Disqualified from Standing for Election

In the UK over 5.5 million people work in central and local Government. Many of those workers are disqualified from standing for election. As a local authority worker for Leeds City Council, myself and all my 14,632 colleagues are disqualified from standing for election to our city council. Disqualifying almost 15,000 people from standing for election seems quite bizarre to me, not many people are interested in politics, the bigger the pool to choose from, the better. The turnout in my electoral ward in 2016, in Leeds was just under 31%, a sad reflection on how people feel about politics. In the English local elections of 2016, in some areas fewer than one in five eligible voters went to their local polling station to cast a vote. We have a broken system, that people see as a negative. But the Scottish system seems much better, the turnout in the 2012 Scottish local elections was 39.6%, and in 2017 local elections turnout was 46.9%

In Scotland the rules were changed in 2005 so that an employee of a local authority could stand for election to that authority, and would only have to resign their employment if they were elected. The Electoral Commission carried out a report for the government in 2015, the report recommended that England should adopt the same qualifying rules for elections as Scotland, and local authority workers should be allowed to stand, but they would have to resign their job with the local authority if elected. The report has not been acted upon yet.

“The Electoral Commission recommend that the law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is changed to make a clear distinction between offices or employment which would prevent someone standing for election, and those which would prevent someone from holding office if elected“

<30.8% A Very Poor Democracy

In the local elections coming up in May, all our present contingent of councillors will all be up for election. As a local authority worker for Leeds City Council, myself and all my 14,632 colleagues are disqualified from standing for election. Disqualifying almost 15,000 people from standing for election seems quite bizarre to me, not many people are interested in politics, the bigger the pool to choose from, the better. The turnout in my electoral ward in 2016, Morley South was 30.8%, a sad reflection on how people feel about politics. In the English local elections of 2016, in some areas fewer than one in five eligible voters went to their local polling station to cast a vote, raising fears of a broken system.

The turnout in the 2012 Scottish local elections was 39.6%, and in 2017 local elections turnout was 46.9% Some people might already be aware of the differences between England and Scotland. Scotland have no tuition fees, no prescription charges, its own Parliament and the Scottish Parliament also has Proportional representation(PR). The Scottish government have also been praised for progress made on children’s health in 2017, they made better progress than England and Wales.

The Electoral Commission carried out a report for the government in 2015, the report recommended that England should adopt the same qualifying rules for elections as Scotland, and local authority workers should be allowed to stand, but they would have to resign their job with the local authority if elected. The report has not been acted upon yet. The Conservative gave the DUP £1 billion so that they can get bills through Parliament, but very little few bills are being processed.

I believe that Scotland have a better democracy than England, we to catch up.

‘Clueless And Deluded’

Some think that because multi-millionaires in the UK are getting richer, and the Brexit vote hasn’t had much of an impact. But the average wage is being outstripped by rising prices, and peoples living standards are declining.
There have been changes to the NHS, resulting in more serious operations not being done within the 18 week target and people waiting in corridors in A+E. In 2015 the Conservatives put in their election manifesto a promise about making GP appointments easier. The promise has now been dropped, another broken promise. Theresa May wants the General Election to be about Brexit, lets hope that the facts about our poorly performing NHS and ailing social care do not get forgotten.

The police recorded a total of 4.8 million offences in the year ending December 2016, an annual rise of 9%. Knife crime rose 11 per cent and gun crime by 7% in the last year alone.

The cost of National debt payment paid by the Government in 2011/12 was £48 billion, in 2016/17 it was £62 billion, next year the same debt payments will amount to £68 billion. Theresa May thinks her leadership qualities are ‘Strong and Stable’, I would say ‘Clueless And Deluded’.

I am not sure if people would attribute any of these facts to Brexit, perhaps its as a result of Conservative policies? I am sure Theresa May and her wealthy family will not suffer due to reduced police and NHS funding, unlike us ordinary folk.

 

A Deceitful Government.

The Crown Prosecution Service is expected to announce before the General election in June whether around 30 Tory MPs will be criminally charged over the alleged 2015 election expenses scandal.

The Conservative Government has also broken a legal deadline to announce any changes to the state pension age, leaving millions of older voters in the dark about their future pensions. The Government is legally mandated to review the state pension age by May 7th, as set out in the 2014 Pensions Act.

The Cridland review recommended scrapping the triple-lock pension, which guarantees a minimum annual rise to the state pension by 2.5 per cent. It also recommended raising the state pension age from 67 to 68 between 2037 and 2039, which would affect almost 6 million people. For people who are younger than 30, they might find themselves working until the age of 70. Our Conservative Government are a bunch of self-serving crooks. They tell the electorate as little as possible; retiring at 70 will not be in the Conservative manifesto, not a chance, but it will happen.

The campaign group Transparency International, whose head of UK advocacy and research Rachel Davies has said: “It’s absolutely true that the UK is one of the leading financial centres for the laundering of corrupt money from overseas, whether through the property market, luxury goods or other sectors”.

The Year That Could Change Everything

The year 2016 will be remembered as one that changed all our lives, for better or worse. The UK voted narrowly to leave the European Union. We don’t yet know what that means, although it was 6 months ago. The effects of that vote is now being noticed by rising inflation and higher holidays costs. The fall of Sterling and the downward pressure on the London stock market are still having an effect on the prices in our High Streets and our pensions. The people that voted to leave the EU still feel it was justified. Those that voted to remain in the EU feel very strongly that the vote has divided everyone and has led to an increase in the fear of others.

