Inverclyde Council is urging voters to make sure they are registered to vote in both the Scottish Parliament election and a UK-wide referendum on Thursday 5th May.
People have until Friday 15th April to ensure their names are on the Electoral Register to avoid missing out on next month’s polls.
A person can vote in the Scottish Parliament election and the referendum if they are on the electoral register, are 18 or over on 5th May and are a British citizen, or a qualifying Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Irish Republic.
Citizens of other European Union countries registered to vote in Scotland can vote in the Scottish Parliament election. However, they can’t vote in the referendum.
To register to vote call 01475 790 135 Monday to Friday. Forms can be printed from www.aboutmyvote.co.uk
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Short memories...
I had to laugh when I opened my Greenock Telegraph today to see the smiling face of Lib Dem Councillor Alan Blair as he stood beside a group of central Greenock residents celebrating a £25,000 Big Lottery grant for a new play area in Sir Michael Street.
The article contained no mention that this project had already been allocated £75,000 by the Council - through the good offices of my Labour colleague Jim Clocherty - from funding contained within the Administration's 2010 budget.
The irony of course is that Councillor Blair - who believes that "a playpark is very much needed in that part of central Greenock" - actually voted against the Administration's funding for play areas.
This is just typical of opposition Councillors who want to take credit for projects that they voted against.
We had another example at the recent Policy & Resources Committee when SNP Councillor Jim MacLeod asked when proposals for the £1m investment in Port Glasgow Town Centre contained within the Administration's February 2011 budget would be brought forward, again conveniently forgetting that he voted against this investment.
Our opposition Councillors clearly have short memories, or more likely brass necks!
The article contained no mention that this project had already been allocated £75,000 by the Council - through the good offices of my Labour colleague Jim Clocherty - from funding contained within the Administration's 2010 budget.
The irony of course is that Councillor Blair - who believes that "a playpark is very much needed in that part of central Greenock" - actually voted against the Administration's funding for play areas.
This is just typical of opposition Councillors who want to take credit for projects that they voted against.
We had another example at the recent Policy & Resources Committee when SNP Councillor Jim MacLeod asked when proposals for the £1m investment in Port Glasgow Town Centre contained within the Administration's February 2011 budget would be brought forward, again conveniently forgetting that he voted against this investment.
Our opposition Councillors clearly have short memories, or more likely brass necks!
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
"Black Wednesday for families" as cuts to family budgets bite - Ed Balls
Cuts to childcare support alone will leave families up to £1500 a year worse off.
Families up and down the country will today (Wednesday) start to feel the real impact of this Tory-led Government’s decision to cut too deep and too fast as cuts to tax credits, childcare support and child benefit start to take hold.
With family budgets already squeezed by January’s VAT increase and rising inflation Labour is warning that today’s measures will add to the growing squeeze on millions of families on low and middle incomes – with women and families with children being hardest hit.
In what Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls is calling a “Black Wednesday for millions of families across Britain” a raft of changes will take effect today:
Cuts to the amount parents can claim on childcare – worth up to £1560 per year for families with two or more children
Child benefit frozen for three years – a real terms cut of £75.40 this year for a family with three children
Baby element of the child tax credit scrapped – worth £545 per year
Benefits set on a permanently lower path of inflation – a real terms cut which means less generous benefits this year and every year going forward
Basic and 30 hour elements of the Working Tax Credit frozen – an overall loss of £391 a year by 2013 for some families
Second income threshold for family element of Child Tax Credit cut – fewer families eligible for tax credits
Withdrawal rates for tax credits increased to 41% – a loss of £400 a year for someone earning £26,420 and in receipt of tax credits
In an article for the Labour Uncut website today Ed Balls MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, says:
“Today will be a Black Wednesday for millions of families across Britain.
“David Cameron promised to lead the most family-friendly government ever and George Osborne said we’re all in this together. So why are their changes to tax and benefits coming into force today hitting women harder than men and taking so much support from children, with families on low and middle incomes being hit the hardest of all?
“We’ve been through a global financial crisis – not a recession made in Britain. And like every major economy in the world we now have a big challenge to get the deficit down. So there have to be tough decisions including some spending cuts and fair tax rises like the 50p top rate of tax for the richest and the national insurance rise we proposed last year.
