Oulton Primary School governor and Labour Party activist Trish Bromilow is the latest local member to endorse Karen:
“I’m delighted to hear that Karen is seeking selection as the parliamentary candidate for Elmet and Rothwell. We need more women MPs both locally and on the national stage and Karen, who knows the constituency well, will make a fantastic MP. Good luck and I look forward to supporting you on the campaign!”
Another fantastic day on the campaign trail in Rothwell, we’re getting a fantastic response! It’s been a busy week campaigning, including with John Healey. the shadow health minister, door knocking in Rothwell on a beautiful sunny day! The campaign is very positive and upbeat. Time and again people are telling us that they want to send the Lib Dems a message as they feel totally let down by their blatant betrayal of the very people that voted for them. On so many issues from VAT to EMA and tuition fees and of course the NHS and even cutting winter fuel allowance for the older people who need it most. People on the doorsteps of Rothwell are telling us loud and clear that they won’t stand for such double standards.
One example is a guy who I remember speaking to before in a recent election who had told me in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t voting Labour, but he was voting for the Lib Dems. He is now very angry at the Lib Dems and told me that he thought they were nothing more than ‘opportunist’. He also told me that he has so far been impressed with Ed Miliband and he thought that I would make a great hard working councillor for Rothwell and he would definitely be voting for me on May 5.
I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has chipped in to help with the campaign so far – I really appreciate it!
Thanks to Leonie Mathers for the great photo of some of the team with John Healey.
On Monday event with Andy Burnham took place in Leeds. As Andy’s regional director I got to organise and host the event.
Thanks to @pennyb for the photo.
Great feedback for Andy from Leeds with lots of twitter comments and this great email I thought I’d share:
I really enjoyed Andy Burnham’s presentation and questions last night. I am impressed. He came across as genuine. He has obviously thoroughly thought through his politics. He will definitely be getting my first preference. If only more MPs were like him. He is a breath of fresh air in a climate of career politicians. I will put a donation for his campaign in the post.
@laidbackian: Had a great night with @andyburnhammp in Leeds. He has a passion for the Labour Party unmatched by the other candidates. #andy4leader
@stephenjtowler: Andy Burnham excellent in Leeds tonight. Why would you not vote for him?
@khutchinsondean After event tonight finally getting off the fence and backing @andyburnhammp for leader; most authentic, credible and fresh thinking choice
@laidbackian: Great night with @andyburnhammp in Leeds. He has a passion for the Labour Party unmatched by other candidates. #andy4leader
@Emma_Hoddinott: Saw @andyburnhammp last night in Leeds. Was very impressed with his ideas on Labour Party reform.
@christophe_read: Spoke to @andyburnhammp last night about my Young Labour report -he’d seen it & was v much along same lines. Top bloke.
@LauraPony: Pleased @brianahaha is also putting @andyburnhammp as first preference following event in Leeds last night #andy4leader
@LauraPony: Excellent evening listening to @andyburnhammp then eating lovely Italian food with fantastic family
@MagsNews: Andy Burnham – great guy. Met him in Leeds yesterday evening. V genuine and cares passionately about the party… My second preference!
@KatRRose: Enjoyed meetng @andyburnhammp in Leeds, @ed_miliband‘s better civil liberties 1st pref, but Andy Burnham is cool prob 2nd pref
@alexsobel: RT @KatRRose: Enjoyed meeting @andyburnhammp in Leeds, @ed_miliband 1st pref but Andy Burnham cool prob 2nd pref -prob me too
Just watched Yvette Cooper’s conference speech. Yvette is not only the Work and Pensions secretary but is MP for the neighbouring constituency to us, Pontefract and Castleford.
Wow, I have to say I was very impressed with what Yvette had to say and the passion with which she delivered it. Yvette told us about the good work that local employment partnerships are doing and the real difference they are making to many young people’s lives. Following the success there will be further investment to help more of our people struggling to find work.
This is of particular interest to me having worked in this field, signing young people and employers up into training. The young people I worked with were so pleased that someone was taking an interest and helping them. For example, Chloe, who had been laid off from her employer. She wanted a change of direction and decided she wanted to go into holistic therapy. Because the course was about to start I hit a brick wall as I was trying to get the wheels turning for her so quickly but I persisted for her and managed to get her signed up and secure Learning and Skills council funding.Chloe was so grateful that someone had taken this much interest in her and was so excited about her new start. I helped her find the best value uniform sites on the internet too, she even promised that I could be her first customer, well I’m still waiting for that one!
