Conservatives
Blog
Saturday 4 July
Posted by David Cameron, MP for Witney, Friday, July 3 2009
David Cameron looks at how, by working together on social action projects, we can deliver real change.
I hope you've had a good week, watching Wimbledon and enjoying the sunshine.
I've had a really fast-paced few days, giving an interview for Helen Newlove on her new radio station, delivering a big speech at the Local Government Association conference, and doing everything I can to get Gordon Brown to be honest about his spending cuts.
But one of the most important things that happened this week was the Conservative Party's Social Action conference. It's hard to imagine us holding this kind of event three or four years ago. But social action is now a big part of the Party and it's got a really important role to play.
There are around 150 Conservative-led projects up and down the country. These aren't token PR efforts - they're tough, useful and important schemes which make a real difference to communities. We've got mentoring, sports, and environmental programmes here in Britain, as well as development projects planned for the summer in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Srebrenica.
Watch the video from our 2008 social action project in Rwanda
It's my hope that the social action undertaken by the Conservative Party is the start of something much bigger in terms of changing the way we do politics in this country. It's about making politics relevant, inspiring new people to get involved, and showing that by working together, we can deliver real change.
Have a great weekend.
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Posted by Boris Johnson , Mayor, Friday, July 3 2009
Boris Johnson looks at the ways Gordon Brown is raiding London's budget to keep himself in power.
There's something rather odd going on. Imagine you are sitting at home, having a quiet night in. Maybe you are letting Eastenders seep into your room, allowing it to effortlessly flow around you- not much bothered by it, content merely to be. Then you hear a muffled sound coming from the wall. At first, you don't really notice it. Then it starts to sound distinctly like raised voices.
Short of holding a glass up against the wall, you mute the T.V and try to make out what is being argued about. However much you strain to hear- you can't make out a single word. All you know for sure is there's an argument. A big one.
So it is with the current row over public spending. Dave and Gordon slug it out each week, I throw my toast at the radio every morning as yet another Labour Minister trots out the fiction that they will increase spending indefinitely. But the words behind that noise are rather important.
However much the Government try to block out the truth, everyone knows one thing- the country is damn near bust and anyone who thinks they can continue spending money that doesn't exist is living in cloud cuckoo land.
Well, Londoners, now it's time to smash that wall down and absorb the subsequent clarity.
It turns out that our city is being stung to fund another one of Brown's attempts to persuade us that his credit is good. He recently announced a load of cash for affordable housing. Great, you may think. Except he has raided our budget by £22 million, money that was there to help small businesses and the unemployed.
And no, he didn't ask me first.
So that is money (scarce as it is) that could have been spent on getting London through the recession. Instead, it's going into the Keep Gordon In Power fund.
I'm now keeping a closer eye on my other budgets, and tracking Peter Mandleson's Oyster card just in case. (Ok, I can't really do that and nor would I want to- civil libertarians be assured)
The truth is that London is going to come under severe pressure from any Government, red or blue. We've got a fair wedge of cash, but the point I'll be making to everyone (including Dave) is that we need it. Here's why.
London generates a minimum of £8 billion more cash for the country than it receives in public spending. So, investing in things like Crossrail will mean we have the capacity for more office space, more companies moving to London and more jobs as a result. More money floods into the economy, and thus helps restore health to the national finances.
I won't startle you with a Brownian stat attack, but here's one set of figures I want you to take away. The budget for Crossrail is £15.9 billion. Excessive, some might protest. But our figures show that the benefits to the U.K economy exceed £36 billion, with tax revenues that will pay for the scheme in the long run. Now that is bang for your buck and that is why investment in the things that will get our country through the recession must be protected.
Everyone knows times will be tough. We all have to prepare for spending cuts, regardless of who is in government. It's no longer ideological- it's reality. So instead of spraying money everywhere, you need to fire short sharp bursts in the right places. That place, my friends, is London. Like a dog with a bone, they'll have to do some fairly rigorous wresting before I allow a single penny to be relinquished.
