Did he do it all on his own?

Been too busy campaigning to blog recently but with just a few days to go I thought I better comment on the latest newspaper from Ben Gummer our Tory MP.

Ben seems to have done plenty for the town, but has he done it all on his own? Or has he even done some of the things he mentions? Also noticeable that he seems to have forgot a few things he was involved in.

Education - takes credit for Chantry being re-built but forgets to mention it was already planned to be re-built under Labour but the Tory Government delayed it for over 2 years. Gummer also 'forgets' to mention Ipswich Academy - a school a few years ago he was taking credit for  having it built - but after the Scandinavian Academy chain (that Gummer was quick to praise)  left after failing to improve the school we are now left with a new academy trying to improve a school that has been built to a design suited just to the Scandinavian style of teaching.

Gummer also forgets to mention the forced acdemisation of a number of our Primary Schools or the failure of the Tory County Council to build much needed Primary schools.

Better trains - still waiting! Normally on a platform after further disruption.

Revive our town centre- Buttermarket developers praised the Planning system at Ipswich Borough Council for their assistance in helping with the re-development of the complex.  But according to latest Tory junk mail it was Mr Gummer who was the force behind the development.

We might not want him as our MP but as a Labour run Borough Council we have worked with Mr Gummer, private business and the County Council to help improve our town - those partnerships have worked but Mr Gummer just seems to want to take all the praise.

Trees - Ben is taking credit for all the County Council now agreeing to plant new trees, but Ben forgets to mention that it was Tory County Council that was not planting trees, he mentions the 6 trees in Westbury  that he has got planted - well the residents are still waiting as no trees been planted yet and the County Council seem to be implying it may only be 2 trees not 6 that get planted. Mr Gummer also fails to mention that it was Labour County Councillor, Sandra Gage who has worked the closest with residents to get the council to change their rules.

Northern by-pass - seems Mr Gummer is now keen on a northern route (has he told Dr Dan?) but why has it taken him so long? In 2015 he kept telling residents in the north of the town that he would do what he could do delay building much needed homes and only 3 weeks ago the Tory County Council candidates were still telling residents they would fight development of the northern fringe- what is the real Tory vision for the north of our town.

But the biggest bit of hypocrisy, Mr Gummer uses the strapline of 'home for all', funny that as in 2015 he managed to stop the Labour Council building much needed homes in the Borough, a decision that also cost residents millions of pounds- wonder why he never mentioned that?

So on Thursday, vote for Sandy Martin- he does care about the town, loves Ipswich and lives here- because if Ipswich is so great thanks to Mr Gummer why does he not buy a house and actually live in the town he represents?

Vote on the policies not who the leader is.

We are lucky in Ipswich, we have a strong and hard working Labour Party ,a Labour Council that residents know does a good job and now we have a Labour Candidate who would make a great MP for the town – Sandy Martin

I was tempted to put my own hat into the ring to be the candidate, I think Labour has a great chance to win in Ipswich if we have a local candidate and a moderate.

The Ipswich CLP is made up of many different wings of the party, from moderates to Corbynistas but we have remained united, we campaign hard together and fortunately do not have the outside influences of Momentum to worry about. We discuss policy in a comradely way, we are passionate about what we believe in but in the end we work together for what is the best for Ipswich residents.

Gummer has made much of being only worried about Ipswich, but he no longer lives in the town ( his website still says he does and that he is a season ticket holder at ITFC- crowds are so low now, I am sure I would have spotted him if he was.) His latest paper seems to take claim for anything good that is happening in the town from the new cinema in the Buttermarket and the building of a new car park – both done by a Labour Council with little help from Mr Gummer or his Government!

He boasts about the changing fortunes at Chantry but seems to want us to forget the mess left at Ipswich Academy when the Scandinavian Trust he backed left to be replaced by a trust who now have  a building that does not suit the way they want to run the school.

So we need a new MP who cares about Ipswich, lives in Ipswich and who can work with a Labour Council to help improve the lives of all Ipswich residents (not just those who just live north of Valley Road!)

So I will work my socks off for Sandy – I am not a fan of Corbyn but I am campaigning for Sandy and the local Labour Party. For all my doubts about Corbyn, he would still make a better Prime Minister than May – the cyber attack on the NHS, her stance on Brexit and her failings as Home Secretary – none of these add up to ‘strong and stable’.

When Corbyn won the second leadership battle, I wrote this;

I would ask all Labour members to stay, the party, the county, the electorate are far more important that one leader. 

This is still important now but I would say to those who want to vote Labour but worry about Corbyn that the country is more important than one leader and that we have a good manifesto and good MPs who can implement it.

As someone put on social media today;

“I like Labour’s policies but I don’t like Corbyn”

Then vote Labour and vote for the policies. You’re not choosing who you want to be King of the Jungle on I’m a celebrity get me out of here.

So on June 8^th, Vote Labour, Vote Sandy Martin

Ipswich children let down by the Tories

Ipswich pupils including those at schools in my own Ward have been let down by this Tory County Council over the last 8 years and now the Tory Government also decides that children are an easy target - Sidegate could see £94,315 cut from their budget!

You will not that see that mentioned in the paper column of Tory MP, Ben Gummer.

Labour members informing parents at Sidegate Primary of the Tory cuts.

Time to speak out?

Many people were concerned about Trump becoming President of the USA, but it is still a shock that how bad things already seem.

His decision to ban refugees from the US and then to introduce a 'Muslim' ban from certain Middle East countries is both shocking and dangerous and to many of us disgusting.

No surprise that the  Labour Party have spoken out against Trump with Yvette Cooper sending a letter to the Prime Minister that fully explains many of our fears and concerns. 

Some expected such actions by Trump but not many would have predicted that our own Prime Minister would find it so hard to criticise the actions of Trump and add to the fact that she was so keen to fly to Washington to meet him and then offer him a State Visit to the UK - What does she not get about 'he is not welcome here'? His visit could see major protests and put the Queen, our Police force and many others put in a very difficult position. It actually would be hard to think of any country where Trump would be currently welcome (maybe Russia!)

