Tory Bank Shares Madness

I was frankly astounded by Tory Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne’s, recent scheme for selling the Government’s stake in the Banks. Shares in state-owned banks would be offered to voters at a discount as part of a Tory scheme, George Osborne has announced.

Excuse me, but we taxpayers have already paid our hard-earned money once to bail out these banks, why on earth should we put yet more money the banker’s way?

This Tory proposal to sell these bank shares at a discount beggars belief-we taxpayers want every possible penny of the money back we had to stump up to repair the damage caused by the reckless bonus driven excesses of the bankers.

If George Osborne and his Tory chums lived in the real world he would know the ordinary hard-working British public are, with good reason, very wary of the Stock Market.  I’ve spoken to many Shrewsbury people who owned shares in High Street banks and never dreamt they would become worthless, yet this is exactly what happened to investors in Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock.

As a result the discount required to tempt small investors back into this sector is going to have to be very, very, large. So as a result of this Tory bright idea, we stand to get only a fraction back of the vast sums we poured into propping up the banks.  And as the mouldy cherry on top of this Tory financial cake, it will be a safe bet that the only people making money will be  some of the same financial ‘experts’ responsible for the banking crisis in the first place.

If this is the best the Tories can come up with by way of economic policy, is it any surprise their poll ratings are slipping?

You cannot count on a Tory

I wake to the news of the Conservative party’s latest blunder BBC News – Tories criticised over teenage pregnancy figure error

In a nutshell, the Tories have published a 20 page report, which contains a statistic for teenage pregnancy in the 10 most deprived areas of Britain. The figure is based on Government statistics showing 54 pregnancies per 1000 people.

This is expressed as a per-centage : 54%

To those of us lucky enough to have had a state education and did not study Mathematics at Eton, it is clear that this figure should be 5.4%

A mere error with a decimal point says a Conservative spokesman

“It makes no difference at all to the conclusions of a wide-ranging report which shows that Labour have consistently let down the poorest in Britain.”

Well it really should Mr Cameron !

As it stands the publication makes a claim that there has been an 800% rise in teenage pregnancies in those areas; when in fact – according to the figures on which they have based their maths, and presumably accept, there has been a fall of 10%.

It really should make a huge difference. “A mere error with a decimal point” is not the kind of attitude we should expect from a party that is trying to convince us that their election to government would be in the best interests of our economy.

This story will play out both in the media online and off so I’m not going to spend time dissecting this elementary mistake.

It does remind me though of the Tories’ propensity for shooting themselves in the foot whenever they get the opportunity to make political headway. Long may it last.

Meet the Voters 13th+14th Feb 2010

Liz, Steve and I will be out campaigning this weekend and hope that you might be able to join us!

We will be meeting this Saturday 13th at 11am at frankwell carpark by the suspension bridge.

On Sunday 14th we will be  out meeting the  lovely voters campaigning from 11am meeting at the Onslow pub car park gains park.

We would be delighted if you were able to spare an hour or two. Please do text Jon on 07800 589 074 if you can make it!

Thanks

- Jon Tandy

Fighters and Believers (Video)

Shropshire Tories Can’t be Trusted on Concessionary Bus Travel

I was very disappointed that the Tories on Shropshire Council refused to support my Motion to the Council to protect free concessionary bus travel in the long term. In a rural county such as Shropshire the social and environmental benefits of free concessionary bus travel have been particularly significant. My Motion sought to protect these benefits for deserving elderly and disabled users for the future.

It is very worrying that it appears the Tories are holding back on immediate cuts in an Election year, but when asked to protect vital services in the future they flatly refuse to do so. What other front line services are they planning to cut once the Election is out of the way?

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