MAST PETITION

This morning I met up with campaigners living near Kings C of E school in Regis road, who are building up support to challenge the replacement of a phone mast which sits on the roof of the school. I spoke to some of the principal organisers of a 500 strong petition which was then handed to the three Conservative councillors in Tettenhall Regis. I’ve signed the petition and will be following this issue as it is debated by the council’s scrutiny panel in the next few months. As all the campaigners stated, replacing the Mast with a new more powerful Phone Mast contradicts the Council’s policy of not allowing them on School premises.

Paul

Radio times

Last night I was a studio guest on a new politics show which is broadcast through Wolverhampton Community radio on 101.8FM. Hosted by Matthew Revell the other studio guest was Gareth Walker, a Labour activist and blogger who writes under the name Political Penguin. Overall the evening was quite civilised and despite some teething problems we managed to cover topics including elected Mayors, the relevance of the mainstream parties and global poverty (interspersed with songs from Marillion and Procol Harum). I like to think that actually meeting bloggers and activists face to face is always a positive experience. Many Politicos forget that behind the political label and badge we are in fact real people with families, friends and everyday worries. Difficult as it may be to believe some of us are quite normal people, despite the fact that we spend Friday nights in a Radio Station discussing politics (reasonably normal at least).

Paul

Conservative Policy Group publishes plan to tackle global poverty

The globalisation and global poverty group, one of the 6 policy groups set up by David Cameron has published its final report. Advised by Bob Geldof the report contains 76 recommendations offering a new agenda for a future Conservative Government to tackle global poverty. 

The Group’s main recommendations include:

• The Report calls for an all-party campaign, Real Trade, to give all poor countries real trade opportunities with the developed world.  “We need a campaign to achieve for developing countries’ trade what Drop the Debt and Make Poverty History have done for debt relief and aid … We want to see mass popular pressure on governments in the EU and other rich countries to put a genuine pro-poor package at the heart of a revived Doha Round or, if it fails, in its place. Real Trade would require rich countries’ to open their markets unilaterally to the products of all low income countries; give them more generous rules of origin; abolish damaging export subsidies; give incentives to reduce the high tariff barriers between developing countries and help poor countries develop their export capacity.”
• Syed Kamall MEP, a leading member of the EU Parliament Trade Committee, has agreed to chair a steering committee for the Real Trade campaign and has begun discussions with people from other parties, countries and organisations.

More aid – more effective aid

• The Group welcomes the Conservative Party’s commitment to boost aid to the UN target of 0.7% of national income by 2013 and to consider doing so earlier.  They argue that “the focus must now move from increasing the amount of aid to increasing its effectiveness.  The purpose of aid is not to make the donors feel good … the aid must actually do good”. The effectiveness of aid has been undermined by poor governance, not just in recipient countries, but by donors. Multiple donors put intolerable burdens on recipient governments; unpredictable disbursements make planning impossible; unrealistic conditions add to uncertainty; top down donor decision-making undermines local ownership; failure to focus on the poor misdirects aid; lack of specialisation reduces effectiveness; recruiting talented officials from developing countries’ governments weakens their capacity.”  The Report proposes measures to tackle these problems including: 

• Partnership Trusts: the UK should promote Partnership Trusts in each country, pooling the aid efforts of as many donors as possible through one simple channel. Recipient governments would be spared from dealing with multiple donors with conflicting reporting requirements. Local representatives would be non-voting trustees, advising on strategy and monitoring performance.
• Predictability: DFID should, where possible, make three year rolling commitments and give indicative ten year projections for aid.
• Demand-led Funding:  Aid projects are currently initiated from the top down. To harness the knowledge, experience and self-interest of people in each developing country, the Report recommends establishing Demand-led Funds to allocate the aid budget. They would invite project applications from local organisations, NGOs, and private companies as well as national and local governments and finance the best, subject to robust performance measures and auditing arrangements.
• Independent Evaluation Group: This would be modelled on the National Audit Office.  It would evaluate DFID’s aid effort and report direct to parliament.  
• Global Donor Index:  to put pressure on donors to improve governance of their aid efforts, the Report proposes publishing an annual Global Donor Index designed to measure each donor country’s performance and effectiveness.

Tackling corruption through greater transparency

• At present the issue of corruption is swept under the carpet. It must be brought into the daylight since “sunshine is the best disinfectant and transparency is the best way to tackle corruption”. 

·   “The UK should require recipient governments to publish funds allocated to individual schools, clinics etc; insist on reliable, timely and independent auditing and agree to use Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys to check money reaches its destination. Information is the best way to empower local people, parliaments, civil society and media to hold governments to account.”

·    “Since conditions are hard to enforce the UK and fellow donors should set as few as possible, abandon attempts to impose detailed economic and social conditions and simply focus on transparent reporting and improving financial management”

·   British officials should not be reticent in highlighting evidence of corruption since this strengthens the hands of local campaigners against corruption.  Despite DFID’s declared policy of zero tolerance it has not pursued a single case of governmental corruption in recent years.

