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I am proud and humbled to have been elected as the new Labour councillor for the Luddendenfoot ward.
Thank you to everyone who has placed their trust in me. I promise to work tirelessly, fighting for the fairest deal for our local community.
The full results were as follows:
Christine Bampton-Smith: 948
Gill Smith-Moorhouse: 823
Simon Young: 1263 (Elected)
There’s not long to go until the council elections on May 3rd as a postal votes drop on the doormats of voters throughout Calderdale. Now you have a very important decision to make. It’s your chance to give your verdict on what this Tory / Lib-Dem Government is doing at a national level and how their decisions are impacting on you, your family and your community locally.
Labour believes in protecting vital frontline services and securing the economic recovery with a plan for jobs and growth. A Labour-led council would maintain the frontline services that keep our streets clean, tackle litter and dog fouling, provide care to vulnerable older people and protect young people at risk…. Continue Reading
DBOL Coordinator, Anne Kirker has contacted me regarding the continuing debate on the future of Halifax Central Library. I am clear that unless the new independent consultation demonstrates substantial public support, for the relocation of the library, it will not take place. The full text of my response follows here:… Continue Reading
I am very proud to again be your Labour Party candidate for Luddenden, Luddendenfoot, Mytholmroyd, Wainstalls, Booth, Midgley and Cragg Vale, in the Calderdale local elections on May 3rd 2012. I’m very lucky to call Luddenden village my home, having lived in the area with my partner for many years.
Last year Labour came a very close to taking this seat from the Tories. Since then I’ve been working harder than ever talking to local residents throughout year, discussing the issues that matter most to you. I know that the cuts are really biting in this area; I know you’re concerned about cuts to our local Police, the NHS, about youth unemployment and maintaining essential public services for the most vulnerable.You need a Labour councillor who is not afraid to speak up on your behalf and to fight tooth and nail for our local community…. Continue Reading
David Cameron is making 20% cuts to policing and taking big risks with the safety of our communities. These cuts go too far and too fast and will lead to the loss of over 16,000 police officers.
Labour will stand up for local communities – protecting police numbers and taking tough action against crime and anti-social behaviour. Over the last few weeks I’ve been talking to residents about the perceived increase in crime in the Midgley area. I’ve invited all residents in Midgley to join a new neighbourhood watch scheme. Do you need a similar scheme where you live? Get in touch and lets get the ball rolling!… Continue Reading
Calder High has suffered from leaking roofs, sewage leaking on to the school field, and is running near absolute capacity. The school was originally built for just 800 children, but is now catering for the needs of over 1,300 students!
During the 2010 General Election our Tory MP, Craig Whittaker said that securing funding to address the crumbling schools in the area would be a priority. Yet we’re still waiting to see some action! In fact, he was accompanied by the Education Secretary Michael Gove on a visit to the school in which the Schools Chief described Calder High as “One of the worst I have seen” Urgent action must be taken…. Continue Reading
It’s an old familiar plan, which has been bandied about for years! But the fact remains that Mytholmroyd station needs investment and its own car park. We must do all we can to make using public transport as easy as possible and attract visitors to the area. Mytholmroyd is a poor relation to the nearby Hebden Bridge and Halifax stations. We now need less talk and more action from Metro!
It’s clear talking to local residents in Mytholmroyd that they are sick of the speeding traffic whizzing through the centre of Mytholmroyd (Well perhaps not at the present moment with the road works!) But I believe that more consideration should be given to reducing the speed limit through the centre to 20 MPH, as in Hebden Bridge. Sign my petition online here
A year ago the Chancellor said his Budget would ‘put fuel into the tank of the British economy’. But since then our economy has stalled, unemployment has risen month by month and he’s borrowing £150 billion more than he planned.
Yesterday George Osborne delivered his budget in the Commons, delivering a huge financial blow to millions of people throughout the UK, and underlining where the Tories true loyalty lies, with the rich. But at a time when families are being squeezed by rising fuel prices, seeing their tax credits and child benefit cut, when one million young people are out of work and there’s a big deficit to clear, it is the wrong priority to cut taxes for millionaires. This shows just how out of touch this Tory-led Government is. We need action on youth jobs and to stop a tax credits bombshell for working parents, not cutting taxes for the very richest…. Continue Reading
Some of you will recall a local councillor by the name of David Shutt, he served on Calderdale Council for many years, including as the Leader of the Liberal Democrat group from 1995 until 2000. Well that same local man is now known by the much grander title of Lord Shutt of Greetland.
