Geoffrey Brooking's Political Blog

WHY SAVINGS ARE NECESSARY IN PORTSMOUTH

2012-02-16T09:41:00.000Z

Well done Portsmouth City Council Leader Gerald Vernon Jackson for arguing that savings are necessary in Portsmouth to cope with the financial crisis left behind by the last government.

The fact of the matter is that thanks to the savings that the council and the coalition government are making, interest rates are now still at a record low of 0.5 per cent.

This is most helpful to mortgage payers and businesses alike because had we continued with the tax and spend madness that we saw under the last Labour government then this would most certainly not be the case as has been proven by the current cases of Ireland and Greece.

People need to live witihin their means and given that even Red Ed Miliband is now even starting to agree with such an approach, albeit at a very late stage and much to the private annoyance of Redder Ed Balls, then so should others including the trades unions, Pact, and the local Labour Party who all nowadays seem more keen on jumping on a political bandwagon than fixing the economy.

WHY ITS TIME TO KICK OUT ALL RELIGIOUS EXTREMEISTS

2012-02-14T14:05:00.002Z

What wonderful news that hate preacher Abu Qatada appeared to be one step closer to a long-awaited deportation from Britain after Jordanian authorities announced they had plugged a legal loophole that was preventing his return.

My only hope is that this will set a new judicial precedent so that we can kick the rest of the hate preachers stalking Britain.

Instead of thinking of their human rights, what is wrong with thinking about the human rights of the tax paying citizens who are paying for their detentions, curfews and so on?

People need to realise that thanks to people like Abu Qatada, the Islamic faith has become more of a cult worshipping sand deity than a religion and if having a cult that demands that non-followers need to be murdered so that a worldwide caliphate can be achieved doesnt breach the human rights of the vast majority of a country's citizens then I have to ask what on earth does.

POLICE MINISTER PROMOTES COMMISSIONER ELECTIONS

2012-02-09T13:23:00.002Z

How nice to see the Police Minister Nick Herbert in Portsmouth recently promoting the election for a Police Commissioner in Hampshire.

Unlike the hard working council leader Gerald Vernon Jackson who seems to rather unfortunately have his own reservations, I believe that having a commissioner is a good thing because just as is the case with elected mayors and council executives it reduces bureaucracy and promotes accountability because if the public don't like what they get then they can always get rid of it.

And how nice to see two people from the very roots of politics also throwing their hats in the ring.

I believe that former Iraq War hero Tim Collins will be just as much a credit to the role in Kent as local councillor and Portsmouth JP Donna Jones will be in Hampshire and wish both of them all the very best.

WHY ITS TIME FOR A BRITISH BILL OF RIGHTS

2012-02-08T10:11:00.000Z

Chris Roycroft-Davis is absolutely right to say in today's Daily Express that following the ruling as regards Abu Qatada, Britain should ditch the European Court.

The Abu Qatada case is just one in a whole string of cases that underlines why we need our own British Bill of Rights instead.

A Mugabe Torturer was recently told that he cannot be deported back to Zimbabwe, as that would breach his Human Rights.

A burglar from Nottingham was recently freed from jail on appeal so he can care for his children due to the Human Rights Act.

Up to 1,200 paedophiles and rapists will this year alone be able to demand their names are removed from the Sex Offender Register due to the Human Rights Act.

An Immigration Tribunal recently refused to allow the deportation of Learco Chindamo, the Italian born killer of London headteacher Philip Lawrence, due to Human Rights Act.

Illegal immigrants including rapists and multiple offenders are often allowed to stay in the UK because of the Human Rights Act.

And on top of all this we regularly read how celebrities continue to hide their wrongdoings behind the Human Rights Act.

Has nobody in the coalition ever heard of the phrase "Enough is Enough?"

In the words of the Conservative MP Peter Bone, who recently presented a Bill to the House of Commons to make provision for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Convention on Human Rights, "The Home Secretary could become a national hero if she picked up the phone and ordered that Qatada be sent back to Jordan."

PICKLES RIGHT TO GET THINGS WHEELIE MOVING

2012-02-07T09:55:00.002Z

Well done Eric Pickles for at long last rolling out the scheme to bring back the weekly bins rounds.

Nothing is worse than hard working and tax paying citizens paying their council tax that doubled under Labour only to have to walk out to the smells of rats and odour during the summer months all because one of Labour's fat cat quangos thinks they know better.

What this initiative shows is that far from the era of tax and spend and thinking they know better that we all had to put up with under Labour what we are getting under the Conservatives is lower taxes, better prudence that ultimately return better value for money.

TIME TO RAISE THE TAX THRESHOLD

2012-01-26T15:58:00.002Z

Well done Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg for urging the coalition to go further and faster in raising the tax threshold to £10,000.

Nothing is worse than running a business like I do that provides real value for money only to have to either work for peanuts or raise your charges.

Raising the threshold will both stimulate growth and provide a better incentive for people to work harder for a better Britain.

NEW EVIDENCE OF SICK NOTE SCROUNGING CAUSED BY LABOUR

2012-01-25T14:09:00.000Z

There's fresh evidence today about scroungers ripping off the benefits system.

According to today's Daily Express, new figures show that 57 per cent of those trying to pocket incapacity handouts could hold down a job, 21 per cent would be able to without the support and amongst all of this, 38 per cent of cases saw the claim closed before re-assessment was due to take place.

Between March and May last year 45,900 applicants were deemed no longer eligable for the new Employment Support Allowance.

Defending the changes DWP Minister Chris Grayling said yesterday that "These reforms are changing the landscape."

"By concentrating on what people can do, we will help people back into work and out of the benefits trap that has blighted many communities."

Power to your elbow Chris!

BENEFITS CAP WOULD BE THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA

2012-01-24T13:59:00.004Z

Well done Work and Pensions Secretary Iain DuncanSmith for vowing to continue with his benefits reforms plans so as to implement a maximum benefit of £26,000 for all but those with severe exemptions despite opposition in the House of Lords.

What Mr. Duncan Smith and the government are doing is completely in the public interest.

The facts of the matter are that Britain has four million households where nobody works, 370,000 where nobody has ever worked, nearly 200,000 people aged 16-24 claiming Disability Living Allowance compared to just 50,000 in 1992, and out of tests carried out on 45,900 applicants between March and May last year 57 per cent were deemed fit to work, 38 per cent pulled out of the application process and 21 per cent were deemed to do some work with the right support.

Add to this the fact that three out of every four jobs created in this country as a result of the private sector growth recently have gone to people who were foreign born and you don't need to be an expert to find the cause of our problems which are both a lack of skills and how people's talents were left to rot by the last government.

People need to realise that a job is a job and that the only way we are going to effectively combat this problem is by introducing a far stricter regime for those who have been unemployed for over six months including mandatory training or voluntary work that is continuous and unbroken until they do find work

Everyone deserves a chance, everyone deserves opportunity and nobody should be denied success in life but if you have a system where it pays not to work then only those who show the willingness and appetite to progress in life will work and it is these people who should be rewarded in the long term with a better and fairer system for all which can certainly helped by introducing a benefits cap.

So, far from being harsh on the hard, what the benefits cap would herald would be the end of the easy life on benefits, the dawn of a new era of fairness, and ultimately better value for money for everyone.

EXPOSED: MORE LABOUR TAX AND SPEND MADNESS

2012-01-23T15:14:00.002Z

Yet again we see a typical example of excessive spending under the last government after it was exposed that "The Child Support Agency has used taxpayers money to fund luxery hotels, meals at expensive restaurants and even chocolate treats."

The Child Support Agency is supposed to use its funding, some of which is paid for by hard working fathers, to help children be brought up in a safe environment and ensure they are kept healthy.

People were sick to death with quango after quango being set up by the last government along with the hiring of more and more civil servants.

Yet now we know what some of them really got up to surely there has to be more scrutiny than ever to avoid this kind of thing repeating itself.

At a time when law abiding taxpayers are feeling so much pressure on their finances I believe that they will once again view this as another example of the Labour Party's complete inability to ever govern this country again.

WHY ITS TIME TO PUT NUMBER ONE FIRST

2012-01-23T15:13:00.002Z

So, whilst hard pressed tax paying and law abiding citizens face a new year of further tight budgets it seems that there is still no end to our money being used to bail out the rest of Europe.

Just like Eurosceptic hero Peter Bone, I really have to ask myself why, at a time of national austerity and at a time when Whitehall budgets are quite rightly being scrutinised more than ever, are we sending even more of our money off to the IMF so as to bail out those who have only just realise that it is now time to act?

True, this government has done a superb job in clearing up the mess caused by thirteen years of Labour's tax and spend madness but has this government never heard of putting number one first?

A huge sum of British trade may be dependent on our Eurozone partners but surely if our European counterparts can't control their own economies why should we do it for them?

LABOUR SHOULD APOLOGISE FOR THEIR WASTAGE SPLURGE

2012-01-18T14:13:00.000Z

The Blog today wishes power to the elbow of Conservative Mp Guy Operman.

Hot on the heels of Red Ed Miliband dropping another clanger in an interview with Sky's Adam Boulton yesterday and news showing that only six per cent of the electorate now support Labour's economic madness comes the news that Red Ed Miliband and Redder Ed Balls will now NOT be opposing the government's austerity measures and cuts after it was exposed by Conservative MP Guy Operman "how Labour let officials splurge a fortune in treats" whilst his party were in power.

According to the latest expose, it seems quite clear that from the moment Gordon Brown became Prime Minister in 2006 the green light was given for inappropriate use of public money that saw public money wasted on the likes of fine wine, restaurant meals, private member club fees and even a trip to a bar in a marginal seat in Bristol.

And lets not forget that this is on top of a report that last year stated that "A project to set up nine regional control centres for fire and rescue services in England was a "complete failure" and wasted £469m" and a second report said that "rising PFI costs" brought about by the last Labour Government is 'putting hospitals at risk' with the Department of Health saying that no less than 22 trusts, which run 60 units, are facing spiralling costs running into billions.

As the Housing Minister Grant Shapps says, "this is yet another example of how Labour maxed out the nations credit card whilst leaving hard tax paying and law abiding citizens to pick up the bill."

