Conservatives
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Friday 30 July
Posted by Andrea Leadsom, July 30th, 2010 .
It was hugely rewarding to help get a constituent’s case resolved.
At my first Advice Surgery in South Northamptonshire I met a Major in the British Army who had brought with him his considerable case of medals which he showed me with enormous pride.
What he wanted to talk about was the fact that he and others had been awarded the Bronze Star Medal by the American Government but was unable to wear it because the Ministry of Defence required a request from the US Embassy for permission to grant the award.
After extensive correspondence by the Major over several years he was still no further forward. I was astonished that this courageous man was unable to wear a medal, awarded in the defence of our country, because of bureaucratic inefficiency!
I wrote to the Secretary of State for Defence, Dr Liam Fox, asking for his help.
The Major emailed me within days to tell me he had received notification from the Honours Secretariat that he will be receiving an invitation to Buckingham Palace and will be formally awarded the medal by Her Majesty the Queen.
Definitely one of the highlights of my first month as a new Member of Parliament….
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Tags: Armed Forces, British Army, Bronze Star Medal, USA
Posted by Stephen Crabb, July 28th, 2010 .
The Project Umubano team paid their respects at a memorial centre.
There was cold silence in the room as Esperance spoke to the Umubano volunteers about what she had experienced as a child of eight during the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
With tears running down her face she described to us the violence and death she had witnessed, lived through and from which she had miraculously survived.
Solace Ministries provides counselling and clinical support to women like Esperance. More than 8,000 have sought help here in the last decade. Some carry deep scars across their faces or heads. But for most here, the scars are emotional and spiritual: girls orphaned, mothers who lost their husbands and children, and women who were raped and suffered unspeakable brutality.
Project Umubano is run from rooms rented from Solace. As in previous years, many of our volunteers are staying in the large guest house set up by the charity to generate secure income for its work. The friendship we have struck with Solace now runs very deep. The staff fizz with enthusiasm when they talk about David Cameron who stayed here in 2007.
Earlier in the day the entire team had visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre to mark the start of Project Umubano and reflect again on the backdrop for all the different streams of work our volunteers will do during the coming fortnight.
The exhibition at the Memorial Centre never loses its power to shock and disturb. But this is also a place of hope and inspiration as Rwanda continues down a path of national reconstruction and reconciliation.
We laid a wreath and observed a minute’s silence.
As the Umubano volunteers began dispersing to their centres of activity throughout the country, they carried with them a deep belief that this social action project run by the Conservative Party in Rwanda and Sierra Leone is, in its own tiny way, contributing something of lasting significance in these two troubled countries.
Now in its fourth year, Project Umubano continues to demonstrate our Party’s passion for real development which places civil society at the heart of efforts to end the cycle of poverty and misery in Africa.
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Tags: Africa, genocide, Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre, Project Umubano, Rwanda, Solace
Posted by Simon Reevell, July 27th, 2010 .
We will give communities a much greater say on new developments.
People living in rural areas had a tough time under the previous Government; Local post offices and pubs were closed on a grand scale and subsidies for farmers were badly bungled.
Labour Ministers gave the impression that they cared very little about the welfare of the countryside, and understood the rural way of life even less.
Perhaps one of the most prevalent examples of this was on the issue of wind farms. People living in rural areas are every bit as interested in the future of our planet as those living in the most metropolitan parts of London. They care deeply about renewable energy and want to do their bit to reduce greenhouse emissions and help us meet our international obligations.
However, too often under the previous Government they were treated as a dumping ground for huge, overbearing wind turbines that towered over their communities. They were given little say on individual planning decisions and when groups of residents did manage to persuade local councillors to reject a scheme, often it was bulldozed through on appeal.
Thankfully the Coalition has stated that the planning rules will soon be changed, with local communities being given a far greater say on developments that impact on their way of life. This is certainly very welcome news to residents living in the small villages of Grange Moor and Birds Edge, in my constituency. In Grange Moor, they are fighting proposals to build two 47.5 metre wind turbines which if given the go-ahead would tower over their homes and change the local landscape for ever. I have supported them in their campaign and last week responded to the public consultation being run by the local Council. In Birds Edge, residents are opposed to the erection of four wind turbines which would stand some 400 feet above the ground.
I have also been calling on Ministers to follow the example of many of our European neighbours and introduce a minimum separation distance between wind turbines and local communities. Peter Luff MP did the same thing in his Private Members Bill last year. The idea is that when turbines reach a certain height they would be required by law to be situated at a specific point away from the nearest occupied dwelling.
This would allow wind turbines to be erected in suitable locations away from people’s homes whilst maintaining public support for the principle of wind energy, something that is absolutely vital for us as a country. I will continue to press for this law to be introduced in the coming months and years and in the meantime I eagerly await the publication of the Coalition’s new Planning Framework, which I believe will make a huge difference to communities in rural areas like mine.
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Tags: Countryside, farmers, Grange Moor, Planning Framework, post offices
Posted by Richard Peers, July 25th, 2010 .
