Roger Harmer

At the launch of the new Draft Bill on energy, Liberal Democrat Secretary of State of Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey, writes:

Over the next decade, around a fifth of existing power plants are due to close, against a background of increased energy demand and increasing prices. We need new investment simply to keep the lights on.

But more than that, we need a clean energy revolution to meet our ambitious climate change goals and make this the greenest government ever.

That’s why I am bringing forward a new Energy Bill today.

You can read more about our clean energy revolution here.

We also need to transform our energy market to reduce the risk and cost of low carbon technologies.

That’s what our Bill does.

The UK is fast becoming a world leader in renewable energy, especially in off shore wind. I want us to lead the world in Carbon Capture and Storage too.

And we are also tackling rising energy bills. Without reforming the energy market bills will rise by around £200 in the coming years. Our reforms will mean bills are around 4% lower than they otherwise would have been.

Going green is good for the economy, good for Britain and good for you.

Yours,

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change

(Image licensed under Creative Commons from DECC)

(Click picture to play video)

It is shameful that, despite all the promise on a four or five year old’s first day at school, or the passion of their teachers, you can all too often plot that child’s path just by asking how much their parents earn.

The £2.5billion Pupil Premium was one of the four pledges on the front page of our manifesto.  And now, with Liberal Democrats in government, schools are using the money for things like breakfast clubs; homework clubs; or to provide one-to-one-tuition. These are the sort of experiences many middle class children take for granted but a poorer child might rarely enjoy.

Yesterday I visited a fantastic primary school to see how they are spending their Pupil Premium, highlight our new Summer Schools to ease the transition from primary to secondary, and to set out our plans to reward teachers and hold schools to account.

The Pupil Premium shows that, in tough times, we are implementing Liberal Democrat values and prioritising help for those pupils who need it most.

Best wishes,

Nick Clegg MP

Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Deputy Prime Minister

PS Click here to find out how much money your local school will receive from the Liberal Democrats’ Pupil Premium.

The ward by ward results for the mayoral referendum have now been published. The results in Acocks Green were as follows:

Stick with the current system (No): 3,123 (63.2%)

Change to an elected mayor (Yes): 1,816 (36.8%)

This was the third highest ‘No’ vote from the 40 Birmingham wards. Only Stechford and Yardley North (68.5%) and Sheldon (70.4%) were higher. At the other extreme just two wards (Edgbaston and Ladywood) voted (in both cases narrowly) in favour of an elected mayor. Over Birmingham as a whole the No vote won 57.8% of the vote.

This week, Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat minister at the Department of Health) has launched a national £4 million lung cancer awareness campaign. The campaign, the first of its kind, will use TV, radio and press adverts, and advertising on pharmacist bags and inside GP surgeries, to raise awareness of the disease.

One of its aims is to persuade anyone who has had a cough for more than three weeks to see their doctor.

You can find more information about coughing and lung cancer at the Department of Health website, here: http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/05/coughing-could-be-a-sign-of-lung-cancer-2/

With 33,000 new cases diagnosed each year, lung cancer is a blight on the lives of far too many of our families and an early diagnosis can make all the difference. Please take the opportunity of the Be Clear on Cancer campaign to find out more about prevention and diagnosis, and to visit your local doctor if you’ve had a persistent cough – it is always better to be safe than sorry!

http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/tag/be-clear-on-cancer/

The 2012 election result for the Acocks Green council ward was as follows:

• John O’Shea (Labour) 2,170
• Roger Harmer (Lib Dem) 1,993
• Chris Whitehouse (UKIP) 269
• Joe Edgington (Tory) 247
• Amanda Baker (Green) 168
• Stella Taylor (BNP) 166
• Ben Rubery (Trade Unionists and Socialists Against the Cuts) 58
• Alan Ware (SDP) 15

Labour majority: 177

The heavy rain that fell through much of the day led to a reduced turnout of around 25% compared with nearer 30% in 2011.

My congratulations to John for his victory in what was a hard fought, but civilised campaign.