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Posted by Dr Kay Swinburne MEP, MEP, Friday, July 3 2009
Kay Swinburne looks at how we can keep the momentum going in Wales after our European election success.
If ever there was a reward for hard work then the recent European election results in Wales were it!
The campaign was planned and run for over a year and candidates and members up and down Wales did their bit. With tens of thousands of miles driven, two cars written off and many early morning starts (and early morning finishes) “Team Wales” achieved what the Welsh media a year ago never thought possible – to beat Labour in Wales.
We have an army of volunteers to be proud of and local Councillors, Assembly Members, MPs and all the staff of Central Office Wales to credit for delivering the message to our communities. Unfortunately, despite our champion efforts my campaign partner Evan Price will not be joining me in Brussels. But for a late surge in UKIP voting following the Daily Telegraph expenses exposures it was a possibility. Evan campaigned with enthusiasm and stamina and we all hope he secures a Westminster seat to fight shortly.
We met some wonderful people during the campaign and enjoyed the company of many of our Shadow Cabinet colleagues during the last few weeks. Thank you to you all – Diolch i chi gyd.
Despite celebrating the result we all know the campaigning for the General election has already begun and we will all be working to ensure that we convert those 17 (19 with boundary changes) potential MPs from the Welsh European result into real Conservative MPs by next year. Let us show the people of Wales that we deserve their continued support and remind the electorate that the Welsh Conservatives can continue to beat Labour in Wales.
Vote for change – Pleidleisiwch dros newid!
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Posted by Charlotte Leslie , Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bristol North West, Thursday, July 2 2009
Charlotte Leslie explains why rhetoric must be matched by "rolling up your sleeves and getting on with it".
Yesterday, I was asked to speak at the Conservative 'Social Action Conference'. It was a conference that was very well timed. Here's why:
Any candidate who has knocked on doors during the expenses scandal knows that trying to alleviate the deep public anger and sense of betrayal through words alone is a hard, if not impossible task. Over the last decade, the currency of words has collapsed, because people have heard so many words and so many unfulfilled promises.
But many candidates have found that there is one thing that still has the power to break through the wall of public distrust of politics, and that is actual action. Real stuff done in the real world. And not real stuff done in an afternoon for a media photoshoot and then forgotten, but projects which have tangible benefits for the communities around them for the longer term.
The name that's developed for this action-based politics is 'social action' - and it's become fundamental to the current generation of Conservative candidates- who have found first hand that actions speak louder.
I didn't manage to make it for the whole day, but I was there for several sessions of the conference. I was asked to talk about the work I am doing in helping boxing initiatives set up in Bristol, expanding my local boxing club, setting up a local youth group, and resetting the balance of power between the political elite and the public.
But it was especially good to see so many other candidates all talking about the social action projects they are running, and to see how hard they are working. Because that's one thing about actually doing stuff: Whilst a nice bit of rhetoric or a promise is quick to put together and can be said in an instant, actually doing stuff takes real time, energy and sustained effort.
Sometimes when you are working away in your potential constituency, it is easy to forget that you are part of something bigger. But hearing from other PPCs like Simon Jones, Suzy Davies, Joanne Cash and Chris Skidmore, and the work they've been quietly putting in to serve their communities really confirms that this is not a case of isolated acts and good works, but about a generation of people who've lived through a decade of promise-politics, and who understand to the marrow that if we are to regain public trust, politics must Get Real.
And that means, on every political level, rolling up your sleeves and getting on with it.
Find out more about Charlotte Leslie at http://charlotteleslie.com/
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Posted by Grant Shapps MP, Member of Parliament for Welwyn Hatfield, Thursday, July 2 2009
Grant Shapps reports from the recent Henry Jackson Society debate on the web's role in politics.
Last night I was the only politician on a panel at a Henry Jackson Society debate The Internet: Saviour or Corruptor of Democracy?
Battle lines were drawn early on when the new media blogger Guido Fawkes (aka Paul Staines) savaged old school journalists - Nick Robinson (BBC) and Michael White (Guardian) accusing them of being part of a cosy Westminster consensus which he said was ill-prepared to shine light on the inner workings of MPs and their expenses.
