Kevin Davis

Council cuts

I am hearing from contacts within Somerset County Council that my recent blog post about cuts to jobs in the revenue and tax office in Yeovil are but nothing compared to the bombshell that was dropped on Monday by the Lib Dems at County Hall and the leaders of the five Somerset district councils.

After their expensive defeat, when they tried to scrap all the district Councils and take supreme power into Taunton, they undertook a review of strategic services and have now announced that they are going to cut Council jobs by 30%. This scale of cuts can only mean a reduction in services!

The Conservative leader at County Hall has said:

“We were all shocked to hear of job cuts of this magnitude, and especially shocked to hear it announced in this way.  This will alarm thousands of council workers and their families at what is already a difficult time.  We all know that prices are rising fast and many people have real difficulty in making ends meet right now.  I call upon the Leader of the Council to clarify these irresponsible remarks which will be so worrying to so many hard-working families in Somerset.”

The Yeovil Taxman

Yeovil is a town on the edge.

Why do I say that? Well, wherever I go hear people telling of the glory days of Yeovil and how in the past few years it has at times appeared to people that live there that they are under constant threat to their future prosperity.

In the past few months we have had job losses, a Lib Dem Council that wants to build on one of the last open Green spaces left in the Town, a Labour Government determined to wreck the community by the closure of local Post Offices whilst the Lib Dem County Council stands by and lets it happen, flooding (even God is having a go!) and now the attempt to close the Yeovil Tax and revenue office.

Now for some Tax and revenue is probably not something they are too concerned about - the taxman is probably not the most popular person you might know - but the tax office provides a useful advice service for many people and it is indicative of the centralising powers of this Government that they believe advances in technology should lead to a move away from customer facing services.

So, the taxman may not be the most popular face in the town of Yeovil but it is worth fighting for their jobs and for the services they offer because the clousre of this office is another part of the thin end of the wedge that marks the potential decline of Yeovil.

In Europe, not run by Europe

Hurrah for the Irish.

For one of the most pro-European countries in the EU (or at least one that has got more than its share of what it has put in) it is astonishing that it has take their vote to defeat the dratted treaty of Lisbon.

You would have thought the mandarins of the EU would now listen to people rather than foist on them their dreamy vision of what Europe should be like. Instead, they now want to carry on as usual and then find back-door way of getting their way. All the while they bring the EU into more and more disrepute. Even Europhile parties like the Lib Dems must now see that this is a corrupt and unreformable institution for as long as it continues to ignore the people who pay for it.

Hague's slogan from the 2001 General Election is about the only thing that came right in that election:

In Europe, not run by Europe!

Hats off to Davis!

The initial response of many is that he must be mad. However, if David achieves an objective that has a campaign that focuses on our diminishing civil liberties and the surveillance socity, then he will have done us all a favour.

The question is now will Labour put up a candidate? It seems to me they will have to or be accused of running away from the debate.

Even Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty has come out supporting him.

There is a very good post by Iain Dale on this issue.

All through schools

Some time ago I argued that one of the key reasons why schools in this country do not do as well as in other countries was because of the disruptive nature of a system where children transfer between schools at the age of 11.

My original view on this, and other education issues, is here.

I was therefore very interested to read that Adnrew Adonis, Labour Schools Minister, is advocating having all-through secondary schools. Click here for the article.

The basic premise is that chldren stay in the same school from 5 to 18 and therefore do not have the disruptive change of school at 11. It also means that there are wider opportunities for educating those under 11 in what are called minority subjects.

I believe this is an excellent idea but it has one flaw. In urban areas you need to find the land to build these schools on. The fact is our traditional system of schooling, especially where the middle school still exists, are going to find this sort of change very challenging.

Letter to the Press: Hinton St George Post Office

Dear Sir,

I am devastated to hear that the The Post Office have announced that they are to consult on the closure of Hinton St George Post Office.

I have contacted the Post Office to make clear that many in Hinton St George will consider this latest proposal a cruel deception. Right across the Yeovil constituency there will have been towns and villages where they believed their Post Office had escaped the recent Post Office slaughter. Instead, Post Offices Ltd has been keeping back proposed post office closures in a secret plan.

In talks with Post Office Ltd it emerged that because they had saved post offices in the first round of cuts they therefore needed to find others to close. They tell me that the closure in Hinton St. George is because they saved a Post Office in Street – 15 miles away. This whole process is a farce and the fact the alternative closure to Street is Hinton St. George proves beyond doubt that this reorganisation is not being based on anything sensible other than a scramble to destroy communities and make savings.

