Friday, 15 July 2005

Selected to represent Empress Farnborough

Empress Conservatives strengthen their team

Empress Branch Executive is pleased to confirm that Councillor David Clifford has been selected to stand as the Conservative prospective candidate in Rushmoor Borough Council’s Empress Ward in 2006.

David Clifford joins an expanded and very formidable Empress team alongside Cllr. Patricia Hodge, Cllr. John Wall and Cllr Pat Devereux, the Ward’s County Councillor. This new team has almost 40 years of local government experience.

David, who lives in Empress, has had a distinguished career in local politics, serving as Rushmoor’s youngest Mayor in 1999. Very energetic and enthusiastic, David is keen to see more young people engaged in local politics. He currently chairs the Borough Services Committee. This Committee’s priority now is to scrutinise community safety and the local Police.

Branch Chairman, Adam Jackman said “This selection shows the Conservative Party in this area is not only strong but has a good depth of experience. We are now able to expand our team of councillors from three to four which will enhance quality of service and expertise. We now have a formidable team to fight the 2006 Borough Election campaign”

Councillor David Clifford said “I am delighted to have been selected to fight the seat where I now live, and represent Empress Ward at Rushmoor. I look forward to working with Mrs Pat Devereux our County Councillor and my fellow Ward Councillors John Wall and Patricia Hodge for the good of local residents. We will be a great team, and I cannot wait to get started.”

Tuesday, 3 May 2005

Our Hope for a better Britain

In the final days of this campaign, the contrast between the Conservatives and the rest could not be starker. Our message is about the future – action on cleaner hospitals, more police, lower taxes, school discipline, controlled immigration.
The Lib Dems want an end to mandatory life sentences for murder and, like Mr Blair, higher taxes and unlimited immigration.
After 8 years in office Mr Blair’s only message about the future is “don’t let the Tories in”. That’s it – that’s the limit of his vision. With 408 MPs and a 161 seat majority, Labour think they can get away with even higher taxes, higher crime and
unlimited immigration.
Days before an election, Mr Blair suddenly pretends he cares about your issues. But if he won on Thursday, make no mistake: he’d be back to his old ways on Friday.
Mr Blair’s hope is just to keep his job; and the Lib Dems will help him do that. Our hope is for a better Britain.
So if you think what we think and want a better Britain too – YOU must send that message.
If you think what we think and want cleaner hospitals – YOU must send that message.
If you think what we think and want more police and tougher sentences – YOU must send that message.
If you think what we think and want lower taxes – YOU must send that message.
If you think what we think and want school discipline – YOU must send that message.
If you think what we think and want a limit on immigration – YOU must send that message.

OUR EIGHT TASKS
Britons are ready for something better. They want a government that will take a stand and act on what matters – cleaner hospitals, lower taxes, more police, school discipline and controlled immigration. And they want a government that does what it says. So here is a timetable for eight specific tasks that Michael Howard has made his personal priority to see achieved.
On 9 May 2005, we will set out our plans to prevent police officers having to fill in a form every time they stop a yob in the street.
By 6 June 2005, we will have signed up hospitals to put matron in charge of delivering cleaner hospitals.
By 6 June 2005, we will have set in train a new 24-hour surveillance scheme to secure our borders.
By 7 April 2006, we will make sure that all 35 major British ports of entry will be operating under the scheme.
By 1 December 2005, classrooms will benefit from unruly pupils being expelled under our plans to give head teachers complete control over expulsions.
By 1 April 2006, up to five million pensioners will have received their new council tax bills showing a discount of up to £500.
By 6 April 2006, the first young families will have benefited from our abolition of stamp duty on houses costing up to £250,000.
By 1 September 2006, students going to university will be freed from paying all tuition fees and Mr. Blair’s planned top up fees will not be introduced.
By 31 December 2006, we will have created a single body to fight illegal immigration – the British Border Control Police – and their 5,400 strong force will be under one unified control.
It’s time for action.
Take a stand on the issues that matter.
VOTE CONSERVATIVE.


Promoted by Gavin Barwell on behalf of the Conservative Party, both at 25 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0DL. Printed by the Conservative Party.

Tuesday, 26 April 2005

Mr Blair: All talk on School Discipline

A documentary to be screened this week on Channel 5 will reveal the shocking extent of indiscipline in our schools under Mr Blair. Conservatives will take a stand on the things that matter – and restore discipline to our classrooms.

