Once again the council’s case work stats have been released for the last two quarters - and it’s some interesting reading!

This time it has proved very useful, because Labour were trying to suggest that my ward colleague Daisy was to busy to do basic ward work… I think the numbers speak for themselves

As you can see 5 of the top 10 councillors are Lib Dems and two of those are also potential MP’s after the next general election (Being Daisy Benson for Reading West and Gareth Epps for Reading East)!

I would say that people should look at last weekends politics show, both the Labour and CONservative candidates for Reading West seemed fairly bland and reading from a script, where as our Daisy showed she had actually worked in the areas discussed.

When you look at the data, the average number of cases per councillor is very interesting:

Despite being a group of only 8 councillors, we are far better at helping local people than the other two parties. This is a consistent trend which holds from quarter-to-quarter, making us truely cost effective. I should also point out that Cllr Tony Jones isn’t doing too badly either.

Looking at each ward, Redlands once again came first. Katesgrove also did well, I suspect the ward will do very well if our next candidate, Rebecca Rye, gets in (the current Labour cllr reported 5 items).

In Park ward the story is quite shocking! The two Labour councillors managed to do 6 pieces of casework between them. Where as the CONservative cllr managed 26, in the past Labour mocked this councillor for allegedly not holding councillor surgeries… hmmm… I would say that Park would do well to elect our candidate, Alex Kirke as he is hard working and has been following neighbouring Redlands and Katesgrove councillors, to see how its done.

Thames CONservatives also seem fairly low down on the list, after the farcical events at budget - I’m not surprised.

Looking at the bottom of the table makes very depressing reading, but at least there were no zero’s this time:

Council begins at 18.30:

• Glenn_Goodall  Readings council tax and budget will (hopefully) be set tonight… #rdg  #rdgcouncil   about 7 hours ago from web

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil some good questions to council - Redlands has had a surge in ASB, don’t we know it!   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil ‘local area agreement’ passes - NI35 remains though about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil ‘Reading Cultural Strategy’ passes - no talk of fringe groups/events about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil Labour say Reading council tax is cheaper than surounding Tory admins. LibDems feel council tax is unfair regardless of level.   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil Tories say… 0 % increase is needed - and yet no amendment tabled to back it up! Blah blah blah…   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil Tories say… Improve frontline services, despite revealing there would be “cuts across the board” in an earlier meeting!   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil Tories say… have “the will to offer a council tax freeze” but not means it would seem as no amendment was tabled!!!   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil LibDems: if Tories won’t say how they’ll freeze council tax in opp how can they be trusted not to cut services when in power?   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil LibDem leader asked Tories if they would table a 0% now - the reply was NO! Genius! Clearly all talk talk talk   about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil LibDems would re-engineer budget to get value for money & protect frontline services… “not from here!”   about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil Tories say LibDems propped up Lab budget last year… I would say that at least we looked at budget & tabled something! :P   about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil the budget is voted against by LibDems and Tories   about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil round 2! Tories already against the motion… As are we :s   about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil council chamber is in silence   about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil second one hour recess   about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil round 3 about to start   about 2 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil thanks to the Tories not being present the budget went through!!! Sneaky Labs   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil so tories dropped the ball… We voted against :s well I guess that’s labour politics! I’m in shock…   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil so Tories were out of the room as the vote for council budget was called. Sneaky Labour got their budget - we voted against.   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil Reading has an irresponsable Labour budget, thanks to Tories :(   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil round 4!!!   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil instant adjournment lol   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil so then… Round 5   36 minutes ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil on council tax libdems and Tories abstained - labour get their budget thanks to dirty tricks & Tories dropping the ball   31 minutes ago from TweetDeck

Council closes at almost midnight…

Shocking and sneaky behaviour from Labour but if you want to blame a party for allowing the 2.2 % rise in council tax - it’s the CONservatives!

We said on several occasions  in the chamber that we were willing to go with a 0 % rise, if they tabled such an amendment.

