This advertisement from Conservative candidate for Wallasey Leah Fraser is, I think, the most feisty attempt yet by a candidate to hold an MP accountable for their (mis)use of expenses. The advert appears in full colour in the latest edition of the Wirral Globe.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Tim Montgomerie
More than 100 Labour PPCs have signed this declaration:
Other than (3) it's a bit vague for me. Our own candidates are being much more specific as I posted last week. Here are extracts from some more declarations:
Leah Fraser, Wallasey and Moreton has this on her website:
Brandon Lewis, Great Yarmouth:
David Gold, Eltham:
Nick King, Mid Dorset and North Poole: "Any accommodation for which MPs claim should be appropriate to their personal need, in other words, enough for one person only. If they choose to inhabit a larger property then they should only be reimbursed for the expenses they would incur for a one bedroom home. They should pay the difference in cost themselves. I also fail to understand why there should be any reimbursement for subsistence. The food purchased for personal consumption, for example, is the same wherever one lives. Finally, I can not see how or why MPs should need to change the designation of where their main home is situated so frequently. Circumstances may of course change and therefore there may be a need to move home. I believe that only in circumstances where this is forced upon an MP by either events outside their control or through changes in the requirements of their office should any form of moving cost be reimbursed. I firmly believe that if you are claiming money from the tax payer this should be fully receipted, the claims published and the reason for the claim justified. This is what I would intend to do if I become your next MP, regardless of the rules in place at that time."
Ben Jones, Halton:
Rene Kinzett, Swansea West: "Only employ staff necessary to assist me to represent my constituents, with more resources being spent in the local area to help my constituents directly; I would only claim for the rent of a furnished flat in the Westminster area and for the travel to London and back once a week during Parliamentary term-time. Nothing more, no furniture, no food, no flat screen TVs and no trouser presses."
Tim Montgomerie
Leah Fraser is PPC for Wallasey on Merseyside, having successfully reduced the sitting Labour MP's majority at the 2005 general election. She is also a councillor in the constituency and writes a regular blog. She explains here how she is "love-bombing" Liberal Democrats.
“What are you bothering with them for?” That was the most common response from among my constituency colleagues when we started to woo the Liberal Democrat supporters in Wallasey.
You can see why. With 13% of the vote in 2005 and not a single Liberal Democrat councillor in the constituency since 1975, the Party of Clegg, Campbell and Kennedy has not been seen as a threat in Wallasey for a generation or more.
I see them as an opportunity. The Liberal Democrat performance in Wallasey is lamentable. Fourth place in some wards and no better than third place in the others. There is no Lib Dem activity to speak of and the ongoing saga of the non-selection of a Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate is adding to their woes.
Two years ago, we decided to "lovebomb" the remaining Liberal Democrat voters. Through thrice-weekly doorstep surveys, we had identified around 500 Liberal Democrat voters.
Continue reading "Leah Fraser: How I am "love-bombing" Liberal Democrats in Wallasey" »
This is the latest in ConservativeHome's new ongoing series in which each week a different PPC provides us with an insight into life as a candidate and gives us a flavour of their own campaign and interests. If you are a candidate and are keen to be featured, please email Jonathan Isaby.
This week’s diary is written by Leah Fraser, candidate for Wallasey on Merseyside. Leah fought the seat in 2005, reducing Labour MP Angela Eagle’s majority, and was reselected in November 2007. Leah was raised in the constituency and is also a councillor for the Liscard Ward of the constituency on Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. She first got involved in local politics when she set up a group to improve a play area in her community, eventually raising almost £100,000. Married with two children, Leah is also a school governor and also keeps in touch with residents through Facebook, Twitter and her regular blog.
Save our services
Wirral has a Labour/Lib Dem-led Council. Their decision to close 11 of the Borough’s libraries, along with plans to close leisure centres, museums and theatres, led to more than 50,000 people protesting against the cuts. Many of the services the Council wishes to axe are in some of the most deprived parts of the Borough – including Seacombe in the Wallasey constituency.
This is the last Labour-held ward in the constituency, the other five were won by us in May 2008 with around 53% of the constituency-wide vote. Many people point to this result as evidence that the Council has no mandate for the cuts, particularly as no mention was made by Labour or the Lib Dems during the election campaign of their plans.
I called in to the Leasowe Recreation Centre on Sunday March 22 to meet with the organisers and members of the Disabled Swimming Club. They are very concerned about the Council’s plans and, having not been consulted at all, they are rightly worried about their future.
Later in the week, on Friday, I was pleased to welcome Jeremy Hunt, our Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, back to Wallasey, following the Shadow Cabinet meeting in Preston. This was his second visit to Wallasey in as many months. Last time, he met with campaigners at the Wallasey Village library, one of the 11 set to close.
Last Saturday we discussed Tory targeting strategies. Today, Cllr Leah Fraser, the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Wallasey, calls for a distinction between immediate target seats and more medium term targets.
Every book and manual you read about winning elections talks about the need for targeting. Whether it’s polling districts in a ward; wards in a borough or parliamentary constituencies. In days of limited resources – people and money – it makes sense for their efforts to go where they can make the greatest difference.
The focus is, rightly, on the next General Election. If we break down the seats purely on the basis of that election – we have the ones we hold, the ones we can win and those we won’t win, even with a 20% lead nationally.
Now, it would be crazy to pour scarce resources into seats which have a notional Conservative majority. If the local Party cannot hold a seat in the current climate, there must either be a very strong local factor against us or that association is not performing and no amount of additional resources will help. Money spent badly is worse than money not spent at all.
Those seats we can win and ‘need’ to form the next Government are most easily assessed via the swing required for us to win, compared to last time round.
These are the seats which have, pretty much, selected their candidates and are working towards detailed, month-by-month campaign plans. The Party’s focus on selecting early for target seats is already paying off in many places. It certainly made a difference in Crewe & Nantwich.
Cllr Leah Fraser has been selected for Wallasey (projected Labour majority of 9,109). Cllr Fraser was selected at a meeting attended by eighty Party members in a contest with Jo Barker and Colin Bloom. Cllr Fraser contested the seat in 2005.
Recent Comments