Bungay Labour Party News & Views
2nd Edition
The Bungay Rose
Welcome to the second edition of our newsletter Recent Events Since writing in the autumn I hope that in a modest way I have helped put Bungay ‘on the map’ with a number of key Labour politicians: Attending both the Labour Party Women’s Conference and the Annual General Conference in Brighton as the Waveney delegate, I had the opportunity of talking directly to many of the shadow cabinet members like Harriet Harman, Yvette Cooper, Ed Balls and Angela Eagle, raising points related to transport, employment, education, childcare costs and the systematic privatisation of the NHS. There were people from all walks of life, all helping to contribute to, and shape, what will ultimately become the Labour Party’s 2015 manifesto. Then at the East of England Regional Conference in November,
Sue talking to Yvette Cooper as a representative of Waveney Constituency Labour Party, I was proud to sit with Ed Milliband and Richard Howitt MEP, where conversation covered how much our region benefits from EU grants and subsidies, and how Richard was fighting the Coalition’s decision to reject £22million available to Britain for funding our foodbanks. (see his article on page 3).
Coming Soon On May 22nd are the European Elections. Due to the size of the population, the East of England has seven seats. Voting is by proportional representation therefore the more votes Labour gains, the more candidates we will have to represent us. We need to return Richard, and send the rest of our talented team to the European Parliament, including our Suffolk candidate Sandy Martin who is currently leader of the SCC Labour group. Here are some of the main issues that Labour MEPs will be fighting for: Securing jobs and local investment: Cracking down on organised crime: Investing in a green environment: Immigration: Capping banker’s bonuses: Reforming Europe for the future: Exposing the actions of the Tories and UKIP: Having a strong voice in the world. So please remember to use your vote on 22nd May 2014.
Sue Collins
LABOUR WOULD WIN IN BUNGAY IF WE WENT TO THE POLLS TOMORROW Predicted number of votes: Tories 921; Labour 952; Lib Dems 38; Others 562. Source: Electoral Calculus (Date)
BOB BLIZZARD Labour Candidate for Waveney in the 2015 General Election
WAVENEY HIT BY CAMERON’S ECONOMIC PLAN David Cameron says he has an economic plan, but it’s hitting our area hard. BLUNDESTON PRISON CLOSED - because Cameron told the Ministry of Justice to cut its budget. 500 local jobs lost and fewer prison places in which to put criminals. CARLTON COURT WARDS CLOSED - our new modern mental health centre being run down because Cameron ordered a 20% reduction in the Mental Health Trust’s budget. CEFAS TO BE CLOSED? - government laboratories in Lowestoft looking likely to be closed because Cameron told the Dept for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to cut its budget – 450 local jobs to go? FLOOD DEFENCES CUT while we are battered by storms. It’s a plan that is making life worse, not a plan for recovery. It’s a plan that I am fighting. I will stand up for Waveney. We need an MP who will.
BYE BYE BUNGAY BY PASS Whatever you think about the Bungay One Way System, hopes of a north‑south bypass have been abandoned by Tory Suffolk County Council. It’s not mentioned at all in the
Bob Blizzard campaigning in Bungay list of road schemes recently submitted to government by Suffolk and Norfolk – not even in the long term wish list. When I was MP I campaigned for a bypass and secured a commitment from the Transport Minister to fund it if SCC put in a bid – but they never did. If elected, I will campaign again. If you would like to know more about the campaign, email: bob@waveney.co
Bob Blizzard
Promoted by Tod Sullivan, Aspire Centre, Yarmouth Road, Lowestoft, NR32 4AH Printed by Bungay Printers, 4b Market Place, Bungay, Suffolk NR35 1AW.
BLOOMING
BUNGAY Articles from members and supporters FOOD BANKS As a volunteer at Bungay Food Bank I enjoyed the “Head to Head” article in the Bungay Rose. It covered all the salient points. However, I read a letter in the Beccles and Bungay about supermarkets sending their “out of date” food to landfill sites and as a consequence will not support the Food Bank. I never thought I would live to see people go hungry again in England after my experiences in the East End of London during the 1940s! Wasting food is shameful but while people are in need, for whatever reason, I will continue to support Food Banks. Thanks for an interesting article. I look forward to the next “Head to Head”. Yours, Jan Hughes.
