Stroud Conservatives

Neil Carmichael and Francis Maude MP visit Stroud College, an excellent example of future education provision 

Neil Carmichael, Parliamentary Candidate for Stroud, and Francis Maude MP, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and responsible for policy implementation, visited Stroud College, learning more about the vitally important sector of future education.

The visit included a meeting with the Senior Leadership Team, comprising of Beri Hare, Principle, Andrew Clare, Deputy Principle, and Peter Clegg, Vice-Principle. The Board of Governors was represented by Vice-Chairman Carole Garfield. After the meeting, the group met students and toured the new building.

Neil Carmichael commented, “I have been a governor of Stroud College for many years and we have made massive progress – Stroud College is a success story – but coping with government targets, ‘initiatives’ and inflexible training schemes has not helped.”

“I wanted to provide Francis Maude with the opportunity to see for himself how future education could radically improve if there was less intrusive interference from central government and the many agencies in the world of education.”

Picture: Beri Hare, Francis Maude MP, Neil Carmichael, Carole Garfield, Andrew Clare and Peter Clegg.

Neil Carmichael and Malcolm Harbour MEP discuss the economic crisis and the credit crunch

Neil Carmichael, Parliamentary Candidate for Stroud, welcomed Malcolm Harbour MEP, (Spokesman on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection) to Upton St. Leonards. It was an opportunity to discuss and analyse the unfolding financial crisis.

Neil Carmichael commented, “The credit crunch is incredibly serious and demands firm and decisive action. One problem is that banking regulations have not been sufficient to cope with the massive debts that have been amassing for several years.”

“To make things worse, we now have inflation. Consumers are already finding that basic commodity prices are increasing dramatically and this is having an understandable impact on spending behaviour. The government is virtually helpless now because it, too, has overspent.”

Neil added, “All of this proves that we need to have an economic policy which is sustainable through being built on the solid foundations of fiscal responsibility.”

Picture: Malcolm Harbour MEP, Linda Morley, and Neil Carmichael after the formal meeting in Upton St Leonards

Neil Carmichael will answer any questions
Saturday 19th April, 8.00pm, Dursley Conservative Club

Neil Carmichael will participate in a “question and answer” session on Saturday 19th April, 8.00pm onwards, in Dursley Conservative Club.

Neil Carmichael commented, “I really enjoy these interactive sessions and I believe that providing the opportunity to discuss any political issue in a lively way is good for democracy.”

“During previous occasions, virtually any subject can be raised with all sorts of views expressed. It should be interesting on Saturday.”

Chris Grayling MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, will meet with managers at the Stroud Citizens Advice Bureau, as well as key members of the pensions industry, when he visits the Gloucestershire town on Tuesday, April 15th 2008.

Accompanied by Neil Carmichael, the Conservatives Prospective MP for the Stroud constituency, Chris will be in Stroud from 3pm.

Chris will first meet with staff members and managers at the Stroud Citizens Advice Bureau, at Brunel Mall, London Road.
 
During the visit he will hear about the key concerns raised by Stroud residents to staff members, and the advice and help they offer, including issues regarding pensions and difficulties faced by pensioners with the town.

At 4pm, Chris will then travel to the home of Neil Carmichael, to meet with key members of the pensions industry, including Independent Financial Advisors and Accountants.

Among the issues being raised will be the prevailing problems with pensions and the impact of abolishing the 10% income tax rate, and seek the opinions of local people.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Neil Carmichael said: “Recent canvassing sessions for the local government elections has exposed fury over the abolition of the 10% income tax band. This hits young and old people – low earners are especially affected.”

“I look forward to exploring these matters with Chris Grayling, and these members of the pensions industry, more fully when we meet on Tuesday.”

  Chris Grayling MP represents the people of Epsom & Ewell at Westminster.

Regeneration

              Environment & Energy

         Affordable Housing

       Community Safety

 Healthy Living

Regeneration:

We are continuing to invest in the District, as well as encouraging others to provide improved services and facilities. We have taken steps to bring forward thedevelopment of Tricorn House at Cainscross; the supermarket programme for Dursley is on track, and development of the Chapel Street site at Cam is due to commence shortly.

Environment & Energy:

Not only does the Conservative Controlled Council protect our Green Spaces under the Public Space Action Plan but it also purchases over 90% of the electricity used in Council buildings under green tariff arrangements.

Affordable Housing:

Last year we provided an additional 133 affordable homes and this year we are set to add around 100 more. Such provision remains a key priority and we continue to look for improvements.

Community Safety:

The continuing success and popularity of the Neighbourhood Warden Scheme will see the deployment of two more Wardens during the next Twelve months. Wardens provide a valuable link between the Council and the Community. This will complete the original forecast deployment for the District and demonstrates another promise kept.

Healthy Living:

Your Conservative led District Council continues to develop new and imaginative opportunities in healthy activity for all ages and abilities. The past year has seen the opening of the county’s first fitness suite designed especially for young people between the ages of 8 and 16 years. It is situated at Dursley Swimming Pool and provides a range of equipment and fitness programmes for all abilities.

Neil Carmichael and Theresa May MP at Stroud Fire Station

“After the recent flooding, surely all plans to regionalise the fire service should be abandoned, we need to be able to respond locally to local problems,” argues Neil Carmichael.

Neil, the Parliamentary Spokesman for the Stroud Constituency, praised the recent excellent performance of the fire service in dealing with the flooding but he warned that plans to have only one control room for the South West (in Somerset) should be abandoned.

Neil Carmichael commented, “Local knowledge is of utmost importance in dealing with emergencies of any type and the fire service is no exception. With the local Tri-Service Centres, a rapid and effective response is much more likely as the flooding crisis proved.”