Given the size of our defeat in 2011 (Labour won by 941 last year) we knew it would be hard to win this year, especially in the mid term of a national government having to take difficult decisions to tackle the budget deficit. Nevertheless we fought a strong campaign and achieved a 5.5% swing back to the Lib Dems from Labour. My sincere thanks to everyone who gave us their support yesterday.

Acocks Green now has two Labour Councillors (John O’Shea and Stewart Stacey) together with one Liberal Democrat Councillor - Iain Bowen.

Meanwhile I’m pleased to report that the referendum, on the option to move to an elected mayor, resulted in a big no vote with 57.8% voting no and 42.3% voting yes.

This year’s Council elections are nearly on us and in Acocks Green there are 8 candidates, which is a record for recent single seat elections here. In reality there are only two candidates with a realistic chance of winning; myself and the Labour candidate. I would be very surprised if any of the other candidates won much more than 10% of the vote, let alone challenged for first place.

Here are five key reasons why I’m asking residents to support me:

1)  You deserve a Councillor who works for you all year round, rather than just popping up before an election. The Lib Dems are the only party in Acocks Green who keep in touch with residents all year round with newsletters and we have a record second to none of attending a wide range of residents and community meetings. As an example I have attended 15 police community meetings in the past year.  These meetings are really useful in identifying community issues that need tackling to improve community safety and I usually come away from them with a list of casework to tackle, much of which helps to reduce crime and the fear of crime.

2) Following on from the first point, cutting crime is a key priority for me. At the end of last year crime was down 17% in Acocks Green, year on year, and its still falling fast. If re-elected I will continue to work closely with the police and community groups to fight crime wherever it appears.

3) Running an Efficient Council. This is a Council Election not a General Election, despite the efforts of some other parties to focus on national issues, no doubt to cover up their lack of local work. Who runs Birmingham City Council is very important. The Council delivers key services such as education, social care and housing as well as refuse collection, highways maintenance and some key benefits. How efficiently these services are run is key to our citizens. Under the last Labour administration, services were independently ranked as poor or weak. Now after 8 years of a Lib Dem / Conservative partnership running the Council, customer satisfaction is at record levels, with departments such as housing transformed beyond recognition. Do we really want to go back to the bad old days under Labour?

4) Keeping Council Tax rises low. Partly because they were so inefficient at running the Council, the last Labour administration kept raising Council Tax above the rate of inflation. The current Lib Dem / Tory administration has kept tax rises below inflation with no increase in the past two years. This is an important contribution to keeping the cost of living down for hard working families.

5) Delivering better  homes for our increasing elderly population. We desperately need more housing in Birmingham. One key way of delivering this is the development of Extra Care Retirement Villages. These provide high quality accommodation tailored to the needs of elderly people, enabling them to move out of family homes, freeing them up for those on the waiting list. Several such Villages have been built across Birmingham and now we have the prospect of one on our doorstep, on the site of the old Lucas’s factory off Shaftmoor Lane. When this proposal went to planning committee last week, I spoke up in favour of it, helping to win its approval. I will continue to work for its successful delivery, if re-elected this Thursday.

There is another vote on Thursday, the vote for or against an elected mayor. I’m strongly against the idea and based on my experience on the doorstep and a recent poll it looks like most Brummies agree. I believe it would weaken democracy as an elected mayor could appoint his or her friends to many of the key cabinet posts, irrespective of whether they had ever won an election in Birmingham. In the current system all cabinet members have to be elected councillors. It would put too much power in the hands of one individual, who could override the majority of elected councillors in budget votes. And unlike London, where the mayor works on strategic issues joining up the work of Councils across the City, a Birmingham mayor would only cover Birmingham giving no advantage in tackling strategic issues across the West Midlands Councils.

If you do want to vote against an elected mayor, you need to vote for the first option on the ballot paper, which says in response to the question: How would you like Birmingham City Council to be run? ”By a Leader who is an elected councillor chosen by the other elected councillors. This is how the Council is run now.

