Shropshire Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Prof. Steve Webb MP., is heading to Shrewsbury on Wednesday 7 October to discuss plans for tackling rising unemployment in a series of discussions with local stakeholders and members of the public.

Prof. Steve Webb MP will meet local unemployed people, staff on the front line of unemployment issues and business leaders.  He will also make some statements about latest Liberal Democrat policies in the area of Work and Pensions.

Dr Charles West, local campaigner and the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Shrewsbury and Atcham, said: “We need urgent action on unemployment.  In Shropshire the number of people out of work has increased by 84.5% in the past year.[1]  The Lib Dems would help people get back to work, with no delays.”

The Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Prof. Steve Webb MP., said: “We should scrap the pointless VAT cut immediately and use the money to create thousands of paid internships for young people to prevent them becoming the lost generation of this recession.”

“Unemployment assistance needs to be more personalised and JobCentre staff need to be given the resources necessary to help people get back on their feet quickly.”
“Young people should be getting intensive support as soon as they sign on instead of having to wait a year for a guarantee of a job or training place.  We promise young adults that they will not be unemployed for longer than 90 days before we find them work or training.”

“With vacancies at a record low, it is vital that we prevent today’s school and university leavers from becoming a lost generation of long-term unemployed.”

ENDS

[1] http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/factsfigures.nsf/open/CBAC00139958E6DC8025748800336538

Lib Dem Doctor could win in Shrewsbury

Lib Dems ahead of Labour, and Doctors most trusted, in latest poll

A new MORI survey has placed the Liberal Democrats over Labour and concluded that the British people trust Doctors more than any other group of professionals.[1]

Dr. Charles West, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Shrewsbury and Atcham, said: “Trust in politicians is at an all-time low; people are looking for real change.” 

“Having been a GP in Shropshire for most of my life, I want to use my experience and local knowledge to serve local people and make a real difference.  Too many MPs have never worked in the real world, so they struggle to understand the real world.”

Commenting on the rise of the Lib Dems over Labour, Dr. Charles West said: “It’s clear that the Labour government is in meltdown.  Only the Liberal Democrats can challenge the Conservatives in Shrewsbury and Atcham.”

The latest voting trends in Shropshire also put the Lib Dems above Labour.  In both the Shropshire Unitary and European elections of 2009 the Liberal Democrat vote exceeded the Labour vote. 

In Shrewsbury, where the Liberal Democrats had a candidate they increased their share of the vote by over 6% in the Shropshire Unitary elections.  Labour’s share declined by 3.5%.

ENDS

[1] Asked “How would you vote if there was a General Election tomorrow?” 25% responded Liberal Democrat compared to 24% for Labour.

Asked for each profession “Would you tell me whether you generally trust them to tell the truth or not” 92% of respondents said that they trust doctors, compared to 13% for politicians generally.

Dr Charles West Speaking at the Liberal Democrat conference this week called for better treatment for patients with strokes.

Speakers from the British Heart Foundation and the Stroke Association said that we need better prevention and more structured care for patients.

Dr West said “It is time we treated strokes with the same urgency and energy as we treat heart attacks. Stroke patients should be admitted direct to a specialised stroke unit. They should have a scan and assessment from a Speech and Language Therapist urgently, and they should have access to community hospital beds for rehabilitation.

“No one would consider treating a heart attack patient without an ECG. We should not expect to treat stroke patient without a scan. At present Shrewsbury’s stroke unit only takes admissions in the daytime. Assessment from a speech and language therapist should be done urgently and rehabilitation should start immediately. Shortage of Speech therapists makes this difficult. As Shrewsbury has no community hospital any patient needing rehabilitation has to travel to the far end of the county. So both patients and family visitors are travelling up to 30 miles.
“Our patients deserve better.”

For more information contact:
Dr Charles West
Shrewsbury and Atcham Liberal Democrats
3 Bellstone,
Shrewsbury
SY1 1HU
tel:   07775 800744
END

The Air Ambulance and coastguard network could not cope in the event of major city centre flood, says Liz Lynne, as most military helicopters are abroad.

West Midlands LibDem MEP Liz Lynne has called for an international rapid reaction force to speed up the response to natural disasters such as the devastating floods in 2007.

The MEP welcomed changes to a motion on forest fires agreed at the European Parliament in Strasbourg to include the need for a much more rapid and effective response to floods and natural disasters caused by global warning.

Liz Lynne MEP was instrumental in the UK’s bid for £33 million of aid from the EU Solidarity Fund to offset the cost of the 2007 floods which caused severe damage in Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire, closing the Severn Valley Railway for 8 months, with parts of Birmingham also flooding. There have also been repeated floods in small towns such as Tenbury Wells.

