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In the news
Support for Labour candidate from all quarters
Wednesday 04th 2005f May 2005
As campaigning enters its final hours Anne Campbell, Labour Parliamentary candidate for Cambridge has been reviewing the enormous support that she has been receiving in Cambridge. With over 200 hundred activists out on the streets and numerous visits from high profile ministers Anne has been talking about the issues that matter to her.
Today, Wednesday the Rt Hon Paul Boateng, Chief Secretary to the Treasury will join Anne and David Sainsbury, (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science and Innovation) to meet Labour students. Paul was previously Financial Secretary to the Treasury (2001-2002), Minister for Home Affairs (1998-2001) and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health (1997-1998).
Anne said, “Labour’s economic achievements have underpinned everything that we have been able to do. And those achievements have meant more jobs in the constituency and more funding, not only for nurses and doctors, teachers and police, but also to try and get the LibDem city council to meet their recycling targets; which despite £700,000 of government money, they have failed to do.
“Good economic progress has meant more money for housing and infrastructure, at a time when the LibDem city council would not spend its budget on doing essential repairs until shamed into action, and while they insist on pushing ahead with plans to build on Marshalls; jeopardizing city jobs and threatening the environment with worse congestion because they have not thought through their infrastructure solutions.
“And whilst good economic progress has meant lower interest rates, cheaper mortgage payments – and more help for low income families; the LibDems leader, David Howarth, increased council tax in Cambridge by 8 per cent in one year alone – and then has the cheek to campaign on axing council tax because it is too high!”
With lots of high profile backing, Anne’s campaign started with an endorsement from Robin Cook, which appeared on her election literature. Robin paid tribute to Anne’s principled stance in resigning from the government over the war in Iraq. He singled out her independent mind and her bravery in being prepared to stand up for her views, as reasons he was backing her.
Electoral reform – both in how we vote and how Parliament is established – is a key issue for Anne and one that she has been campaigning on for 20 years. Anne said, “I was delighted to be joined in Cambridge by Baroness Amos, Leader of the House of Lords. Lords’ reform and a referendum on changing the voting system are both commitments in the manifesto that I am delighted to see. As chair of the Labour Campaign for electoral reform and a member of other cross party groups I worked hard to secure this.”
Locally Anne has campaigned for residents and businesses in Cambridge to be able to enjoy the city streets without aggression or intimidation. Her campaign with those living and working on Mill Road brought together a range of agencies, who have used new antisocial behaviour measures to sort the appalling problems that a minority were causing, despite the reluctance and, at times, obstruction of the LibDem City Council. During this election campaign Anne was joined by Home Office Minister Caroline Flint to highlight other serious concerns about the LibDem’s crime manifesto, which would lower the drinking age to 16 and is soft on drugs.
Anne said, “The LibDems champion individual’s rights without seemingly to require any individuals to take any responsibility – and by riding rough shod over the basic human rights of the many to enjoy life without intimidation and aggression. I will continue to support the work of the police and other agencies in this area and hope we will have more successful operations against antisocial behaviour, drug dealers, and those running prostitution which blight people’s lives.”
Early in the campaign Anne was joined by Harriet Harman, solicitor general, who has long championed the rights of women and families. Harriet paid tribute to Anne’s tireless campaigning to improve access to childcare locally, and in government to putting the family at the centre of politics.
Anne said, “Families are the key building blocks of the community, which I will defend against the more extreme measures suggested by the LibDems. Their opposition to the national minimum wage hits working women – and therefore their families - the hardest. And when locally they decimate funding for community projects in the poorest areas, as they did under David Howarth, redistributing the budget to wealthier wards, I wonder what has happened to their fairness.”
David Sainsbury, who has made two visits to the constituency to support Anne during the campaign, shares her enthusiasm for championing small businesses in the city. Her private members bill to get share of government research and development contracts allocated to SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) would result in about £20million coming into the constituency.
Anne said, “Science and technology, whether carried out in our universities, or whether being applied in our small hitech companies, is critically important to Cambridge, delivering jobs and opportunities. Gordon Brown, the chancellor, knows of my passion for science and technology and has listened – and then acted - on many occasions as I have championed the cause for funding in this area.”
With support from Professor Stephen Hawking and from people from every part of the city, Anne know that everyone is talking about her long and distinguished record of achievement.