Needless to say both Nick Robinson and Michael White struck back and the debate was perilously close to being hijacked by an interesting, though off-topic, debate about old media versus new - rather than whether the Internet is good or bad for democracy.
For what it’s worth, my contention is that the Internet is not just good for democracy, but could well be its saviour. New technology has the potential to open up the system in a way that has never been seen before. After all, at no other time in history has it been possible to gauge the reaction of constituents so swiftly, to be more transparent about what you're doing or to quickly build a grass-root campaign about any subject under the sun.
And yet the Internet has appeared troubling to many politicians.
It's blamed for a massive increase in correspondence from constituents who no longer experience the barrier of having to place a stamp on an envelope before walking the letter to a post box, in order to share their strongly held beliefs with their MP.
Surprisingly Peter Kellner (YouGov), himself an Internet pollster, wasn't convinced either. Despite his firm being behind some of the fastest and most accurate public opinion research carried out in Britain today, Kellner positioned himself as the only member of the panel who shared the view of a decreasing number of politicians who would have apparently preferred that this InterWeb thingy had never been invented.
I tried to flesh out how I use Twitter.com/GrantShapps to let my constituents and others know what I'm up to and the way in which our Welwyn Hatfield Forum receives up to a quarter-of-a-million page impressions a month; as my constituents discuss local issues without having to wait for the letters page of the local newspaper to catch up.
But perhaps the most optimistic note about the Internet and politics was struck by Nick Robinson who believes that with the Internet in existence another Berlin Wall could never stay in place for quite so long. I'm not sure that the ability for every global citizen to be able to access and publish information in real-time will be enough to end all tyranny - but at a more mundane level I do know that it will always help me to stay better connected with my constituents and, as such, I reckon that overall it's becoming pretty good for democracy.
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Posted by John Penrose MP, Member of Parliament for Weston-Super-Mare, Wednesday, July 1 2009
John Penrose on why the Government's new Equality Bill must not result in extra red tape for British businesses.
The Government's new Equality Bill is supposed to wrap all the existing anti-discrimination rules into a single, simpler, fairer set of laws which are easier for businesses to understand and more likely to ensure everyone's talents get the recognition they deserve. In theory.
While most of the Bill is fine, we're in the middle of an awful recession with 14 British businesses going bust every single day, so it's vital the new law doesn't become an opportunity for yards and yards of extra red tape to strangle our economy.
That's why I was delighted to be put on the Committee to review the Bill in detail. One of the most important points is the Government's plan to ban age discrimination. It's absolutely right in principle, but the devil is in the detail.
How, for instance, can Club 18-30 sell holidays to their target market, or Saga sell them to people over 50, without discriminating by age? How can car or travel insurance companies judge premiums without taking age into consideration? How can you give pensioners free bus passes if they're illegal? We've pushed the Government and they've committed not to implement this piece of law until they've consulted with anyone whose business might be affected.
We weren't so lucky over equal pay though. Even though it's fallen steadily, the gap between pay for men and women in Britain is still far too large. But the Government's proposals for equal pay reporting aren't the answer. They've assumed the costs will be far lower than is likely, and they've assumed that most of the pay gap is caused by companies discriminating against women rather than by other types of societal disadvantage like poor childcare availability too.
The Government's own figures support our case, but I'm afraid they haven't budged so far. We'll keep trying nevertheless, because it's vitally important the Bill doesn't make a bad situation worse for British business.
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Posted by Chloe Smith , Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Norwich North, Tuesday, June 30 2009
With the starting gun finally fired on the by-election in Norwich North, Chloe Smith writes about the campaign.
The starting gun has finally been fired on the by-election in Norwich North following Ian Gibson's resignation. After two weeks of dithering Gordon Brown has now moved the writ and announced that the poll will take place on the 23rd July.
I'm looking forward to the next three and a half weeks as we offer voters here the chance for change. I am doing what I've already been doing as the candidate here in Norwich North for the last 18 months - meeting residents and listening to local issues.
