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Anne's weblog
Welcome to my weblog. I aim to update these pages regularly during the General Election Campaign, and I hope they will provide you with an accessible means of finding out about my activities.
Thursday 05th 2005f May 2005
I don’t need to remind everyone that today is polling day!
I have been overwhelmed by the response that I have received on the doorstep during this campaign. After four weeks of canvassing in Cambridge, I have met a large number of voters and I feel genuinely privileged to have represented Cambridge for the last 13 years. Today, you can decide whether or not to keep me campaigning hard for Cambridge locally, and representing your views nationally at Westminster. We have come a long way together and we much not let the Tories wreck Britain again.
I know that there have been disappointments and that some of the polices of our Labour government may have frustrated or upset you. I don’t agree with everything that Labour has done, but I have never been afraid to stand up to the leadership on issues where we disagree. If you chose to keep Cambridge Labour, then I can continue to press the Government for the things that matter to you, in a way that members of the opposition are unable to.
Cambridge is thriving and Britain is working. We have been telling people – “if you value it, vote for it” – and this is particularly relevant in Cambridge.
A protest vote against Labour for the Lib Dems will not result in a Lib Dem Government. Instead, it is increasing the chances of Michael Howard and the Conservatives forming the next Government. I cannot for one instance imagine that people want Michael Howard as Prime Minister.
I will be out and about around Cambridge today, and I hope to see many of you at the polling stations voting Labour!
(Don’t forget that there are also elections for the County Council today!)
Monday 02nd 2005f May 2005
This morning I joined the students on their street stall on the Sidgwick Site. Lots of students came up to the stall and pledged their support for the campaign. There is still a lot of misinformation being spread about higher education funding arrangements under the new Act. The students page on my website sets out the main points in the Act. Students from less well-off backgrounds will benefit enormously from the Government plans to re-introduce maintenance grants and introduce university bursaries. Neither of these - totalling at least £3,000 a year for the most expensive courses - would need to be repaid. Ending up-front fees should make it far easier for all students to go to university as they will no longer have to pay up to £1,125 out of their loans at the start of each year. Student loans will also rise to meet average living costs.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies have produced a report comparing each parties’ policies relating to Higher Education. You can download this here. The report says, “Students would be better off under the proposed systems - by the most under Labour, where their net position would improve by almost £1.5bn as a result of grants and fee deferral. The position of students would improve the least under the Conservatives.”
Under Tory plans, the interest on a student loan would start rising at 8% per year immediately, instead of increasing in line with inflation as it does now. This means that the interest rates on student loans will rise at credit card levels for every graduate, regardless of their income. Poorer students take out larger loans and will have to contribute more to the cost of higher education.
In the afternoon we had another excellent turnout for canvassing – this time in East Chesterton. We saw some Lib Dem canvassers in the distance, but we outnumbered them by a long way!
I went home to prepare for the Cambridge University hustings at the Union. This went very well – and I welcomed the opportunity to justify my actions regarding tuition fees, as well as rebutting David Howarth’s persistent lies about my voting over Iraq.
Sunday 01st 2005f May 2005
Today I was canvassing in Abbey and King’s Hedges, and had the welcome addition of Baroness McIntosh and Jane Roberts, Leader of Camden Council to my campaigning team. It was a beautifully sunny day, and this seemed to have influenced many of the voters we spoke to, as spirits seems particularly high today!
In the morning we met opposite the Cambridge United ground. I am greatly saddened by the situation at CUFC. I had hoped that the board would accept Johnny Hon’s offer of a loan to buy the stadium back for the club, as I think this would be best way of continuing the long tradition of Cambridge United in Cambridge – and it was a generous offer. As the drama unfolded, I have updated to Richard Caborn, Sports Minister about the situation. The contribution that CUFC and the Cambridge Fans United are making to sport and community activities in Cambridge is important, as I experienced first hand when I joined them for the Kick Racism out of Football event.
