This was the week that…

·         Allegations into the misuse of MPs’ expenses continued – one MP claimed for his ‘servants’ quarters’ [more]

·         Labour and Tory MPs decided to stand down over their expenses claims [more]

·         Former Labour Deputy Leader Roy Hattersley called for ministers who avoided paying tax to be sacked [more]

·         Nick Clegg, writing for the Guardian, set out his proposals for electoral and constitutional reform [more]

·         A number of Cabinet ministers and former ministers called for electoral reform [more]; [more]

·         The Treasury’s economic forecasts were doubted by a survey that it commissioned [more]

·         The BNP faced the prospect of an inquiry into their funding [more]

·         David Cameron was criticised for failing to wear a seatbelt in his latest party political broadcast [more]

Over the last week we learnt that…

·         The government’s mortgage rescue scheme has only helped two households in four months [more]

·         Despite government attempts, social mobility in the UK is still falling under Labour [more]

·         Mortgage lending has hit a new low [more]

·         The taxpayer has funded a former Tory spin doctor to the tune of £66,000 through Tory MPs’ expenses [more]

·         Conservative proposals could force a British exit from the EU, claims a group of senior lawyers [more]

·         Tory and UKIP MEPs are the worst UK MEPs for voting for EU transparency and reform [more]

Over the last week the Liberal Democrats…

·         Launched the campaign for fundamental political reform [more] and http://www.takebackpower.org/

·         Challenged UKIP MEPs to publish their expenses claims as Lib Dem MEPs have [more]

·         Renewed calls for extra police officers to tackle the credit crunch crime wave [more]

·         Highlighted concerns arising from the nationalising of banks [more]

·         Cast doubt on train punctuality figures [more]

·         Demanded the publication of MI5 agents’ guidelines [more]

·         Called for the FSA to launch an allegation into financial irregularities at HBOS [more]

The most notable item on the agenda of this weeks Economy, Environment and Transport Scrutiny Committee at the Town Hall was an item highlighting future pressure for the Council to provide more permanent sites for gypsies and travellers.

The Government say that Gypsies and Travellers want permanent sites in order that illegal encampments can be minimised. As a result the North West (unelected) Regional Assembly has worked out the amount it feels all Greater Manchester Authorities should provide over the next few years.

Currently Bury provides 17 pitches on one site, however North West Region believes that Bury should provide and additional 70 pitches by 2016 and an additional 117 by 2026.

The demand justifying these figures is currently disputed by Bury officers and the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities that have carried out their own study of the demand for sites.

In addition to the difficulty and likely local opposition to finding this many sites, the other barrier at present is the cost. It is estimated that it would cost of £5m to provide these sites. While Bury would receive a grant incentive from Government, it would not nearly cover the cost.

At present this whole issue is going through preliminary stages and as mentioned even the amount of required provision is disputed. It set for further consultation of firmer proposals in 2010 so watch this space.  

Nick Clegg has had a great few weeks taking a strong stand on cleaning up Parliament and leading the call for a complete overhaul of our political system. Last week at Prime Minister’s Question Time he challenged Gordon Brown to reform our electoral systems. Now even Brown’s own ministers are echoing Nick’s call.  Tonight he will be making the case to:

• Give people the right to sack MPs

• Stop all big party political donations

• Elect the House of Lords

• Make the voting system fair - so that governments can’t just get all that power and all that money with only a minority of you voting for them

• Put an end to self serving politics and put you back in charge

But Nick can’t do it all on his own. He needs our help.We need to demonstrate that at long last there is a groundswell for real reform of our broken system.

If you want to see British politics changed in this way then you can visit www.takebackpower.org . 

Let’s put and and to this nonsense now and start reforming our politics, returning real power to the people.

I have pledged my support to Scope’s “Time to get equal week” from June 8th to 14th.

Scope’s Time to Get Equal Week is a celebration of disabled people’s contribution to society and a chance to raise public awareness of the barriers disabled people face in their day-to-day lives.

Their campaign covers four main themes: Beating disabilism, freedom of expression, independent living and making rights a reality.

If you would like to pledge your support or get involved with their campaign go to www.timetogetequal.org.uk

Tempers are running high, public anger is palpable. So of course Cameron rides to the rescue pledging to restore real power to the people. Real power that is except a written constitution, an elected house of lords and fair votes.

This ain’t the right time to be responding to public emotions with shallow people power sound bites.  Especially as until now the tories have been against these people power ideas!

The highlight of the second weekend of Prestwich Festival was undoubtedly the Farmers market on sunday.

With the weather behaving this weekend the crowds flocked to the Longfield precinct. But it wasn’t just about picking up some quality northwest produce, there was clowns, face painting town crier and bouncy castle for the kids as well.

I understand that the event was such a success that some stalls were running out of produce. As a result of this success it is hoped to now put on further farmers markets later in the year as well as repeating the event next Prestwich Festival.

CREATIVE LIVING CENTRE OPEN DAY AND DOMINOES CHALLENGE 

On saturday I visited the other main event of the weekend. The Creative Living centre behind TGI friday’s hosted an open day with stalls, music, food, bouncy castle etc. Great fund for all concerned.