Which is why people should not be fooled because the cuts are Labour's cuts and the mess is Labour's legacy and in my opinion no stone should be left unturned in the hunt for more savings at the centre of government so as to deliver better for less, so as to address the deficit while protecting the front line and so as to help departments live within their tighter budgets.

If savings can be made by reducing non essential discretionary spending, smarter procurement, and by having better scrutiny as has been the case with £3.75 billion saved between May 2010 to March 2011 alone then I say keep up the good work.

The fact of the matter is that despite their latest u turn both Red Ed Miliband and Redder Ed Balls still do not appreciate that the amount of money they have wasted was unacceptable and until they condemn such behaviour and apologise should never be trusted in office ever again.

THE LONG WAIT FOR KREMLINISM

2012-01-11T08:56:00.002Z

Ed Miliband's speech yesterday was hardly worth the wait.

It one thing being criticised by right wing papers like the Daily Express but completely another when the broadcasting journalists join in.

Hence ITV News Political Editor Tom Bradby's tweet yesterday that "Telling everyone to expect a speech at 11 and delivering it more than 30 minutes later is really bad organisation."

Got the hint anyone?

STANDING UP TO THE FREELANCE EUROCRAT

2012-01-10T09:29:00.000Z

Well done Conservative MP's Peter Bone, Mark Reckless and Douglas Carswell for once again exposing how Eurocrats work in today's Daily Express after "Freelance Eurocrat" Nick Clegg insisted that David Cameron's veto was only a "temporary breach".

What Mr. Clegg needs to realise is that as the result of the last general Election proved and as recent opinion polls have also proved is that David Cameron was only standing up for public opinion and the national interest.

The fact that both the Hungarian and Czech government's are now also expressing doubts about closer eurozone union clearly vindicates David Cameron's use of the veto too.

Why should a Conservative Government that has already taken the needed austerity measures have to associate itself with those who either choose not to, or, in the case of Greece, are only just starting?

The Conservatives have done a superb job in clearing up the financial mess left behind by the last tax and spend Labour Government so I think the last thing we need to do is take lectures from unelected socialist bureaucrats who can't even control their own economies.

No wonder the eurocrats want tax harmonisation across the whole of the EU as opposed to our own financial independence.

If you ask me this just signals that they want more spending over there, and to pay for it, want mugs to pay more tax here.

MILIBANG

2012-01-09T13:35:00.001Z

You Gov are reporting that Red Ed's approval rating has just gone down to MINUS 46.

With a re-launch due after a spell on the Today programme on Radio 4 tomorrow morning it can't get much worse can it?

Guido reporting on Alan Johnson and David Miliband all circling like sharks with Mrs Balls @ www.order-order.com

What I can't understand is what has happened to Mr Balls?

WHY RED ED IS A WEAK FAILURE

2012-01-08T17:49:00.000Z

The fact that Ed Miliband has failed to sack Dianne Abbott just shows what a weak failure both he and his party have become and how out of touch with the modern world they really are.

If a white person said "all blacks are in-bred racists" people would be up in arms.
Yet, thanks to the politically correct, left-wing delusional fantasy world we now live in, thanks to the Harmanisation of us all by the last Labour Government, it seems that when a black person like Dianne Abbott says the same about whites, it is not considered to be a racist statement just because of the race of the person saying it.

Any indigenous person in a similar position would be hounded out of their job, sacked, or would at least have the decency to resign, whatever their race.

Yet the fact that Dianne Abbott survives provides even more evidence that the English are today fast becoming second class citizens even in their own land.

WHERE IS THE INCENTIVE?

2012-01-08T17:45:00.000Z

Well done Conservative MP's Gavin Barwell and Anne Main for voicing concern at the Housing Benefit paid to a family living in a North London mansion as is highlighted in today's Daily Express.

What kind of incentive is there to work when the state is subsidising these people in such a lavish manner?

This is the reason why we need a Housing Benefit cap so as this sort of thing can be dealt with.

If you ask me I say the family in question should either get jobs or face being moved to an area where property prices are far more affordable for the taxpayer just like another London council did recently.

Its a waste of public money, it completely undermines accountability in local finances and is most certainly not value for money.

STAND UP FOR THE GRAFTERS

2012-01-04T10:17:00.002Z

At a time of austerity when "families stand to lose up to £1,400 as a double whammy of tax rises and austerity measures hit home" I really find it hard to believe that "taxpayers fork out £5.8 million for MP's food bills".

Aren't MP's supposed to be the people who lead by example when it comes to repairing the mess that Labour left behind?

Or have the hard working and tax paying citizens who are already shouldering the burden for fresh rises in transport and petrol costs and other austerity measures going to have to foot the bill for this just like they are having to foot the bill for the 5% increase in social security payments next April?

Surely somebody in the coalition could at least take a stand up for the grafters that keep our country ticking!

GETTING BRITAIN OUT OF A PICKLE

2012-01-04T10:16:00.002Z

Well done Communities Secretary Eric Pickles for voicing concern at public money being used to subsidise the deduction of union subs from the wages of public sector troughers.

Why should the tax payer yet again pay for something that the unions should be looking after.

This, together with the fact that some councils still employ full time union officials, is a disgraceful waste of public money especially when one considers that these are the very organisations that provide the vast majority of Labour Party funding and were the very people who secured Ed Miliband's position as Labour Leader.

STATE SUBSIDY OF CRIMINALS IS WRONG

2011-12-28T12:24:00.003Z

Well done to everyone at the Daily Express for exposing that 1.2 million criminals are effectively being subsidised by the state.

I am just as horrified as other readers over this.

My understanding is that the government has recently increased the maximum amount that can be deducted from benefits to pay for fines but this is not enough.

Anyone who is released early from prision should automatically be made to work in the community be it litter picking or cleaning until their sentence is complete and failure to comply should lead to an automatic recall to prison.

And anyone given a community sentence should face the same stiff penalties.

The fact of the matter is that even though we have prison overcrowding at record levels we need tough deterrants to prevent crime from happening in the first place and addressing this problem can only be a step in the right direction.

TIME TO RECLAIM THE STREETS

2011-12-28T11:50:00.000Z

Well done Chief Inspector Sir Denis O'Connor for suggesting that officers should be prepared to shoot arsonists during riots so as to reclaim the streets and save innocent lives.

Nothing was more sickening than the events of last August when mob rule took over certain parts of Britain.

There is an old saying that if you can't do time don't commit the crime and this should certainly have been the case here instead of the light community sentences that were handed out.

After all, how would the rioters like it if someone came along and ransacked or set fire to their property?

So its good to hear a bold announcement like this and my hope is that it will act as a deterrant to future disturbances because as your report on Thursday quite rightly pointed out, some of those who took part in the riots last August didn't have a care in the world.

EXPOSED: LABOUR AGAIN REJECT LOCAL WORKERS

2011-12-20T09:24:00.002Z

We all know that when Gordon Brown and his tax and spend Labour Party were quoted a saying "British Jobs for British Workers" it was just a soundbite.

The fact that Labour controlled Durham County Council is awarding a £4 Million Bin contract to a German firm even though a local firm had a cheaper bid just proves it.

This is yet another example of the contempt the Labour Party still treat British workers with.

You would think that local MP in South Shields David Miliband would have at least intervened but not content with having flung open the doors to migrants whilst at the same time overseeing record rises in youth unemployment what this shows is that even under brother Ed Miliband, Labour have still not learnt the lessons that lost them the last election.

NOW BORIS ATTACKS PLANS TO BUBBLEGUM EU TOGETHER

2011-12-19T10:20:00.002Z

Well done once again to London Mayor Boris Johnson for saying that its daft to try and bubblegum the EU together.

The EU may account for 57 per cent of our trade with the world but such ideological interventionism stinks of even more socialism by the back door.

The fact that both the Hungarian and Czech government's are now also expressing doubts about closer eurozone union clearly vindicates David Cameron's use of the veto.

Why should a Conservative Government that has already taken the needed austerity measures have to associate itself with those who either choose not to, or, in the case of Greece, are only just starting?

The Conservatives have done a superb job in clearing up the financial mess left behind by the last tax and spend Labour Government so I think the last thing we need to do is take lectures from unelected socialist bureaucrats who can't even control their own economies.

No wonder the eurocrats want tax harmonisation across the whole of the EU as opposed to our own financial independence.

If you ask me this just signals that they want more spending over there, and to pay for it, want mugs to pay more tax here.

HOW DARE THEY THREATEN OUR REBATE

2011-12-19T10:18:00.002Z

How dare the Eurocrats in Brussels call for the British rebate to be scrapped in revenge for David Cameron's use of the veto.

All Mr Cameron did was stand up for our national interests and that of the financial services industry that employs 100,000 people in Birmingaham and 150,000 in Scotland alone.

What this amounts to is nothing but a few angry people hell bent on revenge just because they could not get their way by being able to interfere in our everyday lives even more.

Maybe we should bully Brussels back by having a referendum and getting out of the EU completely?

CAMERON USE OF VETO WAS RIGHT

2011-12-19T10:16:00.003Z

David Cameron's use of the veto in Brussels last week was the action of a Prime Minister doing what it takes to put the interests of Great Britain first.

For far too long Britain has been dictated to by the unelected bureaucracy that is the European Union.

Under thirteen wasted years of Labour rule we saw everything in black and white signed away from employment laws to even how our fruit and veg is measured.

Yet after less than two years of Conservative rule one thing quite clear is that the Bulldog Spirit that last existed when The Great Lady Thatcher was Prime Minister is now back along with, according to opinion polls, some fresh popular demand.

What right have these looney bureacrats got to try and rob our financial services of business from right under our noses putting jobs at risk all over Britain including 100,000 in Birmingham and 150,000 in Scotland?

David Cameron was so right to take a stand for British jobs and for British interests and my only hope is that this is not just the start of a new begining but also the end of the European Union as the interfering old bureacrats that so many of us want rid of.

Yet where on earth do the Labour Party stand as regards the recent Brussels summit?

Whilst the Prime Minister did the right thing by refusing to be railroaded into the wrong agreement, yet again, Red Ed Miliband has been exposed for having no policy at all.

