Stafford Greens at Anti-Cuts March

Among the estimated 500,000 trade unionists, campaigners and individuals who marched through London in support of public services and alternatives to the cuts last Saturday were members of Stafford and Stone Green Party, including a prospective local election candidate for the Forebridge ward, Lisa Pearce.

The protesters believe we are being misled into thinking that cuts in public services are unavoidable and that they will help clear the deficit. But experts have warned that cuts will harm the economy, not help it and that the resulting unemployment will lead to the Government raising less in taxes and paying out more in benefits.

Green MP Caroline Lucas proposes tackling the deficit by increasing taxes for the very wealthy, introducing a ‘Robin Hood’ tax on financial transactions, clamping down on the billions lost through tax evasion and tax avoidance (over £100 billion), and scrapping projects such as the Trident nuclear weapons programme.

By encouraging investment in the Green New Deal, energy saving measures, renewable energy, public transport, waste reduction and local food, they could create jobs, reduce bills and boost our economy.

The marchers and speakers were there to call for alternative measures such as these to tackle the deficit.

Lisa said “This event showed how much support there is for  an alternative to the cuts agenda. Only the Green Party is offering genuine opposition to the cuts originally proposed by Labour and carried out by the ConDem coalition.”

Commenting on the violence which broke out in London later that evening Lisa said “I do not condone this vandalism in any way. We must not allow a tiny minority of people who were intend on making trouble to distract us from the outstanding demonstration of opposition to the cuts agenda this march showed exists.”

Lisa Pearce, with son Jack, at the anti-cuts protest on 26th March

Greens Spring Clean Litter Pick

Green Party and Community Volunteers Clean Up Stafford Streets

 

Members of local communities around Stafford took advantage of the warm weather and joined in a Spring Clean Litter Pick organised by the Green Party last weekend. Around a dozen volunteers gave up half of last Saturday and Sunday to give the Castletown, Wolverhampton Road, Queensville and Warwick Road areas a thorough clean up.

 

Tom Harris, 37, one of the Green Party’s Forebridge team told us “In recent months we have conducted a survey of residents’ views and litter was a very common complaint. We decided to take action and after a total of eight hours we collected over twenty large bin bags full of litter. We also came across several cases of dog fouling and broken bins and reported them to the council.

 

“We had a great response from residents – some even brought us cups of tea! Everyone found picking the litter surprisingly enjoyable and seeing the bags full of litter really made our day. It is great to see community spirit working to improve the streets of Stafford.

 

“The litter pick was such a success that we now plan on doing three every year – in spring, summer and autumn. If any residents would like to join us or help organise a litter pick in their area we would be delighted to hear from them.”

 

Litter collected in Castletown

MPs Continue to Undermine the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

This is another of those many worrying stories of MPs, many of whom were found with their noses deep in the trough in the expenses scandal in 2009, complaining loudly that the new organisation designed to restore public trust in the MPs expenses system is unfair and must be reformed.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) has been heavily attacked by many of those whose disgraceful behaviour it was designed to reign in, not least by my namesake Tom Harris, the Labour MP for Glasgow South, who seems to be the most active in bemoaning the unfairness of a system where people employed to do a job are expected to pay for their expenses up front and claim them back later (the cheek of the idea! That never happens in real life, does it now?!). To me, Mr Harris’s tone sounds like that of a public schoolboy complaining about the unfairness of an unfair spotted dick and custard regime – pathetic at best and certainly wholly inappropriate for an MP.

Today I read of yet more grumbling from MPs, so I thought I had better write to my MP to seek his opinion on what I and many others see as his colleagues terrible behaviour.

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Dear Jeremy Lefroy,

firstly – a very happy new year and I wish you the best of health and happiness for 2011.
I read with great concern of your colleague Roger Gale MP’s disparaging remarks about the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) and his call for its chairman Sir Ian Kennedy to resign. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mps-condemn-expenses-watchdog-2176369.html

Do you agree with me that his protestations seem particularly misplaced given that Ipsa was set up to repair the devastating damage done to Parliament by the expenses scandal? And do Mr Gale’s comments not look especially inappropriate coming from an MP whose record appears to make him one of the least active? Mr Gale took part in only 18 debates and received answers to 20 written questions last year, below average for MPs and a very poor showing when compared to your own participation in 35 debates and answers to 80 written questions. Can you also confirm for me that Susan Gabrielle Marks is Mr Gale’s third wife and that she is employed as a secretary in his office? Can you see how some people may liken Mr Gale’s remarks to those of a pig simply complaining about a barrier between him and a trough?