One worry I am already facing is that a commom denominator of much of the festival so far would appear to be “FOOD”. Watch out for a much bigger version of me by Carnival day!

Well done to all those involved at the Creative Living Centre, I hope you raised much needed funds for your organisation. 

This was the week that…

·         The Speaker of the House of Commons bowed to pressure and stood down [more]

·         The government finally backed down and granted Gurkhas and their families the right to settle in the UK [more]

·         Two Labour Lords became the first peers to be suspended from the House of Lords since 1642 [more]

·         The government’s car scrappage scheme got off to a chaotic start [more]

·         A Tory MP blamed the outcry over MPs expenses on public ‘jealousy’ [more]

·         The UK’s reputation suffered on credit markets as the outlook for government debt was downgraded [more]

·         A business leader attacked the government’s ‘economic vandalism’ [more]

·         Labour sunk to an all-time-low in opinion polls [more]

·         A group of Lib Dem MPs were named ‘heroes of the week’ [more]

Over the last week we learnt that…

·         Car production fell 55% in April [more]

·         Household spending has fallen at the fastest rate since 1980 this year [more]

·         Mortgage lending fell again in April, this time by 9% [more]

·         The government has paid out £15bn too much in tax credits since 2003 [more]

·         Spending on NHS management consultants has trebled in the last two years [more]

·         The UK economy has slid further into deflation [more]

·         Prison violence is increasing [more]

·         Government buildings, including the Department for Energy and Climate Change are not meeting green standards [more]

·         Jo Swinson, Lib Dem MP, has made the most parliamentary contributions of any Scottish MP [more]

Over the last week the Liberal Democrats…

·         Challenged the government to make the difficult decisions needed to cut the budget deficit [more]

·         Called for a complete transformation in the way politics is conducted [more]

·         Revealed that 24,000 people die prematurely every year in Britain due to air pollution [more]

·         Showed how the government managed to block the creation of 10,000 new jobs [more]

·         Held the government to account for failing to tackle Britain’s alcohol problems [more]

·         Uncovered a huge rise in sexually transmitted diseases among under 16s [more]

·         Warned that the UK is facing a junior doctors crisis [more]

·         Federal Executive published its response to the revelations of misuse of MPs expenses [more]

·         Lord Rennard announced he would be stepping down in September for health and family reasons after six years as Chief Executive of the party [more]

On last nights Question Time Special about the expenses scandal, Martin Bell, former Independant MP, suggested that what we are seeing following the expenses scandal, with the ongoing revelations, and growing public anger etc amounts to nothing less than a revolution.

Ok it seems a rather dramatic statement when first heard, but I suspect the implications of this exposure of corruption, fraud and arrogance that seems to have engulfed much of the culture of the HoC will ultimately lead to revolutionary changes in our politics, our government and how we engage our political representatives.

People have been switched on to politics like never before in my lifetime - it may be out of distrust, anger and even cynicism, but ultimately if the public tear our stale, power-centred, discredited and largely undemocratic politics apart  now we may be able to assemble from the wreckage a modern democracy and parliament fit for the 21st century that truly lives up to the expectations of the people with elected representatives that truly represent the interests of the people they are elected to represent.

If that comes out of this “revolution”, then all I can say is viva la revolution!

Thank goodness something good has happened this week.

An incredible u-turn by the Government has ruled that they will allow the Gurkhas to settle here after all. No doubt persuaded by a their defeat in the House of commons and a presidential performance from absolutely fabulous, Joanna Lumley.

Government and ministers have to have the ability to be able to admit when they are wrong as well as being assured when they are right. Well they haven’t quite admitted they were wrong , but I guess it’s as good as it’s going to get.  In anycase its the result that means most and it is undoubtedly a victory for common sense, decency and moral justice for those that have served this country so well and been prepared to lay down their lives for our security and peace.

It would seem that the world of current affairs has got stuck in the groove of “expense-gate” recently. It actually took the end of a war (Sri-lanka civil war) to knock it off top place on the news!

As a political campaigner there is nothing more revitalising than getting out on the streets and meeting real people, hearing about real issues that affect peoples day to day living and quality of life. Thanks to the European Elections and the Radcliffe By-election thats exactly what I’ve been doing lately (when not enjoying the latest event in Prestwich festival!)

On the one hand you despair at the the claims for moat cleaning, swimming pool maintenance, duck islands and gi-normous plasma screen TV’s (and the rest).

But what is exhillarating is the great british public voicing their anger and giving the political extablishment a damn good kicking where it hurts most. In a perverse kind of way it shows our democracy and parliament really does matter to people. And so long as the anger and dissapointment is responded to properly by the political parties, I am convinced we will ultimately end up with a much better Parliament, better MP’s and better Government. That has to be the case because if things go in the opposite direction I fear for our democracy and future Governments. 

Back to the campaign trail (or Browns Waterloo as it seems to becoming), and it’s genuinely refreshing to hear peoples concerns about the local issues as well as national and international affairs. Its also good to know that not all politicians are viewed with distrust, dissapointment and disdain nor as fraudsters mired in sleaze and arrogance for their fellow man. No not all of us - just most of us !