“But as we have consistently argued, by making a political choice to cut the deficit further and faster than any other major country George Osborne is going too deep and too fast and putting jobs and growth at risk. And he is doing so in an unfair way, giving the banks a tax cut this year while low and middle income families are hit hard.”
“All this pain, all in one go, aimed at families with children, is not just deeply unfair it will hamper our economy too. By going too deep and too fast George Osborne is damaging consumer confidence – which is now at a near 20 year low – and holding back an economy which should be growing strongly this year. The government is now set to spend over £12 billion more on benefits than it planned in the autumn. This creates a vicious circle because the higher unemployment and slower growth now forecast means the government is actually set to borrow £46 billion more over the coming years.”
Analysis by the House of Commons Library for Fiona O’Donnell MP has found that the changes coming in today, combined with the Government's VAT rise, will cost a family with three children – and each parent earning £26,000 – over £1,700 a year. This is equivalent to around 5p extra on the basic rate of income tax.
Amongst these changes is the decision – announced in last October’s Spending Review – to reduce the amount of childcare costs paid through the Working Tax Credit. Independent research by the Resolution Foundation has found that this benefit is claimed by 450,000 households – most of which are on incomes of £30,000 or lower. Almost two thirds of those who claim the support are lone parents.
They will lose on average £436 a year as a result of this change alone. In London, families will lose over £600 a year on average. For some families with two or more children it could be up to £1560 lost.
On the cuts to childcare support Ed Balls MP added:
“This little noticed change will have a huge impact on hundreds of thousands of families, but particularly women with children who work part time and on low pay. But cuts to childcare support make no sense at all if it simply makes it harder for parents to go out to work – as the Office for Budget Responsibility has warned – and so ends up costing the taxpayer more.
“Once again we can expect Nick Clegg to this week trumpet an income tax cut for some on lower incomes as a key achievement of the coalition. But the truth is that the increase in the personal allowance is a fig-leaf for what’s really happening to families. As the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said the government is giving a little with one hand, but taking much more away with lots of other hands.
“So we should remind Nick Clegg that it’s more than offset by the Tory VAT rise he himself campaigned against a year ago – which the Treasury says will cost a family with children an average of £450 a year – and all the other changes coming into effect today.”
Families up and down the country will today (Wednesday) start to feel the real impact of this Tory-led Government’s decision to cut too deep and too fast as cuts to tax credits, childcare support and child benefit start to take hold.
With family budgets already squeezed by January’s VAT increase and rising inflation Labour is warning that today’s measures will add to the growing squeeze on millions of families on low and middle incomes – with women and families with children being hardest hit.
In what Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls is calling a “Black Wednesday for millions of families across Britain” a raft of changes will take effect today:
Cuts to the amount parents can claim on childcare – worth up to £1560 per year for families with two or more children
Child benefit frozen for three years – a real terms cut of £75.40 this year for a family with three children
Baby element of the child tax credit scrapped – worth £545 per year
Benefits set on a permanently lower path of inflation – a real terms cut which means less generous benefits this year and every year going forward
Basic and 30 hour elements of the Working Tax Credit frozen – an overall loss of £391 a year by 2013 for some families
Second income threshold for family element of Child Tax Credit cut – fewer families eligible for tax credits
Withdrawal rates for tax credits increased to 41% – a loss of £400 a year for someone earning £26,420 and in receipt of tax credits
In an article for the Labour Uncut website today Ed Balls MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, says:
“Today will be a Black Wednesday for millions of families across Britain.
“David Cameron promised to lead the most family-friendly government ever and George Osborne said we’re all in this together. So why are their changes to tax and benefits coming into force today hitting women harder than men and taking so much support from children, with families on low and middle incomes being hit the hardest of all?
“We’ve been through a global financial crisis – not a recession made in Britain. And like every major economy in the world we now have a big challenge to get the deficit down. So there have to be tough decisions including some spending cuts and fair tax rises like the 50p top rate of tax for the richest and the national insurance rise we proposed last year.