Would he have agreed a treaty or wouldn't he?

No one knows.

Least of all his own MPs!

So whilst Red Ed Miliband refuses to say whether he would sign the treaty, his own Shadow Chancellor, Redder Ed Balls is nowhere to be seen at all thus exposing yet another example of why the Labour Party are completely unfit for public office and never will be until they apologise for the mess and the debt they left behind let alone their guilty part in the R.B.S. Fiasco.

NOW BORIS CALLS FOR EU REFERENDUM

2011-12-19T10:15:00.002Z

Well done London Mayor Boris Johnson for calling for a referendum on any new treaty as regards the EU and the Eurozone crisis.

The very reason I campaigned for the Conservatives at the last election was so that we would hopefully have a government that would stand up and fight Britain's corner as regards this very issue.

If it is needed then David Cameron should use our veto but if there are any changes to any constitution, any changes to any treaty, or indeed, any proposed new treaty then the British people should have a say.

People in their fifties have been sucked into the EU without having a say in a referendum so its about time we did.

If Switzerland and Norway can thrive their economies without being a member of this expensive club then so can Britain.
So I say well done Boris, well done the eurosceptics in the Conservative Party and keep up the pressure with that Bulldog Spirit.

CLEGG SUPPORT FOR HANDOUTS IS ATTEPMT TO SAVE HIS OWN SKIN

2011-12-07T10:08:00.003Z

Shame on Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats for supporting a 5.2 per cent increase in jobless handouts.

At a time when people are already complaining that it does not pay to work this once again makes the situation even worse.

What is wrong with limiting this handout to the same 1 per cent given to the public sector troughers or, better still, freezing it all together?

After all of the hard work put in by Iain Duncan Smith and Chris Grayling its now clear where those soft Lib Dems really stand.

Instead of being on the side of the hard working and law abiding grafters what this whole issue shows is that the Lib Dems are certainly not.

No wonder the vast majority of new jobs created in Britain are going to foreign nationals.

Time and time again I have said that this problem will only get worse until we do something about it.

We need a strong right wing majority conservative government that is prepared to stand up and make work pay rather than one containing soft wets like Nick Clegg who seem more inclined to sweep another problem into the long grass just so as to save their own skin.

WHY JEREMY CLARKSON HAS A POINT

2011-12-07T10:08:00.001Z

The way Jeremy Clarkson put across his argument may have been wrong but at the end of the day I believe that he was only showing an example of the anger and frustration felt by those of us who Clarkson says "work for a living", especially in the private sector.

Some of the pensions currently on offer in the public sector far outweigh those of ordinary workers in the private sector and let's not forget that before the coalition came to power these same very public sector troughers were getting decent annual pay deals too.

Indeed, I know many people who argue that the mess in the public sector is a deliberate trap set by Labour for the new government.

Yet the bottom line is that if people in the private sector have to work hard just to get any rise and at the same time meet tough productivity targets why not in the public sector too.

They should be glad of a one per cent pay increase because given the current state of finances thanks to the mess Labour left behind and the expected fall in overall living standards thanks to the Eurozone crisis that a certain Tony Blair wanted us to be "at the heart of" they should glad at getting any increase at all.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE KIDDING MR RED ED?

2011-12-07T10:07:00.001Z

How typical of Labour Leader Red Ed Miliband to fail to condemn the strikers.

As thousands of ordinary tax paying and law abiding citizens are grossly inconvenienced by the action this simply underlines why this man is completely unfit to lead this country at any time, let alone tough times.

Red Ed should apologise to people who have had to take extra leave off work in the private sector thus furthur destabilising an already fragile economy all because of the stubborn action of left wing militants in the union movement.

The same striking unions who closed schools up and down the land, affected ports, airports and even led to cancellations in hospital treatment.

And the same striking unions who shamefully prop up the finances of his failing Labour Party to the extent of 89 per cent of all funding.

Shame on Red Ed, shame on his party and shame on the boneheads in the trades union movement.

GOVE STANDS UP TO UNION BARONS

2011-12-07T10:06:00.003Z

Well done Education Secretary Michael Gove for standing up to the left wing militants in the trades union movement who are hell bent on wrecking the economic recovery.

How on earth can it be fair for 12,000 retired public sector staff to leave with packages worth £50,000 and union leaders to themselves get six figure pay sums whilst private sector workers and business people struggle to make ends meet.

What an insult to the tax payer.

Union leaders have no solidarity at all with the ordinary hard working and tax paying citizens these days.

No wonder the mess left behind by Labour is so toxic.

People need to realise that were it not for the actions of the current government then debt would be even more out of control and interest rates would almost certainly be higher.

This is proven by the fact that bond rates of 2.33% in Britain are now the second lowest in Europe just behind Germany on 2.32% whilst tax and spenders like Greece have rates of 25%.

In the interests of fellow tax payers and citizens the strikes should be called off or new laws introduced to prevent a repeat of such boneheaded madness because as the old saying goes "if its not hurting then it isn't working."

STRIKES ARE MADNESS

2011-12-07T10:06:00.001Z

I find it astonishing that as the trades union barons once again attempt to grind the country and our fragile economy to a halt that 12,000 retired public sector staff leave with packages worth £50,000 at the same time as union leaders themselves also getting six figure salaries too.

What an insult to the tax payer.

I only hope that they never return to the public payroll in future.

For this is nothing short of troughing at its worst.

No wonder the mess left behind by Labour is so toxic.

People need to realise that were it not for the actions of the current government then debt would be even more out of control and interest rates would almost certainly be higher.

In the interests of fellow tax payers and citizens this strike should be called off or new laws introduced to prevent a repeat of such boneheaded madness.

STRIKES SHOULD HAVE FULL SUPPORT

2011-12-07T10:04:00.006Z

Well done David Cameron for calling on bosses to allow workers to take their children to work so as to beat the strikes.

How on earth it can be justified to hold strikes based upon such a low turn out is incredible.

We need new laws so as to protect the tax payer against such boneheaded madness.

We need laws to guard against action in the private sector where turn out is below 50 per cent and we need to ban strikes completely in the public sector.

After all, there are plenty of able people who would simply appretiate a job in such austere times.

RED ED GETS HIS FACTS WRONG

2011-12-07T10:04:00.001Z

It seems as though Red Ed Miliband can't even get his facts right now.

On Wednesday November 23rd during Prime Minister's Questions our Red Ed said that "under 13 years of a Labour Government, youth unemployment never reached 1 million."

The Department of Education statistics for young people not in employment, education, or training show that even though the number of young people who were unemployed under Labour was below a million all through the 2008 and through the first two quarters of 2009 in the third quarter of 2009 facts show that the number of young unemployed hit 1,074,000.

Proving that our Red Ed clearly got his facts wrong and that yet again he is clearly unfit to be our next Prime Minister.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

2011-12-07T10:02:00.001Z

Surely the time has now come to say enough is enough to the St. Pauls protesters.

The fact that they were allowed to continue their occupation during Remembrance Sunday was bad enough.

Now though, given the shocking state of the site, the fact that social workers fear for some protesters mental health, the fact that graffiti is everywhere and that church services are being disrupted on a daily basis surely enough is enough.

I'm all for freedom of speech as well as freedom to protest but the St. Pauls rabble have surely now over stepped the mark.

ANOTHER FINE LABOUR MESS

2011-12-07T10:01:00.004Z

Yet again we see evidence of the mess left behind by the last Labour Government.

Whilst one million of our own young citizens are stuck on the dole or in education unable to find work due to lack of experience 12,000 migrants let in through the floodgates opened by Labour take the work.

What a shocking state of affairs.

How on earth could any government oversee such a policy failure?

Yet so long as the floodgates remain open and the youths find that it pays not to work things will not get any better.

We need training schemes for every 16-24 year old regardless of how long they have been out of work and compulsory work placements for the rest so as to at least increase the confidence and ability.

WHY BLAIR SHOULD APOLOGISE FOR EUROZONE DEBACLE

2011-12-07T10:01:00.000Z

So, the former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair says that the collapse of The Euro would be catastrophic and that Britain should keep its options open to join the euro in the future.

Why won't Mr. Blair just admit and apologise for his own policies towards the EU when he was Prime Minister?

Like stopping the people expressing a view on the EU by failing to offer a referendum on the Federalising Lisbon Treaty and like failing to rule Britain out of the euro forever completely.

They were policies that were catastrophic for Britain, policies that even today result in unnecessary bureaucracy in Britain, policies that have failed businesses completely in Britain and ultimately policies that were nothing short of an affront to democracy in Britain.

WHY THE SILENCE MR RED ED?

2011-11-04T09:11:00.002Z

So, one of the Labour Party's affiliated trade union's, Unison, has confirmed that strike action will take place on 30th November in Portsmouth, despite less than a quarter of balloted members actually voting to strike.

Nationally, of the 1.1 million balloted Unison members in the public sector, less than 22 per cent voted in favour of the action.

Yet this is the union, whose donations make up eight per cent of Labour's union coffers and the very union that threw its weight behind Ed Miliband during the Labour Leadership Contest in 2010.

The vote is very disappointing news for the families and businesses who will be affected and inconvenienced by this unnecessary industrial action.

Indeed, what is just as disappointing is the fact that this industrial action can actually go ahead after all given the extremely low turnout in support of striking.

Considering the fact that the Government's offer is now much improved, surely Unison should at least reconsider their position.

Yet what this shows once again is that Red Ed Miliband's weakness remains his prime hallmark and that the Labour Leader is only keeping quiet just to please his union paymasters yet again.

God help us if he ever became Prime Minister.

EU WHAT?

2011-11-04T09:10:00.002Z

Well done Conservative MP Chris Heaton Harris for quite rightly raising concerns at plans by the EU to grab another £40 Billion of our coffers at a time of austerity.

Have these Brussels bureaucrats got nothing better to do than spend our money?

National government departments are having to make savings and businesses are having to trim their budgets to stay in business so why can't the EU?

When we joined the EU it was supposed to be for the benefit of trade not union.

Yet what we are now seeing is that the EU is now fast becoming a very expensive club to belong to.

