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South England
Topic Started: 24 Apr 2011, 22:33 (263 Views)
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Campaigning in the South of England.
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David MacDonald
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Labour MP
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David MacDonald

MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (1997-present)
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David MacDonald
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David MacDonald Launches New Labour's Election manifesto in OXford East.


Good Morning,

Britain is at a crossroads, we are in recession, we have a poorly funded NHS, we have the government wanting to return to the days of Thatcherism. What is the woman’s legacy. It is this:

High unemployment

High inflation

Falling standards of care in our NHS

Falling standards in our schools

Another recession.

Now, as much as Sir Martland will say that he has the answers all he wants to do is continue that legacy. A legacy of desolation and destruction of the livelihoods of our nations children. However, Britain can and will be better. If you believe that we can have a better Britain.
This manifesto is my party’s commitment to a better Britain it is a programme of progressive policy which will benefit all not just the selected few. Britain needs to be reinvigorated and reborn from the ashes of Thatcherism and only a New Labour government will be able to do that. The conservatives pride themselves on their record but it’s hardly a positive one. I want to look to the future with optimism and hope. So what do I offer the people of Britain?

Simply this- a New Alternative, a New Approach, a New way of doing things. A New way which is fair and just which benefits all.
Ask me my three top priorities for government and I will tell you: recovery, recovery, recovery!

Labour want to ensure that inflation falls and we’ve made it a key ledge to get inflation down to 2.5% by the end of the parliament. The conservatives have failed to tackle inflation it has been rising and that is bad for budgets, bad for families and bad for the living standards of all. We won’t take any risks with inflation.

Then, we’ve a plan to tackle unemployment. Immediately after the election the Labour Government will call together a National Economic Summit to assess fully the condition of the economy and set the recovery programme in motion - producing the jobs that need to be done by people who need to do them in a country that wants them done. By 1992 I want to be able to say New Labour has got one million more people into work.

However, the next question which is usually asked is what about my salary? Well, if you work hard you should be rewarded and we will ensure that happens. Although, more concerning is the rising poverty in the country as many of the poorest are paid meager sums of money in the form of a “salary” which is wholly unfair. New Labour would institute a national minimum wage of £2 an hour so to help the poorest in society and end the vicious cycle. Furthermore, we want to tackle disadvantage is our most disadvantaged schools. Our solution “You Can” will tackle this disadvantage. I recognise where class sizes are too big they must fall. Smaller class sizes results in a better education for your child. Therefore, I am proud to commit to the following aims on class sizes;

• The national average class size for nurseries shall not exceed 6.
• The national average class size for primary schools shall not exceed 20.
• The national average class size for secondary schools shall not exceed 25.
• The national average class size for special schools shall not exceed 5.

This will be enshrined in law so to ensure that every child is given a good education and it gives teachers the time to work with your child so that their educational needs are addressed. Conference, I would further say that labour are proud, proud that we can stand up for inequality, proud to commit to smaller classes and proud that we can say every child will get a better education under our plans!
Furthermore, we need to widen participation within education. Therefore, we propose that we identify the 1000 most disadvantaged schools in the country and we will hire a Widening Participation Co-Ordinator at the rank of Vice-Principal. Their role shall be:

• Establishing and implementing a school strategy to ensure students are encouraged and enabled to identify and reach their full potential.
• Develop a knowledge base within the school amongst all teachers about how to inspire students to reach their potential, challenge themselves and how to go about fulfilling their ambitions.
• Develop a knowledge base within the school as to careers counselling skills, personal statement writing skills, interview skills to enable the entire teaching body to become able to help students with these skills.
• To manage a team of Learning & Aspiration Mentors who will work with students on a one to one and group basis (see below).
• To develop a network of contacts between the school and universities and other Further Education and Higher Education Institutes, including arranging visits out to and visits in from various institutions.
• To liaise with careers counsellors or advisers to ensure quality of advice and teaching.
• To develop a specialist advice and support service to advise students on the financial supports available to support them in continuing their studies at higher education or further education including ability to advise comprehensively on Student Finance England, EMA, Bursaries, Scholarships and Trust funding.
• To develop a specialist advice and support service to support students in continuing their education in adverse situations, e.g. in the event of pregnancy, bereavement and mental or physical ill-health.


These professionals will be highly trained education professionals who will not be teaching classes but ensuring schools have an appropriate support service to co-ordinate its efforts to raise students ambitions and aspirations. They will work across existing services within schools, working with teachers, counsellors, school management, careers advisers etc to ensure a coherent and comprehensive support service.

