150,000 jobs in the wider supply chain, saving the taxpayer over £700m in Jobseekers Allowance and Housing Benefit payments and generating an additional £500m in income tax

• Contribute up to £11bn into the wider economy.

FAST IMPACT OF INVESTMENT

The economic benefits of investing in housing will be felt swiftly. The investment can be introduced and administered by the Homes and Communities Agency and delivered through existing housing association partners within four years.

The timescales involved are much shorter than for large scale infrastructure work. The Federation cites the Impact Assessment for HS2, which uses the year 2037 as the point for demonstrating the extent of economic benefits.

By comparison, Government figures show that over half of major residential planning permissions are decided upon within 13 weeks. Similarly, the build time for affordable housing projects is much shorter than for many other infrastructure projects. Homes are usually completed within two years. So, allowing for land assembly and site preparation, the growth illustrated above could be achieved within four years.

With a growing emphasis on the use of public land and increasing innovation being shown by local authorities, the federation believes that there is reason to believe the speed and scale of delivery could be improved further.

OTHER ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF NEW HOMES

The Federation points to a range of other positive economic impacts derived from investment in housing which are more difficult to quantify:

• There is a positive link between affordable housing supply and private housing completions. Affordable housing can encourage developers to bring forward sites and help improve their viability.

• The conversion of land to residential use can increase its market value. This will be immediately realised where homes are for sale. Where they are for rent, the greater asset value can be used to support borrowing for further investment.

• Increasing housing supply can also improve labour market dynamics, allowing people to move home to take jobs, improve skills and widen employment opportunities.

• Affordable housing can help remedy wider social and health costs and reduce burdens on public spending as people are given opportunities to find a home more suitable to their needs.

• Public investment offers greater benefit to those on lower incomes than to those who are well off. This is especially relevant for investment in affordable housing. This can mean that people will have more disposable income after housing costs, which in turn boosts spending in the local and national economy.

With increasing support for Labour’s demands for economic growth, it remains to be seen how long the Tory-Lib Dem Government holds the line on its disastrous austerity programme.

POLICE PUT TO THE SWORD BY OUT OF TOUCH TORIES

I HAVE not been afraid to voice my concerns over the scale and speed of the cutbacks being applied by the Tory-Lib Dem government over the last two years.

They have cut deep and they have cut far and wide. From councils to community groups, very few people have managed to carry on as normal in the face of such savage attacks on services.

Indeed, it is only the very richest people, millionaires and those paid extortionate salaries, who have escaped David Cameron’s sword.

But you really start worrying when the reality of those cuts is fewer police officers on the street. Understandably, chief constables up and down the land are up in arms over how they are expected to defend their communities against crime.

And that is a reality we now face.

Last week, police officers from my Derby North constituency and from across the country descended on London to march in protest against the 20 per cent cuts to their funding.

When will the government stop and listen to the professionals who are trying so desperately to make their voices heard?

An incredible 16,200 police officers will be cut nationally by 2015. That is a huge number. Put it another way, that’s half the population of a town like Lichfield, or just under a tenth of the population of a city like York.

Five per cent of officers in Derbyshire who respond to 999 calls have gone already. In total, 154 officers have been lost from the county so far, part of a regional figure topping 600.

Incredibly, these cutbacks come at a time when the government is looking to shake up the way police forces are run. Police authorities will be a thing of the past, with Police Commissioners, a bit like county-wide sheriffs, due to be elected in November.

The argument about the sanity of that particular move has been and gone. But whether it is right or wrong, it surely makes no sense at all to massively deplete the Police Commissioners’ resources before they’ve even started.

What hope do they have?

Fear of crime continues to be an issue in communities across Derby and Derbyshire, and sapping our police force is hardly the answer.

The Tory-Lib Dem alliance was not elected on this ticket. It has no mandate to do this and the Government should think again.

MINISTERS WHO DISMISS ANIMAL RIGHTS AS UNIMPORTANT ARE MISSING THE POINT

WHEN a charity like the RSPCA feels the need to express its concern over the government’s performance, it makes you realise just how far David Cameron’s fast and furious cuts programme is hitting.

As an MP, I am inevitably more focused on the damage down to individuals and communities by the government’s flawed economic policy and seemingly shameless attacks on public services.

But as somebody who has had a keen interest in animal welfare throughout my life, I found the RSPCA’s “school report on Government achievement” to be a real eye-opener.

The assessment was unprecedented and the results were shocking.

It scored the government in 11 areas – with just three of them being awarded a ‘C’ or above and none receiving an ‘A’.

For an organisation like the RSPCA to feel strongly enough to take this step is clear evidence that there is a case for the Government to answer.

There will be some Ministers who dismiss this as unimportant in the context of the economy and the Government’s cuts programme. They are missing the point entirely.

Far from being unimportant, it demonstrates precisely how the Government’s focus on its appalling and unsympathetic slash and burn programme means it is taking no account of what is actually happening out there.