So given that nobody under the age of 54 has ever had a say on this monsterous regime I say its time to give the British people another chance to have their say in a fresh referendum to determine whether we reform our links, stay in, or in my opinion, pull out completely.

CABINET RIGHT TO ROLL UP THEIR SLEEVES

2011-11-04T09:09:00.002Z

Well done David Cameron and his Cabinet for rolling up their sleeves so as to focus on economic growth over the coming months.

Had it not been for the brave austerity measures set out by George Osborne and David Cameron so as to pay off the financial mess left behind by the last tax and spend Labour Government that included Ed Balls goodness knows what kind of mess we would be in.

Well, actually we do have an idea of the kind of mess we would have been in just by looking at the situation that Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain are currently facing.

So my message to Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls and anyone else complaining about slow growth in austere times is this:

At least Britain didn't hit the buffers!

CAN EU GIVE US ANOTHER VOTE?

2011-10-27T16:17:00.000+01:00

So, Hat's Off to the following MP's for supporting the motion calling for a referendum on the E.U. on Monday.

They were Stuart Andrew, Steve Baker, John Baron, Andrew Bingham, Brian Binley, Bob Blackman, Graham Brady, Andrew Bridgen, Steve Brine, Fiona Bruce, Dan Byles, Gregory Campbell, Ronnie Campbell, Douglas Carswell, Bill Cash, Chris Chope, James Clappison, Rosie Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn, Tracey Crouch, Jon Cruddas, John Cryer, Ian Davidson, David Davies, Philip Davies, David Davis, Nick
de Bois, Caroline Dinenage, Nigel Dodds, Jeffrey Donaldson, NadineDorries, Richard Drax, Natascha Engel, Frank Field, Mark Field, Lorraine Fullbrook, Roger Godsiff, Zac Goldsmith, James Gray, Chris Heaton-Harris, Gordon Henderson, Lady Hermon, Kate Hoey, George Hollingbery, Adam Holloway, Kelvin Hopkins, Stewart Jackson, Bernard Jenkin, Marcus Jones, Chris Kelly, Andrea Leadsom, Jeremy Lefroy, Edward Leigh, Dr Julian Lewis, Caroline Lucas, Karen Lumley, Anne Main, Steve McCabe, Jason McCartney, Karl McCartney, Dr William McCrea, John McDonnell, Stephen McPartland, Patrick
Mercer, Nigel Mills, Austin Mitchell, Anne Marie Morris, James Morris, Stephen Mosley, Sheryll Murray, Caroline Nokes, David Nuttall, Matthew Offord, Ian Paisley, Neil Parish, Priti Patel, Andrew Percy, Mark Pritchard, Mark Reckless, John Redwood, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Simon Reevell, Laurence Robertson, Andrew Rosindell, Adrian Sanders, Jim Shannon, Richard Shepherd, David Simpson, Dennis
Skinner, Andrew Smith, Henry Smith, John Stevenson, Bob Stewart, Iain Stewart, Gary Streeter, Graham
Stringer, Gisela Stuart, Julian Sturdy, Sir Peter Tapsell, Justin Tomlinson, Andrew Turner, Martin Vickers, Charles Walker, Robin Walker, Mike Weatherley, Heather Wheeler, Craig Whittaker, John Whittingdale, Sammy Wilson, Dr Sarah Wollaston, Mike Wood, and the Tellers Peter Bone and Philip Hollobone.

Well done one and all.

Old Holborn has set up a new petition HERE!

81 per cent of Conservative voters said that they want a referendum on the future of the E.U. and according to a straw poll that I did on Facebook of party members over 90 per cent favoured such a move.

Indeed, the fact that half of the non-ministerial parliamentary party supported David Nuttall's tabled motion in the House of Commons despite the pressure of government whips just proves the sense of feeling.

When Britain agreed to ties with Europe it was on the basis of joining a Common Market for trading reasons rather than a United States style Federal Superstate which is the road we now seem to be going down.

When I speak to people inside and outside of politics affected by the austerity measures Europe is the most contentious issue by far.

These people are confused as to the road we are following and the latest is talk of a European Treasury.

This road is leading Britain nowhere and it is time to change route.

No British Citizen under the age of 54 has ever had a say in a referendum on this issue.

We deserve to have our voices heard. We deserve a proper say on how our money is being spent. And we deserve the power to change Britain for the better.

Which is why as I write this letter two new petitions have been set up on the Parliament e petitions web site calling for a fresh debate and a fresh vote. One being a repeated version and the other calling for a free vote.

The debacle of last Monday was a mistake that left the people even further out of touch than ever before so I say give us a free vote Mr Cameron so that your MPs can stay in touch with the people who elected them and when it comes to that vote I say vote for a referendum so we can legislate a referendum and finally put the Great back in Britain.

PLEASE CAN EU GIVE US A REFERENDUM?

2011-10-22T11:06:00.000+01:00

Hat's Off to the following MP's who are already supporting calls for an E.U. Referendum on Monday:

David Nuttall, Frank Field, Graham Brady, Zac Goldsmith, Keith Vaz, Tracey Crouch, Steve Baker, Brian Binley, Peter Bone, Andrew Bridgen, Gregory Campbell, Douglas Carswell, Bill Cash, Christopher Chope, James Clappison, David Davies, Philip Davies, David Davis, Caroline Dinenage, Nigel Dodds, Nadine Dorries, Richard Drax, Mark Field, James Gray, Gordon Henderson, Kate Hoey, Philip Hollobone, Kelvin Hopkins, Bernard Jenkin, Edward Leigh, Dr Julian Lewis, Ian Liddell-Grainger, Anne Main, Karl McCartney, Jason McCartney, Dr William McCrea, Nigel Mills, Austin Mitchell, Anne Marie Morris, Ian Paisley, Priti Patel, Andrew Percy, Mark Pritchard, Mark Reckless, John Redwood, Laurence Robertson, Andrew Rosindell, Jim Shannon, Richard Shepherd, David Simpson, Henry Smith, Mark Spencer, Bob Stewart, Andrew Turner, Martin Vickers, Heather Wheeler, Craig Whittaker, and Sammy Wilson.

IF PEOPLE WANT WEALTH THEN THEY SHOULD GO AND CREATE WEALTH

2011-10-19T10:00:00.000+01:00

Stephen Pollard is absolutely right to tell protesters to stop whining about poverty and instead go and create wealth in the Daily Express.

Nothing cheeses you off more than seeing socialists supposed to be wanting a better deal yet failing to set an example themselves.

The trouble with the last government is that we were left a legacy where the wrong people were rewarded.

A legacy where people were better off on benefit than in work.

A legacy where you had a better chance of getting social housing whilst on benefit rather than in work.

And a legacy where if you were lucky enough to get social housing you ended up stuck in a poverty trap where it paid not to work.

What is wrong with rewarding people for taking risks at their own expense?

What is wrong with rewarding people who choose to work even though they are just pennies better off?

And what is wrong with rewarding the self employed who offer value for money to their clients with tax incentives?

I have always said that the best way to help growth is by encouraging people to create growth but this can only be done by having a fairer system that favours the grafters over moaners and workers over whiners.

SAME OLD LABOUR - SAME OLD EXCUSES

2011-10-19T09:58:00.002+01:00

So, Cameron Crouchman and the rest of the Labour Party's henchmen in Portsmouth continue to be critical of the government's austerity measures whilst once again refusing to offer fresh ideas themselves by instead choosing to continue with their same old mantra of blaming the banks.

The fact of the matter is that were it not for the austerity measures caused by the economic mess that Labour left behind then interest rates would be soaring and debt would be once again rising.

Interest rates may have hit 15% in 1992 albeit for a matter of hours but anyone with a proper and fair distant memory knows full well that this was not the result of economic incompetence but because we made the big mistake of joining the Exchange Rate Mechanism against the advice of many right wingers like Lord Lawson and myself.

The economy inherited by Blair and Brown in 1997 was second to none and the battle to curd inflation was won by a certain John Major.

Yet thirteen years of Labour and we saw history repeat itself with record debt, record inflation, a bloated public sector, and an economy clearly on the brink even after claiming an end to boom and bust.

That's not a record to be proud of but one to be ashamed of.

Instead of crying out for a return to Labour at the next election I believe the British people will see through Red Ed Miliband, Red Ed Balls and the rotting socialist P.R. Machine for what they really stand for.

Like jobs for the boys, like paying trades union reps, like dining out on corporate cards at the taxpayer expense, like wasting money on strategies to win votes rather than raise quality of life and above all like changing policies when politically convenient to do so.

If the Red Ed's can't even agree with David Miliband and Jon Cruddas as regards future party policy on economics, community relations and education when in opposition now how on earth can they be trusted in government too?

All I can say is same old Labour, same old excuses, and same old failure!

WHY ITS WRONG TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST WORKERS BECAUSE THEY ARE BRITISH

2011-10-19T09:53:00.000+01:00

Well done Crawley MP Henry Smith for raising what clearly amounts to discrimination against our own workers over pay.

Yet again we see an example of British tax paying citizens being openly turned upon just for doing their jobs.

The government has to now realise that the fact that so many of our jobs are going to foreign nationals is a problem.

Yet this time it isn't at the expense of those who can work and won't work but clearly of those who want to work.

When the minimum wage was introduced with all the P.R that came with it we were told it would give a fairer deal for workers.

Instead it has led to employers cutting corners and finding short cuts.

The amount of jobs advertised to work on a self employed basis is a typical example of this.

If employers won't pay the minimum wage whatever the circumstances or won't employ staff just because they are British not only should they be shamed but they should face prosecution too.

The law should work both ways so I say stop allowing employers to cut corners so as prop up profits and start giving British employees a chance too.

POWER TO YOUR ELBOW MR FOX

2011-10-11T10:35:00.000+01:00

Power to the elbow of Defence Secretary Liam Fox.

Mr. Fox is in my opinion being singled out and targeted in a smear campaign started by someone passing on what I now believe to be misleading information to a national newspaper in order to discredit our magnificent Defence Secretary.

Its got hardly anything to do with his former best man and everything to do with a forthcoming court case in the USA at which Liam Fox may be called to give evidence.

