The Telegraph reports that two junior ministers are having to use their own money in order to have a home in their constituencies.
Both Edward Garnier and Hugo Swire have decided that their main home should be in London. Garnier's is said to be worth £2.4million and Swire's £1million.
So when it comes to having a second home in their constituency, they are looking to rent using the new level of allowances. Both claim that the taxpayer-funded rent allowed is too low to be able to afford anything decent. As a result they claim they are having to pay part of the rent out of their own salaries (respectively £126k a year and £98k a year).
Surely, so long as the new rent levels are enough to be able to afford to rent something as a second home then that is the end of the taxpayer's obligations to these men. If they want to rent 'a large farmhouse' as Mr Swire has done, then it is their choice and they should pay accordingly.
Senin, 05 Juli 2010
Minggu, 04 Juli 2010
David Cameron wants to send me money (not)
A politically savvy phishing email has just arrived in my inbox:
My working partner has helped me to send yourHmm. Hasn't this scamster heard there's a recession on and the Prime Minister is more likely to be demanding money than giving it to me?
first payment of US$7,500 to you as
instructed by Mr. David Cameron and will
keep sending you US$7,500 twice a week until
the payment of (US$360,000) is completed
within six months and here is the information
below:
MONEY TRANSFER CONTROL NUMBER (MTCN):
841-116-3297
SENDER'S NAME: Mr.Alexander Onyibor
AMOUNT: US$7,500
To track your funds forward Western Union
Money Transfer agent your Full Names and
Mobile Number via Email to:
Mr Gary Moore
E-mail:western.uniontransfer@w.cn
D/L: Tel:+447045713697
Please direct all enquiring to:
western.uniontransfer@w.cn
Best Regards,
Mrs. Mr Gary Moore.
Launceston Half Marathon
Today saw the Launceston Half Marathon run through the streets (and up the hills) of Launceston and the surrounding area.
More than 350 runners from across Cornwall, as well as from Devon and as far away as Milton Keynes and Scotland took part. The winner, in 1 hour 12 minutes 30 seconds, was Kevin Heywood from the Bideford Club. 
The first woman home was Susie Bosustow from Cornwall AC.
Also taking place was the Family Fun Run with more than 150 young people, parents and teachers. 
The first boy home was nine year old Piran Gallington and first girl 10 year old Jasmine Grey, both from the 
Callington area.
There were lots of costumers in evidence, including witches and wizards, pirates and Bill and Ben.Congratulations are due to Dave Gordon and his team of volunteers who put together a superb event.
Photos (from top to bottom): Town Mayor Paul O'Brien starts the main race, Men's winner Kevin Heywood, Women's winner Susie Bosustow, the start of the Fun Run, First boy home Piran Gallington, first girl home Jasmine Grey, Bill and Ben, a family of costumed runners.
Jumat, 02 Juli 2010
Cornwall demands clarity on second home voting rules
Cornwall Council will be asking the Government to clarify the law on the rights of second home owners to register and vote in elections in Cornwall. That was a decision made at today's meeting of the Electoral Review panel and followed a long debate on the extent of the problem in the Duchy.
With around 5% of houses in Cornwall registered as 'second homes', we wanted to know how many people who are not permanent residents in Cornwall are on the electoral register and what action the Council is taking to ensure that no laws are being broken.
The trouble is that the law itself is very unclear. Whilst the Electoral Commission states that second homes which are used for purely recreational purposes and are not the substantive residence cannot be used to register to vote, there is no clear guidance as to how to interpret these statements. The best case law is Scottish and therefore can only guide English cases rather than be used to determine them.
At one extreme, it might be suggested that second home owners have significantly swayed local and general election results. At the other extreme, there may be little or no second home voting and that which does happen may be by people who are perfectly entitled to do so. Members at the meeting expressed both these points of view.
The panel decided to write to the Minister to ask that the law be clarified as soon as possible. With legislation likely soon to introduce individual registration, there is a good opportunity for the Government to do this.
The panel also decided that, with the information that is due to go out later this summer to compile the new electoral register, there should be guidance issued to potential registrants to help them understand the law. But with the Council itself unsure how to proceed, this is a bit of a damp squib.
