Your political compass

[MarkHeenan]

a) the content of your fliers is far too generic compared to (for example) Labours (a bit of David Cameron rubbing off there maybe?) and b) your pictures on your leaflets are awful... could you not get any better ones...?

a) Would you rather I promised little and delivered a lot, or promised a lot and delivered little? I wanted to emphasise how I go about thinking about things, as over a four year term there's no way you can predict what challenges and choices you are going to be faced with. Given the current deficits in the National Government budget (which are quite simply mind-blowing) I'm afraid I can't help but feel that who ever is governing us a couple of years from now they will see local government grants as being a simple cut to make. Also much of what Local Government does is limited by what National legislation allows it to do. within four years that legislation may well change, becoming either more or (most probably) less restrictive, so it's very hard to pin down exactly what pledges to make, as I can't at this point be sure what I would be practically able to follow through on for a whole host of reasons. What I can do is say what sort of a person I am, what my priorities are, and what my basic world view is. So that's what I tried to convey.

b) Well if you haven't got the clay, you can't make the pot I guess... Those photos were mainly taken in the space of about half an hour, about an hour before the leaflet had to be signed off for printing. I think in the circumstances I would describe them as "reasonable"

 

[tek-monkey]

5) Living Wage.
A living wage is one that ensures a standard of living which is reasonable for "a human being in a civilised community". Though we would like the minimum wage to be a living wage nationally we would not have that power as a County Council . However the county council could offer this to both its direct employees and most importantly its indirect employees through community benifit clauses. Helping the low paid such as cleaners, etc.
The effect would be two-fold 1) put more money into the local economy 2) oblige offer employers to offer a 'living wage' in order to attract employees.
You may not think that a small increase in incomes would make much of a differance but just look at how the tax hike of getting rid of the 10% rate effected the incomes of the low paid.

At the same time the Green Party will be looking at the discrepancies in wage differences with a view to creating a fairer pay structure. SCC has one of the highest paid council bosses in the country, earning an annual salary of £192,000 whilst it many of its employees are on low pay.

Well thats all fair and good, but what if you don't work for the council? As said earlier, council wages are above average for what they do, in all departments that I have known people in. By paying council workers more how will it encourage other companies to offer more? Its not like every cleaning job in staffs will get a higher wage because the council workers get it, because not everyone can leave and go work for the council. I can't really understand this reasoning, other than to give council workers a pay rise - that doesn't help the man on the street one bit, it just costs him more taxes.

Also, any green party followers care to look at this article and tell me how much is true and how much BS? I can kind of understand their hatred of nuclear power, despite personaly seeing it as a better alternative than coal for the environment. I'm very wary of bans on stem cell research, putting alternative therapies into the NHS and refusing to have practicioners of them regulated though. Any input here would be useful, because TBH those last ones are deal breakers.

 

[Rikki]

Seems like yet another example of politicians thinking they know best despite the scientific evidence stating otherwise.

 

[Lunar Scorpion]

Edit: I appear to have accidently refered to a member of the British National Party as a gentleman, a mistake I've now fixed.

Nice one.

 

[Lunar Scorpion]

5) Living Wage.
A living wage is one that ensures a standard of living which is reasonable for "a human being in a civilised community". Though we would like the minimum wage to be a living wage nationally we would not have that power as a County Council . However the county council could offer this to both its direct employees and most importantly its indirect employees through community benifit clauses. Helping the low paid such as cleaners, etc.
The effect would be two-fold 1) put more money into the local economy 2) oblige offer employers to offer a 'living wage' in order to attract employees.
You may not think that a small increase in incomes would make much of a differance but just look at how the tax hike of getting rid of the 10% rate effected the incomes of the low paid.

At the same time the Green Party will be looking at the discrepancies in wage differences with a view to creating a fairer pay structure. SCC has one of the highest paid council bosses in the country, earning an annual salary of £192,000 whilst it many of its employees are on low pay.

Well thats all fair and good, but what if you don't work for the council? As said earlier, council wages are above average for what they do, in all departments that I have known people in. By paying council workers more how will it encourage other companies to offer more? Its not like every cleaning job in staffs will get a higher wage because the council workers get it, because not everyone can leave and go work for the council. I can't really understand this reasoning, other than to give council workers a pay rise - that doesn't help the man on the street one bit, it just costs him more taxes.

Also, any green party followers care to look at this article and tell me how much is true and how much BS? I can kind of understand their hatred of nuclear power, despite personaly seeing it as a better alternative than coal for the environment. I'm very wary of bans on stem cell research, putting alternative therapies into the NHS and refusing to have practicioners of them regulated though. Any input here would be useful, because TBH those last ones are deal breakers.

Have a look at the national website and you should be able to find their policy documents. Yes, the Green Party is opposed to nuclear power for very good reasons. Caroline Lucas mentioned this issue on the most recent Politics Show.