The trouble is that when certain people who are far from happy at changes can smell a scandal and want a scalp they will do all they can to get that scalp.

So should Dr Fox be pressing ahead with plans to reduce the number and status of bureaucrats within the MOD, you hardly need to be an expert to work out that mandarins are now briefing against him also.

Mr Fox is doing a fantastic job under difficult circumstances thanks to the mess inherited from Labour.

So all I can say is shame on the trouble makers, be happy with the full and frank explanation given and above all, let's draw a line and leave it at that.

TIME TO SCRAP THE TELEVISION LICENCE?

2011-10-10T12:47:00.003+01:00

Instead of allowing the BBC to waste even more of our money like they are doing with their pointless move to Salford and showing endless repeats why can't the government go one step further by scrapping the licence fee and privatising the Corporation altogether?

The fact of the matter is that in the cut and thrust world of television media the BBC have got it too easy and it is the licence fee payer who picks up the bill for a service some don't even want.

I already pay fifty pounds a month for a Sky package and hardly ever watch the beeb.

Therefore from my perspective the licence fee amounts to nothing but a stealth tax.

In the digital age the BBC should be made to fight like others by being sold on subscription only.

CRUNCH TIME

2011-10-06T10:35:00.001+01:00

Whilst David Cameron has an excellent point in relation to people's credit card debts and money owed to banks there are a number of other issues linked to this.

Firstly, what were the banks doing when lending so recklessly albeit so long ago in the first place?

When the last government introduced measures to get people on benefits to have their entitlements paid into their bank accounts they naturally opened accounts and as a result banks leant to people who, being on benefits, couldn't properly afford to pay it back.

Secondly, there is a case of personal responsibility.

Even today people on benefits are always taking out pay day loans and pawning valuables in exchange for money to keep their heads above water

Have they never heard of budgeting?

And thirdly, how on earth can people on such low and modest incomes get into so much debt in the first place?

The fact of the matter is that we are fast evolving into a society where people who can work but won't work will do anything for money now whatever the consequences later and until we address that problem then you have to ask yourself who can blame the banks nowadays for changing their policies and not taking the risk of lending in the first place?

TIME TO CLOSE THE UNION SHOPS

2011-10-05T09:58:00.003+01:00

Well done Communities Secretary Eric Pickles for finally declaring war on town hall trades unions who cost the tax payer £250 million a year.

What on earth did the Labour Party think it was doing paying these people to do nothing but union duties?

When one considers the fact that the vast majority of Labour's funding comes from the unions and that if it were not for the unions then Ed Miliband would not be leader of his party this amounts to a scandalous misuse of public money.

Each union member pays their fees and it is these fees that should pay for full time union officials.

Yet what this latest episode once again exposes is how when it comes to ending vested interests with the tax payer at heart the Labour Party were lamentable when in government and are clearly unfit to return to office in future too.

TIME FOR FAIRNESS IN THE SYSTEM

2011-10-01T15:47:00.000+01:00

Well done Chichester MP Andrew Tyrie for calling for tax cuts for business and well done too St. Albans MP Anne Main for continuing her fight for fairness in the welfare system.

What we need are measures to end the rotten culture of social dependency that this is creating in Britain.

We need an end to do for nothing long term JSA benefits.

Make long term unemployed work in the community for their benefits instead at least until they find a job.

We need an end to automatic full housing and council tax benefit for social claimants too.

I say make them pay 20 per cent council tax and 20 per cent housing costs.

What people need to realise is that social housing creates social dependency and this in itself creates idleness.
And what's more if we don't act now it will be harder to deal with it when austerity really kicks in.

CONSERVATIVE VALUE

2011-10-01T15:43:00.001+01:00

Well done Communities Secretary Eric Pickles for providing the funding for all councils to quite rightly have their weekly bin collections.

Nothing is worse, especially in the summer, than having to put up with overflowing bins and the odour and poor hygiene it creates

Under the last Labour Government services were cut whilst council tax doubled.

Under the Conservatives we have already seen council tax frozen and as this proves, we are now seeing services expanded.

So I say power to your elbow to "our chum" Mr. Pickles because if anything, what this shows is that only the Conservatives really do give the tax payer the value for money they really, well and truly deserve in such austere times.

THE MAN WITHOUT A PLAN

2011-09-28T09:33:00.000+01:00

So, Ed Miliband and Labour claim to be the party of the squeezed middle.

Given that they spent their thirteen long years squeezing the middle by doubling council tax and raiding pension funds this comes across as very cheap.

They say that they want to become a country where responsible "grafters" are rewarded"but if that's the case then why did they spend more than a decade milking "grafters" dry and re distributing the money to their pet client groups in the public sector in the hope of buying votes?

Remember "Education, Education, Education" and how they made children so illiterate?

Remember "Tough on Crime, Tough on the Causes of Crime" and how they became so soft?

Remember Prescott's "10 year integrated transport policy" and the money that it wasted?

And who can forget Gordon Brown's claim to have ended "Boom and Bust" only to send the country almost completely bust and claim that the credit crunch would only last for six months?

At a time when the country is crying out for Leadership this party couldn't repent a sin if if the mess they left was stuck under their noses.

If all Labour can do is attack the culture that they created do they really think the British people will ever trust them with running the country again?

I don't think so!

LABOUR CHILD'S PLAY

2011-09-28T09:28:00.000+01:00

It was the P.R. disaster that made everyone sick and today the Daily Mail has a report today on the truth behind it all.

Even as such a devoted Express fan the story is very much worth a good read HERE!

THE RED ED SING-ALONG

2011-09-28T09:23:00.000+01:00

He's a wonk, He’s a gonk,

He’s only ever had one bonk,

Milibaaaand, Milibaaaaand.

He's a geek, he's weak,

His office is full of leaks,

Milibaaaand, Milibaaaaand.

He’s a tit, he’s a ****,

To be a leader he’s not fit,

Milibaaaand, Milibaaaand!

He never gets the hint

He left the country skint

And when our Red Ed was Climate Change Secretary - it was his last Cabinet stint!

He hates opinion polls,

They always play on his soul,

But when the grey men come and get him,

His excuse will be the unions scoring own goals!

Bye, Bye Red Ed - Red Ed Bye, Bye!

So I Say Thank You for your great speech - a man without a plan!

TALKING BALLS

2011-09-27T16:43:00.001+01:00

If Ed Balls speech to the Labour Party Conference proves anything it proves yet again how his party are once again in denial about the mess they left behind.

We were told that 'Labour did not waste billions.'

Do these people think we were all born yesterday?

Only in the last fortnight there have been two major reports exposing two examples of waste whilst Labour were in office.

The first report stated that "A project to set up nine regional control centres for fire and rescue services in England was a "complete failure" and wasted £469m."

And the second report said that "rising PFI costs" brought about by the last Labour Government is 'putting hospitals at risk' with the Department of Health saying that no less than 22 trusts, which run 60 units, are facing spiralling costs running into billions."

This is both waste and incompetence and until Labour realise this and apologise they should never be trusted in government ever again.

GET OFF THE FENCE MR RED ED

2011-09-23T09:25:00.001+01:00

On the eve of the Labour Party Conference I find it absolutely staggering that Ed Miliband should once again choose to sit on the fence over proposed strike action as a result of public sector pension reform caused by the mess left behind by the very government he served in.

The public have had enough of industrial action and the unfortunate chaos and misery it causes for tax paying and law abiding citizens whilst at the same time union leaders are earning six figure salaries.

Of course as Ed says the unions "have to make their own judgment" but surely it is in the public interest at least for Mr. Miliband to use some of his own influence.

After all, these are of course the very people who helped him beat his brother to the leadership crown.

Or could there be a connection between Ed's silence and the fact that the vast majority of Labour Party funding now comes from the very barons who seem hell bent on causing yet more misery.

POWER TO YOUR ELBOW MR CAMERON

2011-09-23T09:24:00.001+01:00

RH Abberley should really study his facts and get with reality before making such outspoken and ill judged attacks on our magnificent Prime Minister David Cameron in the Portsmouth News recently.

If he felt sick to the stomach at Mr Cameron high fiving rebels he should spare a thought for the following:

Gadaffi providing hospitality like he did to the Blair New Labour regime.

Libya's failure to ever hand over a suspect in the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher.

Libya taking so long to even co-operate in the hunt for the Lockerbie bomber.

And Libya supplying arms to the IRA during their long-running murderous campaign of violence which included two attempts at murdering a sitting Prime Minister in Whitehall in the 1990's and in Brighton in the 1980's.

Anything that rids the world from such a murderous and tyrannical regime must be welcomed.

The downfall of Gadaffi is a success for David Cameron, a success for President Sarcozy and a success for democracy so to object to the odd celebration in my opinion is simply in one word just sad.

Power to your elbow Mr Cameron and long may your reign continue.

THE CABLE THAT'S OUT OF TOUCH

2011-09-19T16:21:00.000+01:00

So, we are today told by Vince Cable that he is to "call time on payouts for failure" and force companies to explain themselves more.

Does that include bailing out failing businesses using tax payers money I ask?

Surely if we ended payouts for failure everyone in the public sector would get nothing!

Am I not the only one thinking that once again our Vince is just a bit out of touch?

WHY JOB CENTRES SHOULD NOT BE ABOUT JUST DISHING OUT BENEFITS

2011-09-19T15:32:00.001+01:00

Conservative MP Anne Main is absolutely right to say that Jobcentres "are not there to dish out benefits left, right and centre" and that they "should be helping people find work."

What is wrong with them being used to promote voluntary placements, to help people get on training courses so as to improve their skills, to help promote The Big Society, and to help people get the real help they need?

Ever since Job Centre Plus became part of two different departments under one roof far too much emphasis has been on dishing out benefits instead of getting jobs.

It should be about helping people get a job not helping them live off the state.

SAVE OUR TOWN CENTRES

2011-09-15T15:21:00.000+01:00

I'm a great big fan of town centre shopping so therefore feel that Janice Burkinshaw makes a number of very valid comments as regards out of town shopping complexes like the Havant Retail Park in the Portsmouth News on September 13th.