It has been pleasing to see some Tory MPs not only condemn Trump but also be critical of Theresa May, the South Cambridgeshire MP, Heidi Allen has been very vocal in showing her disgust in the way Mrs May has acted.

But here in Suffolk - our Tory MPs have been silent, not only in attacking Trump over his deplorable actions but also silent in their criticism of  Teresa May.

Wonder if Ben Gummer, Dr Poulter or Ms Coffey will use their local paper columns to condemn the actions of Trump and the embarrassing way Mrs May refused to condemn him? Guess we are more likely to get a second article about choral music 

Choral music - a priority?

This week in his local paper column our Tory MP for Ipswich, Ben Gummer used his weekly page to tell Ipswich residents about how important choral music is.

Now there is nothing wrong with any politician using their column to talk about non political topics but very surprising to do so in the week where the NHS teeters on the edge of complete collapse, the lack of funding of social care does not help the NHS cause (Mr Gummer has ministerial influence over social care) the Prime Minister choosing hard Brexit (Ben Gummer was a 'remainer') and in America, Mr Trump becomes President.

Ipswich Labour - talking about the NHS rather than choral music.

So many reasons that you thought his 'Star' column this week would be about politics, but maybe he has no answers? Ashamed of the state of the NHS? Does not want to remind people he wanted us to stay in the EU?

Or is this an example of Tory complacency, thinking Labour no longer provide a strong opposition - if that is what they think they may have a problem. Labour are not as united as we should be, we do have major internal issues but it was obvious yesterday when campaigning in Ipswich that Labour are still the party trusted most to protect the NHS. Also evident that in Ipswich, the Labour run council is respected for doing a good job with limited funding whilst the Tory run County Council are seen to not acre about Ipswich or its residents.

So Mr Gummer be as complacent as you want, but do not think the public have any faith in you or your party protecting the NHS - but I am sure they are now happy they are more informed about choral music!

When waiting for a train to rural Suffolk.....

Ben Gummer our MP voted last night to stop the United Kingdom bringing in 3,000 child refugees. It was a shameful act in anyone's eyes.

When he is next at Liverpool Street Station, (delayed again by the railway he single handily improved) on the way to his home in (rural?) Suffolk he should take time to study the two statues to the  Kindertransport children that are on the station concourse. Taking in the 'Kindertransport' children is one of the finest example of what this country should stand for, the standards we set for ourselves and others. The way he voted last night just indicated we are now being run by a group of selfish people.


Would love to know how he came to the decision to vote to keep these children out - then again would also like to know how he is willing to back up his boss Hunt and not enter into negotiations with Junior Doctors?

As a child I was fortunate enough to be able to meet and speak with Tom Gondris, a Labour councilor who escaped from Germany as a child refugee- maybe Mr Gummer should visit Tom and speak with him - and he may then have not voted the way he did (unless his career comes above everything?)

Ipswich Tories are right- house building has stalled (but stalled by who?)

Ipswich Tory leaflets have always read more like a fantasy story than a document of facts and public information but this year they have really gone out of their way to persuade the Ipswich public that they (the Ipswich Tories ) do live in a world of self denial!

One of my proudest achievements is to have been part of a Labour Council that is just completing one of the largest council house building projects in a generation in Bader Close and my proudest personal achievement as a councillor has been that I helped enable two roads of new Council houses and flats in Whitehouse Estate be named after two Ipswich (and Whitehouse) soldiers who lost their lives serving their country.

But if you read the latest Ipswich Tory leaflets you would have thought we have not built a single home – the Ipswich Tories (make it up as we go along) PR machine informs us;

“House building in Ipswich has stalled and more needs to be done. Ipswich needs family homes yet this council is failing to provide them. We would make building quality family homes – and the infrastructure accompanying them – one of our top priorities.”

Fact is we would like to build more Council homes and see developers start some large building projects – but we keep coming up against barriers – and these obstacles have been placed in front of us by local Tories from MPs ben Gummer and Dan Poulter to local Tory leader Nadia Cenci and a combination of Tory Borough and County Councillors.

You could suggest ‘I would say that’ but unlike the Tory leaflet I can back my views with facts.

Labour run Ipswich proposed and gained permission for a large development of council houses at Ravenswood in South East Ipswich. Tory Cllr Cenci called our decision in, they were not happy with the amount of social housing – after her ‘call in’ was thrown out they then got Ben Gummer the Tory MP to get Eric Pickles to call the Borough decision in – this was disappointing but only to be expected as Mr Gummer looked for easy votes but what has been disgraceful is that over a year later we are still waiting for this Tory Government to tell us if we can or can’t start to build these much needed family homes. So Cllr Cenci – your right house building has stalled but not because of a Labour Council but because of the actions of you, Ben Gummer and Eric Pickles.

Then we have the Northern Fringe development, the original plan was actually put through by the last Tory/Lib Dem administration – but they needed help from us as 6 Tory Councillors voted against the plan as they wanted NO HOMES built north of Valley Road.

But once we took back power in Ipswich the Tories (and Lib Dems) have become slightly less keen on the building of a large estate in the north of the town. Mr Gummer at first complained about the proposed location of the cricket green! Since then he has written to many residents ( in the build up to the election) stating why he could not support the proposed development. Cllr Cenci went further and distributed an expensive leaflet (with her name on) stating that the new build would see current residents have their commute to work or leisure time increased, they asked for residents views that they would then pass to to Borough Council. I filled in their consultation – but have heard nothing back! Did they ever hand the consultation findings (13 months ago) to the Borough? I ask as some may have seen the whole campaign as a way of farming email addresses! I look forward to reading the results of their consultation – after 56 weeks you would have thought it was ready for publication.

Now I agree with the Tories, we need infrastructure to support the Northern Fringe development but to bill for that must fall to the developer, the TORY County Council and the TORY Government – you may have spotted a theme here.