As the only candidate who has been committed to Norwich North and in place well before this by-election, I've had a headstart on overturning Labour's 5,500 majority. But there is lots more to do and I need your help! Do visit my website www.chloesmith.org.uk to check out what we've been up to so far, and then I urge you to join us in Norwich North.
We need as many people as possible with us on the streets to encourage voters to send Gordon Brown a message about the economy, about cleaning up politics and about the need for a strong local champion here in Norwich. You can email campaign support on campaign.support@conservatives.com.
I look forward to seeing you soon!
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Posted by Emma Carr, Tuesday, June 30 2009
Emma Carr looks at what the Conservatives must do to keep making progress in the North of England.
I was born at the end of the 1980s and have grown up in different places around the North East and have since become and active campaigner for the Conservatives in the Region.
Having read an article on ConservativeHome entitled 'Should the Conservative Party be apologising for the policies of the 1980s if it is to make electoral advances in the North of England?' I knew at once that it would be an emotive topic.
Should the Conservative Party say sorry? I don't think it is what people in the North of England want.
People in the North want now what they have always wanted, for there to be a strong, coherent plan to ensure that jobs are made secure and that communities are united.
The Conservatives are rebuilding their reputation in the North making important gains in places like North Tyneside and Lancashire which is certainly encouraging. The Conservatives need to ensure that they are seen to be paying the North particular attention as the problem with all of the parties is that they can, at times, become detached from the Region.
Any campaigner in the North will tell you that what people need are reassurances. They need to be reassured that their government will work hard to help them find jobs. They need to be reassured that money will be put to one side for the North of England to encourage industry and economic growth.
People in the North do not want to be patronised or looked upon like it is a dead end with no hope of a Conservative revival. We simply need to know that our Region is being given the same appreciation and encouragement as any other part of Britain.
Emma blogs regularly at Right up North, where you can find more news from Conservative Future in the North East
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Posted by Annabel Goldie MSP, MSP, Monday, June 29 2009
Annabel Goldie explains the approach the Scottish Conservatives will take to the Calman Commission's report.
On Thursday morning in the Scottish Parliament I participated in a debate on the Calman Commission Report.
When the Commission took evidence from MSPs I was pleased to give my views. David Cameron, George Osborne, Philip Hammond, David Mundell all took part in the process.
The contrast between the work of the Commission and the SNP’s National Conversation could not be clearer, and the report stands witness to the scale of the task the Commission undertook.
In the short debate we had today, the Scottish Parliament could not have been expected to reach a consensus view on the merits or otherwise of every proposal in the report, and indeed it would be to do a disservice to the work of the Commission if any MSP was to do anything other than give serious and thoughtful consideration to the report; consideration which, inevitably, will take time. All politicians must take that time to get things right and I along with my colleagues at Westminster will be listening very carefully to what my party has to say. And it is right that a mechanism such as the Steering Group is set up to give the unionist parties a forum in which they can continue to engage but that Steering Group can only steer once the parties to it have reached a settled position without which it can not of course deliver anything at all.
As I say I welcome the report but I will not accept uncritically the Calman recommendations, without thorough reflection on the detail of the proposals. At the same time I will not reject out of hand proposals which the Commission spent months deliberating over and whose remit was overwhelmingly endorsed by the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Conservatives acknowledged that need for a debate on devolution powers and funding in our 2007 manifesto.
I want our response to the Calman recommendations to be right, not rushed. Whatever we do to the devolved settlement must be built to last, a secure legacy from this generation of MSPs to future generations of Scots.
Given my strong and unwavering commitment to the Union, let me be clear that the creation of the Commission was not a decision I entered into lightly. I believed it to be – and I still believe it to be – the best way to progress the unfinished business of building a stable devolved settlement, a settlement which will secure Scotland’s place in the Union.
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Posted by Richard Jackson, Sunday, June 28 2009
Richard Jackson looks at some of the ways Google Maps are being used by the Party's youth wing.
The great strength of Conservative Future is not primarily in the national organisation, but in the CF branches located across the country.
