Today is the day for the voters to speak through their votes. I will not be posting about the UK today, until after the polls have closed.
Author: johnredwood
Dear Elector
Dear Elector,
I am writing for one last time in this election to ask you to vote for me. It has been my privilege to represent the Wokingham constituency in past Parliaments. I have important work in progress for you which I would like to continue.
Locally I have been working to improve our local facilities by encouraging and supporting new investment in better train services and stations, in better road links and parking, in more school places to offer choice and good quality education, and to protect our best green spaces. The next five years will be central to this task. In the last Parliament we saw the completion of Reading station, extra Great Western capacity, and a new station in Wokingham. In the next Parliament we need to see better roads into Reading and to get across Wokingham, more new schools, and an improved Wokingham town centre. In West Berkshire we need to do more to protect the rural qualities of much of the area, and to improve the maintenance of existing roads.
Conservatives offer a continuation of the economic recovery, lower taxes and home ownership for the many. Raising the tax thresholds for basic rate and 40% tax on incomes will make work more worthwhile and leave individuals and families more of their own money to spend as they choose.
Nationally in the last Parliament I championed the causes of a new relationship with the EU, backed by a referendum, and justice for England. The next Parliament is likely to see constitutional reform at its core. The Parliament will start with the task of enacting more devolution to Scotland. This should trigger the question of justice for England. As the Euro area presses onward with more political integration for its members, so any government of the UK must define a new relationship. We want to be friends with them, trade with them and co-operate with them, but not be dragged into a political union we do not want and have not voted for.
I would like to be part of trying to sort out these mighty issues for you and the wider nation. It will be easier to achieve if we also find we have a Conservative government after tomorrow.
Yours sincerely
John Redwood
Published and promoted by Thomas Puddy for John Redwood, both at 30 Rose Street Wokingham RG40 1XU
The Wokingham constituency debate
The Radio Berkshire debate yesterday morning between five of the candidates in the election (the BBC did not allow the Independent to participate) produced a range of questions on traffic, transport, road noise, housing, the provision of school places, Wokingham’s Town Centre and style of life in Wokingham. By holding it in Wokingham Market Place we received no questions about anywhere in the West Berkshire part of the constituency.
There was little disagreement between the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats over the main local issues. All of us want better railway services, better roads, less congestion, better access to stations with better parking, some limits on development and a flourishing Wokingham Town centre. Most of the matters debated were about decisions which will be taken by Wokingham Borough Council – or would be taken by West Berkshire if we had been asked about that area – rather than decisions to be taken by the next Parliament. The Council enjoys the planning powers to determine where to build and what to build. The Council has the budgets for local roads and the Town Centre redevelopment. The Council forecasts school place demand and makes sure there is sufficient provision.
The only national mater we discussed was the abatement of noise on the M4, a strategic highway under the control of the Department of Transport. I repeated some of the details of the work I have been doing, explained we have now won the battle for sound reducing surfacing, but still need to improve the plans on sound barriers.
I confirmed that if elected I will resume my lobbying for fairer funding for local schools. I will work with the Council on any permissions and money needed from central government for local road and school building projects and for redevelopment schemes. I will make sure local opinion is considered by Councillors and the Chief Executive of the Council if a significant body of local opinion thinks Council plans need changing. I will continue my long correspondence and exchanges with Ministers and officials over noise reduction from the M4.
Published and promoted by Thomas Puddy for John Redwood, both at 30 Rose Street Wokingham RG40 1XU
This election is about ending austerity
Labour should know all about austerity. They plunged the UK private sector into the most severe austerity by their large mistakes in 2007-9. Not content with fuelling an irresponsible boom in credit in 2003-7, they decided to make the worse error of stopping it all so abruptly that they brought down several banks. They threw the UK economy into the worst recession since the 1930s. Many people lost their jobs. Incomes were squeezed. Businesses failed or became unprofitable. That’s austerity.