The very same no-nonsense Yorkshireman now acts as the Liberal Democrat Deputy Chief Whip – responsible for seeing through the Government’s controversial NHS Bill in the House of Lords.
I hope that Lord Shutt still receives his copy of the Halifax Courier and Hebden Bridge Times in Parliament and will be able to read my plea to use his influential role to stop the Health and Social Care Bill. … Continue Reading
I spent this freezing cold Sunday talking to residents in and around the Kershaw Estate in Luddendenfoot ward, about the impact the funding cuts are having on our local Police force. It was clear that there is a great deal of concern about at the sheer scale of the cuts. People are really worried about a reduction in frontline police to protect their local community.
I strongly believe that the Government is taking an irresponsible gamble with policing and public safety because of it is cutting too far too fast…. Continue Reading
While we were all hurriedly preparing for Christmas, the Tories and their Lib Dem colleagues were sneakily hatching plans, to allow NHS hospitals to devote up to 50% of their beds and theatre time to private patients.
This surprise move has sent shockwaves through the NHS and is confirmation of this Government’s arrogant determination to turn our NHS into a US-style commercial system, where hospitals operate in the interest of profits rather than people.
… Continue Reading
Calderdale Police are appealing for information from local residents in Luddenden Foot after racist graffiti was found in the area.
Police belive that the damage took place overnight on Monday, November 29, at locations on Burnley Road at the junction with Station Road and Luddenden Lane.
Because of the racist basis of the graffiti, the Police are treating the incident as a hate crime and are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
Every year I create an e-card instead of sending traditional Christmas cards and give a donation to charity. Here is this year’s comical offering. I wish everyone in the Luddenden Foot ward and beyond a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Labour in Calderdale have been campaigning this weekend against the wasted opportunities as unemployment amongst young people passes one million. Labour’s five point plan for jobs and growth is designed to give a real boost to employment, and help avoid the tragedy of another wasted generation.
We’d like to know what you think about Labour’s plans – you can have your say by completing our on-line survey.
In the past I’ve done the Great North Run, the Yorkshire Three Peaks and the Corbett Challenge amongst various other traditional fundraisng ventures, but this one actually makes me more nervous. For the whole month of Movember (Formerly known as November) I’ll be growing a moustache. Now this could be a little embarrasing, but its all in a good cause so I’d ask you all to dig deep and splash some cash for my tash by sponsoring me!
Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces in the UK and around the world. The aim of which is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. This year I’ve decide to take part! Read the rest of this entry
Calderdale Councils cabinet will be asked to agree proposals to make it simpler for local people to recycle by Labour councillor Barry Collins.
Under the plans all the current recycling materials will be collected every week, instead off having to remember which items to put out when. At the same time, the report identifies actions agreed with the contractor, Sita, to ensure a better waste collection service in periods of bad weather.
(There’s a Council press release about the plans here, and it has been reported in the Halifax Courier and the Huddersfield Examiner. You can also download the Cabinet report on this and many other items.) If the proposals are adopted the change will take effect from 5 December 2011 to coincide with the replacement of bin calendars.
Despite the best efforts of UNISON and other campaigners, the Health and Social Care Bill was voted through the House of Commons on 7 September 2011 and the bill is now in the hands of the House of Lords. But the campaign to save our NHS is far from over.
Next Tuesday, 11 October, the Health and Social Care Bill receives its second reading in the House of Lords and we have another opportunity to influence the bill by writing, emailing or phoning a Peer to raise concerns about the proposed changes to the NHS.
Peers are not used to the individual lobbying that MPs get, so receiving personal contact from members of the public should really get their attention…. Continue Reading
Labour’s action plan for family budgets, five ways to help the squeezed middle in these tough times:
1. Stop the Government’s raid on pensioners and block its £40,000 tax cut to 14,000 millionaires
2. End rail rip-offs by capping fares increases on every route
3. Force the energy firms to cut gas and electricity bills for 4 million over-75s
4. Stop excessive fees charged by banks and low cost airlines
5. Defend working families from the raid on theirtax credits by reversing the Government’spension tax break for those earning over £150,000
An increase in the price of stamps will hit the elderly, vulnerable and millions of people who rely on the postal service, including small businesses and charities. At a time when family budgets are facing an unprecedented squeeze, the cost of living is rising and growth has been stalled by David Cameron and George Osborne’s policies, such a large rise in the price of stamps is the last thing we need. This decision is a direct result of the Government pursuing the privatisation of Royal Mail.
