Tony Vickers, the Vice Chair of Newbury Lib Dems seems desperate to paint Labour as the "Axis of Evil" in an effort to defend his party colleagues for selling their political souls for the privaledge of riding around in Government cars and sitting at the cabinet table.
He claims that the Lib Dems have already shown that they will protect the most vulnerable in society. If that is the case, why will Nick Clegg and the rest of the Lib Dems allow the Tories to cut the winter fuel payment to pensioners, surely the most vulnerable group of society? Each year, over 40,000 pensioners die due to cold related deaths, which in this day and age is ridiculous. The fact that the Tories and their new Liberal chums will cut the payment by £50 for new claimants and £100 for existing claimants will quite possibly lead to blood on the hands of the Coalition of Cuts. What is even more despicable is that the Coalition are also looking at cutting free bus passes and taking away the free television licenses of thousands of pensioners. If you claim to be protecting the vulnerable Mr Vickers, why not start by speaking out against your Tory colleagues and protect our pensioners?
During the general election campaign, the Liberals fought vigorously against raising the VAT threshold to 20%. Tell me Mr Vickers, are the parliamentary privileges worth the extra 2.5% on our weekly budgets? Again, you claim to be in the Coalition of Cuts to protect the most vulnerable, but it will be the most vulnerable who are hit hardest by this rise in VAT. Certain sections of the community will now be forced to think long and hard about whether they eat properly or whether they heat their house.
In just a short time in Government, the Liberals have been complicit in the huge cuts that affect normal people the hardest. The Building Schools for Future scheme: GONE. Child Trust Funds: GONE. Regeneration Schemes: GONE. £233m of Medical Research funding: GONE. Funding for outdoor play area equipment: GONE. £20bn of NHS spending: GONE. UK Film Council: GOING. Add to this the fact that we are going to share aircraft carriers with the french and cut troop numbers, it's a huge slap in the face of all of those brave service personnel who have lost lives in recent conflicts.
With a record of such savage and unfair cuts within the first 100 days or so in power, how can Mr Vickers honestly attack the record of the Labour Government. Labour brought in the minimum wage, shortest NHS waiting times in history, 3m more operations a year, over 44,000 additional doctors, over 90,000 extra nurses, GP's open in evenings and at the weekend, over 100 new hospitals, FREE cancer prescriptions, 3,700 schools rebuilt or refurbished, the winter fuel allowance, Free TV licences and pus passes for pensioners, the Pension Credit, The New Deal for the unemployed, Full time rights for part time workers, record maternity pay, the right to paternity leave, the biggest programme of council house and affordable housing construction, Disability Discrimination Act, the Race and Religious Hatred act, the Equalities act, Equal Gay Rights (That Richard Benyon MP opposed), Devolution: Scottish Parliament & Welsh Assembly, the Handgun ban, Crime down by a third, domestic violence cut by two thirds and rape convictions up by half, more police on the street and the worlds first ever climate change bill. Labour also brought peace to Northern Ireland.
What really gets me though, is that both the Tories and the Liberals in West Berkshire spend the majority of their time squabbling over minor issues and trying to score points against each other. When will debate move on to the rather more serious issues affecting our local area. Local politics should be more than party political point scoring, and there is a genuine need for all parties to put aside their differences to discuss how to deal with issues such as affordable housing, salvaging something from the mess that is the redevelopment of the town centre in Newbury, working more closely with the various town councils and keeping key employers in the area. These issues are a lot more important than the storm in a teacup surrounding cyclists turning right into Cheap Street for instance. If the Liberals can come up with genuine policies to fight local issues, they would gain a lot more respect than simply trying to justify why their party have given up their policies in return for parliamentary perks. Maybe this is the reason that Lib Dem voters are in fact joining the Labour Party and why a fifth have revealed they would never vote for the Liberals again.
It's not about making cuts, it's about doing it responsibly. Mr Vickers claims that the Lib Dems will protect the vulnerable, but in reality this budget will affect the vulnerable most. We could generate more tax at the higher end of the scale, but Cameron will not tax his mates, will he???