That is however, not enough on its own. In the most disadvantaged schools and in each of these schools we will hire 5 Learning & Aspiration Mentors whose role will be to work directly with students to encourage, inspire and support them in reaching their potential. To fill the role, all LAMs will be required to hold or be working towards a basic careers advice qualification but their role will not be to be careers advisers, though they can serve the role if needs be. Instead their roles will be to:

• Work with the WPC to implement the schools Maximising Potential strategy.
• Work with students in one-to-one sessions tying together a broad range of support services in identifying where a students potential lies and how they can maximise that potential . All students should have regular meetings with a specific mentor throughout their school career. This should include at least one automatic meeting every 10 weeks with additional meetings by mutual agreement.

• Work with students in group workshop sessions to identify areas of potential and interest and enable a creative and supportive atmosphere in which school colleagues share knowledge, experience and aspiration to mutual benefit.
• To assist directly with students who seek help in applying for university places including help with drafting personal statement, help with interview preparation and assistance with applying for financial support.
• To identify appropriate cases where students should speak with a more specialist adviser such at the WPC.


These LAMs will be encouraged to develop good working relationships with students based on trust and so they will work largely on a voluntary basis. While students will be expected to attend a number of meetings with their mentor, any applications or development should be mutually agreed and the student cannot view them as ‘just another teacher giving them pointless homework’.

The fact is this that budgets need to be supported and resources are needed for each and every school in the country. We will maintain school budget at or higher than the ideal. Furthermore, We will provide a £20,000 annual grant to schools specifically to assist them with extra curricular activities. They will have to show, in using the fund, that:

• They have used it to provide a range of extra-curricular opportunities, rather than simply focused on just one area.
• That they have included at least 60% of students on Free School Lunches in the opportunities or have used at least 40% of the fund to reduce financial barriers for poorer students to participate in extra curricular opportunities.

The link between the quality of teaching and test results is very true indeed. And in disadvantaged schools there is sometimes not the best standard of teaching. We will encourage teachers to teach at the 500 most disadvantaged secondary schools by offering the 30,000 teachers who work there a £3,000 Disadvantaged School Allowance (DSA) per year. The Allowance will be payable once the teacher has spent six months teaching in the school and will be backdated for the first six months service and will be added, tax free, to their monthly salary.

One of the most important parts of any governments policy is their policy on crime. We have laid out detailed proposals as how we would cut crime. More and more young criminals are going unpunished and our Youth Action Plans will cut the cycle of crime. The conservatives have underfunded our police. We will reform police funding and moreover we’ll recruit 15,000 more police!
There is much more in this manifesto and I could run through every single policy but let me summarise it in 10 simple pledges.
1. We will establish a national minimum wage of £2 an hour
2. We will reduce unemployment by a million by 1992
3. We will hire 15,000 new police
4. We will support our small businesses through the “entrepreneurial economy”
5. We will eliminate disadvantage in our schools through our “You Can” programme
6. We will start up a public health drive to tackle the big killers like smoking
7. We will put patients at the core of the NHS through our emphasis on primary care
8. We will give you the right to sack your MP if they are corrupt to restore your faith in politics
9. We will bring an end to the troubles in Northern Ireland through our “Peace for All” approach
10. We will hold a referendum on the creation of a Scottish parliament and welsh assembly

In conclusion, just think how much the tories have failed. It’s clear for all to see. If Sir matland wins on April 5th you can forget your NHS, your Jobs, your child getting a good education. Lets not give them the chance to wreak the havoc they have upon Britain. The way to ensure that the Tories don’t get another chance to vote for New Labour. If you believe in a better Britain then deliver my party a mandate for the next 5 years.

Thank You

Believe in Better
David MacDonald

MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (1997-present)
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Liberal Democrats Party New Manifesto
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Democracy in Britain did not just happen. It was the product of reform - reform against vested interests of both left and right. In 1832 Britain took the first step with the Great Reform Act. Further instalments of reform followed in 1867, 1884, 1918 and 1928 before all men and women had gained the vote. Yet, since then, our democracy has stood still despite the tremendous changes in the economy and society. The Liberal Democrats believes that it is time for a new era of reform. For, without getting the structure of our democracy right, we will get nothing right.

The Liberal Democrats, if empowered by the British people, will:

•Replace the undemocratic 'first past the post' electoral system with proportional representation based on a single transferable vote for all Westminster and local authority elections;

•Introduce PR for elections to the European Parliament. We support a common system for all member states;

•Repeal the Official Secrets Act and replace it with Freedom of Information legislation providing for a public right of access to all official information, subject to limited and specific exemptions to protect national security and proper law enforcement and privacy;

•Reform the law of confidentiality to ensure that freedom of expression on matters of public interest is not unnecessarily restricted;

•Incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights and its protocols into British law in a Bill of Rights;

•Remove the right of the Prime Minister to determine the date of general elections and replace it with fixed-term parliaments;

•Devolve power to a legislative Scottish Assembly, establish a Welsh Senedd and decentralise decision-making to the English regions in accordance with the wishes of their electors;

•Extensively reform Whitehall procedures in order to make the governmental system more responsive to the wishes and needs of the people;

•Reform the House of Commons procedures;

•Reform the House of Lords.