Royal Mail must recognise the tough circumstances people are facing and ensure that the postal service remains affordable and accessible. Following recent comments by Royal Mail Chief Executive Moya Greene that Christmas 2012 stamp prices will be held at 2011 levels for vulnerable customers, we look forward to hearing further details on how this will work in practice.
People up and down the country who have seen bus fares rise and local services cut will find it incredible that the Government has the nerve to claim in their plan for buses that they have ‘safeguarded funding for bus services’. The truth is that Transport Ministers have cut half a billion pounds from support for bus services as a result of the spending review, despite this being less than the amount handed back to the Treasury as a result of an under-spend in the Department for Transport. A combination of these cuts and the deregulated nature of bus services outside London has already seen a fifth of all supported bus services in England face the axe this year. As a result, families are facing even greater pressure on household budgets which are already being squeezed. Pensioners, who were promised by the Prime Minister that their bus passes would be protected, are now asking what the point of the bus pass is if there’s no bus. … Continue Reading
Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party, in the House of Commons following last weekend’s reports of the Tory Party’s treasurer offering meetings with the Prime Minister in return for donations… Continue Reading
This Budget will go down as one of the most unpopular, unfair and flawed Budgets in decades. By asking millions to pay more so millionaires can pay less George Osborne has made a terrible choice. Not only was there a huge tax grab on pensioners but we now learn the Treasury has silently taken £500 million out of the NHS budget, while giving the very richest a £3 billion tax cut. It means 300,000 people earning over £150,000 a year will get an average tax cut of £10,000, with over £40,000 going to 14,000 millionaires.
George Osborne was supposed to be the master political strategist, but the Budget is unravelling day by day and now even Tory MPs are distancing themselves from his mistakes this week…. Continue Reading
Speaking in response to a survey of a third of secondary head teachers by ASCL/TES, Stephen Twigg MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary has said: “The Government needs to talk up head teachers that are doing great things, not just talk them down. It is extremely worrying that nearly two fifths of head teachers are actively planning to leave the profession, and more than half are considering leaving. It is no wonder, given Michael Gove’s attitude when he told heads a few months ago to stop ‘whingeing’ about diminishing budgets. Yet the only measure in the Budget is a postcode lottery for teacher pay – where teachers in poorer areas will be paid less. As well as tackling underperformance, we need to celebrate excellent performance. If we don’t support this generation of head teachers, there is a real danger they could leave the profession in droves.”
The Tory-led Government’s rail strategy is set to put private profit before passengers thanks to their inability to stand up to vested interests. Plans to give train companies even greater freedoms to hike rail fares, close ticket offices and provide fewer staff on trains and at stations show just how out of touch Ministers are with passengers and commuters. The same private companies who are already raking in large profits in an industry that receives £4bn of taxpayers’ money every year are for the first time set to be given the whip hand over infrastructure as well as services…. Continue Reading
New figures on homelessness, published today by the Department for Communities and Local Government, show that there has been a 14 per cent rise in households accepted as homeless in 2011 compared with 2010 and a 18 per cent rise on the same quarter last year, the fourth rise in as many quarters.
The remorseless rise in homelessness shows how out of touch this Government is with the human impact of its economic and housing policies. It is an absolute tragedy that in 2012 so many families do not have a home they can call their own. The Government’s economic policies are failing, leading to rising unemployment, increases in fuel bills and the biggest squeeze on family incomes in a generation. Combined with the Government’s reckless changes to benefits, it was inevitable that homelessness would rise and that it will continue to rise. … Continue Reading
“This is the fight of our lives. We are facing a Bill that breaks 63 years of NHS history. It legislates for a free market; no longer ‘One NHS’ but hospital pitted against hospital, doctor against doctor. It’s an attack on the N in NHS bringing a postcode lottery, longer waiting lists, damaging the doctor-patient relationship. We are doing everything we can to stop it.
