Sandy 4 St Albans

Sandy Walkington is the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for St Albans

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Councillor bites dog

March 18th, 2010 · Sandy's blog

Well sadly not but it got you reading the post.  I was out with Joy Mann in the Lower Road area of her Bedmond and Primrose Hill ward.  (For the information of St Albans viewers, this is about as far west and north as you can go in the parliamentary constituency, next to the West Coast mainline and to all intents and purposes in Hemel Hempstead – but I digress.)

2010_0318StAHalfMarathonPoolC0045Anyway the first house where Joy was called, the residents weren’t in, she pushed a leaflet through the letter box and a silent dog lurking inside bit her finger.

Just to be on the safe side, I took her to the doctor’s in Kings Langley – where the nurse was fully booked doing vaccinations.  So off we went to Hemel Hempstead and the Urgent Care Centre.  The picture shows Joy duly bandaged and armed with antibiotics afterwards.

But it reminded me of the dangers faced every day by postmen and deliverers of every kind.  And also how difficult and inconvenient it is to get to the rambling hospital site at Hemel.

Last weekend I wrote a post about Hemel A&E closing and that all roads no longer led to Hemel – well today they did.

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Campaigning for lower rail fares

March 18th, 2010 · Sandy's blog

I have spent so many winter mornings standing outside St Albans City Station handing out leaflets to hurrying commuters that I ought to have a season ticket.

2010_0318StAHalfMarathonPoolC0021Today it was at least warm, the mornings are getting brighter, and I was there for the thoroughly worthy and non-political cause of promoting the Campaign for Better Transport’s push for lower rail fares.

The Campaign for Better Transport is the lobby group for improving public transport in the UK.  They used to be called Transport 2000 but they realised they should change the name when we entered the 21st century.  How different from Thameskink 2000.

I am pictured with local St Albans resident Stephen Joseph, who is director of CfBT.  I am glad to say that we received a very warm response in spite or perhaps because of wearing giant fake tickets round our necks.  We could have given away many more postcards than we actually had.  The cause should resonate with St Albans travellers since they pay more per kilometre than any equivalent commuter journey.

I am grateful to my Labour opponent and former council colleague Roma Mills, who joined us this morning, for taking the picture on my camera – I then took one of her!  Sadly Mrs Main was not present.

You can sign up to the campaign by visiting the CfBT website here.

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A new vision for our railway

March 17th, 2010 · Sandy's blog

It was rather an irony that we had to slightly delay the start of last night’s public meeting on FCC’s lamentable performance and what steps can be taken to hold them to account or even remove their franchise.  This was because main speaker Norman Baker’s northbound train was delayed.  You couldn’t make it up.

FCC meeting 2

The picture taken by Gary Shore of Gaslight shows Norman and myself telling the audience at the end of the meeting that we were off to The Goat, where Norman had performed in a gig back in 1978, long before he got into Parliament and achieved his current reputation as a tireless campaigner and Liberal Democrat spokesman on transport.

But first of all there was the serious stuff.   Chris White, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Herts County Council, opened the meeting and set the context.  I then covered all FCC’s multiple failings which have been well rehearsed previously in this blog – just type First Capital Connect into the search box on the right hand side.  I pointed out that statutory mechanisms exist for franchises to be taken back temporarily into public sector management as has happened with East Coast Mainlines currently and previously happened with the terrible Connex.

The audience was then invited to share their own experiences,  and we had a stream of interesting comments and questions, including whether it is now possible for FCC to lose their franchise.

Norman listened hard to all the points and interjections, and then gave a thoughtful and detailed response, showing a considerable grasp of First Group and FCC’s history and performance both on Thameslink and elsewhere.  He reeled off the statistics on FCC’s relative performance not just over this last winter but for the previous few years and showed how they had consistently under-performed the rest of the rail industry.

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All roads lead to Hemel – or do they?

March 15th, 2010 · Sandy's blog

Once upon a time St Albans had an A&E.  Then the previous Conservative government broke their promise and closed it.  So the slightly surreal sign pointing to Hemel was put up at the exit from St Albans hospital in order that the injured should know which way to turn – left down the hill to Batchwood Drive rather than right to the town centre.  Sandy hospital map2

But even though the current Labour government has just this last week closed the Hemel Hempstead A&E department, that forlorn sign to Hemel still remains.

