Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Welcome to Daventry colleagues!
In preparation for the probable joining of Lutterworth with Daventry in the future Boundary changes, Lutterworth Branch invited members of Daventry to attend our February Branch meeting. Six Daventry members attended, and we were pleased to meet each other. Keeping business to a minimum, we had a brilliant talk on EMA by Professor Sue Maguire, and the evening was most successful. We look forward to meeting at political and social events in the future.
Prof Sue Maguire on EMA
Sue gave a lucid and detailed account of the Labour governments introduction of Education Maintenance Allowance, to help 16 to 18 year olds remain in full time education. For £30 per week, young people from poorer families were encouraged to stay in education. Sue evaluated the pilot in 1999, and EMA began throughout the country in 2004. It was subject to huge evaluation, which showed that it increased uptake of further education among poorer youngsters. Despite it`s clear success, it was withdrawn by our current government in 2010.
EMA was a small price to pay to our youth, who often seem to have a poor deal compared to others in our society. No wonder increasing numbers of our youth feel neglected and alienated from society, when the younger age band has record high unemployment rates, and even this small contribution of help is removed.
EMA was a small price to pay to our youth, who often seem to have a poor deal compared to others in our society. No wonder increasing numbers of our youth feel neglected and alienated from society, when the younger age band has record high unemployment rates, and even this small contribution of help is removed.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
New Planning regime
Members will have heard on the news that the Coalition's new planning regime launched today. They say it will be simpler, opponents say it will mean concreting over the countryside. Members can judge for themselves. The document itself is downloadable here.
Monday, March 05, 2012
Battle to save Legal Aid hots up
For anyone who missed it clicking here should take you to Willy's article in today's Independent. Click here and you can watch him say much the same thing on today's Daily Politics. He will apparently also be on steam radio later - PM on Radio Four.
This is the decisive week. Spread the word and pledge your support via whatever social media you use.
Make no mistake, this is all about silencing the poor.
This is the decisive week. Spread the word and pledge your support via whatever social media you use.
Make no mistake, this is all about silencing the poor.
Tory defection and why we should care
Roger Helmer's defection to UKIP over the weekend really got under my skin to a surprising degree. It's not that a disaffected Tory has defected to the disaffected Tory party - for those who can stomach it, Mr Helmer's somewhat garbled explanation can be found here, on the Conservative Home blog - it's the democracy issue.
When a local councillor or a Westminster MP crosses the floor, he or she can claim to have been given a personal mandate by the electorate, who were told what s/he stood for in election material. But Jack Straw's hideous List System for the Euros means we can only vote for the party. Nobody voted for Roger Helmer personally in 2009, just as nobody voted for our own Glenis Wilmott. The electorate voted Labour, Tory or Nutter. The total L, T and N votes were then ascribed proportionally to the parties, tweaked up and down according to rules that were both unfathomable and inevitably unfair, and the highest names on the respective lists were handed their tickets to Brussels. Ranking on the list was done not by activists in the East Mids but by apparatchiks in London.
As a result of this defection UKIP who came third in 2009 despite losing 10% of their vote, have 2 MEPs until 2014 (hands up who knew there was another one), Labour who came second have only one and the Tories who obviously won with a significant increase in their vote also only have one. Even if you have the slightest hankering for proportional representation (which I notoriously don't) how is this fair, proportional or democratic?
My view has always been that the List System was another manifestation of the progressive erosion of democratic accountability by careerist politicians. If the voting public aren't enthused by Euro elections, taking away direct representation was never going to increase the turnout. The truth is, Roger Helmer's defection doesn't matter two hoots - but it ought to. And Labour, as the only party of opposition, ought to be developing policies to fix the problem.
In the meantime, I can't help empathising with our soon-to-be MP Chris Heaton-Harris who Tweeted (@chhcalling): "I honestly thought he [Helmer] was an honourable man; alas I was mistaken."
When a local councillor or a Westminster MP crosses the floor, he or she can claim to have been given a personal mandate by the electorate, who were told what s/he stood for in election material. But Jack Straw's hideous List System for the Euros means we can only vote for the party. Nobody voted for Roger Helmer personally in 2009, just as nobody voted for our own Glenis Wilmott. The electorate voted Labour, Tory or Nutter. The total L, T and N votes were then ascribed proportionally to the parties, tweaked up and down according to rules that were both unfathomable and inevitably unfair, and the highest names on the respective lists were handed their tickets to Brussels. Ranking on the list was done not by activists in the East Mids but by apparatchiks in London.
As a result of this defection UKIP who came third in 2009 despite losing 10% of their vote, have 2 MEPs until 2014 (hands up who knew there was another one), Labour who came second have only one and the Tories who obviously won with a significant increase in their vote also only have one. Even if you have the slightest hankering for proportional representation (which I notoriously don't) how is this fair, proportional or democratic?
My view has always been that the List System was another manifestation of the progressive erosion of democratic accountability by careerist politicians. If the voting public aren't enthused by Euro elections, taking away direct representation was never going to increase the turnout. The truth is, Roger Helmer's defection doesn't matter two hoots - but it ought to. And Labour, as the only party of opposition, ought to be developing policies to fix the problem.
In the meantime, I can't help empathising with our soon-to-be MP Chris Heaton-Harris who Tweeted (@chhcalling): "I honestly thought he [Helmer] was an honourable man; alas I was mistaken."
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