David Cameron also seems to misunderstand the nature and purpose of Ipsa, particularly the ‘Independent’ part of it. Last month Mr Cameron said “There needs to be a better system in place by April or there will be change – that is, Ipsa changes or it will change.”, which is a worrying position, I am sure you will agree, given the severity of the issue with the sleazy image which the MPs expenses scandal has tarnished Parliament with.

I would be most grateful if you would share you opinions with me on this matter, in particular whether you agree with me that Mr Gale and Mr Cameron are undermining the vital role Ipsa has to play in restoring trust in British politics and that they should stop and apologise immediately.

Yours sincerely,
Tom Harris

Take Advantage of “Big Tree Plant Grant” says Green Campaigner

PRESS RELEASE

Take Advantage of “Big Tree Plant Grant” says Green Campaigner

Green campaigner Tom Harris has called on Stafford Borough Council and community groups to take advantage of a new funding scheme to plant new trees across the city. The ‘Big Tree Plant’ scheme is offering £4 million in government grants for planting new trees in areas where people live and work. Community groups can apply for funds, and can partner with local councils to make the bids.

Mr Harris, 36, said “In today’s cash-strapped age, this is a fantastic opportunity. New trees add a splash of colour, are a haven for wildlife and provide a breath of fresh air. Many areas streets could really benefit for generations to come.

“This could be a great way for people to get together with their neighbours and local community groups to plant and care for more trees and improve the local environment for everyone.

“I would love it a scheme created by Green Party councillors in Kirklees, Yorkshire, could be replicated here. A thousand school children each planted a tree and its GPS location was recorded, so that as they grow up and become adults, those youngsters will always be able to find ‘their’ tree. Building this kind of link to our local environment can be so valuable to us all.”

ENDS

Further info – http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestry.nsf/byunique/INFD-8BHLV4!OpenDocument&Click=

Letter to the Editor – Public Question Time

Dear Sir,

I wonder how many of your readers are aware that members of the public are able to place questions to Committees of Stafford Borough Council, which may then be read out and answered by Councillors at official meetings. This is known as the ‘Public Question Time’.

I took advantage of this little-known facility recently when I put a question to the Community Scrutiny Committee, which was to debate the proposal to reduce the number of Councillors and tenants on the Board of Stafford and Rural Homes from five each to just two each, something I found deeply concerning.

I asked whether such a move would change the balance of the board fundamentally and, were it to go ahead, whether it would have been a betrayal of the original concept of equal partnership.

I attended the meeting and read out my question in person, listened to the reply and went on my way. Whether that action helped fuel debate or even tip the balance of opinion, I will never know. However, at a full Council meeting a few days later a majority of Councillors voted to reject the proposals – something almost unheard of, as this means ‘backbench’ Conservatives must have voted against their own leadership.

In the spirit of healthy democracy for our town, I would urge any member of the public who has a question to put to Council committees to contact their Councillors, who should be pleased to help. You never know, it may just make all the difference.

Yours sincerely,

Tom Harris

Stafford and Stone Green Party

 

Note to the Editor:

The agendas and minutes of the Community Scrutiny Committee can be found here - http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/demserv/meetings/group/id/7661FBF6-4BCC-47D1-A52B-494C56852062

The agenda containing my question is here - http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/document/id/402A3E55-C581-4A13-A126-ABDE1E1DE149

And the minutes here - http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/document/id/0C695662-77E2-4486-8805-164313DD8535

Bus Cuts Press Release

Press Release – 26/11/10

Stafford Green Condemns Government Bus Cuts

Reacting to reports of cuts to services and job losses at the bus company Arriva, transport campaigner and Green Party spokesperson Tom Harris raised concerns about mobility for people who rely on public transport, especially the elderly.

Mr Harris told us “This is a very sad day for Stafford. We have all been expecting the loss of services and jobs since the Spending Review, but for many this will be first time the cuts actually start to affect their lives directly. To me and, I am sure, to many other Staffordians, it seems terribly unfair for people who have no choice other than to use bus services to be paying the price for the excesses and failures of bankers.“

“I fell that as a society we should be protecting the right for those reliant on public transport to get about. As well as being devastating for the drivers losing their jobs, these cuts will leave many elderly people trapped in their homes when they previously were able to get out and about. It is grotesquely unfair that in this day, with our huge relative wealth, we look to reducing the quality of life of those who need the most support to pay off debts.