So have the Tories helped get that much needed infrastructure – no! Dan Poulter MP, declared rather than a northern link road we should just have a tunnel under the Orwell (along with the pie in the sky) Mr Gummer has managed to gain funding for a road- but not the much needed northern link road but for a (possible) Wet Dock Crossing. Which of those two schemes (Northern link Road or Wet Dock crossing) would lead to the building of much needed homes?

Then we have the housing development in East Ipswich – St Clement’s – the local Tories wanted the application turned down and a park built instead!

Ready for a shock statement? IPSWICH TORIES ARE RIGHT! House building has stalled in Ipswich – but the people who have helped stall it are Tories – Ben Gummer, Nadia Cenci, Dan Poulter, John Carnall, Eric Pickles, Robin Vickery, David Goldsmith, all take a bow you have helped deprive Ipswich residents of homes.

The leaflet also has a few other classics from Tory fantasy land – it tells us congestion in the town has become unbearable – forgetting to add that TORY run Suffolk has just wasted £20 million on ‘Travel Ipswich’ and to finish the leaflet off and to pretend they are community minded – they have a picture of the Whitehouse Skate Park – not surprising they forget to mention it was built with help from funding by the local Area Committee – the same committee they wanted to scrap!

If you want homes built for your families in Ipswich – Vote Labour not for the ‘Stalling Tories’

The next 5 weeks ahead - up till 5 May 2016

The next few weeks will be spent mainly in North East Ipswich campaigning hard for the local Labour Party - so there will be no  'My week ahead' posts till after election day. (Some of you may cheer!)

For some of us the end of the election will just signal a short pause before we start campaigning for a vote to remain in Europe.

So from Tuesday (most evenings) till May 5th, you will see us out campaigning, most of you know that we campaign all year round and you would have spoken to us on our Saturday door knocking sessions but in Rushmere Ward, we may see the 'Lesser Spotted Tory' - there has been only one unconfirmed sighting since last May! So much for Mr Gummer speaking to residents, not even sure he lives in Ipswich anymore.

Ipswich Borough Council, I believe have done a great job in protecting front line services, in the face of severe cuts by a Tory (and at first Tory/Lib Dem) Government but also with the added handicap of having a Tory County council who are also intent on privatising all their services. A Tory County council that currently has no Tory County Councillors, who appointed a Cabinet Member for Ipswich, who has yet to turn up to a single Ipswich Area Committee even though he was invited and the Tory Leader 'I want to be Mayor of East Anglia' Colin Noble asked for the dates to be sent to him again.

Fact is the Tories do not care about Ipswich and will not even attempt tp pretend they do until about 2019, when Mr Gummer will suddenly crawl back out of the woodwork, move back to the town and attempt to get the Wet Dock Crossing named after him!

At the last North East Ipswich Area Committee, the Tory Councillor for Bixley could not think of one good thing this Government or Tory County Council have done for this part of the town - he had to mention the Wet Dock Crossing as if it was great news for North East Ipswich residents - getting the Tory County Council to sort out the daily congestion in Argyle Street or get a new Primary School built in East Ipswich would have been far more useful!

Ipswich Tories, at war with each other?

Actually I don’t think they are – it seems they are very united – they all want to leave the EU – Who stated this~? No other than their Party Chair, Cllr Liz Harsant – the Guardian newspaper even put it on their front page – Liz was quoted as telling the paper, said of the Ipswich Conservative Association: “They are all for out at the moment. Our MP [Conservative Ben Gummer] is in favour of staying but frankly we all want to leave.”

So that seems very united and with such a small membership and looking at the tweets and blogs of their council group leader, Nadia Cenci and Tory activist and candidate Kevin Algar you can see a real hatred of everything the EU stands for. Their tweets and blog posts do read like the traditional views of ‘little Englanders’ in most cases it seems their one real concern is ‘open border’s and that they have some belief that if we leave the EU, we will suddenly stop being a destination for those seeking to make a better life for themselves and their families.

They often do mention that there is too much ‘red tape’ because of the EU but what the Tories want is return to the time where there was little legislation to protect both workers and the general public.

Today it has been announced that the owners of Alton Towers will be prosecuted after the horrific accident involving their roller coaster, this is the sort of legal action that we would not see if the Tories had their way – children back working in factories or climbing inside chimneys could be seen as new job creation schemes!

So why can we claim the Ipswich Tories are at war   when it seems they are united in their desire to leave the EU and their opposition to what their own MP thinks?

It is because their Tory association, through its twitter feed seems keen to say their Chair Liz Harsant is either wrong or has been miss-quoted by the Guardian they seem very keen to tell anyone that will listen that do not know the views of all their members and they will just have a friendly debate and still call each other friends at the end of it. Or has pressure come down from Tory Party HQ that local associations should remain neutral when it is obvious to most that in places like Ipswich the (very large) majority are for us leaving Europe as soon as we can?

Here in the Labour Party there are some who wish to leave Europe, I for one wish our national leader, Mr Corbyn was taking a more leading role in the ‘Stronger In’ campaign but here in Ipswich it seems the large majority of members wish to remain in the EU. So maybe Mr Gummer will be out campaigning with us on the doorsteps in Ipswich when he makes one his fleeting visits back to his constituency?

He would be most welcome to join us, because for all the waffle from the local Tory association it is quite obvious that if he wants to go out campaigning for us to stay in Europe the only Tories he could go out with live outside the Borough- his fellow Suffolk Tory MPs and the Tory County leader – now that would be an interesting canvass team!

Now some of the Tories seem annoyed to be described as ‘little Englanders’ by me so wonder what they think of comments by Gummer who declares that maybe by wanting to leave the EU they are being unpatriotic? A recent tweet by Mr Gummer declared; "The patriotic choice is for Britain as a leading nation in the world's largest trade bloc. We are stronger in."

For once I agree with something Mr Gummer has said!