As I did in the previous round of closures I urge Post Offices Ltd to think again, but I also call on the Lib Dem run Council to consider following Conservative run Councils across the country who have entered into talks with Post Offices Ltd. to secure the future of earmarked Post Offices. To date these talks have not taken place which is a lost opportunity.

Letter to the press: Floods in Crewkerne and Yeovil

I have seen with alarm the recent flash flooding that has occurred in Crewkerne, Yeovil, Ilminster and other surrounding areas.

Now that the waters have receded it is vitally important that we understand more about how areas such as this suffered in the recent rainfall. The rainfall was not unique and we must be concerned about its apparent impact in an area of the country that you would not normally associate with wholesale flooding.

In looking at the causes of flash flooding we must look to the cleansing of gullies, storm drains and culverts and I have therefore written to the County Council asking them to detail for me what cleaning and clearing regime exists for these drains and specifically for them to give me a list of the drains that might have been affected in this area. I have also asked that I receive a record of the cleansing that has taken place in recent times.

I had a relatively recent experience of a local authority who did not even know where all their drains were and therefore were unable to provide this information. I am hopeful that this will not be case in Crewkerne.

More widely, this does again open up the debate about the building of new housing. What this flash flood demonstrates is that we must be careful about the quantity and location of any new housing we build across South Somerset. I would urge local councillors, many of whom will have voters who have suffered terribly in these floods, to look again at the plans they make for new housing. Government targets and the need for affordable housing is one thing, but building houses that makes the lives of those who live here now intolerable will itself be unacceptable.

Press Release: Hinton St George Post Office

Kevin Davis slams Post Office for deception over Hinton St George Post Office

The Post Office have announced that they are to consult on the closure of Hinton St George Post Office.

On hearing of this devastating news Kevin Davis immediately contacted the Post Office and asked for the plan to be withdrawn.

Kevin Davis said: “Right across the constituency there will have been towns and villages where they believed their Post Office had escaped the Post Office slaughter. Instead, Post Office Ltd has been keeping back post offices in a secret plan.”

In talks with Post Office Ltd it emerged that because they had saved post offices in the first round of cuts they therefore needed to find others to close.

Kevin continued: “ I have been told that the closure in Hinton St. George is because they saved a Post Office in Street – 15 miles away. This whole process is a farce and the fact the alternative closure to Street is Hinton St. George proves beyond doubt that this reorganisation is not being based on anything sensible other than a scramble to destroy communities and make savings.”

Note to editors: Kevin Davis, during the first round of closures urged the County Council to consider following Conservative run Councils across the country who were entering into talks with Post Offices Ltd. To secure the future of these Post Offices. To date these talks have not taken place.

Lib Dems stand by as more Post Offices close

The Post Office are now arguing that they want to close yet another Post Office in the Yeovil constituency - Hinton St George. Click here to see their press release.

I have this morning spoken to Post Offices Ltd. and they inform me that because their previous consultations saved Post Offices in the area (none of the saved ones being in the Yeovil Constituency) they have decided to close some more.

Bizarrely, they claim that because they saved a Post Office in Street, they now wish to close the Post Office in Hinton St. George.

I am afraid this shows how flawed their analysis is and this is not about providing a service but about saving money. There is absolutely no connection between Street and Hinton St. George. In fact, they are 15 miles from each other. I am afraid that there is very little that Post Office Ltd does that has any logic to it.

As with the other Post Offices the arguments for preserving this Post Office are huge and we should be doing all we can to ensure that Post Offices Ltd either halts this closure or comes u with a sustainable way for providing these services.

But then also, what have the local Lib Dem Council done about this. At the time of the last closure programme I argued that the Council should be doing what Conservative Councils up and down the country were doing and examining whether they could take over the running of the Post Offices. Councillors are always arguing they want to have more local control and here is their chance. Given their recent track record I doubt the Lib Dems will do anything about this.

An expensive Chairman

I am in two minds about the issue of Caroline Spelman and her expenses. This is nothing to do with Caroline - who I believe to be an honest person who must feel dreadful that this has happened to her - but this is about a scheme of expenses that is clearly not fit for purpose. It appears it is very easy for an MP to fall foul of the expenses regulations, in part because they are so complicated and deal with such large sums of money.

In her defence this did happens some 11 years ago when she was first elected. She also put it right when it became known to her that although what she was doing was above board the appearance was less good for her.

What worries me is the signals this is all sending out. It is clear that MPs expenses are a mess. The time has now come to do something different with MPs expenses. It is also my view that MPs should be paid more and then a large number of these expenses could be put to history. Clearly any new scheme will have winners and losers but in the end clarity is the important aspect of sorting out this mess.

This will not be the last expenses row and they will come from all parties, this is probably why any senior MP is keeping a low profile on this issue.