• The Group recommends reversing the sharp decline in the proportion of aid devoted to economic growth – particularly by supporting infrastructure and agriculture since growth is the surest way to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Speaking at the launch of the report, the Chairman of the Group, Peter Lilley MP, said: “Poverty is a denial of human potential. The stifling of dynamism, creativity and intelligence that attend poverty affects us all. Unleash that potential and we will all benefit though an explosion of thought, culture and trade. In the twenty-first century extreme poverty is not only a preventable economic absurdity but a moral disgrace. That is what has motivated this group in its work”. Syed Kamall MEP, Chair of the Real Trade campaign said: “Governments in the developed world need to give developing countries a chance to grow their economies by letting them sell their goods and services to us.More aid is no substitute for more trade.  Removing our trade barriers will be good for our citizens and our economies too by giving us more competitive choices.” 

Paul

Whitmore Reans Cultural Day

Despite the weather, a good day for everybody who attended the Cultural Day last Sunday.  As you can see we had a stand and thankfully some shelter.

It was very humbling to be introduced to representatives from Azerbaijan, Macedonia and the High commissioner for Bangladesh.

 

I also had a chance to meet up with Paul Armstrong.  He spoke to me about the central concept of Sufism and how it is often mistaken as a sect of Islam.  We also talked at length about the need for positive Islamic role models (Amir Kahn being an excellent example). Paul was particularly concerned about how Islam is perceived in the wider community.  He told me that when people ask ”Are you a moderate Muslim?”, he replies that Islam is essentially a moderate faith.  The political journey of a PPC should not just be about meeting and greeting as many voters as possible (important though that is), but should also involve you challenging your own preconceptions and constantly seeking to broaden your political outlook.  I can honestly say that since I took on the role of a PPC every day has involved some form of education which has taught me something new about the rich tapestry of all the communities in Wolverhampton South West.

 

Paul

Gordon Brown

One of the last acts of Chancellor Gordon Brown, before he became Prime Minister was to cut the budget for English hospitals. The public purse is short of funds so some spending cuts have to be made. The capital budget for English hospitals was cut from £6.2 billion to £4.2 billion, no similar cuts were made on Welsh and Scottish Health Service budgets. Mr Brown favoured his own constituents in Scotland at the expense of English taxpayers. What can be done about it? Very little, because Scottish and Welsh members of Parliament can vote on English health matters, but English members of Parliament have no say at all in Welsh and Scottish health topics.  These cuts came from a Prime Minister who promised the National  Health Service would be an “immediate priority” and once again shows that the West Lothian Question must be remedied.

Paul

David Cameron

As promised I discussed the youth club with David and had a look at other social action initiatives in the area with the Vice Chairman of the party and fellow Conservative PPC, Margot James from Stourbridge.

Paul

Meeting up with Sgt Mark Evans

During my Primary campaign, just before I was selected to be the PPC for Wolverhampton South West, I met with Sergeant Mark Evans in Tettenhall and did a video blog about our discussion. Last night I attended a Police Liaison Committee meeting and it was great to meet up again with Sergeant Evans (a really nice bloke by the way).

Local residents expressed concerns over parking and the judicial system in general, in getting the right balance between the perpetrators and the victims of crime. A politician getting this balance right is probably one of the most crucial jobs required of legislators. Many voters feel very frustrated that the system can be easily manipulated by those who are quick to spot its shortcomings and by “career criminals”. As a Politician the remit is fairly simple, make sure that doesn’t happen. 

On a positive note it was very interesting to hear about a youth club that is now operational on Monday nights at the Tettenhall wood institute. The police supervise the club and it was born out of a direct response to incidents of antisocial behaviour which were developing in the immediate area. The club was established to get youngsters off the street and the response in the last three weeks has been excellent. Sergeant Evans attends the club and reported that initially he had expected no more that half a dozen youngsters would be involved; in fact the numbers are in the 30’s and 40’s. The club has established its own constitution, comprising a no smoking and swearing policy and in a sense the youngsters have taken ownership of this initiative. The result is a much stronger relationship between the Police and club members. Much more tangible in terms of results is that for the last month none of the councillors at the meeting last night could recall any incidents of antisocial behaviour, a first for a very long time.

The club is a truly excellent example of community policing as many members of the club have grasped this initiative and decided to take responsibility for their own actions. Tomorrow I am meeting with David Cameron and intend to flag up this initiative as great example of social action working in the community. If you give individuals power and responsibility they will find the solutions to societies ills.

Paul

Tettenhall Summer Fete

Yesterday we had a great day out at the summer fete on Tettenhall green. Thankfully the rain kept away and a good time seems to have been had by all. It’s always good to see so many sections of society and all communities coming together, particularly on a day which was overshadowed by news of those who seek to fragment us.

Paul