Dave Smithson

Back to Crewe this morning, by-elections have no respect for bank holidays and with only 17 days to polling day we can hardly expect a day off now can we!?

Like most of the Crewe crew it has been a challenge over the last couple of days to switch from local election mode into by-election mode so quickly but the mood of the team and the general office banter yesterday was top class and you can sense we are all re-energised for the short but intense fight ahead.

And with so much to do in such a short space of time I need to get going so apologies for the brief entry today but consider yourselves lucky to get anything at all.

Ok ok Hilary I’m coming………………………!

COSTA DEL CREWE!

Looking for a break after the hard work of the local election campaign? Needing to get away from it all before planning, printing and delivering those Thank You leaflets? Well the Lib Dems new service for party members – LD Shortbreaks – has arranged a wonderful opportunity for you to unwind, recharge your batteries and share election tales.

In the heart of South Cheshire the town of Crewe is perhaps best known for its association with the railways, being a major junction and once home to a major railway works. From 1946 until 2002 it was the home of Rolls-Royce motor car production. At the end of 2002 Rolls-Royce production ceased at Crewe; the Pyms Lane factory on the west of the town now produces Bentley motor cars exclusively.

The team at LD Shortbreaks has arranged a series of guided walks in and around the Crewe & Nantwich area for your enjoyment and pleasure and will even provide you with the names and addresses of local residents who are guaranteed to give you a warm welcome if you knock on their door and introduce yourselves to them.

They are even producing our own local newspapers and magazines for you to leave with them to read, maybe even saving them a trip to the local newsagent!

If you want to know more about this exclusive deal for Lib Dem members please visit –
http://www.elizabethshenton.com/help-elizabeth-win/

Less than 10 hours after finally getting to bed at 5am this morning after a terrifc night in Knowsley (3 gains from Labour!!) and Flintshire (3 gains from Labour but 2 losses - net gain of 1) I am already sat in the HQ of the Crewe & Nantwich by-election surrounded by masses of volunteers eager and ready to get going on the next campaign!!

Well actually there are only four of us right now but the count for the Crewe & Nantwich District of the new Cheshire East unitary council is still taking place and as soon as that is over I’m sure we will be joined by others chomping at the bit to get going!!

At least the local candidates can be assured with some help for their thank you leaflets in this area!!

If you are planning to come to Crewe in the near future our candidate Elizabeth Shenton is working hard for people in Crewe and Nantwich and she needs your help to become our next MP.

Come along to Elizabeth’s campaign HQ between 9am and 9pm, 7 days a week.

Elizabeth’s HQ is at Capital House, 4th Avenue, Crewe, CW1 6XL. There is parking available outside and it is 10-15 minutes walk from Crewe station.

Now I wonder if I can get forty winks in the corner before they all get back from the count………………..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The leaflets are delivered, the canvassing is completed and there is just time to write a brief note for my blog before knocking on a few more doors before the polling stations close in less than two hours.

As usual here in Halewood it is going to be an interesting night, with the marginal South ward being heavily contested by us and Labour - who are defending it this year – and it is hard to know which way it will swing today. Last year we were defending and only held on with a majority of 3 so it could be close yet again!!

We have an excellent team of candidates standing here though – Harry Birch (South ward), Shelley Powell (North ward) and Terry Powell (West ward) who have worked hard during the campaign and whatever the outcome they deserve our thanks for their efforts and hard work.

Our colleagues elsewhere in Knowsley are also confident of a good night with eyes on the outcome of the Kirkby results where the Tesco/Everton stadium proposals have split local opinion and may well have galvanised enough of an anti Labour vote to cause an upset or two – and that’s without even mentioning post office closures or the 10p rate of tax debacle!! Watch this space!

I was interested to see that the European Parliament had backed a call for MEP’s not to employ relatives during a vote in Strasbourg.

I have to say I do agree with the comments of Labour’s Gary Titley when he says what is important for him is that MEPs’ staff should be qualified and doing a job and that the system is transparent.

And I can understand the disappointment of Lib Dem MEP Diana Wallis, whose husband Stewart Arnold, is her right hand man in Brussels and I know personally that he does a first class job for Diana.

Although Ms Wallis’ comments did surprise me when she said “I really wonder whether my future lies here”.

If that is the case then surely the Party needs to know sooner rather than later with the list already decided for the 2009 elections if Ms Wallis is to step down so that others can get on with planning for next year’s campaign.

But is this really a resigning matter for an established, well respected MEP who is currently one of the Parliament’s Vice-Presidents??

I don’t think so.

April 1st – a good day to watch out for those silly pranks and office jokes! A busy time too for all of us involved in politics with the local elections only one month away and many of us are busy running around getting nomination papers signed before the deadline this Friday.

It looks as though there are going to be more contests this year in Knowsley with every seat contested, especially in Kirkby where in previous years some of those wards have not been contested.

But the proposals for the Tesco/Everton stadium development have certainly got people fired up in that community and it will be interesting to see just how things go in those contests.

The outcome would provide us with a clearer picture of just how strong the opposition is to the plans – almost like having a referendum!!

Today’s budget is a green cop out which kicks the difficult decisions on environmental taxes into the long grass and offers no help to the millions of hard pressed families struggling to make ends meet. This is not a green budget. This is not a people’s budget. This is a con trick budget that protects the rich and abandons the poor. The Government has bottled it on green taxes and failed to implement the necessary measures to cut child poverty. Unlike Liberal Democrat proposals for a Green Tax Switch, the money raised from environmental taxes will not be given back to families in the form of other tax cuts, but instead be taken by the Government to fill its black hole.  

Cllr Dave Smithson said: “This was an opportunity to give whatever help possible to millions of stretched British families who are feeling the pinch; whose money just doesn’t go as far as it used to.

 “This is a budget which gives only limited help to the poor, but maintains special treatment for the rich. A budget designed to fill a black hole masquerading as good for the environment. A budget which will not make Britain fairer, and a budget that is a great green cop out, as most of the new green taxes are being delayed. 

“The piecemeal reforms that the chancellor is introducing to the chaotic Tax Credit system won’t get the Government anywhere near meeting its 2010 Child Poverty target.  The reality is that the Government’s approach has failed. If we are to abolish child poverty for good we must not only increase income we must increase opportunity too.  

“These are the people most in need in our society – yet after ten years and yet another budget, they are still no nearer being given the true support they need. Green taxes should be revenue-neutral. They should not be treated as a wheeze to squeeze ever more money out of the British people, but should instead be designed to encourage green behaviour, and to cut the taxes of the most needy.  

“This is not a budget for the environment. It’s a budget driven by fiscal incompetence and political desperation. Why has Alistair Darling not had the guts to claw back the huge profits made by energy companies, thanks to the emissions permits that the Government has given them for free?  

“4.5 million people still live in fuel poverty and the Government’s 2010 fuel poverty target has been conveniently forgotten by ministers.  Trying to grab headlines by increasing the Winter Fuel Payment for just one year will do nothing to help poor pensioners in the long run. Surely this is the time to compel all energy companies to introduce real, fair, social tariffs for all vulnerable people, not just those on pre-paid meters? 

“This budget gives no real help to families struggling with higher food bills, higher energy bills and higher debt repayments. What is this budget doing to help junior nurses, teaching assistants and soldiers serving in

“After 11 years in Government, Labour has completed its fiscal fusion with the Tory Party.”