We know all about that, but East Devon isn’t a safe seat any longer. 6,000 majority, 6,000 lost voters back on the register (and maybe more to come), a new party AND a 100% local opponent with a stunning track record at town, district and county council levels who has pledged: no second job!
Category Archives: Claire Wright
Claire Wright’s odds on winning the General Election rise enormously as those of Hugo Swire and UKIP fall!
Ladbrokes odds last week and this week:
Hugo Swire last week 1/12 now 1/8
Claire Wright (who started at 66/1) last week 12/1 now 6/1
UKIP unchanged at 12/1
Lib Dem unchanged at 50/1
Labour, Greens unchanged at 100/1
To make a bet go to Ladbrokes/Politics/General Election/Constituencies/Devon/Devon East (NOT East Devon)
If you want to make a bet REMEMBER: bet responsibly and you must be over 18
Government Minister or Constituency MP? Divided Loyalties
MPs are elected to represent their constituents in Parliament but many – currently 100 of them – are also given jobs as ministers in the government. What happens when the two roles come into conflict?
Read here:
“Winds of change”? More like a hurricane of change!
Hugo Swire (Con) blames EDDC (Con) for Local Plan (Con) development free-for-all due to NPPF (Con!)
Extract from “Letter from Church of England Bishops”
” …At this election, we can sow the seeds of a new politics. We encourage voters to support candidates and policies which demonstrate the following key values:
Halting and reversing the accumulation of power and wealth in fewer and fewer hands, whether those of the state, corporations or individuals.
Involving people at a deeper level in the decisions that affect them most.
Recognising the distinctive communities, whether defined by geography, religion or culture, which make up the nation and enabling all to thrive and participate together.
Treating the electorate as people with roots, commitments and traditions and addressing us all in terms of the common good and not just as self interested consumers.
Demonstrating that the weak, the dependent, the sick, the aged and the vulnerable are persons of equal value to everybody else.
Offering the electorate a grown up debate about Britain’s place in the world order and the possibilities and obligations that entails.”
Click to access whoismyneighbour-pages.pdf
Claire Wright – Independent – you know it makes sense:
claire-wright.org
Why vote for Claire Wright?
Place your bets?
With Claire Wright continually drawing the (largely positive) crowds to her meetings, there is still time to place your bet at Ladbrokes (with the usual caveat of being over 18 and betting responsibly).
At the moment, she is neck and neck with UKIP at 10/1. With UKIP drawing much smaller audiences and with their candidate only recently having moved into the district, maybe it’s time to show your faith in the local lady and improve her odds!
Not to mention making a bit of money for yourself in time for summer!
Online go to: Ladbrokes/Politics/General Election/Constituencies/Devon East
(NOT East Devon)
Claire Wright ridicules Hugo Swire on DCC spending cuts
Claire Wright, prospective Independent Parliamentary Candidat, issued the following press release;
CLAIRE WRIGHT RIDICULES HUGO SWIRE ON CLAIMS THAT COUNTY SPENDING WILL RISE
Claire Wright, the Independent candidate for the East Devon constituency and a Devon County Councillor, has ridiculed the current MP, Hugo Swire, for his claim that the county’s spending power would rise. He claimed that it would increase by 0.6 per cent which was “a good deal for East Devon”.
In fact, Devon County Council’s Deputy Leader, Councillor John Clatworthy, confirmed at yesterday’s county council budget meeting (19th February) that its budget has been CUT by central government by over 13 per cent.
Claire Wright said: “Earlier, I challenged Mr Swire to speak up for and vote for the people of his constituency in the House of Commons debate on council grants. When he did neither, I accused him of being cowardly and callously indifferent to the needs of local people. He responded with this outrageous claim that spending would rise and accused me of “a wild and imaginary headline-grabbing spending spree”. He accused me of failing to look at the “hard facts”.
“Mr Swire, here are the facts. You cited “spending power” which includes money that Devon County Council doesn’t even receive. At the council meeting, the Conservative Deputy Leader, John Clatworthy, confirmed that cuts of £46 million will be made in the year 2015/2016 as the county is confronted by a reduction in grant of over 13 per cent.