My week ahead, 1 - 6 February 2016

Monday 1 February - 6pm, Labour Group campaigning

Wednesday 2 February – 9am, Media and communications meeting

Thursday 4 February – 1pm, Visit to Sidegate Primary Specialist Support Centre

Saturday 5 February - 10am, Labour campaigning in South West Ipswich

Yesterday it was nice to be back campaigning in Rushmere, collecting signatures for a petition that will attempt to force the County Tories to debate their proposed cuts to the Fire Service at Full Council, for some reason the Tories are not keen to allow even their own backbenchers a say in the future of the fire service.

One resident in Brunswick Rd asked me what does Ben Gummer (our Tory MP) think of the proposed cuts – a good question but all i could answer is ‘don’t know’ as Ben Gummer would rather use his weekly paper column to discuss ‘public art’ than the cuts forced on us by a Tory Council.

But it is not just the Fire Service that the Tories wish to cut, today I received an invitation to our local primary school – Sidegate Primary who face having their specialist support centre closed, the second time the Tories have attempted to close it. Will Ben Gummer comment on this cut?

I would not hold your breath waiting – I believe it is the role of any politician, national or local to keep residents/constituents not only informed of local issues but also to tell the voters where they stand on important national and international issues.

Ben Gummer, allegedly a pro-Europe MP, still has not used his weekly paper column to inform us if he thinks we are better off in or out of Europe, he may use the excuse of not being able to campaign till David Cameron allows Ministers to. But many Ministers have made it clear where they stand. So whilst Mr Gummer remains silent, we do get the opinions of Ipswich Tory councillors and activists, I say opinions, more like Right wing anti EU rants ( here and here). So if even if Mr Gummer will not tell the Ipswich public his views on Europe, he might be advised to at least put his own Tory members right on the facts about the benefits of membership of the EU!

Cameron can't answer questions and Ipswich Tories can't ask them!

At Prime Minister’s Question time this week not only did David Cameron fail to respond to any questions he was asked with a thoughtful answer (on Google, Saudi arm sales) he also managed to demean the role of Prime Minister by describing those who are living in atrocious conditions in Calais as a ‘bunch of migrants’ – remember this the same week we mark ‘Holocaust Day’.

Many believe this was not a slip of the tongue but a pre-medicated move to either take the focus away from the Google cock up or to try and look tough on migration so to appease his Eurosceptic colleagues. Whatever the reason, it was not the sort of comment that a Prime Minister of the country should be making.

Unfortunately his comment looks quite Liberal when you compare it with the right wing drivel (and scaremongering words) that were posted on a blog by the Ipswich Tory leader, Nadia Cenci. Her comments declaring that many stuck in Calais were possibly terrorists on their way to UK, were quite sickening to read and again not the sort of words you would expect or hope to see from an elected politician. – “all the infiltration of terrorists (and I bet there's quite a few of them at Calais so frustrated at not reaching our shores as easily as Merkel's now very new and unrecognisable country). “

She then turned her piece into an anti EU rant, using such terms as “EU and all it's horrible socialist experiments” and “if the EU doesn't collapse before then under the weight of it’s own corrupt, poisonous and egotistical head. “

We are informed by many that our Tory MP, Ben Gummer is pro EU – if he is, he should now stand up and inform his constituents that he does not agree with the comments of his local Tory leader.

There are so many rumours and bits of miss-information floating round, it is important that politicians stick to the facts, the comments of Nadia Cenci do not help. Last night we invited a local refugee charity to a Labour meeting so we could discover the truth.

I was shocked how little Cameron intends to do- in the next 5 years, the Tories propose to allow 200 Syrians to settle in Suffolk- just 40 a year, so expect about 10 families at the most – whilst at the same time Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have millions of refugees living in their countries.

 

 

If Cameron can’t answer questions it seems Nadia Cenci and the local Tories can’t ask them! On Wednesday I attended Ipswich Borough Full Council Meeting, and as always at the start we have a series of questions, mainly from the opposition and sometimes the public. This week we saw 10 questions from the local Tories and even independent observers had to admit via social media that the quality of questions was very poor. In fact even being very generous only two were worth asking, one from Cllr Pope about IBC working with the college and Cllr Debman on the number of football teams now using park pitches.

Even then Cllr Pope failed to follow up his questions with a good supplementary whilst Cllr Debman is correct that park football now does seem a thing of the past, it is not IBC who are to blame, the FA for one should look at their own actions quite closely and Ipswich dies provide quality facilities at Gainsborough, Whitton and now Ransomes.

Cllr Pope is right in questioning how much work has gone on between the council and the college but his timing was poor as this week the college has launched it’s own ‘vision’ document which will see more cooperative work between the organisations.

Then we had the really  bad questions starting with Cllr Cenci! She asked how much to council spend to cover their union facilities agreement, but she could not help herself and turned it a pre-election statement and asked how much does it cost the council tax payer. The amount is £45,00 but she was quickly informed that only a small percentage of that comes from council tax, we could have added that Tory run Suffolk spend more on when the Tories were in power in Ipswich they did not try and stop paying this money- which is probably the most economical way to run Human Resources at the council.

We then had Cllr Phillips ask how much our legal costs were for work on the Ravenswood inquiry, seeming to forget the fact that we were only having an inquiry because Pickles and Gummer called the project in as a blatant piece of electioneering.

But that was not the end of it, we had Cllr Vickery ask about the Olympic 2012 legacy, only weeks after the local paper had published a report that lavished praise on Labour run Ipswich for all the work we had done with sport but he made even more of a mess of an earlier question when he asked why groups such as the Friends of the parks were no longer invited to the Culture and Leisure working group, he did not seem to realise that parks had not been part of the culture portfolio for the last 8 months.

What the night did highlight is that this group of Tory councilors and candidates are not capable of running a council, and let us make sure in May that they never get a chance.