A resident of Castletown, Mr Harris has spearheaded the STAR (Stop The Access Road) campaign, which opposes County Council plans to link the Newport Road with Foregate Street in order to make way for thousands of new houses to be built near the Castlefields estate. Mr Harris, 36, has repeated called for fresh thinking to solve the town’s traffic problem and says cuts to bus services will make matters worse.

“The dire traffic situation is the number one issue in Stafford – there are simply too many vehicles for the roads to cope with. Shops and businesses are suffering and the town is becoming less and less attractive to investors who would otherwise be creating much needed jobs here.

“These cuts are taking us in exactly the wrong direction. Stafford needs a better, more frequent and more affordable bus service, with more investment – not less. I understand that when it is completed, County Council employees working in the new Tipping Street offices will be expected to pay hundreds of pounds every year for a parking permit. We should be in a position where Stafford’s workers prefer to leave their cars at home because taking the bus was cheaper and more convenient.

I will continue to work towards better public transport in Stafford and practical solutions to the town’s dire traffic issues.”

 

Conservative and Labour MPs are weaving the explicit support of criminal behaviour into the fabric of British democracy

If you or I knowingly tell a lie which is later exposed as being such, but we choose to defend our actions, what would that say about our character?

If you or I were found to have lied on an application for a job we were then successful in getting it would come as no surprise to anyone if we were then sacked. After all, knowingly misleading in that situation is clearly wrong and is not to be tolerated.

Imagine what would happen if you or I were found to have lied in a statement to the police, as part of an expensive trial which cost the taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds which later collapsed because of our dodgy evidence. It would only stand to reason that we would rightfully face serious scorn from our peers and punishment from the authorities.

Over recent days the sight and sound of Labour and Conservative MPs lending the disgraced former-MP Phil Woolas their support has sharply impressed on me how, despite the recent expenses scandal, many of Britain’s MPs still put themselves and their parties before the execution of the duties they were elected to do.

Phil Woolas was found guilty of knowingly telling lies in an election leaflet which internal memos have revealed were clearly designed to motivate white voters into backing him at the ballot box.

A reminder: Phil Woolas kept his the seat for Oldham East and Saddleworth after defeating the Liberal Democrat candidate, Elwyn Watkins, by only 103 votes. Watkins thought he would have won if Woolas had not told lies about him. Watkins sued under the Representation of the People Act. Two High Court judges examined the evidence and found Woolas had indeed told lies about Watkins character. The Act required them to overturn the result, eject Woolas from Parliament and ban him from elected office for three years.

71% of the public believe it was right for the courts to oust Phil Woolas, with only 7% believing it was wrong to do so.  http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/2870

In the House of Commons on 8^th November, Conservative MP Edward Leigh said: “I think there are massive constitutional issues that this House should debate. It is the first time in 99 years that a member has been evicted. It is for the people to evict MPs not judges and what worries me about this is, it will become virtually impossible to have robust debates in elections.”

How can the Conservative Party be so relaxed about Mr Leigh questioning the duty of judges to uphold the laws of this country? This is extraordinary.

Now, if the law were to find you or me guilty of such blatant offences, such as telling lies in a job application, would we then expect friends and co-workers to go on television and radio to loudly complain that the judgement is unfair and would negatively impact on all other job applications in the future? Of course not.

Would our now ex-colleagues organise a whip round from our fellow professionals to fight an appeal? Unlikely, but that is what many Labour MPs have done, generating Phil Woolas a reported £30,000 fund.

Even Gordon Brown and Cherie Blair have written to Woolas expressing their support. How sickening is that? The rot goes all the way to the top.

This sordid affair reminds me of how lucky I was to have been involved in a thoroughly clean, honest and respectful election campaign here in Stafford, where, I am pleased to report, solid principles and the true spirit of democracy appear to be alive and well.

So, for any Tory or Labour MPs reading, let me make this clear – any MP who does not expressly condemn Woolas’s actions, especially in light of the court ruling against him, is weaving the explicit support of criminal behaviour into the fabric of British democracy. This will not do and we, the electorate, must not stand for it.

My suggestion to you is to consider voting for a party which is not corrupted by a desperate greed for power which has reduced its elected representatives to backing criminal activity. Green politicians naturally come from an angle of putting principle before profit, because we know this is the only way of achieving the Party’s aims of a safe and just future. We are also a Party which simply does not tolerate Woolas-stlye hypocrisy. When Green Party’s leader Caroline Lucas MP was an MEP she was seen to be the most transparent with her expenses of all UK MEPs – http://www.openeurope.org.uk/media-centre/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=110

The Green Party does not take donations from wealthy off-shore Lords who refuse to pay UK taxes after having agreed to do so, nor is the Green Party funded by lobbying groups and multinational corporations with profits in mind at the cost of society and the environment.

