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

In his MP column in this weeks Shuttle, Mark Garnier makes several reasonably sensible observations on why residents and, in particular the young, do not vote and are turned off by politics. In the same edition of the paper, however, there is an article commenting on his acceptance of corporate hospitality “gifts” that he has received in the last few months. It seems these “gifts” may start to give a clue to the low opinion of politicians which partly turn off the many voters Mark wishes to encourage.

He is right when he says he has done nothing legally wrong. He has acted within parliamentary guidelines and declared the hospitality, so fulfilling his statuary requirements under parliamentary rules. But, where is the morality of his actions in all this?

He accepted two tickets from Japan Tobacco International worth £1100 to attend the Chelsea Flower Show. Why two? Are we to presume a member of his family or friend was also invited? If so to what end? How does that help the residents of Wyre Forest? More significantly tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship in the UK are universally banned because of the harm smoking does and the massive cost to the NHS. It seems that our MP considerers it acceptable to receive perks aimed at promoting a tobacco company and thus supporting and condoning their activity when it is not acceptable for them to advertise or promote themselves conventionally. Very poor moral judgement on his part, I might suggest?

He accepted a “free” ticket for a Ball, valued at £1000, which was a charity fund raiser for the Tory Party! But since this was to raise party funds wouldn’t the correct action have been to offer to pay for it as his contribution to those funds not just accept a free night out? But no, so he helped a Tory Charity event by going “free.” The benefit of his attendance at that event to the residents of Wyre Forest is lost on me. Presumably then the time spent at these events contributes to the 100 hours a week he, allegedly, spends on his parliamentary duties on behalf of Wyre Forest? It’s a tough life.

In looking at him and his perception that this corporate hospitality is “just part of life” serves to demonstrate just how totally out of touch he is with the true quality of life for many of those he represents. The idea of attending a £1000 ball or 2 corporate tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show valued at £1100 are in a world that few of those on minimum wage or benefit can ever hope to aspire to. What, one wonders, would a single parent on a tread mill of borderline poverty make of a windfall of the £2000 Garnier accepted to enjoy a couple of good days out? How would money like that be used to improve the quality of life for children with little to look forward to? To our MP events like that are the norm and the money involved is just loose change. To some of those he represents it can mean the difference between food on the table or the bailiff coming in. Over stating the case it may be but it demonstrates the extremes of the have and have not’s in this.

How can someone from a privileged, traditional Tory background, educated at a top public school where the current fees top £30k a year, truly be in touch with a community in which average earnings are well below the annual cost of Mark’s education. In fairness to Mark it isn’t even reasonable that he should be expected to have empathy with the real world of those he represents – it is totally foreign to him and those of his ilk. He isn’t here because of any desire to serve Wyre Forest. He is here because he wanted a career in politics and to be a Tory MP, so he was shipped in with no background or understanding of the area and the people who live here. His priority will always be the Tory Party and Tory values. That is evident from the way he has consistently voted since he became MP. Party before people every time, as many said it would be even before he was elected. It is Wyre Forest that is suffering.

Then to cap it all our poor MP bemoans the fact that to serve us, he, and his Tory MP chums in Worcestershire, took a cut in income to the paltry £65k pa (plus expenses) that he now has to struggle by on, no longer having the generous earnings of an investment banker. “If we wanted to have our nose in the trough I could go back to being an investment banker” he says. At last common sense and sharp, perceptive observation from Mark in admitting that investment bankers are overpaid and on the take! Seems his former career was good training for the way our MP currently undertakes the task of putting the community he was elected to serve uppermost in his mind and actions. Still, only for 3 more years!

Howard Martin is Wyre Forest Labour Parliamentary Spokesperson

Kidderminster Shuttle: Garnier defends tickets ‘gifts’

Wyre Forest Labour: Tory Snouts in Troughs