Britain exposed to energy shortages by Labour's failure
Gas dispute exposes Britain's weakness
North Norfolk's Conservative Spokesman, Trevor Ivory, has expressed concern at the
Government's failure to secure Britain's energy supplies as Europe is plunged into a gas
crisis by the dispute between Russia and Ukraine.
As Europe's gas supply is turned off, Mr Ivory has expressed his horror at figures that
reveal how exposed Britain is to supply interruptions. Whilst France has 112 days supply
of gas and Germany 99 days supply, Britain has just 15 days of gas stored.
Commenting on the figure, Mr Ivory said, "These figures are shocking and I am
staggered that the Government has left us so exposed. Disputes with Russia over gas prices
have become an annual event and it is unacceptable that the Government is not doing more
to ensure our energy security."
"The Government dithered over nuclear power and now they are dithering about how to
deal with our increasing reliance on gas imported from unreliable countries like Russia.
Gordon Brown should stop trying to save the world and start worrying about the real
threats we face at home, including the threat to our energy security."
Trevor Ivory, Parliamentary Spokesman for North Norfolk
"Let's work together to end this crisis"
Trevor Ivory calls on Gordon Brown to put aside party politics and back Conservative
plans to stop the meltdown in British business
As official figures show that ten companies are going bust every day in Britain, North
Norfolk's Conservative Spokesman, Trevor Ivory, has called on the Prime Minister to put
aside partisan politics and support Conservative proposals for a national loan guarantee
scheme to ensure that small and medium sized businesses get access to the credit that they
need to survive.
A Conservative amendment to the Banking Bill comes before Parliament next week proposing
the creation of the scheme, which will provide £50bn of much needed finance to businesses
who have seen capital dry up as the credit crunch has taken its toll on UK banks. It is
understood that the Treasury supports the proposals but that a "political
blockage" is preventing them from being adopted.
Mr Ivory told a group of local businessmen that, "When the banks needed
recapitalising last year, David Cameron put aside party politics and worked with the
Government to make sure the necessary steps were taken to stabilise the situation. Now
Gordon Brown should be big enough to do the same. There is a crisis amongst British
business that is as serious as the banking crisis was and we must act now."
"Our proposals will not add to public debt but will ensure that perfectly viable
businesses are not forced under simply because the banks have stopped lending money. They
are sensible proposals that will keep businesses afloat during this period - and that
means saving jobs."
"Next week Gordon Brown has an opportunity to answer his critics who say that he is
putting his own political fortunes before the interests of the British economy. Let's work
together to end this crisis."
Events Diary - Business Breakfast Forum in Aylsham
Date: Wednesday 4th
February
Time: 7.45am for 8.00am
breakfast
Topic: 'Innovation'
Venue: The Greens, Norwich Road, Aylsham
Organiser: Larking Gowen, Chartered Accountants
+ Business Advisors
Booking Details: Free for those attending their first forum, £23.00
thereafter, including full English breakfast. For more details please call Hollie Gould on
0845 450 2476 or
email bbf@larking-gowen.co.uk.
For more information:
Amy Woodyatt
Partnership Plus Ltd
Tel: 01603 611031
Email: amy.woodyatt@partnership-plus.co.uk
|
Dear Editor
The U-turn by the Conservatives and Gordon Brown on access to details of MPs' expenses
shows what public pressure can achieve. It seemed MPs were about to exempt themselves from
the Freedom of Information Act, which would have been outrageous. MPs purchasing plasma
TV's and luxury goods for their second homes in London at the taxpayer's expense may be
the minority, but we must have transparency to protect the taxpayer as a point of
principle.
Now, we need the same rule - of full transparency - for Members of the European Parliament
whose expenses are also open to abuse despite some recent tightening of the rules in
Brussels.
The Green Party is the only party to score 100% for transparency of their MEPs' expenses -
this is set out by Open Europe, an Independent think tank calling for radical reform of
the EU.
Of the seven MEPs currently representing Eastern Region, only two fully satisfied the
think-tank's survey. Four of them flatly refused to answer the six very simple - and
completely uncontroversial - questions about how they spend their staff allowances, and
whether they are properly accounted for. Conservative MEP Christopher Beazley said,
“I would have to question the legality of these questions. What right do you have to
ask these?” He argued that MEPs' taxpayer funded expense claims were not "a
public matter", that it was "private". Ironically, he also insisted that,
"everything I do is as transparent as possible”.
The Green Party strongly believes that the European Union needs to clean up its act when
it comes to its finances. We will be making clean politics a key issue in the coming
campaign for the European Elections.
Faithfully, Cllr. Rupert Read, Prospective Green Party MEP for Eastern Region
Green Party condemns Royal Mail Privatisation Plans
Eastern Region Green Party has condemned Government plans to partially privatise the
Royal Mail postal services.
Business secretary Lord Mandelson has supported the conclusions of a report by an
independent review panel led by businessman Richard Hooper which advised selling 25% - 33%
of Royal Mail to a foreign buyer. The current pension fund debt, which may deter potential
investors, would first be taken on by the Government (1).
The proposals have already proved highly controversial. It is estimated that up to 100
MPs would take part in a backbench rebellion if the current plans went to a vote without
modification (2). Jim McGovern MP has resigned his post as Private Secretary to Postal
Affairs Minister Pat McFadden in protest (3). And the Communications Workers Union has
stated that it will disaffiliate from the Labour Party in the event of any form of
privatisation (4).
The proposal also contradicts Labour's manifesto commitment to a "publicly owned
Royal Mail." Prospective Green MEP for Eastern Region, Councillor Rupert Read
said: "We strongly oppose any privatisation of Royal Mail. The Green Party has long
campaigned against transferring essential public services to private hands. The
Royal Mail is a cherished and trusted national institution first established as a public
body by Oliver Cromwell. Even Margaret Thatcher thought it should remain publicly owned
(5). Privatisation benefits big business interests, not consumers. We have seen this
in the NHS, BT and the railways, to name a few instances. A report by Postwatch, the
consumer watchdog, has failed to find any significant benefits to individual users from
the 'liberalisation' of the postal service (6). Private companies will cherry-pick the
most profitable parts of the organization which currently fund essential but unprofitable
services like rural collections, leaving the public to pick up the bill in the future and
leaving Eastern Region with a poorer service.
To call for the part-privatisation of a major British institution at a time when the
dangers of "the market" have been so clearly exposed in recent months is clearly
madness. The substantial job losses called for by this report are the last thing our
struggling economy needs at the moment. Royal Mail has announced an impressive new
environmentally-responsible method of business mail: Click Here. This is a great example of what a public service
provides and I am concerned that a privatised postal service would not come up with such
innovative ideas." |