“John Hart, the Conservative Leader of the Council, said that cuts totalling £210 million would have to be made by 2017. Councillor Clatworthy blasted his own party’s government ministers. He said “Cameron, like Pickles, is out of touch”.
Speaking to the county council , Claire Wright noted that just a few hours before the Parliamentary debate on county grants, the Conservatives held a fund-raising function in London, where the price of a table was up to £15,000. Over £2 million was raised. “Are we really all in it together, Mr Cameron?”
“Last week, the debate raged about big business avoiding tax payments of millions of pounds. That money could have been used to fund our public services, our libraries, children’s services, bus services and road repairs. What is the government doing about big business tax avoidance? Very little. Instead, ministers prefer to blame local authorities for the public services cuts meted out by them.
“John Hart said recently that reductions will continue until well into 2018. What will local government and local services look like by then? Will the citizens of this country be abandoned by the state because of the ideological drive to shrink the state and, instead, let our precious public services be run by the markets?
“The press release issued by Mr Swire, in which he gives grossly misleading figures, represents everything that is wrong with the central government’s priorities. They haven’t got the guts to stand up and to tell the truth to the people whom they have so let down.”
Here is the webcast link for the Devon County Council budget meeting on 19th February:
Claire Wright in action on DCC budget!
Donations to political parties: can they buy YOUR vote?
September – December 2014
Conservative: £8,345,687
Labour: £10,888,480
Lib Dem:£3,048,434
UKIP: £1,505,055
or will you vote for the Independent parliamentary candidate (Claire Wright) and local prospective Independent councillors whose campaigns run on a shoestring with no mega-corporate donors or union contributions.
Catch Swire on planning at Clyst St Mary and Woodbury this week – four-and-three-quarter years too late to be of any use
Swire (finally, after four-and-three-quarter years of avoiding the issue) meets parishioners of Clyst St Mary at the Village School o
Meet Hugo Swire and quiz him on local planning matters:
Thurs 19th Feb 6.30pm
Clyst St Mary Village School
and on
Friday, 20th February from 6.30 till 8.0 p.m.
Woodbury Village Hall
Lots to ask him, such as:
Why has he only just expressed an interest in planning matters?
Why did he vote for the National Planning Policy Framework and its definition of sustainable?
Why has he not voiced his opposition to the developer-led planning free-for-all in East Devon encouraged and stimulated by East Devon District Council?
Why has he not stood up for areas in his constituency under threat the way Neil Parish did at Feniton?
How can he keep his eye on the East Devon ball if he is always away on Foreign Office business?
Affordable housing: why is EDDC allowing developers to drop affordable housing on their developments?
Why has the right for the public to speak at Development Management Committee meetings been vastly reduced?
What input has he had into getting EDDC’s Local Plan into being?
What effect will the “co-operation” between East Devon, Exeter and Teignbridge have on East Devon?
What is his view on “green wedges”?
I’m sure you can think of MANY more questions for him!
Then ask the same questions of the Independent Parliamentary candidate Claire Wright – his major challenger!
“Free Vote and Recall Pledge”
The Free Vote and Recall Pledge
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/the-free-vote-and-voluntary-recall-alliance-pledge
At present, an MP can change parties, vote against everything he or she said that they stood for before election – they can’t even be removed if they have done something criminal and been jailed for more than 12 months!
“Why are our MPs told how to vote by the party whips on most bills that go through the House of Commons????
David Cameron MP gave us the answer: “[A Bill] gets sent to the House of Commons where it’s debated without diligence–because automatic guillotines cut time short. It’s passed without proper scrutiny–because standing committees for Public Bills are stuffed with puppets of the Government. And it’s voted through without much of a whisper–because MPs have been whipped to follow the party line”.
The above quotation from a party leader whilst in opposition, shows that political parties are stern critics of the whipping system in parliament when in opposition, but then use exactly the same methods themselves when elected to government.”
This Party Whips system which is used to enforce party decisions on our elected MPs, combined with the fact that the membership of all major parties has been reduced to very small numbers, has left our democracy locked into a situation where a very small elite of party activists have control over our political parties, our government and our country.