Rather than making a decision based on tactical expectations which often prove to have been ill-founded, if more people went with their conscience and voted Green then perhaps the kind of immoral behaviour which seems so acceptable in other parties would cease to have such fertile ground.

Further reading and listening:

If you can, have a listen to Conservative and Labour MPs defending Woolas and breaking the law from around 15:30  - http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/vv0dv/ (Week in Westminster 13^th November 2010), or you may find it here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/wpr

One racially inflammatory leaflet which was part of Phil Woolas’s campaign – http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/10/11/why-phil-woolas-is-unfit-to-be-in-the-labour-shadow-cabinet/

Rail Upgrades Highlight a Lack of Joined-Up Transport Thinking

Network Rail have announced plans to upgrade the Norton Bridge junction which serves the West Coast Main Line.

You might be forgiven for thinking that increasing capacity on the rail network would be something to celebrate, and, of course, it is. But, while I naturally welcome sensible investment in rail infrastructure, these plans again highlight the mess that privatisation made of our railways. The last Labour government completely failued to address the problems and the current government’s plans appear disastrous.

Network Rail say that demand for passenger services going through Norton Bridge is expected to increase by up to 60% over the next 15 years.

Network Rail, which owns the tracks, is completely separate to the train operators and there is no joined-up thinking – imagine a person trying to do a complex manual task, only their left hand has no control over what the right hand is doing.

Under their franchise agreements, train operators are required to use “reasonable endeavours” to give peak passengers “a reasonable expectation of a seat within 20 minutes of boarding”.

Overcrowding on trains is already at an unacceptable level, the companies which operate the trains refuse to add more carriages and there is nothing anyone can do about it. The government could give more taxpayers’ cash to the operators to pay for more carriages, but subsidies are set to decrease considerably.

Many hundreds of millions of pounds are spent every single year on negotiating contracts with rail operators and £9bn is being invested in infrastructure, but the trains are packed like sardine tins on wheels and passengers are going to have to pay lots more for the privilege.

This is a farcical situation.

Because of the coalition government’s spending revue rail fares are set to rise by double-digit percentages every year until 2015. Commuters are looking at a 30 – 40% increase in their season ticket prices. This will force more people into their cars, meaning yet more congestion, carbon emissions, asthma-causing pollution and the added health risks from the stress of commuting by car.

The Green Party wants to see the complete renationalisation of the railways, re-regulation of the buses and really joined-up thinking in the transport as a whole. We need to have the transport system profiting the nation and not the other way round.

Spot the deliberate mistake

There are lots of litter bins around in Stafford, which is a very good thing. Here is one which is right up at the top of Stafford Castle.

Do you notice anything unusual in this photo? Scroll down to reveal the error!

 

Spot the deliberate mistake

 

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The Stafford knot is upside down! Doh! I wonder how many of these are around the town. I bet someone at Stafford Borough Council, at some point, has said “Doh!” about this already.

Spending Review – Press Release

“A Disaster For Jobs”

The Green Party’s Tom Harris has called George Osborne’s comprehensive spending review a “disaster for jobs” and has again argued that the cuts could have been avoided by the introduction of a fairer tax system.

“Around 24% of people in the West Midlands work in the public sector and now around 100,000 of their jobs could go. The knock-on effects will mean at least as many jobs also being lost in the private sector. The government’s own figures admit this is a disaster for jobs.”

“At 40%, my home town of Stafford has the highest level of public sector employment in the region, but these cuts mean councils will have nearly a third less money to spend in 2015 than they do today. For thousands who work in the area and many youngsters still in education, this will ruin their lives for years to come, because enough new jobs simply won’t be created quickly enough.

“We need a fair tax regime”

“The chancellor singled out benefit cheats for attack, but has done nothing about tax cheats? The official figures show that benefit fraud costs around £1 billion a year, but tax evasion costs the country £15 billion every year.

“These cuts will hit the poorest ten percent the hardest. Decent, honest people who are already struggling to make ends meet will lose benefits, essential services and even their homes.

“If the government restored the top tax rate to the 60 per cent level that we had even under Margaret Thatcher, rather than the 40 per cent it is now, this alone would raise £19 billion a year. Instead of devastating cuts we need a fair tax regime.”

Mr Harris concluded:

“This Conservative-LibDem coalition government is undermining the economy while hitting the most vulnerable – and all, incredibly, under the banner of fairness.”