Cornwall Labour Party has welcomed the government’s commitment to social housing and increased power for local authorities, reaffirmed by new Minister John Healey MP last week, and is pressing Cornwall Council to move quickly to take advantage of funding for affordable homes for local people.
Jude Robinson said: “There is a huge opportunity for Cornwall. “There are almost 18,000 people on housing waiting lists in the county, nearly 3000 of them in the Camborne-Redruth area. On top of that are the 4000 households with serious maintenance problems and the thousands of people who are not on the waiting lists.
“The government is promising more local control of housing, more flexible funding and wants local government to be more involved with house building.
“What are we waiting for? Commercial developers are holding back because of the financial climate but the need for affordable homes is there. It is time to get stuck in and make sure that Cornwall takes full advantage of the opportunity to provide affordable homes for local people.”
John Healey MP, who has visited Cornwall recently in his role as Local Government Minister, said in his speech to the Chartered Institute of Housing: “As we invest and act to give tenants a greater say in how their homes and neighbourhoods are run, we know people want us, their government and their councils, to make the allocations system seem fairer, to support young people struggling to get a start in work and to help them move more easily when they need to. And we will do more. And as we invest and act in Britain to help tackle the catastrophe of global climate change, people look to us, their government, to do more to make their homes greener and cheaper to run. And we will do more. This week the Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said: ’I think the UK economy looks the best in Europe at the moment. I think the policies are intelligent’.
Categories: Labour Cornwall
Tagged: Cornwall, housing
Taxpayers money is going up in smoke as Cornwall’s waste plans fall apart. Landfill fines and money wasted on the plans will hit residents’s bank balances hard says Jude Robinson, Labour PPC for Camborne & Redruth (including Hayle), following the chaos of yesterday’s Planning Committee at Cornwall County Council.
Jude said: “Once again, Lib Dems are breaking new ground in ineptitude as they voted against their own proposals for a central incinerator in Cornwall.
“It is hard to imagine how any political party could be incompetent enough to spend several years devising proposals, signing contracts, directing officers to spend hundreds of (taxpayer-funded) hours developing and implementing them, only to publicly incinerate them at the last minute.
“Incineration is a proven technology with reasonable costs. There may be more environmentally friendly possibilities around but at this point, Cornwall does not have the time to find and develop them. Taxpayers will now be funding landfill penalties. more officer time looking for another solution, negotiations with Sita over the contract that has been reneged on and possibly penalties over that.
“And somewhere in Cornwall, a community is going to find a huge hole on its doorstep for landfill, promises will be broken over United Downs or we will be producing more carbon emissions trucking our waste upcountry and paying someone else to dump or incinerate it. Perhaps all three.
The Lib Dems have run Cornwall since 2005. Whenever it has come to taking difficult decisions and gaining respect for serious work in the real world, they have chosen instead to inhabit Planet Calamity. But when politicians take decisions, they have to take responsibility. When the massive increase in council tax hits the bank balances of people in Cornwall it is the Liberal Democrats they have to blame.”
Categories: Labour Cornwall
This is the website of the County Party in Cornwall and we hope it will enable you to contact us.
Each constituency has its own page and you will find links to the candidates websites.
If you are a journalist please contact Labour’s spokesperson in Cornwall Jude Robinson on 07910 847 309.
If you wish to contact the County Party Chair Nick Round then please call 01736 362365.
Categories: Labour Cornwall
As yet we have had no response to this open letter regarding the Lib Dems’ running of the County Council, which was sent to all MPs for constituencies in Cornwall:
“Dear MPs
As Cornish candidates for Parliament we are writing this letter to ask your support for an investigation into Cornwall County Council’s struggling affairs, and to raise the matter in Parliament on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of local voters you collectively represent.
We have recently seen the truly remarkable criticism of the council by its new Chief Executive – and from the Implementation Executive overseeing the change to unitary status. And we hope that the new leader will be able to overcome the problems that have seen the council’s reputation hit new lows.
However, he has made particular criticism of the handling of the now cancelled rebranding exercise, the closure of Newquay Airport, and the Penhallow Hotel fire. And these came alongside a number of bad assessments from Ofsted, the Fire and Rescue Authority, the Audit Commission, and the Commission for Social Care.
And following comments from local councillors such as Lib Dem Leader David Whalley that they have found it difficult to change and improve the council, and have struggled to communicate the problems to voters, we are sure an investigation would be welcomed. Cllr Whalley’s comment that he kept information from the public has also caused concern amongst many people about the openness and accountability of the council.
This would be the first step towards establishing what needs changing, and hopefully restoring public confidence.
Yours Sincerely,
Lee Jameson PPC St Austell & Newquay
Jude Robinson PPC Camborne, Redruth & Hayle
Phillipa Latimer PPC St Ives
Bill Stevens PPC SE Cornwall
Peter Watson PPC North Cornwall”
Categories: Labour Cornwall
In response to the latest failure of the Lib Dem controlled Council over Newquay Airport, Lee Jameson the Labour PPC for St Austell & Newquay said:
“The latest failure of local Lib Dems to run Newquay Airport properly is yet another sign of their incompetence. It is about time some one finally took responsibility.”
