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Blog / April 12, 2010 / Comment now
Today Labour launched our manifesto which attempts to address the serious challenges that our country faces in the coming years. As we move out of recession we require policies that are ambitious but affordable. That is why our manifesto sets out plans to address the future challenges we face in our economy, our society and our politics. Values of fairness, respect, decency and openness are at the heart of Labour’s agenda for a future fair for all in Britain and in Easington.
Having campaigned throughout the Easington constituency over the last few weeks and months I know that voters realise the magnitude of the task facing the next government. Labour has made clear the need to ensure that our fragile economic recovery is not put at risk. Therefore, this manifesto is not one of free give-aways but it is a fair and responsible manifesto that will secure the economic recovery, renew our society through improved public services and restore trust in politics through greater transparency and accountability. What this means for voters is important: greater employment opportunities across East Durham; further improving hospitals and schools (such as the new hospital at Wynyard and new school buildings throughout the constituency) and elected representatives that work transparently and that can be held to account by the public.
Our key commitments include backing businesses to create one million more skilled jobs and grow our economy through advanced technology, exports and business investment. Our manifesto sets out a plan to equip more people for the jobs of the future with up to 70,000 advanced apprenticeships and new Skills Accounts. It also sets out our plan to modernise Britain’s infrastructure with High Speed Rail, a Green Investment Bank and broadband access for all. For the people of Easington such promises may seem far away from their daily lives and their own experiences of the jobs market. However, it is through such government intervention and forward planning that we can ensure better opportunities for people in areas just like Easington. Already we have successful companies in our area such as the GT Group in Peterlee that specialise in new technologies and are world leaders in their trade bringing new employment opportunities.
In terms of public services, it should always be remembered that Labour used the last 13 years to bring significant new investment into our public services. Our NHS budget has tripled and people working in the public sector have seen wage rises above anything that could be imagined under the Tories. Of course, the media and our opponents will try to tell people that nothing has improved in the last decade. However, independent analysis such as that by the Kings Fund last week into Labour’s record on healthcare shows that when we were faced with the challenges of 1997 – such as 18 month waiting lists, too few doctors and nurses, and hospitals that were decades out of date – we responded with the necessary investment and structural reorganisation to sort those problems out. Now the electorate has to decide whether to put the NHS back into the hands of the Tories or allow Labour to respond positively the new challenges and keep improving healthcare in Britain.
We believe that personalised public services and strong communities are fundamental to British society. Our manifesto sets out our plan to ensure that excellence is spread across all our public services - with a thousand schools becoming part of high standard accredited schools groups, every hospital a Foundation Trust and underperforming police forces replaced or taken over. Our manifesto also sets out a plan to revitalise communities by protecting the institutions people care about such as the local pub and post office and improving care for the elderly with a new National Care Service. Labour is also committed to giving new powers to PCSOs to deal with anti-social behaviour.
Restoring trust in politics will be perhaps the greatest challenge following a year that has seen many elected representatives discredited by the expenses debacle. We know that the political system has let people down and there can be no return to business as usual at Westminster. Our manifesto sets out plans to give people a right to recall MPs who let them down, a referendum on moving to the Alternative Vote for the House of Commons and a referendum on a democratic Second Chamber. There will also be a free vote in Parliament on reducing the voting age to 16. With your support I hope to represent Easington in Parliament as a Labour MP and I know that the trust local people put in me must be repaid. Therefore I would ensure that all my political activities in Westminster are easily accessible to local people and that my expenses are published for all to see.
Labour’s manifesto – to secure the economic recovery, renew our society through improved public services and restore trust in politics – is what our country needs for a fairer future. I hope that voters will not be conned by a Tory Party which has not changed and remains concerned with self-interest. The only policy David Cameron has set in stone in one that benefits the 3000 wealthiest estates with a tax give-away, so don’t believe they have your interest at heart.
