Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
“London elite have abandoned Burnley” says Nick Clegg
January 22nd, 2010 | 
Author: Burnley and other similar industrial towns have been neglected and abandoned by London Lib Dem leader Ni
ck Clegg said on a visit to Burnley to support local campaigner Gordon Birtwistle.
Nick was launching a new set of policies to boost Britain’s industrial heartlands and highlighted the work Gordon Birtwistle and Lib Dem run Burnley Council have done to bring jobs and prosperity to the town.
Lib Dem plans would include moving top Civil Servants with responsibility for manufacturing and wider industrial policies to Northern towns like Burnley so they could oversee investment programmes to support local jobs.
“he seemed like a really nice guy. I have always been a Labour man, but his comments were really good and I would say the Lib Dems have a good chance around here.”
A drinker in the General Scarlett Pub on Accrington road after Nick’s visit
Nick said Gordon’s record of campaignig for Burnley meant he would make a superb MP for local people. “Gordon’s the sort of campaigner people really trust. They know he’ll stand up for Burnley”.
Campaigners take action on gritting
When people were struggling with ungritted roads, local Lib Dems took action to help.
Councillors Charlie Briggs and Gordon Birtwistle along with Neil Mottershead from Gannow arranged for a supply of grit and were out gritting key areas that had been neglected.
The change of control from Labour to Conservative hasn’t made much difference when it comes to getting our roads and pavements gritted properly in a winter freeze!
Last year we had a Labour run County Council and they didn’t grit the roads properly and refused to refill some grit bins. Now we have a Conservative Council, and again there was chaos as some roads weren’t gritted properly and they refused to refill grit bins.
“We could have avoided this” said Gordon Birtwistle. “Last year Lib Dem County Councillors proposed a £690,000 boost for winter gritting but Labour and Conservative Councillors teamed up to vote that plan down.”
“Conservative Councillors gambled that we wouldn’t have a severe winter. They lost and we are all paying the price.”
Young People’s Online Forum with Nick Clegg
Thanks to Lynne Featherstone MP, the Lib Dems Youth Spokesperson, for letting us have details of this.
Nick Clegg will be holding an online forum for young people on Wednesday 20 January from 4:30 p.m. He will answer questions on issues facing young people and you can join in the forum.
Lynne’s website gives full details and tells you how to take part through either twitter or MP’s Parliament and Online Diary which tells you how to take part either through twitter or the forum at the UK Youth Parliament.
Gordon Birtwistle demands action over gritting
The current cold snap seems to have caught out Lancashire County Council (who are responsible for gritting the roads) with a shortage of grit, particularly in grit bins.
Gordon Birtwistle made several calls to County Hall highways officers over the weekend about the state of the borough’s snow-covered sidestreets and pavements.
He said: “The main roads in Burnley and Padiham have been gritted and I have got no issue with them, but the sideroads and pavements are treacherous.
“As well as that, the grit bins are all empty and it seems as if drivers have been helping themselves to the grit inside. My concern is for elderly residents.”
Update: Lib Dem County Councillor from Clitheroe, Allan Knox has posted this summary of how the County Council allocates priority routes for gritting and there is a link to a map highlighting those routes. As he points out whether the policy is right or wrong is a different matter!
BULKY COLLECTION CHARGES TO BE SLASHED
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: birtwistle, campaign, election, gordon, hospital, lib dems, nhs, petition, results, winning, won | 
1 Comment »
Liberal Democrats back radical plans to give power back to consumers
Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference today backed a series of proposals that will radically change the relationship between customers and companies.
The proposals include introducing a ‘Universal Service Code’ for organisations providing a service to the public. This will commit them to:
- Make one of the first options in their telephone response system be to speak to a human being
- Make their customer service phone number free to call from both mobiles and landlines
- Train staff to deal quickly and effectively with customer enquiries
- Make and keep appointments for visits, installations and phone calls within a one hour timeframe
The proposals also include:
- A duty for energy companies to publish information on all available tariffs on their bills
- The immediate clearing of bank payments and transfers
- A requirement for restaurants and cafes to make their tipping policies clear to customers
- A beefed up consumer watchdog to name and shame companies involved in bad practice
- Measures to prevent supermarkets building up local monopolies
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Business Secretary, John Thurso said:
“Too often, customers find their relationships with companies and public bodies skewed against them.
“So many commonplace practices are infuriating for customers who just want to be treated fairly and honestly.
“When they have a problem or an enquiry about a service they have paid for, it is reasonable that they should be able to talk to a person and not a machine.
