Category Archives: Westminster

Greenest Government Ever?

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I think I’ve said it before, but being the “Greenest Government Ever“(TM) is not actually a very hard target to aim for. That said, the current Conservative/LibDem coalition is doing it’s very best to fail to meet that target.

At the Tory Party conference yesterday, George Osborne laid out his plans to avoid being the “Greenest Government Ever”(TM) by saying :-

 ”So let’s at the very least resolve that we’re going to cut our carbon emissions no slower but also no faster than our fellow countries in Europe.”

Basically, because the EU targets are less than the targets the UK are committed, George Osborne has just stated that they now plan to not meet those targets. As Damian Carrington of the Guardian points out :-

The fears of green campaigners are being realised: that the Conservative zeal for the environment was a decontamination strategy aimed at swing voters and only truly believed by a few. In front of the Tory troops, the chancellor finally revealed his true colours.

The LibDems are saying that they are taming the Tory beast and saving us from their worst excesses.  Do they have it in they to save us, and save themselves from being part of “The Make The Most Promises About the Environment; and Brake The Most Promises About the Environment Government Ever“(tm)

Voted and waiting for the result

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Today, I went out and voted in my local constituency, basing my decision on a large number of facts.

But I’d long since come to the conclusion that the only party to offer electoral reform, libel reform, full backing to remove the heinous Digital Economy Act and tax reform were the Liberal Democrats.   It helps that they are a party that was against the illegal Iraq war, didn’t lead us into the worst recession in my lifetime and are not a party that wants to give the rich even more of an advantage over the poor – a party that would cut twice as hard to save £20 a month in council tax for their middle class voters.

I went to the local hustings in Linlithgow and wasn’t impressed by either Tam Smith (SNP) or Andrea Stephenson (Tory).  Michael Connarty came over very well, but one moment summed him up.  Whilst Stephen Glenn was explaining that Connarty voted for the Digital Economy Bill, Connarty gave an enthusiastic nod and a thumbs up.

This is despite telling other bloggers that he was against the idea, and not even attending the debate.  It is unlikely he really understands the implications of the DE Act at all.

However well he comes across and performs, he is a party man, and the New Labour Party is driven and whipped by the likes of Peter Mandelson.

As of now it is 20:20 and there is still over an hour and a half to vote.  Should you randomly cross this post before heading out to vote, bear these words in mind.

Digital Economy Bill passed by House of Commons

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Nice breakdown of the voting in the Digital Economy Bill from Alix Mortimer :-

Of the 189 Aye votes, I make it 185 Labour and 4 Conservatives. Plus the two tellers were Labour.

Of the 47 Noe votes, I make it 23 Labour rebels, 16 Lib Dems, 5 Conservatives and 3 others (DUP, PC, Ind). Plus the two tellers were Lib Dem

Alix points out that the Tories were largely absent with only 9 voting.  The Labour MPs (and what appears to be normal for them) voted like sheep with the very notable exceptions of  the likes of Tom Watson and Falkirk’s Eric Joyce.

The flaws in the Bill could probably have been fixed had it gone through the usual process and not the wash up.  One cannot help think that the government knew exactly what they were doing with the timing of the Bill and wanted the bill to be this flawed.  Lord Mandelson wasn’t likened to Darth Vader in the Commons for nothing.

Of particular interest to me was that Michael Connarty voted in favour of the bill and is therefore one of the party sheep.  I suspect he knows very little about the internet and should have deferred to experts like Tom Watson or someone like Eric Joyce who took the time to learn about the problems in the bill after getting many emails, tweets and letters about it.  My MP simply ignored me.  He was around for the second reading of the bill, but his main contribution to the debate was the bring up spurious points that looked like delaying tactics to me (trying to pick a point of history about enclosures against Tom Watson?  fine if the Bill had the time it deserved but not if there is only an hour).

The other point was that only 18 LibDems were there to vote against the Bill (16 noes and 2 tellers ?).  Not that it would have made a difference but where were the rest?  I’m assuming that this is another consequence of the timing of the Bill, but it would be nice to have it confirmed.

Linlithgow and East Falkirk Candidates

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A summary of the candidates confirmed for the Linlithgow and East Falkirk UK Parliament constituency General Election in 2010

Andrea Stephenson (Conservative Party)
Michael Connarty (Labour Party)
Richard Boyle (United Kingdom Independence Party)
Stephen Glenn (Liberal Democrats)
Tam Smith (Scottish National Party)

Andrea Stephenson

Conservative candidate, aged 29 and lives and works in the Lothians. Andrea is involved in working with elected representatives and the public as an Operations Co-ordinator in the political field.

Michael Connarty

Michael Connarty is the sitting MP for Labour with a majority of 11,202. He, according to his website, “believes that speaking up for all of his constituents is the first duty of an MP”. Michael has been an MP since winning the Falkirk East seat in 1992.

Richard Boyle

Richard Boyle is the UKIP candidate. There is no information about Richard Boyle on the internet (yet?).

Stephen Glenn
Twitter : stephenpglenn

Stephen Glenn was the Liberal Democrat candidate in Linlithgow and East Falkirk in 2005 receiving 7,100 votes. Stephen is a strong local voice and has been standing up for shopkeepers, local transport provision, St. John’s Hospital and environmental concerns. He also runs a very successful blog.

Tam Smith
Twitter : tamsmithsnp

Tam Smith is the SNP candidate and has been a leading member of the Linlithgow SNP party since the 1970s and a West Lothian councillor. If elected, Tam “will be your local champion – putting the interests of Linlithgow & East Falkirk first every time”