Volunteers have flown out for the fourth year of Project Umubano.
For the fourth consecutive year a team of volunteers has travelled south of the equator to Rwanda to assist in the growth and development of communities across the country.
Our focus is in five areas: health, education, the private sector, football coaching and helping a genocide survivors’ charity. My involvement will be assisting the Rwandan Football Association to coach in more remote schools where a large proportion of children are orphaned. This builds on the good work begun by the English Football Association in 2008.
I have not arrived in Kigali only to help the Rwandan FA, but also to start another charity initiative of my own – to raise £50,000 for several Russian orphanages in Kostroma by running six marathons across Africa, Europe and Asia in three weeks. I decided to take up this challenge to raise awareness for the many thousands of Russian orphans whose lives are deprived of the basic necessities that we often take for granted.
So after weeks of early morning starts I set out on my first run in the dust of Kigali. The city is famed for its hills and I certainly noticed the altitude when becoming breathless as I stepped off the plane. I had been described as ‘mad’ by the Head of the Rwandan Paralympics after he learnt of my route, however accompanied by some other enthusiastic Conservative Party volunteers I eagerly anticipated the challenge.
Halfway through the marathon my companions dropped out but I was soon joined by several keen children for a mile or two and there was also the occasional older gentleman trotting after me. After an impromptu football game with some street children at mile eighteen the exhilarating experience concluded eight miles later with a time of five hours.
After coaching in Rwanda my journey will take me through Romania and Moldova and to the Ukraine, where I will undertake my second marathon in Yalta. I will then travel into Russia to complete a further three marathons in Krasnodar, Moscow, and St Petersburg, accompanied by fellow Russian athletes, before ending my challenge in Tallinn, Estonia.
Richard Peers is a Conservative Party activist from Altrincham. He stood as a council candidate last year. For more information on Richard’s charity marathons, or to donate, visit his website.
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Tags: football, Moldova, Project Umubano, Romania, Rwanda, Ukraine
Posted by Baroness Warsi, Member of the House of Lords, July 23rd, 2010 .
Our Big Society is a huge change from Labour’s controlling approach.
It’s been a big week for the Government. For years, we’ve been talking in the Conservative Party about how we need to build a stronger, bigger and more responsible society. This week we really began to make those ideas a reality.
It began on Monday when David Cameron gave a speech in Liverpool to an audience of local community groups, charities and community leaders. He made it clear how we’re going to bring about one of the biggest and most dramatic redistributions of power
For decades, there’s been a basic assumption at the heart of government that the way to improve things was to micromanage from the centre, from Westminster. With David’s speech, we’ve banished that idea to history. If we want real long-term change, we need people to come together and work together – because government can’t solve all our problems on its own.
Then yesterday we announced our plan for National Citizen Service. This is something which is incredibly important for me. There’s a massive waste of talent and potential in this country. Young people are as passionate and idealistic as they’ve ever been. But too many teenagers appear lost and feel their lives lack shape and direction.
Our new, non-military, non-compulsory National Citizen Service will help change this. It will mix young people from different backgrounds. It will teach them about social responsibility. And it’s going to inspire a whole new generation of young people to appreciate what they can achieve.
And underlying all these changes are some very clear Conservative beliefs. That local people, not distant bureaucrats, know best how to run their communities. That decisions are best when they are taken locally. That if you give people more power, they will behave more responsibly. And that government can’t solve all our problems on its own.
The Big Society is a huge culture change from Labour’s top-down, controlling government. It’s about people being free and powerful enough to help themselves and their own communities. And that’s how together we can build a better country.
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Tags: Big Society, Labour, Liverpool, National Citizen Service
Posted by Richard Harrington, July 21st, 2010 .
The government is already taking big steps to help small companies.
This has been a difficult recession for small businesses. Shop owners, hairdressers, restaurateurs and many others have had to deal with a huge drop in demand. On top of this they have all had to put up with shorter lines of credit and stifling red tape and business rates
I have seen this for myself in my own constituency of Watford. With a local community volunteer, Helen Lynch, I paid a visit to the parade of shops on Queen’s Rd. One of the main problems I saw was that many shops had shut down and were shuttered up. When I have tried to get people interested in taking up retail units and starting up a small business, many have been reluctant for fear of been lumbered with high rent and rates with little prospect of growth.
To me, this is a crying shame. Small businesses can play a huge part in alleviating youth unemployment. This is a subject very close to my heart and we have seen the level of youth unemployment in Watford more than double over the last 2 years.
However, I’m really glad to see the government already taking big steps towards helping small businesses. The announcement this week establishing the new Office for Tax Simplification will be welcome to the many thousands of businesses who have to either navigate their way through the byzantine tax code or pay huge sums to accountants to help them comprehend it. I hope this marks the beginning of a new era in which the UK is a friendlier place to start a business.
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Tags: small business, tax, Watford, youth unemployment
Posted by Jacqueline Foster MEP, July 19th, 2010 .