The work that CF branches do is varied and worthwhile. Examples include the Exeter City & East Devon branch that helped clean up local flood damage and the Cities of London & Westminster branch that raised £3,800 selling Remembrance Day poppies. CF branches also all make a huge contribution to supporting Conservative candidates by providing an effective and large campaigning force.
With over 180 CF branches we needed a way to easily allow a potential member to find their local branch; this is where Google Maps has come in. Using the free technology we now have a branch map, which lists every CF branch in the country. The Google Maps technology has enabled us to produce it simply and make it easily accessible to members and potential members. By visiting the branch map you can zoom in on your local area and then see the closest branch to where you live, it then lists contact details so you can get in touch.
This is not the only use we have for this simple tool. We have just launched a map for the Norwich North by-election; showing the constituency outline, the location of the campaign HQ and local travel information. Other uses include the campaigning map which lists all CF campaigning events and the ‘CF backs NO2ID’ map we are launching soon, which will list all our University branches that have passed motions against ID cards.
There are near endless possibilities for this technology and it has greatly improved our online presence. These maps look both aesthetically pleasing and allow the user to view data in an easy format.
Find out more about Conservative Future on their website
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Posted by James Paice MP, Member of Parliament for South East Cambridgeshire, Saturday, June 27 2009
Jim Paice, Shadow Agriculture Minister, looks at the issues being raised at agricultural shows.
This is the season of agricultural shows so I am all over England visiting many of them.
Last week I was near Malvern for the Three Counties Show but wherever it is the story is similar: farmers who want to produce food for our tables but don't believe the Government wants them to.
They point to mountains of red-tape, bovine TB out of control and prices which don't leave much profit if any.
At the same shows there are impressive food halls where our own farmers and processors have developed superb products which show that British food is of the highest quality produced to some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world. The sad fact is that consumers can be deceived into believing they are buying British food when in fact they are not. A good British sausage may in fact contain imported pork.
Everyone I speak to, farmers and consumers, want that to change. Meat and meat products labelled as British must mean that the animal was born, reared and slaughtered here.
At Malvern I was asked to present some of the prizes for livestock, something I love doing. I learned stock-judging as a teenager but how today's judges distinguish between really high grade cattle, sheep and pigs beats me.
Next week I am off to the Royal Norfolk Show and then the last ever Royal Show the following week. I know what they will all tell me, but I still need to hear it first hand.
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Posted by Boris Johnson , Mayor, Friday, June 26 2009
Boris Johnson looks back at a tough week and pledges to continue running a value for money City Hall.
It's been a tough week this week. I was angry and disappointed to learn that my former deputy had made some very serious errors of judgement when it came to expenses. He rightly stepped down and we must now move on.
I won't gloss over my own issue with expenses. Despite being a fanatical cyclist, I have had to use taxis over the past year to travel to official functions as Mayor. To be honest, I always prefer using the bike, even to very posh functions. However, sometimes using a taxi is unavoidable.
When I was elected, I promised that I would be open and transparent - for good or for bad. Even though the release of information about expenses can be and has created negative media stories, I believe that is a price worth paying for a truly accountable mayoralty.
And it is important to focus on our broader efforts to run an open and value for money City Hall. We have made significant savings, such as cutting the media budget by £700,000 and closing down the office in Venezuela, saving £100,000.
We publish all spending over £1,000 and, more importantly, City Hall no longer spends money on narrow political causes. I am pleased to report we have not held any lavish lunches with South American dictators!
All this has enabled us to freeze our share of the council tax for the first time in 8 years.
So, I believe we have a good record when it comes to respecting your money, using it with care and in a transparent manner. I will always be in favour of shining a light into dark corners, and one thing I will promise is that you will never see anything blacked out when it shouldn't be in any document we publish.
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Posted by James Deighton, Friday, June 26 2009
James Deighton, one of Conservative Future's area chairmen, blogs on the recent election campaign.