Black holes for black boxes and green bins
Tuesday 03rd 2005f May 2005
Anne Campbell, Labour Parliamentary candidate for Cambridge has been sorting out the LibDems recycling chaos in Cambridge.
On Saturday she joined residents of Villa Court in Kings Hedges for whom she had managed to secure green bins so they can contribute to Cambridge’s recycling effort.
Anne said, “Almost every week I am contacting the council with a list of residents who would love to take part in recycling if only they had the necessary green bins and black boxes. I have produced a black holes map of Cambridge which plots all the problem areas.
“We were initially told that it was too difficult to provide recycling for blocks of flats, but many of the people we find don’t even live in flats, but have somehow fallen in a recycling black hole. However, the city council is finding it difficult to justify excluding those living in flats from recycling activities now anyway.
The other problem that Anne is facing is the massive confusion about the plastics recycling scheme that will be introduced in the autumn.
Anne said, “The LibDems newsletters have caused even more recycling chaos and confusion as ex councillor Gaynor Griffiths has been promoting the scheme with a photograph showing lots of plastics which people will not be able to recycle. The new scheme is very limited and will not do much to reduce the plastic rubbish going into the less frequent black bin collection.
“Labour supports plastic recycling – in fact I suggested Cambridge needed a scheme back in November last year, as a result of my consultation exercise. Labour’s plastic bring bank scheme would be more environmentally friendly and would cost less. The LibDems however have ploughed ahead with a scheme that will use far more oil and plastic to collect, transport and process the plastic than it will ever generate.
The LibDem city council could not meet the government’s recycling target- even after it was made easier - and they were given £700,000 of government funding to invest in recycling facilities.
Apathy and representation
Monday 02nd 2005f May 2005
Many towns and cities across the UK took part in street ballots carried out by cross-party Make My Vote Count campaigners, Anne Campbell, Labour parliamentary candidate, tackled another concern in our democracy, voter apathy.
She visited the two young men behind the local campaign, Make Apathy History. Stephen Atkins and Martin Ball who live in Hope Street Cambridge.
Anne said, “I appreciate their attempts to drum up interest in voting and it is good to see young people take an active part in the process.”
Anne was joined in Cambridge last week by Malcolm Clark a leading light in the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, of which Anne is chair. Anne has been leading the campaign for electoral and parliamentary reform, both within the Labour party and from cross party groups such as Make My Vote Count.
Anne said, “Our current system does cause anomalies. If you look at the all out city council results for last year when the Liberal Democrats won 28 seats, grossly over-represents their share of the vote, and the Tories are significantly un-represented with only one seat on the council.
Anne said, “As the Make My Vote Count campaign has shown this weekend voters themselves feel marginalised. And it is not surprising that many voters feel their votes don’t count: With so many safe seats and parties only targeting a tiny proportion of swing voters in the remaining constituencies, it’s no wonder the bulk of voters are feeling neglected. This is caused by a voting system which means that many candidates can expect to be elected without difficulty, but with only a minority of votes in any constituency.”
Anne has already spoken of the urgent need to reform voting systems in the UK, so that the number of seats for each party reflects the votes cast. The present first past the post system results in bizarre anomalies where parties secure significant percentages of the vote but only a tiny percentage of the seats, and most ‘winners’ have more votes cast against them than for them.
Anne said, “We all know we need to engage the British people in the electoral process – we can’t do this if they don’t feel that their vote counts. The Make My Vote Count campaign is a key part of the process to change the system – and it supports what I am doing with the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform. And I am delighted that locally young people are keen to combat apathy.
Labour’s candidate campaigning for Cambridge’s future
Friday 29th 2005f April 2005
Anne Campbell, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Cambridge is focusing on jobs and businesses in Cambridge today.
She will be visiting Owlstone, a young company at the St John’s Innovation Centre technology incubator, with David Sainsbury. Lord David Sainsbury of Turville was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science and Innovation with Responsibility for among other issues the Office of Science and Technology, the DTI interest in education and skills, Innovation Policy, Bioscience.
Owlstone, which was formed in 2004 with an international team in Cambridge, Spain and the USA, aims to protect people from security threats and eventually make an impact on other areas of their lives. Their secret lies in sniffing out potential threats with tiny low cost sensors produced by nanomanufacturing.
