I know it is election time, but I have to say the smears in the recent editions of the local newspapers from Labour party activists greatly sadden me. It seems clear that their actions have two purposes: firstly to distract attention away from Bill Rammell's own disappointing role in the MPs expenses scandal, and second; a somewhat sinister attempt to distract from the serious issues in Harlow.
I do thank them for one thing: they have given me a chance to respond tin a straight manner to fair-minded blog readers.
Regarding donations to Harlow Conservatives, it is well known that donations above £500 are declared by law to the Electoral Commission and published on their website for all to see. Unlike the Labour MP, I don't get expenses or thousands of pounds of taxpayers money to spend on literature. Therefore we have to raise funds in order to produce
leaflets, to set out our message to voters.
The only donation Conservatives have ever had from Lord Ashcroft's company was over 5 years ago. It was declared perfectly proper and lawful by the Electoral Commission. It seems astonishing to many that Labour get so worked up about this, yet they turn a blind eye to their own donations of up to £10.5 million from non-domicile taxpayers.
So why is it Labour members try to smear, rather than discuss the serious issues? Well, I think decent residents know the answer to this as well.
After 14 years of a Labour Government, one in five Harlow children are living on the breadline, in workless families - according to the charity Save the Children. [1] Harlow also has massively higher ratesof infant mortality than most other towns in Essex: nearly double the rate of nearby Chelmsford. [2] Alcohol mortality is higher in Harlow
I do thank them for one thing: they have given me a chance to respond tin a straight manner to fair-minded blog readers.
Regarding donations to Harlow Conservatives, it is well known that donations above £500 are declared by law to the Electoral Commission and published on their website for all to see. Unlike the Labour MP, I don't get expenses or thousands of pounds of taxpayers money to spend on literature. Therefore we have to raise funds in order to produce
leaflets, to set out our message to voters.
The only donation Conservatives have ever had from Lord Ashcroft's company was over 5 years ago. It was declared perfectly proper and lawful by the Electoral Commission. It seems astonishing to many that Labour get so worked up about this, yet they turn a blind eye to their own donations of up to £10.5 million from non-domicile taxpayers.
So why is it Labour members try to smear, rather than discuss the serious issues? Well, I think decent residents know the answer to this as well.
After 14 years of a Labour Government, one in five Harlow children are living on the breadline, in workless families - according to the charity Save the Children. [1] Harlow also has massively higher ratesof infant mortality than most other towns in Essex: nearly double the rate of nearby Chelmsford. [2] Alcohol mortality is higher in Harlow
than anywhere else in Essex. [3] Violent crime nearly doubled in Harlow between 2001 and 2009 and burglaries were up by 25% in the same period. [4] [5] As Harlow Renaissance reports, unemployment has
climbed to 5.3% - around twice that of West Essex. [6]Of course my opponents would rather these things were swept under thecarpet. But the public - correctly - will not allow this to happen. Local residents have a right to discuss and debate issues that matter to them, even if it does make uncomfortable reading to some.
P.S. See Notes below:
#1. http://www.endchildpoverty.
#2. http://www.neighbourhood.
#3. "Shaping the Future", p28 and p29.
http://www.eppingforestdc.gov.
#4. http://www.neighbourhood.
#5. http://www.neighbourhood.
#6. http://www.harlowrenaissance.
by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com
Well done for clarifying your position on this, Rob.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Bill Rammell MP will be equally forthright and explain, for example, why he accepted over £10,000 worth of free airport parking from BA during the sensitive period of the the overnment's SERAS consultation on airport expansion and the proposed 2nd runway at Stansted.
At the time, as I recall, Mr Rammell did not explain why he took this (tax free?) gift from BAA, he merely stated that he was just one of hundreds of MPs who accepted gifts of this nature from the - taxpayer subsidsed - aviation industry. Did Mr Rammell not feel it was wrong to accept gifts from BAA during the 2nd runway and airport expansion consultation, in which Mr Rammell was involved?
While he's about it, Mr Rammell might also like to explain why his gift was worth around double the amount of the respective free parking gifts which BAA gave to most of the other MPs who accepted these gifts.