At the same meeting, the panel also received an assurance from officers that the law regarding the provision of marked registers would be fully complied with. These registers are compiled at polling stations showing who has voted (but, of course, not how they voted). They are made available to political parties to help them with their election work and to help combat fraud. The problem is that six of the Cornish marked registers (out of 500 or so) are missing. They are almost certainly in sealed packets having been wrongly sorted by polling station staff. If necessary, the Council has agreed to ask for a court order to allow them to be found.
And finally (well, actually at the start of the meeting) I was re-elected as the Vice Chair of the Panel. Many thanks to all those colleagues who backed me.
With around 5% of houses in Cornwall registered as 'second homes', we wanted to know how many people who are not permanent residents in Cornwall are on the electoral register and what action the Council is taking to ensure that no laws are being broken.
The trouble is that the law itself is very unclear. Whilst the Electoral Commission states that second homes which are used for purely recreational purposes and are not the substantive residence cannot be used to register to vote, there is no clear guidance as to how to interpret these statements. The best case law is Scottish and therefore can only guide English cases rather than be used to determine them.
At one extreme, it might be suggested that second home owners have significantly swayed local and general election results. At the other extreme, there may be little or no second home voting and that which does happen may be by people who are perfectly entitled to do so. Members at the meeting expressed both these points of view.
The panel decided to write to the Minister to ask that the law be clarified as soon as possible. With legislation likely soon to introduce individual registration, there is a good opportunity for the Government to do this.
The panel also decided that, with the information that is due to go out later this summer to compile the new electoral register, there should be guidance issued to potential registrants to help them understand the law. But with the Council itself unsure how to proceed, this is a bit of a damp squib.
At the same meeting, the panel also received an assurance from officers that the law regarding the provision of marked registers would be fully complied with. These registers are compiled at polling stations showing who has voted (but, of course, not how they voted). They are made available to political parties to help them with their election work and to help combat fraud. The problem is that six of the Cornish marked registers (out of 500 or so) are missing. They are almost certainly in sealed packets having been wrongly sorted by polling station staff. If necessary, the Council has agreed to ask for a court order to allow them to be found.
And finally (well, actually at the start of the meeting) I was re-elected as the Vice Chair of the Panel. Many thanks to all those colleagues who backed me.
Kamis, 01 Juli 2010
Harrietland - an update
I wrote earlier today about how Harriet Harman and Labour had, sort of, forgotten that they had no councillors in Cornwall.
This was all because, as Paul Waugh blogged, Ms Harman and the Labour Party have launched a campaign to get Labour councillors in all areas where there is a Lib Dem MP to submit a council motion against the VAT increase. I pointed out in my earlier post that they might have a tough time doing this in Cornwall where there are precisely no Labour councillors.
That got me thinking. Are there any other Lib Dem MPs whose local authorities have no Labour representation?
It turns out there are quite a few.
Tom Brake
Annette Brooke
Paul Burstow
Vince Cable
Alistair Carmichael
Ed Davey
Michael Moore
Alan Reid
Adrian Sanders
Sir Robert Smith
If you add them to the three Cornish MPs - Dan Rogerson, Steve Gilbert and Andrew George - that makes a total of thirteen. Not a single Labour councillor exists in the local authorities covered by their constituencies*.
But of course, in Harrietland, everybody has a Labour councillor...
* I've taken the political composition at the time of the last council elections and included district, borough, unitary and county councils as appropriate. If you know of any by-elections or defections since then, please email me and I'd be happy to make a correction.
This was all because, as Paul Waugh blogged, Ms Harman and the Labour Party have launched a campaign to get Labour councillors in all areas where there is a Lib Dem MP to submit a council motion against the VAT increase. I pointed out in my earlier post that they might have a tough time doing this in Cornwall where there are precisely no Labour councillors.
That got me thinking. Are there any other Lib Dem MPs whose local authorities have no Labour representation?
It turns out there are quite a few.
Tom Brake
Annette Brooke
Paul Burstow
Vince Cable
Alistair Carmichael
Ed Davey
Michael Moore
Alan Reid
Adrian Sanders
Sir Robert Smith
If you add them to the three Cornish MPs - Dan Rogerson, Steve Gilbert and Andrew George - that makes a total of thirteen. Not a single Labour councillor exists in the local authorities covered by their constituencies*.
But of course, in Harrietland, everybody has a Labour councillor...