However, as much as its community is as nice and heart warming as ever, I have to say that its not just Leigh Park that is suffering.

As the owner of a distribution business covering a very wide area of South East Hampshire I see what out of town and internet shopping is doing to local communities on a daily basis.

Even just around the corner from the Havant Retail Park I see the damage already done.

Despite being opposite the most beautiful church, what used to be the Dixons store on West Street is now boarded up and what used to be a vibrant East Street is now a shadow of it old self.

In Waterlooville Town Centre there are shops boarded up everywhere and where there was once recognised names we now have lots of charity shops albeit for great causes.

So the next time one visits an out of town retail park, or for that matter, orders one's goods on-line, maybe you should spare a thought for what once was the hub of your community but is fast becoming the ghost of glory's past.

TIME TO GUARD AGAINST UNION ACTION

2011-09-15T15:19:00.003+01:00

As if those of us who travel to work each day are not feeling the pinch enough already comes the news that union barons earning six figure salaries are going to make things even worse.

Have they got no idea of what it is like in the real world?

Have they no idea what it is like to be a commuter rather than a comrade?

What this country needs is a proper crackdown on industrial action in public services, a proper crackdown on union funding in the public sector, and a proper crackdown on links between the unions and all political parties.

The people should not have to put up with such inconvenience and my only hope is that one day we will have a government that will legislate laws to guard against such inconvenience.

TIME FOR A FRESH START ON EUROPE

2011-09-12T15:47:00.001+01:00

Well done Conservative MP and former MEP Chris Heaton Harris for helping set up a new network of Conservative MPs including George Eustice and Priti Patel as regards Britain's relationship with Europe.

The fact of the matter is that as we saw with the the Thameslink train contract being awarded to the German firm Siemens instead of the Derby-based Bombardier, even British contracts don't even favour British workers.

Something has to be done in order to fightback against Brussels bureaucrats sooner rather than later because what we are now witnessing is the impact on British jobs of the last Labour government literally signing up to anything in black and white that came out of the EU instead of standing up for British interests like Lady Thatcher did in the 1980s.

We deserve less interference, more independence and ultimately a better deal for Britain as a whole.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CALL BY TRADES UNION BARON

2011-09-12T15:46:00.000+01:00

How disgraceful of Unite Leader Len McCluskey to call for a campaign of civil disobedience and strikes as a result of pension cuts in the public sector.

As if the recent riots and student protests had not already given our great country a bad enough reputation to our foreign counterparts we now have this.

The public will not tolerate such action which will only lose them the argument beforehand anyway.

If you ask me what we need is a fair pension system for both the public and private sector as opposed to the status quo where it is the taxpayer subsidising the public sector now and strikes banned in public services completely.

There are plenty of people more than capable of filling the boots of those who choose to be disobedient so I ask why on earth should the law abiding tax payers be the one's to pick up the bill for what amounts to union incompetence yet again?

CLIMATE FACTS KICK HOME

2011-09-12T15:44:00.001+01:00

Its so heart warming to see a fellow Conservative warming to my long held arguments, facts and principles as regards Climate Change as was the case set out by Councillor Jim Fleming in the Portsmouth News recently.
The man-made global warming theory has been embraced by left wing politicians and activists for one reason only.

That reason being their utter determination to use it to further their ultimate political goal of global socialism.

Despite the lack of involvement from some of the biggest global emitters of carbon dioxide such as China, we all know that a socialist plan was agreed anyway at the Copenhagen Summit by our former socialist Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Yet opinion surveys continue to show that all over the world people are growing increasingly sceptical of the socialist myth that is man-made global warming and what's more, there are also thousands of scientists who are becoming just as sceptical too.

After all, who can forget that scandalous manipulation of data at the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, the UK's supposed 'premier' climate research facility?

This in itself along with the fact that IPCC income is dependant on plugging the man-made global warming theory only strengthens my argument.

People need to realise that the global warming myth and the climate change propaganda is just a tax and spend con to increase the wealth of some whilst at the same time raising the taxes of others.

CAMP BY DEVELOPMENT A DISGRACE

2011-09-12T15:43:00.003+01:00

The sight of travellers setting up camp right next to a children's playground by the new Dukes Meadow Development in Waterlooville is disgusting.

Over 100 people have recently moved into properties by the new development off Hambledon Road not to mention the fact that another 50 properties are on schedule to be ready for Christmas and this is what they have to put up with.

So much for providing a playground for children only for it to be invaded by this mob.

So much for local businesses investing in the area only to be tainted by these people.

I only hope that my friends Eric Pickles and George Hollingbury along with Taylor Wimpey, Havant Borough Council and Winchester City Council get the right legal proceedings in motion with a good set of lawyers and bailiffs as soon as possible.

Travellers are nothing but a drain on resources and a stain on society.

They should get a proper job, a proper home, and above all, do something to give their children a fair and settled start in life otherwise the consequences will be expensive, dire and in the long term, daunting for local tax-paying and law-abiding citizens who really do deserve better.

LABOUR'S WASTED TALENT

2011-09-02T09:31:00.001+01:00

So now we know it.

Britain has four million households where nobody works and 370,000 where nobody has ever worked.

What a shocking waste of human talent.

If this doesn't expose the appalling legacy of the last Labour Government then nothing will.

What Labour has done to these people is nothing short of criminal.
Even now as those on supposed disability benefits are quite rightly being re-assessed the one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is how thousands upon thousands of people literally abused the benefits system under Labour.

No wonder our economy was on the brink of collapse when David Cameron became Prime Minister.

If you have a system where it pays not to work then only those who show the willingness and appetite to progress in life do work and it is these people who should be rewarded with lower taxes, better value and ultimately fairness for all by our magnificent Prime Minister.

RED ED SHOWS HE'S OUT-OF-TOUCH YET AGAIN

2011-09-01T09:39:00.000+01:00

Guido is this morning that Red Ed Miliband, or Son of Brown, as he is also known is today calling for another global response to the latest financial crisis.

If this is the case then do we take it that he favours countries like the UK who have taken austere measures will be bailing out the tax and spend nutters once again?

If so then I beg to ask how more out-of-touch the Labour Leader can actually get?

LABOUR COMRADES BACK AT WAR

2011-09-01T09:35:00.001+01:00

With just one point now separating the two main parties in the latest opinion poll you really would think that Labour MPs would think twice before re-opening their bitter feuding between the Brownites and the Blairites.

Try telling that to former Chancellor Alistair Darling though.
With the party conference season less than a month away though its seems that battle has resumed for the heart and soul of Labour.

Darling is reported to have gone to town on Brown in his memoirs due to be published shortly laying bare the feuding in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

According to Labour uncut, Darling describes Gordon Brown's mood swings as "brutal and volcanic", calls Mervyn King "exasperating and stubborn", and Guido Fawkes says that Brown's appointment of Yvette Cooper as Chief Secretary to the Treasury was only so he could have someone to keep a close eye on him.

I wonder who?

Surely not Yvette Cooper's husband, our Red Ed Balls?

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING?

2011-09-01T09:34:00.001+01:00

So, according to the latest statistics we have had the coldest August for 25 years following on from the coldest June for 50 years making this summer the coldest since 1993.

Whatever happened to global warming everyone?

HOW THE LIB DEMS TAX AND SPEND COULD BE COMING TO AN AREA NEAR YOU

2011-08-30T09:35:00.000+01:00

Stephen Pollard is absolutely spot on in stating in today's Daily Express that the Lib Dems tax plans for the wealthy are an insult to those who work for success.

Anyone like myself who experiences what the Lib Dems are like in power as is the case on Portsmouth City Council will know full well that far from being soft tories the Liberal Democrats are in actual fact ideologically to the LEFT of Labour.

And this clearly underlines my point.

People who work hard in life and keep our economy ticking in tough times should be rewarded for their efforts.

They are the people who are up at the crack of dawn.

They are the people who are walking past the closed curtains of those who choose to live a life on benefits because of how Labour made it so easy.

And they are the people who's already high, unfair and completely unacceptable taxes are paying for it.

So the next time the likes of Clegg and Cable talk about fairness I advise them to think of the many and not just the few.

ANOTHER BEEBING WASTE

2011-08-30T09:33:00.000+01:00

How disgraceful that once again we are seeing tax payers money effectively wasted by top brass at the BBC.
The money people pay in their licence fee is supposed to be for a broadcasting service not a free-for-some.

Yet we are now told that up to five per cent of the annual £3 Billion handed over from the tax payer is to be spent on hotel, travel and taxi bills for its staff at the 2012 Olympics.

The BBC should get its priorities right and if it can save money by postponing its waste-of-money move to Salford until after the games are complete do so.

In austere times I believe law-abiding licence fee payers will see this latest debacle as yet another stain on the corporation's fast dwindling reputation.

MIGRATION FIGURES "SKEWED" BY CRISIS IN THE EU

2011-08-26T09:29:00.001+01:00

I sympathise with the government in so far as the latest migration figures are concerned because they are, if anything, a pretty skewed set of figures.

Whilst they are doing everything they can to cut down on the figures outside of the EU, thanks to the fact that Blair and Brown waved the white flag of surrender to everything in black and white that came from Brussels when they were at the helm, as a nation we are powerless to act on movement within the EU for now at least.

There is of course a way out and that way out is to give the British people a say in a referendum of pulling out of this money grabbing, stealth taxing and clearly incompetent organisation once and for all.

SPLIFFY STRIKES AGAIN

2011-08-26T09:28:00.001+01:00

Former Home Secretary Jacqui Spliff should know better.

As if she hadn't already done enough damage to her reputation by putting movie rentals and so on her expenses now we are told she has hired inmates to do her painting.

How low does this socialist individual go?

There are almost a million young people who would be more than privileged to do this kind of work and our Jacqui goes and gives it to inmates.

Not a good example on her part and certainly not the right message from her out of touch party.

PUTTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

2011-08-26T09:27:00.001+01:00

Richard Morris really should look into the facts before making such silly remarks as regards our magnificent Prime Minister David Cameron in the Portsmouth News.

David has never gone on record saying "hug a hoodie" and Mr Morris should know full well that the phrase was one invented by the media for stereotypical purposes.