“170,000 people have signed an e-petition and yet the Government has denied them a debate on this Health Bill. This why tonight I am announcing that Labour will give them that voice with a House of Commons debate and Drop the Bill vote next Tuesday…. Continue Reading
Everywoman Safe Everywhere, Labour’s Commission on Women’s Safety is a consultation established in November 2011 in response to concerns that, not only were government policies disproportionately impacting upon women economically, but may be risking their safety too. Yvette Cooper asked Vera Baird, former Solicitor General with a strong record working to reduce violence against women, to chair this new Women’s Safety Commission assisted by Kate Green and Stella Creasy.
In the last three months the Commission has held 14 evidence gathering sessions in different towns and cities; has engaged with more than 100 organisations and experts, and received upwards of 160 submissions from women and men around the country on the status of services which safeguard the personal safety of women. It has also analysed up-to-date background literature…. Continue Reading
It is very welcome news that Nissan’s Sunderland facility will be producing the car maker’s new compact car model, expanding production and taking on extra workers. This builds on the contract to produce the Leaf electric car secured following the announcement in 2009 of the plug-in car grant by the then Labour government.
Nissan has secured an award from the Regional Growth Fund to help support this latest project but almost three quarters of successful bidders in the Fund’s first two rounds have still not received their money and some were kept waiting for ten months. So it is crucial the government ensures that this grant to Nissan is not beset by the same delays in order to secure the forecast 2,000 new jobs this exciting project is expected to create…. Continue Reading
Ed Balls MP, Labour’s shadow chancellor, speaking at Treasury Questions this afternoon, said:
“A year ago the Chancellor promised to get the economy growing and introduce a fair fuel stabiliser which would cut fuel duty when petrol prices were higher. One year on, he is now indicating he is going to press ahead with fuel duty increases, even though rising oil prices mean pump prices have today reached a record high…. Continue Reading
The Inside Housing survey has confirmed today that the New Homes Bonus is a disastrous failure. It is yet another example of government failure to tackle the housing crisis.
The day after the launch of the Tory-led Government’s so called housing strategy we learnt that their 60% cut to the affordable budget had led to a 99% fall in affordable housing. Now we learn that their flagship housing policy, the New Homes Bonus, heralded as the means to deliver homes across the country, is failing…. Continue Reading
Simon Danczuk MP has today written to David Cameron calling on him to explain to the House of Commons why he did nothing to stop Stephen Hester’s bonus. Simon Danczuk said:
“Rather than stopping this bonus, David Cameron took the decision to nod it through.The public own Royal Bank of Scotland and they deserve an explanation. Instead, Conservative ministers have been running scared – dodging the cameras rather than justifying this disgraceful failure of leadership from David Cameron.
“That is why I have today written to the Prime Minister to ask him to come to the House of Commons to explain why, when he should have blocked this million pound bonus, he decided to do nothing.”
Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, in response to a 20% increase in the number of cancelled urgent operations, said:
“Patients are beginning to pay the price for the Government’s mismanagement of the NHS. It is unacceptable that more people are waiting more than four hours in AE, more people are waiting more than 18 weeks for an operation and more urgent operations are being cancelled.
“Every day more evidence comes to light showing that Ministers have lost Labour’s firm grip on the NHS. The Government has thrown the health service into turmoil with its confused policies and chaotic management. The time has come for the Government to halt its destabilising NHS reorganisation and let it focus on what matters: maintaining standards of patient care.”
Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, commenting on police numbers, said: ”These shocking figures show the biggest fall in police numbers in over a decade at the same time as we are seeing the biggest increase in personal crime. The Home Secretary needs to take urgent heed of the serious warning from the Gloucester Chief Constable that the police are facing a “cliff edge” due to the sheer scale of these police cuts.
“David Cameron and Theresa May are letting down communities and turning their backs on the police. They should be battling to cut crime, but they are just cutting the police instead…. Continue Reading
Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, urges Lib Dem MPs to respect the wishes of their voters and reject the Government’s plans. Labour will today ask MPs to reject Coalition plans to allow NHS hospitals to devote half their beds to the treatment of private patients. In an Opposition debate on NHS privatisation, Andy Burnham will say the plan to let NHS hospitals earn 49% of income from treating private patients will lead to longer NHS waiting lists and a two-tier health service.
The Prime Minister’s plan, announced in the Lords just before the Christmas break, threatens to turn England’s hospitals into US-style hospitals, pitting one against another in a competitive market and putting profits before patient care…. Continue Reading