Labour’s Approach to Crime Prevention Means Safeguarding Sure Start Programmes
Blog / April 1, 2010 / Comment now
EARLY INTERVENTION WITH AT-RISK CHILDREN KEY TO CRIME PREVENTION, SAYS COMMITTEE
In a report released this week, the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee says early intervention is key to reducing criminality and the ability to identify those most at risk is an important tool in crime prevention.
The report points out that a young person in the criminal justice system costs the taxpayer on average a staggering £200,000 by the age of 16, while one given support to stay out costs less than £50,000. Yet only 7% of Youth Justice Board funding is specifically dedicated to prevention.
The Committee says a more effective long-term prevention strategy must focus on early intervention with at-risk young children and their parents. Children exposed to the most acute combination of risk factors – which include family neglect, poverty, school under-achievement and a lack of positive role models – are between five and twenty times more likely to offend than those who are not. The Labour Government has made a good start in this area, particularly through the Sure Start initiative, but needs to go further, ensuring that support reaches the most vulnerable and is available throughout the childhood years, including at the point of transition from primary to secondary school.
Sure Start Centres like those in Haswell, Horden, Peterlee and Seaham as well as related child poverty reduction programmes are at risk if we wake up to a Cameron led Tory government bent on slashing public services and social programmes.
Being at-risk does not inevitably lead to offending and certainly crime is committed by people from all walks of life. A more sophisticated crime data analysis would enable Government to spot and tackle emerging crime trends sooner. Such information would better encourage and enable businesses to make offending harder or less appealing to criminals by “designing-out” crime, something which they may not see a benefit in doing otherwise.
Chair of the Commons Committee Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP said:
“The fact is that when it comes to preventing crime, value for money comes from investing in communities, in social programmes, in activities and mentoring for young people, in health, in technology – rather than spending on the criminal justice system. This Government has been tough on crime but not tough enough on the causes of crime. It is clear that prison, and especially short custodial sentences, do little or nothing to prevent offending or aid rehabilitation.”
“Programmes such as Sure Start are particularly valuable and this type of programme should be extended to provide support further into the childhood years. We are also far from maximising the valuable possibilities offered by technologies that can “design out” crime. It took some pressure on the car industry but innovations that design out opportunities for crime have contributed to a 65% reduction in vehicle theft since 1995. Investing in removing the opportunity for committing a crime is so much more effective, so much better value, than dealing with the financial and social costs of a crime once it has been committed.”
Labour’s new Mad Men: Design Your Own Labour Election Poster
Blog / March 30, 2010 / Comment now
Labour’s election boffins have come up with an interesting take on people power learning some valuable lessons from recent disasters in the political ads market. To avoid the potential humiliation of getting the billboards message hacked or at least tampered with in situ, Labour HQ are going for a pre emptive strike by asking people to design Labour’s next political advert.
As a bit of political knock about I quite liked the example on the Labour Party website with a photo of Gordon Brown looking like he had been rough hewn from a piece of solid granite alongside the slogan “Building A Foundation” and beneath a contrasting airbrushed image of “call me Dave” Cameron alongside the slogan “Wearing It.”
The idea is to design a poster that can highlight in a hard hitting way Labour’s pledge to protect frontline investment in key services and at the same time put the spotlight on David Cameron’s lack of substance.
If you are going to have a go at designing Labour’s election poster bear in mind that people should take away from your poster a simple message that Labour in government will protect frontline investment in policing, schools, childcare and the NHS, with a new guarantee of cancer test results within a week.
Labour has always valued the public services on which ordinary people and families rely. In 1997, when the British people entrusted Labour with the job of protecting our public services the task facing us was clear – to rebuild and restore them after decades of neglect. Thanks to Labour’s investment, standards have risen and now we need to give guarantees of high standards to everyone – not just the lucky few – at the same time as delivering value for taxpayers’ money and services which are tailored to individual personal needs.
The new state of the art acute hospital at Wynyard for example announced just last week by Health Secretary Andy Burnham will provide single room accommodation giving our people in the south of Easington access to the highest possible standards of health care, previously only available to a privileged few.
