Reading Liberal Democrats

Research carried out by the Home Office into neighbourhood policing published today found that nationally:

• 53% of people say that they know little or nothing about their local Police team
• 58% say they know little or nothing about how to find out about where and when Police Neighbourhood meetings are held
• 66% of people know what local priorities Police are concentrating on in their area.

Cllr Daisy Benson, Lib Dem spokesperson for safer communities said: “The Labour government’s own statistics back up the response we have found from talking to people on the doorstep across Reading where many people don’t know which Police neighbourhood they are in, who is in their Neighbourhood Police team and how to get involved in NAGs.”

“The Police have been trying their best to make neighbourhood policing work in Reading but have lacked resources from the Labour government to engage local people on the ground.”

Cllr Gareth Epps, Parliamentary Candidate for Reading East added: “Labour spin about neighbourhood policing has not been backed up by resources for our Police to be able to do their jobs properly. The Government does not fund Thames Valley Police fairly.

Until recent pressure forced the issue onto the Scrutiny agenda, Labour councillors were simply burying their head in the sand.

The Lib Dems have campaigned successfully to get communications support for Neighbourhood Police Action Groups (NAGs) included in this years budget.

This will help increase public confidence in the work of our hardworking local Police teams. It will also deliver a much-needed boost to community involvement in Neighbourhood Action Groups.”

Editor’s Notes

• An item on Neighbourhood Policing, communication and the Safer Reading programme is to be tabled at the 18 March meeting of the CCEA Scrutiny Panel.
• Home Office statistics on public perceptions of crime can be found here: Home Office Policing Pledge
• find more background on the Lib Dem campaign here: Redlands Improvements

The government is to lend up to £2bn of taxpayers’ money to firms building schools and other public projects under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

Cllr Gareth Epps, Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Reading East commented: “For months Liberal Democrats in Reading have been warning that the Government’s PFI schools programme would need bailing out. Labour remain wedded to a PFI model that is completely wrong. This latest move looks like little more than window-dressing. We have to wonder if this scheme will ever find its way as far as Reading.”

Cllr Kirsten Bayes, Lib Dem spokesperson for Education on Reading Borough Council added: “Reading’s secondary schools have been waiting years for these investments, and once again there are question marks over the financing. This is a deeply flawed scheme, as we have said so from the beginning, yet we have been met with studied Labour complacency. We are very concerned at the impact these problems could have on children’s learning.”

Editor’s Notes –

• Despite recent claims (from a reply given to a written question at the 27 Febuary Council meeting) made by Labour’s Lead Member for Education, Cllr Jon Hartley, that the Building Schools For the Future programme(BSF): “will enable us to transform all state secondary schools within the Borough…and will also provide the opportunity to build in the extra school places that will arise from the current Admissions Review process.”

  Reading Borough Council is still no closer to benifiting from Building Schools For the Future Programme.

• Background to the story can be found here: at the BBC and in the Guardian

Responding to the news that Reading’s Labour politicians have lobbied Housing Minister Margaret Beckett for Government help to bring empty homes in Reading back into use, and to stop the disgraceful practice of council tenants’ rent being clawed back to the Treasury – two Liberal Democrat-led policies in Reading – the Liberal Democrats have welcomed Labour’s change of tack.

Lib Dem Housing Spokesperson Cllr Daisy Benson – who has led the empty homes campaign in Reading – said:

“It’s great news that, only TWO YEARS after the Lib Dems first raised the need for Labour-run Reading Borough Council to bring the many empty homes in the town back into use Labour politicians in Reading have finally got the message.

“Despite Labour agreeing to our call for an Empty Homes strategy, we are still waiting for the first empty property to be brought back into use through the Council. With the recession starting to bite, the need for the Council to work to make long-term empty homes available for families made homeless is now very urgent.”

Parliamentary Campaigner for Reading East, Cllr Gareth Epps added:

“We welcome any support for the Lib Dem campaign to scrap the scandal of the so-called “tenant tax” which sees part of council tenants’ rent clawed back into the Treasury’s coffers every year. Now more than ever the wealth of hard pressed residents in Reading must be safeguarded by the Labour Council.