This is the Pledge that ALL candidates of ALL parties are being asked to sign:
The Free Vote Voluntary Recall Alliance Pledge (FVVRA)
As a prospective Parliamentary candidate for the [your] constituency in the Westminster Parliament General election, I herby give this pledge on my word of honour to the voters of the aforesaid constituency.
I pledge that if elected to be your Member of Parliament in the election on 7th May 2015, I will pursue the aims and policies presented to the voters in my manifesto. I will maintain a continuous review of these policies in light of any change of circumstances that will affect the viability or desirability of these policies during the Parliamentary term and inform my constituents of any change in my support for any of these policies. I will work diligently to advance the interests of the people of my constituency, my region and my country and I affirm and promise that all of my voting decisions in the Westminster Parliament will be cast as a Free Vote (not on the instruction or direction from my party or party whips) and I will not abstain from voting in any parliamentary division.
I confirm that as your Member of Parliament, I will be guided by the Seven Principles of Public Life “selflessness, accountability, objectivity, integrity, honesty, openness and leadership”. as drawn up by the Nolan Committee and endorsed by parliament. I also confirm that I will always represent the interests of my constituents and my country above the interests of my party, the Executive or any self interest groups of Lobbyists or Special Advisers who may exist inside or outside of parliament.
If elected, I will expect to be personally judged as your Member of Parliament on my voting decisions in Parliament, my service to my constituency, region and country and my adherence to the “Seven Principals of Public Life”. If at any time, I am presented with verifiable evidence through the FVVRA Standards Committee that I have broken this pledge to my constituents. I will resign my post as your Member of Parliament and initiate a new constituency election.
Having signed this the FVVRA Pledge myself, I will support the right of any other prospective Member of Parliament or present Member of Parliament to adopt and make this pledge to the people of our United Kingdom.
Signed __________________
Date
Witnessed ________________
Date
Claire Wright (Independent) General Election meetings
Betting on a hung Parliament
William Hill confirmed that a customer in Devon has placed 23 bets totalling £23,400 on a hung parliament and will win £51,000 if he’s right.
Now, wouldn’t that make an Independent East Devon MP a powerful figure!
Claire Wright disappointed that Hugo Swire silent in Local Authority Settlement debate
THE SILENT HUGO SWIRE MP VOTES IN FAVOUR OF CUTS IN DEVON’S BUDGETS:
SAYS NOTHING IN WESTMINSTER DEBATE
“Claire Wright, the Devon County Councillor and Independent candidate running against the current MP, Hugo Swire at the General Election, challenged her opponent last week. She reminded him that his website claimed that he would “speak up and vote for the people of East Devon”.
She invited him to speak up when the House of Commons decided on Council Budget cuts for the next financial year. The leader of the Conservative-led Devon County Council, which has secured savings of £128 million since 2009, had warned that further cuts of £50 million will have to be made in the next financial year and another £34 million in the following year.
“But during the debate on Tuesday 10th February, Mr Swire was apparently unable to find his voice to defend the thousands of residents who will be severely affected by the latest sets of budget cuts.
“He voted in favour of the crippling cuts to Devon County Council and was silent during the debate.
The council funding debate came just hours after Mr Swire and his colleagues attended a Conservative party election fundraiser where tables could be booked for £15,000 each and which raised over £2 million. “When you failed to utter a word for your constituents in a crucial debate, is it any wonder that thousands are asking “how are we all in this together?”
“Mr Swire, you have voted for council cuts without even making an argument on behalf of your constituents. You cannot be accused of inconsistency: another year, more massive cuts and once again, you have totally ignored the wishes of your hard-pressed constituents. You remained a mute minister. Do you care? It is understandable why so many local voters will vote for change and for someone who does really stand up for the local people, in practice, not just via PR type slogans on a website. Action, not meaningless words, is required and you have let down all the voters in East Devon by failing to speak on their behalf as you said you would do. Presumably, you will remove that empty promise from your website?
“Even in election year, it appears that you are not brave enough to utter a word on behalf of your constituents many of whom have long since given up on you because you have consistently ignored them and the problems in East Devon, many of which have been created by the Conservative-led East Devon District Council.