We also need to let people know about David Cameron’s lack of substance. He’s boasted about being a good salesman but he’s not the conviction politician we need for these tougher times. The message for our poster should be a straight forward one that running the country is a serious matter and David Cameron doesn’t have the substance to take on that job. As Gordon Brown said when his leadership was questioned by the media and some in our own ranks at Labour Conference “This is no time for a novice”.
All of David Cameron’s focus has been on portraying a change of image including airbrushing posters, sledging at the North poll or being photographed cycling. He is trying to distract the British people from realising that it is the same old divisive Tory Party on offer. If we have the skill we must use our own posters to get over to the message to the electorate that David Cameron seems to think that it’s easy to get away with the same old Tory policies – telling people he’s for fairness when promising a tax giveaway for the wealthiest and cutting Child Trust Funds and Child Tax Credits when families need them the most.
Instead of taking on the old fashioned, hard-line Tories in his Party, he has appeased them by giving in on the issues they are obsessed about like foxhunting, grammar schools and Europe. It is an interesting challenge to take on the ad men at their own game but for those of us who care about the future direction of our country and the prosperity of the many not the few, there is rather more at stake than an expensive advertising contract.
Employment Opportunities for the Future
Blog / March 19, 2010 / Comment now
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week released unemployment figures for the United Kingdom. Unemployment for the three months to January is down by 33,000 compared with the three months prior to that. Over the last few years the recession has impacted on employment opportunities across the United Kingdom and across the North East. However, these figures are moving in the right direction and although the change is small it is positive news for the economy and for those seeking employment.
Last year many economists and other pundits were predicting that unemployment would reach 3 million or more, as it did during the last recession under the Tories. However, the positive action that Labour in government has taken has shown that there is a role for government in stimulating job creation and not leaving people to fight the recession on their own. As I mentioned in this blog a new North East £125m ‘super fund’ launched in January has been aimed at supporting hundreds of small and medium sized businesses to protect jobs.
Labour has also focused its attention on supporting young people through the recession. It was also in this blog that I outlined Labour’s commitment to ensure over 100,000 new opportunities for young people and guarantee people under 25 a job, training or work experience after six months of unemployment. This focused effort has yielded tangible results that can be seen in today’s ONS figures where the largest fall in claimants of JSA was in the age group of 18 – 24. Unfortunately the figures for the total claimant count in the Easington constituency showed a small increase of 29 since January 2010. There are however prospects for the future that we can look forward to.
A good news story for the North East and for Easington is the announcement this month that the GT Group, based in Peterlee, is safeguarding 200 jobs and creating a further 200 jobs after it secured £200 million worth of new orders going into the future. The company has been supported with a grant of £2 million from the regional development agency One North East.
Geoff Turnbull, MD GT Group, Alan Cummins, Easington NUM Lodge Secretary, Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Edna Connor, Horden Parish Councillor, Audrey Laing, Chair Easington CLP.
Group chairman Geoff Turnbull said:
“With the EU and international governments imposing tough regulations on transport emissions, vehicle manufacturers around the world are sourcing new technologies to deliver improved vehicle performance and environmental sustainability.
“We have now achieved a massive £200m of forward sales for these products after years of sustained investment in research and development.
“The major investment programme that we are about to undertake would have been very difficult without the assistance of One North East and Durham County Council, both of which have shown a real commitment to ensuring our business has the support it requires to be a pioneer in this important technology.”
With today’s announcement from Nissan that they will build their new model, the Nissan Leaf, in Sunderland comes more good news for jobs in the North East. This decision was again supported by Labour in government with a grant of over £20 million forming part of the deal. The new model of car will run entirely on lithium-ion batteries.
Lord Mandelson has said:
“By working together we can achieve our aim of making the UK a world-leader in ultra-low carbon vehicles.”
The Education Revolution Is Underway – Don’t Let The Tories Wreck It!
Blog / March 18, 2010 / 1 Comment
This is a photograph of the new East Durham College in Peterlee which gives an idea of what the new secondary schools now under construction will look like when they are completed.