FLOODING While householders and businesses in Lowestoft were cleaning up following the floods, the Tories were happily announcing fifteen hundred jobs were to go in the Environment Agency! As people were counting the costs and cleaning up, this out of touch administration considered that sacking those who were working to protect us from flooding was a legitimate act of a responsible Government. Flood defence is a public service that has to have a strategic plan behind it. Individuals are totally unable to provide a comprehensive flood defence for themselves. We have to rely on accountable, civic bodies that possess expert strategic perspective and the ability to work on large scales to provide effective protection for our communities. Without funding for such projects and preventative measures, the costs of the inevitable post flood clean‑ups are transferred to insurance companies, and then ultimately back to you and me in hugely increased insurance premiums. Logically it is cheaper for us all to pay a little in tax for robust defences rather than pay so much more in insurance premiums - A stitch in time!
In Bungay we have Outney Meadow and the sluice at Wainford as our first line of defence, but because of the cuts, river management upstream will be shelved resulting in restricted river flows. This will ultimately lead to more flooding and more standing water on the Common for a longer period and so will increase the risk of flooding in the town. For the Common, long standing water stunts grass growth which will impact on the graziers and the ability to manage the grazing marsh. Again commuting the costs and magnifying them. The problem with many of the cuts we are facing is that despite Government protests to the contrary, they are slicing into front‑line services and they are causing serious and unnecessary misery. It will be too late when the water tops over in Bungay. Declan Keiley. 25 years experience in environmental and countryside land management.
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES Due to Government cuts and local Due to Government cuts and local restructuring a day in the life of a mental health practitioner is full of problems and issues. This is a brief account of one such day: Long day at work yesterday, all I was trying to do was get a six months pregnant woman into a mental hospital. She was prepared to accept voluntary admission rather than be sectioned but guess what? No beds available. Not in Norwich, or Gt Yarmouth or King’s Lynn. Undeterred, I thought I would contact the Crisis Team and ask them to support her over the next few days. They refused. Their best offer was to suggest to the Duty Team, that she had a mental health assessment and if she was sectionable, then she would have to be taken in. Basildon had a bed. Basildon? That is way out of area. Every day is the same, no services available anywhere. It’s all rubbish
now and I think I will have no option other than to quit at the end of April. Not a decision I am happy with but I don’t feel comfortable being part such a poor service. Many of my colleagues have already made that choice and will also be going. This local resident has many years experience as a specialist practitioner working within the NHS Mental Health Team. The private company who has now taken over as the local mental health service provider has offered this NHS employee a post doing the same work but she would have to take a salary cut of between £5000 £7000 per annum. The workload and responsibilities would remain the same. Name & address supplied.
CHARITY SHOPS Why do they have such a bad name? ‘Such-and-such’ a place is nothing but a collection of charity shops’ you hear; but what’s wrong with that? Our St Mary’s Street boasts five and they are well patronised, bringing valuable foot-fall to the town. I needed a glamorous top for a party a little while ago and set out with my fashion adviser (six-year old grand‑daughter Edith) to find something. We did a round of the C-shops, all busy that afternoon, until for a very small sum we found a more than suitable garment. The C-shops recycle and you can find amazing bargains among the clothes, shoes and knick‑knacks. It’s possible to clothe yourself and several members of your family while supporting various good causes. Long may they prosper! Caroline Norton.
HEAD
TO
HEAD
'Workers or Shirkers’? Fred: Every morning I’m up at the crack of dawn while those lazy neighbours of mine are still in bed. They have the life of Riley, doing nothing but collecting their dole every week – it’s alright for some! Beryl: If you’re talking about the Jackson family Fred, I happen to know that they have not chosen to be living their lives on benefits. Since Pete lost his job and Mary became ill they have struggled. They barely exist because what they get from the government is not enough to live on.
family needed, and let’s face it, rent and bills did not take as big a chunk out of the wage packet as they do today. There’s no way the Jacksons ever chose to be in this situation. Even buying a pair of school shoes for the kids takes a big slice out of their weekly budget. Fred: Look all I know is that I’m working hard and paying my taxes so that he can lie around in bed all day.
Fred: Oh come on they’re just not managing their money properly. When I was a kid we had to live on a shoe string but my parents always managed!