My week ahead, 18 - 23 January 2016

Monday 18 January, 4pm – Culture portfolio briefing

6pm – Labour Group training

Tuesday 19 January, 5pm – Early Warning Group

Thursday 21 January, 7pm – North East Ipswich Labour campaigning

Saturday 23 January, 10am – Labour campaigning in South East Ipswich

On Thursday at the North East Ipswich Area Committee, we had a briefing by senior Fire Officers on what can only be described as a plan for savage cuts to our Suffolk Fire Service with Ipswich seeming to be facing the brunt of the cuts.

The tow senior Fire Officers were very honest in the answers they gave the public and councillors (not surprising but most of the questions came from the Labour councillors as only one Tory councillor out of the 4 present asked a question – are they happy with the planned cuts?)

We had been promised that the Tory Cabinet Member responsible for the Fire Service would attend but he had ended up remaining at Endeavour House trying to explain the cuts to the Fire Service Staff, but we would have hoped to have seen at least one Tory County Councillor present but we had none. Cllr Murray the only Tory County Councillor in Ipswich sent his apologies and there was no sign of Cllr Hudson.

Who is Cllr Hudson you may ask, well he is the supposed Tory solution for Ipswich having no representation on the ruling Tory Cabinet but not sure he spending much time on Ipswich matters, he has been given the dates of all the 5 Ipswich Area Committees but so far has failed to attend any and I am almost certain that he been at no other meetings held in the Borough – Full Council, Executive or Scrutiny.

So maybe he should just give up the role as it becomes more obvious by every meeting he fails to attend that his appointment by Tory leader, Colin Noble was just a simple PR stunt and even more evidence (if it was needed) that the Tories have no interest in what happens in Ipswich – the County town of Suffolk.

One test of the County will be the building of the Wet Dock Crossing, the original plan by Mr Gummer did not seem to me to stack up and just seemed all talk as I could not see how a crossing involving the Island would help alleviate traffic congestion in Star Lane, but I do see some merits in the new plan that was presented this week but Mr Gummer may not be so keen on the new price tag, over £100 million and almost twice the original budget - £100 million may seem cheap when you try and work out what the Tories spent £20 million on with ‘Travel Ipswich’ budget!

The new Wet Dock project would require a financial contribution from local Government, not sure how Mr Gummer will have to cheek to ask for anything off us when his Government has just slashed its direct grant to us. The Tory County Council may also struggle to help pay for the crossing when it also has to contribute to the second crossing in Lowestoft which seems to be above the proposed Ipswich Wet Dock crossing in the major project pecking order.

Tory run Suffolk still treat Ipswich as the poor relation

Tory run Suffolk do seem to have a real issue relating to Ipswich – their County Town. They work in in, travel to and through it but that seems to be the only real link they have.

No Ipswich County Councillor in the Tory Cabinet, but then again they only have one Tory County Councillor in the whole town and he walked away from his Cabinet post. So they appointed a member from outside the borough to represent our views.

But last night we saw yet another example of how little they seem bothered to interact with both Ipswich politicians and residents.

The County Council have held a number of budget consultation meetings throughout Suffolk, attendance has varied but number between 20 and 30 residents attending each meeting were the figures quoted.

On the 30^th November, Suffolk tweeted that they would be holding the last budget consultation in

Ipswich on the 9^th December at 4pm. No further tweets were issued, (surprising as in the summer we had an almost constant twitter update on what Tory leader Colin Noble was up to), we then had a small piece in the local paper and that was it for publicity.

I turned up to hear what was going to be said and found a room of empty seats- no public turned up, not surprising with so little publicity (they had not even told their own County Councillors) and holding it during the working day.

Taken last night at the meeting - a row each?

Eventually we had an audience of 6, one Lib Dem Cllr, 4 Labour councillors (including me) plus the Chief executive from the Borough.

The Tory Cabinet member responsible for Ipswich – Chris Hudson - did not even attend – then again he still has to show his face at any of our Area Committee meetings.

So we have the largest population in Suffolk but seem to get less attention from the ruling Tories than in a small Parish Council in West Suffolk!

Of course the Tory Cabinet may have had more important meetings to attend and as I checked my twitter feed, I saw that the Tory Cabinet twitter account was tweeting about the poor train service from London to Ipswich, complaining about dirty carriages and that top price had been paid for the ticket. They did not say if they or ‘us’ the council tax payer had paid for the ticket! Surprised to see them moaning about the trains as I thought Tory MPs Gummer, Patel and Smith had overseen a dramatic improvement in our rail service over the last 5 years! So it seems at least one Cabinet member was on their way back from a meeting in London - but where were the others?

So what did the Ipswich public miss? Quite a lot and it was not good news, for those setting the budget it seems that savings have to be made at ‘Ipswich Park & Ride’ and that could mean giving 6 months’ notice to the bus company and closing the facility. Savings from the savage cuts to the Fire service are in the budget, so it does make me wonder why they are even holding a public consultation on those planned cuts, also bad news for rural transport, schools and recycling.

Good news is that the training budget for councillors will be retained so that the Tory Cabinet can have further media training at a London Film Studio.

So the budget is bad news, the consultation a farce and the only thing that was confirmed was that Tory run Suffolk have very little interest in Ipswich and its residents! 

Wonder if the Tory MPs for Ipswich, Gummer and Poulter plus the Ipswich Tory leader, Nadia Cenci are happy with the way their Tory Party colleagues treat Ipswich?

My week ahead, 7 - 12 December 2015

Monday 7 December, 4pm – NE Agenda setting meeting

6pm – Labour campaigning

Tuesday 8 December, 6pm – Audit Committee

Wednesday 9 December, 10am – Planning Committee

6pm – Early Warning Group

Thursday 10 December, 6pm – Area Committee Chair’s meeting

Friday 11 December, 11am - Opening of Barnes Square , with members of the Barnes family and soldiers from 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment
6pm – Ipswich Labour Christmas Party

This week we have our last surge of council meetings before the Christmas break, there will also be a good opportunity to meet Labour members and discuss our plans for 2016.

There is no hiding from the fact that the last few months have been very difficult for the Labour Party and there are a number of internal battles within our ‘broad church’ and i will be blogging about those battles and discussions over the next few months.