So when can we expect to see the sign replaced with one pointing to Watford?  Or will patients be expected to make their way to the Hemel site where another sign will then point them on to Vicarage Road in Watford in a patient pass-the parcel?    Where will it all end?

It is a sorry tale and provides graphic illustration of the way that St Albans residents feel that a once local NHS has left them and become ever more remote.

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A larger audience than Nigel Farage… and an interesting debate on what makes a fair tax system

March 14th, 2010 · Sandy's blog

On Friday I spoke to the St Albans School 6th form before rushing up to the Liberal Democrat spring conference in Birmingham.  The school certainly has an interesting range of speakers.  The previous week they had Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP.  This week they are going to have Esther Rantzen.  It is an intriguing progression!

I will confess to some satisfaction that my audience of well over 100 young people was more than twice the number that listened to the UKIP leader – beat that, Esther!

St Albans School pupils have never been shy at voicing opinions – this is the third time in recent years that I have spoken there, and I also used to have fairly regular sessions there in the 1980s when I was a governor.

Questions were thrown at me about the economy, the merits of hung or balanced parliaments, our membership of the European Union of course, tuition fees.

What was most interesting to me was the debate round creating a fairer tax system, and in particular the equalisation of tax relief for pensions.  They could not see why their parents (at least most of them I presume) should “pay more”, I said it’s not about paying more, it’s about making it fair between  high income earners and the person cleaning the room (or equivalent) after school finishes.

Higher rate tax payers were given 65% of the £28bn granted in pension tax relief in 2008-09, though they make up just 19% of pension savers.

And the very highest earners, the 1% of adults whose income is over £150,000 a year, gained 25% of all pension tax relief, worth an average of £20,000 a year to each of them.

If no tax relief was given to anyone, that would put £28 billion back into public coffers – so we are talking big money here.  Of course no-one is suggesting that tax relief should be ended in that way, it’s too important that we encourage people to save for their retirement.

But it seems fair and even-handed to me that Sir Richard Branson and his ilk should get no larger a percentage relief on each pound that he saves for retirement than the person cleaning the school lecture theatre .  The same for the rich as for those on modest incomes – just like our proposal to raise both Sir Richard’s and the school cleaner’s basic tax allowance to £10,000.  What could be fairer than that?

Anyway I hope I left the St Albans students with something to think about.

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“The End of an Era – Political Predictions”

March 11th, 2010 · Sandy's blog

This was the title of a breakfast seminar organised at the Financial Times last week by Editorial Intelligence and chaired by BBC political journalist Jon Sopel.  I was on the panel together with serial  ex-Secretary of State John Hutton, shadow economic secretary Greg Hands, the wonderful Suzanne Moore commentator, and FT politics editor George Parker.

I’ve delayed writing about it so that I can now provide links to the podcast and also to edited video highlights.

I was slightly disappointed that my fellow panellists chose to interpret the topic as providing forecasts about how well they would do (no politician ever forecasts they will do badly) in the upcoming election.  I thought it was far more interesting to talk about life after the election – which really will mark the end of an era of the politics of plenty and the ushering in of  a new age of austerity.

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Tackling abusive and antisocial behaviour

March 11th, 2010 · Sandy's blog

Local residents in St Albans and the villages will resonate with today’s strong criticism by the chief inspector of constabulary  of the way that police in England and Wales deal with complaints of anti-social behaviour.

At the time of writing I have not seen his individual “report card” for Hertfordshire because it has not yet been posted on the HMIC website.  But I am constantly told of people’s frustration with the way that a small minority of young people make life miserable for others.

Last night I went with Catherine Barron, our dynamic candidate for Verulam ward, to a meeting at the British Legion in Verulam Road organised by residents of New England Street.  It had been called to discuss constant problems of vandalism, low level abuse and sometimes quite threatening behaviour by young people who congregate at “The Brickie”, the apparently pleasant sunken bowl of green space which lies between Mount Pleasant and Verulam Road.

Children and parents are sometimes put off from using the playspace, the language used by some of the offending young people is apparently appalling, and there is occasional disgusting graffiti.

It’s a story which is repeated across the UK on the basis of this morning’s Report.  Certainly I can vouch for similar problems in my own village.