And Mr Morris gives the impression that national service should be compulsory.

I would agree but unlike Labour who were tough on words and soft on crime for thirteen long years David has gone further than anyone has so far suggested by proposing that anyone involved in the riots be ordered to do five days a week compulsory community pay-back in the areas where they ran riot until that area is restored back to its former glory.

And as if that is not tough enough I can also confirm that in the first precedent of its kind Conservative-controlled Wandsworth Council is proposing to evict a council tenant from subsidised housing for rioting.

I hope whoever it is will not be the last.

This is not without public support too because a recent Mori Poll showed that 70 per cent of the public agree with this tough stance.

If you ask me we should get tougher by having a British Bill of Rights so we can evict foreign rioters and suspend their benefits but we are in a coalition after all and of course you can't keep everyone happy all at once.

WHY ITS TIME TO RECLAIM BRITISH SOCIETY

2011-08-26T09:25:00.001+01:00

So, whilst former Prime Minister Tony Blair says that a "muddle-headed analysis" may result in the wrong policy responses to the riots our magnificent Prime Minister David Cameron says that its time to reclaim our society and restore people's pride in Britain.

If you ask me the riots were Labour's legacy so to say that Blair and Brown have blood on their hands is certainly not going over the top.

The fact of the matter is that these days people seem far too keen to quote their rights instead of accepting their responsibilities and those of their offspring.

Mr Blair's comments seem to show just how far out of touch he has become since leaving parliament.

What we need is a bold Prime Minister like Mr Cameron to stand up for Britain by enacting a British Bill of Rights so that we can get really tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime by fearing nothing from kicking foreign rioters out of the country to ease the crisis in prisons, suspending their benefits, kicking them out of subsidised accommodation and council housing that the tax-paying and law abiding are forking out for, and from banning them from working in the public sector completely.

After thirteen years of tough talk and soft justice under Labour I believe that rioters and looters deserve no respect and everything the judiciary can throw at them so as to make Britain great once again.

TIME TO GET REALLY TOUGH ON CRIME

2011-08-20T16:27:00.001+01:00

Well done Immigration Minister Damian Green for announcing that the government will kick out foreign rioters to ease the crisis in prisons.

What a magnificent idea.

Maybe other departments should follow this tough line approach by suspending their benefits, kicking them out of subsidised accommodation including council housing, or banning them from working in the public sector completely?

After thirteen years of tough talk and soft justice under Labour I believe that rioters and looters deserve no respect and everything the judiciary can throw at them so as we can be really tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.

WHY ITS TIME TO BRING BACK NATIONAL SERVICE

2011-08-17T15:13:00.001+01:00

Well done Prime Minister David Cameron for taking the political initiative once again by pledging to roll out National Service to all 16 year olds.

And well done too to London Mayor Boris Johnson for pledging to get London back to normal after the riots too.

But if this whole debacle underlines one thing it is the desperate need for a British Bill of Rights so as our own courts can stop being effectively overuled by Brussels bureaucrats.

We need to both show initiative and act tough.

So by bringing back National Service, banning rioters from claiming benefits and kicking out rioters in subsidised accomodation it seems quite clear to me that only the Conservatives have the right policies to lift Britain out of the misery and mess left by Labour and make our country great again.

RIOT FUND RELIEF

2011-08-17T15:12:00.001+01:00

Well done everyone at the Daily Express for setting up a fund for those hit by the riots.

And well done David Cameron for asking former New York super cop Bill Bratton to advise the government despite opposition from the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Nothing was worse than the sight of our own supposedly trained cops standing and watching as our streets were being torn apart and burned on those horrible nights in Tottenham, Hackney, Manchester and so on.

Indeed, the sight of one chief officer openly criticising the Prime Minister made me sick.

They were the one's who didn't plan properly, they were the ones who stood by doing nothing when the looters were openly thieving and they were one who didn't even turn up to some emergency call-outs.

Yet the Prime Minister returned, got the cops to toughen up and all of a sudden the riots ceased.

All I can say is what a great leader we have in Mr Cameron... at last!

LABOUR LEGACY

2011-08-17T15:10:00.001+01:00

What people need to realise is that what we are witnessing as regards both the economy and the riots are the legacy of the last Labour Government.

The very Labour Government that left so many young people's talents to waste away whilst at the same time having an open door immigration policy?

And the same Labour Government that sold the gold at rock bottom prices before going on a tax and spend binge?

People should not be fooled. The cuts are Labour's cuts. The riots are Labour's legacy

And even though the mess may have been made in Downing Street, far from being the work of David Cameron and George Osborne they are in reality the cob-webs swept under the carpet by Blair, Brown and Prescott.

BRITAIN'S LOST GENERATION

2011-08-09T13:35:00.001+01:00

New figures released today show that nearly 200,000 people aged 16-24 now claim Disability Living Allowance compared to just 50,000 in 1992.

Overall, 3.2 million are on the sick now compared to just 1.1 million in 1992.

Iain Duncan Smith says that it underlines how a generation of people were "wasted" under Labour.

It also exposes once again the Legacy of Labour.

TURMOIL IS THE LEGACY OF LABOUR

2011-08-08T20:50:00.001+01:00

What a cheek for John Prescott of all people to do the rounds attacking members of the government for being on holiday during the economic turmoil on the markets and the London riots.

Is this the same John Prescott who was the Deputy Prime MInister who was effectively put on permanent holiday leave by Tony Blair after he was exposed for having an affair with his secretary?

The same John Prescott caught playing croquet when he was supposed to be in charge of the country?

What people need to realise is that what we are witnessing as regards both the economy and the riots are the legacy of the last Labour Government.

The very Labour Government that left so many young people's talents to waste away whilst at the same time having an open door immigration policy?

And the same Labour Government that sold the gold at rock bottom prices before going on a tax and spend binge?

People should not be fooled. The cuts are Labour's cuts. The riots are Labour's legacy

And even though the mess may have been made in Downing Street, far from being the work of David Cameron and George Osborne they are in reality the cob-webs swept under the carpet by Blair, Brown and Prescott.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2011-08-05T09:43:00.001+01:00

Privatising is..."...not about disposing of the family silver, it's about... giving it a good polish and using it more."

Eric Pickles on BBC Breakfast this morning.

JOKE OF THE DAY

2011-08-05T08:50:00.001+01:00

My favourite MP Louise Mensch was at it again yesterday telling her army of Twitter followers:

"The death penalty would be no good in England."

"We're rubbish at penalties!"

MORE LABOUR WASTE

2011-08-04T18:39:00.000+01:00

Another example of Labour's excessive and waasteful spending has come to light today.

Examples of Labour waste, which the select committee have dubbed a "recipe for rip-offs", include over-reliance on large contractors and a lack of in-house skills.

This follows earlier criticism of Labour's failed IT projects in the NHS, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Ministry of Justice.

Happily the independent PASC has said it is "greatly encouraged by the [the Coalition] Government's plans" particularly for transforming the use of IT.

Nadhim Zadawi, Member of Parliament for Stratford on Avon, tells The Blog that: "A "recipe for rip-offs" could sum up Labour's entire tenure in Government."

"Yet Ed Miliband and Ed Balls would not do anything differently."

"The Labour Party just does not seem to appreciate that the amount of money they have wasted is unacceptable."

"Thank goodness Cabinet Minister Francis Maude is getting a grip of the problem with a much-needed complete overhaul of IT procurement. The British taxpayers will be appalled at what has gone on in the past and welcome the swift introduction of a vastly more efficient system".

Hear, Hear!

BEDTIME READING BY RED ED MILIBAND

2011-08-04T18:32:00.001+01:00

So, Ed Miliband has rather superfluously taken a book called "Leadership on the Line" with him on his summer holidays.

Maybe if he tried "Hard Times" by Dickens he would realise the scale of the mess his party left behind when they lost the last election?

LEADER OF THE HOUSE BACKS WEB PETITIONS

2011-08-04T18:18:00.000+01:00

Hat's Off today to the Leader of The House Sir George Young who has today thrown his weight behind a plan to give the public more power to make Parliament hold debates on crucial issues if any petition is backed by more than 100,000 people.

Two major petitions have already been kicked off in the last few days.

The Daily Express has launched an e-petition calling for a referendum on leaving the EU HERE and Guido has set up one calling for the restoration of the death penalty HERE

BREAKING NEWS: I.M.F BACKS GOVERNMENT AGAIN

2011-08-02T22:52:00.001+01:00

The Government's deficit reduction strategy received a boost today as the IMF has again backed the package as "essential".

The multi-national institution has said that "the government's fiscal consolidation plan has significantly reduced the risk" of a sovereign debt crisis.

The Government's bold decisions on the deficit have resulted in the UK becoming a safe haven in the recent economic storm.

Nadhim Zahawi MP said:

"This latest endorsement is yet further evidence that the Government is taking the right course of action when dealing with Labour's deficit.

"The IMF has praised the UK as being a pillar of stability at a time of real international uncertainty and this stability is a prerequisite for growth.

"This report is a clear rejection of Labour's plan B for bankruptcy and is recognition that our actions are essential to clearing up the mess inherited from Labour."

BREAKING NEWS: LABOUR AT WAR WITH THE UNIONS AGAIN

2011-08-02T22:45:00.001+01:00

Poor Red Ed Miliband is not having a good week.

Tonight The Guardian is reporting that he "is facing a tense battle with trade union leaders after tabling plans to lessen their influence within the Labour party, by reducing their voting power at party conference to below 50% and diluting their sway over leadership elections."

Red Ed faces stiff opposition because the union barons see it as an attempt to weaken their historic links to Labour especially when it was their support that helped the younger Miliband defeat his brother David in the Labour leadership election.

He is also facing resistance to a plan that affiliated unions hand over a list of their 3 million political levy payers so that the party, constituencies and future leadership candidates can contact them directly, and build stronger links between local parties and individual union members.

The unions insist that the party should not communicate with their members directly, but instead through their representatives. In a submission to the Refounding Labour project, the affiliated unions cite data protection issues, claiming it might breach laws on political campaigning to hand over the data.

