Sunday, 31 May, 2009
 | Labour's failing Burnley's young people |
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I can’t be the only one that has spent another week trying to stop myself from yelling at the radio or TV in disbelief as we’ve heard more about the dubious claims of yet more MPs. What makes me really angry is the number of government ministers who still don’t seem to get it. It just shows why we need to take power away from the political elite and hand it back to the man and woman in the street.
In four days time we’ll get the chance to vote in the European elections and for our County Councillors. Voters in Burnley have a chance to make a real difference by helping to throw Labour out. How odd then that Lib Dems in Burnley are trying to convince voters that they can deliver the removal of Labour at County Hall. They can’t and I urge voters across Burnley to use their vote wisely and vote Conservative to get rid of this incompetent administration.
Many of you will know that education and training are subjects close to my heart. Only two weeks ago I warned that young people in Burnley are being let down by Labour – over the past year the number of 18-24 year olds looking for work in Burnley has increased by 79%.
Now a survey by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found that only one in five companies plan to hire 16-year-olds due to leave school this summer. The survey also revealed that a third of firms said they had cut their graduate employees in 2009, and some 45% said they did not aim to recruit from either group this year, underlining the extent of the economic slowdown.
The Prince's Trust and Cass Business School have also warned that young people in deprived areas will be hardest hit by the recession.
The truth is that we aren’t well placed to cope with rising unemployment because Labour failed to tackle the lack of skills and welfare reform when employment was still rising.
In contrast to Labour, we care about training and it’s just one example why Conservative policies will be good for Burnley:
We’ve promised a major boost to the provision of workplace apprenticeships by injecting £775 million to support apprentices of all ages. We’ll also help small and medium sized companies to offer apprenticeships by providing a £2,000 bonusfor each apprenticeship in these businesses.
By radically improving the present system, we’ll fully fund the 77,000apprentices who are currently part-funded, and creating 100,000 new, additional apprenticeships every year.
Richard
Monday, 25 May, 2009
| Expenses and change |
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This week I joined Andrew Stephenson, Prospective Conservative MP for Pendle to pledge to publish our expenses on-line if we are elected to Parliament at the next General Election.
We both felt extremely strongly that MPs need to be 100% open about their expenses. We share the views of people up and down the country that it’s simply unacceptable that some of the current crop of politicians appear to have forgotten exactly who they were elected to serve.
I spent the weekend campaigning with my colleagues ahead of the Lancashire County Council elections where we have a real chance of getting rid of Labour after 28 years.
The mood among many of the voters I met was one of annoyance over the expenses issue. Kitty Ussher came in for heavy criticism, but politicians from other parties, quite rightly, weren’t unscathed.
What people wanted to see was a change and that included a change in the County Council.
It also included a General Election!
Richard
Sunday, 17 May, 2009
| Ask not what your country can do for you |
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Like every other decent person I have been angered by the misuse of our money by MPs from across the political spectrum. As someone who believes passionately in our democracy I am also saddened that the very nature of politics in our country is being tarnished in this way. I for one have not put myself forward to the people of Burnley to get my hands on public money. To me politics is about making our country better for all our people.
An independent inquiry into MPs’ expenses is underway, led by Sir Christopher Kelly, but it won’t be reporting until later this year, but I don’t believe we can wait that long and I’m glad that at least David Cameron has introduced a series of rules that Conservative MPs have to abide by.
But I know that this is just a start. It’s going to take time and hard work to rebuild the confidence we all need in our Parliament in the people we put in it.
There are some big problems facing our country and we need to pull together if we want to put things right. We need social responsibility, personal responsibility and thrift. The least we can expect is for our MP to live by those values as well.
This week I was reminded of those immortal words from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address on 20th January 1961.... - ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.
Richard
Monday, 04 May, 2009
| Labour in disarray |
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Labour is a party in disarray. It’s become increasingly obvious to all that the Labour government’s authority is simply draining away. And Labour ministers can tell. That’s why an increasing number of them are jockeying for position.
The problem for the Burnley and for the country is that during this difficult time, we need a strong and decisive government that can give leadership and take decisions about the next five years rather than the next five minutes.
Instead, what we have is a Labour government focused on surviving the next day rather than taking long-term decisions for the country.
Burnley needs change.
Richard
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