The Coalition have made a start to reversing Labour’s cruel austerity. Many more people are now in jobs, with unemployment down. UK output and incomes overall are now back above the 2007 level before the crash. Living standards are rising again after the sharp fall in 2007-9 and the squeeze thereafter.
Many commentators think austerity is a new word for public expenditure cuts. They need to realise that the bulk of jobs in the UK are in the private sector. 26 million people work for employers other than the state. It was this large majority that felt the full pain of the cuts. Public expenditure in real terms carried on rising in the Labour years, and rose again by a small amount in real terms under the Coalition. There were individual cuts in particular departments and programmes, but no overall reduction.
I am a strong critic of austerity. I opposed Labour’s credit binge and mega bank mergers on the way up before the crash, and I opposed Labour’s clumsy bank regulation and nationalisation which made the crash more intense and cast a long shadow over the recovery.
I want the current economic recovery to continue. To speed it we need tax cuts, not higher taxes. To fuel it we need policies that are positive for business and enterprise, not hostile to success. It was ill judged regulation from the state that brought the banks to their knees and damaged the private sector. It will be allowing people more freedom to set up and grow companies which will power the recovery.
The UK is close to the point now where the commercial banks can finance a recovery without further artificial public sector stimulus. Pursuing more anti bank rhetoric would not be a good idea. Whilst many people may not like banks, if you damage the banks you damage the rest of the economy. What Labour does not seem to have learnt from its bitter experiences of 2007-9 is if you get the banks wrong, it is other people in many other sectors and businesses that lose their jobs or struggle to maintain their commercial activities. Sometimes politicians have to stand up for the unpopular, and explain to people why the politics of jealousy or revenge may make things worse, not better.
West Berkshire matters
This election I have been spending time again in the West Berkshire part of the constituency. People in Mortimer, Stratfield Mortimer, Wokefield, Burghfield, Burghfield Common, Beech Hill, Beenham, Sulhamstead, Englefield, Aldermaston Wharf, Padworth and Ufton Nervet are an important part of the total Wokingham constituency and always figure prominently in my thinking of the needs and views of the area.
In the past as the local MP I have worked closely with West Berkshire Council as well as with Wokingham Borough, and will do so again if elected on May 7th. During my walks around the villages it was good to meet people who have used my surgery services in the past. Mortimer was keen to brief me on the village plan that is currently being constructed. In various locations the issue of too much development came up.
Being a voice for the Wokingham constituency of course means taking an interest in the policies and issues of West Berkshire as well as of Wokingham Borough.
Published and promoted by Thomas Puddy for John Redwood, both at 30 Rose Street Wokingham RG 40 1XU
Election rules and postings
On this main part of the site anyone wishing to name individual seats or candidates has to supply a full list of candidates in that seat and comply with election rules. I am deleting all posts that do not conform.
Your last chance to have an In/Out referendum?
I have worked long and hard to help secure a referendum on our membership of the EU. This is now within our grasp.
If you are one of those who thinks we should simply leave the EU, this is your best chance to do so. No poll puts UKIP anywhere near winning the election. No party but the Conservatives will offer an IN/Out referendum who has any chance to deliver one.
If you are one of those who thinks we might be able to negotiate a new and better deal with the EU, then you should also accept the Conservative policy and agree that the proposed settlement needs to be put to the British people. Most of business thinks we need powers back and a different, less intrusive deal. Only the Conservatives will try to secure this.
If you someone who wants to stay in the EU, but agrees membership needs voter consent which is currently does not have, you too should vote for the one party which will offer you that referendum. The UK is not going to be happy with its membership all the time people are refused a say, and all the time EU powers increase by stealth without asking for the consent of the British people, as they did under Labour.
This is not a party matter. This is above party. Some ask what guarantee is there Conservatives will enact the referendum if successful. The answer is easy. Conservative MPs will know that is a big reason why they have won, so they will see the need to honour the promise. Many of us believe in this deeply, so I wonder why you even ask.