 “Labour’s obsession with regionalising everything could, in the case of the emergency services, undermine their ability to deal with disasters.

How can one centre, covering 23,837 square miles with 4,960,000 people, manage to coordinate emergency responses?

 To make matters even worse, the new regional centre in Taunton is located on a flood area. Just imagine a future flooding crisis with a control centre also underwater.”

 “A great solution for business waste”

Neil Carmichael, Parliamentary Spokesman for Stroud, attended the launch of “Y-Waste” on Saturday in the Subscription Rooms, Stroud. He welcomed the initiative and believes it to be just what is needed for business waste.

Neil commented, “Businesses will be able to have all their waste collected and, afterwards, it will be separated and recycled or treated. This represents a massive boost for sensible waste management and savings for small businesses. “Another great feature of this scheme is the fact that it is a social enterprise. It is all about working together in an environmentally responsible way.”

More details can be found on www.y-waste.org.

For further information, please contact Neil on 01453 757990 or by email – n.l.carmichael@dial.pipex.com

webcameron.org.uk

webcameronuk YouTube Channel

Conservatives are reaching out to the families of Britain with a promise to ease the tax burden on couples with children - and improve their work-life balance.

Both Party Leader David Cameron and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne have promoted the idea of creating a transferable tax allowance - so that one parent can pass on the benefit to the other when he or she stops work to stay at home with the children.

And Mr Cameron has also signalled that an incoming Conservative government would push for more flexible working hours for parents of children of all ages, rather than just the very young.

Indicating that he has consulted the Confederation of British Industry about plans to allow more people to ask their employers for flexible working hours, Mr Cameron declared in an interview during the Bournemouth conference: “I think it will help people have a better work-life balance, that’s really important - that is the centre ground for me; it’s an issue which people care about in their lives.”

He said later: “I stand for families. I think families are the most important things in Britain.We have got to do more to help them to come together, to stay together, and to look after children; that’s what I stand for.”

The scheme for helping families through transferable tax allowances is being considered as part of the Party’s overall commitment to rebalance the tax system, and is being considered by the Tax Reform Commission which is due to report later this month.

In his keynote conference speech Mr Osborne stressed the need for the Conservatives to remain rooted on the middle ground of politics, rejecting the idea that family policy should not be a priority for the Party.

“I know there may be a few who think that childcare is something to be discussed in mothers’ groups not on conference floors, or that equal pay for women should not get equal billing. Well, we in this hall think they’re wrong. These issues go to the heart of what it means to be a civilised society. And we have Conservative answers. Childcare help that isn’t dictated to parents but supports the choices parents make for themselves; extended flexible working in the fight for equal pay and a better family life.

“For we know it is the family, and not the state, that brings up our children and forms the building blocks of our communities. These issues matter because the family matters.”

Meanwhile Philip Hammond promised to put the family at the hearty of social policy, delivering social justice to the most disadvantaged household across the country.
The Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary told the conference that tackling poverty was a moral and economic imperative for the Party, and declared: “It falls to us to pick up the challenge of delivering social justice to the most disadvantaged.”

Hailing the family as the bedrock of British society, Mr Hammond said Conservatives had to recognise the huge diversity of families, and realise that they must all be valued. And he said: “Tackling this poverty is a moral, as well as an economic imperative for the next Conservative Government.”

Mr Hammond went on to criticse Labour for relying too much on migrant workers. “Make no mistake, we welcome the contribution that generations of immigrants have made to our country and to our economy.But isn’t a continued dependence on uncontrolled migration a betrayal of the five million workless adults in Britain today.”

Calling on the Party to seize back the social justice agenda which Labour had tried and failed to make their own, he stated: “It’s time to show the people of Britain, by our deeds as well as our words, that they can, again, trust us. Trust us to deliver social justice and economic prosperity which together will form the foundation of the truly Great Britain that we aspire to build.”

George Osborne has called for discipline and responsibility on tax policy, and warned that the Party leadership “will not be pushed or pulled” by the critics demanding a promise of up-front tax cuts now.

Delivering his first Party conference speech as Shadow Chancellor, Mr Osborne won applause when he stressed that it would be foolhardy and irresponsible to make specific tax pledges at this stage of the political cycle.

And while he accepted the principle of lower taxes and proclaimed “I want lower taxes”, he said it was too early to make specific promises, and warned that Conservative hopes of election victory could be wrecked if voters feared the Party was putting tax cuts ahead of economic stability of public services.

He said: “To those who still want us to make upfront promises of tax cuts now, we say: We will not back down. We will not be pushed or pulled. We will stick to our principles. We will do what is right.”

Mr Osborne said he was not going to try and write his 2009 Budget in 2006. “The British people are sick of politicians who promise more than they deliver. We will deliver more than we promise,” he stated.

He recalled the words of Margaret Thatcher when she emphasised the importance of sound money and declared: ‘I am not prepared ever to go on with tax reductions if it meant unsound finance’.

And he said: “We must win the argument on the economy. We will never do that if people believe our tax policy comes at the expense of their public services. That is why we will share the proceeds of growth between the lower taxes this country needs and the increases in spending on public services every government should provide.

“And we will never win the argument on tax - or anything else for that matter - if people fear for one moment that we might endanger the stability of the economy, the low mortgage rates and low inflation families depend on.”

He added: “If we have not learnt that in our long years in opposition then we have learnt nothing. High mortgages and the failed ERM experiment that produced them are part of the reason we have been out of office for a decade. Well, I am not going to allow that to happen.”

Read the speech in full

Watch the video