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.

Broken Britain – A Genuine Picture?

Sometimes when reading the letters pages of the local press, one can be given a rather depressing and nihilistic view of the world. Often, the same narrow band of correspondents are pushing an intolerant view of life, choosing to focus upon that which divides society rather than what brings us together.

Other times, those with a particular axe to grind will seek to make political capital out of isolated national tragedies far from Shrewsbury. A recent instance is David Cameron’s ‘Broken Britain’ claims following the child violence case in South Yorkshire.

Personally I prefer to concentrate on the facts, and recognise that not all was well in the good old days. For example the number of violent deaths among children in England and Wales fell by almost 40% in the past 30 years, or nearly 50% when taking into account growth in the child population, according to the recent report by Bournemouth University.

Improvements in social care systems, along with a greater focus on child poverty, had helped lower the death rate. Thirty years ago England and Wales were the third or fourth highest child killers in the western world, but we’re now fourth lowest.

These national tragedies are terrible and one violent death of a child is too many but this research clearly proves the way to protect children’s lives is to invest in our social care systems, fight child poverty and support those families who need it.

To consider cutting initiatives such as Labour’s Sure Start scheme, which provides health, education, parenting and employment services to pre-school children and parents, is in my opinion, bordering on the cruel.

I hope our Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski will confirm that he will back our four Shrewsbury Sure Start centres in Monkmoor, Crowmoor, Harlescott and Meole Brace, and not permit any cuts in their funding laid out nationally by his own party.

School Places Solution Vital

The problem of surplus school places in Shropshire is back on the front page (Shropshire Star 2nd Feb). Now the spotlight has moved on to our secondary schools, which are reported to be facing large reductions in pupil numbers over the next 5-6 years.  This issue has been central to school funding in our County in recent years. To be fair to the controlling Tory group on the former County Council, they did recently attempt to tackle surplus numbers in the primary sector.  Sadly, rank and file Tory Councillors when faced with the inevitable angry protests buckled under the pressure, and appeared more concerned with the approaching unitary elections than with making progress on the matter.

Well, the problem has not gone away. I fully appreciate, and sympathise, with village residents concerned about the risk of closure to their school. On top of the loss of the local shop, pub and bus service this can seem like the last straw. But we must all accept small rural schools cannot be considered in isolation. Surplus places kept open mean less funding for the rest of our schools, including those in both village and town.

In my opinion what is required is an approach that considers the whole of our school system, and whilst listening fully to the people,  is not then derailed by narrow local electoral considerations. The issue is very emotive and inevitably supporters of some schools will be disappointed. The ruling Conservatives on Shropshire Council face some very tough decisions on the matter, but to do nothing is no longer an option.

What was not acceptable was the stance of certain prominent local Tories, who sought to blame the Labour Government for Shropshire’s surplus place problem. Spouting misleading and  inaccurate claims will not solve the problem, and does nothing to foster the informed debate we all need to have on the subject. The funding figures per pupil are largely a product of past failures to tackle the surplus place problem. No Government, of whatever party, is going to pay us to maintain significant numbers of empty desks.

If the same people repeat these claims now, they will truly have exposed themselves to be unable to understand simple mathematics, or worse, to be total cynics.

MP Silent on Local Tory Turmoil

The very public spat between ousted former Tory Borough Council leader Peter Nutting and current Tory Shropshire Council leader Keith Barrow throws up several significant questions. Cllr Nutting has been ruthlessly stripped of his Deputy Leadership and sacked from all his other main committee posts on the unitary new authority.  Yet only recently our Tory MP praised Cllr Nutting in the fullest possible terms.

In a Parliamentary debate on Local Government in March 2007 MP Daniel Kawczynski said of the Borough Council “It has an excellent chief executive and a formidable council leader, Peter Nutting.” Yet less than 3 years later Cllr Nutting has been ejected from power by his own Party, and Robin Hooper seems long gone.

As a Councillor on all of the Borough, County and Unitary Councils I always respected Peter Nutting as a hard working local representative. But I had deep differences with him over policy, particularly the spending spree the Tories indulged in with the sale proceeds of the Borough council houses. A recurring problem I found was getting information to scrutinise these spending decisions. The regular exclusion of the public under the exempt item rules, such as happened with the secret sale of the Barker Street car park, is just one example.

Sadly this is still going on. I have found great difficulty in getting details out of the Tory led Shropshire Council, to try and get to the bottom of of the huge Quantum Leap spending total. Yet both Peter Nutting and Keith Barrow are now publicly claiming they want more open and democratic local government. They can start by holding a full investigation into the huge sums spent on the Darwin celebrations, and why local residents  seem to have got so little in return.

And what of our Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski, what has he got to say about this local Tory turmoil? When it comes to his own Party, he seems to go very, very, quiet.

Figures Show Tory Marriage Tax Pledge Con

New figures from the Treasury reveal that only 6% of married couples would benefit from the Tories’ new married couples plan.

Far from his commitment to ‘recognise all marriages’, 94% of married couples would get nothing.

In fact, in order to fund this new tax pledge, David Cameron and George Osborne have admitted they will raise other taxes, hitting married couples as well as the rest of the population.

Liam Byrne MP, Labour’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury, today said:

“Marriage plays a vital role in our society. But David Cameron’s latest marriage tax plan does nothing for 19 out of 20 married couples – except put a tax rise on their cars and holidays.

“David Cameron broke his promise to help all married couples when he was forced to admit his plans didn’t add up.

“Now, he’s got himself into the absurd position of having a married couples policy that leaves the majority of married couples worse off.

“As the Tories stagger from one promise to another, it’s becoming clear their plans are dangerously ill thought through and they remain a risk to families and the economy.”

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