We had agreed to vote for their 0 % amendment if it was shown to be legal and not effect frontline services…

…We didn’t anticipate the CONservatives dropping the ball in quite the way they did!

With Labour generally making a dogs dinner of the UK, how can people seriously believe that the Tories would be any better:

So, Cameron was meant to have come to Reading last week (7 January 2010) but decided it was too snowy to make the 25 minute journey from London. Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Cleg managed to make it to all the way the Bath to have a one of his open town hall meetings in the same week (8 January 2010).

Apparently, Cameron has now rescheduled for this Thursday.

Nick Clegg also came to Reading last year (October 2008) and it’s quite interesting to compare the two meetings in there set-up.

Nick’s October Meeting:

• Traditional public meeting format (modelled on original Gladstonian Liberal principle!)
• Venue and details advertised in the press well in advance
• Held on a Saturday evening - so as any one could turn up
• No invite required (no vetting of people attending)
• No need to send an e-mail

Cameron Direct:

• Held during the day so many working people can’t attend
• Email required - no open access (airbrushed to perfection I’m sure)
• Secret venue “at a west Reading location”
• When criticised on the planning a Tory activist stated, “This is a rearranged meeting, in his already full diary, better he comes at 5:15 than not at all” (see Twitter).

You may remember a while back I mentioned that Daisy was going to be standing as a candidate for our Reading West PPC, following the resignation of Patrick Murray (the very observant of you will of noticed this disappeared but is now back - bloody election law *shakes fist* lol).

Well, at last nights meeting she actually won by a landslide of snow, boom boom. So my good friend and college Daisy will be standing in Reading West

Only a few hours after the result the news was broken on twitter and facebook, before had Daisy even had a chance to send out a press release! lol. This was probably how the good people at the Chronicle managed to break the story so quickly. They were closely followed by the Reading Post, who for some reason decided to use the worst possible photo of Daisy, aren’t journalists lovely human beings.

This was also how the story also broke so fast in ‘blog-land’. A well known Tory blogger also managed to break the story very quickly (hats off to you), and I have to say it was a rather fair write up. Then the popular blog, and certainly one of my favourites, ‘Mark Reckons‘ broke the story this morning - and as Mark says,

I am sure she would appreciate any help that anyone who lives locally (or further afield) can offer in the run up to the election

Reading West councillor Ricky Duveen, also describes Daisy as a potentially “splendid MP”

My college and Friend, Warren Swaine, puts this far better that I ever could. Clearly the other parties candidates have had a head start, but they forget that daisy has been on the council in Reading since 2006 and has been actively campaigning on Crime and Housing issues which cover the entire borough. She is also extremely popular and well known among residents across the borough and is often called by people not even in her ward because they hear that she stands up for people!

I remember the 2006 council election clearly and at the time I lived in Redlands. I remember having several parties knock on our door - most were uninterested and quite pompous.  Then a young Lib Dem lass called asking if we’d voted, I replied that I had and for her, and she seemed genuinely happy. As I closed the door my housemate said that he’d be voting for her too as she seemed to actually be genuine and human, unlike the others (and he nearly never voted!). This was, of cause, Daisy.

The other candidates may not see Daisy as a threat, but they should. The more people she meets, the more people support her.

Also, what have the other candidates done during their “head start”? All I can see is that they’ve been in a few photo’s and had one or two action days (after which I’m sure some one else will be dealing with any casework). Where as Daisy has been fighting for the people of Reading since 2006…

So, if you live in Reading West and would like to vote for a hard working individual, with a proven track-record in Reading and who stands up for residents (despite heckling from other parties who feel this isn’t what a councillor should be doing):

Then Daisy IS the only choice for Reading West

The Times reports that the CONservative shadow cabinet ministers have been squeezing in significant earnings, including one payment of £2,000 for apparently no work at all, before a ban on outside jobs.