“Mr Swire, your actions are regarded here in East Devon, that’s your constituency, as cowardly and callously indifferent to local people’s needs.”
Devon County Council will vote on its newest and most crippling budget yet on Thursday 19th February.”
Hugo Swire ignores plea for more equitable treatment of Devon
Claire Wright asked Hugo Swire to speak up for more equitable treatment for Devon when the annual settlements for Authorities was debated on 10 February, citing many examples of how the county is treated as a “poor relation” compared to other areas, such as:
“The allowance for school children is £300 per head per year less than for children elsewhere. Will it be cut again? The council has said that the school crossings budget must be cut by £100,000 per year in the next two years.”
Mr Swire and Mr Parish did not speak in the debate and the settlement for Devon (and other authorities)was voted through by them without comment.
Claire Wright (Independent) upcoming election meetings in Exmouth
“Claire Wright, the Independent candidate for East Devon in the General Election, will be in Exmouth twice in the next few days. On Saturday, 14th February, she will be at street meetings at Exmouth, Brixington and Lympstone and a public meeting in Exmouth has been planned for Tuesday 17th February. Everyone is invited to this free meeting which will be held at Franklins, 54 The Strand, Exmouth EX8 1BR. It will begin at 7.00 pm.
This is the second in a series of public meetings which her campaign team has planned across the entire constituency. The next will be at Matthews Hall, Fore Street, Topsham EX3 0HF on Tuesday 3rd March and will begin at 7.00 pm.
After a short speech, there will be an opportunity for questions and discussion.
Claire, who has always lived in this area, launched her manifesto in Exmouth recently. She will explain how the results of her comprehensive survey, completed by many hundreds of local people, have revealed the concerns of the voters of East Devon. Additionally, more than a thousand conversations with local people and many visits to local businesses, as well as her experience as a town, district and county councillor, mean that the candidate is very familiar with the constituency and its problems. Indeed, it was the enthusiastic and extensive support in her successful bid for a seat on Devon County Council that prompted her to run for Parliament. Claire Wright will say how, if elected, she would be an active and energetic MP, working for the constituency.
On Saturday 14th February, Claire will be at street meetings in Exmouth and area. The first, at the Exeter Road shops in Exmouth, will begin at 10.00 am. The next stop, at about 11.15, will be at the row of shops in Brixington and the final session will be at Lympstone beginning at about 12.30. The venue will be by the railway bridge.”
General Election: Definitely time for change
According to the Demos think-tank, England’s safest seats (of which East Devon is considered to be one) are mostly men and by people from outside area they represent. Out of 97 MPs with a 15,000 plus majority, 15% are women and only 39 have any previous close connection to the area they represent.
Hugo Swire: Conservative – not one of the 97 but a significant majority (6,000 plus)
Male
No previous connection to East Devon before becoming its MP – but was at Eton at the same time as David Cameron
Clare Wright Independent:
Female
Born, raised, educated and worked in the area all her life and with family settled here and child in local state school, currently a district and county councillor
Andrew Chapman UKIP
Male
Moved into the area a few months ago to contest the seat – no previous connection (retains family home in Shropshire)
Local MP’s meetings on planning like London buses: none for four and three quarter years then two come along together!
Suddenly, after four and three quarter years of rarely being spotted in East Devon and never appearing to have had a single public thought about its shambolic Local Plan or the Knowle relocation fiasco and never having said anything about any of the massive developments afflicting our district, our current MP Hugo Swire starts saying Knowle relocation is a mistake (duh: Claire Wright’s being saying that for 2 years) and he arranges to talk about planning in Clyst St Mary on Thursday 19 February in the school hall (no time yet given)and in Woodbury Village Hall on Friday, 20th February from 6.30 till 8.0 p.m. So, that’s 2 meetings for Hugo, scores and scores for Claire Wright.
If you have a burning question – particularly about he just seems to have woken up some 3 months before a general election, when it is far too late for most of the towns and villages suffering massive and inappropriate developments already agreed by EDDC – now is the time to ask it.
East Devon Watch 