Key priorities are to:

•Increase funding for books and equipment in schools. In the first year, we will double spending on books and equipment to overcome the effect of recent cuts.
•Reduce primary school class sizes so that within 5 years no child between 5 and 11 I will need to be in a class of more than 30.
•Tackle the backlog of repair and maintenance to buildings with £500m additional investment over 5 years.
•Boost chances for all adults to improve their skills and get better qualifications.
Making the best start
Early years education is the essential building block for higher standards and achievement later on. Every £1 spent on high quality under-fives education raises standards in later life and adds up to £7 of value to the nations economy.

We will:

•Give children the best start by providing high quality early years education for every 3 and 4 year-old child whose parents want it. This will be the first call on our £2 billion annual programme of extra investment in education.

•Promote high standards in early years education. We will set minimum standards for care, curriculum and premises. We will ensure that those in early years education are supervised by qualified staff.

•Provide choice in early years education. We will scrap the bureaucratic voucher scheme. We will ensure a variety of provision from a wide range of public, private and voluntary providers.

•Raising standards in schools. We will raise standards in schools, especially in literacy and numeracy, which are still far too low.
We will:


•Improve teaching standards. We will set up a General Teaching Council, charged with improving teaching standards and making teaching a profession to be proud of again. We will provide more opportunities for professional development and reward excellence in teaching. We will help poor teachers improve, but if they cannot, we will ensure they do not continue to teach.

•Encourage schools to succeed. We will strengthen the inspection system so that it helps schools and we will extend inspection to monitoring Local Education Authorities (LEAs).

•Strengthen discipline in schools. We will support teachers in maintaining discipline and provide them with the means to do so - for example, by providing better access to special referral units. We will require every school to develop a policy to tackle bullying and truancy. We will launch a national Truancy Watch scheme. We will oblige LEAs to fulfil their responsibilities to educate pupils excluded or suspended from school.

•Measure achievement in pupils and schools. We will give every pupil a Personal Record of Achievement which will enable them to build up a set of nationally accredited qualifications and record their other achievements. We will require schools to publish meaningful information on their standards, achievements and plans for the future.

•Improve the National Curriculum. We will replace the National Curriculum with a more focused and flexible Minimum Curriculum Entitlement. We will ensure that religious education provides pupils with an understanding of the major traditions of belief in this country.

•Boost literacy. We will establish special literacy programmes involving parents with teachers in a drive to ensure that 90 per cent of all pupils reach their expected reading age by 2005.

Our aim: To end the cycle of boom and bust and equip Britain's economy to compete in the global market-place.
The problem: Despite the current pre-election mini-boom, the fundamentals of Britain's economy remain weak. We continue to be held back by instability in economic management, an underskilled labour force and chronic under-investment. Britain continues to consume too much and invest too little.

Our commitment: Liberal Democrats will lock in economic stability, encourage saving and promote enterprise. We will raise the quality of Britain's workforce through additional investment in education and training. As part of our strategy to build a sustainable economy, we will shift the burden of taxation from employment to the depletion of natural resources.

Our priorities are to:

•Provide stability in economic management to encourage long-term investment.

•Raise the quality of Britain's workforce and get people back to work.

•Promote enterprise and small businesses.

•Begin to shift taxation from jobs, wealth and goods to pollution and the depletion of natural resources.
Investing in Britain's future
Long-term investment and economic stability are crucial to future economic success
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<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'><span style='font-family:Arial'>VOTE FOR PATRICK CONNOLLY FOR THE LABOUR PARTY FOR NOWRICH SOUTH:

Don't fall for the lies of the Conservatives and Liberal DemocratsREMEMBER: PEOPLE OF NORWICH SOUTH, VOTE LABOUR AND YOU WON'T REGRET

If you vote Labour we will help the Economy by:

<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>1. Establish a National Minimum wage of £2 an hour indexed to inflation
2. Imply the Golden rule to public spending
3. Reign in inflation to a target of 2.5%
4. Hold a Jobs Summit with the private sector within 6 weeks of taking office and
embark on a comprehensive job creation programme
5. Raise the Personal Allowance for Income Tax by at least £1000
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</span></span></span>
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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>New Labour Promise to:
-Pass a disability discrimination act so that disability discrimination is outlawed.
- enact a freedom of information act so that you know what information organizations hold on
you
- We will conduct a review into the current laws regarding homosexual rights and will bring in a
law which allows those whom are homosexual to enter a civil partnership.
Health- A Healthier Britain
Labour created the NHS in 1948 and It is under threat from the Conservatives spending plans.
We want to save and modernise the NHS, they want to attack all it stands for and put in it’s
place a free market system.
If the Conservatives are elected again there may well not be an NHS in five years' time - neither
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<span style='font-family:Arial'>Patrick Connolly MP for Norwich South gives a speech for civilians of Norwich South

People of Norwich South,

The Tory's have promised many a thing, but what do those promises turn out to be? Unenployment, debt, a broken society, How can a country flourish with the problem it currently has?

Labour will fix society, unemployment will be in the past debt will never be thought about.

We promise to:

Establish a National Minimum wage of £2 an hour indexed to inflation
Imply the Golden rule to public spending
Reign in inflation to a target of 2.5%
Hold a Jobs Summit with the private sector within 6 weeks of taking office and
embark on a comprehensive job creation programme
Raise the Personal Allowance for Income Tax by at least £1000

The Golden Rule
If elected new Labour will apply the following rule to spending:
The Golden Rule: A government must not spend more than it needs in a year of surplus. It must
reign in spending and keep aside the surplus for a year in which a downturn occurs and use the
surplus to act as a stimulant for the economy.

No risks with inflation
We will set a target for low and stable inflation of 2. 5 per cent or less. We will reform the Bank
of England to ensure that decision-making on monetary policy is more effective, open,
accountable and free from short-term political manipulation.

The Jobs Programme
Immediately after the election the Labour Government will call together a National Economic
Summit to assess fully the condition of the economy and set the recovery programme in motion
- producing the jobs that need to be done by people who need to do them in a country that
wants them done.
The Summit will establish the first stage of the National Economic Assessment. This will identify
the concerted action that will need to be taken by government, employers in the private and
public sectors and trade unions to increase investment, contain inflation and achieve sustained
recovery.
We will reduce unemployment by one million in two years as the first instalment in beating
mass unemployment.

Half a million jobs will be generated in private industry and in the public sector by the repairing
and building of the houses, the hospitals and schools, the transport improvements and sewers
that the nation needs. This will be achieved by public investment and by reducing employers'
National Insurance contribution in targeted areas.
Another 360,000 new jobs and training places will be created. These will provide new skills for
young people and adults - with proper opportunities for women.
A further 300,000 new jobs will improve the health and education services and the neglected
community and caring services. The depleted customs services will be strengthened in the fight
against drugs. The revenue and benefit departments will be staffed to increase efficiency.
We will extend the voluntary Job Release Scheme to men over 60 so that those who want to
retire early vacate jobs for those who are currently unemployed. This could take as many as
160,000 people out of unemployment and into work.

Education- A Fair Chance for all
“You Can” -Labour’s Plans to Tackle Disadvantage in our Schools
Introduction
Labour will stand up for public education. If you are a parent – there is a 0.38% that your child
will be better off under the Government’s plans, but our plan will start by improving the system
for the 41% and we want to move it to 100% when economic conditions improve.
The Government have fundamentally misunderstood the problems facing disadvantaged
schools and so they are doomed to perpetuate the problems that we could fix now.
This is Labour’s plan to give our children the confidence, the skills and the strength to live up to
their potential, regardless of their background.

The situation in Northern Ireland is deteriorating. Now, we face several challenges in achieving
peace in Northern Ireland. Labour are committed to bringing about peace and harmony in
Northern Irish society.
Tackling The Big Issues
1. Tough on the IRA.
The IRA represents the most significant threat to British national security. Labour realises that
in order to achieve peace we will need to stop the IRA's campaign. However, we must be
adamant and firm that if negotiations are possible between representatives of both sides, the
IRA and indeed all paramilitary groups must lay down their arms and end their violent
campaign. We accept that the IRA is a terrorist organisation and until they pursue their aims
through democratic means we will not recognise them as an organisation that represents the
views of some members of the catholic community of Northern Ireland.
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Ethan Reynolds
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Labour will take you back to 1970 can we afford that?
Vote for the Party that will protect the NHS funding.
The Liberal Democrats plans putting more police on the streets.
VOTE LIB DEM
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Patrick Connolly
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Patrick Connolly
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<span style='font-family:Arial'>DON'T LET THEM DO THE SAME TO US VOTE LABOUR</span>
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David MacDonald
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David MacDonald

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David MacDonald
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David MacDonald

MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (1997-present)
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