Hannah Foster is Conservative candidate for Exeter, which had been due to play host to a regional meeting of the Cabinet today.
Today we were expecting the Cabinet to drop into Exeter. Yes, your taxes were being spent to ensure that they could see my great city at one of their regional cabinet meetings.
About time really, since Gordon Brown never ventured to the South West whilst he was Chancellor. About 18 months ago he did come unannounced for about an hour to the local hospital, only to be cornered by an angry patient. That experience had kept him away until now... or so we thought.
Well the Cabinet will not be in Exeter today; considerately they did not want to distract the emergency services by being here. Call me cynical, but I think there may be more to it than that. Firstly, our emergency services are more than up to it; but secondly, the cynical tactic of trying to impress Exeter residents when this Government has so comprehensively failed Exeter, Devon and the South West was simply not going to work.
I am the candidate for one of this country’s greatest cities. You might expect me to say that - but I know I am right! Exeter has a great history with a real sense of the modern. However, the best thing is the people - they represent much of what is great about our country: a sense of community, a trust in people, knowledge of right from wrong, a commitment to environmental responsibility, a respect for faith, a strong work ethic, a belief in enterprise and service, and a pride in our history and traditions.
Labour’s record for Exeter is a mixed one – as Devon’s capital city and a regional hub, we have a large proportion of our economy reliant of public money, of which much has been spent here. We have benefited from five new secondary schools under PFI, the University has grown and we have a new large Medical school. All good things.
And yet when I talk to health workers there is real frustration about how the time and money is being spent and the managing to targets more than patients. Our schools are paid by the fifth lowest funded education authority in the country – delivering great results with significantly less money. Small employers make up 67% of businesses here, who are so infuriated by the bureaucracy and tax hampering their growth. We have large number of professional services based here who cannot believe the volume of regulation and legislation that has impacted them. On top of this, for three years Exeter has gone through a bid for unitary government that has been a disaster. It now affects the whole county – costing huge amounts of money, officer time and stagnating decision making – and still no outcome. This is before you get the financial crisis and Gordon Brown’s debt.
This is a key seat for the General Election. It is an historic national indicator seat, the incumbent is Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw and it needs an 8.6% swing – working majority territory. If that does not grab you, we will be counting on Thursday night and expect a result between 1am and 2am. So make sure you are watching!
We are working very hard here; however the reality is that many people will not decide how they are voting until the campaign – it will go to the wire. That is why the Cabinet were coming here, they need to hold this seat to stay in power. And now they are not here - what does that say?