 

[tek-monkey]

The nuke issue wasn't my main problem, if they can find better energy sources then I'm all for it. Not sure they will any time soon, but that's not to say I want them to stop looking! Its more the unregulated witch doctors within the NHS that scares me, Stafford Hospital is bad enough thank you!

I'll dig through their docs later, bit busy at the min. Was just hoping for someone involved with them to give their input.

 

[db]

Vote For Labour: We've got what it takes to take what you've gotâ„¢

 

[henryscat]

Wow. I am really pleased to see some people looking into the issues

In reply to some policy questions regarding the Green Party:

1) Bus Fare Zones.
Maximum fare zones are in fact used in other areas of the country quiet successfully. For example West Midlands Travel currently charge a £1.10 max fair. This is a good deal for a journey more than 2-5 miles, if you ran a car that distance you are probably looking at around £2, or a taxi £5, making it cheaper than any other transport (other than bike of course).

This is not a subsided fare proposal but rather something that could be achieved via mechanisms like 'Statutory Quality Bus Partnerships' or the use of 'Quality Bus Contracts'. The Max Fare Zone would be built into these frameworks.

Though you are correct such instruments are no substitue for proper regulation. The people of London would not stand for a deregulated bus service and thus it remains to this day the only regulated bus service in the country and thus is better and cheaper. As a result Bus patronage in London has increased by over 20% between 1997/8 and 2002/3 whereas elsewhere it has declined.

Travel West Midlands maximum fare is £1.70, the £1.20 (its gone up) fare is for travelling 1 - 2 fare stages. These fares are decided commercially by TWM and aren't imposed on them.

A Statutory QBP as set out in the Local Transport Act would not achieve a £1 maximum fare. Though the LTA has a mechanism for setting maximum fares, it also says that operators are entitled to make a reasonable rate of return, and that they can object to any proposals which they consider unreasonable. A £1 would undoubtedly be considered an admissable objection and so could not be imposed.

2) Free Bus Pass.
This is another example of the post code lottery problem. Some borough councils run schemes that provide bus passes for the disabled and others don't. This could be rolled out county wide and would not actually cost that much money.

With regards to the bus passes for young people this would be part a joint commissioning funded project and would be piloted first. The cost of the scheme would be offest by virtue of its anticipated affect of leading to a cost reductions in youth and other services. Further funding could come from the massive savings from not wasting money on expensive PFI incinerator's etc.

Provision of a free national bus pass for over 60s and the disabled is a statutory requirement - there isn't a post code lottery on it. The statutory concession is free local bus travel 09:30 - 23:00 Mon - Fri, all day weekends/bank holidays. There are some local variations - most areas of Staffordshire (all of it except Tamworth, Cannock, East Staffs) allow passes to be used 24/7 for instance. Some authorities also choose to fund 'companion passes' which allows a person accompanying a disabled pass holder to travel for free also.

3) Buses and Disability Discrimination.
We don't think people should have to wait until 2015 or have the stress of having to prosecute bus companies. Thus this would be built into the proposed 'Quality Bus Partnerships/contracts'' from day one.

Again under LTA bus operators would be protected by bunging in an admissable objection. A great deal of the network is already low floor - in Tamworth for example everything is.

 

[henryscat]

Well thats all fair and good, but what if you don't work for the council? As said earlier, council wages are above average for what they do, in all departments that I have known people in. By paying council workers more how will it encourage other companies to offer more? Its not like every cleaning job in staffs will get a higher wage because the council workers get it, because not everyone can leave and go work for the council. I can't really understand this reasoning, other than to give council workers a pay rise - that doesn't help the man on the street one bit, it just costs him more taxes.

There are various local authority disciplines where the equivalent job in the private sector is paid more highly. It often results in people leaving for the private sector and then the LA ends up having to pay consultancy rates (kerching) to hire them or someone else back in. There are some local authority functions that are almost always short staffed because vacancies cannot be filled. Since the LA competes in the 'labour market' along with the private sector, it could be argued that these posts are being offered at below 'market' pay since otherwise they would be filled.

In terms of public spending, I'd be a lot more worried about the amount of PFIs (everything costs several times as much for zero public benefit) and the increasing amount of outsourcing in the public sector. Both of these are purely ideologically driven and offer little benefit to the population.

Also, any green party followers care to look at this article and tell me how much is true and how much BS? I can kind of understand their hatred of nuclear power, despite personaly seeing it as a better alternative than coal for the environment. I'm very wary of bans on stem cell research, putting alternative therapies into the NHS and refusing to have practicioners of them regulated though. Any input here would be useful, because TBH those last ones are deal breakers.

Had a read of the article and their link to national Green Party manifesto. Quite interesting, and I broadly agree with the Green Party's stance. I hadn't appreciated that they also stood against animal experimentation, which I was glad to see. The anti-nuclear and GM stance also seems very sensible to me.

 

[Gramaisc]

Kids say the cutest things.

 

[Lunar Scorpion]

Vote For Labour: We've got what it takes to take what you've gotâ„¢

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