News

David Campbell-Bannerman MEP has on the 24 May 2011 announced that he is leaving UKIP and joining the Conservative Party. He is a former Chairman of UKIP and has been one of two UKIP MEPs for the East of England since 2009. His move means that 4 of the East of England's 7 MEPs are now Conservatives with just one each for Labour, LibDems and UKIP.

Conservative MEP Vicky Ford MEP said “I'm delighted to have David Campbell-Bannerman on board. There is no doubt that the EU needs reforming and we need all hands on deck to achieve that”.

Colleague Geoffrey Van Orden MEP commented: “I know that David will make an excellent addition to the Conservative team, having seen his work as a constituency colleague over the past two years. He shares our view that the EU is overblown and heading in the wrong direction. We must do all that we can to trim its sails and steer it on a different course. We very much look forward to working with him as we continue to champion the East of England’s interests and the British national interest in Europe. We are also particularly pleased that the European Conservatives & Reformists Group, which I am proud to have played a key role in forming, will now become the fourth largest political group in the parliament.”

Robert Sturdy MEP commented: “This is great news for the East of England as the Conservatives will have another MEP to fight in our corner. David will also add another Conservative voice in the European Parliament's International Trade Committee which will enable us to continue to create jobs, encourage investment and boost industry in the region.”

Councils have been told how they will benefit from the doubling of funding available for repairing potholes as announced in Wednesday's Budget. Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has written to all English local highway authorities to inform them of their share of £200m.

Last month the Department for Transport announced that it was making available £100m as an exceptional payment to help with much needed road repairs following the severe weather at the end of last year. This extra funding was made possible because of savings the Department made earlier in the financial year.

However, further savings have now been identified and so more money has been made available for this vital programme.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said:

"Potholes are a menace to all road users and I want councils to make fixing them a priority.

"That is why, when more funding became available, I agreed with the Chancellor that we would double the amount of money we are providing for repairs to be carried out.

"This represents a significant investment in road maintenance at a time of severe fiscal restraint, demonstrating the Government's commitment to maintain our infrastructure to support motorists and
businesses."

The funding is in addition to the £831 million already provided to councils for road maintenance this year and the £3 billion the Government has committed over the next four years.

All 153 local highway authorities in England, including those in London, will receive a share of the funding. To ensure the money can be distributed over the next few days, the funds will be automatically distributed to English local authorities according to the formula used to distribute road maintenance funding rather than councils needing to apply for it.

This afternoon I delivered my second Budget. I wanted to write to you immediately to explain our plans and set out some of the key measures.

Last year's Emergency Budget was about rescuing the nation's finances and paying for Labour's mistakes. Today's Budget sticks to the plan, and focuses on reforming the economy to ensure jobs and growth for the future. I am also doing what I can help to families with the cost of living - including an immediate cut to fuel duty.

I know times aren't easy for families at the moment, so this Budget announced help, including:

• An immediate cut in fuel duty by 1 pence per litre and a delay of April's inflation rise in duty to next January. This means fuel duty is 6 pence lower than it would be under Labour. We are paying for this by putting up taxes on the oil companies while the oil price is high to create a Fair Fuel Stabiliser.
• An increase in the personal allowance from £6,500 to £8,100 over the next two years. This will mean £326 extra for working people and it will lift over a million low paid people out of tax altogether.
• £250 million to help 10,000 first time buyers get on the housing ladder.
•  A freeze in Air Passenger Duty this year.
•  Money for councils so virtually every council in England will freeze council tax next month.
•  A new scheme to allow Gift Aid to be claimed on the contents of charities' collecting tins and street buckets, and support for largest donations with radical reforms to Inheritance Tax - if you leave 10 per cent or more of your estate to charity, then the Government will take 10 per cent off your inheritance tax bill.

As well as helping in the short term we need to reform our economy to create growth and jobs in the future. The hard truth is that Britain has lost ground in the world economy

George Osborne
Chancellor of the Exchequer

 An independent survey by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has confirmed that council tax bills are to be frozen across England this year, thanks to the new Government's council tax freeze initiative. In real terms, council tax is falling.

This is in contrast to what Labour did when in office when council tax more than doubled hitting a £1,439 a year on an average Band D home last April. The Labour opposition are still failing to back the Coalition's council tax freeze.

The Coalition has also cancelled Labour's plans for a council tax revaluation in England, which would have meant soaring bills for millions of homes. The Localism Bill will also give local residents new rights to veto high council tax rises.

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said:

"Council tax doubled under Labour. But the new Government has frozen council tax, saving hard-working families and pensioners up to £72 this year. We have scrapped Labour's council tax revaluation which would have hammered middle England, and we are giving local residents new rights to veto excessive council tax rises in the future. This is real help now to assist with the cost of living.

And he added, "It is disgraceful that Ed Miliband's Shadow Ministers oppose this council tax freeze, and his Labour councils are revelling in politically motivated and cynical cuts to frontline services."

 Vote no to the Alternative Vote system on May 5th.

Go to our vote No to AV Webpage here.

• AV is a discredited voting system. It's only used in three countries around the world - Fiji, Australia and Papua New Guinea - and both Fiji and Australia want to get rid of it. By contrast, First Past the Post, our current system, is the most widely used in the world.
• The recent Labour leadership election showed that AV doesn't work. David Miliband won the support of most Labour MPs and Party Members, and was ahead in the first three rounds of voting - and yet Ed Miliband became the shock new Labour leader after sneaking the fourth round by just 1%.
• Under AV, someone else's fifth choice could count as much as your first.
• "As AV is not a proportional system, the Society does not regard it as suitable for the election of a representative body e.g a parliament." Electoral Reform Society
• "The Alternative Vote does not give voters real power." Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat and member of the coalition Cabinet. Do you think he has told his party leader this bit of information?