Monday, April 23, 2007
The true positions vs the Lib Dem leaflet lies
I’ve seen some “interesting” literature being put out by the Lib Dems in the run up to the election. Most of it is packed with lies, half-truths, or just sheer muck raking that borders on the slanderous. Here is a selection of some of the more outrageous with a response for each.
The “Handing over casework” leaflet
In their last leaflet that went around the villages is a photograph of Pat Seymour handing over files to their candidate with the caption “Cllr Seymour hands over just some of the casework folders…”
Taking this at face value, this is a breach of the Data Protection Act as party activists have no official standing as far as casework is concerned and are thus not allowed access to anything relating to it. At the very least it is a breach of confidence, and Cllrs have guidelines issued by MKC on how to handle casework information so there is no excuse of “I didn’t know”, not after 14 years experience anyway.
When questioned by the Citizen Newspaper the excuse was that the files only contained “parish council minutes, planning application details, and a report on cycle paths”. I don't buy that for a second!
So the bottom line is that either Cllr Seymour breached the Data Protection Act and thought she would get away with it, then attempted to cover herself by lying to the newspaper, or there was a lie printed on their election literature designed to purposefully mislead the public, in which case the agent is legally responsible. Either way, they lied.
Filgrave School
The lie: The current leaflet shows the Lib Dems outside Filgrave School decrying the closure and claiming to defend rural schools from the marauding hands of Bucks Conservatives.
The truth: Since the creation of Milton Keynes as a Unitary Authority the responsibility for Education rests with MK Council. Bucks County Council, albeit Conservative run, can no more close schools in MK in 2007 than can the Martian League of Aliens!
Filgrave School closed in 1989 (18 years ago!) with a total of 6 pupils on it’s role and 2 of those pupils were due to transfer to Olney Middle School the following September with no applications for places or children in the village in the age group to attend the school. I spoke to a former Governor of the school who herself admitted that there was no viable way of keeping a school open for just 4 pupils!
Also, it is worth looking at the Lib Dem national party's recent attempts to abolish faith schools (in all but name) by denying them the ability to select their own pupils based on the wishes of their parents to have them educated within the context of their faith*. I just wonder how someone can be a member of a party that wants to effectively abolish CofE and RC education, and yet claim to defend CofE schools and be a governor of one! If my opponent had any principles whatsoever he would “normalise” his position with either the Liberal Demorcrat party by resigning his governorship, or with the school by adopting the position that faith schools should be able to set their own selection criteria, which the Lib Dems have attempted to prevent. The question must be asked "what does this say about the integrity of an individual who would have maintain such a conflict of interests, and if the issue arose of his national party attempting to abolish the right of faith schools to adopt their own selection criteria, would he represent the wishes of the community in supporting the schools, or those of his party?" What utter, shameless, hypocrisy!
A509 Safety Improvements
The lie: The Lib Dems have done a lot to improve road safety on the A509.
The Truth: On June 17th 2005 a young man was killed in front of me as I got in my car and he hit a mobile crane head-on doing close to 80mph and the wreckage of his car ended up about 50 feet from my front door. I was the first on the scene.
I phoned Clls Seymour and Mabbutt neither of whom were particularly keen to do much more than wait for the inquest of the previous fatal accident 6 months earlier. After talking to my neighbours I obtained copies of the petitions that went to the Parish Council and the Parish Council’s letters to Cllr Seymour going back 9 years that each elicited nothing but a holding response, or no response at all.
I wrote a letter, printed 300 copies off at home, and with my wife, Carole, put it through every door in Emberton. I fielded phone calls, offers of help, letters from residents who agreed with me, and I set up a public meeting to discuss the matter and lay the demands of the village with our Cllrs.
Both Cllrs Mabbutt and Seymour attended with Trevor Dove and Kevan Paradine from the traffic department and they proposed no more than new signage (which was going up anyway) and had a pre-prepared press release shouting about this “significant achievement”. Over the next 2 hours they listened to angry residents, the constituency MP, and me as I threatened to stand at the next election unless they did something. It was funny how they changed their tune and promised most of what we wanted in 6 months. We got some of those promises honoured, but not all, and mostly 12 months late! The one thing we didn’t get, and which I will continue to fight for, is a roundabout at the Emberton turn. There was another fatal crash there last week!
It’s also worth noting that there wasn’t a single Lib Dem “Focus Team” member present, but to read their leaflets you would think my opponent was responsible for all those improvements. I’d suggest looking back through the archive of the Olney Phonebox (available online at www.phoneboxmagazine.co.uk ) to see each monthly report from Mark Lancaster where he keeps watch on the inactivity.
The whole “Bucks Conservatives” lie
The Lie: Everything bad is down to Bucks Conservatives, especially where expansion is concerned.