With the club now in administration and concern about where the money for land sale has gone, I know there are huge commercial difficulties to be resolved, but I hope that football will once again become the most important issue and we can get on with playing the game – and reversing the relegation situation. I am encouraged that the board have heeded calls from Cambridge Fans United, who I have been talking to through this saga, and that Nick Pomery and Justyn Medd have been made directors. I hope lots of people will join the solidarity march on May 7th and I hope things will change.
Back on the doorstep, it struck me that a lot of the press coverage during this campaign has focussed on the past. It is right that we should be judged on our record so far in office, but if this is to be the case, then it is only fair to look at the Lib Dems record too. In Cambridge, the Lib Dems have put up council tax by 8%; failed to distribute recycling bins and boxes to many residents in the city; persisted with a costly plastic recycling scheme that will use far more fuel to collect, transport and process than the amount of plastic that the scheme will generate and they have campaigned to build on Marshall’s airport where the infrastructure cannot possibly support a development of this size.
Elections are also about the future – the pledges that we are making for this country. For those who care about equality and fairness in the UK, and beyond, Labour really is the only choice.
Friday 29th 2005f April 2005
This afternoon, I took a break from campaigning to visit Owlstone at St John’s Innovation Centre, with Lord Sainsbury. I have been working closely with Lord Sainsbury on my Private Member’s Bill to introduce a mandatory requirement for all the Government Departments to spend at least 2.5 per cent of external R&D with small businesses.
Owlstone is a small company started by Cambridge University graduates. They have developed a nano sensor that detects harmful chemicals in the air. The sensors are incredibly small and low cost, and can be programmed to detect different chemicals. The sensors have many potential practical uses – in Government buildings, train carriages, cargo containers, on a soldier’s lapel – and are a thousand times cheaper than current sensors that are used for the same purpose. They also explained how the sensors can monitor the levels of acetone on people’s breath, and this can be used to tell people who suffer from diabetes when their next insulin shot is due. This is a more discreet method than what is currently on the market.
Quite a few people have commented during the campaign that more help is required for small businesses. SMEs need support and encouragement in their early stages, and in Cambridge the links to the University and the huge pool of expertise here helps that. However, I have been working on another important issue - access by SMEs to government research and development contracts. I was able to discuss the implications of this with Lord Sainsbury and Owlstone.
Wednesday 27th 2005f April 2005
Today Baroness Amos, Leader of the House of Lords was in Cambridge. We visited the Harambee Centre at Emmanuel United Reform Church. The Harambee Centre is an educational centre that provides information, resources and training to work towards promoting the understanding of development issues. The staff explained in great detail about some of their projects, and some of the difficulties they face without core funding. They do receive money from the Department for International Development, and were full of praises for Labour’s co-ordinated approach to development. Whilst in power, Labour has created a separate department for international development, and each time the Tories have got into office, they have amalgamated it back into the Foreign Office. Projects like Harambee would undoubtedly suffer under a Tory Government.
We also got the chance to see some of the packs that they provide for schools, and talked a lot about the importance of teaching school children about global citizen ship. This is particularly relevant in some areas of East Anglia where there is not much ethnic diversity in local communities and schools. The staff at the Harambee Centre were incredibly passionate and enthusiastic about their work, and I will certainly pay another visit to the centre in the future. Hopefully next time I will be able to stay and sample some of the lovely food coming from the Fair Trade café at the Church!
I had to rush off to the APU hustings. I was asked an interesting question about Education Maintenance Allowances. Someone in the audience was not convinced about their success, and I think I managed to explain the positive impact the EMA is having in Cambridge. 1207 young people are being helped to stay on in education in Cambridgeshire LEA due to the EMA. It is targeted at low income households, where children might not feel able to stay on to complete A levels or vocational qualifications between the ages of 16-19. The Lib Dems have been spreading rumours that the Labour Government will charge students to study A levels, and I managed to obtain an answer from Kim Howells before the dissolution of parliament refuting this ridiculous claim. I noticed that David Howarth kept quiet about this today!
I also quizzed David Howarth about his claim that the Lib Dems had introduced door to door recycling in Cambridge. As he well knows it was Labour that brought in this scheme with the first green bins in 1998, and the Lib Dem Council have consistently failed to meet Government recycling targets.