Animal welfare is important, and the Government would do well to listen to what the RSPCA is telling them. But as the Prime Minister is a keen fox hunter and most Tory MPs support bloodsports, it is hardly surprising that this Government’s record on animal welfare is so abysmal.

By contrast the last Labour Government stopped giving licenses to test finished cosmetic products; banned fur farming; criminalised hunting with dogs; passed the Animal Welfare Act and ensured no great apes (chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas) were used in experiments in the UK during Labour’s 13 years in office.

Anyone concerned about animal welfare should consider joining Labour to help us resist this cruel coalition and keep CRUELty hisTORY.

MORE URGENCY NEEDED ON SOCIAL CARE

The many local organisations and constituents who’ve come to talk to me about social care worries will be disappointed to hear that David Cameron is kicking this important issue into the long grass.

Our adult social care system urgently needs reform, including how we fund care in the future.  David Cameron had previously committed to introducing legislation “to establish a sustainable legal and financial framework for adult social care”.  But David Cameron has only committed to publish draft legislation, with no commitment to introduce a Bill on legal and financial reform in this session.

Organisations like Saga and Age UK are right to be disappointed by what’s been announced because they know how urgent the care crisis is.

Over £1 billion has been cut from local council budges for adult social care since the government came to power and the system has now reached breaking point.

Labour believes this issue is too urgent to kick into the long grass. We initiated cross-party talks on social care funding and we are pushing for urgent progress in them. If the Government is serious about solving the crisis in care and giving older and disabled people the care and they deserve, they must act now.

What’s on the table is simply not good enough.  These Tories and their Lib Dem poodles are an utter disgrace.  They torpedoed Labour's attempts to resolve this issue before the last election, pulling out of cross party discussions and misrepresenting what was being proposed.

The country is paying a heavy price for electing these ideologues.  The Tories have never served the country well and always make life harder for the nation's most vulnerable people.  Labour may not always get everything right, but our instincts are to stand up for the majority, whereas as the Tories' instincts are to look after the privileged minority.  David Cameron has had the good fortune to be given support from Nick Clegg's Lib Dems to inflict this ongoing austerity misery.

For the sake of Britain's future prosperity and our cherished public services, particularly social care for elderly people, the General Election cannot come soon enough.  Meanwhile, it will be up to Labour local authorities like Derby to protect communities from the ravages of this cruel coalition.

QUEEN’S SPEECH SHOWS GOVERNMENT STILL OUT OF TOUCH

MPs returned to Westminster this week to hear Her Majesty the Queen set out the Government’s plans for the coming year in the State Opening of Parliament.

A grand occasion indeed, with lots of pomp and ceremony – but the Tory-led Government’s plans for Britain are deeply out of touch with what businesses, families and the jobless need.

“No change, no hope” was the message of this Queen’s Speech. For a young person looking for work, this speech offered no hope. For a family whose living standards are being squeezed, this speech offered no hope. For a small business which can’t get money from the bank, this speech offered no hope.

This is the speech that was supposed to be the Government’s answer to the clear message from the electorate last week. But on this evidence, they still don’t get it.

The Government says people have turned against them because they don’t understand the plan for the economy. It’s not the Government’s communications strategy that is the problem – it’s their failure.

The fact is David Cameron and Nick Clegg promised recovery, but they have delivered recession. We have the worst unemployment in 16 years, over a million young people out of work and the first double-dip recession in 37 years. A recession made in Downing Street – and this Queen’s Speech that did nothing to change that.

We needed action that put building an economy that works for working people centre stage. It should have been a boost to family living standards.

It was none of these things – which shows how seriously out of touch this Government really is.

THIS GOVERNMENT IS OUT OF TOUCH ON FIRE SAFETY

THE Tory Fire Minister, Bob Neill has demonstrated how out of touch with reality he is after turning a blind eye to devastating fire service cuts.

Despite Prime Minister David Cameron’s pledge to protect frontline services, thousands of firefighter jobs will be axed as fire authorities up and down the land struggle to make their budgets balance.

In addition to the job losses, dozens of engines will be scrapped and scores of stations closed down with 36 out of 45 fire services nationwide affected.

But despite the enormous cutbacks, Mr Neill refused to admit public safety was being placed at risk I challenged him in the House of Commons.

Instead, Mr Neill retorted: “A lot of fire and rescue authorities are making the savings not by cutting firefighter posts or reducing fire stations, but through shared operations, better joint working and, interestingly, amended shift practices.”

But chief fire officers across the land have admitted that they fear being unable to deliver statutory services as a result of the cuts.

The Fire Minister is either totally out of touch with reality or being deliberately obtuse. He can spout nonsense about shared operations and joint working all he pleases, but it is an inescapable fact that there will be thousands fewer firefighters as a result of his cuts.

We’ve seen this Government bulldoze through their plans on the NHS, we’ve seen police forces scaled back, and now we’re seeing fire services decimated.

The reality is that this Government’s savings are coming so thick and fast that they are simply not achievable without destroying services.