The Truth: Since the creation of Milton Keynes Unitary Authority, Buckinghamshire County Council, which is Conservative run, has no remit whatsoever in the running of Milton Keynes. Bucks CC and Bucks Conservatives in particular, cannot build on MK, cannot enforce planning decisions on MK, cannot interfere with, or take decisions on, education in MK, cannot set the Council Tax rates for MK, in fact they cannot do a single thing in MK.
We, are Milton Keynes Conservatives. MK Conservatives are an entirely separate entity from Bucks Conservatives. We have our own manifesto, our own political agenda, our own positions and opinions, our own policies, and our total independence from any other Conservative Council group anywhere in the country. Bucks CC commissioned the Buchanan Report. MK Conservatives fundamentally disagree with its conclusions. The lie that the Lib Dems are spinning is that by continually referring to “Bucks Conservatives” people will come to think and believe that the Conservatives in Milton Keynes are one in the same thing.
The “Council Tax is cheaper” lie
The Lie: Lib Dems have cheaper council tax rates than the Conservatives:
The Truth: Here is a quote taken from their own national manifesto:
“Conservative councils charge lower council taxes. In 2007-08,
averaged across the different tiers of local government, Conservative
councils charge £55 a year less on Band D council tax bills than Labour councils and £84 a year less than Liberal Democrat councils.”
There is no point attempting a comparison with neighbouring authorities as their spending patterns will differ according to how their administration is set up, how they run their affairs, what they subsidise and pay for, and their population.
The question ought to be one of “do I get value for money from my Council Tax?” The Lib Dems have allowed the budget deficit to grow and have done nothing to pay it down (they inherited £129m, it is now £384m). That is taking £27m a year away from front line services. They inherited a debt finance burden of £8.8m from the Labour administration. Then they delivered the new Olney Campus late and over cost to a level that is subject to an inquiry. The new Academy school is fraught with pitfalls, financial risk, and question marks over funding that isn’t fully committed yet the Lib Dems are trying to press ahead regardless.
Then there is the issue of their decision not to have a manifesto. The manifesto sets out your policy and therefore spending priorities. Ours I available, I’ll be putting it onto my blog this week so you can see it. It sets out how we intend to prioritise pending of YOUR council tax money. The Lib Dems, have in effect, said they have decided not to tell you how they will prioritise spending your money if they stay in power. They want you to hand over a blank cheque!
In the past their tactic was to talk about a manifesto that never sees the light of day until after an election, and then for it to be formally adopted as Council policy.
Where it gets interesting is in their latest leaflet their candidate quotes from a manifesto that 2 weeks ago the leader of the Lib Dems said did not exist! Is he making up his own manifesto and making a unilateral declaration of independence from the Lib Dem group? Or is it perhaps that he is lying through his teeth about the Lib Dems having a manifesto this year? Or is their group leader lying about not having a manifesto, that will then miraculously turn up to be adopted as Council policy for the coming year? Answers on a postcard please to Miss Marple, because I certainly don’t understand the “mystery of the disappearing and reappearing non-existant manifesto”.
The “Local Connection” Lie
The Lie: I have no local link or connection and don’t live in the ward.
The Truth: I live on Newport Rd in Emberton.
I recently discovered when canvassing in Emberton that members of the “Lib Dem Focus Team” had been asking some of the elderly residents the very pointed question “do you know the Conservative candidate?” Anyone who answered no was told that I didn’t come from the area and had no local links and that I didn’t live in the ward. That came to me from 3 residents of The Forge in Emberton and 2 residents in Battle Close.
I’m disappointed, but not surprised, that the Lib Dems have resorted to personally attacking me as opposed to debating the issues. Just look at their election leaflet, all of it designed to attack me by insinuation.
On the basis of some of what I have seen, the Lib Dems have absolutely no intention of making a persuausive argument. Instead they are starting from the premise that they are going to loose this election and will try any amount of muck raking to try and persuade people not to vote Conservative. Their leaflets are full of the same graphics with the election results of 4 years ago and council tax, some staged photographs, and slinging mud at me in the hopes that it will stick.
If they can't treat the electorate with anything other than contempt by refusing to state what they stand for and instead opt for nothing but making derogatory comments in their election communications, then they are frankly not fit to be in administration and do not deserve your vote! I have faith in the people of Sherington and the surrounding villages that they do want to be told what I stand for and will make their decision as to whether to vote for me based on whether they find themselves in agreement with the positions I take.
Footnotes:
* "Let us be clear: there is a human right for people to have freedom of religious belief, but upholding that human right does not require the state to provide a faith school."
House of Commons (Westminster Hall) - Debate on Faith Schools 1 November 2006
Evan Harris, Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon
"They (Government) should not promote denominational schools in a vacuum without there being demand. It is not sufficient to say that good education is provided in the process-I am thinking in particular of certain academy projects-as the state can clearly provide good education in other ways that do not have a denominational context or flavour."
