Monday – 18 November, 9am – Culture and Leisure portfolio holders meeting
6pm – Labour Group meeting
Tuesday – 19 November, 5pm – Full Governing Body meeting, Sidegate Primary School
Friday – 22 November, 7pm – ‘Stand up for Labour’ fund raising comedy event, Westgate Ward Club
Saturday 16 November, 10am – Labour campaigning, North East Ipswich
This week, our Tory MP, Ben Gummer voted against the Labour motion to get rid of the ‘bedroom tax’. I highlighted this fact on twitter as our MP failed to mention it on one of his infrequent visits to his twitter site and as his website is still indicating the last time he spoke in Westminster was in January 2012, I knew it would not be mentioned there.
A number of local activists used the ‘bedroom tax’ vote to highlight the number of Labour MP’s who did not attend the vote. It became quite obvious that they were not aware of the ‘pairing’ system that is used in Westminster. A system that of course is open to misuse but in the main, one that works well. You can’t expect David Cameron to be at every vote so this week whilst he is in Sri Lanka playing cricket/apologising/talking to his arms dealer pals he will at least know the Government will not lose a vote because his Labour ‘pair’ will not be able to vote.
When a number of Tories were informed on twitter of the ‘pairing system’ they then mentioned as many of those from Labour who missed the vote were very critical of the ‘bedroom tax’ they should have been there. Trouble is IDS, the minister who is bringing in the benefit changes was not even in Parliament to defend the tax – he was in Paris – something the Tories on twitter failed to mention.
A more interesting list of MP's is the list of Lib Dems who voted against the government or made their excuses for not attending – more worried about keeping their seats in 2015 than supporting their government.
Showing posts with label Bedroom tax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bedroom tax. Show all posts
Sunday, 17 November 2013
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Syria - listen to our retired Generals
Last week Cameron and the Government lost a vote on military action in Syria. Much has been written, tweeted and blogged since.
Here in Ipswich a Tory blogger called Labour traitors for not support Cameron (forgetting to mention the Tory rebels or the Tory MP’s who did not even turn up but within days he was blogging that he agreed that military action was not the right way forward.
Ipswich Spy seems more concerned that Labour candidate David Ellesmere will not say how he would have voted. (since taken down) I would have thought more of a story was to ask why Tim Yeo did not even vote – but Ipswich spy said they do not chase stories beyond the Borough boundary (their next story was about a Tory councillor from outside Ipswich claiming hundreds of pounds for food- quail’s eggs?)
I do not believe military action was the right course to follow, I say that with some level of knowledge as a former soldier, for 6 months every morning when I looked out of my room I saw the remains of the Serb special police headquarters- a building that had been hit by a cruise missile – the inside were a mess but the outside of the building was intact – but if you had been hid in the cellar you would have survived. So in Damascus, there is little chance of hitting Assad or his senior henchmen, those who will be killed by a missile strike will be the lowest of the low – conscripts, civilians – not the Generals.
But what if a cruise missile hits a dump of chemical weapons- will that not cause the spread of those chemicals?
If I want my car fixed, I ask a garage not the Minister of Transport, so if I want to know if a cruise missile strike on Damascus would work I ask a General not Hammond or Hague – serving Generals are not known for giving out their opinion publically but only one former general could be found who agreed with the Government, General Rose, ex Guards and SAS – every General who got up to speak in the House of Lords spoke against attacking Syria, so why was Cameron so keen?
There is also the problem of the Syrian opposition – many factions a number who are seen as the enemy of the west – Iranian backed, Shia’s from Iraq - many who would like to attack the west. If Assad did go now it would leave a power vacuum – similar to what we had in Iraq.
Something of course has to be done about the use of chemical weapons, more pressure has to be placed on China and Russia and the use of the veto on the UN Security Council needs to looked at seriously to stop the UN becoming just a talking shop.
So I agreed with Miliband – Cameron made a big tactical error, his whips got it wrong it seemed almost arrogant to allow ministers to stay on holiday being so sure he would win the vote- he should have supported the Labour amendment but maybe he thought defeat on Thursday was better than being defeated on a second vote on the use of force this week?