Instead of being a bureaucratic retrospective grant, Liz believes the fund should be used for a disaster rapid reaction force which Britain or any other EU country could not fund on their own.

Liz Lynne said: "Although the solidarity fund money was welcome, it took ages to arrive and was paid to central government, instead of going directly to councils or railway companies making repairs. The EU Solidarity Fund should be used to support a quick response service from specialist teams in the Emergency Services in all EU states to save lives and prevent serious damage.

"If, heaven forbid, Birmingham suffered a massive flood, similar to but more serious than the one we saw in Sheffield a few years ago, we might not have enough helicopters in the UK to help the fire brigade mount a rapid rescue of trapped people, if the worst case scenario occurred.

"Most military helicopters are now on active service thousands of miles away. We do need to plan for natural disasters, just in case, and because of climate change they are likely to be more frequent.

"Devastating floods such as those which occurred here in 2007 do not happen every year in the UK, but usually there are extreme climate events somewhere in the EU. It makes sense to pool specialist equipment and expertise so we can have a truly rapid response every time. If we have a really serious flood in a major city, many lives could be saved."

"Sharing best practice and expensive special equipment is a really good reason to be in the EU, we should do far more to take advantage of it. It is just common sense."

"I also welcome the stress in the final motion on sustainable management of watercourses and flood prevention. We need to take a very hard look at the way development and certain types of farming affect drainage and the risk of flooding. We need clear guidelines for highway authorities to keep drainage channels unblocked on roads and railway lines - people have died in this region due to flash floods when drainage channels are overwhelmed."

ENDS

Notes: Follow this link to read the text of the joint resolution voted through last week. Though still entitled ‘forest fires’ amendments backed by Liz Lynne and other LibDem ALDE MEPs were incorporated into the text to highlight the need for a natural disaster strategy and rapid response to floods, as well as fires.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=RC-B7-0039/2009&language=EN

Speaking at the Liberal Democrat conference today, local Shrewsbury campaigner Dr Charles West joined Sarah Teather MP in condemning Labour’s record on housing.
Sarah Teather said  “Labour should be ashamed that waiting lists have as much as doubled in some areas. It is a disgrace that so many families are forced to wait for social housing whilst so many potentially good homes lie unoccupied.
“With many fighting against repossession we urgently need to replenish stocks of social housing. Allowing councils and housing associations to take out low cost loans to buy empty houses for use as social housing would given new hope to the millions still on waiting lists. There are 1.8 million on the housing waiting list. While 800,000 houses remain empty. And now the latest insult — snatching £15 a week of Local Housing Allowance from the purse of some of the most vulnerable families in Britain.”

Dr West said “Labour have let down the very people who were relying on them. They have continued with the old Tory policies of selling off council houses, refusing to build new, and failing to repair the old and dilapidated stock. In Shrewsbury and Atcham we have over 1,200 households in proven need of housing, and houses are lying empty here as well.

“I know of a family, where three grown up children are having to share their parents house. In effect there are four families living in a three-bedroom house.

“Unfortunately we cannot expect anything better from the Conservatives. This year the Conservative controlled interim council reduced the council tax empty homes and second homes so we can expect more homes to be left empty. If the Council had not given that tax rebate the income raised could have employed local builders to build more homes. Homes for local people.

Nationally the Conservative are no better. This week Caroline Spelman wrote to councils asking them to delay decisions on housing programmes until after the general election.

“Liberal Democrats, on the other hand, are known for practical and innovative solutions. The new Shropshire Council has adopted the policies developed by Liberal Democrats in South Shropshire that will enable individual affordable houses, or small pockets of affordable houses to be built where there is a local need and suitable land available. These policies are now approved by the Local Government Association as best practice.”

For more information contact:
Dr Charles West
Parliamentary Candidate: Shrewsbury and Atcham Liberal Democrats
3 Bellstone,
Shrewsbury
SY1 1HU
tel:   07775 800744

Note: Sarah Teather is the Liberal Democrat shadow housing minister.
Caroline Spelman is the Conservative shadow communities secretary.

Keep in touch with what’s going on at Conference online.

This autumn the Liberal Democrats will be heading to sunny Bournemouth to continue to develop our plan for a different, better future for Britain.
Conference will kick off on the morning of the Saturday 19th September with all member training, fringe meetings and consultative sessions. The formal opening of conference will take place after lunch. Contrary to previous years, the close of conference will take place at 16.00 on the afternoon of Wednesday 23rd September.
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Editor

So the Tories have come clean (Star Sept 10th p7). We can expect a “significantly reduced rate of expenditure.” “NHS services everywhere will have to tighten their belts.”