Clubs up and down the country actively campaign and raise funds.
Conservative, Constitutional, Salisbury, Beaconsfield and Unionist: there are more than 230 of these clubs across the North West and some of the most popular clubs can be found in the safest Labour seats.
Throughout my time as a member, activist and, more recently as an MEP, I have found their work to be a vitally important part of the Conservative family in the North West.
The Clubs do a fantastic job of not only providing a social side to politics but also helping to raise money for our Party.
I was delighted to become President of the North West Clubs, following in the footsteps of Tim Collins. This gives me the opportunity to formally say ‘thanks’ for the tremendous contribution of the clubs to the Party.
In many constituencies, the Clubs can offer a really good focal point for the local party as a place to meet and to run our campaigns.
Equally, among Club members, there are potential Party activists and candidates just waiting to be asked. That, if for no other reason, is why we must encourage even closer working relationships.
I make sure that the Clubs receive my newsletters and mailings and I am always keen to hear their views, over the bar, in their lounge or at the side of the bowling green!
During the General Election, many of our local campaigns were based in the clubs, and they offered a good opportunity to combine work and play!
Jacqueline Foster is a Conservative MEP in the North West of England and is Spokesman on Transport and Tourism in the European Parliament. Visit her website and follow her Tweets here.
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Tags: Beaconsfield, Conservative Clubs, Constitutional, fundraising, General Election, North West, Salisbury, Unionist
Posted by Tim Yeo, July 15th, 2010 .
Energy security and the UN climate change summit will be discussed.
On Tuesday morning the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee was finally able to get down to business after its membership was approved by the House.
Having been elected last month to chair this Committee, in Parliament’s first ever elections for Select Committee chairs, I’m delighted that four new Conservative MPs are now on this Committee, which was formed last year after the creation of the Department of Energy and Climate Change. For various reasons its profile up to now has been low but with the help of my enthusiastic new colleagues that is likely to change.
As a former Environment Minister and committed environmentalist for more than two decades I’m excited by the importance which David Cameron and the new Coalition attaches to green issues. My Committee will be working hard to make sure that the fine words and promises are translated into action. That didn’t happen under Tony Blair who proved to be a dab hand at the rhetoric but not much good at the action – as the last Committee I chaired, the Environmental Audit Select Committee, frequently exposed during the last parliament.
The Coalition’s Programme for Government document promises to implement ‘a full programme of measures to fulfil our joint ambitions for a low carbon and eco-friendly economy’ as well as energy market reform, the establishment of a smart grid and the creation of an emissions performance standard for coal-fired power stations. If there is any slippage on these matters, my Committee will soon expose it and now that we have a wholly elected Committee to give us a strong mandate I’m confident our voice will be heard.
Issues such as the security of energy supplies in Britain, the effectiveness or otherwise of EU energy policy and the forthcoming UN Cancun climate change summit will all feature in our work in coming months. We will work closely with other organisations such as the Committee on Climate Change and the many excellent trade bodies and NGOs which are active in this field. We hope to have an early evidence session and we plan to hit the ground running with an announcement of our first inquiry next week.
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Tags: Coalition, EU, select committee, Tony Blair
Posted by Rory Stewart, July 12th, 2010 .
It was a great surprise to be elected to serve on the committee.
I was surprised to be elected to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and it feels intimidating to be in a room with so much accumulated experience.
I remember meeting some of the Foreign Affairs Committee when I was still working for the Foreign Office. I have a memory of grand figures in linen suits and flak jackets. There always seemed to be a young MP who lost his passport or was found taking Kevlar plates out of the flak jacket to save weight on the plane. I fear I am now that MP.
But there seem to be a number of very serious questions. Is it possible for the UK to have a fully independent foreign policy? What would this mean? Is it possible to be passionately moderate, to avoid the temptation to oscillate between grand interventions and total lack of engagement? Could there be a way of matching our resources and our priorities more exactly? Could we learn to accept more risk? Or accept that there are things which are beyond our power? But these are grand questions.
My first aim is to try to listen and learn and not to lose my passport.
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Tags: Afghanistan, foreign policy, select committee
Posted by David Cameron, July 9th, 2010 .
Tell us how we can re-think government & do things differently.
You know that Britain has a huge debt problem – we’re borrowing one pound for every four we spend. And you know we’ve got to cut public spending to avoid a crisis in our economy.
Now we’re asking for your help to make those cuts in a way that is fair and responsible. Today we launched a Spending Challenge inviting everyone in the country to send in their ideas on how to get value for public money.
After all, this is your money and these are your public services. You pay your taxes, you use the hospitals, your children go to the schools, you rely on the police to keep you safe. So tell us where you think the waste is. Tell us where we can save in your local area. Tell us how we can re-think government and do things differently.
It’s easy to get involved. Just go to the Spending Challenge website. Whether the sums involved are big or small, we will consider them all. So don’t hold back – be bold, be radical, be innovative in your thinking. Your government needs you.
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Tags: public money, saving, Spending Challenge, taxes
