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.

Paying For George Osborne’s House?

I was disturbed to see the reports of Tory Shadow Chancellor’s latest encounter with the Parliamentary expenses watchdog.  George Osborne has been found to have claimed too much-£1,936-in mortgage expenses for his £450,000 Cheshire farmhouse in his Tatton constituency. George was happy the breaches were found to be “Not Major”.

Well I am sorry but in my opinion that is not good enough. For a politician aiming to be the next Chancellor of the Exchequer one would expect him to ensure his record on expenses was beyond reproach. Yet as soon as these concerns were raised instead of finding where he had gone wrong and paying up, the Standards Commissioner had to plod through an investigation at taxpayers expense.

Yet if you look at the detail it gets worse. Mr George Osborne’ error was to claim for interest payments for an increased mortgage, to cover £10,000 for repairs to the Cheshire house and £25,000 for costs related to the original purchase.

George Osborne’s personal wealth is estimated to be £4.3m. He stands to inherit the Osborne baronetcy of Ballentaylor in County Tipperary, Ireland, as well as a substantial share of Osborne & Little, his father’s luxury wall­paper company.

Did he really need to claim the interest on these sums with personal resources like that? This isn’t class envy on my part, it is the clear unfairness of this behaviour. Is it fair to expect taxpayers, many on modest incomes to support such claims?

Perhaps the local Tories would care to comment-after all they selected Derek Conway-the father of the current expenses scandal.

Open letter to the people of Shrewsbury & Atcham

Dear Resident

I am writing to you personally to introduce myself as your Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Shrewsbury & Atcham.

I am proud to have been born in Shrewsbury, I was educated in the town and I have been lucky enough to have always worked in Shrewsbury. However each day hundreds of residents have to travel out of Shrewsbury to find work at an acceptable salary, because of the lack of jobs in our area.

Hundreds more of our young people have to travel to access higher education services because of the lack of university provision in Shrewsbury.

In my opinion it is the duty of an MP to vigorously promote their constituent’s interests in these areas. Only by fighting for a high skill, high wage economy can we produce the local employment and education opportunities that local residents deserve.

Voters of Shrewsbury at the next General Election have a very difficult decision to make. National issues hog the news but a local MP has very little real power to influence them.

Local issues however, are where the right choice of MP can make a difference to your family’s prosperity. If you want a person to fight for you and who will put Shrewsbury first by trying to get better paid jobs in Shrewsbury, it is vital to elect the right MP.

You cannot afford an MP who is not 100% committed to these aims.

You do not have a choice if you do not vote. To help make sure that your voice is heard;  I enclose a postal vote application form for your convenience.

Yours sincerely

Jon Tandy

Printed promoted and published by Liz Parsons, on behalf of Jon Tandy, both of The Morris Hall, Bellstone, Shrewsbury SY1 1JB

MY KEY POLICY AREAS

MY KEY POLICY AREAS

Having just returned from the Labour Party Conference I have identified those areas which I would concentrate upon if elected as Shrewsbury’s MP

More than ever, voters have the right to know what a candidate would do for their families and their town.

INVESTMENT AND JOBS

Only by promoting investment in highly skilled and better paid jobs can we ensure the prosperity of Shrewsbury & Atcham. I see this as a key task for an MP.
Sadly the failure of our current MP to bring any significant investment to Shrewsbury has been very damaging.
He was directly responsible for losing the £70m on offer for the college co-location for example.

HOUSING

Everyone has the right to good quality affordable housing, yet far too many Shrewsbury people do not have this basic human right.
As an experienced Councillor I deal every day with housing problems and see first hand the dire consequences of housing need in our area.
After speaking to many Housing Association tenants I believe that there is a clear need for provision by the council and that Shropshire Council should start building housing as soon as possible.

HEALTH THE ELDERLEY

I believe the current Shrewsbury v Telford debate totally misses the point. Surely we should be striving for the best quality health services for both towns-if that means a new hospital between the two towns then so be it.
Particularly health and social services for our older residents must be protected and improved. Services to allow people to remain in their homes are key to this.

These are my priorities but I would welcome any views on these or any other policy areas from you all.

INVESTING IN OUR YOUNG PEOPLE

Young people are our future and have a right to the best education facilities possible. If Shrewsbury wants to move forward we must have a University presence here.

These are my priorities, but I would welcome any comments on these or any other policy areas from you all.

Quantum Leap -For or Against?

An open letter sent to Daniel Kawczynski

Daniel Kawczynski MP
Constituency Office
Unit 1, Benbow Business Park
Harlescott Lane
Shrewsbury
SY1 3FA

Dear Daniel

QUANTUM LEAP-FOR OR AGAINST?

Now that the Quantum Leap sculpture is finished, I was wondering what your views about it are.
Having regard to the fact it is now going to cost a total of £450,000, which is £100,000 than the original agreed contract sum, do you think the way the project has been handled has been acceptable?

It now appears that the Council Tax payers of Shrewsbury will have to foot the bill for the extra foundation works and alignment problems, which seems to the project has not been competently handled to say the least. The responsibility for this mess must lie with the Tory leaders of the former Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council.

However I recall during the Unitary debate you were very full in your praise of these people. For example on 21 March 2007 during the Westminster Hall debate on Local Government in Shropshire you said “I invite the Minister to come and look at the way in which Shrewsbury and Atcham borough council operates. It has an excellent chief executive and a formidable council leader, Peter Nutting. It is a truly excellent council, and it would be a great disservice to the people of Shrewsbury if it were dismantled, destroyed and thrown out in favour of an untried and untested unitary authority”.

Can you confirm if you stand by those comments now in the light of the Quantum Leap fiasco?

Yours sincerely

Jon Tandy
3 Snowdrop Close
Shrewsbury
SY3 7TU

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