The Tories accused Labour of playing party politics but as opinion polls showed that the country supported the stance of Ed, they are now saying that Cameron showed the way by letting Parliament decide and that Obama has since followed his lead in the USA- Clutching at straws.
Mr Gummer used his Star column last Friday to give us some indication of how he would vote, he also seems to blame Blair and the Iraq situation – even before Cameron lost the vote- saying how the mistrust of politicians (all Tony’s fault) has caused the drop in the number of people voting – He then (correctly) describes the Syria debate as a very important issue- the issue of waging war. Well what made me wonder if I could trust MP; s Mr Gummer was not what happened about Iraq but in the debate on waging war in Syria last Thursday – which you correctly declare an important issue is that over 100 MP’s did not even bother voting, many did not turn up and even a number of Government Ministers stayed on holiday.
As a soldier on a number of occasions I had to cancel leave because we had been warned that we might be needed, in 1998 we spent 6 months in Bosnia and expected to spend more time at home in 1999 – it never happened , instead we trained for Kosovo and deployed there less than a year after returning from the Balkans – we all deployed – all 650 men and women – none missing because they stayed on holiday – that is one of the reasons the public do not trust MP’s nothing to do with Blair or Iraq.
On Saturday I and a large number of colleagues spent the morning canvassing in Bridge Ward, Ipswich – and not one person mentioned Syria on the doorstep – instead it was the bedroom tax, immigration, lack of jobs and the mess the Tory run county were making of the roads in Ipswich. You can’t blame that on Toy Blair!
Here in Ipswich a Tory blogger called Labour traitors for not support Cameron (forgetting to mention the Tory rebels or the Tory MP’s who did not even turn up but within days he was blogging that he agreed that military action was not the right way forward.
Ipswich Spy seems more concerned that Labour candidate David Ellesmere will not say how he would have voted. (since taken down) I would have thought more of a story was to ask why Tim Yeo did not even vote – but Ipswich spy said they do not chase stories beyond the Borough boundary (their next story was about a Tory councillor from outside Ipswich claiming hundreds of pounds for food- quail’s eggs?)
I do not believe military action was the right course to follow, I say that with some level of knowledge as a former soldier, for 6 months every morning when I looked out of my room I saw the remains of the Serb special police headquarters- a building that had been hit by a cruise missile – the inside were a mess but the outside of the building was intact – but if you had been hid in the cellar you would have survived. So in Damascus, there is little chance of hitting Assad or his senior henchmen, those who will be killed by a missile strike will be the lowest of the low – conscripts, civilians – not the Generals.
But what if a cruise missile hits a dump of chemical weapons- will that not cause the spread of those chemicals?
If I want my car fixed, I ask a garage not the Minister of Transport, so if I want to know if a cruise missile strike on Damascus would work I ask a General not Hammond or Hague – serving Generals are not known for giving out their opinion publically but only one former general could be found who agreed with the Government, General Rose, ex Guards and SAS – every General who got up to speak in the House of Lords spoke against attacking Syria, so why was Cameron so keen?
There is also the problem of the Syrian opposition – many factions a number who are seen as the enemy of the west – Iranian backed, Shia’s from Iraq - many who would like to attack the west. If Assad did go now it would leave a power vacuum – similar to what we had in Iraq.
Something of course has to be done about the use of chemical weapons, more pressure has to be placed on China and Russia and the use of the veto on the UN Security Council needs to looked at seriously to stop the UN becoming just a talking shop.
So I agreed with Miliband – Cameron made a big tactical error, his whips got it wrong it seemed almost arrogant to allow ministers to stay on holiday being so sure he would win the vote- he should have supported the Labour amendment but maybe he thought defeat on Thursday was better than being defeated on a second vote on the use of force this week?
The Tories accused Labour of playing party politics but as opinion polls showed that the country supported the stance of Ed, they are now saying that Cameron showed the way by letting Parliament decide and that Obama has since followed his lead in the USA- Clutching at straws.