Well it’s certainly been a busy time in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and Rutland, with the recent County Council and EU elections earlier this month. As the Conservative Future (CF) Area Chairman I have been actively engaged in the campaigns across the counties, helping our candidates, and meeting the different CF groups. Because of this I though it would be a good idea to use my first post on the blog to give you a brief insight into the work CF has been doing across the counties.
During the elections CF delivered thousands of leaflets and knocked on countless doors across the counties, and as a result we helped to achieve some great results. I must start by saying that I was extremely impressed by the commitment and dedication of all our members, and I would like to thank everyone who helped out during these crucial elections. Even if you only helped out for a couple of hours it was all very much appreciated.
I think it’s fair to say that the campaign was tiring but extremely rewarding, as we achieved a net gain of 16 County Councillors, strengthening further, our position on the councils. As for the EU elections we managed to increase our share of the vote by 3.8% in the East Midlands, which was by far the largest increase of the Conservative vote in any UK region.
If these elections have demonstrated anything they have shown that CF has become an extremely effective campaigning force. There is nothing that disheartens our opponents more than seeing car loads of CF members arrive at a target seat and blanket it with leaflets. One thing is for certain, we are ready for a General Election, whenever it comes, so come on Gordon Brown, call that election.
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Posted by Andrew Mitchell MP, Member of Parliament for Sutton Coldfield, Thursday, June 25 2009
Andrew Mitchell reflects on his recent visit to the UN camp in Dadaab, Northern Kenya.
When I visited a camp for Somali refugees in Dadaab, Northern Kenya, one man told me how he had fled Mogadishu in terror with his wife and children six months ago.
This family are some of the many refugees who have been forced to build their own rudimentary shelters beyond the official boundaries of the three UN camps there. The camps now hold over 260,000 people, yet they were built for just 90,000.
New arrivals are streaming in at a rate of up to 165 every day - while at the other extreme the elected camp leader has lived there for 19 years.
This is an immediate crisis embedded in an entrenched and deeply rooted disaster. It is a direct consequence of the country's prolonged state failure and instability.
These are also the root causes of the piracy we have been seeing off the coast of Somalia. So our response to the pirate menace must be twofold.
As well as acting to deter the pirates at sea, Britain and the international community should do more to tackle one of the key underlying causes of the problem: the chaos and insecurity in Somalia, the world's worst failed state.
We need to complement our military response with a hard-headed and effective political, diplomatic and humanitarian effort. Lives depend on it.
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Posted by David Cameron, MP for Witney, Wednesday, June 24 2009
David Cameron criticises Gordon Brown for failing to be straight with the British people.
Today is the day Gordon Brown was caught red-handed.
Last week, he said that his government would be "increasing capital expenditure up to the Olympics" - that means spending on things like building more schools and hospitals.
But - as this video shows - these claims are not just controversial, they just aren't true. His own figures show that he plans to cut capital investment not just from now to the Olympics in 2012, but every single year up to 2014.
At Prime Minister's Questions today, I repeatedly gave the Prime Minister the opportunity to correct this false claim - but as usual he just couldn't give a straight answer to a straight question.
He also repeatedly claims that "in every year in the future public spending will continue to rise". But again, the government's own figures show that once you account for the increased cost of unemployment and the rising interest charges we will have to pay on national debt, total spending will be cut.
This means that Labour's current plans involve significant cuts on the budgets of government departments, and spending on public services.
The Prime Minister may say he wants to restore trust in politics. But by trying to take the British people for fools in this way, his actions are speaking louder than his words.
The division in British politics is not - "cuts versus investment" - as Gordon Brown says, but between a Conservative Party telling the truth about the state of the public finances, and Labour who are failing to be straight with people.
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Posted by Nick Herbert MP, Member of Parliament for Arundel & South Downs, Wednesday, June 24 2009
Writing after the Marine & Coastal Access Bill debate, Nick Herbert says that our seas must be protected.
Yesterday in the House of Commons we debated the Marine and Coastal Access Bill.
We've been calling for measures to protect the marine environment for years, and Labour promised a Bill in its manifesto before last, but typically it's only recently materialised.