This week is a cause for celebration for our children’s future. As a resident of Dawdon myself, I was delighted to see that planning permission has been given for the construction of a new secondary school in Seaham. This is a direct result of the Labour governments “Building Schools for the Future” programme. The Labour Party recognises and takes seriously the fact that in the modern information driven society only well qualified and motivated school leavers will be better equipped to find good quality employment. After 18 years of Conservative rule most of our state schools in East Durham were allowed to fall into a state of disrepair undermining the rewarding learning environment. It is arguable that this is an ideological resistance to public services as well as an uncaring attitude towards the educational prospects of children from disadvantaged areas like Easington.
Although all parties say education is a priority only the current Labour government has actually embarked on a series of long term projects to refurbish and rebuild schools in traditionally deprived areas. In Easington alone all 6 schools are to be either rebuilt or extensively remodelled, a concrete example of the Labour Government’s commitment to children’s futures. As can be expected these are long term projects rather than temporary fixes for short term electoral gain, however, Labour in Government is determined that EVERY child matters and that EVERY school must be a good school. These schools are to be built for the future of Britain not the future of the Labour Party and are examples of change that can be seen and that we can all believe in. This has led to better examination results and educational achievement that improve the prospects of our young people day by day.
A return to a Conservative government would I suspect see these projects savaged as part of plans to slash public spending regardless of the effect on the country’s infrastructure and the people who use is. Although Tory budget reduction plans may initially lead to a small reduction in the national deficit, the long term effects of cutting funding to such projects would be devastating, not only for the long term future of the country, but for the future prospects of the local economies of East Durham and other similar areas. Under the “Inspiredspaces” project, local businesses are encouraged to tender for work on the construction of the new schools. Electricians, carpenters, plasterers and other trades, and companies supplying IT, infrastructure as well as businesses supplying parts for construction should benefit from the addition expenditure. “Inspiredspaces” is intended to produce these services through a managed supply chain approach, designed to deliver the best value for the community. Not only will this ensure that the bulk of the money spent on the schools will remain in the area but it will also provide work and business opportunities to County Durham through a “multiplier” effect. My fear is that a Conservative government would slash the BSF budget or quietly drop projects like these. This would be a tragic end and a waste of the time and effort that has already gone into the Building Schools for the Future programme.
The St Ives Effect: Art As An Engine for Economic Regeneration
Blog / March 10, 2010 / Comment now
I was recently invited to say a few words at the East Durham Artists Network Gallery in Seaham at the opening of the EDAN exhibition of paintings of contemporary artists from St. Ives in Cornwall. This exhibition is the start of a move to establish an artist “colony” in the North East based upon the successful St. Ives model. On closer investigation there are some surprising similarities between Cornwall and East Durham, more than might be expected at first glance, and rather more than the differences between the two communities.
In general when most people think of the North East, I suspect they conjure up a mental picture of grime, dirt and industrial decline. While this was certainly true to an extent in the immediate aftermath of the loss of our traditional heavy industries; this was also true of the towns of St Ives before the establishment of the artists’ colony there. Now the mental picture of Cornwall is one of a rugged, beautiful coastline and a vibrant community confident in itself and with a growing tourism sector built upon the varied and extensive range of contemporary art on offer in the town.
Efforts are being made to change the public perceptions here in East Durham. It is not widely appreciated that in recent years we have cleaned up the despoliation of our beaches through the Turning the Tide Programme, invested in the physical regeneration of Seaham including in the seafront and promenade. The windswept beauty of our East Durham Heritage Coast is now an asset for all to enjoy. We have good road infrastructure and on our doorstep are the long sandy beaches of the Northumbrian Coast, the impressive spectacles of Durham Castle and Cathedral, Bamburgh Castle and Hadrian’s Wall, the unique imagery of Holy Island and the striking vistas of the west Durham moors and Durham Dales.
The increasingly multi-cultural nature of our main cities in the North East of Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough are increasingly an inspiration for other forms of creative art especially photography, creative writing, poetry, music, film and new media. Just South of Seaham a film studio is to be the centre piece of a “Centre of Creative Excellence” that is currently going through its planning stages and will offer practical vocational training and a real opportunity of employment to our young people in creative industries, digital technologies and new media.