But whilst the party may be split on an number of topics the Tories are not having a great time themselves, climb downs on police cuts and Tax Credit cuts are two examples where they have not been in step with the public.

On Saturday it was great to join Labour comrades campaigning in North East Ipswich, I found myself with our Suffolk group leader, Sandy Martin. We ended up in Britannia Road collecting signatures for our joint petition with the Fire Brigade Union to try and stop the savage cuts being imposed on our Suffolk Fire Service by the Tory run County Council. What we found was quite interesting, residents were very keen to sign the petition and also talk about other concerns, with the main topic being the cuts now facing Suffolk Police that are being imposed by our Tory Police and Crime Commissioner.

In brief residents did not mention once to me;

1.         Jeremy Corbyn – good or bad points

2.         Syria (surpisingly)

3.         Railways

4.         Town Centre

5.         Europe – in or out

What they did mention, and often in long conversations;

1.         Cuts to Fire Service

2.         Planned cuts to Police, lack of PCSOs and why do we have so many senior Police officers

3.         Threat to NHS

4.         Poor education results in Ipswich

So that may be a foretaste of what the May election will be about, but there is no doubt that by May we may find Europe ripping the Tory Party apart, on Friday the Tory ant- Europe group were out at Ipswich railway station. Unless you recognised the people you would have found it hard to realise they were a Tory run group- they wore uniformed red t shirts and there leaflet, was anti EU but the leaflets said leaving EU was the best way to save the NHS, not sure many of those present were in truth great defenders of the NHS!

Good to see that almost all Labour MPs and the whole Front Bench have signed up for the Pro Europe campaign that will have the indomitable Alan Johnson as our lead. I am also pleased we will be running our own Labour campaign not a joint one with any other pro Europe group. But you do wonder if the Tories have any pro-Europe group, we believe Cameron, Osborne and Ben Gummer are pro Europe but there is no evidence in Ipswich that Gummer has had much luck encouraging his own Ipswich Tories to join him, as the Ipswich Tory leader seems like many of the local activists very keen for us to opt out. No wonder the Tory Vote Out campaign thought Ipswich would be a good place to start their campaign! Wonder if they told Ben they were coming (the Tory Vote Out and Ben Gummer campaign seemed very similar – railway station venue, bright t shirts (change of colours) and giving out leaflets but not really wanting to talk to residents.

My week ahead, 9 - 14 November 2015

Monday 9 November, 4pm – Culture Portfolio meeting

6pm – Labour Group campaigning

Tuesday 10 November, 5.30pm – Early Warning Group

Wednesday 11 November, 11am – Armistice Day Service, Ipswich Cemetery

Thursday 12 November, 6pm – North East Ipswich Partnership Group meeting

7pm – North East Ipswich Area Committee, St John’s Church – Cauldwell Hall Rd

Saturday 14 November, 10am – Labour campaigning in South East Ipswich

Autumn now in full swing as so is our Labour campaigning, we are currently informing residents that we have had to put our hold on a proposal that would have saved most Ipswich residents money. Remember up to 2010 when Mr Cameron pretended to lead a new greener Tory Party, that seems so long ago now and as well as the concern we should have for the planet the latest Tory policy change is hurting Ipswich residents in their pockets.

Labour run Ipswich Borough Council was all set to install solar panels on 2,000 Ipswich Council houses, then the Tories pulled the plug on the scheme by slashing the benefits which would have been gained from the feed-in tariffs.

The benefits would have been;

1.         A saving for tenants on their electric bills

2.         An income to council and. Therefore a saving to ALL Council tax payers

3.         Reduction in carbon emissions – good for the environment

4.         A boost for jobs in Ipswich

So the Tory policy change is a blow to tenants, all Ipswich Council tax payers and possibly the loss of up to 140 jobs in Ipswich.

Ben Gummer our Tory MP supports the Government change in policy and no surprise so does the Ipswich Tory leader, Nadia Cenci – actually it is less of a surprise that Cllr Cenci supports the removal of subsidies to the solar panel industry and she could be described as a climate change denier – then again she also questions if there is any real poverty in the UK! – Out of touch?

I will not be singing the National Anthem on Sunday

Some might think a slightly strange and even maybe an attention seeking title for a blog post but I believe I have no choice but to put down my fears for what may happen on Sunday at not only the Ipswich Remembrance Parade but also for other parades over the country.

Armistice Sunday has always been a big event in my family and I guess for about the last 45 years I have always attended an event (I’m 53). I started going to the Christchurch Park event with my late father, first of all when he was a councillor and then when he carried the standard for the Ipswich Branch of the Korean Veterans. The event in Ipswich in the 70’s and 80’s had some similarities to the current parades but what was missing then was the hundreds of Ipswich residents who now turn up to join in the event.

When I joined the army in 1978 the event was still quite low profile, we commemorated it on the 11^th hour of the 11^th day but the rest of the country just carried on their normal working lives- unlike now and on the Remembrance Sunday, local events were often low key with only the parades in London, Belfast and Edinburgh having large crowds. The tide changed with the Armed Forces becoming both popular and respected after they participated in the more recent conflicts in the Balkans, the Gulf and Afghanistan.

It still cheers me to see all the families at the Ipswich Cenotaph, sun, rain or shine that is what soldiers fought for to enable the public to go out and enjoy a Sunday as a family but now it seems politics has reared its ugly head and we have some sort of ‘poppy’ police operating in this country.

Of course politics becoming involved Remembrance is nothing new, we had it in between the wars, we had the white poppy, one of the reasons the events became so low key in the 80’s was due to threat of IRA attacks and protests by such groups as ‘Troops out’ and then we had the furore over Michael Foot and his duffel coat.