Beryl: Be fair Fred, you know as well as I do that the Jacksons are not lazy people. Even when Pete was working none of the jobs were secure. He had to do 3 jobs just to make ends meet. They couldn’t afford luxuries like a family holiday and the kids were on free school meals even then.
Beryl: Fred your parents were always in a secure job and there was always the opportunity of working a bit of overtime for any little extras the
Fred: But this country is in the mess it’s in because of all the money we’re spending on the welfare state and we can’t afford it anymore!
Beryl: Let me just read you something from a report I’ve been reading which might make you change your mind: ‘The proportion of our tax bill spent on welfare has remained stable for the last twenty years. It is ridiculous to argue that increasing welfare spending is responsible for the current deficit. Public debt is a problem but why is it being laid at the feet of the poorest?’ Source: The Lies We Tell Ourselves: Ending Comfortable Myths About Poverty, 2013 The Baptist Union of Great Britain, The Methodist Church, The Church of Scotland and The United Reformed Church. Labour’s promise to freeze energy bills, repeal the bedroom tax and guarantee a job for adults who have been out of work for 2 years would help families like the Jacksons get back on their feet and enable them to contribute, rather than adding to the tax bill.
Richard Howitt - Your LABOUR EURO MP Government policies are driving people to Foodbanks, but the Conservative led coalition is refusing to take up vital support that they need, says Eastern Region Labour MEP – Richard Howitt. Labour MEP Richard Howitt has challenged the Government over the Summer to end its opposition to EU emergency food aid. Richard has visited Foodbanks across the East to see for himself how the service helps local people who are hungry. A refusal by the Government to claim millions from Europe is literally taking the food out of the mouths of some of the poorest families. The Euro MP is leading the challenge in the European Parliament for the UK to take part in the £2 billion EU fund to tackle food deprivation, which will directly help foodbanks and charities in the UK and across Europe.
Richard Howitt MEP says, “I am proud to have led the fight in the European Parliament to get aid to Foodbanks, with a 230% rise in numbers needing help in my constituency during the last year. Charities in the UK are pleading with us for Europe to agree this aid, yet David Cameron and the Conservatives, for ideological reasons, are intent on denying them even the crumbs off the table.
Vote for Richard and Labour in the European elections on 22nd May 2014. Bungay Labour Chair, Sue Collins: “It is worrying that on 18th December 2013, our Waveney MP, Peter Aldous, voted against investigating food bank usage in the UK.” (see Division No. 164 in Hansard, 18th December 2013.)
Having now won the vote to create the fund which allocates £22million to the UK, it is now time for our Government to put aside its anti‑EU ideology, claim the money or see some of the most deprived people in our community go hungry. Richard Howitt said: “The Government is responsible for creating much of this problem and they should recognise the generosity of local people and match their efforts by claiming this EU fund.” Richard Howitt Labour MEP lending a helping hand at a Foodbank depot.
Local Labour Information Contact: Sue Collins, Bungay Labour Chair Meetings: H eld at Bungay Community Library, 7:00pm. 10th April, 21st August, 19th June, 16th October (AGM) waveneylabour.org.uk
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Waveney Labour Party, Aspire Centre, Yarmouth Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR32 4BF
Labour Policies AT A GLANCE ■ Build 1 million homes
■ Restore 50p Rate of Tax
■ Freeze Energy Bills to 2017 ■ Free Childcare for 3/4yr olds
■ Sack ATOS Health Care (conducts disability assessments for benefit claimants)
■ Permanent Bankers’ Bonus Tax
■ Mansion Tax on £2m+ Homes
■ Repeal Tory NHS Bill
■ Restore Educational Maintenance Allowance
■ Repeal Bedroom Tax
■ Cut Tuition Fees
Ed Balls during recent visit to Lowestoft.
The Bungay Rose COMPETITION
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CAPTION COMPETITION send entries to labour@waveney.co with subject ‘Bungay Rose’, or attach with form below. Most amusing entry will be published in next edition.
Winner of last edition’s crossword: Jenny Woods. For solution, visit: waveneylabour. org.uk/bungay
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Vote Labour on 22nd May Promoted by Tod Sullivan, Aspire Centre, Yarmouth Road, Lowestoft, NR32 4AH Printed by Bungay Printers, 4b Market Place, Bungay, Suffolk NR35 1AW.