The Open Page 6. (Harbour Politics). - Copy
26 April 2009
And Now..the Conservative response to the Gwyn Prosser statement immediately below, but with an added twist.
The Conservatives claim that it is actually Labour who want to sell off the port, thereby wrongfooting their own man on the spot Gwyn Prosser MP. Read on....
Conservative Parliamentary candidate Charlie Elphicke has slammed Labour Government plans to privatise the port of Dover.
Charlie pointed to a paragraph 3.18 of a Government report published on 21 April 2009 that asks trust ports like Dover to consider "alternatives to public ownership". It asks ports to bring forward "voluntary proposals for change in line with current legislation", a clear reference to the power to privatise ports under the Ports Act. Charlie pointed out that it is also clear the Dover Harbour Board needs little encouragement to volunteer for privatisation. Charlie says:
"It is clear the Labour Government want to sell off the Port of Dover. It's a complete betrayal for Dover and a humiliation for the Dover Labour Party. It is such a shame they are not taken seriously by Ministers. It is a tragedy for us all. The only change here in 12 years is that we've lost a hospital and been offered a tiny little polyclinic. Dover needs real influence in the Corridors of Power to get us our fair share, a proper hospital and make us all richer. Those are the Conservative priorities.
"The Conservatives oppose privatisation of the Port. You wouldn't privatise the army, so why does the Labour Government want to privatise our borders? Dover Conservatives have successfully made Dover's case to the Shadow Transport Minister. Just as Dover Conservatives have successfully made the case for a proper hospital to the Shadow Health Secretary. Clearly we need to look at new ideas and new ways of getting in money for the Western Docks development. But the port itself is and must remain a national asset.
"It's now clear we need a change of Government to safeguard the future of the port. And a change of Government will ensure Dover's needs are listened to and taken seriously once again."
See: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/vfm_operational_efficiency.htm
Picture above: Chaz n Dave in harmony! Yes its the dynamic duo David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, with local parliamentary hopeful Conservative Charlie Elphicke.
This picture on the left shows action man MP Gwyn Prosser being interviewed by the BBC while out fighting for the workers on the picket line. The shot was captured recently during the DHB port worker strike action. Now with further DHB developments on the cards, Gwyn's office have issued the following statement on the news that there are plans afoot once again to Privatise the Port of Dover......
MP SLAMS DHB’S
In response to news that Dover Harbour Board are to review their trust port status, Dover & Deal MP, Gwyn Prosser, says he is convinced the Chief Executive of the Port of Dover and the Board of Directors are preparing to sell off the port and that he, the local Labour Party and the good people of Dover will vigorously oppose the proposals in the same way they’ve done on the past occasions that privatisation was threatened.
Gwyn said:
“The Tories in Parliament and in Dover have always wanted to sell off the port to the highest bidder and in the run-up to the last General Election they made great play of their privatisation plans. It’s very worrying that Dover Harbour Board is now showing signs of implementing the Tories’ privatisation plan even though the workforce and the people of Dover want to retain their port as a public corporation.
“When Bob Goldfield made his unilateral decision to privatise all the security services and the mooring gangs we predicted that he was preparing for full privatisation which would result in massive payouts for him and his senior managers and, sadly, those predictions seem to be coming true”
END
This was a wide ranging and complicated Budget and one searches around for a headline to sum it all up. That usual headline of old, that standard one on the increases to Beer and Fags, didnt materialise this time to anything like the same degree. Those old tax hike favourites did indeed have a small rise of 2% , but nothing to write home about. Not a swingeing rise like those old cloth capped days of yore, when the cameras lingered over the cough spluttering smoker in the smoke filled pub, who liked nothing better than cringeing and whingeing to the hapless correspondent about the awful rises, muttering stuff like..."diabolical liberty" !
Yes the drinker and smoker have escaped fairly well this time, but not so the rich earner. The rich saw a big rise in their tax burden. Instead of paying 45% on their earnings, this has now leaped to 50%, which is enough to make the most hardened capitalist rush to emigrate to foreign sunnier shores. And further to that, the rather good tax relief on pensions for those high earners, is also cut. So not a very good day to be a high earner. Not a very good day to be rich.
There are many aspects to this Budget of course, and its not possible to go into it all here. But the other eye catching element was its GREEN credentials. One noted a £525million pound support for offshore windfarms which has extra relevance to us local bods, having recently been up to our necks in muck and bullets fending off the very green windfarm locally, and also in the Budget a £405million new funding package to encourage low carbon energy development. So good Green stuff there which should keep the environmentalists happy. But Greens of course are not noted for their happiness, as they can be a dour lot, so they are more likely to be just happy-ish at the new windfalls.
But the Labour Government seem to be on the right path. They have borrowed vast sums in an effort to beat the recession and are still borrowing. They have gambled on this particular spending path and are hoping, fingers crossed, that it will all pay off, as they spend spend spend their way out of recession. David Cameron, The Conservative leader, said the whole thing was a "mess" and said our life under Gordon Brown's guidance amounted to a "decade of debt". PB
See also the Barry Williams (The Budget) thread in Members Club
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And Now..the Conservative response to the Gwyn Prosser statement immediately below, but with an added twist.The Conservatives claim that it is actually Labour who want to sell off the port, thereby wrongfooting their own man on the spot Gwyn Prosser MP. Read on....
