Andrew's Views

Welcoming Nick Clegg to Grimsby Docks

Meeting residents in Guildford Street

With fellow Councillors Dave Boylen and Steve Hocknell

I would like to share with you the following message received today, Thursday 25 March

Dear Andrew

Today, Britain needed a Budget that gave us honesty in spending and fairness in tax. Alistair Darling has given us neither.

Labour is in denial, while the Conservatives are talking tough to cover up the fact that they only offer more of the same.

Today's budget wasn't honest.

The Chancellor is incapable of coming clean about where spending cuts will have to fall. Rather than being honest with people about what the Government can and cannot afford, the Chancellor would rather let others indiscriminately shave departmental budgets.

And the Budget did nothing to make Britain a fairer society.

We're campaigning for fair taxes, lifting millions of people out of income tax altogether. But today's Budget, by confirming the feeze in personal allowances, means everyone will see a real increase in their income tax bill.

Rather than forcing the nationalised banks to lend to good British businesses, Labour have chosen to create a feeble quango to arbitrate between bullying banks and their small business clients.

Today's budget shows even more clearly that Britain needs real change. Thank you for everything you are doing to make that change happen.

Best wishes,

Vince Cable MP

Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor

Grimsby & the South Humber Bank ...a UK asset ...with enormous potential

What we need are jobs, not handouts. I am frustrated that Governments, both Tory and Labour alike, appear to be blind to the blatantly obvious fact that our area, with government investment into its infrastructure, can reap massive benefits for the whole of the UK economy. More importantly, thousands of new sustainable jobs can be created. I am not aware of any Western Country with a massive land mass, adjacent to a major Port Complex, would not want to develop the land to its full potential.

The one dark cloud on the horizon is the back-dated PORT BUSINESS RATES. Last year, in my role as Leader of NELC, I lobbied government Ministers (Alistair Darling & Geoff Hoon) and the Regional Minister, Rose Winterton, pointing out the risk to jobs here if they persisted with this policy. It is very disappointing that to date, they have done nothing about cancelling these charges.

Creating Jobs & providing more Family Homes...

Empty properties across Grimsby can be brought back into use with investment from Central Government.

Allowing hundreds of houses to sit empty when families have been waiting years for a home, is a scandal. The cost of bringing these houses back into use is just a fraction of the cost of building new ones, yet the Labour Government is sitting idly by while they fall into disrepair.

In the first year of the the new Parliament, Lib Dems would redirect £3.6bn of spending to create jobs and build up Britain's infrastructure.

Global Warming ...a scientific fact

Some irresponsible people have done a great deal of harm by overstating the evidence on this issue. However, I believe the mass of scientific evidence indicates that human behaviour is having a huge impact on our planet. We all have a responsibility to curb our activities, or future generations will suffer.

The NHS & Social Care system in crisis

Our first priority is to make the NHS work better with the money it has. Because of rising costs of treatments and an ageing population, we need to cut back on waste and reinvest that money back into Healthcare. Only by going through this process of finding savings elsewhere can we defend the services in the coming years.

The EU - love it, or loathe it...

...the UK is a member of the EU and our MEPs have to work with it to get the best for our region. I am therefore appalled that the Tories have withdrawn from the mainstream European Conservative Group and instead, joined up with an assortment of Right-wing Eastern European Parties that have more in common with the BNP.

Not surprising, our long serving MEP, McMillian-Scott has spoken our against this new Right-Wing Alliance and was expelled by Cameron's Tories for doing so.

If the Tories win the next General Election, British influence in Europe will be greatly diminished and we will be marginalised.

The Iraq War

I recall the debate in the House of Commons when Liberal Democrat MPs argued that the dossier of evidence of WMD was weak and we should not support an illegal invasion of IRAQ.

Lib Dems were attacked by Tory and Labour MP's in equal measure, the end result was that only the Lib Dems were united in voting against the motion to invade Iraq.

We now know that the House of Commons had been lied to and the the real aim was all about regime change, yet we do not hear Messrs Brown and Cameron admitting that they got it wrong.

MPs Expenses

Two years ago Norman Baker (Lib Dem) MP for Lewes with the full support of all Lib Dems and a few Tory and Labour MPs, tried to expose the abuses of the system and bring it to an abrupt end. Sadly, the vast majority of Labour and Tory MPs got together and blocked the move.

Now, due to the Daily Telegraph campaign, the corrupt system has been exposed and action is being taken to addressed the issue. However, I believe it is a disgrace that the Labour and Tory MPs who made thousands of pounds from "Mortgage Flipping" have been allowed to get away with it.

Fox Hunting

I attended a recent public meeting with our Labour MP and the Tory Candidate at which we were asked our views on "Fox Hunting". Austin appeared to be against but questioned the law as it currently stood. However, true to form, the Tory said she was in favour of fox hunting and would vote for abolition of the bill.

I made it clear that I was opposed to the reintroduction of a barbaric act that would allow foxes to be hunted down by people on horseback and be torn apart live by a pack of hounds.

The Ashcroft Factor

Tory donor Lord Ashcroft has finally admitted he's a "NON-DOM" who doesn't pay full UK taxes. His total dontations to the Tories now stand at over £5 million. He's the largest single contributor to the Tory Party campaign. I have had my suspicions now for several months that the Tory campaigns in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes constituencies are in effect mainly funded by "Ashcroft" and a few very rich individuals who have little in common with Grimbarians and Meggies. So, beware the slogan - "Paid for by local Conservatives".