Anne said, “Companies like these, spun out of Cambridge University, are so important to Cambridge, and so important to the future of the UK. Jobs and cutting edge research and development, and its application, is the way Britain can maintain it’s competitive advantage.
“I am looking forward to introducing David Sainsbury to Owlstone and their technology which can deliver tiny low cost smell sensors that can be deployed en masse to sniff out dangerous chemicals or explosives. Their application goes far beyond the issues of security, into health, housing and into your fridge.”
The Labour government has supported the knowledge economy, with R&D tax credits for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs); changes in corporation tax, which has helped half a million businesses; and through tackling the red tape which had begun to stifle the development of new companies under the last Tory government; including introduction of flat rate VAT schemes, and by raising the statutory audit threshold.
Anne said, “SMEs need support and encouragement in their early stages; in Cambridge the links to the University, technology incubator type set ups and the huge pool of expertise here helps that. However, I have been working on another important issue; that of access by SMEs to government research and development contracts. And I will be talking today to Owlstone about what my scheme will mean to them.”
Anne will also be joined at Owlstone by David Connell, from TTP Venture, to discuss their joint plan to introduce a US-style Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Programme into the UK. In March they celebrated their success in getting the Chancellor to introduce their proposals into Government procurement for research and development, when, in the Budget on 16th March, the Chancellor agreed to allocate 2.5% of all publicly funded R&D in contracts to small businesses.
This followed some months of lobbying Ministers and others by Anne Campbell and David Connell. The campaign has many high level supporters within the business community including Hermann Hauser, Amadeus Capital Partners Ltd, Cambridge; Sir David Cooksey, Advent Venture Partners, London; Sir Derek Roberts, University College, London and Dr David Secher, Director of Research Services, University of Cambridge.
An Early Day Motion (802), tabled in Parliament by Anne Campbell, has attracted 56 signatures so far and includes the Chairmen of Select Committees in Trade and Industry, Science and Technology, the Treasury and Education and Skills and the Chair of All Party Group on Small Business.
So far there is little detail of how the objectives of the new policy initiative will be reached. David Connell said “We need to ensure the process for awarding contracts opens up Government Departments to a wide range of genuinely innovative technology that can help them meet their objectives. It must also help them make R&D procurement decisions much more quickly than at present. New processes, similar to those developed for the US Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Programme are required to achieve this.”
Anne Campbell said “Measures to achieve a US style SBIR programme are included in my Private Members Bill, which I presented to the Commons in March, I will be monitoring implementation of the Finance Bill to see what else can be done to assist the Government to achieve its objectives.”
Work kills more people than War says Labour Candidate
Thursday 28th 2005f April 2005
Anne Campbell, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate in Cambridge has sent a message of support to workers at Marshall’s in Cambridge, who are hosting an event for Workers’ Memorial Day, today, the 28 April.
Anne said, “The shocking fact is that every year more people are killed worldwide at work than in wars. Most don’t die of mystery ailments, or in tragic “accidents". They die because an employer made a decision – a decision which affected their safety. It may have been a decision to skimp on training, or it may have been a decision to cut costs. Whatever the decision, the results is that worker’s safety just isn’t that important a priority.
“Workers’ Memorial Day commemorates those workers. Health and safety in the workplace is the sole responsibility of the employer. Some employers take this obligation seriously and, increasingly, they draw competitive advantage from it in their advertising campaigns. Others seem to put short-term profit before safety.
“However April 28th is not just about remembering the fatalities and the injury statistics it is about campaigning to improve conditions worldwide.
“I am pleased that the Labour government introduced draft corporate manslaughter legislation in March which set out tough new laws to prosecute companies and organisations whose gross failure at senior management level results in a fatality. I will support that legislation.
“I shall be wearing my purple ‘forget-me-not’ ribbon on the doorstep today and I expect to be doing my bit to raise awareness about the issue.”
Worker’s Memorial Day is held on 28 April every year, and all over the world workers and their representatives conduct events, demonstrations, vigils and a whole host of other activities to mark the day. The shocking statistics are that there is One death every fifteen seconds. Six thousand a day; 2,000,000 deaths a year. And there are injuries and mutilations too. Almost 270 million accidents are recorded each year, of which 350,000 are fatal.