The March unemployment figures brought further encouraging news for Acocks Green and Birmingham as a whole. While unemployment remains far too high, it is starting to move in the right direction. Acocks Green’s unemployment fell by 36, to make a two month fall of 69, over 5%, leaving unemployment here at 1,198. Across Birmingham as a whole unemployment fell by 450 in March, to 51,685. This is both an absolute and relative improvement, compared to other major UK cities, with Nottingham and Manchester now experiencing higher unemployment rates.

Nationally, unemployment fell 35,000 in the three months to February, leading to a reduction in the unemployment rate from 8.4% to 8.3%. Employment rose by  more (53,000 in the quarter) than the fall in unemployment, indicating that the total labour supply in the economy is continuing to grow (by 18,000 in the quarter). This improving labour market data sits rather oddly with the recent low growth figures which traditionally would not be likely to accompany significant employment growth and falls in unemployment. It will be interesting to see if the growth rate picks up, to become more consistent with the labour market data, when the first quarter growth figures are announced.

Official reports have confirmed that no Liberal Democrat-run council in England has increased council tax for their residents. This is unlike both other major parties, many of which are increasing council tax by up to 3.5% this year.

Commenting on Labour and Conservative councils’ record on Council Tax, Liberal Democrat Party President, Tim Farron said:

“While Labour and the Tories fight over how many of their councils raised Council Tax, it’s clear that with the Liberal Democrats your money is safest: no Liberal Democrat-run council in England has raised Council Tax.

“Ordinary working families are struggling already with paying bills, without their councils increasing the burden.

“The choice in next month’s elections is clear: vote Liberal Democrat for financially responsible councils that create jobs. Vote Labour and the Tories for waste, mismanagement and tax rises.”

As well as freezing council tax across the country, Liberal Democrat councils are protecting front-line services, fighting to keep libraries and Sure Start centres open. This is in addition to the achievements of the Liberal Democrats in government, which after the Budget include a £130 income tax cut for all working families, the largest-ever rise in the basic state pension, an increase in child tax credits for the poorest families, and an increase in the Lib Dem Pupil Premium to £600 for every pupil receiving Free School Meals.

At every level of government, the Liberal Democrats are cutting taxes for low- and middle-earners and better targeting help to those that need it the most. It is a record of financial responsibility of which we can be proud.

A first look at part of this week’s Liberal Democrat Local Election Broadcast. This clip looks at our key pledge to cut taxes for working families, and celebrates the fact that Liberal Democrats in government have achieved:

• The biggest-ever single uplift in the tax-free personal allowance
• A £3.5 billion tax cut for working men and women
• 840,000 of the lowest earners in the country lifted completely out of paying Income Tax

Next year, the allowance increases again (to £9,205) – within touching distance of our manifesto promise to increase the Income Tax threshold to £10,000.

These are all significant achievements that are already making a difference for millions of hard-working men and women across Britain. Real change for real families in tough times – promised and delivered by the Liberal Democrats.

A regular element of my casework is helping older or disabled people to get adaptations done to their home to help them live more independently. This can include having ramps put in for wheelchair access, having stairlifts fitted or getting walk in showers to replace baths. Such work makes a big difference to the independence and well-being of those who are helped.

Under the last Labour administration (which left office in 2004) there was, sadly, a huge backlog for major adaptations, with residents waiting for up to 2 years from assessment to grant provision. It has been one of the successes of the current Lib Dem / Conservative coalition administration in Birmingham that this waiting time has reduced radically. This makes a huge difference to those in need of such help. Here are the average waiting times, in weeks, over the past 7 years:

• 2005/6:  97 weeks
• 2006/7:  88 weeks
• 2007/8:  74 weeks
• 2008/9:  56 weeks
• 2009/10:  33 weeks
• 2010/11:  19 weeks
• 2011/12:   14 weeks (ytd at February)

This improvement has been endorsed by the Audit Commission who stated in 2010 “The adaptations service has been transformed into a high quality, modern service, which provides consistently strong outcomes.” Perhaps the best endorsement is that Birmingham has been approached by several other larger local authorities who are interested in learning about how the service has been transformed.

If you feel you may need the support of an adaptation to your home, please get in touch with me.