But in 48 hours over 80,000 38 Degrees members signed the petition. The public outcry grew in volume across the internet and in the press. More and more politicians started to join in. By the end of the weekend, we’d got Hester to back down.

This latest breakthrough is yet more proof that people power matters. When enough of us speak up together, we can help change things for the better – even when politicians claim there is no alternative.

Remember when the government said there was nothing they could do to stop Rupert Murdoch taking over BSkyB? Or that selling off England’s forests was essential? Or that the NHS changes would be done and dusted by the middle of 2011? Time and again 38 Degrees members work together to prove there are alternatives.

Is there more we could be doing together to tackle the scandal of bankers bonuses and skyrocketing executive pay? You can share your thoughts on this on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/peoplepowerchange or on the 38 Degrees website: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/join-the-conversation

Here’s what some other 38 Degrees members are saying so far:

Deborah: “Way to go! 82K people signed in 48 hours! Well done 38 Degrees!”

Shaun: “This is great news, i like to think that our petition and facebook protest on here and on the RBS facebook page had a hand in making him change his mind on the bonus “

John: “A small enough victory but I hope a significant one. On to chasing tax dodgers and saving our NHS “

Anthony: “We need to remember this was not brought about by any pressure whatsoever by the government or the board. Both backed the bonus, the board siding with him and the government limp in their glaring lack of condemnation. The more we speak up the louder our voice.”

Wendy: “The arguments in favour of high salaries for bankers are as obscene as the salaries and bonuses themselves.”

Sylvia: “We pestered Hester – and he crumbled!”

Thanks for being involved,

Becky, Cian, Marie, David, Hannah, Johnny and the 38 Degrees team

PS: Big corporations keep a close eye on social media to spot threats to their reputation. RBS won’t have been able to miss all that we did over the weekend, with over 12,000 shares of the petition on Facebook, and 2,000 messages on Twitter. Well done to everyone who spread the word!

NOTES:
[1] The Telegraph: Stephen Hester bonus: ‘real change and new rules needed at Britain’s banks” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9048900/Stephen-Hester-bonus-real-change-and-new-rules-needed-at-Britains-banks.html
[2] Mirror: David Cameron sparks outrage as he nods through RBS chief Stephen Hester’s £1m bonus http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2012/01/28/david-cameron-sparks-outrage-as-he-nods-through-rbs-chief-stephen-hester-s-1m-bonus-115875-23723572
[3] 38 Degrees petition http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/rbs-chief-don-t-accept-your-1-million-bonus
[4] Citywire reports that a source close to Stephen Hester says he feared “becoming a ‘pariah’ if the controversy continued” http://citywire.co.uk/money/hester-gave-up-1m-bonus-to-avoid-pariah-status/a562076
[5] Read more on the 38 Degrees website about the Murdoch campaign http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2011/07/13/victory-murdoch-withdraws-bskyb-bid/ – the NHS campaign http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2011/10/13/nhs-what-weve-done-together-so-far/ – and forests campaign http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2011/02/17/victory-government-to-scrap-plans-to-sell-our-forests/

From an email sent by www.38degrees.org.uk
38 DEGREES Registered Company No. 6642193

We now know just how badly David Cameron and George Osborne’s reckless gamble with the economy has backfired.

After stalling for a year our economy has now gone into reverse. Unemployment is at a 17 year high. And the result is £158 billion more borrowing than planned.

This Tory plan is hurting, but it’s not working.

Of course if we had won the election there would have been difficult decisions for Labour on tax, spending and pay. But, as we always warned, cutting spending and raising taxes too far and too fast has completely backfired.

So while we have never opposed every cut, we will continue to oppose this Tory-led government when they do things that are unfair, bad for jobs or self-defeating. And as I say in the Daily Mirror today Labour would be making different choices now – and we will make tough but different choices in the future.

That is why we are campaigning for Labour’s five point plan for jobs

Our plan includes a temporary VAT cut, tax breaks for small firms taking on extra workers and a bank bonus tax to fund 100,000 jobs for young people. It would be a fairer and better way to get the deficit down – investing in jobs for the future rather than borrowing to keep more and more people on the dole.

But if these complacent Tories and Lib Dems plough on regardless, the next Labour government will inherit a really difficult situation.

That’s why Ed Miliband and I can’t make any promises now – over three years before the election – to reverse spending cuts or tax rises. We will have to see where we are in 2015 because – unlike Nick Clegg – we won’t make promises we can’t keep.