TWO BALLS UPS IN JUST ONE DAY

2011-08-02T15:57:00.001+01:00

Poor Red Ed Balls is getting it big time today.

First piece of bad news came when Sharon Shoesmith won her appeal against dismissal over the Baby P case.

And the second came hot off the press a few minutes ago when Guido exposed that our Red Ed has failed to declare his interests to The House re his Annual Summer Barbecue.

Naughty Boy Edward.

Now where did I hear that rumour about David Miliband being tipped to be Shadow Chancellor by the autumn?

THERE'S ONLY ONE DOUGLAS CARSWELL

2011-08-02T09:27:00.001+01:00

Well done Douglas Carswell for supporting the Daily Express on line petition to at least allow us to all have a say on our future as regards the EU.

The fact of the matter is that millions of tax paying and law abiding citizens my age up and down the land have never had a say on how Europe is run and even those who did only voted for a Common Market anyway.

A day never goes by without some kind of interference from Brussels Bureaucrats in our everyday lives.

And at a time of austerity, as other socialist nations prefer to tax and spend whilst Britain puts its house in order one continues to wonder just why we continue to be the mugs that bail out the rest.

I have always said we would be better off running our own state, running our own finances and above all setting our own laws.

So let's have a vote, let's get out, let's keep Labour out and let's stay out!

Join the on-line petition HERE

HOW THE CROUCHMAN STILL DOESN'T GET IT

2011-08-01T22:11:00.001+01:00

It was so nice to see Philip Hammond and my friend Jeremy Hunt at the opening of the Hindhead Tunnel last week but yet again Cameron Crouchman uses an example of a fine Conservative County Council achievement to attack my catchphrase I so regularly use in the national and local press "The mess that Labour left behind."

So, for the benefit of former defeated Labour Party Candidate Mr. Crouchman who somehow still can't comprehend it and even when he does just blames the banks I will explain some examples of what I mean by "The mess that Labour left behind" once again.

Under Labour a PFI firm charged a hospital 333 pounds just to change a light bulb.

Under Labour a school was charged 300 pounds just for a new electricity socket.

Under Labour between 2008 and 2010 civil servants at the Department for Communities spent 34,000 pounds on corporate credit cards.

Under Labour Whitehall staff were paying 73 pounds for a box of copier paper that could have been bought elsewhere.

Under Labour in 2009 The Treasury spent 900 pounds on a Christmas Tree. In the local B and Q they were just 40 pounds.

Under Labour a third of council hall chiefs got pay-offs of over 250,000 pounds.

And Under Labour between 1997 and 2002 2.6 million pounds was spent on 32,766 press releases at a cost of more than 80 pounds per documents

Yet under the first year of the coalition 3.75 Billion pounds has been saved on this type of waste which could pay for 200,000 junior nurses or 150,000 secondary school teachers.

And, according to Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude " that's just the tip of the iceberg."

So the next time Mr Crouchman tries to trump his party's achievements perhaps he could use price tags with them?

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2011-08-01T20:55:00.001+01:00

"When they aint screwing us they are screwing each other."

Blogger Billy Bowden in response to a leaked European Parliament E mail that triggered serious gossip on Guido's Blog earlier today.

Does it remind you all of anyone?

More @ http://order-order.com/2011/08/01/scandalous-european-parliament-email-triggers-gossip-overload/

CONSERVATIVES SAVE THE DAY AGAIN

2011-08-01T20:18:00.001+01:00

With even America's finances now on the brink The Blog can today reveal that the Conservatives ambitious money saving approach has today seen staggering results as Francis Maude has revealed savings of £3.75 billion from May 2010 to March 2011.

The approach, which Mr. Maude announced last October, was to leave "no stone unturned" in the hunt for more savings at the centre of government, delivering better for less, to address the deficit while protecting the front line and to help departments live within their tighter budgets.

Savings were made in a number of ways including: reducing non essential discretionary spending, smarter procurement, scrutiny over ICT expenditure and the down-scaling of the civil service.

The money that has been saved is equivalent to the salaries of 200,000 junior nurses; or 150,000 secondary school teachers and could pay for several Whitehall departments.

Mr. Maude this evening told The Blog "Last year, we promised to cut Labour's waste in Whitehall to reduce the deficit and help stop Labour's Jobs Tax. We have more than delivered on that promise.

"Yet Labour told us to carry on wasting money and slap a tax on jobs that business said would endanger the recovery. It's that kind of thinking that got us into this mess.

"These savings are just scratching the surface of what we have planned for the coming months and years. We will continue to root out and eradicate Whitehall waste while delivering on our plans to modernise our public services".

Which is why The Blog says keep up the good work Francis.

RED ED's AT WAR

2011-08-01T14:45:00.001+01:00

Guido reporting that Ed Miliband is now firmly blaming someone within Labour’s Victoria Street headquarters for the Ed Balls “Project Volvo” leaks and that Miliband is now barely on speaking terms with his own HQ as a direct result.

Will Balls be pointing the coppers in the right direction now that the suspicion is falling on his own side?

I doubt it!

Seems as though these days Mr Balls has more friends on the Tory benches than on his own.

Or is that what happens when a plot backfires?

Teach him for plotting but then again even when he was in government he did little else.

WHY LOUISE MENSCH IS NOW MY FAVOURITE MP

2011-08-01T09:18:00.001+01:00

I've read some great confirmations, denials, ducking and diving as regards rumours put to politicians over the years but Louise Mensch's recent statement tops the lot.

Louise got married to Peter Mensch, the manager of Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, in June.

So last week my fellow writers at that brilliant blog, Guido Fawkes, asked Louise: "Whilst working at EMI, in the 1990s, you took drugs with Nigel Kennedy at Ronnie Scott’s in Birmingham, including dancing on a dance floor, whilst drunk, with Mr Kennedy, in front of journalists. Photos of this exist. Is this true?"

Louise replied: "Although I do not remember the specific incident, this sounds highly probable. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Nigel Kennedy, whom I remember with affection. Additionally, since I was in my twenties, I’m sure it was not the only incident of the kind; we all do idiotic things when young. I am not a very good dancer and must apologise to any and all journalists who were forced to watch me dance that night at Ronnie Scott’s."

What a response!

At long last we have a politician who actually tackles the issues head-on which is why I say power to your elbow, nobody gives a dam about your past because having a vision is about the future, and above all Louise, Respect babe!

And at long lost we also have a politician that let's her hair down.

Louise was snapped over the weekend sporting a proud Metallica t shirt in sunny Florida.

She isn't may favourite MP for nothing!

ANOTHER UNION LEADER GETS HIS NOSE IN THE TROUGH

2011-07-31T19:10:00.001+01:00

Another union leader is today exposed for getting his nose in the trough.

Dave Prentis of Unison received over 8,000 pounds in extra in annual contributions to his pension taking his annual subsidy to 32,818 pounds.

Prentis lives in a home in Hertfordshire worth over two million pounds.

Meanwhile Bob Crow of the RMT got an increase of 5,000 pounds taking his annual subsidy to 34,095 pounds.

Crow, who is hated by transport commuters up and down the land, now has a total earnings package of 127,000 pounds.

Alright for some!

RED ED'S ENTERTAIN MURDOCH

2011-07-31T07:33:00.001+01:00

So it seems as though wee Dougie Alexander, Peter Mandelson and David Miliband aren't on their own when it comes to dealings with News International.

Ed Miliband has met their executives 15 times and what's more Ed Balls has met them 9 times.

Is their a chicken coming home to roost for Sunday Dinner?

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2011-07-29T20:50:00.001+01:00

"Ed Miliband had that operation on his nose and his voice hasn't changed. Heaven help us!"

A Labour MP in today's Hickey Collumn in the Daily Express.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2011-07-27T22:17:00.001+01:00

"The debt crisis in the E.U. Is fast becoming akin to a slow motion train crash."

Yours truly in The Daily Express yesterday.

LABOUR AT WAR: NOW A SUPPORTER TELLS RED ED ITS TIME TO GO

2011-07-27T20:31:00.001+01:00

If Ed Miliband thought he was in for an easy summer he had better think again.

The knives are out and in Portsmouth its starting to get dirty.

Step forward Labour stalwart Roger Bryant from Emsworth.

The name may not ring a bell to those in the know but he certainly rang bells in his latest letter to the Portsmouth News.

For our Roger literally ripped into Red Ed Miliband.

In his letter he says that our Red Ed was "completely outclassed" by David Cameron in The Commons last week, he accuses him of behaving like a "newly-arrived backbencher, calls upon the Labour hierarchy to adopt "a fairer system of electing a leader", says that David Miliband was an "obvious choice", that Red Ed has "let his party down", and that "he should resign!"

Ouch!

OUTRAGE AT NEW SICKIE FIGURES

2011-07-27T08:24:00.001+01:00

There's outrage this morning at new figures showing that just one in fourteen incapacity benefit claimants are completely legitimate.

The Daily Express reports that three out of four people who have taken new strict tests are fit for work whilst the Daily Mail says that with the right support thirteen out of fourteen can work.

The figures spark yet another debate about Britain's work-shy which is an issue I have taken head on since the election.

In total out of 1.3 million tests carried out over the last two years 39 per cent were deemed fit, 36 per cent pulled out of the application process and 17 per cent were deemed to do some work with the right support.

Told you so!

WHY I THINK ITS TIME FOR AN EU REFERENDUM TOO

2011-07-25T07:16:00.001+01:00

With Douglas Carswell, Bill Cash and Roger Helmer all making calls for an EU Referendum today you get the feeling that there is now at long last a dawning realisation that the EU is failing Britain.

It's failed EU policies that are driving up our energy bills, it's failed EU policies that are increasing our immigration and as we have seen with the case of Bombardier it's failed EU policies that are costing British jobs.

Yet now Brussels is demanding new EU taxes, and the EU budget goes ever upwards.

So despite restraint on spending in more conservative member states and also in once affluent households we still constantly end up bailing out others who can't control their own finances.

When will people ever realise that the unfolding euro crisis is turning more into something like a slow-motion train crash by the day.

It has already cost this country many billions of pounds and will cost a good deal more before it's over.

If ever there is ever a reason for a referendum on our future in the EU then surely this is it.