CHARLIE SLAMS LABOUR PORT PRIVATISATION PLANS
Conservative Parliamentary candidate Charlie Elphicke has slammed Labour Government plans to privatise the port of Dover.
Charlie pointed to a paragraph 3.18 of a Government report published on 21 April 2009 that asks trust ports like Dover to consider "alternatives to public ownership". It asks ports to bring forward "voluntary proposals for change in line with current legislation", a clear reference to the power to privatise ports under the Ports Act. Charlie pointed out that it is also clear the Dover Harbour Board needs little encouragement to volunteer for privatisation.
"It is clear the Labour Government want to sell off the Port of Dover. It's a complete betrayal for Dover and a humiliation for the Dover Labour Party. It is such a shame they are not taken seriously by Ministers. It is a tragedy for us all. The only change here in 12 years is that we've lost a hospital and been offered a tiny little polyclinic. Dover needs real influence in the Corridors of Power to get us our fair share, a proper hospital and make us all richer. Those are the Conservative priorities.
"The Conservatives oppose privatisation of the Port. You wouldn't privatise the army, so why does the Labour Government want to privatise our borders? Dover Conservatives have successfully made Dover's case to the Shadow Transport Minister. Just as Dover Conservatives have successfully made the case for a proper hospital to the Shadow Health Secretary. Clearly we need to look at new ideas and new ways of getting in money for the Western Docks development. But the port itself is and must remain a national asset.
"It's now clear we need a change of Government to safeguard the future of the port. And a change of Government will ensure Dover's needs are listened to and taken seriously once again."
See: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/vfm_operational_efficiency.htm
Picture above: Chaz n Dave in harmony! Yes its the dynamic duo David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, with local parliamentary hopeful Conservative Charlie Elphicke.
* *
This picture on the left shows action man MP Gwyn Prosser being interviewed by the BBC while out fighting for the workers on the picket line. The shot was captured recently during the DHB port worker strike action. Now with further DHB developments on the cards, Gwyn's office have issued the following statement on the news that there are plans afoot once again to Privatise the Port of Dover......
MP SLAMS DHB’S
PRIVATISATION PLANS
In response to news that Dover Harbour Board are to review their trust port status, Dover & Deal MP, Gwyn Prosser, says he is convinced the Chief Executive of the Port of Dover and the Board of Directors are preparing to sell off the port and that he, the local Labour Party and the good people of Dover will vigorously oppose the proposals in the same way they’ve done on the past occasions that privatisation was threatened.
Gwyn said:
“The Tories in Parliament and in Dover have always wanted to sell off the port to the highest bidder and in the run-up to the last General Election they made great play of their privatisation plans. It’s very worrying that Dover Harbour Board is now showing signs of implementing the Tories’ privatisation plan even though the workforce and the people of Dover want to retain their port as a public corporation.
“When Bob Goldfield made his unilateral decision to privatise all the security services and the mooring gangs we predicted that he was preparing for full privatisation which would result in massive payouts for him and his senior managers and, sadly, those predictions seem to be coming true”
END
The Budget
Labour Soaks Rich
This was a wide ranging and complicated Budget and one searches around for a headline to sum it all up. That usual headline of old, that standard one on the increases to Beer and Fags, didnt materialise this time to anything like the same degree. Those old tax hike favourites did indeed have a small rise of 2% , but nothing to write home about. Not a swingeing rise like those old cloth capped days of yore, when the cameras lingered over the cough spluttering smoker in the smoke filled pub, who liked nothing better than cringeing and whingeing to the hapless correspondent about the awful rises, muttering stuff like..."diabolical liberty" !
Yes the drinker and smoker have escaped fairly well this time, but not so the rich earner. The rich saw a big rise in their tax burden. Instead of paying 45% on their earnings, this has now leaped to 50%, which is enough to make the most hardened capitalist rush to emigrate to foreign sunnier shores. And further to that, the rather good tax relief on pensions for those high earners, is also cut. So not a very good day to be a high earner. Not a very good day to be rich.
There are many aspects to this Budget of course, and its not possible to go into it all here. But the other eye catching element was its GREEN credentials. One noted a £525million pound support for offshore windfarms which has extra relevance to us local bods, having recently been up to our necks in muck and bullets fending off the very green windfarm locally, and also in the Budget a £405million new funding package to encourage low carbon energy development. So good Green stuff there which should keep the environmentalists happy. But Greens of course are not noted for their happiness, as they can be a dour lot, so they are more likely to be just happy-ish at the new windfalls.
But the Labour Government seem to be on the right path. They have borrowed vast sums in an effort to beat the recession and are still borrowing. They have gambled on this particular spending path and are hoping, fingers crossed, that it will all pay off, as they spend spend spend their way out of recession. David Cameron, The Conservative leader, said the whole thing was a "mess" and said our life under Gordon Brown's guidance amounted to a "decade of debt". PB
See also the Barry Williams (The Budget) thread in Members Club