Working Party

This morning I joined a team of Rugby Councillors clearing overgrown brambles from the Great Central Walk in Brownsover. I had no idea they could take such a hold and had begun to cause real problems for a resident living nearby. Many hands make light work and we made a real difference over a coulpe of hours, followed up with some fantastic bacon butties courtesy of Carolyn.

Question Time

Earlier this week I took part on a "Question Time style" debate with other politicians at Ashlawn School where arounf 100 students from three of Rugby's secondary schools put the questions. Quite reasonably several questions were about issues that affect the students themselves - EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance) and the unfairness of some 16-18 year olds getting financial support while others don't; the unfairness of tuition fees being charged to University students in England but not in Scotland; the implications of raising the school leaving age to 18 by 2013; the difficulties faced by students by the late payments of grants this year. We also covered more general issues suuch as whether MPs understand the seriousness of the expenses scandal (they do!) & why people are motivated to persue a career in Parliament and how to deal with the current economic situation. The questions were well prepared with each questioner giving their point of view as well as comments from the floor. It was interesting to take part and I enjoyed being put through my paces. Thanks & congratulations to Keith Bradbury, Head of Sixth Form for organbising it and getting in first. I already have three more such events in my diary as we approach the election date!

Party Chairman in Rugby

Party Chairman, Eric Pickles MP, joined us in Rugby last week for a get together with activists as we prepare for the coming General Election. Eric gave us a stirring call to action, reminding us how close the election date now is and setting out just how important it will be for us to succeed in Rugby if we are to succeed in the country. We had time for lunch at La Casa Loco Restaurant where Eric pronounced the meal as good as any Mexican food he had tasted!

Our Annual Dinner

Our Guest of Honour at our Dinner on Friday was Edwina Currie. Edwina is one of few MPs who have left the House to develop an even more sucessful career elsewhere. In Edwina's case this has been as as an author and TV personality with characteristcally strong opinions. Both careers have provided her with some excellent stories and she was a most entertaining after dinner speaker. Edwina was kind enough to make part of her speech "advice to a candidate & aspiring MP" and I particularly enjoyed learning that I should carefully listen to advice and then "ignore it"! Edwina was most generous in offering a very attractive raffle prize which added to the success of the evening. It's great to receive such help & support.

A night at the Theatre

Tracy, Sara and I enjoyed a splendid evening at Rugby Theatre yesterday evening watching HMS Pinafore, made all the more interesting by two friends, Richard Jones & Stuart Esworthy in the lead male roles. Both cast and audience were thoroughly enjoying themselves and despite the snow, the theatre was almost full. It was good to reminded of another great facility the town has to offer.

A modern stylish building

This week I was shown around what I believe is one of Rugby's most stylish commercial properties, 11 Arches House on Leicester Rd, by the proud owner, Ivan Lewis of ECL Contracts. Ivan business supplies modern building cladding materials and their offices are a showcase for their products. We held a very interesting conversation about the structure of the industry, current business prospects, and the decline in new constuction projects generally. The property is named after the adjacent viaduct which is a key feature of the approach to Rugby from the M6 motorway.

Today's economic news

When last weekend I was involved in a discussion on the BBC Politics Show West Midlands and spoke about the economic difficulties the country faces, I was accused by my Labour opponent of "talking Britain down". Today the Times covers here the country's January borrowing of £4 billion at a time when records have always shown a surplus, and the Government itself budgeted for a positive £2.8 billion. In addition BBC News reports here about the biggest fall in retail sales between two months, December and January, for a year and a half. The survey that we are doing this month on the doorsteps and on the phone demonstrates that there are still some people who don't fully appreciate the severity of the problems we face, but the majority know that things will have to change. I was astonished that there was a tiny amount of growth recorded in quarter 3 of last year, as all of the evidence seemed to show a continunig decline. It is only recognising reality to suggest that the first quarter of this year will be bad. No organisation, whether a household, business or country can carry on with a mismatch between income and expenditure as big and long as we have experienced without serious consequences. The task facing an incoming Government is increasing all the time. The sooner we make a start the better.

Damian Green MP in Rugby

On Friday our guest in Rugby was the Conservative Spokesman on Immigration, Damian Green. Damian spoke at a reception when about 50 people came to hear about both our policy on this issue. Damian also spoke about the campaign he is heading calling for the DNA taken from innocent people to be returned, details of which are on my website. Immigration is always a sensitive issue and it was good to hear about our ordered and consistent approach from the person who has had a major role in the development of our ideas. There were many questions for Damian, indicating the level of concern on this issue, and I was pleased that he was able to provide reassurance on how immigration will be handled more effectively under a Conservative Government.

England v Wales

I was lucky enough to have a ticket for the game on Saturday and was delighted with an England victory after several recent visits. I sat right at the top of the new South stand and had a great view of the play unfolding even if the players were so far away that it was difficult to tell who was who! The game celebrated the 100th anniversary of Twickenham as a stadium and a DVD of great matches there came with the souvenir programme. I was reminded of the 1980 game (30 years ago!) which I was also lucky to be at, when Bill Beaumont’s team won 9-8 with Dusty Hare’s penalty kick in the last minute giving England their first victory after dominance by the Welsh throughout the 70’s. Although not covered by the DVD, the match was also famous for a certain scantily clad lady making her way onto the pitch to the delight of the crowd and the consternation of Beaumont who was giving his half time talk – being men they didn’t retreat to the changing room but remained on the pitch. I love the line from scrum half Steve Smith, who at the time said to his captain “Don’t look now Bill, but a girl has just run on to the pitch with your backside on her chest!”

More development in Rugby

Last year I spent a couple of days at the design inquiry for the mast site which is at the eastern side of Rugby’s urban area. On Friday I attended an exhibition of proposals for development of what is known as the “Gateway” site which is to the west of the Leicester road and up to the M6 Motorway. This is a large site where the proposals are for 1300 houses and 36 hectares of employment land with an anticipated 2400 jobs. In many ways this is a more obvious site for development than the mast site but many of the concerns are the same. It will be important that infrastructure is in place before much of the development takes place and there is anxiety about the capacity of the Leicester road which although a dual carriageway will take all of the traffic from the Western Relief Rd when it opens later this year. It will be important that new residents are able to easily access the town centre in order to keep their spend here in Rugby and there is already a great deal of pressure on the Avon Mill roundabout. In addition links to the existing community of Coton Park on the other side of the Leicester road will need to be considered closely. All in all done well this can be a benefit to Rugby, but there is much detail still to be looked at. You can see a short film of my remarks about these development proposals here.

Actual records or a survey?

Chris Grayling Shadow Home Secretary today said that he will continue to judge crime statistics on police records rather than an opinion survey. There is a disagreement between the Government and the Conservatives over which set of crime figures to use. Labour prefer the British Crime Survey - which shows a fall in crime - but which is based on an opinion survey rather than real records and fails to take account of hundreds of thousands of offences including murder, manslaughter, crimes against commercial premises and crimes against under-16s. We have consistently argued in favour of using recorded crime figures as collated by the police in police stations. When it comes to decisions making in Business or in Government and given a choice between a survey and recorded data, I know which I would rather rely on.