The waters surrounding Britain contain a rich and diverse collection of species. Indeed, it's estimated that more than 44,000 different types of plant and animal - around half of the UK's biodiversity - live in our seas. But anyone who has seen Charles Clover's film 'The End of the Line' about the crisis facing the marine environment will realise the pressing need for action.
Around 70 to 80 per cent of the world's marine fish stocks are fully exploited, over-exploited, depleted or recovering from depletion, and it is predicted that the world will run out of seafood species that it can fish by 2048.
Climate change is also having a significant impact on the marine environment, with temperatures increasing and acidity levels increasing. Without change we risk parts of our seas becoming little more than underwater deserts.
The Bill creates a new Marine Management Organisation to oversee the protection of the seas, and it introduces Marine Conservation Zones which will provide flexible protection for the marine environment while at the same time taking into account socio-economic uses. We have insisted that the new organisation has strong powers to ensure sustainability, and that the zones are designated in such a way as to allow for a coherent network to create the best possible protection.
But this legislation alone will not be enough. We're also concerned about the damaging impact of the EU Common Fisheries Policy, which has allowed the destruction of our fisheries. Fundamental reform of this policy, to ensure that it works better for our fishermen and for the environment, is long overdue.
And if we are to have any hope of meeting our climate change targets and developing our capacity to generate green electricity, offshore wind must play a bigger role. Our proposed 'marine energy parks' could actually help our conservation objectives by providing havens for marine wildlife.
As a living asset, our seas must be managed sustainably. We hope that the Bill is able to strike the right balance to protect and improve the marine environment, now and for the future.
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Posted by Serene John-Richards, Tuesday, June 23 2009
Serene John-Richards looks at whether young people are indifferent towards politics, or just political parties.
It is perhaps common knowledge that young people are apathetic about politics - it has been said that they don't care enough to vote and are too preoccupied with Glastonbury and suchlike.
How then can we explain massive turnouts of young people at various protests? More and more young people are opting to support single issue campaigns instead of political parties. Of those, even more hold pre-conceived ideas about political parties and are reluctant to change their views. Why? Well...young people today are a cynical bunch when it comes to political parties, and allow me to explain why.
When many young people campaigned against the third runway at Heathrow the government insisted to go ahead with it anyway. On the other hand, if young people are concerned about the use of sweat shops for fashion, they can vote with their pound and shop at American Apparel, proud in the knowledge that their merchandise is sweat shop free and made in California – political, yet nongovernmental.
Young people realise that after over ten years of a Labour government, it does not matter how hard you campaign, the Government's plans will go ahead regardless.
Young people have realised that under this Labour Government, no matter how interested they are in politics, not much will change nor will their voices be heard.
David Cameron has proven he is interested in what people have to say, shown by Cameron Direct events being held all across the UK. With a promise to scrap ID cards, hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, as well as end the top down system of rule, I am confident that with a Conservative Government, young people will be able to ditch the cynicism and have their voices heard once again.
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Posted by Nick Bourne AM, AM, Monday, June 22 2009
Nick Bourne AM describes the changes he would make to build a better health service for all.
Last week, Welsh Conservatives announced that in order to help combat Labour's debt crisis whilst getting maximum value for money in the Welsh NHS, free prescriptions in Wales will in future only be available to children, pensioners and the most needy.
If we form the next Assembly Government, we would expect those who could afford it, to pay a modest charge for their prescription medicines. This money would be ring-fenced for the health budget and put straight back into funding much-needed support for Welsh stroke services and palliative care.
This is all about what's fair.
Because of Labour's debt crisis, public services in Wales are under massive pressure. In order to protect those who need help and shift government focus from short term gimmicks onto building a better health service for all, it's only fair we ask those who can, to make a contribution.
Wales' budget will be cut by £416mn over the next two years, so tough but necessary decisions on spending have to be made. Labour's free prescriptions cost the Welsh health budget £30mn last year, with that figure continuing to rise. This policy is unsustainable and with the reintroduction of charging for some, we are prioritising the health budget.