The uninformed may argue that the people of the North East have little interest in culture artworks or imagery but this is a misconception. A myth well and truly exploded by the traditional pastimes of many former coal miners who have found creative outlets for their talents in writing, poetry and painting, and who can work wood, coal and even steel into beautiful sculptures in their spare time. I attended a book launch on Saturday afternoon in Easington Welfare of “Shrugging Off the Wind” a collective work of poetry and short stories about Easington by creative writers from East Durham which was attended by over a hundred and fifty people. In a similar vein the streams of tourists to Segadunum and the old Roman forts like Vindelanda and Housesteads demonstrate that local people are interested in our heritage and culture.
In St Ives, the artists arrived just as the traditional industries of fishing and tin mining were declining. This is a situation that is almost an exact parallel to what has happened in Seaham with the loss of coal mining, although the demise of our local fishing industry doesn’t often get a mention. The artists and their followers who came to St Ives came not just for the spectacular seascapes and views but also because the local accommodation was affordable. Seaham has plenty of the affordable housing that helped to make St Ives initially so attractive financially and unlike St Ives there are many established galleries in the area, the famous Baltic Gallery, the Centre for Contemporary Art on Gateshead Quay and Institute Of Modern Art in Middlesbrough. There is not only plenty of space for displays but plenty of people, both locals and tourists to display it too especially as we have five universities between the Tyne and the Tees. Although Seaham itself might not at first sight seem the ideal location it could form the residential ‘hub’ of an artistic colony.
Although the St Ives colony produced many great works of art, after the Second World War the passing of Barbara Hepworth and Bryan Winter in 1975, as well as the demands for less traditional artworks, meant that the St Ives colony came close to being forgotten. Plans for expansion fell through as a result of lack of cash. It was a seminal exhibition at the Tate Gallery ‘St Ives 1939 to 1964 – 25 years of painting sculpture and pottery’ which led to a determined push, by local people and their Council that led to the opening of the St Ives – Tate, a venture that paid off with the more than 200,000 visitors in the first year alone.
So far so much for St. Ives and its success. The outstanding natural beauty of the East Durham Heritage Coast is not widely recognised, or has been forgotten or is simply not known of outside of the area, but it is also within an artist’s gift to promote the potential of our area and to take inspiration in the legacy of our industrial past.
The similarities between St Ives and East Durham are not just coincidental but also in the blood. When the tin mines were worked out, it was tin miners from Cornwall who moved to the North East to work the dangerous coal seams. Almost the entire population of the village of Calstock moved to Murton in the 1830s. It is also evident in the street names like Bude Square, St Ives Place, Trevone Square, Treen Crescent and Tregony Avenue can now be seen only a mile up the road from Seaham Harbour in Murton. Cornish names are not uncommon. I found the name of Cornishman Elias Place on a very simple old head stone in the Holy Trinity cemetery in Murton. Murton Colliery was sunk in 1838. Within four years of the pit being sunk Elias Place and three of his sons one aged only 13 years had been killed in the pit. One of my last acts as a member of Easington District Council was to name Calstock Square in Murton in honour of Elias Place and his boys.
So you see Cornishmen and East Durham people are a band of brothers united by a common bond of blood.
To our all our artists from EDAN and to those visiting from St Ives I would like to bid you welcome ”Easington A’gas Dynnergh ” in Cornish which translates to “Easington welcomes you” and I hope we can learn from your success in St Ives to develop our own little garden of Edan centred on the East Durham Coast and Seaham Harbour.
Grahame Morris Speech to the Easington CLP Annual Dinner February 18th 2010
Blog / February 20, 2010 / 4 Comments
On Thursday 18th February 2010 Easington Constituency Labour Party held their Annual Gala Dinner with Guest Speaker Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. The event was attended by over 230 guests drawn from Labour Party Members, supporters, the trade unions and local businesses. Judged by many of those attending to be the best constituency dinner of its kind anywhere in the region!