* I've taken the political composition at the time of the last council elections and included district, borough, unitary and county councils as appropriate. If you know of any by-elections or defections since then, please email me and I'd be happy to make a correction.
Labour forget they have no councillors in Cornwall
The Labour Party, still in self-denial over the economic crisis, appear to have forgotten that, as well as having no MPs in Cornwall, they also have no councillors. Out of 123 in total, they cannot summon up a single Labour winner.
Paul Waugh of the Evening Standard reports that Harriet Harman is launching a campaign against the VAT rise. The thrust of this campaign is to seek to embarrass the Liberal Democrats over the issue. She proclaimed that in an attempt to mobilise a national campaign, Labour will table motions at councils in the backyards of all 57 Lib Dem MPs.
Well, she'll have a tough time of it in Cornwall, where there are three Lib Dem MPs and no Labour councillors.
The Labour campaign itself is hugely hypocritical. It is fair enough to want to oppose the VAT rise. Personally I think that VAT is hugely regressive and I think it is a shame that George Osborne has chosen a VAT rise as part of the measures to tackle the debt crisis. But Labour have failed to offer a single idea about what they would do instead. They were in Government at the time of the economic crash and their mismanagement of the economy contributed much towards the problems that we face now. Yet there hasn't been a peep from Ms Harman or Alastair Darling about what they would do about it. They are content to sit on the sidelines and wail.
In Harrietland, the debt will vanish away if you close your eyes and make a wish. In Harrietland, people think that Gordon Brown was a great Prime Minister. And in Harrietland, there are actually Labour councillors in Cornwall. Wake up Harriet, it's time to stop dreaming.
UPDATE - I've done a bit more digging. Let's just say that it gets a bit worse for Harriet.
Paul Waugh of the Evening Standard reports that Harriet Harman is launching a campaign against the VAT rise. The thrust of this campaign is to seek to embarrass the Liberal Democrats over the issue. She proclaimed that in an attempt to mobilise a national campaign, Labour will table motions at councils in the backyards of all 57 Lib Dem MPs.
Well, she'll have a tough time of it in Cornwall, where there are three Lib Dem MPs and no Labour councillors.
The Labour campaign itself is hugely hypocritical. It is fair enough to want to oppose the VAT rise. Personally I think that VAT is hugely regressive and I think it is a shame that George Osborne has chosen a VAT rise as part of the measures to tackle the debt crisis. But Labour have failed to offer a single idea about what they would do instead. They were in Government at the time of the economic crash and their mismanagement of the economy contributed much towards the problems that we face now. Yet there hasn't been a peep from Ms Harman or Alastair Darling about what they would do about it. They are content to sit on the sidelines and wail.
In Harrietland, the debt will vanish away if you close your eyes and make a wish. In Harrietland, people think that Gordon Brown was a great Prime Minister. And in Harrietland, there are actually Labour councillors in Cornwall. Wake up Harriet, it's time to stop dreaming.
UPDATE - I've done a bit more digging. Let's just say that it gets a bit worse for Harriet.
Success - Action taken on skid surfaces and graffiti
This morning I've had a reply from Oliver Jones, the local highways engineer, about the various issues raised following my walkabout on Tuesday.
On the skid surfaces on Dutson Road, Oliver says:
Other minor issues that I raised with him included a hole in the pavement outside Spar which he has had filled with a temporary patch and is taking up with BT who he believes are at fault. Also the cracked paving outside Spar is scheduled for repair although, as it is not dangerous, it will not be done immediately.
Many thanks indeed to Oliver, Rodney and their teams for their very swift action on these problems.
On the skid surfaces on Dutson Road, Oliver says:
I have had a look at this and it is clearly a material failure, I am going to arrange for a gang to remove the existing failed surface and take this issue up with the sub-contractor who undertook this work originally regarding remedial measures.On the graffiti, he has arranged for the swastika on the road surface to be painted over and the local street ranger, Rodney Hancock, is dealing with the graffiti on the wall.
Other minor issues that I raised with him included a hole in the pavement outside Spar which he has had filled with a temporary patch and is taking up with BT who he believes are at fault. Also the cracked paving outside Spar is scheduled for repair although, as it is not dangerous, it will not be done immediately.
Many thanks indeed to Oliver, Rodney and their teams for their very swift action on these problems.
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