Westminster Hall- Denominational Schools (also known as Faith Schools) 20 July 2004
Dr John Pugh MP, Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson
The “Handing over casework” leaflet
In their last leaflet that went around the villages is a photograph of Pat Seymour handing over files to their candidate with the caption “Cllr Seymour hands over just some of the casework folders…”
Taking this at face value, this is a breach of the Data Protection Act as party activists have no official standing as far as casework is concerned and are thus not allowed access to anything relating to it. At the very least it is a breach of confidence, and Cllrs have guidelines issued by MKC on how to handle casework information so there is no excuse of “I didn’t know”, not after 14 years experience anyway.
When questioned by the Citizen Newspaper the excuse was that the files only contained “parish council minutes, planning application details, and a report on cycle paths”. I don't buy that for a second!
So the bottom line is that either Cllr Seymour breached the Data Protection Act and thought she would get away with it, then attempted to cover herself by lying to the newspaper, or there was a lie printed on their election literature designed to purposefully mislead the public, in which case the agent is legally responsible. Either way, they lied.
Filgrave School
The lie: The current leaflet shows the Lib Dems outside Filgrave School decrying the closure and claiming to defend rural schools from the marauding hands of Bucks Conservatives.
The truth: Since the creation of Milton Keynes as a Unitary Authority the responsibility for Education rests with MK Council. Bucks County Council, albeit Conservative run, can no more close schools in MK in 2007 than can the Martian League of Aliens!
Filgrave School closed in 1989 (18 years ago!) with a total of 6 pupils on it’s role and 2 of those pupils were due to transfer to Olney Middle School the following September with no applications for places or children in the village in the age group to attend the school. I spoke to a former Governor of the school who herself admitted that there was no viable way of keeping a school open for just 4 pupils!
Also, it is worth looking at the Lib Dem national party's recent attempts to abolish faith schools (in all but name) by denying them the ability to select their own pupils based on the wishes of their parents to have them educated within the context of their faith*. I just wonder how someone can be a member of a party that wants to effectively abolish CofE and RC education, and yet claim to defend CofE schools and be a governor of one! If my opponent had any principles whatsoever he would “normalise” his position with either the Liberal Demorcrat party by resigning his governorship, or with the school by adopting the position that faith schools should be able to set their own selection criteria, which the Lib Dems have attempted to prevent. The question must be asked "what does this say about the integrity of an individual who would have maintain such a conflict of interests, and if the issue arose of his national party attempting to abolish the right of faith schools to adopt their own selection criteria, would he represent the wishes of the community in supporting the schools, or those of his party?" What utter, shameless, hypocrisy!
A509 Safety Improvements
The lie: The Lib Dems have done a lot to improve road safety on the A509.
The Truth: On June 17th 2005 a young man was killed in front of me as I got in my car and he hit a mobile crane head-on doing close to 80mph and the wreckage of his car ended up about 50 feet from my front door. I was the first on the scene.
I phoned Clls Seymour and Mabbutt neither of whom were particularly keen to do much more than wait for the inquest of the previous fatal accident 6 months earlier. After talking to my neighbours I obtained copies of the petitions that went to the Parish Council and the Parish Council’s letters to Cllr Seymour going back 9 years that each elicited nothing but a holding response, or no response at all.
I wrote a letter, printed 300 copies off at home, and with my wife, Carole, put it through every door in Emberton. I fielded phone calls, offers of help, letters from residents who agreed with me, and I set up a public meeting to discuss the matter and lay the demands of the village with our Cllrs.
Both Cllrs Mabbutt and Seymour attended with Trevor Dove and Kevan Paradine from the traffic department and they proposed no more than new signage (which was going up anyway) and had a pre-prepared press release shouting about this “significant achievement”. Over the next 2 hours they listened to angry residents, the constituency MP, and me as I threatened to stand at the next election unless they did something. It was funny how they changed their tune and promised most of what we wanted in 6 months. We got some of those promises honoured, but not all, and mostly 12 months late! The one thing we didn’t get, and which I will continue to fight for, is a roundabout at the Emberton turn. There was another fatal crash there last week!
It’s also worth noting that there wasn’t a single Lib Dem “Focus Team” member present, but to read their leaflets you would think my opponent was responsible for all those improvements. I’d suggest looking back through the archive of the Olney Phonebox (available online at www.phoneboxmagazine.co.uk ) to see each monthly report from Mark Lancaster where he keeps watch on the inactivity.
The whole “Bucks Conservatives” lie
The Lie: Everything bad is down to Bucks Conservatives, especially where expansion is concerned.
The Truth: Since the creation of Milton Keynes Unitary Authority, Buckinghamshire County Council, which is Conservative run, has no remit whatsoever in the running of Milton Keynes. Bucks CC and Bucks Conservatives in particular, cannot build on MK, cannot enforce planning decisions on MK, cannot interfere with, or take decisions on, education in MK, cannot set the Council Tax rates for MK, in fact they cannot do a single thing in MK.