Below is the text of my speech with some pictures to give you a flavour of the event:
Tory Austerity Package Is Not The Answer
I wish to pay warm tribute to John Cummings M.P. who has served this constituency and the Labour Party for 23 years – in fact nearer 50 years if you include John’s time as Labour Leader of Easington District Council and Lodge Secretary of the Murton Mechanics.
John has been a terrific support.
A rock in troubled times
He has been my mentor
He has served the people of this constituency well
And I would like to pay tribute to him on behalf of his many friends and colleagues who are gathered here this evening
Many from the Easington constituency
Many from the North East
At least two from Liverpool
Some from London
Some from as far away as the USA
Looking ahead to the coming General Election.
We are faced with some stark choices
Essentially it is a choice between Labour on the same side as ordinary families
Supporting jobs and helping businesses through these tough times
And the Conservatives passing by on the other side
The Tory austerity package is not the answer
The Conservative Party’s plan seems to be to focus the public debate on the economy on reducing public expenditure.
Under this plan public services are apparently to be targeted as the cause of the financial crisis and balancing the budget the solution with the result that those least responsible are expected to bear the long-term costs of the economy’s problems.
Contrary to prevailing thinking on the right of the political spectrum cutting government borrowing is best achieved by investing in jobs, generating tax revenues, and cutting unemployment.
Britain’s national debt today as a proportion of GDP is about 55% and rising.
It is true that Government debt is expected to hit 70% soon.
This is largely because of the reckless business practices of the casino bankers precipitating a global recession
The City of London bail-outs cost the taxpayer a massive £150 billion between 2007 and 2009.
Just reflect on this
In 1946 Britain’s debt was roughly 5 times what it is today
A staggering 250% of GDP.
At that point an extraordinary thing happened.
Labour invested in a bold and visionary project:
A publicly funded health service free at the point of use.
There was a massive slum clearance and house building programme.
The universities were revived,
Pensions and welfare were provided to the poor.
Ex-soldiers were retrained to become teachers.
Post war investment by a Labour government kick-started economic activity in the private sector.
Tax revenues rose,
Expenditure on unemployment benefits fell, and the government cut its borrowing, which fell dramatically as a share of GDP.
The economy thrived between and the years 1945 to 1971 which became known as ‘the Golden Age’.
The spending paid down the debt.
Tonight we have a glimpse of what a low carbon future might hold.
Geoff Turnbull, MD GT Group, Alan Cummins, Easington NUM Lodge Secretary, Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Edna Connor, Horden Parish Councillor, Audrey Laing, Chair Easington CLP.
I am delighted that Geoff Turnbull the M.D, of GT Group is with us
Geoff is a giant and one of our home grown captains of industry
He had the vision to see that reducing pollutants from road transport had growth potential.
GT Group are at the cutting edge in terms of R&D developing some ground breaking technology to remove harmful particles from diesel engine exhausts
This technology has now been perfected and the company are well placed in a new factory in Peterlee to press ahead with their expansion plans to safeguard existing employment and creat many more new ones based upon some huge contracts with some global truck manufacturers such as Volvo Scania and Mack Trucks with the promise of more in the pipeline.
Bio Fuels also well represented here tonight through NEPIC , the North East Process Industry Cluster a bio fuels hub based on Teesside but with strong East Durham connections and with many companies represented in the consortium.
I am delighted to see some old friends from Hawthorn here tonight.
We were working together in at the ground floor when bio fuels were being developed, lobbying to bring about a reduction in duty on fuel to make the process commercially viable.
I would also like to draw the Minster’s attention to the potential of Clean Coal Technology and carbon capture and storage which could bring substantial benefits to East Durham and the North East regional economy not least to Teesside.
This time in 2010 we can as a nation take on the challenge presented and emerge from the recession into another golden age taking advantage of the opportunity to invest in new green technologies and take a world lead in industrial sectors that are concentrating upon reducing Co2 emissions.
