where am i? ::
Home > David's Blog
David's Blog
June 09 posts
Page 2 of 2
lgilmore | 
18 June 2009 at 15:05 | 275 views
Once the elections this week are out of the way, speculation will focus on whether the Prime Minister will reshuffle his Cabinet one more time before the next General Election – which is widely expected to be on 6th May 2010, in spite of a widespread public desire that it should come as soon as possible.
Reshuffles always entertain the national press, but they often make little impact on the public. Unless Gordon Brown can pull off some extraordinary coup in attracting into his Government some “surprising” people, any reshuffle is likely to create an impression of re-arranging those well-known deckchairs on the Titanic.
There have been rumours that Gordon Brown would install Ed Balls – who I presently Shadow in the Education Department – to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ed Balls worked as Gordon Brown’s Economic Adviser for much of his time as Chancellor, and the two are very close political friends. But this would be a move which would be of little real help to the Prime Minister – it would both reinforce the sense of the Prime Minister “bunkering down” for his last days in office, and it would put in one of the most senior jobs in Government someone who is a very poor performer, not least in the House of Commons.
After the reshuffle is over, a period of risk will open up for the Prime Minister. His party’s MPs will fear defeat in the coming election, and over July, August and September we can expect a prolonged bout of speculation on whether anyone will dare to try to topple the PM, to put a more electable PM in place.
Meanwhile, we can expect a long period of political phoney war into the end of the year, while all parties prepare for what will be a very important General Election, probably in Spring 2010.
All of this delay and uncertainty cannot really be good for the country, and it surely reinforces the case for fixed term Parliaments, probably of four years length, where the power to choose the timing of General Elections is taken away from the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, next week I will be firmly focused on education issues at Westminster, with a range of debates, speeches and meetings which are all education related.
On Tuesday 9th June I will be having a meeting in Westminster with other Somerset MPs to discuss the Somerset Universities Project. This is designed to bolster higher education within Somerset, building on the very successful existing initiatives in the County – including the University Centre in Yeovil. With the high cost of university courses and of living away from home for three or four years, there is a real case for building further university capability in Somerset for the people of the County and of the surrounding region. This is also an initiative which the Government is encouraging, and I will want to see what we can do to help out.
When I return to our area on Friday, I will start the day with a visit to Chard School, and I will then be travelling to Combe St. Nicholas to visit Colin Mear Engineering – an important local firm which I have not had a chance to call in on before.
On Saturday I will be holding one of my regular Advice Centres in Chard, and after this I will be heading to Montacute House to open the local Fete. I also hope to have a chance to cheer on two runners from GKN in Yeovil who are seeking to complete a double Marathon to raise money for the Yeovil Hospice. They are due to pass through Chard at some stage during the day.
On Sunday, I will be back in the office in Westminster to catch up on my national work as my Party’s Education Spokesman. This is very time consuming, but also very rewarding, as it is one of the issues which I am most passionate about.
Best wishes to all readers,
Ever,
David.
lgilmore | 18 June 2009 at 15:04 | 247 views
Parliament is now in recess for a week, and if there is a time of the year to be away from London and in the heart of Somerset this must be it.
On the days that have been sunny of late our countryside has looked at its Spring best. I am not sure that there is anywhere quite as beautiful in the world as the English countryside in the Spring and early Summer, when the sun is shining.
Being in our area has given me not only a chance to enjoy our countryside, but an opportunity to get out and about across the area – to hold Advice Centres and take up local issues. Some people assume that when Parliament is not sitting MPs must just stay in bed all day or disappear on holiday – an image of indolence carefully cultivated by some parts of the national media.
In fact, there is often more work to do in your constituency than in London – after all, this is where my 110,000 constituents live, and this is where they want to see me to discuss issues and problems.
One of the encouraging aspects of my recent visits in our area has been seeing how much redevelopment of our local public buildings is taking place. In Yeovil, the newly built school on the Parcroft site off Preston Road is coming on very rapidly indeed – and I hope to have a chance to visit it before the building is finished. This brand new school will bring together Westfield Infants and Parcroft Junior Schools. The old buildings can then be demolished.
I have also been impressed by many of the redevelopments of homes by Yarlington Homes (formerly South Somerset Homes). Yarlington is pouring huge amounts of money into rebuilding or refurbishing existing homes – particularly where these are suffering from structural problems or are old and getting worn.
These redevelopments can initially be quite controversial, because they are disruptive for the residents involved, and because they usually involve building new housing at a greater density. But when they are finished they usually look great. This is true, for example, of the redevelopment at New Close in Haselbury Plucknett and at West End View in South Petherton.
I did, however, pick up one problem recently with a planned re-development in Milford Road in Yeovil. A large number of homes in Milford Road have now been vacated, and they have been left boarded up – creating a poor neighbourhood impression and fears of attracting vandalism. I am taking this issue up along with local councillor Peter Gubbins.
I was also in South Petherton recently, where I saw the old South Petherton hospital site. This will soon be redeveloped to build a brand new hospital. The ceiling in one of the wards fell in almost 5 years ago, and most of the site had to be closed down pending approval for a rebuilding of the hospital. There are still a few staff working in one of the buildings, but the rest of the site is now deserted and the buildings look worse than ever.
It will be fantastic to see the redevelopment work start soon, and it will be great to have a hospital of modern quality re-opening in South Petherton.
Of course, there are real fears that the “building boom” in the public sector will be coming to an end soon. With the massive size of the Government’s budget deficit, the plans are to cut the “capital spending” budget by an eye-watering 17.5% each year after 2011 – that is an awful lot!
There have already been some areas where the capital budgets have been seriously over-subscribed and where cuts have had to be made to ambitious re-building plans. That has affected Yeovil College, as well as many other English Colleges.
There is still a long shopping list which I have for redevelopment of local education and health facilities, improvement of leisure facilities, and the public transport network. We will have to fight hard for our share of a smaller cake in the years ahead.
Ever,
David.