“Customers must have the power to make fair and informed choices without the fear of being taken for a ride and bewildered by mindless bureaucracy.”
KITTY USSHER’S RESIGNATION – LIB DEMS DEMAND BY-ELECTION
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LIBERAL Democrats in Burnley – already well-placed to take over from Labour MP Kitty Ussher at the next General Election – have called for her to resign immediately from Parliament so that voters can have their say on who they want to represent them.
Burnley Council leader and Parliamentary candidate Gordon Birtwistle said that if Liberal Democrat reforms of Parliament were made law, Kitty Ussher would be sacked by voters who would then choose her replacement.
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Coun Birtwistle said, “I am bitterly disappointed that there won’t now be a public fight. Burnley people have been fed up of her antics for some time and the writing was already on the wall.
“Liberal Democrats took five of Labour’s six seats on the County Council here two weeks ago, we topped the poll here in the European elections and we took majority control of the local Council last year.
“With Vince Cable proved right on the economy, our entire party proved right on Iraq, and only the Liberal Democrats fighting hard over the downgrading of our local hospital, it is quite clear who the political competition is in Burnley.
“But the main thing is the people of Burnley now have to put up with inadequate representation until the Prime Minister sees fit to call a General Election. That is no way to run a modern democracy. People want to see her sacked now, and our reforms would allow them to sack her themselves.”
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 Gordon Birtwistle |
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Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is pushing for reforms that would enable voters to “recall” an MP who they felt had let them down badly, and for the date of each General Election to be fixed in advance.
Kitty Ussher took her position as a minister just seven days ago, the second time she had worked as a junior Treasury minister, but says that she is stepping down due to the pressures of running a young family.
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BURNLEY LIB DEMS: “ILLEGAL OFF-LICENCES MUST CLOSE”
| Burnley’s Liberal Democrats are demanding that councillors and police get tough on shopkeepers caught selling alcohol to under-age children.
The call comes after a Boundary Street shop owner had his licence suspended for two weeks after being caught out profiting from illegal alcohol sales. Lib Dem Coun Charlie Briggs, Burnley Council’s executive member for community safety, called the suspension “inadequate” and insisted that licensing powers were not being used in proportion to the damage caused. Coun Briggs, who was recently elected as the Lib Dem group’s leader at County Hall, said, “Drunk children on the street are a very serious problem and I’m determined to stamp it out. On the one hand, most kids and parents behave responsibly. At the other extreme, some kids will get hold of alcohol no matter what, and sometimes it is supplied by their own parents. “But in the middle are some kids we can get back on the straight and narrow. Every child saved is worth it in my mind. “We have to take every chance we can to cut down the supply of alcohol. Inadequate penalties like this just don’t take account of the consequences for the kids themselves and for members of the public. Penalties should be proportionate to the offence, and right now, they’re not.” Lib Dem Coun Bill Brindle, who sits on the Town Hall committee that sentences offending off-licences, agreed. |
 Cllr Charlie Briggs  Cllr Darren Reynolds  Cllr Bill Brindle |
| Coun Brindle said, “I’ve seen families ripped to pieces by this problem. When people get involved in drinking large amounts of alcohol at such an early age, it can ruin their life chances.
“As a committee, we have to give out fair penalties that reflect the harm done. I don’t think we’ve been doing that recently and we will have to get tougher. “I want the Police to change their policy of waiting for three failed tests before bringing cases to the committee. If someone breaks the law once, that should be enough. But communities who are fed up of this problem don’t have to wait for the police to take action. Any member of the public can ask us to review a licence, and I’m asking community groups to bring problem off-licences to our attention.” The Happy Shopper off-licence on Briercliffe Rd was due to have its licence reviewed this Thursday [18th June], and both the Melville Street Spar shop and the Focus Off Licence on Briercliffe Road were to be reviewed on Tuesday, 23rd June 2009. Queensgate ward councillor Darren Reynolds, whose area has seen disturbances caused by alcohol abuse in recent months, defended suggestions the Lib Dems were acting illiberally and against party policy. Coun Reynolds said, “Four off-licences in or adjacent to my ward have been caught out in two months. Children are being abused by these retailers and the children’s lives are slowly going down the pan. “Liberalism means letting people carry on their business free from official interference so long as they’re not doing any harm. The harm caused to these children, their families and their communities outweighs any right to trade freely. What Charlie and Bill are seeking to do is entirely consistent with Liberal principles. If these off-licences can’t trade legally, they must be closed down.” |
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