We have seen the terrible images from Syria, and terrorist killings around the world. The terrorist acts have come from people born into that country, and also from people around the world.

Some of the weapons used in the middle east come from the UK, the UK has participated in bombings in that area that have led to millions of people fleeing for their safety.

The UK has had record numbers of inward immigration, which has fueled the UKs growing economy, but it has not helped to increase peoples living standards. It has exacerbated our housing crisis, with many young people excluded from the housing market.

So whilst we have some issues made worse by immigration, in 2017 our decisions need to be made in the interests of making the UK a safe and prosperous place to live. We must campaign to fix the issues caused by immigration, that is what our MPs are elected to do, but they are failing.

In the last three Westminster by-elections the Liberal Democrats have been the only party rising in popularity, although they only gained one parliamentary seat. The values of the Liberals Democrats are ones which will help to make the UK a better place to live. The old two party system seems to be waning. Vote for the wrong party and the result could be the election of the divisive right wing, or a wasted vote for the left.

Kind regards ..  Nigel

N Bywater

3 Oak Grove

Morley

Chief executives of London’s FTSE 100 companies 10% pay rise

The High Pay Centre says chief executives of firms on London’s FTSE 100 index saw their mean average income rise by 10% in 2015. Which is rather strange because the most employees in the UK received a pay increase of around 2%; and even stranger still the FTSE 100 is down around 200 points from its peak in April 2015.
So whilst the UKs largest 100 companies are worth less on the London Stock Exchange, which is surely an accurate measure of the top executives poor performance, they are paying themselves more. Our new Prime Minister has sacked George Osborne, the man responsible for our countries economic performance. We should be showing Theresa May the yellow card, we do not want more of the same.

Vote Remain

What are the issues that make people want to leave the EU, immigration, lack of housing, getting a doctors appointment, migrants keeping wages down or being favoured when it comes to jobs?

The people to blame for 330,000 per year immigration is our last and present Government. The Conservatives have been in power for six years. When they were elected in 2010, they promised to keep net immigration to below 100,000; they made the same promise in the run up to the 2015 general election; 184,000 people came into this country from outside of the EU. If vote leave wins the referendum, they may promise nothing, or they may promise to keep net immigration to below 100,000.

Half of our immigration is from outside the EU, and half from inside the EU. So why is net immigration over 330,000 when we can control it from outside of the EU.?
We can reduce immigration now, there is no need to leave the EU. We can also build more housing and schools, with our elected representatives fighting for funding and helping the planning process. So many things are delayed or cancelled due to planning objections and strict planning rules, not the fault of the EU.

Margaret Thatcher brought in the right to buy your own council house, a very good policy. But we need to build more houses, social housing, the lack of housing is not the fault of the EU.

Our NHS is performing poorly; because of Jeremy Hunts poor handling of the doctors pay increase.
Manufacturing is already in recession, but things could get worse if we vote leave. Vote remain, but campaign for better democracy.

It is a shame that we live in a more divided country. Lets hope that after this referendum councillors and politicians can be more honest, and not scapegoat the EU, get on with their job in a positive way and fix our problems.

Poor UK economy

The Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney has given its starkest warning yet that a UK vote to leave the EU could hit the economy. Mark Carney, warned that the risks of leaving “could possibly include a technical recession”. We already have almost stagnation; In 2015, the UK’s current account deficit was £96.2 billion, how much worse can the balance in trade get?

Official UK CPI Inflation continues to hover just slightly above 0%, which is very close to stagnation, way off the Bank of Englands target of 2%. With a poor 1.6% GDP growth, most of that 1.6% is as a result of the UK population is increasing at the rate of around 1% per year, so in capital terms it means most people are actually going to feel poorer. Unless you are in charge of Beeches Academy Trust. An academy and free school trust praised by the Prime Minister has paid its chief executive a second salary passed through two separate companies, a government report has said. The UK economy only continues to grow, because of high house prices and  immigration, but in reality, that means the people of the UK are suffering.

The Trade Union Bill

The trade union bill going through Parliament is a political attack on a vital organisation for many people. I am hoping that the bill will have many changes to it in the House Of Lords, the Lords seem to have the balance of views that our MPs do not. The trade union bill will see the prospect of people protesting on picket lines being forced to wear an arm band to identify themselves, the bill would also impose a minimum 50% turnout – and public sector strikes would need the backing of at least 40% of those eligible to vote. In an ideal world a 40% turnout would be a good thing for all elections, but just singling out the public sector is wrong.

David Davis as saying this trade union bill is like something from the dark days of General Francos regime, which our present Government is becoming more like every day. We have gone back to the days of the Conservatives being the nasty party. In 2005 David Davis won the first round of the leadership election to lead the Tory party, had became the leader of the Conservative party instead of David Cameron, things would be much fairer.

Low interest Rates, A Boon To The Banks !

Just as there are benefits, there are costs associated with keeping interest rates below their natural level for an extended period. Some argue that an extended period of low interest rates (below the natural rate) is a key contributor to the housing boom and the marked increase in household debt relative to after-tax incomes.
Other costs are associated with very low interest rates. First, low interest rates provide a powerful incentive to spend rather than save. In the short term, this may not matter much, but over a longer period, low interest rates penalize savers and our pensioners that rely heavily on interest income.
Those desiring higher nominal rates might be tempted to seek more speculative, higher-yielding investments, such as property, fueling the property boom.
The keeping interest rates low for an “extended period” may lead to a Japanese-style deflationary economy.

Our Government needs to show some bravery, and start increasing interest rate, slowly.