“What is bizarre is that – only days ago – the Labour Leader of the Council refused to back the cross-party campaign run by councils aimed at stopping Labour’s tenant tax.”

Editor’ Notes:

The Government’s negative subsidy or “tenant tax” means that £4.5 million of Reading council rents – one pound in every five – is being taken by the Government into Treasury coffers. The amount taken has rocketed in the last three years.

The Government’s plans for new laws will do little to help hard-pressed families in Reading, claims a leading local Liberal Democrat.

The plans were outlined in the Queen’s Speech but disappointed Liberal Democrats say that the Government’s announcements will do very little to help people in Reading cope with the recession.

“The measures given in the Queen’s Speech are not enough to help people with the real problems we are now facing,” said Patrick Murray, Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson for Reading West.

“We need legislation to change the way energy tariffs work to make sure people get the cheapest prices for their essential fuel and power and changes to taxes to put money back in people’s pockets,” added Cllr Gareth Epps, Lib Dem Spokesperson for Reading East.

“With the massive discounts on offer in the shops at the moment, the short term trimming of VAT will make little difference and what we need is income tax cuts targeted at low earners and paid for through closing loopholes. Residents of Reading who are worried by the economic situation will find little comfort in this programme.

We need action to force the banks to lend money on fair terms to small businesses and families – and make it quite clear that if the banks cannot be made to act, the government will lend directly itself.

The Government wasted the opportunity to help people in last week’s Pre-Budget Report and now with the Queen’s Speech they are wasting it again.”

Reading West Lib Dems Parliamentary Spokesman, Patrick Murray, has criticised Martin Salter after his appearance on Newsnight defending the arrest of Damian Green.

“It is inconceivable that anyone can justify the actions of the Police in arresting a member of the Shadow Cabinet for holding ministers to account.

We can see the ugly underbelly of this increasing authoritarian Government, elected with only a quarter of the adult population’s support.

Salter has enthusiastically supported 42 days detention without trial which is an affront to the founding principles of the British state.

He has enthusiastically supported the expensive, intrusive and ineffective ID card scheme which will do nothing to stop terrorism as the Madrid bombings showed.

Now he is acting as the cheerleader for the arrest of political opponants.

His defence of, and enthusiasm for, an increasingly authoritarian government would be laughable if it weren’t so serious.”

Editor’s Notes:

Damian Green (an ex Reading School pupil) was arrested by the Metropolitan Police at his constituency home on 27 November 2008 for “aiding and abetting misconduct in public office”, in relation to an investigation into unauthorised disclosure of confidential material from within the Home Office.

Chris Huhne also says “Receiving information from Government departments in the public interest and publicising it is a key part of any MP’s role. This is the most worrying development for many years, with the potential to shift power even more conclusively from Parliament to the Government. It is also extraordinary considering Gordon Brown himself as Shadow Chancellor received and publicised many leaked official documents. It seems that either the law needs to be changed, or the police have overstepped the mark.”

Joanna Lumley has some great news about the Gurkha Justice campaign.

Firstly, we now have over 120,000 online signatures with over 20,000 returned in the post. If you haven’t done so already, please spread the word to all your online contacts and ask them to sign up online too at Justice for Gurkhas

Also there have been some exciting steps forward in the House of Commons.

Earlier this week the Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons considered the right of Gurkhas to settle in the UK. The committee considered evidence from a range of different people, including our lawyers, a submission from me, and representatives from a number of Gurkha organisations.

I’m so pleased to be able to tell you that they agreed with us entirely, and have sent a letter to the Home Secretary urging her to take “urgent action to redress the currently unfair situation by extending settlement rights in the UK to all Gurkhas”. You can read the full text of the letter here

This is a big step forward, with an influential cross-Party committee of MPs backing our cause. This is on top of the High Court’s ruling in late September that the Government’s action was “unlawful and unfair”.