“But as we have consistently argued, by making a political choice to cut the deficit further and faster than any other major country George Osborne is going too deep and too fast and putting jobs and growth at risk. And he is doing so in an unfair way, giving the banks a tax cut this year while low and middle income families are hit hard.”
“All this pain, all in one go, aimed at families with children, is not just deeply unfair it will hamper our economy too. By going too deep and too fast George Osborne is damaging consumer confidence – which is now at a near 20 year low – and holding back an economy which should be growing strongly this year. The government is now set to spend over £12 billion more on benefits than it planned in the autumn. This creates a vicious circle because the higher unemployment and slower growth now forecast means the government is actually set to borrow £46 billion more over the coming years.”
Analysis by the House of Commons Library for Fiona O’Donnell MP has found that the changes coming in today, combined with the Government's VAT rise, will cost a family with three children – and each parent earning £26,000 – over £1,700 a year. This is equivalent to around 5p extra on the basic rate of income tax.
Amongst these changes is the decision – announced in last October’s Spending Review – to reduce the amount of childcare costs paid through the Working Tax Credit. Independent research by the Resolution Foundation has found that this benefit is claimed by 450,000 households – most of which are on incomes of £30,000 or lower. Almost two thirds of those who claim the support are lone parents.
They will lose on average £436 a year as a result of this change alone. In London, families will lose over £600 a year on average. For some families with two or more children it could be up to £1560 lost.
On the cuts to childcare support Ed Balls MP added:
“This little noticed change will have a huge impact on hundreds of thousands of families, but particularly women with children who work part time and on low pay. But cuts to childcare support make no sense at all if it simply makes it harder for parents to go out to work – as the Office for Budget Responsibility has warned – and so ends up costing the taxpayer more.
“Once again we can expect Nick Clegg to this week trumpet an income tax cut for some on lower incomes as a key achievement of the coalition. But the truth is that the increase in the personal allowance is a fig-leaf for what’s really happening to families. As the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said the government is giving a little with one hand, but taking much more away with lots of other hands.
“So we should remind Nick Clegg that it’s more than offset by the Tory VAT rise he himself campaigned against a year ago – which the Treasury says will cost a family with children an average of £450 a year – and all the other changes coming into effect today.”
Fighting for what really matters...
Foreword to The Scottish Labour Party Manifesto 2011
We pursue growth, more jobs and more businesses, for a reason. We do so because work, labour itself, is the best chance of a better life for all, and work remains the only real route out of poverty.
The chance of a good life should be our birthright rather than an accident of our birth. Poverty envelops too many too early and remains too common and too persistent to be tolerated in a country that dreams of a better future.
In the 1980s I taught in a secondary school in Edinburgh. I saw teenagers lose their future and their hopes to the spectre of unemployment and to a government that did not care.
That is why I am standing to be First Minister of Scotland, so that this Tory government cannot repeat the mistakes of yesterday and blight all of our tomorrows. The difference today is our own Scottish Parliament. We can take a different path.
The great achievements of our past can be an inspiration for our future. We can create powerful new industries driving towards a green economy that creates the jobs we need to generate prosperity for all. I make no apologies for the scale of my ambition for Scotland.
It is the job of leaders to look to the horizon. My choices will be set by these priorities: creating jobs for all and leaving nobody behind.
The vision that guides me is a Scotland of full employment; a more equal Scotland, with the freedom to give full expression to who we feel we are. This is how we begin - ending youth unemployment by investing in education and skills, in apprenticeships and jobs. The costs of inaction are far greater than the sum of these ambitions.
I will balance the Scottish budget, but I refuse to balance it on the back of working people. We will drive efficiency, reform our public services and cut the cost of governing, but we will do it to make Scotland fairer. Our choices will be different.
We can only do this if we focus relentlessly on what matters and make the tough choices that deliver change.
No more distractions, no more constitutional wrangling. I’ll fight for what really matters. That’s what Labour exists to do.
This is our programme for Scotland. It talks to the concerns of the people of Scotland: jobs, safer streets, better schools, our NHS, our environment.
It is the product of the widest and deepest consultation ever undertaken by a political party in this country.
Give Labour your trust. We will fight for what really matters. And that is you, your family and your future.