Mick Laffey & Guests Thompsons Solicitors Labour Lawyers with Ed Miliband & Grahame Morris
We are now at a similar crossroads as we were in 1945.
In this election which will be the hardest fought for almost 20 years.
We need to get across our message and our vision for the future to the electorate.
And we must also talk proudly of what we have achieved over the last 13 years against a Tory party that knows no limits when it comes to talking Britain down.
Tonight I want to appeal to Labour Party members and supporters to redouble our efforts.
Today the Labour Campaign Office, our new Election Campaign headquarters in the Glebe Centre in Murton became fully operational, with printing facilities, telecoms and broadband, a campaign website, all now operational so we now have the modern campaigning tools to do the job.
I want to restore pride in Labour and to ensure our people are proud to say they are Labour Party Members.
I want you to resolve to join the campaign.
Commit to leaflet your street or better still join in with the Labour Campaign Teams in your area.
I want you to see Easington continue as a bastion of Labour support.
I also want to see Labour winning in the seats like Stockton South and Sunderland Central targeted by Lord Ashcroft’s millions.
Let’s raise some money tonight to give us the resources to fight the election campaign in our constituency.
Dig deep and make a pledge to do our utmost to ensure we have an irresistible fightback for a Labour Fourth Term.
It is too important to our future as a nation allow this opportunity to slip away.
I would like to end with a short quote from Robbie Burns.
Robbie Burns was a man before his time but this quote can be applied to Climate Change and Global Warming.
It was often used by Lawrence Daly former National President of the NUMA great man who sadly passed away last year:
Why should we idly waste our prime
Repeating our oppressions?
Come rouse to arms!
‘Tis now the time
To punish past transgressions.
The Golden Age we’ll then revive:
Each man will be a brother;
In harmony we all shall live,
And share the earth together;
And once again thank you so much for your support and may I introduce our guest speaker the Rt Hon Ed Miliband Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change…..
Presentation to John Cummings MP for his 23 years' service as Member of Parliament for Easington. Audrey Laing, Chair Easington CLP, Ed Miliband, John Cummings MP & Grahame Morris.
Labour Targets Cancer
Blog / February 12, 2010 / Comment now
Early diagnosis saves lives. In Cancer Awareness week it is worth noting that Labour is committed to guaranteeing cancer diagnosis within one week of referral. It’s a guarantee that will save up to 10,000 lives a year.
Grahame Morris with Health Secretary Andy Burnham
Last week I met with the Health Secretary Andy Burnham to discuss Labour’s future commitment to the NHS. The Labour Party is determined to ensure that every person in the UK is treated equally regardless of their ability to pay for healthcare. Every citizen should expect a high level service with patient guarantees and not be left for months on waitings list as happened the last time the Tories were in power.
Voters in Easington and throughout the country face a stark choice between a guarantee or gamble on cancer treatment. That’s the big choice on the NHS at the General Election. This is a choice between an NHS going forward with Labour, with guarantees for patients backed up by law. The alternative with the Tories is our NHS going backwards with no patient guarantees but instead a ‘hope for best’ gamble on everything from waiting times to cancer referral. David Cameron is committed to giving fewer rights to NHS patients.
Early diagnosis saves lives. Labour is committed to guaranteeing cancer diagnosis within one week of referral. It’s a guarantee that will save up to 10,000 lives a year. Labour’s one week commitment means tests and results within just one week.
The Conservative Party, Draft health manifesto, 4 January 2010, p. 7 says “We will scrap all of the politically-motivated process targets that stop health professionals doing their jobs properly”. In reality this leaves patients with no rights or guarantees for when they will receive their treatment, treatment which may be essential and that saves lives.
Homes for Heroes
Blog / February 4, 2010 / Comment now
This week I met with Kevan Jones, Under Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, to press the case for our service personnel. Amongst a number of issues that we discussed was the difficulty that is faced by service men and women when it comes to finding suitable accommodation.
I was pleased to learn about a pilot scheme that the government has recently announced that will assist members of the armed forces in getting on the property ladder. Under this scheme the government will provide up to 50% of the property value to give real help to members of the armed forces. Unlike other schemes of this nature, members will be able to purchase a property anywhere in England.