Mr Gummer used his Star column last Friday to give us some indication of how he would vote, he also seems to blame Blair and the Iraq situation – even before Cameron lost the vote- saying how the mistrust of politicians (all Tony’s fault) has caused the drop in the number of people voting – He then (correctly) describes the Syria debate as a very important issue- the issue of waging war. Well what made me wonder if I could trust MP; s Mr Gummer was not what happened about Iraq but in the debate on waging war in Syria last Thursday – which you correctly declare an important issue is that over 100 MP’s did not even bother voting, many did not turn up and even a number of Government Ministers stayed on holiday.
As a soldier on a number of occasions I had to cancel leave because we had been warned that we might be needed, in 1998 we spent 6 months in Bosnia and expected to spend more time at home in 1999 – it never happened , instead we trained for Kosovo and deployed there less than a year after returning from the Balkans – we all deployed – all 650 men and women – none missing because they stayed on holiday – that is one of the reasons the public do not trust MP’s nothing to do with Blair or Iraq.
On Saturday I and a large number of colleagues spent the morning canvassing in Bridge Ward, Ipswich – and not one person mentioned Syria on the doorstep – instead it was the bedroom tax, immigration, lack of jobs and the mess the Tory run county were making of the roads in Ipswich. You can’t blame that on Toy Blair!
Sunday, 1 September 2013
My week ahead, 2 - 7 September 2013
Monday 2 September, 6pm- Labour campaigning in South East Ipswich
Friday 6 September, 4pm – World War I centenary events , Steering committee - Grafton House
Saturday 7 September, 10am - Labour campaigning, North West Ipswich
What a week in national politics, Cameron and the government losing a vote on intervention in Syria, large Tory rebellion, Number 10 accusing Ed Miliband of succour to Assad (but not the Tory rebels who he invites to a BBQ at Chequers the day after!) and the ending of our ‘special relationship’ with the USA.
As an ex-soldier I have some strong opinions on Syria and the stance taken by Cameron over the situation. I intend to do a separate post on the issue later.
But there is no doubt in my mind a number of the Tory rebels and certain Labour MP’s voted against Cameron because of public opinion was against attacking Syria – you might say that is what they should do – but what I believe is that many did support intervention in Syria but were more concerned about votes and losing their seats in 2015.
The press, politicians, political commentators have not stopped , blogging, tweeting and writing about the events of last Thursday but out campaigning in south west Ipswich yesterday with a large group of Labour colleagues, not one resident mentioned Syria – wonder if the Tories found the same situation when out in Stoke Park yesterday? What I did hear about were the Tory attacks on the benefit system and the much discussed ‘bedroom tax’. It seems from the papers today that Ed and Labour will announce their policy on ‘bedroom tax’ this week with rumours that being that Labour will scrap it- if that is the action to be taken – well done Ed. Because many mentioned this loathed tax yesterday but no one mentioned Assad.
Friday 6 September, 4pm – World War I centenary events , Steering committee - Grafton House
Saturday 7 September, 10am - Labour campaigning, North West Ipswich
What a week in national politics, Cameron and the government losing a vote on intervention in Syria, large Tory rebellion, Number 10 accusing Ed Miliband of succour to Assad (but not the Tory rebels who he invites to a BBQ at Chequers the day after!) and the ending of our ‘special relationship’ with the USA.
As an ex-soldier I have some strong opinions on Syria and the stance taken by Cameron over the situation. I intend to do a separate post on the issue later.
But there is no doubt in my mind a number of the Tory rebels and certain Labour MP’s voted against Cameron because of public opinion was against attacking Syria – you might say that is what they should do – but what I believe is that many did support intervention in Syria but were more concerned about votes and losing their seats in 2015.
The press, politicians, political commentators have not stopped , blogging, tweeting and writing about the events of last Thursday but out campaigning in south west Ipswich yesterday with a large group of Labour colleagues, not one resident mentioned Syria – wonder if the Tories found the same situation when out in Stoke Park yesterday? What I did hear about were the Tory attacks on the benefit system and the much discussed ‘bedroom tax’. It seems from the papers today that Ed and Labour will announce their policy on ‘bedroom tax’ this week with rumours that being that Labour will scrap it- if that is the action to be taken – well done Ed. Because many mentioned this loathed tax yesterday but no one mentioned Assad.
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