Yvette also reminded us of the Jarrow Marchers in 1936, where 200 people walked 300 miles with their MP ‘Red Ellen’ (Ellen Wilkinson), from the town of Jarrow to the Palace of Westminster in protest against unemployment and extreme poverty. The marchers’ great efforts came to nothing though as all they were given were their train fares home.Yvette also talked about the people’s march for jobs 1981 in the Thatcher years. It’s always good to remember what the Tories did to us, by remembering what they’ve done in the past we can work together to fight to try to ensure that they never get a chance to do it again.
This is a pic from the protest in Parliament Square I mentioned in my last post. Object and Fawcett took part and it was good to see a good few MPs there!
I wrote to my two local Labour MPs about this urging them to support the EDM and I’m pleased to say that both Colin Challen and Colin Burgon signed.
A cafe was created in Parliament Square complete with tables/chairs and a pole to show how ludicrous the loophole is that allows lap dancing clubs to be licensed the same as cafes.
We really need to keep the pressure on now as on 18th June the Government wrote to every local authority in England & Wales asking if they would support the re-classification of lapdance clubs as Sex Encounter Establishments – a hugely significant move. Local authorities have until 15th August to repond.
I was interested to read in yesterday’s Guardian about some of Ruth Kelly’s plans for social housing which included helping people onto the housing ladder by giving them the option to buy 10% of their council or housing association home.
More interesting is Luke Akehurst’s blog entry having seen Ruth Kelly speak on housing policy at the Fabians yesterday. Luke reports that Ruth Kelly said that the money raised from this would be re-invested in new stock.
In response to questions, Kelly was reported to have said, “yes we need to build more social homes … more council homes, more housing association homes.” She suggested there was funding to come for building social housing in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review. I certainly hope that this is the case, this will be very good news indeed.
In the Rothwell ward, where I live, I’m constantly contacted by people who are in desperate need of social housing and can’t get anywhere because of the shocking shortage of council housing in Rothwell and in Leeds as a whole. We’re in a situation where housing rarely comes up, and when it does it’s all too often allocated to people from outside our area, leaving local young people and families having to stay with family or friends in overcrowded conditions, which often means that relationships, health and the education of children suffer.
The local Labour Party is calling for the Lib Dem/Tory coalition who run Leeds City Council, to provide more affordable housing, including to buy, and social housing to rent. The situation in Rothwell, and Leeds has reached crisis point and we are determined that something should be done about it.
I think that this issue has to be a priority and it’s good that Ruth Kelly is looking seriously at this. This is, in my view, precisely what the Labour Party exists for – improving the quality of life for ordinary working people.
You can read all of Ruth Kelly’s speech here.
It’s almost unbelievable that 30 years after the Sex Discrimination Act came into force, that half the population (no minority group then) are being short changed and under represented in the most powerful positions. A report in today’s Guardian shows the results of new research from the Equal Opportunities Commission.
Representation in parliament in the UK reveals the shocking truth that only 19.5% of MPs are women. We’re trailing well behind countries such as Rwanda (48.8%), Afghanistan (27.3%) and Iraq (25.5%).
Katherine Rake of the Fawcett Society is right in saying that if decisions are only being made by one group of the population they will not reflect the lives of ordinary people.
Those representing us in the senior positions in the public and voluntary sectors are at 20.6%, senior ranks in the armed forces at 0.4%, senior police officers 12.3%, senior judiciary 9.8%, heath service chief executives at 37.9%.
Directors in FTSE 100 companies 10.4%, editors of national newspapers 17.4%.
And, it’s not only the top jobs pay less for us women, the pay gap is sticking at 17%, with the part time pay gap at a cavernous 36%.
This shocking state of affairs requires some radical action. A major setback for women in terms of careers is having children and part time or flexible working can mean career ambitions are curtailed. Men have children too and the issue should effect both equally, so more should be done for everyone who needs it, only offering help to women just makes the problem worse.
Fantastic response to the Rothwell Rose community survey! The completed forms have been coming back in their droves which tells me that folks in Rothwell, Woodlesford, Carlton and Oulton want to be consulted on what their priorities and issues are. Residents would like to be shown more respect and want other people to take responsibility for their actions. The feedback is invaluable in allowing us to prioritise issues and campaigns that are the most important to local people so thanks to everyone who has returned one. Amongst the things that people said were important were more police on the streets, stopping speeding traffic, better local shops, cleaner streets, better care and more to do for older people, more for young people to do and better public transport. The forms are still coming in a constant flow and I will give further feedback later when they are all in!