Prior to the Assembly Government's scrapping of charges, 93% of prescriptions issued in Wales were already free. The same people as before would still get free prescriptions under our policy, with this also extended to cancer patients. The contribution would be reflective of the health and financial situation of people in Wales and we are currently consulting on what that would be.
It is no longer acceptable for millionaires to be picking up Vaseline and cough medicine for free, whilst other patients go without core services.
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Posted by Richard Jackson, Sunday, June 21 2009
Richard Jackson looks at the recent "mock elections" that took place in schools across the country.
The local and European elections were not the only elections that took place on June 4th. In schools across the country school children took part in mock elections run by the Hansard society.
These Y Vote mock elections have been run for many years now and are a great introduction to politics. I myself took part in one when I was at school back in 1997 and it gave me my first view of politics.
One of the core functions of Conservative Future is to introduce and promote the importance of politics to young people; both the reasons to vote, the way politics shapes our lives, and why democracy is worth protecting.
We provided materials for candidates taking part including a guide on running a successful campaign, press release templates and posters to download.
Around 75 schools took part this year in mock European elections this year and the results were announced earlier this week.
Following our success in the main elections on June 4th the Conservatives also came top in these mock elections returning 17 MEPs. Second were the independents/others category who included parties created by the students. Labour finished fourth to the Greens in third, and the Liberal Democrats came sixth to UKIP who made it to fifth.
Obviously I am happy the Conservatives came first, but I think we should be even happier that so many school children got so actively involved with this process, and are better positioned to vote for real once they turn 18.
Find out more about Conservative Future's work in schools on their website.
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Posted by Alistair Cooke, Saturday, June 20 2009
Alistair Cooke reviews a new book that looks back at the life of this towering political figure.
He achieved more for his country and his Party than any other Conservative leader in the second half of the last century, apart from Margaret Thatcher.
He repaired the special relationship with the United States after the 1956 Suez crisis which had put the most serious strains on it.
Exactly fifty years ago he led the Tories to their third consecutive election victory with a majority of a hundred: everyone agreed that the glory belonged almost exclusively to him. Though he cultivated a languid manner in public, he worked extremely hard to reach one objective above all: the creation, for the first time in British history, of real prosperity for all. He succeeded.
Like most great politicians, he stirred considerable controversy. He was accused of ignoring the dangers of inflation --somewhat unfairly since it averaged around 2 per cent in his time. He antagonised many Conservatives by hastening the end of the British Empire. He staked his reputation in foreign policy on getting into the European Economic Community, as it was then known: he was rebuffed. When he resigned unexpectedly in 1963, he acted ruthlessly to stop his job going to Rab Butler, whom some saw as the best person for it. (They were wrong. With his rather fey style and love of indiscreet public comments, he would have been a disaster.)
It is twenty years since Macmillan's official biographer, Sir Alistair Horne, completed his brilliant second volume recording this remarkable life in detail. A new account, of a more manageable length, is needed. A Labour peer, Charles Williams, has now attempted to provide it. His book can be read with some profit on Macmillan's career before he became Prime Minister, in particular during the Second World War when he was Churchill's representative in North Africa and Italy, earning the informal title of ' Viceroy of the Mediterranean'.
Macmillan's years at No 10 are not, however, very skillfully handled. Williams lacks any sense of the drama which surrounds great political events, separating them from normal, rather mundane issues of government.
His narrative has an almost uniformly casual tone. Macmillan's appointment as Prime Minister in January 1957 is greeted with a paragraph of mangled metaphors. We are told that his new Government ' was sitting underneath a particularly unpleasant Damoclean sword'. If it fell ' his Government would then without a doubt be blown apart and he himself not just be out of office but thrown into the dustbin reserved for overambitious but failed politicians'.
Macmillan, the most stylish Prime Minister since Disraeli, deserves better. Next year D.R.Thorpe, the erudite and witty biographer of Eden and Douglas-Home, and a Tory to his fingertips, will publish his new life of Macmillan. It is likely to secure a more prominent position in political libraries than Lord Williams's work.
Harold Macmillan by Charles Williams is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson at £25.
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