And we will have a big job on our hands to sort out the deficit, clear up George Osborne’s economic mess and deliver social justice in tougher times

This government’s economic failure also means tough times are set to continue now. And in tough times the priority has got to be protecting jobs rather than pay rises – which is why we can’t oppose the government’s decision to extend public sector pay restraint. But I’ve told the Chancellor the average 1% cap must be done fairly – tougher on those at the top to give bigger pay rises to those on lower incomes.

If David Cameron and George Osborne refuse to change course we cannot duck the reality – the next Labour government will have to pick up the pieces and clear up their mess. But as long as this government is getting it wrong, we will continue to say so loud and clear.

So in the eight weeks between now and the Budget, let’s expose how the Tories and Lib Dems are getting it badly wrong. And let’s make the case for Labour’s five point plan for jobs – a fairer and better way to get Britain working again.

Yours,

Ed Balls

P.S. Labour’s jobs plan is needed now more than ever. Help to spread the word by going to www.labour.org.uk/plan

Wyre Forest Labour Party have released their alternatives to the Tory Councils budget – the proposals are due to be discussed at Thursdays Budget Scrutiny Meeting on 26th January. Amongst other suggestions, Labour will implement in full the recommendations of the Review Panel to cut Councillor Allowances to finance the reintroduction of £1000 per Councillor Community Fund to be spent on the community in their wards. Labour Group Leader Jamie Shaw said “Our budget puts the community first and we believe residents would prefer to see their money being used for public benefit rather than going in to Councillors pockets.”

The key points are –

£1.35m to part-fund construction of 34 mixed tenure “affordable” homes with Registered Social Landlords, (RSLs), e.g., Community Housing, in 2012/13 & 2013/14

Appoint Empty Homes Officer, re-introducing a role currently not filled by the council, at a cost of £32,000 per annum.

Annual grant of £50,000 to bring empty homes up to a habitable standard, so as to be able to be rented by an RSL for a period of at least five years.

An Empty Homes strategy based on the above provision would be likely to enable 35 to 40 properties to be brought back into occupation per annum; therefore, including the capital sum for new construction; approximately 109 new units of accommodation would be available for occupation by March 2014, through the implementation of Labour proposals.

Jamie Shaw said, “Last year our budget proposals made a major statement, ‘New homes, not new council offices’. This year, we have had no choice other than to move to a lesser strategy of a few key amendments, because of the commitment of the council’s capital resources to the seriously flawed new office project. Our recently agreed manifesto, shortly to be launched, identified Housing as a major priority. It therefore features strongly in our budget proposals.”

Other proposals are to spend £50,000 per annum on a Business Development Manager with a specific remit for business start-up in the area and tourism-related initiatives plus general marketing of Wyre Forest as a destination.

Howard Martin, Labour Deputy Leader with responsibility for Economy and Finance said “We recognise the desperate need to regenerate the area and look at new initiatives. We see Tourism as a growth opportunity for the area and believe the council should be much more proactive in its approach – consequently the role of a Business Development Manager would address this and other economic growth matters – the potential payback will give outstanding value for money.”

The proposals are delivered with no Council Tax increase this year but in subsequent years an increase of 3.5% will be brought which will cost residents just under £2 a year more than the Tory planned 2.5% rise. “Our proposals represent positive action for the community and value for money” said Cllr Shaw.

Howard Martin is Wyre Forest Labour Parliamentary Spokesperson

For Further Information contact Jamie Shaw – 01299 824410 or Howard Martin – 01562 67338 or 07976915428

Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party, has written to the Prime Minister over inaccurate claims which he made in response to questions in Parliament today.

The text of Ed Miliband’s letter is below:

Dear Prime Minister,

I wanted to write following this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions to draw your attention to some inaccurate claims you made today.

In an answer to me, you said that “There are more people in work today than there were at the time of the last election”. In fact, the most recent employment figures from the Office for National Statistics show that total employment between May-July 2010 and September-November 2011 fell by 26,000.

In an answer to Lindsay Roy MP, you said that the Merlin agreement “actually led to an increase in bank lending last year”. In fact, the latest Trends in Lending report from the Bank of England, published last Friday, said that “the stock of lending to SMEs contracted between end-April and end-November 2011”.

In an answer to Paul Maynard MP, you spoke of “the real shame… that there are so many millions of children who live in households where nobody works and indeed that number doubled under the previous government”. In fact, according to the Office for National Statistics, the number of children living in workless households fell by 372,000 between April-June 1997 and April-June 2010.