We, are Milton Keynes Conservatives. MK Conservatives are an entirely separate entity from Bucks Conservatives. We have our own manifesto, our own political agenda, our own positions and opinions, our own policies, and our total independence from any other Conservative Council group anywhere in the country. Bucks CC commissioned the Buchanan Report. MK Conservatives fundamentally disagree with its conclusions. The lie that the Lib Dems are spinning is that by continually referring to “Bucks Conservatives” people will come to think and believe that the Conservatives in Milton Keynes are one in the same thing.
The “Council Tax is cheaper” lie
The Lie: Lib Dems have cheaper council tax rates than the Conservatives:
The Truth: Here is a quote taken from their own national manifesto:
“Conservative councils charge lower council taxes. In 2007-08,
averaged across the different tiers of local government, Conservative
councils charge £55 a year less on Band D council tax bills than Labour councils and £84 a year less than Liberal Democrat councils.”
There is no point attempting a comparison with neighbouring authorities as their spending patterns will differ according to how their administration is set up, how they run their affairs, what they subsidise and pay for, and their population.
The question ought to be one of “do I get value for money from my Council Tax?” The Lib Dems have allowed the budget deficit to grow and have done nothing to pay it down (they inherited £129m, it is now £384m). That is taking £27m a year away from front line services. They inherited a debt finance burden of £8.8m from the Labour administration. Then they delivered the new Olney Campus late and over cost to a level that is subject to an inquiry. The new Academy school is fraught with pitfalls, financial risk, and question marks over funding that isn’t fully committed yet the Lib Dems are trying to press ahead regardless.
Then there is the issue of their decision not to have a manifesto. The manifesto sets out your policy and therefore spending priorities. Ours I available, I’ll be putting it onto my blog this week so you can see it. It sets out how we intend to prioritise pending of YOUR council tax money. The Lib Dems, have in effect, said they have decided not to tell you how they will prioritise spending your money if they stay in power. They want you to hand over a blank cheque!
In the past their tactic was to talk about a manifesto that never sees the light of day until after an election, and then for it to be formally adopted as Council policy.
Where it gets interesting is in their latest leaflet their candidate quotes from a manifesto that 2 weeks ago the leader of the Lib Dems said did not exist! Is he making up his own manifesto and making a unilateral declaration of independence from the Lib Dem group? Or is it perhaps that he is lying through his teeth about the Lib Dems having a manifesto this year? Or is their group leader lying about not having a manifesto, that will then miraculously turn up to be adopted as Council policy for the coming year? Answers on a postcard please to Miss Marple, because I certainly don’t understand the “mystery of the disappearing and reappearing non-existant manifesto”.
The “Local Connection” Lie
The Lie: I have no local link or connection and don’t live in the ward.
The Truth: I live on Newport Rd in Emberton.
I recently discovered when canvassing in Emberton that members of the “Lib Dem Focus Team” had been asking some of the elderly residents the very pointed question “do you know the Conservative candidate?” Anyone who answered no was told that I didn’t come from the area and had no local links and that I didn’t live in the ward. That came to me from 3 residents of The Forge in Emberton and 2 residents in Battle Close.
I’m disappointed, but not surprised, that the Lib Dems have resorted to personally attacking me as opposed to debating the issues. Just look at their election leaflet, all of it designed to attack me by insinuation.
On the basis of some of what I have seen, the Lib Dems have absolutely no intention of making a persuausive argument. Instead they are starting from the premise that they are going to loose this election and will try any amount of muck raking to try and persuade people not to vote Conservative. Their leaflets are full of the same graphics with the election results of 4 years ago and council tax, some staged photographs, and slinging mud at me in the hopes that it will stick.
If they can't treat the electorate with anything other than contempt by refusing to state what they stand for and instead opt for nothing but making derogatory comments in their election communications, then they are frankly not fit to be in administration and do not deserve your vote! I have faith in the people of Sherington and the surrounding villages that they do want to be told what I stand for and will make their decision as to whether to vote for me based on whether they find themselves in agreement with the positions I take.
Footnotes:
* "Let us be clear: there is a human right for people to have freedom of religious belief, but upholding that human right does not require the state to provide a faith school."
House of Commons (Westminster Hall) - Debate on Faith Schools 1 November 2006
Evan Harris, Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon
"They (Government) should not promote denominational schools in a vacuum without there being demand. It is not sufficient to say that good education is provided in the process-I am thinking in particular of certain academy projects-as the state can clearly provide good education in other ways that do not have a denominational context or flavour."
Westminster Hall- Denominational Schools (also known as Faith Schools) 20 July 2004
Dr John Pugh MP, Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson
# posted by Sherington Tory @ 12:02 PM 