Iain Gray
Scottish Labour Leader
To download a copy of the manifesto visit www.scottishlabour.org.uk
We pursue growth, more jobs and more businesses, for a reason. We do so because work, labour itself, is the best chance of a better life for all, and work remains the only real route out of poverty.
The chance of a good life should be our birthright rather than an accident of our birth. Poverty envelops too many too early and remains too common and too persistent to be tolerated in a country that dreams of a better future.
In the 1980s I taught in a secondary school in Edinburgh. I saw teenagers lose their future and their hopes to the spectre of unemployment and to a government that did not care.
That is why I am standing to be First Minister of Scotland, so that this Tory government cannot repeat the mistakes of yesterday and blight all of our tomorrows. The difference today is our own Scottish Parliament. We can take a different path.
The great achievements of our past can be an inspiration for our future. We can create powerful new industries driving towards a green economy that creates the jobs we need to generate prosperity for all. I make no apologies for the scale of my ambition for Scotland.
It is the job of leaders to look to the horizon. My choices will be set by these priorities: creating jobs for all and leaving nobody behind.
The vision that guides me is a Scotland of full employment; a more equal Scotland, with the freedom to give full expression to who we feel we are. This is how we begin - ending youth unemployment by investing in education and skills, in apprenticeships and jobs. The costs of inaction are far greater than the sum of these ambitions.
I will balance the Scottish budget, but I refuse to balance it on the back of working people. We will drive efficiency, reform our public services and cut the cost of governing, but we will do it to make Scotland fairer. Our choices will be different.
We can only do this if we focus relentlessly on what matters and make the tough choices that deliver change.
No more distractions, no more constitutional wrangling. I’ll fight for what really matters. That’s what Labour exists to do.
This is our programme for Scotland. It talks to the concerns of the people of Scotland: jobs, safer streets, better schools, our NHS, our environment.
It is the product of the widest and deepest consultation ever undertaken by a political party in this country.
Give Labour your trust. We will fight for what really matters. And that is you, your family and your future.
Iain Gray
Scottish Labour Leader
To download a copy of the manifesto visit www.scottishlabour.org.uk
On the campaign trail...
I was out putting up Labour posters in a wind swept and wet Kilmacolm and Quarrier's Village last night for our candidate Stuart Clark.
This afternoon, after the rain had stopped, I was out in the Boglestone area of Port Glasgow delivering direct mail to postal voters for our candidate Duncan McNeil.
Only four weeks campaigning left!
This afternoon, after the rain had stopped, I was out in the Boglestone area of Port Glasgow delivering direct mail to postal voters for our candidate Duncan McNeil.
Only four weeks campaigning left!
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Saying goodbye to an old comrade...
I attended the funeral mass for Labour Party stalwart Jim McLaughlin this morning.
Jim and his late wife Mary were active members of the local party for a long number of years. They never held pubic office but, like so many others, their contribution to the party was every bit as important. They were part of the backbone of the party. Without them people like me would not be in the position we are.
Jim will be greatly missed by his friends and colleagues in the Inverclyde Labour Party. Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.
Jim and his late wife Mary were active members of the local party for a long number of years. They never held pubic office but, like so many others, their contribution to the party was every bit as important. They were part of the backbone of the party. Without them people like me would not be in the position we are.
Jim will be greatly missed by his friends and colleagues in the Inverclyde Labour Party. Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.
Sunday, 3 April 2011
The week ahead...
With the kids off school this week I have taken the week off work. However with the Scottish Election campaign well underway I will also be spending some time delivering direct mail to postal voters and putting up placards.
My commitments for the week are as follow:
Monday
6.45 Chairing a meeting of the Clune Park Task Group
8.15 Home visit to a constituent
Tuesday
6.30 Meeting of Whitecroft TARA
Wednesday
4.30 Weekly meeting of the Administration Group
5.30 Weekly meeting of the Labour Group
My commitments for the week are as follow:
Monday
6.45 Chairing a meeting of the Clune Park Task Group
8.15 Home visit to a constituent
Tuesday
6.30 Meeting of Whitecroft TARA
Wednesday
4.30 Weekly meeting of the Administration Group
5.30 Weekly meeting of the Labour Group
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