In an answer to Rt Hon Anne McGuire MP, who said that your Government was planning to cut benefits to disabled children, you said that “The Hon Lady is wrong”. In fact, according to page 28 of the Department for Work and Pensions’ own impact assessment on the introduction of universal credit, your policy of mirroring for disabled children the current adult eligibility for Disability Living Allowance means that the rate paid to those disabled children who do not qualify for the highest rate of the DLA care component “would be less than now (£26.75 instead of £53.84)”.

I am sure that you will want to take this opportunity to correct the record.

Yours sincerely,
Ed Miliband

Our monthly Branch meetings give a chance to talk about the things that really matter- the future of our town. We fear that the Tory led District council is concerned more about its internal workings than what is happening in the real world!

Here in Stourport we are facing massive changes to the built environment – and it all seems to be happening in a haphazard way. Recently Stourport Primary School moved into their brand new state of the art building, necessitated by a political decision to reconfigure education in the Wyre Forest. Whilst we welcome this provision and wish the school every success in the future, we do have concerns about what will happen to the old school site.

Do the County Council have plans for the site? Are they waiting to see what happens to the Tesco site when the new store opens in Mitton Street?

We hear that the County Council wish to move the Library into the soon to be vacated Civic Centre and that they may be joined by the Police and possible the Housing Company as well. Where does that leave the Health Centre and Fire Station? If County Buildings are partly demolished, how viable will it be to retain these other services on the site?

We hear very little now about the future plans for the Lucy Baldwin site. Is the Worcestershire Health & Care Trust still committed to the provision of services in partnership with others for people with dementia and based in Olive Grove?

When will the people of Stourport, or even the Town Council, have a chance to engage with these public bodies about the future of our Town and the kinds of developments we want to see? Has the District or County Council got a coherent plan for the future of Stourport? And when will we have a High School building fit for the 21st century?

Carol Warren Lickhill & Mitton Labour

A Freedom of Information request has found that Wyre Forest District Council (WFDC) fails to pay more than one in ten of its staff the hourly rate judged to cover basic living costs.

The Living Wage of £7.20 an hour is the minimum amount necessary for an individual to cover costs such as housing, food and utilities for themselves and their family.

The request to the district council found that 10.9% of its employees were paid below the living wage hourly rate. This figure does not include those who work for contractors on behalf of WFDC, about whom information is unavailable, meaning the figure could be even higher.

Subsidising poverty wages comes at a great cost to the tax payer – estimated by the Institute of Fiscal Studies to be £6 billion per year. Despite 57% of children in poverty having working parents, the annual bill for tackling child poverty is £25 billion.

Tom King, who submitted the Freedom of Information request, said “It’s disgraceful that Wyre Forest District Council aren’t paying their employees a fair wage that will allow them to support their families and have a decent standard of living.”

He added “It’s crucial that ‘work pays’ and this cannot be achieved when the Council is paying poverty wages. They should be setting an example on this issue and I call on Council Leader, John Campion, to take immediate action.”

Howard Martin, Labour Councillor and Parliamentary spokesperson, said “This information is of serious concern – the fact that WFDC appears to be paying 10% of its employees less than the recommended living wage needs further scrutiny and the Labour group will look into this.”

Kidderminster Shuttle: Wyre Forest council staff pay ‘below living wage hourly rate’

Despite our country’s economic plight.
Despite the massive job losses in our country.
Despite the savage, unnecessarily deep cuts imposed by the Tory-led Government on the people in our country.

The Tory Education Secretary, Michael Gove, wants to buy the queen a brand new yacht – the cost of which was estimated to be £60 million in 1997.

This is the cabinet minster who threw out the Building Schools for the Future Programme, thus depriving our children of modern, fit for purpose school buildings.

This same minister has slashed school budgets meaning less money to educate our children and young people.

He took away the Educational Maintenance Allowance from our 16-19 year olds.

He supported university fees of £9000 per year, preventing many of our bright young people from going to university.

Michael Gove is hell-bent on privatising our educational service where a child’s educational opportunities will depend on the wealth of their parents.

Michael Gove is an enthusiastic member of a Tory Government that is causing abject misery for so many people in this country and yet he wants to spend way in excess of £60 million on a new yacht!

Are we really all in this together?

Barry McFarland Wyre Forest Labour