Archive for December, 2009

I have sent a letter to all of the local papers this week about the Conservatives plan to scrap Child Tax Credits for some of the hardest working families in this constituency.  Incase you havn’t seen the letter yet, here it is:

Dear Editor,

At Tory Conference earlier this year George Osborne outlined the Tories’ plan to get rid of the Child Tax Credit for households on more than £50,000 per year in total. They said that this would raise them £400 million.

However, last week it emerged that George Osbornes’ sums were wrong. Cutting Child Tax Credit for families on more than £50,000 would actually only raise £45 million. To raise £400 million they would need to cut it from families earning as little as £16,000 each – less than average earnings.

As our MP is a Tory, perhaps he could clarify whether this huge mis-calculation is down to George Osborne’s bad judgement, his inexperience or something more sinister.

Yours sincerely,

David Rowntree

Labour Parliamentary Spokesman for Cities of London and Westminster

The Labour Government has recently unveiled a plan for higher education, setting out the important role universities will play in securing the UK’s economic recovery and long term prosperity.

It calls for fairer access, more information about courses and likely future earnings, better teaching quality, and closer links with business.

I believe that students need more information about their courses.  Studying is a big commitment, both in money and time, and the choice of course could have a huge effect on the rest of their lives. Students deserve to know exactly what courses will do for their job prospects and potential earnings.

Business and industry can help students’ future prospects by getting more closely involved so that courses are better suited for the world of work.

Students are not just school leavers.  The UK has nearly six million workers qualified to A level standard, but with no experience of higher education.  To get more people, of all ages, studying we need better courses that are tailored to peoples’ needs.

I want to see more part-time study, vocational foundation degrees, work-based study and more studying at home.  That way we can make sure that our higher education courses suit the modern world we live in, help more people improve their skills and get on in life.

I knock on doors every weekend in different areas of the constituency to speak to local people about issues that are affecting them, and about why I feel that I would be the best person to represent them in Parliament.  It is something that not enough candidates or MP’s do and I enjoy helping with the problems or issues that people raise. 

On Saturday a team of volunteers and I were speaking to people from the Vale Royal Flats in Covent Garden. We were taking the lift to the top floor and the lift suddenly shuddered to a stop and then dropped down, coming to rest jammed between two floors and trapping everyone inside. After ringing the emergency alarm, a local resident forced open the lift doors and helped everyone inside it to safety. 

It was a frightening experience for all of us, but many of the residents I spoke to afterwards said this happened all too frequently. In fact, many people now refuse to use the lifts at all. 

In my opinion the residents in Vale Royal deserve better. The issue raises question marks over the Conservative Westminster Council’s commitment to the safety of their residents.  City West Homes, the 
organisation created to manage council housing, plans to carry out maintenance work on only 64 lifts in Westminster Council estates this year.  This is less than 20% of all the lifts it is responsible for. 

This is not good enough! 

Westminster Council must do better!