It seems now that wearing a poppy is now a ‘must do’ and if you do not you are not a true Brit! What rubbish, the freedom to do what you want, wear what you want is what the hundreds of thousands of servicemen dies for in the Second World War. I wear my poppy with pride and it helps me remember the friends I lost in conflict, in fact I wear a small metal poppy all year but I don’t care if other people wear one or not, in fact it disgusted me more that politicians are so worried about being seen without one that Number 10 decided to photo shop a poppy on to the profile picture of David Cameron.

But my real fear is this year it has become even more of a political football because of our new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn. I do not like some of the relationships, Jeremy has had in the past with certain Irish groups, I am no great fan of the ‘Stop the war’ coalition but I respect Jeremy for having his own views and I do not care if he wears a red, white or no poppy at all. Now on Sunday I would expect him to wear a poppy at the cenotaph as he is laying wreath on behalf of the Labour Party not himself but we saw how Tory MP’s and the right wing press attacked Jeremy for not singing the national anthem and so people will be watching closely on how Jeremy acts.

That same nasty attitude of certain Tory MPs was then copied over the country by other Tories and here in Ipswich I was attacked for not singing the National Anthem at an event to commemorate the two men from Ipswich who won the Victoria Cross in World War I, I actually felt very privileged to not only attend the event but to be asked to speak and read out the two VC citations, I did this wearing my Regimental blazer and wearing my medals but still that did not stop certain Tories attacking me. They obviously decided the attacks on Jeremy Corbyn by Tory MPs were worth repeating against local politicians in Ipswich and they also showed what a bunch of hypocrites they are as they made every excuse possible to explain the absence of both our Tory MPs for the town from the Civic Event.

There attacks on me seemed to backfire but that has not stopped them, only this week an Ipswich Tory candidate has made yet another attack on me, over the last few weeks he has been accusing me of being a ‘red Tory’ and stating that I would be the target of the Corbynistas but suddenly he has decided I am from the ‘far’ left and accused me (and most Ipswich Labour councillors) of adhering to a terrorist sympathising, Britain hating, security threatening ideology.

That must be why I spent 25 years in the Armed Forces! What rubbish, but worryingly there seems to be a lack of leadership in the local Tory Party and it only makes me believe that both Ben Gummer and the Tory leader, Nadia Cenci either believe the mad ramblings of this Tory candidate or are just happy for him to attack Labour politicians even if it they know there is no truth in his attacks.

So on Sunday, I will attend, I will march up to the cenotaph, I will wear my medals and I will remember those from both Ipswich who have paid the ultimate sacrifice and those who paid the same sacrifice from my regiment. But I will not sing the National anthem, not out of any republican protest but in my regiment we do not sing it, we stand to attention and stay silent as a mark of respect to Queen, Country and our fallen comrades.

But I am aware that there will Tories in Ipswich and further afield watching carefully how Labour politicians behave on Sunday. That is not what Remembrance Day is for but it seems to have been hijacked for political use by those on the right and their friends in the press.

It is a sad state of affairs that one now has to worry how you will be perceived at such an event rather than going there to pay respects to fallen comrades and those from Ipswich who served their country.

On the Falls Road in Belfast, in Crossmaglen, in Pristina, in Bosnia and in Sangin, Afghanistan I met and served alongside ‘real’ warriors, it is their opinion that matters to me not the thoughts of an Ipswich Tory ‘keyboard’ warrior!


Footnote;
Forgot to add that even certain Police Forces  are using Remembrance Day this years as a vehicle to highlight police cuts, stating that certain parades may have to be cancelled as there are not enough police to help close roads.

Even some Tories have hearts - but!

Yesterday Parliament discussed the impending cuts to Family Tax Credits, and two new Tory MPs gave passionate and well received speeches against the planned cuts by George Osborne - Heidi Allen was praised by many commentators and Labour MPs for her speech and former soldier and now Tory MP, Johnny Mercer spoke against the cuts that will hit 22,000 of his residents in Plymouth.




As a former soldier, I quite like Mr Mercer and have been impressed how he has raised a number of issues in Parliament that at times have been critical of the Government and in particular his work on soldiers with mental health issues. and interesting to read that as a soldier he had no allegiance to any party and when he left the forces he decided to be an MP before he chose the party.


Even closer to home the new MP for South Suffolk spoke against the cuts - but for all their fine words, we must remember this - They still voted with the Government in support of the proposed plan!


In Ipswich there seems to be no Tory opposition to the cuts, Ben Gummer will defend the Government plan no matter how many of his residents will suffer whilst the Tory Group leader Nadia Cenci, does not even believe there is any poverty in the UK, well  most people do and there seems no doubt that there will be even more cases of child poverty once these cuts hit - and who will they hit most? Working families, just weeks after Osborne attempted to market the Tory Party as the true 'workers' party!

My week ahead, 12 - 17 October 2015

Monday 12 October, 4pm – Culture Portfolio meeting

6pm – Labour campaigning 

Tuesday 13 October, 5pm – Early Warning Group

Wednesday 14 October, 5pm – Housing Working Group

Saturday 17 October, 10am – Labour campaigning in East Ipswich

My first meeting as a substitute of the Housing Working Group this week, I have a big interest in housing – and know we have a major issue with the lack of housing in this country. Of course the Tories and Mr Cameron are going to solve it! Starter homes for £250,000!! The only people happy about that will be the house builders and developers who will make even more money, but who can afford quarter of a million for a starter home? My two daughters are both trying to get on the housing ladder , my oldest has a house in Ipswich with a mortgage but my youngest who is a teacher in London struggles just to pay the rent on a one bedroom flat – and she is a lucky one as she has a job.

The Tories just don’t understand the issues that concern residents – we were hoping to help over 2,000 families in Ipswich with their fuel bills by installing solar panels on their council homes (and do our bit to help save the planet) but the Tories pulled the rug from underneath us with the cuts to the feed in tariffs.  More concerning was that Ben Gummer and Tory leader Nadia Cenci both agreed with the Government decision that has seen these residents lose the chance to get solar panels.