Workers Memorial Day on April 28th is a health and safety event when unions worldwide ‘remember the dead, and fight for the living,’ will be the biggest ever. Early reports suggest there will be more than 10,000 union events in over 100 countries involving over 5 million workers. And indications are that UK unions will be making an enormous contribution, with the TUC’s events listing now running to several pages.
Labour’s draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill will update existing laws on corporate killing. It proposes a new criminal offence of corporate manslaughter which will apply when someone has been killed because the senior management of a corporation has grossly failed to take reasonable care for the safety of employees or others.
Corporate manslaughter is an offence committed by organisations rather than individuals and will therefore carry a penalty of an unlimited fine rather than a custodial sentence. The criminal liability of individual directors will not be affected by the proposals. No new burdens will be placed on companies which already comply with health and safety legislation. Organisations taking a conscientious approach to their current obligations have nothing to fear.
The publication of the draft Bill follows up a commitment agreed at the Party’s National Policy forum in July 2004 and a commitment from the 2001 Manifesto. The process is subject to Parliamentary scrutiny. In addition there will be a public consultation until 17 June 2005.
Housing is a priority for Cambridge – but who is delivering?
Wednesday 27th 2005f April 2005
The LibDems in Cambridge last night talked about – among other things – housing and fairness.
Anne Campbell. Labour parliamentary candidate welcomed the focus on housing, but in a statement today challenges the LibDems local government record on ‘fairness’ in this area.
Anne said, “Proper housing is essential to our health and wellbeing, and investment in housing directly affects the environment and done well that investment creates sustainable communities, which make an enormous contribution to everyone’s quality of life.”
Labour have promoted investment in housing and housing repairs. Labour have tripled funding for council housing to £2.5 billion since 1997. Labour have released funds from sold council houses to improve 1.8 million council houses.
Anne said, “Labour had to embarrass the LibDem council in Cambridge into releasing their accumulated housing war chest to be spent on housing repairs, as it should have been. I took the LibDem Council to task in 2003 for accumulating £5,000,000 - money which should have been spent on repairs. There were hundreds of Cambridge homes with draughty windows, broken fences, out of date kitchens –and the programme is only just now catching up.”
Labour’s home insulation programme is ensuring that people have affordable warmth, whilst making strides in protecting the environment. Labour abolished fuel poverty for over 2.5m families. In Cambridge, 13,780 pensioners benefit from the Winter Fuel Allowance worth at least £200.
In Cambridge housing is expensive and many people working locally have to live outside the city. Labour has introduced support for Key Workers, with investment tripled to £1 billion by 2006, and schemes are slowly coming on stream in Cambridge. Labour’s starter home initiatives helped 10,000 key workers including those at Addenbrooke’s. Recently Labour doubled the stamp duty threshold on new homes and has plans to further support the opportunity to own or part own home ownership.
Anne said, “Building new homes is important – why should only those who have lots of money be able to live close to where they work. But the LibDems in Cambridge are stubbornly pursuing only one option for Cambridge – building on Marshalls. The inspector at the Examination in ublic into the Structure Plan identified in his report, nearly two years that research was needed into alternative sites, since it was unlikely that Marshalls’ land could be released. But what have the LibDems done – they have continued to try and bully Marshalls into moving – taking valuable jobs from Cambridge, with no plan for the infrastructure necessary to support 12,000 houses c
And in the rented sector in Cambridge, Anne successfully campaigned for the introduction of the tenancy deposit scheme which protects renters from rogue landlords who never return their deposits. Anne said, “This win was very important for tenants in Cambridge – however I remain concerned about safety in rented accommodation in Cambridge, especially as the LibDems scrapped support to improve fire safety measures in rented accommodation.”
Spotlight on World Poverty day
Monday 25th 2005f April 2005
Anne Campbell, welcomed the attention drawn at last night’s Cambridge’s churches hustings to World Poverty day, which was held on April 24, and was organised by the Make Poverty History campaign. Anne signed up to the campaign and added her name to EDM 9 ‘Make Poverty History in 2005’ in November last year, when it was released.
The Labour government has made a huge commitment to international development with the biggest ever increase in aid. The budget has been increased by 93% in real terms since 1997 and Anne herself campaigned within the Labour party to ensure that Overseas Aid will rise to 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product.
