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?

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.

Cameron to destroy workers rights!!

David Cameron has been clever to say he will NOT get rid of the minimum wage. But what he wants to do is cut your rights at work hoping that you think it is just a load of stuff not important . Under David Cameron’s plans British workers will become the least protected in Europe. Making workers in Britain  the slaves of Europe!

Ripe for exploitation by big business.

Don’t be fooled!!

Fighters and Believers (Video)

David Cameron’s Families Manifesto Sham

The Conservatives launched their draft manifesto on families recently and there is much that does not bode well for the majority of the community.

Ed Balls MP, Labour’s Families Secretary responding to the Conservatives’ draft families manifesto today said:

“David Cameron’s families manifesto is more telling for what it doesn’t say.

“It confirms that under the Tories Sure Start would be cut back from being a universal service for all families, simply to one for the poorest. But there is nothing in the Tory manifesto about their plans to take away child tax credits and child trust funds for families on modest and middle incomes. Nor is there anything about supporting fathers or boosting the rights of grandparents, which our Green Paper sets out clearly today.

“And as we heard from David Willetts this morning, the Tories still cannot say what they would do on marriage tax breaks or working tax credits for couples and they still cannot say how they’d pay for it. This flies in the face of George Osborne’s pledge that the Conservatives would not make any promises of unfunded tax cuts.

“Once again David Cameron has airbrushed out all the details he doesn’t want people to see.”

• The Tories’ slick PR conceals the threat they pose to families on middle and modest incomes.
• They would remove access to SureStart for families on modest incomes.
• They would cut child tax credits from families on £31,000 a year.
• They would cut child trust funds from families on just over £16,000 a year.

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