“To have reached such a late stage before announcing that they can’t hit their own deadline to give our airport a civilian air traffic control service is ridiculous. The head of the council Cllr David Whalley and Cllr Andrew Mitchell should at the very least issue an apology to local people, and better men might even resign over such abysmal failure.”
“Thankfully the Ministry of Defence, and specifically the RAF, will continue to fill in until the Council get their act together.”
“Heaven knows when that might be, but it is a shame outside agencies can’t also fix their decision to increase their own allowances while cutting fire service funds.”
Categories: Labour Cornwall
Tagged: Lee Jameson, Lib Dem incompetence, Newquay airport, news, St Austell & Newquay
The ‘Connecting with Communities’ conference held by the Labour Party at Cornwall College on Saturday 1st November was a resounding success with contributions from community groups, organisations and business people from across the county.
Leading Labour parliamentarians came to the event to listen and discuss community issues with around 100 people in Cornwall. Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP, Ben Bradshaw MP, Alison Seabeck MP and Nick Raynsford MP all answered questions posed by members of the audience.
Jude Robinson, PPC for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, who organised the event said:
“We had a fantastic day. Notes from the meeting will be posted soon but in the meantime, I have added photos from the day to my website and will be making sure there are responses to all the issues and ideas raised. Thanks to everyone who came. I know there were people there of all political persuasions but all came with a positive spirit to work together for our communities in Cornwall.”
Key issues raised included housing, jobs and the economy, healthcare and the proposed move of upper gastro-intestinal services.
Harriet Harman gave an overview of the current economic climate and spoke of a recent meeting she had with PM Gordon Brown, which was constantly interrupted by world leaders discussing the global financial crisis because of his central role in tackling the problems in the banking sector.
Ben Bradshaw outlined government’s determination to protect people from the impact of the credit crunch and said that house repossession was avoidable in all but the most extreme cases. He asked that anyone faced with home repossession should contact local candidate Jude Robinson so that they could take action together to prevent people losing their homes and reassured health campaigners that decisions on provision should be made locally and there are many avenues open to people to make their voices heard.
On housing, Nick Raynsford gave a detailed speech on government policies on decent, affordable homes,with reduced carbon emissions and energy costs. Alison Seabeck also talked on the importance of communities having influence on decision making in their areas.
Categories: Labour Cornwall
Tagged: Camborne Redruth & Hayle, connecting communities, Jude Robinson, Labour Ministers in Cornwall, Labour MPs in Cornwall
At its meeting on 21st June, Cornwall Labour Party reaffirmed its stated
view that the new Unitary authority should have an elected membership of
130. The meeting agreed to write to the Boundary Committee confirming the
recommendation made to that effect in the first stage of its review.Faced with the now very real possibility that the review of electoral
boundaries may not be completed by the time scheduled for the first Unitary
elections, the County Party also approved the following resolution:
“To hold any Unitary Authority elections on the existing County Council
boundaries is unacceptable. The existing boundaries were designed for a
different authority and a different local government structure, making
any such elections not fit for purpose, for they would reduce the
councillor basis from 331 to 82 over night, thereby jeopardizing local
democracy in Cornwall.”
Chairman Nick Round said:
“When we made our recommendations at the first stage of the review, we
thought carefully about the number of councillors needed to ensure the new
authority can represent the people of Cornwall effectively when the 250
District councillors have gone.
There was at that stage a growing consensus that this would call for
130-135 Unitary councillors. It is a pity that Councillor David Whalley
chose to disrupt that consensus by making a personal submission at odds
with that of the Implementation Group which he chairs.
Members of the new authority, if they are to be well-informed about issues
in their neighbourhood, will need to spend time at meetings of community
groups and residents’ associations, as well as council meetings; they will
be expected to provide effective scrutiny of important services like health
and social care, and to take on new responsibilities such as planning.
Each of them will face the full workload of a County councillor now, plus
that of more than one District councillors. If there are too few of them,
that work will not be done properly. And, of course, if they are already
working to their limit, any possibility of devolving more powers to
Cornwall from regional or central government will be killed stone dead.
We believe that possibility should be kept alive. Above all, we
want Cornwall to have the vigorous local democracy that its people
deserve.”
Categories: Labour Cornwall
Tagged: Cornwall Council, Cornwall Labour Party
Cornwall Labour Party members are calling on Health Minister Ben Bradshaw
to intervene over controversial plans to transfer specialised cancer
Services to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. The plan to combine Upper
Gastro-intestinal cancer services from Exeter, Devon and Cornwall has been
rejected in Exeter and is subject to public consultation in Devon.At its meeting on 21 June, the County Labour Party unanimously agreed the
following resolution:
‘Cornwall County Labour Party is unconvinced that the Cornwall and Isles
of Scilly Primary Care Trust¹s proposals to relocate specialist Upper
Gastrointestinal Cancer Surgery from Royal Cornwall Hospital,Truro to
Derriford Hospital, Plymouth are in the best interest of patients from
Cornwall.
We believe this to be a substantial change to an important, well
established, well respected, clinical pathway and as such, should be the
subject to full public consultation.