Anne said, “Following my success in July 2004 in securing support for an amendment to the international development assistance policy, we are now looking at increases in the amount of aid pledged from 0.4 per cent of Gross National Income to 0.7 per cent by 2013 or earlier if this can be achieved with the International Finance Facility. I am hopeful that with the IFF we can deliver this 0.7 per cent aid target by 2008.
“Local people in Cambridge had raised this issue with me and I am delighted that we are going to continue improving on the UK’s commitment to overseas aid spending. Since 1997 the Labour government has reversed the decline in overseas aid spending. Reforms introduced by the government also mean that all of this money is spent on reducing poverty as effectively as possible. In addition, under Labour stewardship, the government has cancelled all debts owed to the UK by the world’s poorest countries.
“There is more work to be done though and I will support the government in pushing for reform of the European Community’s aid spending. I have signed up to the Help Africa – cut the CAP campaign to reallocate money from the common agricultural policy A quarter of Britain’s aid budget is currently transferred to the EC and the government is working for significant improvements in the way the aid is spent.
“Poverty is also an issue in the UK and Labour have lifted 700,000 families out of poverty and nearly 2 million pensioners too.”
Anne noted that it was disappointing last night that the audience were not able to ask other questions about issues important to Cambridge, but was pleased that the importance of world poverty day was highlighted.
Anne has written to Stuart Wood, who organised the debate between the 8 candidates, for the joint churches, to thank him for his efforts.
Several hundred people also listened to the candidates’ views on areas such as the moral basis for political decision making to the debate on assisted dying.
Said Anne, “I felt that the debate, whilst useful in enabling candidates to express their views, lacked spontaneity. The question had been chosen after much debate in the churches and circulated in advance but there was sadly no further opportunities for questions from the audience. I believe this was a wasted opportunity and I am sure many came along expecting to ask questions as usual”.
Labour candidate secures waiting time win in manifesto
Friday 22nd 2005f April 2005
Anne Campbell, Labour Parliamentary candidate for Cambridge, is delighted that her lobbying as secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Breast Cancer has paid off with a commitment in the manifesto, which will mean an end to the variations in the lengths of time that cancer patients wait for specialist appointments.
At present 98 per cent of patients who is designated as needing an urgent referral are expected to be seen in two weeks. At Addenbrooke’s Hospital they are achieving better results than that, with all patients being seen in two weeks. Now Labour is making new pledges for all patients, whether they are referred urgently or not, for their total patient journey from the GPs appointment to the operating theatre. No-one will have to wait more than 18 weeks for an operation. Non-urgent cancer patients will get that important first specialist appointment much sooner than at present.
Anne said, “In Labour’s six pledges I am delighted to see a continued strong commitment to giving more support to patients and health services. Patients will have choice over where and when to have hospital treatment - in an NHS free at the point of need.
Preventative health is also a key part of Labour’s manifesto. The manifesto says that people want to take responsibility for their own health outside the NHS as well as within it. They have the right to expect help from the government. The killer diseases of the heart and the many forms of cancer are often the product of poor diet, lack of exercise and above all smoking; by 2010 Labour aim to reduce deaths from coronary heart disease and strokes by 40 percent from 1997. And Labour want death rates from cancer to be cut by 20 per cent.
Anne said, “The preventative work is so important. Small steps have already been taken; nearly 2 million children are receiving free fruit every school day and with the recent focus on school meals through Jamie Oliver’s campaign I think the importance of good food is being talked about more than ever before.
“Much earlier this year I took a leading chef into St Andrew’s Junior School Chesterton to conduct a healthy cooking class with the children. We all enjoyed this experience and I hope some of the children will have acquired a new taste for fruit and vegetables as a result. I secured this opportunity for the local primary school by winning a Move 4 Health prize by increasing the distance I walk at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton last year.
Labour is committed to better health services for Britain; we already have already reversed the years of decline resulting from the lack of Tory investment in the NHS. There are 3558 more nurses working in this area since 1997 and 913 more doctors. There are new facilities and resources at Addenbrooke’s, including the upgrading of ward and accident and emergency facilities, as well new clinics. All Cambridge people can see a GP within 48 hours and every patient waits less than 12 hours in A&E.
Anne said, “I know it’s working – so many people have been taking to me on the doorstep about the improvements. We still more investment and Labour will continue to invest and reform the NHS with resources rising from £63.7 billion in 2003/4 to £92.1 billion in 2007/8.