Nick challenges Tory hopeful to come clean on party funding

George Osborne MP has been fighting for his political life

Nick Perry, Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, has written to his Conservative counterpart demanding straight answers about donations received by the local Conservative Association.

Following the controversy engulfing Tory MP George Osborne, Nick has requested information on how much money has been donated to local Conservatives by Lord Ashcroft, deputy chairman of the Tory Party.

Lord Ashcroft, whose UK residency and tax status is clouded in uncertainty, has been targeting money at parliamentary seats that are thought to be winnable.

Nick says,

“In the light of the recent furore around the behaviour of senior Conservatives, my Tory counterpart must be absolutely frank with the local electorate about whether she is receiving donated monies via the companies of a man who, to the best of my knowledge, does not pay tax on his income like every other hard-working family in Hastings & Rye has to.

“Either local Tories are receiving this money, in which case we must know how much has been donated since Amber has been selected. Or they are not receiving the money, so we must assume that the party no longer feels that the seat is winnable.

“100 years ago Robert Tressell was railing against politicians seeking to buy parliamentary seats. The political system now is no fairer than it was all those years ago. Despite all the Cameron spin, are these really just the same old Tories?”

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Nick receives thanks from Obama Campaign

Nick Perry, Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner, has received a message of thanks from the campaign team of American presidential candidate Barack Obama.

In the last week before Americans go to the polls, Nick had sent his own message of support and solidarity.

Nick says,

“I wanted to let Senator Obama and his team know that there are many, many people outside of the US, rooting for him to win big on November 4.

“The world needs the change of direction that he promises, and the United States needs the personal qualities that he will bring to the presidency.

“Everything is crossed for the right result next week!”

Nick joins panel for ‘Why bother voting?’ debate

By kind permission of Stuart Griffiths, www.stuartgriffiths.net

I took part in the debate at St Mary in the Castle on Thursday at the invitation of my Conservative counterpart. 

It was an interesting debate but the attendance was disappointing. 

I think the message to us politicians is that we must do more, and more effective, outreach work.  People are just so disillusioned with the political process.

Interesting to see the split on voting at 16.  Amber Rudd is against.  Michael Foster is for.  But it is only us Lib Dems who have voting at 16 as party policy.

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By the people, for the people

Notwithstanding the celebrations of Hastings Week, which was topped off by a fantastic procession and bonfire, I am starting to hear stories of how the financial crisis is affecting people’s lives.

I spoke to a recently-retired man who is very concerned about his private pension fund which had, it turns out, been managed by an Icelandic firm. The Financial Services Authority has contacted him to say that he might only retrieve a quarter of the fund’s worth.

There is the couple who were ready to exchange on a property that they thought they weren’t going to sell, and then the Wednesday before the Friday of exchange, the financial crisis hit. The prospective purchaser’s deposit was in an Icelandic bank, and the sale of the house has had to go on the back burner.

There is an older St Leonard’s man who is facing residential care due to a recent period of illness. He is wondering if he will have to sell his house to pay for his care, and he knows that following the events on the financial markets, he will get substantially less for the property than he would have achieved a few weeks ago.

These are real people and real life stories of how the economic crisis is making its presence felt.

A big fan of David Dimbelby’s Question Time programme, I could completely understand the frustration of the questioner last Thursday who had had to pay for his own cancer treatment (due to the postcode lottery on cancer drugs) and could not understand how the Government could just ‘find’ £500 billion to bail out the private sector banks.

I am no economist, and I realise that there is long-term benefit in stabilising the financial markets, but it seemed wrong-headed to me, as I read my Saturday paper, that the level of City bonuses in the financial year just ended was not much different than the year before.

Radio and television pundits speak about the socialisation of debt and the privatisation of profit. I think this means that City slickers will mitigate their losses and the taxpayer will, for the good of the country, come up with the readies.

In the context of the current banking crisis, there can be no better time to advocate a redistribution of tax responsibilities from low and middle income families to the very wealthy.

This is the fairest solution in the circumstances. And it is the solution that will help the economy to recover.

In the fragile spirit of cross-party unity (which had survived for a while, prior to David Cameron’s outburst at the end of the week) I hope the other parties will be willing to listen to the good sense being spoken by Nick Clegg and Vince Cable, and put the interests of the less well off first.

At the invitation of my Conservative counterpart, I am taking part in a debate tomorrow evening entitled ‘Why bother voting?’

One of the main reasons why people have been turned off politics is that they perceive the system to look after its own at the expense of ordinary folk.

There is no better time to demonstrate that politics and politicians should be of the people, by the people, for the people.

Finding money for care home fees

Dear Observer Editor,

I am hearing daily about the problems that the Credit Crunch is causing our older residents.

In particular, I wanted to make the point, via the Letters Page, that the disintegration of the housing market makes this entirely the wrong time for older people to sell their homes to pay care home fees, and they do not have to do so.