We ask Ben Bradshaw MP, Health Minister and Minister for the South
West, to intervene to stop the proposed withdrawal of services from
Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro and ask the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly
Primary Care Trust to move to public consultation.’
Graham Webster, vice chair of Cornwall Labour Party said:
“This has been on the cards for some time and has met with widespread
opposition. I have attended local meetings and the Primary Care Trust
Board with health campaigners, but no-one is listening. This is being
presented as a done deal. The Primary Care Trust seem unwilling to
undertake genuine public consultation. County Councillors on the
Overview and Scrutiny Committee failed to provide robust scrutiny when
they initially said yes to the proposed transfer with no consultation. I
hope they will reconsider this at their meeting on 15 July. It looks as
though the proposed transfer of similar services from Exeter to
Derriford will not go ahead, which places a huge question mark over
plans to locate all these services at Derriford.”
Categories: Labour Cornwall
Tagged: Cornwall Labour Party, healthcare, NHS
There are children sitting exams in the next few weeks, who will leave school without having any benefit from £19.8 million that was given for their education.
Jude Robinson, who is Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Camborne Redruth, will be asking the Schools Minister, Jim Knight, whether the government will look again at measures to make sure that this money is spent on education for children now. Cornwall’s Lib Dem MPs will not tackle their party colleagues at County Hall and someone has to stand up for our children’s education.
Parents in Cornwall want their children to have the best education. Instead, this stonking amount of cash is stashed away, doing nothing. Despite the Audit Commission’s criticism and clear advice to the County Council, they have not acted to spend the money. On the contrary, they have let the reserves grow.
No-one is suggesting that schools cannot keep some money in reserve for contingencies but £19.8 million is totally excessive. In the interests of fairness, the money should be used to make sure that all children in Cornwall get the best start in life.
Categories: Labour Cornwall
Tagged: Camborne Redruth & Hayle, Jude Robinson, Lib Dems fail to deliver
Senior politicians and Labour Party members from across Cornwall gathered in Camborne this weekend to set out their ambitions for the county.
Labour’s minister for the South West Ben Bradshaw was on hand to officially launch the ‘Platform for Cornwall’. The document, written by Cornwall Labour Party, spells out the needs of the county and how these can be best met through current and future Labour policies. Ben Bradshaw MP praised the document as a model for the South West Labour Party and pledged to make sure that it was brought to the attention of senior civil servants in the region.
During the morning a policy debate took place on the national and local challenges for the NHS. It was led by Ian Ducat, the Regional Secretary of Unison, who is also a member of Labour’s National Policy Forum.
There was also a chance for members to question the minister and South West Labour MEP Glyn Ford on the major issues facing the region.
Mr Bradshaw said: “Cornwall has made great progress in recent years. For the first time in living memory there are more young people moving to the county than leaving it. But it still faces many challenges. That’s why I welcome the Labour Party publishing a special Cornwall manifesto – informed by the experiences of our members, councillors and parliamentary candidates in the county. I look forward to studying it and urge others to do the same – so that together we can build on the progress made so far to deliver an even brighter future for Cornwall.”
Glyn Ford MEP said: “Objective One Funding is no accident. For decades the Conservatives have neglected, and the Liberal Democrats haven’t had the power, to provide the money which is so badly needed in Cornwall. Tony Blair made it happen and £700million has flowed into this region of our country. This exciting platform shows Labour’s understands the needs of the county and that your Labour representatives have the capability to deliver the right policies for the Cornwall.”
Jude Robinson, Labour’s PPC for Camborne and Redruth said: “I remember how saddened I was in the days following my son’s birth at Bolitho Maternity Home in Penzance in 1987, at the announcement that this wonderful unit was to close. Under the Tories, we lost a midwife-led, low tech unit that is exactly what women say they want. If it had not been for the Labour government we would have lost our community hospitals too in 1997. Events like this policy forum will help to make sure that this Government continues to respond to the demands of local communities in Cornwall.”
Labour’s candidate for Truro and Falmouth Charlotte MacKenzie said: “With Labour’s investment and the determined efforts of local NHS managers we are starting to see a turnaround in the problems at RCHT including falling infection rates. The out of hours service has also improved. It is only with a Labour government and local MPs that we will see the patient-led service people in Cornwall deserve.”
Lee Jameson (St Austell and Newquay) also attended the event and said: “We are determined to work for increased Labour representation in Cornwall. I was born in Cornwall and have watched appalled as Lib Dems have failed the people of this county over and over again. Labour is the only party that has ever delivered for Cornwall, almost trebling the NHS budget, building fantastic new facilities at Treliske and expanding services at St Michael’s and West Cornwall.”
Cornwall Labour Party chairman Nick Round said: “This document is a reminder of how much Cornwall has gained from a Labour Government and of how much it stands to gain. We are delighted that Ben Bradshaw MP and Glyn Ford MEP were at the launch, it shows the Government is open to hearing the views of people in Cornwall. The Government will be listening to us, and we in turn will go on listening to the concerns of the community around us.”
Categories: Labour Cornwall
Tagged: Cornwall Labour Party, Labour Ministers in Cornwall, Labour parliamentary candidates