There is a role here for parents and for schools.  But chiefly we need more police on the ground.  The local beat bobby and PCSO were both present last night – but they have a huge area to cover and they cannot work 24/7.

The Liberal Democrats are the only party to have costed plans for more police back on the beat – sadly the current public expenditure crisis means we have had to scale back our ambitions, but we still want to put a flag in the ground, that the public pays for the right to occupy their homes and streets and play areas without feeling vulnerable and threatened.

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“Should FCC lose its franchise?” – Public Meeting 16th March

March 9th, 2010 · Sandy's blog

I am still being inundated daily with e-mails and telephone calls about continued erratic performance from First Capital Connect.  And their mean and overly complex compensation offer is leaving people frustrated and angry.

The mechanism exists for rail franchises to be handed back if franchisees fail to deliver the promised service.  FCC seems to have had a charmed life in hanging on to its lucrative monopoly, it is time that passengers had their say.

Norman PictureSo we are calling a public meeting for next Tuesday 16 March to discuss whether FCC should now lose their franchise.  The main speaker will be my friend Norman Baker MP, Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesman in the House of Commons.  The meeting will take place at Marlborough Road Methodist Church in the centre of the city (see directions here) and starts at 7.00 pm with doors opening at 6.30 pm – so do put the date in your diary!

When I successfully proposed my motion on rail franchises at last autumn’s Liberal Democrat conference, Norman summed up the debate.  The Daily Mail has described him as having ‘consistently been a thorn in the Government’s side’. In 2001 he was named “Inquisitor of the Year” in the Zurich/Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards and, in February 2002, he won the Channel 4 Opposition MP of the Year Award.

It’s going to be a lively meeting, I hope to see you there.

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Here’s to well-run community pubs

March 5th, 2010 · Sandy's blog

I joined CAMRA when I was at university in the 1970s and I remember campaigning for real beer in college bars.  I even printed the first real beer guide for Cambridgeshire.  Little did I know then that CAMRA had been founded in St Albans and that St Albans was to be such a mecca for beer drinkers. 2010_0305StAHalfMarathonPoolC0006

So today I was pleased to make a special visit to St Albans-based CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale) in Hatfield Road to sign the  Beer Drinkers’ and Pub Goers’ Charter.  The picture shows me with Emily Ryans and Jenni Hollis of CAMRA.

The CAMRA Charter champions well-run community pubs, the rebalancing of alcohol taxation to support beer and pubs, the reform of the beer tie to deliver a fair deal for consumers, and the role of well-run pubs as part of the solution to alcohol misuse.

Well-run pubs can be a bedrock of community life – they are part of the solution to the problem of alcohol misuse and not part of the problem.  They deserve our support.

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What’s the difference between the Conservative party and a banana republic?

March 4th, 2010 · Sandy's blog

The Michael Ashcroft story is truly extraordinary and there must be more to come.

We all know that whoever wins the election will have to put up taxes and cut expenditure in order to bring the UK economy back into balance.  The only questions are timing; how much comes from cuts and where they fall; and then how and on whom tax rises are levied.

A voter in Colney Heath asked me earlier this week what I was promising to her, and I said that in all honesty whoever wins will be asking for blood, sweat, toil and tears until we turn round the catastrophic state of the economy. We’ve just got to make sure that the pain is shared on the fairest possible basis.  People need to know that we are all in it together.  That especially means politicians, the people who helped create this mess.

The revelation by Lord Ashcroft, the largest Conservative donor, that he is a “non-dom” for tax purposes and so will largely not share the pain leaves a pretty sour taste in the mouth.  The subsequent admission by William Hague that he knew about this for some months is truly breath-taking, since he and other Conservative front-benchers continued to spin the line that Lord Ashcroft had met all his tax obligations.

As Lib Dem MP Chris Huhne has said, “Anyone who wants to pass laws in this country should pay this country’s full taxes and not hide behind the special offshore status of non-doms. Non-doms have to tell the taxman that their first allegiance is to another country. No-one should be a British lawmaker whose first allegiance is not to Britain.

It is hard to know how much tax Lord Ashcroft has managed to dodge.  But it clearly must be many millions of pounds over the ten year period given what we know about the extent of his wealth.

This is the man who has poured money into Britain’s most marginal seats in a blatant attempt to buy votes.  Banana republics and the Conservative Party seem to have a lot in common.

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