I am pleased that the government has recognised that more needs to be done to ensure our service men and women and their families receive real support in their day to day lives. The aim of the scheme is to ensure that those people who serve abroad on our behalf are not disadvantaged by the demands of service life. The nation owes every member of the armed forces a debt of gratitude for their dedication and for the risks that they take on our behalf.
The pilot scheme will run until 2013 and has had £20 million set aside to assist its smooth running. This sort of initiative shows the fresh thinking of Ministers like Kevan Jones and illustrates what can be achieved by government. I announced earlier this year that I had signed up to the British Legion Manifesto and committed myself to support specific policies aimed at improving the lives of serving and retired personnel and their families.
The Minister with responsibility, Kevan Jones, said:
“Getting a first foot on the property ladder is an important step in any young person’s life. By providing the flexibility to live anywhere in England and giving applicants the opportunity to sublet when they are working away from home, we have delivered a scheme that is tailor-made to meet the unique needs of the Armed Forces.
“This is yet another example of the MOD working with other Government departments to ensure that servicemen and women get the best deal.”
Some Thoughts On Conservative Health Plans.
Blog / January 27, 2010 / Comment now
I was recently contacted by the Socialist Health Association which caused me to devote some thought to the policies behind David Cameron’s general election campaign poster about the NHS. The basis of Conservative arguments to break up what they see as the state NHS monopoly justified by what seems on the face of it to be a laudable aim of giving more choice to patients is in reality fraught with danger
In reality most NHS patients are in no position to exercise any choice about where they need treatment. The older, sicker and poorer you are the less attractive choosing to travel further for treatment becomes. The reality is that ambulance drivers make more real choices than patients.
The Tories want to scrap Labour’s health targets. Having spent a number of years working in the NHS and serving on the management board of Sunderland City Hospitals I know from experience that in practice measuring and rewarding outcomes rather than activity although an excellent idea is very difficult to do.
The Tories say real budgets to be given to GPs will cut bureaucracy. To be fair we are blessed with some excellent primary health care professionals in the communities of Easington. Some G.P s are excellent at administration and some are not. Some would be good at running a budget but some would not. Under Conservative Health proposals each of the 8000 or so GP practices in England will have a budget of about £1 million, so presumably they would all have to employ managers to help them run their budgets. This plan would seem to suggest an awful lot of additional practice based managers to me.
The Tories propose that the NHS will be run by an independent board with the Secretary of State responsible for Public Health not the NHS. The Conservative strategy is designed to avoid any political accountability for health care. Although they also say they will “immediately stop the proposed closures of vital local services that are happening under this Government” market forces are likely to lead to the rapid closure of many smaller hospitals.
More worrying for those of us that live in deprived areas like East Durham they would alter the allocation of funding so it relates to need by which they mean the age of the population instead of poverty and deprivation when most GPs in more deprived areas like Easington are already struggling with historic under-funding.
Now add this policy to a really telling bit of investigative journalism into payments received by the Conservative Shadow Health Team from private medical firms reported in the Daily Mirror [25th Jan 2010 ~ Shadow Health Cash by James Lyons]. Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley took £21,000 from Care UK a company which is set to gain from Tory plans to increase private provision. Electoral Commission documents show Shadow Health Minister Stephen O’Brien’s office had three payments totalling £40,000 from Julian Schild. Mr O’Brien’s family also made a reported £184 million in 2006 by selling hospital bed makers Huntleigh Technology. Another Shadow Health Minister Mark Simmonds accepted a US trip to Boston worth £4512 from BUPA. The Tories Health Spokesman in the Lords is Lord McColl of Dulwich and he is a paid consultant to private health provider Endeavour Healthcare.
The Elvis Presley song …Suspicious Minds popped into my head for some reason. These links to private health go largely unreported in the quality and local press. I hope the British public will not be fooled by leopards that certainly have not changed their spots and could severely maul our beloved NHS if they get their paws on it.
