These elections are incredibly relevant as voters have a chance to show their disapproval at Gordon Brown's high tax, high debt and high unemployment economy.
Moreover, the election also represents a major opportunity to register a protest at Gordon Brown's broken promise to have a UK nation-wide Referendum on the new EU Constitution (now known as the Lisbon Treaty). Despite a pledge in the Labour Party Manifesto, Mr Brown refuses to honour the commitment. Many of you will remember the postal vote in Harlow last year, in which voters overwhelmingly called for a Referendum and showed massive opposition to the Treaty.
And no wonder, since the EU Constitution transfers even more of our powers to Brussels and gives Eurocrats increased influence in our justice and immigration policy.
This is totally wrong, as these things should be decided by the British Parliament.
I was glad yesterday to have Jonathan Morgan, (who is an European Parliamentary Candidate for the Eastern Region), come to Harlow to campaign on these issues. Jonathan has a good chance of becoming a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) after the election, and I know he will not hesitate to put Britain first.
Together with Gary Waller (a former MP, and President of Harlow Conservatives), we visited the Brenda Taylor Harlow Dance School in the Latton Bush Centre. The young students did an incredible dance routine for us and Brenda was able to explain the success of her school.
After, we took Jonathan to the Tennis Club, to see the new indoor Centre (see my posting of a few days ago) and meet some of the club members.
As it was a hot - and long - day, we also went to see Shaun, Landlord of the Drinker's Moth Pub in Staple Tye. Shaun is a great landlord and has transformed the Moth into a real Community Pub. Shaun wanted to lobby us about business rates and beer tax (both ever increasing thanks to G. Brown). He also asked Jonathan to do all he could to ensure that a Pint remained a Pint and not a litre. Yes, Brussels bureaucrats want to change that too!
Imagine going to a Pub and asking for 1/4 litre of Guinness please.... It doesn't bear thinking about.
Jonathan and fellow Conservative MEPs - the future of the British Pint is in your hands.
P.S. All my blogs are being done on my Blackberry at the moment, as my Laptop is very ill - having digested the Trojan virus. Web-links and pictures will be more patchy than usual. As soon as I get to an office computer, I will add them. Goodnight for now.
My purpose was to find out how the Credit Crunch was impacting on their business, and also to discuss a few local issues, including the difficult one of parking.
All the people I spoke to, said that the recession had impacted takings somewhat. They said that high taxes and red tape was making life particularly difficult.
One company even showed me a plotted graph, which illustrated the decline in takings from last year. If you look at the bottom line in the picture, you can see the dramatic difference.
I was struck that, despite the difficult economic times, the shopkeepers were doing all they could not to raise prices. As a result there were still many customers coming into their stores - Joy's Flowers being a prime example. The picture shows Joy, Colleen and I pictured by a refrigeration unit that stores the flowers. To my shock, Joy told me the unit costs more than a car! No wonder she has such nice flowers!
One of the nicest things about Bush Fair is that so many of the shops are independent and are not chain stores - something that is increasingly rare nowadays. I was glad to walk round and be introduced to everyone by Colleen, as she knows everybody and is a walking Encylopaedia of everything that happens in Bush Fair.
I was pleased to have a long discussion - over a much needed cup of tea - with Ken Freeman who is Chairman of Bush Fair Traders and owns three shops. He set out the view of the traders and has asked me to contact the Council regarding some parking issues, which I shall be sure to follow up. Ken cares deeply about Bush Fair, his business and his ten employees, and is a shining example of the special nature of the place.
All in all, it was a good days work for me as Prospective MP, as I heard at first hand the problems facing small business. I look forward to many future visits.
P.S. The excellent Pizzeria Cafe can be found HERE.