Unfortunately it is not the NHS that will be tightening its belt it is patients who will go without proper care. Andrew Lansley may be right to point out that increased spending alone will not guarantee improvements, but we can be certain that cutting expenditure will damage care.

He is wrong, however, to imply that there have not been improvements in the NHS in the last 12 years. We should acknowledge that the increased spending on the NHS has brought about improvements: improvements in waiting times, improvements in survival following heart attacks and cancer. The tragedy of the last twelve years is that constant reorganisation has damaged staff morale and wasted a small fortune. It is estimated that cost of the government’s many and varied NHS privatisation schemes have cost £20bn. Each year £350m is wasted on management consultants in the NHS.

What we need is a government committed to the NHS, a public, integrated coordinated National Health Service. We will not get good value, or good service from a series of private providers who believe in competition not cooperation and whose interest is profit not patient-care.

Yours,

Dr Charles West

Parliamentary Candidate: Shrewsbury and Atcham Liberal Democrats

Shrewsbury Liberal Democrats announced this week the arrival of a new Constituency Organiser.

Anna Smart was brought up in the Wirral, went to University in Durham and Leeds and has worked for a number of national charities and campaigning organisations. Anna will be organising meetings and events and co-ordinating the work of volunteers in the Constituency.

Dr Charles West, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Shrewsbury and Atcham said "I am delighted to welcome Anna to the team. This new post demonstrates our commitment to be more accessible to the voters of Shrewsbury. The Liberal Democrats offer the voters of Shrewsbury a real alternative to the old politics and it is important that we make our message available and accessible. Anna Smart is extremely well qualified to help us in that task.

Anna Smart said "At this time when the public’s confidence in politicians is at an all time low, the Liberal Democrats are the only party offering real change.  As a highly respected career-long GP, Charles West offers a breath of fresh air and a fantastic opportunity for the constituents of Shrewsbury and Atcham.  I am delighted to be supporting his election campaign."

Photograph shows Dr Charles West and Anna Smart.

For more information contact:
Dr Charles West
Parliamentary Candidate: Shrewsbury and Atcham Liberal Democrats
3 Bellstone
Shrewsbury
SY1 1HU
tel:   07775 800744

Editor,

Philip Lee of Epilepsy Action raised the issue of generic substitution of drugs prescribed in the NHS. (Letters 3rd September).

He is right to draw attention to the fact that there are some drugs used in the treatment of Epilepsy, but also for certain heart conditions, where it is recommended that patients continue to take the same brand of a drug and where generic substitution could make it difficult to control the patient’s condition.

However, the regulations already allow for a doctor to specify the brand where that is clinically indicated.

“Provision will be made to allow the prescriber to opt out of substitution where, in his (sic) clinical judgment, it is appropriate for the patient to receive a specific branded medicine. In these circumstances, the named brand must be dispensed. Provision may also be made to exclude certain categories of medicines for clinical reasons in the interests of patient safety.”

Most doctors in Shropshire already prescribe generically where possible and the introduction of generic substitution with the proposed safeguards should be welcomed.

Shropshire’s GPs currently prescribe over £48M worth of drugs each year. In addition to generic prescribing it makes sense to use the best value drug where there are similar drugs available. If every patient taking a statin for reducing their blood cholesterol were to ask their GP if they are taking the current best value statin Shropshire patients could save the NHS £1.6 million per year.

Yours
Dr Charles West
Parliamentary Candidate Shrewsbury and Atcham Liberal Democrats
3 Bellstone
Shrewsbury
SY1 1HU
tel:   07775 800744

Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats

“The situation in Afghanistan is on a knife-edge. Yet today we have heard little in the way of fresh, new thinking from Gordon Brown," said the Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Commenting on Gordon Brown’s speech on Afghanistan, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:

“The situation in Afghanistan is on a knife-edge. Yet today we have heard little in the way of fresh, new thinking from Gordon Brown.
“After pursuing an overambitious and under-resourced strategy for eight years it’s hard to believe that increasing the training of the Afghan police and army will now do the trick. We need a bolder change of strategy to turn things around. When it comes to Afghanistan, we need to do things properly or not at all.
“Despite the recent elections being plagued by fraud and low turnout, Gordon Brown has chosen not to take a stance on this issue. He must realise that a second round of elections is now necessary to ensure Afghanistan gets a president with legitimacy without which the conflict against the Taliban will be all the more difficult.”