Published and promoted by Thomas Puddy for John Redwood, both at 30 Rose Street Wokingham RG40 1XU
What difference will the election make to energy?
Energy policy is Cinderella who should come to the election ball. A combination of EU policy and UK policy first established by Mr Miliband’s legislation leaves the UK with dear energy, and with greater uncertainty over supply. They have encouraged undue dependence on wind energy, and have closed too many power stations that burned fossil fuels. The next government needs to accelerate the new build of power stations. A wise government will cut our dependence on wind energy.
Conservatives have pledged to build no more onshore wind farms with subsidies. Labour, the Lib Dems and Greens wish to press on with more subsidised wind farms. To do so will just make our energy dearer, and less reliable. We will need to build more back up power for the days when the wind does not blow. That backup power will need to be very heavily subsidised, as no-one will build a modern efficient gas or coal station if they are not allowed to run it when the wind blows.
Green enthusiasts reckoned fossil fuel prices would go up, making the extra cost of wind energy less oppressive over time. Instead, fossil fuel prices have just halved, making wind energy so much dearer relatively. This problem means less jobs, less industry and poorer families. It means exporting activities to countries with cheaper energy, not burning less for the world as a whole. It is a foolish policy. I want the election to discuss it, and for voters to vote against all candidates who are pledged to dear energy, more de-industrialisation, and more fuel poverty.
Noise from the M4
There is a leaflet in circulation in Earley suggesting I did not lobby Ministers on the need for noise reducing surfaces and better barriers on the M4. As I have pointed out before I did lobby Ministers, meeting them in the Commons to do so. That is why the Transport Department rightly said I had not held a meeting with Ministers in the Department, because the meetings and conversations took place at Westminster.I also backed up my numerous written submissions to the Department with oral submissions to officials when they consulted us on the smart motorway scheme.
Published and promoted by Thomas Puddy for Jo Redwood, both at 30 Rose Street Wokingham RG 40 1XU
What difference will this election make to jobs, wages and prices?
The Conservatives have seen the choice for the election as a simple one. Do you want the Conservative team to continue, who have presided over a decent recovery, with 2 million new jobs and now rising real incomes? Or do you want to hand the keys back to the people who crashed the car in the first place? Labour in its last period in government put up unemployment and brought down real incomes with a jolt.
Labour sees the election as being about the NHS, as we discussed before. Drawn into the economy, Labour has now pledged to get the deficit down, though by less than the Conservatives. Labour has pledged to avoid tax rises for most people, and has been imprecise about their public spending plans. Conservatives have been very clear about the overall pattern of spending, tax revenue and borrowing for each year of the next Parliament, but have not published details of how the extra cash public spending they are proposing is divided between departments.
The polls show either a Conservative government or a Labour minority with SNP support on a vote by vote basis. The SNP say they wish to end austerity, which they say means they wish to spend a bit more than Labour’s plans, and therefore borrow a bit more, whilst still gradually bringing down the deficit.
So there will be a difference- Conservatives will borrow less and get the finances on a stable and sustainable footing earlier.
The bigger difference will come in the attitudes towards enterprise and the private sector. More than 25 million people work in the UK private sector, more than five times as many as work in the public sector. The left of centre parties all see the private sector as needing more price controls, regulations, taxes and even state control and ownership. They have a range of policies to limit rents in housing, to control energy prices, to increase state control of the railways, to tax the banks more, to tax property and homes more, to tax foreign residents more and above all to tax anyone who is financially successful more.
This approach was tried by Mr Hollande in France, with very poor results. The French economy lost talent and money, the economy stayed depressed when the UK’s grew well, and in the end Mr Hollande had to moderate some of his ideas.
The choice on May 7th is between a policy which is delivering growth, more jobs and rising living standards, and a series of measures which however well intentioned will make the outlook worse.
Labour has proposed a number of interventions to control prices in the energy sector, for housing rents and certain kinds of lending. Such controls usually reduce supply and end up damaging those they are trying to help.