Archive for October, 2009

Last night a series of Local By-elections was held around the country. two results which stood out were, St Helens Ward which is part of Barnsley Borough Council where Labour held the seat with an increased majority, in fact Labour’s share of the vote increased by 13.8% to 59.8%, the Tory vote crashed by 6%. The other notable result was Northgate Ward part of Crawley Borough Council where Labour gained the seat with a 19% increase share of the vote to 43.3%, with this result Labour gains a Councillor in the second most marginal Parliamentary constituency in the Country.

Additionally the vast majority of the other results recorded increases in Labour’s share of the vote.

Well done to all those involved.

The news earlier this week that following a deal between Magna the new owners of Vauxhall and the Unions with support from the Government, that production at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant has been secured is a massive boost not only only for those directly employed by Vauxhalls, many of which live locally, but also for the wider local economy. This on top of the recent announcement that 800 new jobs are to be created at Jaguar Land Rover’s plant at Speke which is to produce the new low carbon ‘baby’ Range Rover in the next year and a half.

Cllr Steve Foulkes Leader of Wirral Borough Council said

We were very pleased to hear this welcome news about the security of production at Vauxhall Ellesmere Port and about the recent announcement of increased employment opportunities at Jaguar in Halewood. It is clearly a testament to the high regard in which the skilled workforce at both sites is held.

As a Council, we in Wirral have supported our counterparts in neighbouring councils and indeed I sent a joint letter of support with the leader of Cheshire West and Cheshire, Mike Jones, to the Government. We also passed a motion as a Council about the car scrappage scheme which we sent on the Government.

We’d like to thank the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson for taking onboard our representations and for the role he has played in helping to secure the future of Vauxhall and Jaguar, who are important employers in the region.

This has only been possible thanks to the proactive actions taken by Gordon Brown and the Labour Government to deal with the World Wide recession. Had the Government followed the advice of David Cameron’s Tories who have opposed all the measures the Government have taken to deal with the recession, we could have been looking at a very different picture with around 500,000 more people unemployed and the country suffering an even deeper recession or even a 1930’s style depression.

I warmly welcome the announcement last week at the Labour Party Conference by Labour’s Health Secretary Andy Burnham, that Labour would end Car Park Charges at NHS Hospitals.

Andy Burnham said

It’s not right if some people don’t get visitors every day because families can’t afford the parking fees. And yet we all know that having friends and family around helps patients get better more quickly

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