People should know that the local authority can wait to obtain owed fees, as a charge can be placed on the care-receiver’s estate.

The technical term for this is a deferred payments agreement.

People can also set up trusts, or gift their assets to their relatives.

There are particular rules around trusts and gifts, so people should get professional advice on this.

Yours sincerely,

Hastings Week ends in style

We trekked up to the West Hill on Saturday evening to catch some of the atmosphere of Hastings Bonfire – the finale of a very successful Hastings Week.

We thought that we’d get a good view of the procession and fireworks without the ash storm that we endured last year!  It was a good choice with baby in tow.

Here is a link to the Observer photographs which were fab!

Bin trouble at Markwick Terrace

I went to speak with residents of Markwick Terrace in St Leonards on Saturday to discuss the bin situation.  The Council have agreed to consult again and are offering Twin Bins or communal bins.  Many residents that I spoke to are happy with the way things are at the moment.  We will lobby the Council with the findings of our survey.  Obviously there are different views from the flats and the detached properties at the end of the road.

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How to keep the economy regular

It has been, to say the least, a turbulent week on the financial markets.

There has been much discussion in the national media of trillions of dollars, worried bankers and a cooling of our national friendship with Iceland.

Sometimes it is difficult to get a handle on what it all means for us at the local level.

Well, as far as we know at this stage, East Sussex County, Hastings Borough nor Rother District Councils have money deposited in Icelandic banks. So we may not be facing imminent Council Tax rises.

On Thursday evening, I went to the local branch meeting of the Federation of Small Businesses to learn from them about how the local economy is bearing up.

Thankfully, there appeared to be a good deal of determination to dig in and to weather the economic storms ahead.

For someone who has spent most of his life working in the public sector, it is important for me to listen to local business people.

As it happens, my parents ran a small estate agency in St Helens, where I am from, so many of the struggles and tribulations being alluded to on Thursday evening were familiar territory.

It seems that there are consequences of the crash wherever you look. Over the weekend I found this article in The Times a useful summary for starters.

In his column last week, our MP Michael Foster gave his own analysis of the impact of Government action to shore up the banking sector.

Michael would like to portray the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives as having similar approaches to recovering the economic situation.

And on every occasion that he gives in to this fantasy, I must correct him and demonstrate that the Lib Dems are fundamentally different from both Labour and the Conservatives on how to help the economy to recover.

As I have mentioned before in this column, the Lib Dems are committed to cutting taxes for low and middle income families.

Despite the financial difficulties that we have witnessed over the last week, this is still possible through taxation on pollution and by closing tax loopholes for wealthy families.

It is also the surest way of keeping the economy regular, as putting money back into people’s pockets will help with consumer spending, the problems of inflation and the housing market.

It is a key plank of the nine point plan set out by Vince Cable two weeks ago.

By contrast, the Conservatives are reeds in the wind of the Government’s thinking. They have committed themselves to matching Government spending plans. And their only solid policy ideas to date include the raising of the threshold on Inheritance Tax, and to freeze Council Tax for two years.

The first is a tax dodge for millionaires, and I don’t think we’ll be hearing much more of the second policy idea, with (largely) Conservative-run Councils struggling to recover their money from the Icelandic banks.

In the same vein, I wrote to my Conservative counterpart during the Tory Party Conference in Birmingham. I asked her to respond in writing to eight key questions about the economy.

I am still waiting for the reply.

Nick supports the ‘Taste of Rye’ festival

I was very pleased to have been able to attend some of the events in the ‘Taste of Rye’ festival.

My family and I particularly enjoyed the Farmers’ Market behind the Cinque Ports and the white chocolate and yoghurt cheesecake that was on offer from one of the stallholders – you know who you are!

These events need good marketing, because they are great opportunities for the local economy.

Having spoken to Sue Prochak, the Lib Dem Leader on Rother District Council, I am pleased to be able to report that local Lib Dems are in the forefront of lobbying for improved tourist information centres across the rural parts of Rother. 

These must operate in a joined-up way, and under an effective marketing strategy.  This has been sadly lacking from the Conservative-run District Council, whose sights (and money) appears fixed on the Bexhill seafront.  The decision to press ahead with refurbishment of the seafront without any meaningful consultation is truly shocking.  The Lib Dems have opposed it.

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Nick meets with the local branch of the FSB

On Thursday evening I attended the networking meeting of the local branch of the Federation of Small Businesses.

The week had seen enormous turbulence in the financial markets and it is important for me to hear how local businesses are coping.

Whilst I work in the public sector, my parents ran a small family business in St Helens, where I am from, and so the issues and concerns raised by some of the FSB members were very familiar.

It is important for me to keep abreast of how local businesses are doing not just from an economic and political perspective but, as I mentioned at the meeting, it informs my own work.

In the local Crisis and Home Treatment Team, we often work with people who are suffering from stress and mental illness brought on by financial pressures and the responsibility of being self-employed.

It was an important meeting, and I intend to keep in touch.