But just unbelievably, the Government has still not changed the law, and has still not yet agreed to offer a fair deal for Gurkhas.

In this week in particular, when we have seen the tragic death of a Gurkha serving in the British Army in Afghanistan, and four soldiers from the Royal Gurkha Rifles awarded the Military Cross, we need to redouble our efforts to make the Government see sense.

Please do whatever you can to ask as many people as you can to sign the petition at www.gurkhajustice.org.uk – I want to take a simply huge petition to Downing Street on the 20th November.

And I’d like you to join me in Parliament Square, Westminster, at 11am on Thursday 20th November, before we hand in the petition. I want to stand together with you and our Gurkha heroes and show just how strong the support for the Gurkhas cause is. Will you join me? I hope to see you there.

Finally, especially for those who can join me on the 20th of November, you can buy Gurkha Justice t-shirts, sweatshirts, bags and more from our online shop with Spreadshirt at this website. Wear yours with pride – I certainly do – and for the next few days only (until this Sunday), Spreadshirt are offering free postage on all items to show their support for the campaign. Simply use the coupon code GURKHAFREE when ordering, and the postage for your items should be free.

With warmest good wishes,

Joanna
Sign the petition here

Editor’s Notes:
On Sunday, millions of us across the Country honoured those who have fought and died for us on Remembrance Sunday.

It’s time to repay our debt of honour to them. So hurry up and sign the petition here

The Labour Government’s proposal to remove the right of tenants to live in their homes indefinitely and put rents up if they don’t take on a mortgage has been attacked by local Liberal Democrats.

Patrick Murray, Reading West Lib Dems Parliamentary spokesman, stated that:

“There is no greater indication of the moral vacuum and sheer hypcorisy at the heart of the Labour Government than this ridiculously unfair policy. For almost a decade they have forced councils to sell off their housing, whilst refusing to allow them to build more. They have presided over the lowest rate of building affordable housing since the second world war. There is no question as to who is to blame for the extra 1 million people on housing waiting lists in the last decade. The Labour Government has simply not built enough affordable housing. To attack Council tenants in this way is completely unfair- ministers should be ashamed of their failure and take responsibility for it.”

“At the same time they refused to recognise the dangers of the unsustainable housing bubble that forced so many to seek help from the state and has now collapsed bringing ruin to many people, forcing even more to turn to affordable housing. To tell people that if they have a council house they may lose it in a few years, whilst people are losing their homes to repossessions is unbeleivably callous.”

“If they really want to encourage people out of council housing then they should replace the Thatcher Government’s right-to-buy with a right to invest and build more shared ownership, not threaten to put rents up when people are struggling to meet the bills.”

Editor’s Notes:

Patrick Murray was Executive member for Housing on Oxford City Council 2006-8

The Government’s proposals are documented in this Times article

Martin Salter’s Lib Dem opponant in Reading West, Patrick Murray, launched a stinging rebuke to the Labour MP after his recent comments on mental health.

Patrick Murray, who suffered from depression for several years in the late 90s and experienced first hand the results of New Labour’s disastrous mental health policy stated:

“The Labour Government has had ten years to change mental health provision in this country. Mental health is still a cinderalla service in New Labour’s Britain. In some parts of the country the wait for counselling on the NHS is measured in years rather than weeks. Drugs have been poorly regulated. Funding has been much lower than comparable physical health services. It’s no good for Salter and New Labour to suddenly discover this problem. I’ve lost a close friend to suicide and seen many people abandoned by the system. For some of us it’s not just about a photocall- it’s been our real life experience and we’ve repeatedly been let down by Labour.”

“The Labour Government’s only response for almost a decade was to attempt to introduce a new Mental Health Act. This was an horrific piece of legislation which would have deterred people from seeking treatment and criminalised those who were suffering. The obsession they have with Daily Mail approved legislation left many people alone and without desperately needed help.”