Why Labour are all talk
Mr Blair stated in 1997: ‘Teachers will be entitled to positive support … to promote good attendance and sound discipline’ (Labour Party Manifesto, Apr 97). All talk.
• A teacher is assaulted every seven minutes (NASUWT Press Release, 3 April 2003, and Times Educational Supplement, 6 Aug 04).
• Examples of pupil violence cited by the NUT include a teacher who was stabbed in the neck by a 14 year-old, another who had a kettle of boiling water poured over them, and one who was left with severe leg injuries after a pupil attack (BBC News Online and The Guardian, 28 Mar 05).
• Truancy is up by a third and over one million children play truant each year. In 1996-7, 965,400 pupils truanted. In 2003-4, 1,264,103 did so - a 31 per cent increase (Hansard, 30 April 03, Col. 413WA, and DfES, Pupil Absence in Schools in England 03-04, 14 Dec 04).
• The National Audit Office reported in 2005 that, despite massive spending of £885 million on truancy initiatives, ‘unauthorised absence [truancy] has not declined’, even using the Government’s own measure (NAO, Improving School Attendance in England, 4 Feb 05).
• Appeals panels overrule head teachers in one in five cases, forcing them to readmit pupils they have expelled. Of 1,070 appeals made in the last year for which figures are available, 21 per cent were upheld – putting 210 expelled pupils back into the classroom (Hansard, 31 Jan 05, Col. 506WA).
• There were over 17,000 expulsions for violence in just one term in 2003. Teaching unions believe even this could be an underestimate, since schools may have failed to report the true figures for fear of being labelled ‘failing’ (Times Educational Supplement, 6 Aug 04).
• 31 per cent of teachers considering leaving the profession cite poor pupil behaviour as a reason (The Guardian, 7 Jan 03).
• Nearly one in ten (nine per cent) of secondary schools have unsatisfactory levels of behaviour, and the number of schools where behaviour is unsatisfactory ‘shows no sign of reducing’, according to the Chief Inspector of Schools (Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools 03/04, Feb 05).

Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats have no policies to improve school discipline. They want to continue Labour’s discredited inclusion policy and say that ‘increasing exclusions is a recipe for disaster’ (Liberal Democrat Press Release, 29 November 2004).

What will Conservatives do?
Conservatives have a five-point Action Plan to restore discipline in our schools:
1. We will give head teachers the final say over exclusions and scrap appeals panels.
2. We will give head teachers an unqualified right to insist on parental agreement to discipline as part of the conditions of entry/attendance for their children.
3. We will scrap Labour’s plans to force all state schools to take their share of undisciplined pupils.
4. We will give schools the funds and financial freedom to introduce random drug- testing, CCTV and metal detectors.
5. We will give teachers greater legal protection so that they can enforce discipline without fear of having their lives ruined if a child alleges abuse.

Conservatives are taking a stand on the issues that matter.

Voters have a clear choice on 5 May: schools with poor discipline and falling standards under Mr Blair and the Liberal Democrats, or schools with good discipline and high standards with the Conservatives.

Promoted by Gavin Barwell on behalf of the Conservative Party, both at 25 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0DL. Printed by the Conservative Party.

Cleaner Hospitals

At this election, Conservatives are taking a stand on the issues that matter. So today we are announcing extra resources to tackle the superbug in our hospitals.

Why Labour are all talk
Mr Blair promised to ‘save the NHS’ and provide cleaner hospitals: ‘for the first time, money set aside specifically to get rid of the dirty corridors’ (Labour Party Conference Speech, 26 Sept 2000). All talk.
• The reality is that 5,000 people die every year from hospital-acquired infections.
• The number of people who have died from the ‘superbug’ MRSA has more than doubled since 1997.
• Mr Blair’s Government insists that it has followed the ‘best scientific advice’ in dealing with MRSA and other health care associated infections (John Hutton, King’s Fund Breakfast, 7 April 05). All talk. They have made 23 announcements but done little else.
• Conservatives have identified 18 specific recommendations – from the Chief Medical Officer and from reports by independent committees – on which after 8 years in Government, Mr Blair has failed to act. These range from investing in more isolation facilities to reviewing and implementing new technologies to combat MRSA and other hospital-acquired superbugs.
A recent Nursing Times survey (8 March 2005) showed that:
• Nurses still do not have access to 24/7 cleaning.
• 40 per cent of nurses said they are not given the time to clean beds between patients.
Most patients do not receive accurate information on hospital-acquired infections. Some nurses said that they do not have access to alcohol-based hand gels and have had to re-use single use equipment.

Liberal Democrats
The Lib Dems have said they would scrap Whitehall targets but have no plans to combat hospital superbugs, only plans to raise taxes.
The Lib Dems have pledged to spend an extra £8 billion more than the Conservatives or Labour on the NHS which would mean further tax rises – regardless of the system they choose. As Andrew George has said, ‘Our slogan at the next election will be “Trust us, we will put your taxes up”’ (Radio 5 Live, Simon Mayo Show, 19 January 2005).

