OK I accept I support Labour so I suppose you would expect me to bring out a blog against my political opponents.
However I must point out a few home truths to the Local Conservative Party, their local record of achievement is not the spin they say it is.
1. NHS - Jeremy Lefroy was one of the MP's in parliament that helped push through the now failed Health and Social Care bill which has left our local hospital downgraded and every hospital in the county on its knees. Today it has been announced that waiting times have trebled, imagine what the Tories would be saying now if this was the record of a Labour Candidate. When you read the rather bland non specific commitments for our local services NO extra cash is promised and NO extra support for our local NHS is on the cards, so in Staffordshire we will be voting clearly Lefroy who has overseen the downgrade of our services and has NO PLAN for them to be improved, or Labour who has promised investment for the Many not privatisation for the few.
2. Social Care - In the Tory manifesto they pledge that if you have a house and you can afford it you will have to sell your house to pay for your care, with or without a cap it means that everyone in the community who falls ill and needs social care will be forced after death to sell their house and give the largest chunk of the cash not to your loved ones but to the government. If you fall ill with Cancer the NHS will pay for all of your care.While they are saying this is essential they are giving big business a tax break of over £70 billion, We already have the lowest tax take for business in the G20 Business does not need another massive tax break so why is it a priority?. The NHS in Staffordshire is completely broken, the top down reorganisation has failed and is being reviewed AGAIN, conservative policies have failed we all see it every week on the news, and still they think that selling it off and giving billions in tax breaks will solve the problem. Dont get ill unemployed or weak and vulnerable under this government it has no sympathy. The disabled are constantly harassed over the "fit for work" programs, sanctions are putting millions into poverty, trapping the disabled in their homes. Foodbanks are now a norm for over 2 millions of the people, homelessness has doubled recently, as has child poverty forcing Save the Children and the RED CROSS to open up programs in the UK!, yet we are one of the Richest nations on the world, the FTSE is at an all time high at over 7500 points, somebody is doing well, the few, but not the many. Social Care is massively underfunded everyone says it is on its knees and is broken how is a massive tax cut for big business going to help fund everyone's social care.
3. Education - our local schools ANSON AND COLWICH will lose up to £400 per pupil under the new proposed so called "Fairer Funding" scheme, all to pay for more Grammar schools somewhere else, nice for those communities that get them I suppose, but hard luck for every school in the county. If you vote for Lefroy you are voting for this to happen this year. Class sizes are increasing, the teaching profession is demoralised, new academies are starting to fail, vital funds for every other school are being syphoned off to fund new academies and grammar schools which is nice for them, but leaves the rest of the sector screaming for cash. Older schools are not being repaired, temporary classrooms from the 1960's and 70's are still in use in some schools. Schools are being forced to send begging letters to parents asking them for donations for basics like books. There is a massive teacher shortage leading to schools having to rely on Recruitment Agencies which cost you and me millions of pounds. Jeremy Lefroy has overseen this degradation of our school service he has backed this further downgrade of teaching and education. Jeremy Lefroy backed the saddling of our youth with thousands of pounds of debt through the introduction of the ever rising University fees, Labour will free the youth of this country and scrap the fees all together and bring back the maintenance grants. All this is just the tip of the iceberg........
4. Housing - they continue to make the housing crisis worse by not building enough homes, rents are out of control, the bedroom tax continues to force people from their homes to allow property developers to sell them on to the growing wealthy in city centres. People who have been brought up in the Haywoods are now getting to the stage they can no longer live here or their children must move away because of the lack of affordable housing. Remember the 106 Cash? in 10 years after all the building we have seen in our community NONE of the money over £500,000 which should be spent HERE IN OUR COMMUNITY has EVER been spent in the community. If you vote for the Tories you are voting for this to all get worse, AND continue.
Here is the reality of the failure over the last 7 years to build since the Tories took power the amount of homes required to be built has plummeted, which helps the Landlords, helps the prices sky rocket, but leave an extra 3 million people forced into rented accommodation when they would prefer to buy. House rents are going through the roof and it is pushing working families into poverty.
5. Defence - Tories have cut the RAF by 25%, they have cut 22000 from the Army, 5000 from the Navy and 12 ships, we still have a shortfall of 2000 sailors, 50 defence sites have been sold off to developers. Then on top of that we have 20,000 less police on the streets that's less than we had in 1974, 15% less firefighters on watch, leading to poorer response times. Overall it is the least amount spent on the defence of this country in over 20 years. That is not a great record on defence is it? WE CANNOT DEFEND THIS NATION ON THE CHEAP. Then there is the disastrous foreign policy that Cameron and Hague set about with the so called "Arab Spring" which has left all those nations in piles of grey rubble almost ungovernable......not a good record on defence at all. Aubrey Bailey from fleet sums it all up nicely for us all.
6. Infrastructure - The Local Tories have done NOTHING to oppose HS2 and very little to help those effected by it, how do we know? simple nobody has been to meet with the community to help with the compensation process individuals have been left to struggle completely on their own, the Tories only stepping in on threat of publicity. Then there has been the upgrading of Stafford.....what a complete shambles getting in and out of Stafford has been a nightmare now for YEARS, this shambolic planning is just breath-taking, then there are the pot holes everywhere, every other shop in the town closed, the Guild Hall virtually empty, investment nil, weeds on every corner litter all over the streets. It no good putting a hard hat on to get your picture in the paper, smiling, its about getting things done, Stafford under the Tories is going backwards not forwards it really is time for a change.
7. Shopping - What is he going on about now? I hear you say, well I shop at ALDI, and I don't know about you but my weekly shop has gone up by about £15 a week, that's £60 less every month of disposable income, we are told that this is going to get a lot worse over the next couple of years, as inflation rises. Interest rates have gone up in the USA and the UK is looking to do the same the cost of our mortgages will rise the cost of living is going to go through the roof, will wages go up to help?, unlikely, HOLD ON don't we have a booming economy, a long term economic plan? so where is all the cash going?
8. Fox Hunting and the Ivory Ban - This is one that I thought I would never have to highlight, but Theresa May is now committed to repealing the ban on Fox Hunting, she believes it is Ok for a pack of hounds to rip apart a Fox for fun. Theresa May has also decided that Elephamts and Rhino's are Ok to be poached for Horn and Ivory, as the conservatives drop a pledge to BAN ALL sales of Ivory in the UK, and work globally to ban it is every country, only by doing this will the market be stopped as there is not a country in the world where Ivory and Horn can be sold, Dropping this pledge is an indication on how the conservatives value the rural countryside and conservation abroad.
9. Environment - Trump
Labour has a bold plan to transform Britain, all parts of Britain, especially those parts like Staffordshire who have been hit time and again by disintegrating industries with no plans to replace them. The pottery industry, the coal industry, Steel and many other manufacturing bases have been devastated with little investment to bring those high pay jobs back into the regions. London thrives while we always get left behind. The conservative under Jeremy Lefroy have delivered a Stafford and surrounding areas like here in the Haywoods that over a long time is completely being overlooked for investment and support. David Williams is pledged to reverse this, whereas Jeremy Lefroys leaflet just pledges generalities with no costings. Then there is Fracking, the Labour Party is committed to renewables being brought up to 60% of national use as soon as possible. Jeremy Lefroy and the Conservatives are committed to Fracking, which could pollute our rivers and water table.