With his re-election Mr Gummer seems to have become even more distant from his constituents, we cant all afford two homes – one in London and one in Ipswich (if he has a home in Ipswich?) subsidised by the taxpayer. Those solar panels could have helped residents with their fuel bills and made life a bit easier for them. People are struggling and any help we can give them we should. Bus as the Ipswich Tory leader indicated this weekend that she does not believe there is any poverty in the UK it is no surprise that they are not bothered about helping others.

Ipswich remembers its Victoria Cross heroes whilst the Tories tell me I should be ashamed of myself for not singing the National Anthem

Yesterday I attended and participated in a civic event at the entrance to Christchurch Park, Ipswich. The event saw the laying of two paving slabs to commemorate the brave men from Ipswich who won the Victoria Cross during the Battle of Loos in 1915.

The Mayor made a short opening speech than I was asked to read out the two medal citations then local military historian Taff Gillingham gave a far more detailed and interesting talk about the two Ipswich VC winners – Private Samuel Harvey and Sergeant Arthur Saunders.

Taff was quick to point out that what made this event special was that it was a ‘civic’ event – it was the people of Ipswich remembering two of their own. The most striking part of the ceremony for me was when young relatives of the two men, came forward and revealed the paving slabs by moving the covering flags.

It is very important that when we remember the sacrifices made by many in the First World War that we include our youngest residents.

After the event I tweeted some pictures from the ceremony and also indicated that I was disappointed that neither of our Tory MPs were in attendance at this important civic event. I understand that both are busy and in particular Mr Gummer as he is now a junior minister, but Westminster is quiet at the moment as it is the conference season and Mr Gummer had been in town on the Friday to promote his plan for the Wet Dock Crossing. You would hope that Mr Poulter and Gummer could have arranged between themselves for one of them to attend but it does seem that even though they are both MPs for the town there is little co-operation between the two (as indicated by one wanting a northern road and a wet dock crossing whilst the other states there will be no northern road and wants a tunnel)

Some may have thought I was mischief making by highlighting their absence but I do believe they should attend as many civic events as possible – it does seem that in the run up to the election they can get to most events but find it harder to attend in Years 1 to 4.

A number of local Tories took to twitter to mention that there may have been good reason for Mr Gummer not attending, they seem to forget we have two MPs they also mentioned that the Labour Council leader was also absent ( he was on holiday) – so I repeated my earlier comment, that I understood they may both be busy but that I was just disappointed they were not there, what happened next was both a shock and left a very bad taste in my mouth.

The next Tory tweets then commented that they had noticed I did not sing the National Anthem at the end of the event – I was flabbergasted – I was then accused of disrespecting our Armed Forces and that I should be thoroughly ashamed of myself.

I joined the army at 15 and served for 26 years in the Regular Army and still serve as a volunteer Cadet Instructor. As a soldier we were taught to stand silently to attention during the national anthem, in fact in my regiment we do not even toast the queen, as our loyalty is never in question.

I felt both anger and also very sorry for those who accused me, why did they think I read the citations? Did they not see my medals? Or do they see little beyond a Daily Mail headline; because Jeremy Corbyn did not sing the national anthem they thought they could attack me for the same? Or were they just trying to deflect us away from asking where our MPs were?

A veteran was asked did he feel angry that Mr Corbyn did not sing the national anthem. He said the reason why he fought in the war was to give people the freedom to choose what they want to do, and that included not singing the national anthem’

I feel I served my country with honour as do many in the armed services but also so do nurses, doctors, bin men, thousands of people in very different jobs and as far as I am concerned what they do every day to help this country is far more important than if they sing or don’t sing that national anthem.

My week ahead, 14 - 19 September 2015

Monday 14 September, 11am – Labour Party ‘coffee meeting’ – Pump and Grind, Great Coleman Street
4pm – Culture Portfolio meeting
6pm – Campaigning in South West Ipswich

Tuesday 15 September, 5pm – Early Warning Group

Wednesday 16 September, 5pm meeting with National Portfolio Arts organisation – Pacitti Company
7.30pm – North East Ipswich Labour members and supporters ‘get-together’ – The Old Times, Cauldwell Hall Rd

Thursday 17 September 6pm, North East Ipswich Partnership Group meeting
7pm – North East Ipswich Area Committee meeting, St John’s Church, Cauldwell Hall Rd

On Saturday we had a strong team out campaigning in South West Ipswich, we were informing residents of the large scale development planned for Chantry Vale – the area to the west of Chantry Park. The development is poorly planned, (there is no master plan) and the houses are of bad design – but the issue is that Chantry Vale is outside the Borough, it is in Tory run Babergh. It is their planning committee who will decide if the scheme is approved and if it is, it will be Babergh Council who will collect all the council tax but it is Ipswich where the new residents will look to for services not Sudbury or Hadleigh.

Now on the Northern Fringe we are making sure there is a master plan but we still face stiff opposition from the local Tories and both our Tory MPs. Mr Gummer was also against us building much needed affordable home in South East Ipswich. But when we come to Chantry Vale we are met with a deafening silence from the Tories.

Expect Mr Gummer to come up with the excuse of ‘not in his constituency’ – but it is his constituents who will face more traffic congestions, whose schools will have to take the pupils from Chantry Vale (Tory run Suffolk seem happy not task for any money from the developers towards secondary education). Mr Gummer was also quick to comment about the purchase of the old Sugar Beet factory (and that is also in Babergh)

Then we have the Tory leader, Mrs Cenci – whose main election campaign seemed to be about stopping the erection of a wind turbine (also in Babergh) but we have heard nothing from her or her fellow South West Tory councillors about the proposed Chantry Vale development – wonder why? Not up for election this year?

It is only Ipswich Labour who campaigns for resident’s week in week out, Mr Gummer has only been noticeable by his obvious absence from Ipswich this summer and the only time we seem to hear from him is when he is tweeting something prepared for him by Tory Central Office.

Then again why would be surprised that the Tory Party is still the party of ‘self interest’

Ipswich Labour will be passing on residents concerns about the Chantry Vale development to the Babergh Planning Committee.