What will Conservatives do?
Conservatives believe in accountability. We believe that putting a Matron in charge will ensure that one person is clearly accountable for delivering a clean and safe environment, ward-by-ward, across the hospital. So we will ask each NHS Hospital Trust to meet 10 standards for cleaner hospitals in order to put Matron in charge and provide the powers and resources necessary to deliver high standards of cleanliness and infection control.
The Conservatives have a 10-point Action Plan which includes:
• Putting Matron in charge of making sure wards are clean.
Closing dirty wards.
• Giving patients more information about hospital infections.
This will be backed by extra resources. We will provide £52 million in each of the next two years to support NHS Trusts which undertake to meet these standards. This additional support for front-line services will be funded from within the £7 billion of NHS savings identified by the James Review.
Today we announce an important additional element of our strategy to save the NHS from the spread of MRSA.
£10 million will be made available for NHS Hospital Trusts to implement state-of-the-art technology which will help identify MRSA by nasal swab testing in a matter of hours as opposed to days.
This will be a crucial further step in eradicating MRSA from our hospitals and complements our plans announced so far. All of this forms part of a clear Conservative agenda to take a stand on the issues that matter.
Voters have a clear choice on 5 May: cleaner hospitals and shorter waiting lists with the Conservatives, or dirty hospitals and long waiting lists under Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Promoted by Gavin Barwell on behalf of the Conservative Party, both at 25 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0DL. Printed by the Conservative Party.

Monday, 18 April 2005

Action on Crime

Figures to be released on Thursday this week will highlight the rising tide of violent crime under Labour (Sunday Times, 17 April 2005).
Why Labour are all talk
Mr Blair promised to ‘be tough on crime, and tough on the causes of crime’ (Labour Party Manifesto, 97). All talk.
• Crime is out of control – there are now more than a million violent crimes each year, and new figures suggest a further 8 per cent in the last year (Sunday Times, 17 April 2005).
• Gun crime has doubled under Labour, with more than one gun crime every hour of the day.
• Police officers already spend almost half of their time at their desks instead of being on the streets fighting crime.
• Every time they stop someone officers have to fill in a form a foot long with 40 questions to answer, blanks to fill in and boxes to tick.

Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats would abolish mandatory life sentences for murder and serious sexual offences, would not send shoplifters or burglars to prison and would give prisoners the right to vote. Mark Oaten, the Lib Dem Home Office Spokesman, has said: ‘I'm absolutely convinced that prison is a complete and utter waste of time’ (BBC Radio 4, 9 November
2003). And Simon Hughes, their President, has said: ‘Liberal Democrats have always been clear that there should never be mandatory sentences (Hansard, 13 January 2002, Col. 433).

What will Conservatives do?
Conservatives believe our society needs more respect, discipline and decent values. We will cut political correctness and police paperwork, and put more police on the beat.
Mr Howard’s five-point plan for dealing with crime in our communities means:
1. 5,000 more police a year. The next Conservative Government will recruit an extra 5,000 police a year. This will give the police the resources that they need to tackle crime in their communities.
2. Scrapping Central Government targets. The introduction of targets has increased the stranglehold of central government on the police. Senior police officers have complained strongly about the burdens imposed by this Government’s targets which distort their proper priorities. We will scrap these targets.
3. Publishing crime statistics on a weekly basis. When the New York Police Department started publishing statistics on a weekly basis, police chiefs began to be held to account for their actions on a weekly basis. We will introduce the same system here so that local communities can see how effective their police commissioners are.
4. Axing police paperwork. Police spend almost as much time at their desks as they do on the streets fighting crime. This must stop. We will cut central control of the police and centrally generated paperwork so that the police can get on with job of fighting crime. Freeing the police from unnecessary bureaucracy – including scrapping police stop forms – will
mean that more officers will be available to walk the beat, working with the community and acting as a visible deterrent to criminals.
5. Making the police accountable to their local communities. Elected police commissioners will reflect the concerns of the people who elect them, and as a result they will focus on the crimes that matter to their communities. They will be able to put police muscle power behind the public’s priorities – tackling crime and disorder: vandalism, rowdiness, thuggery.
People have a clear choice: a Conservative Government that will introduce tougher sentences and put more police on our streets, or more lenient sentences and more talk under Mr Blair and the Liberal Democrats.
Promoted by Gavin Barwell on behalf of the Conservative Party, both at 25 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0DL. Printed by the Conservative Party.