Back in my office, I gave two interviews – one with The Cambridge Student, and then a pre-recorded comment for 209 Radio, a community radio station in the north of the city. I had a quick chance to catch up on some emails and letters, before heading off for another canvassing session.
On my way, I cycled past Brooks Road. What a fantastic display of Labour placards!
Monday 25th 2005f April 2005
Today I was canvassing in Arbury. We are now half way through the campaign, and despite a few blisters, I am remaining positive! I have calculated that I’ve spoken to around 1500 people so far.
I know people in Cambridge are unhappy about Iraq but I voted against the war. The Lib Dems are trying to undermine my opposition to war by claiming that I voted with the Government over Iraq more than I voted against the Government. I have always opposed the war, and I continue to do so. Since Parliament voted to go to war there have been a series of votes on a selection of issues which included whether politicians should dictate military strategy rather than the armed forces, votes on the number and types of enquiries that should be held (four have taken place), and votes on the role of the United Nations in Iraq. Whilst these are indeed about the Iraq situation lumping them together and trying to suggest votes on these subjects somehow mean that I have changed her mind on the war is absurd. As a member of the Government I was able to attempt to influence Tony Blair over the war, but when it became clear that this wasn’t working, I resigned.
People in Cambridge are also unhappy about top up fees, but universities are desperately underfunded and the measures under the Higher Education Act will bring more investment for universities and more support for students from lower income families. The Lib Dems say that they support free education, but the Lib Dems in Scotland have just voted for variable fees, and graduates in Scotland pay into an endowment once they earn over £10,000 so their education is far from being free.
Despite these concerns, I have been increasingly finding that the media portrayal of the election varies significantly from what people are telling me on the doorstep. You may be aware of a campaign that Polly Toynbee is running in the Guardian to encourage people to vote Labour, and put aside their feeling about the war. She recently commented about why she will be voting Labour: “I only have to think of the biggest redistribution ever to the poorest, with a quarter of children taken out of poverty and a pledge to abolish all child poverty by 2020. Or of Sure Start, the best chance of breaking cycles of deprivation for very young children. Of universal child care soon. Or tax credits and a minimum wage going over £5. Or free museums and galleries. Or of the biggest ever investment in the NHS and schools. Or urban regneration - and a hundred schemes that never get reported but change peoples lives - all this swept away by Howard.”
I am picking up on these sentiments in Cambridge – families, those in low paid jobs, pensioners – people who are benefiting from measures introduced by a Labour Government and who stand to lose out if a Tory Government is elected on May 5th.
Thursday 21st 2005f April 2005
Today was a bright and sunny day which made campaigning in King’s Hedges ward particularly enjoyable. In the morning I was joined by Richard Howitt MEP as we knocked on doors around the Milton Road area.
Later, Home Office Minister Caroline Flint joined the campaign trail. We launched a petition against the Lib Dems soft approach on drugs. Last month the Lib Dems launched their crime manifesto, and I believe it represents a recipe for a drink and drugs nightmare for parents across Britain. The Lib Dems would reclassify crack, heroin and all other hard drugs so no-one found guilty of possession would go to be prison. They would also end prosecution for possession and cultivation for own use or social supply of cannabis.
Another Lib Dem policy that hasn’t received much media attention is that they want 16 year olds to be able to buy alcohol over the counter without restriction. The people I met today didn’t think much of that idea and were very happy to sign the petition!
Tuesday 19th 2005f April 2005
Harriet Harman, who was Solicitor General in the Labour Government, joined me in Cambridge today.
We met up with Labour students from Cambridge University, who are campaigning hard for me. I have received messages of support from those who welcome the better grants, elimination of up front fees and better terms for student loans. They agree with the Institute of Fiscal Studies report that students will be better off under the Labour plans and worst off under the Lib Dems. Students from low income families will see the most difference.
Harriet and I then visited a local nursery. Children and families are at the forefront of Labour’s manifesto. As a mother and grandmother, I know what pressures families face these days; to give their children the best start in life and to balance their own family and work commitments. Labour understands this and has delivered a framework of investment and support for families.