The most terrifying thing is that the cuts have been ‘backloaded’ – so what we’ve seen so far is likely to be a drop in the ocean compared to the devastation being planned for the next two years.

I’M BACKING DERBYSHIRE’S PROTESTING POLICE OFFICERS

DERBYSHIRE police officers who join today’s (Thursday 10 May 2012) march against Government funding cuts will do so with my support.

Police officers from across the land are due to descend on London to in an unprecedented campaign against the huge cuts to police numbers.

Leading police officers fear public safety is at risk as constabularies face up to massive frontline reductions in the face of 20 per cent budget cuts.

Some 16,000 police officer jobs will go, with 5,000 posts in 999 response units having been axed already.

The strength of feeling among the police officers I have spoken to is simply overwhelming.

Here we have people who put themselves in challenging situations day after day because they are committed to their jobs, to fighting crime and to making our communities safer.

The Government cuts are massively undermining the fantastic job these men and women do, so it’s hardly surprising they feel anxious and determined to fight it.

I’m 100 per cent behind their campaign and will support any Derbyshire police officer who chooses to join the protest.

The strength of feeling shown by police officers is not the first occasion where professionals have come out in protest against Government cuts.

Chief Fire Officers have spoken out about similar cuts to their service while medical professionals have expressed grave fears about the Government’s controversial health reforms.

Isn’t it about time this Government asked the professionals for their views before ploughing on ahead with its reckless campaign of cuts, cuts and more cuts?

It seems that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrat allies are so determined to make these savings, almost out of stubborn belligerence, that they’re no longer prepared to listen to reason.

When Labour left office in 2010 there were record numbers of police on the street, over 16,500 more than in 1997. The record number of police officers contributed to crime falling by 43 per cent under Labour and the chance of being a victim of crime was at the lowest since records began.

Labour’s proportionate cuts plan of 12 per cent across a Parliament was shown by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, and work by the previous Government, to be deliverable without impacting on frontline services.

Instead of cutting £1bn, the government is cutting £2bn with the steepest cuts in the first two years - and that is why so many valued frontline police officers are being lost.

HOUSING UPHEAVAL CAN BE TRACED BACK TO MARGARET THATCHER’S GOVERNMENT

IF further evidence was needed that the Government is destroying our communities then it came by the bucket load with plans to relocate hundreds of housing benefit claimants.

Councils across London are desperately searching for a solution now that the housing benefit cap has made it impossible for some of the capital’s poorest residents to stay in their homes.

First we heard of plans to move residents to Stoke, Hull and parts of Yorkshire.

But the revelation that Westminster Council planned to ship up to 150 of its residents to Derby and Nottingham really brought the issue home in more ways than one.

I have no beef with Westminster Council, and that it is Conservative-run is of no concern here. Indeed, Labour-run councils are faced with a similar predicament and are having to make the same sort of plans.

What angers me, though, is that David Cameron and his Government don’t seem to give a second thought to the very real impact on people here.

My first reaction to the news, as a Derby person born and bred, was concern for our city’s residents already on the housing waiting list, and the impact this would have on them.

That remains a worry.

But it was considering this fiasco from another perspective that really put into perspective how out of touch the Government is with the damage it is doing to our society.

What about those families involved? Most are likely to be as passionate about being from London as I am about being from Derby. How will they feel about being forced hundreds of miles away from the only place they know as home?

And what about the children involved? Ripped from their schools, their friends and the hearts of their communities, for no better reason than the Government charged with protecting them has thrown them into poverty.

At every level, it is shameful state of affairs – resulting directly from yet another Government saving which targets the poorest.

It is an utterly disgraceful result of an ill-thought out policy designed to hit the poorest and most vulnerable.

What the Government should be doing is addressing the inadequate supply of affordable housing and the spiralling levels of private sector rents.

It is worth remembering that it was the Conservatives who said it didn’t matter if rent levels increased because “housing benefit would take the strain”.

It was the Conservatives who moved housing subsidies away from building affordable homes to funding higher rents through housing benefit.

And it was the Conservatives who sought to stigmatise social housing.

Now we have a housing crisis which is entirely the fault of an ideologically driven decision by Margaret Thatcher’s Government to smash council housing. The Tory Party ideologues recognised that council tenants tended to vote Labour and embarked on a policy of naked gerrymandering.

Switching housing subsidies from bricks and mortar into housing benefit also allowed private landlords to cash in on this new publicly funded cash cow. And cash in they did. Rogue private landlords couldn’t believe their luck. Many of them became millionaires courtesy of the Conservatives inequitable use of public money.

Thirty years later, their catastrophic legacy is resulting in these desperate measures by London councils like Westminster.

But what I find so ghastly about this whole sorry saga is the utter duplicity of this Tory-Lib Dem Government that justifies its actions by blaming the victims of a previous administration’s policy failure.

That is why we must address the inadequate supply of affordable housing and the crazy housing subsidy system that still supports high rents in the private sector – in spite of the benefit cap – rather than building new affordable homes.