NE Herts Labour - Cover Page

"After years of complaining that the Labour Government was not giving them enough money, the Tories at David Kirkman

County Hall have suddenly decided that they do have enough and will not be putting up the Council tax," says David Kirkman, Labour's parliamentary candidate for North East Hertfordshire (pictured right).

"This could not have anything to do with the forthcoming General Election, could it? Surely they would not be putting services to the people of Hertfordshire at risk for electoral advantage. So, it must be that they have come to realise that their grant from the Labour Government - protected as it is by the mechanism which protects Hertfordshire from a sudden reduction to the level of other councils - is a very generous one."

Click here to read more about David Kirkman.

Have you heard what David Cameron thinks of the Copenhagen Accord?

No, neither have we.....

This is the most important issue facing the world, but the Tories are so divided on it that their leader is frightened to say anything at all.

And here is why. A survey published on 20 January 2010 showed that, of 141 Tory candidates questioned, only 8 gave "reducing Britain's carbon footprint" a rating of 5 (most important) on a scale of 1 to 5. Not nearly as important, apparently, as reducing welfare bills (59) or cutting red tape (73). The top priority was reducing the budget deficit (112). The survey was conducted by the ConservativeHome website.

So, now we know. David Cameron may be sincere when he says that the issue of climate change is of the highest importance, but, if he were to be elected, he would be backed by a party which does not. Our children and grand-children deserve better than this.

Read more about the Copenhagen conference.

David Kirkman welcomes Pre-Budget Report

"Our total net debt will be 56% of GDP this year. In the USA, Germany and France it will be half as big again," says David Kirkman, Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for North East Hertfordshire (pictured left). "At £178 bn, it is a lot of money and paying it off will be painful, but we mustn't get hysterical about it, like the Tories and the Tory press."

"The economy has been saved from disaster by Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling and the Labour Government. We must get to a point where we have a strong recovery before we start in earnest on the task of paying back the debt. The Tories want to put us back into recession by cutting back immediately," David says.

Alistair Darling (pictured left) has got it just about right, according to David.

As originally intended, the temporary cut in VAT will end in January 2010, as will the temporary exclusion of some lower value house sales from stamp duty.

Other changes to repay some of the debt are brought in gradually as the economy recovers. The inheritance tax threshold will be frozen in April 2010. (The Tories would abolish the tax and give money to the richest 2.5% of estates.) The 50% tax rate for very high earners also comes in then.

However, the rise in National Insurance contributions of an additional 0.5% (making 1% in all) does not apply until April 2011 - and is off-set by an increase in the threshold for payment to £20,000, protecting 15 million workers. By then, the economy is expected to be recovering well. The threshold for the 40% tax rate will not be frozen until 2012. "The Tories are trying to make people believe that they would reverse the increase in NI contributions, without actually promising to do so," says David.

"It would be nice to think that we could repay the debt by taxing rich bankers. However, whilst you may believe that there are far too many of them, there are not enough - or of the very rich in general - to raise the money needed. Those of us in work have to contribute unless we are on very low pay. After all, it is those who are out of work as a result of the crisis - not those of us who still have jobs - who have really suffered."

Meanwhile, the Government will continue to protect the most vulnerable in society. State pensions will rise by more than inflation in April 2010. Increases in benefits and tax credits will be brought forward to 2010 from 2011, giving a 1.5% boost above inflation.

Front line services from schools, the NHS and the police will also be protected.

Click here for more information on the pre-budget report and to read Alistair Darling's speech to the House of Commons.

Gordon Brown returns from Copenhagen
disappointed, but ready to fight on

"It is progress, but it is not enough," he said. "I am now going to lead a campaign round the world for a legally binding treaty."

Gordon Brown was the first of head of government to commit to going to Copenhagen for the climate change talks. In the end, 120 followed his lead, including President Obama. Last June, he proposed the $100 bn. fund by 2020, which seemed very ambitious at the time, but became the main positive outcome of the talks after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton give it the support of the United States. According to Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister, the financial arrangement would not have been achieved "without his (Gordon Brown's) intervention".

Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, after his gruelling week in Copenhagen, says that the Copenhagen Accord provides a basis for a new chapter on climate change. "Let's work together to make it happen," he says. To read more about the positive outcomes from the talks and to give support to the continuing fight to get world agreement on action, click here.

Meanwhile, David Cameron has nothing to say at all about the way forward. He may genuinely hold the "green" views that he has expressed in the past, but he dare not express them now, because his party have been falling over themselves either to deny that climate change is happening or to say that we are proposing to spend too much on dealing with it.

Former UKIP MEP jailed for expenses fraud

Tom Wise was elected as an United Kingdom Independence Party MEP for this region in 2005. On 11 November 2009, he was sent to jail for two years for fraudulent expenses claims totalling £39,000. He spent most of the money on wine, a car, clearing credit card debts and party political activities.

It is ironic that UKIP benefited at the last European Parliament election from the Westminster expenses row, when they had had members like Tom Wise and Labour MEPs' expenses are externally audited.

Labour Conference 2009

Tories out of step with the world

Gordon Brown, named Statesman of the Year by the American Appeal of Conscience Foundation, told the Labour Conference that all the G20 and all the European countries decided to act to stem the recession. Only one party wanted to do nothing - the Conservative Party of Britain. Read more .....

OTHER NEWS

County's Children's Services Not Good Enough, says Nigel Bell, Labour's deputy leader on the County Council, following an Ofsted report. Read more .....

Be afraid ... be very afraid. Johann Hari of the Independent shows us just what a Tory Government would be like. Read more .....

£8 million per year for Herts primary schools from the Labour government..... more

Click here for these and other news items

Click here to go to the main constituency party website.

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Council tax election bribe?