Looking at the latest MP’s register of interests it would appear that Cameron’s shadow cabinet have been raking in the extr  a earnings months before the ban. This includes William Hague, who was paid £2,083 by AESSEAL in return for an apparent zero hours worked.

Tories at the trough - who would of thought…

Over in the the Grundian there is a story which claims that the Non-Taxpaying Taxpayers’ Alliance, an influential pressure group with links to the Tory front-bench, had set up a charity under a different name so it can get tax relief on donations. This ‘charity’ was then organising up to 40% tax subsidies on individual donations.

The Chief Executive has denied that there is any alliance or that the organisation is operating as a ‘Tory-front’ - yet several policy recommendations have found themselves being suggested by the Tory front-bench at a later date. For instance, the public sector pay freeze.

Charity Commission regulators have been looking into this and will continue to scrutinise the situation.

Not even in Gov’t and the CONservatives already have their hands in the till… tut tut!

I think its fair to say that after our Bournemouth conference, rather than the ‘fresh-start‘ being the main take home story, its was whether or not our National party was going to dump its policy to scrap tuition fees!

At the time even veteran ex-leader Charles Kennedy waded in, stating that the policy was far too important to voters to be dropped.

This even led to some scandalous remarks from the Greenie-meanies suggesting it was a forgone conclusion that the policy would be jettisoned. Also, they stated their (authoritarian) party would be the only choice for liberal-students… hmmm… They of cause didn’t understand that we are a full democratic party and that the decision hadn’t yet been made!

Now, in the Times Higher Education supplement, it has been pretty much confirmed that we would, indeed, scrap tuition fees if we won the next general election.

Firstly a time-scale and how this abolition will be paid for, costing £12.5 billion, will be sorted out and announced later - but the policy remains!

Labour and the CONservatives refuse to address the issue of fees and there is a real danger that both of them would lift the cap on fees which could mean even more debt for students when they leave university. We think that is wrong and our policy will prevent it happening.

It is interesting to note that under a CONservative government, the current £3,000 fees would increase to £7,000 a year! So a lovely £21,000 of debt before you children have even started to work! Factor in student loans and you are looking at leaving university with between £30-40,000 worth of debt - what a great start

So, updates to follow

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Also, see this post by Christopher Lovell and this one.

The Conservatives plan to introduce law which would force MPs and Lords to be UK taxpayers, following controversy over Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith (who apparently avoided £5.8m in tax - what an upstanding member of our community) and Deputy Chairman Lord Ashcroft (Yet Cameron and other Tories have also refused to disclose his tax status).

Commenting on David Cameron’s plans to bar people who do not pay full UK tax from Parliament and the Government, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

David Cameron’s plan is a sham. The super rich like Lord Ashcroft, Zac Goldsmith or Labour’s Lord Paul can be fully resident for tax purposes in the UK, but if they are able to opt for non-dom status they will not pay a penny in UK tax on their main fortune outside Britain.

David Cameron has still failed to answer the key question: is Lord Ashcroft a non-dom, yes or no? If he is a non-dom, Cameron’s tax plan will not catch him.

The only reason David Cameron is putting forward this plan now is because of the revelation that his high-profile candidate, Zac Goldsmith, has avoided an estimated £5.8 million in British taxes over the last ten years.

It is the height of hypocrisy for the Tories to suggest a new law when they opposed Liberal Democrat Lord Oakeshott’s bill to stop non-doms sitting as peers.

Someone who wants to pass laws about tax in this country ought to pay this country’s full taxes, and not hide behind the special offshore status of non-doms.

Zac Goldsmith, even on the most conservative estimates, has avoided vast amounts of British tax by deploying the non-dom tax dodge. If he challenges our estimate of how much tax he has dodged, then I put to him a simple challenge: publish your tax returns for the last ten years, and I will publish mine.

It’s great to know that years of Tory and Labour Gov’t have led a paranoid nice and illiberal society.

Check this out….