“We need mandatory training for GPs, often the first port of call for many people, more effective drug regulation as seen by the scandals over SSRIs- a drug I was placed on for a time that was later shown to increase suicidal tendencies, anxiety and depression amongst younger patients- and a huge increase in the availability of counselling. I’ve been incredibly lucky to make it through but many others aren’t. Warm words are not enough- we need action.”

Editor’s Note:

Patrick Murray recently gave a speech to the Lib Dem conference on his experiences during a debate on Mental Health provision. This can be viewed here: YouTube video

Reading Council’s budget is clearly under immense pressure says Cllr Gareth Epps leader of the Liberal Democrat group.

There is a substantial cash shortfall, caused by a number of factors. Foremost among these are a mean Government grant increase of only 1.5%, substantially behind inflation rates when it was set never mind now; a shortsighted budget passed by Labour and Conservative Councillors in 2008, and economic pressures caused by fuel price rises and the global financial situation.

Liberal Democrats on the Council take very seriously the need to put frontline services first. We are putting Council budgets under much greater scrutiny than they have ever been subjected to before, and will be looking at any signs of waste to be tackled first in order to protect vital public services.

A key problem is the way Whitehall increasingly takes money away from areas like Reading. Not only is our increase in council grant way below inflation, but measures like the “Tenant Tax” – siphoning off some £6 million of rent paid by Reading’s own council tenants – are absolutely unacceptable. Next year’s settlement is due to be even worse. It is time the Council confronted central Government – we need to fight for a fair deal for Reading.

Part of the trouble is directly due to the election bribe served up by Labour, and backed by the Tories, of a 2008-09 budget which stripped back vital reserves to keep council tax increases unsustainably low. I hate to say ‘we told you so’, but on this occasion we did. Their shortsighted action has contributed, arguably, up to £4 million – more than half – of the shortfall the Council is facing today. It has also removed the cushion provided by cash balances, which are now at a minimum. The Council’s own financial officers reported that this situation was If – and we hope it doesn’t happen – employees lose their jobs as a result, they will not thank the Labour or Conservative Groups on the Council.

Thankfully, at that meeting, other parties accepted our proposal for reviews of areas such as fees and charges, to take care of the Council’s longer-term financial interests. We will continue that responsible approach going forward into this budget process, and hope that the other political groups will do too.

Local Liberal Democrats took part in a debate at their national conference in Bournemouth discussing the introduction of safe standing areas at football matches. The motion was proposed by the MEP for our region, Sharon Bowles and Katesgrove councillor Warren Swaine was selected to speak in favour of it.

In a clear vote in favour of the motion, the Liberal Democrats’ Autumn conference backed proposals to change regulations that currently prevent football stadiums from providing ‘safe-standing’ area at Premier League and Championship games. The proposals recognise and seek to remedy safety problems that exist in all-seater stadiums where, despite regulations, large numbers of fans regularly stand in areas designed for sitting only.

Local councillor and football fanzine editor Warren Swaine told the conference that there was nothing in itself unsafe about standing and urged them to back the motion to allow clubs the choice to reintroduce limited capacity standing areas. Of particular concern to him was the effect that all-seater stadia have had on families and young children attending matches. Councillor Swaine told the conference: “It is sometimes cheaper to fly a family of four to the Costa del Sol than to go to a match.”
He also told the BBC’s Politics Show: “People don’t like being controlled and it causes a lot of trouble and resentment at football matches.”

Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Don Foster said:
“This is a sensitive issue. But we cannot ignore the large numbers of fans who want to stand, and are doing so in seating areas, despite the existing regulations and the danger it causes.
“Given the seeming impossibility of policing existing regulations and recognising that some passionate fans want to be able to jump up and down when watching their teams each week then we need to look at technologies that allow them to do that safely.
“Football has taken enormous steps forward in recent years with more diverse fans, improved stadium designs and better policing. These proposals would in no way seek to undermine any of that progress and would only allow future ground developments that meet the most stringent safety requirements.
“But if some fans want to stand and clubs want to let them, then we should at least explore safe ways of achieving it.”

Editor’s Notes: