Creating New Apprenticeships

I have just returned from a presentation in Birmingham where George Osborne and David Willets were talking to student and members of the local business community about the economy in general and our plans to increase the number of new apprenticeships for young people. David spoke about the difficulty that apprentices face if they loose their job before their training is complete, how this would be completely unacceptable in any other area of education. Well informed and questions were posed about tuition fees, climate change, support for manufacturing, overseas aid, the effect of uncertainty in the postal service on business, the extent of tax avoidance and Govenment cuts to the College building programme. What was interesting was that most questions were posed on the basis that we will be in power after May and it fell to George to remind people that our assumption remains an "if" rather than a "when".

Dunchurch Coffee Morning

My first elected position was Councillor for Dunchurch & Knightlow in 2002 and so I was delighted to meet up with old friends and helpers at Dunchuch Conservatives Coffee morning this week. I was reminded by one or two people of the first campaign I look part in as a Councillor when we opposed the Government's proposals for an International Airport at Chuch Lawford. It all seem laughable now but at the time was a real threat to the environment and way of like here.

11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month

I have just returned from the firing of the maroons (rockets) on Whitehall Rec at the beginning and end of the two minute silence to commemorate Armistice Day. While there I took the opportunity to look at the many wreaths which were fixed to the gates at the ceremony on Sunday.

Unemployment & Ericcson

The unemployment figures announced today are horrible but especially bad for our area with the news that Ericcson have announced that they will be pulling out of the Ansty Park employment area leading to 700 redundancies. This is within Rugby Consituency although most of the staff there live in Coventry. Details from the Coventry Telegraph here and it falls to Guido Fawkes on his blog here to draw attention to the consequence of the Prime Minister's visit to the site earlier in February this year.

Remembrance Day Service

I have attended the Remembrance Day Service at the Memorial Gates at Whitehall Recreation Ground every year since I was elected a Councillor in 2002. This year during the march past there was spontaneous applause for both those currently in active service and veterans, and I believe this was the first time that happened. Coverage of the war in Afghanistan through modern media brings to life the sacrifices that both present and past servicemen have to make and has led to a greater appreciation among the public. I was please to be there on Sunday to pay my respects.

Even more spending?

The story to catch my eye in today's papers is here in the Sunday Times concerning Browns plans to increase spending in the run up to the election. Apparently this is not an attempt to bribe the electorate with jam today, but an even bigger stimulus to try to pull the country out of recession. It is as if the massive current deficit is not signifiant, nor that the the debt and interest payments we will be passing on to future generations don't matter. People sometimes say on the doorsteps that there is little difference between the parties. On the economy there will be bigger differences than for many years with according to the article Treasury officials fearing that increased spending will upset financial markets making it harder to service the national debt. The game is up - people know we can't carry on as we are and living beyond our means.

On the doorsteps in Bilton

We had one of our biggest teams ever out with our survey yesterday when Chris Heaton-Harris, candidate in Daventry brought a few of his supporters out to join us. We were asking people their thoughts about the Government's treatment of our Armed Services and you can take part through my website. I have found a survey a great way of finding out what Rugby people think about a topic and this gives me a good understanding of what people will expect to hear about from us in the coming General Election and what our priorities should be if we form the next Government..