The point is, Mr Vickers is defending his colleagues in government in order to try and convince local people not to abandon his party. The fact is that the Lib Dems and Tories locally are only interested in having a ding dong on issues such as cycling, trying to score party political points. It's time we focus on the real issues here in West Berkshire. Affordable housing, protecting country pubs and post offices, stopping the closure of West Berks Magistrates Court and trying to salvage something out of the redevelopment of the town centre. What measures are being taken to protect the Kennet Centre?
The fact is, all of our district councillors have been complicit in years of poor decisions regarding developments in the whole area. It's time we elected people who are more interested in sorting out the poor decisions of the past, rather than adding to the growing list of mistakes.
Richard, how I agree with every word you have said. In the debates David Cameron accused the Labour party of lying when they said a Conservative government would cut bus passes, the heating allowance and tv licence. He is now wriggling and squirming and saying they are safe for some people. He now expects the sick to take up their bed and walk; schools are/are not/might be/your guess is as good as mine getting urgent work done; on asking Richard Benyon for free parking for all cancer patients receiving chemo, I was told it was not affordable and they need the revenue parking raises from ill and dying people. We now find banks, who largely caused this mess, are able to pay £1M bonuses and Barclays £11M for a new head. Meanwhile we have 'special advisors' that are tax exiles and not paying anything into the country. So much for the 'we are all in this together' speech.
Still, none of this matters to Mr Vickers anyway. He was still able to ask his usual cycling related question the other night, so at least he gets the answers he needs on the issues that matter... TO HIM!!!
You can bang your Labour drum as much as you like. Apart from the fact that Mr Vickers is local and you manage to slip a couple of paragraphs in that vaguely cover local issues, your inappropriate, for this forum anyway, national party political posturing is for me, wasted.
If you read what I've written, party politics at a local level are irrelevent. It should be about addressing the issues. My first post was the response to Tony Vickers letter in the paper in which he tried to suggest the Lib Dems would protect the vulnerable and also that the Labour Government was a disaster. I agree Labour made mistakes, but some of the things they achieved for this country will never be forgotten. The whole point of my post is that no matter how good or bad parties do at a national level, nobody will vote for you unless you have a decent plan to fix the local issues. Tony seems to think people take notice of what the Lib Dems are doing in London. What engages people in local politics is what you propose to fix the wrongs of the past. At the moment there is only a choice between blue and yellow, and to be honest with you, I'd rather not vote for either the way things are.
My first post was the response to Tony Vickers letter in the paper in which he tried to suggest the Lib Dems would protect the vulnerable and also that the Labour Government was a disaster.
Perhaps replying to the letter in the paper would have been a better vehicle than on a local forum
I agree Labour made mistakes, but some of the things they achieved for this country will never be forgotten.
You are so right - not forgetting the squandering of tens of billions of taxpayers money on those people willing to take a "free ride", people both from this country, and others far off, as well as the financial wastage in many other areas!
However, once again the easiest route is to hit those less able to defend their rights, the weak, the elderly, the poorest of our community - a poor show indeed, I agree. If labour had not emptied the kitty and given it to the less deserving, and then borrowed more and squandered that also, there would be no reason to make the drastic cuts we all now face, in the first place!
Until ALL people are forced, or encouraged to take more responsibility for their own lives and their own actions, and that includes those at the top such as politicians, bankers, etc., as well as the "free ride" brigade of whatever nationality or gender, we will still see the "bleeding" of the pockets of the more deserving, to provide for the rest.
It is going to be a tough ride, I fear, for several years to come!
...not forgetting the squandering of tens of billions of taxpayers money on those people willing to take a "free ride", people both from this country, and others far off, as well as the financial wastage in many other areas!
Just to help you
In the year 2009 the Government spent: 110.1 billion on pensions, 110.2 billion on health care 27 billion on education 42 billion on defence 21.6 billion on child tax credits / disability etc. 12 billion on transport 4.9 billion on unemployment and associated benefits
In 2010 the present estimates are: 117.2 billion on pensions 119 billion on healthcare 29 billion on education 43 billion on defence 22.2 billion on child tax credits / disability etc. 12.1 billion on transport 7 billion on unemployment and associated benefits
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