Jonathan Wallace

Anne-Marie Trevelyan is the Tory candidate who will challenge Lib Dem MP for Berwick upon Tweed, Sir Alan Beith, at the general election. Lib Dems form the administration on Northumberland County Council though they do not have a majority of seats on the authority. The introduction of personal budgets in social services in Northumberland (a government requirement) has forced the County to close a number of under used day care centres in the county, one of which is at Amble. The closures will actually lead to improvements for users as more people will be able to choose and buy in their own service, through their personal budget, to suit their needs. That is the background. Here's the Tory story.

Anne-Marie has decided to do a bit of political cross dressing. In the world of local politics she has clad herself in the clothes of a blue rinse socialist, fighting to keep open a publicly provided facility. Whilst doing her drag act, she has battled against the provision of services by private and voluntary sector providers.

The problem for her is that her Tory councillors on Northumberland have blown her campaign to smithereens. Firstly, the social services changes were flagged up in the budget in March which the Tories voted for. Okay, the Tories then performed a minor uturn by backing a Labour amendment a couple of months ago to keep the centres open for 6 weeks whilst the Council was instructed to look for someone who would take over the centres. Since this had already been investigated, the whole exercise was a meaningless waste of time - however, Tory and Labour jumped into bed together to have a good time at the Lib Dem council's expense by voting through the unnecessary delay. 6 weeks later and the closure plans can back to council and despite (or was it because of?) Anne-Marie's campaign, the Tories voted for the closure. The Tory double uturn ensured the policy of personal budgets, and the closure of underused centres, will go ahead.

Undermined-Anne-Marie, wilting under the weight of her new found socialist baggage, seems however to have completely forgotten that her Tory chums have backed the closure she said should not go ahead. Just a couple of days ago she was ranting in the press about her demands that Amble Day Care Centre should remain open.

So if her own party can't be bothered to listen to her, why should the rest of us?

For local readers of this blog, http://www.whickham.mobi is worth checking out. It is a commercially run site which provides information about businesses in the Whickham area. It also has a news section. The site is designed to be accessible through your mobile.

The interesting point for me is that I write most of the news that the site carries. The people behind the site approached myself and my colleague Cllr Peter Craig earlier this year to outline their plan for the site. We liked it so much that we offered to supply them with the news with which we fill our Focuses and email newsletters.

So I've just sent off a load more news which is also going into the next eFocus which will be emailed out shortly.

Gateshead Council has just finished meeting. On the agenda was a motion calling on Scottish and Newcastle Breweries to retain the production of Brown Ale at the Dunston plant in Gateshead. (The company wants to move production to Tadcaster.) There was general unanimity and interestingly when I spoke, I was not heckled, interrupted or prevented from finishing what I had to say. One Labour Councillor, Mick McNestry, even followed me by saying he agreed with what I said. Interesting change from theantics of Labour at the last meeting.

But there was also an interesting intervention in the debate from Labour Councillor Stephen Ronchetti. He used the opportunity to attack the government on beer tax and do some special pleading for pubs. He complained that too many pubs were closing and amongst other things pointed the finger of blame at the government's decision to ban smoking in public places. In many ways it was a very strong boot up the government's backside.

All very interesting coming from a Labour councillor. But that is not what was the most interesting point. Cllr Ronchetti is a publican. He runs a pub in Blaydon. So I was a bit surprised that he decided to use a council meeting to make the case against government policy that he regarded as damaging to pubs.....without declaring an interest in the matter.
---
Sent via BlackBerry

Newcastle and Gateshead, in partnership with One NorthEast created 1NG as the development company for NewcastleGateshead. It has a heavy weight chair - Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor. In a nutshell, its remit is to produce the economic plan the the NewcastleGateshead "City" area. As the 1NG website explains, "The NewcastleGateshead economic masterplan - 1PLAN - will set out a blueprint for economic development and physical regeneration for NewcastleGateshead." This is all about co-operation across the two authorities and a recognition that by working together, both sides of the River Tyne benefit economically. What's good for Gateshead is good for Newcastle, and visa versa.

The reason this needs to be explained in simple terms is Labour in Newcastle are having considerable difficulties in understanding this. It was announced yesterday that 1NG had identified a site on the Gateshead Quays as being the best location for an international conference centre. The childish response from Labour in Newcastle yesterday was to state:

"It will be a huge missed opportunity for Newcastle to have a prestigious international conference centre across the water. Good on Gateshead for getting their act together and shame on Newcastle for dithering around."

The comment was made by Cllr Nick Forbes, the Boy Wonder of Newcastle politics (the wonder is why on earth Labour ever put up with this loose cannon). It tramples all over the principle of co-operation between the two authorities and suggests that were Newcastle ever to endure Mr Forbes as their City Leader, there would be a shift away from mutual co-operation which would mean the River Tyne becoming more than just a watery divide between the two authorities. His comments also exhibit a level of political immaturity that should worry Labour on Tyneside.

There is a further point to consider. A major reason for the choice of Gateshead Quays as the location is the presence there of the Sage, the great new music hall. This is a magnet for other developments. And why is the Sage in the Gateshead Quays? It wasn't something to do with the rejection by Newcastle City Council of initial proposals to site the building in Newcastle, was it? And when did that happen? Wasn't it when Labour ran Newcastle Council before 2004?

So, to follow the purile rantings of Mr Forbes to their logical conclusion, the "dithering" of Labour in Newcastle is to blame for the proposed location of the Sage not being in the city he himself aspires to lead.

A "British Sovereignty" law, proposed by David Cameron today to replace his collapsed referendum policy, would mean that the UK is in effect leaving the EU. It would be the only way British laws in all areas are supreme over European laws. By signing up to various European treaties in the past, the UK has agreed to share sovereignty on some issues. Therefore the European institutions in those policy areas make the laws. And the European Court in Luxembourg is the supreme interpreter of those European laws. They override domestic laws in those policy areas which the treaties have agreed to share.

Any country that decides their own laws are supreme over European law in those areas of shared sovereignty means that country is stepping out of the agreed institutions and structures of Europe. Cameron should be honest. He should be clear that if you are part of the club, you abide by club rules. And if you don't like the rules, you resign from the club. Cameron talks of being "straight" with the voters. All we had this afternoon during his new policy announcement was a load of slather and posturing. He should be honest and offer a referendum on membership of the EU. And he should stop making impossible claims: a British sovereignty law means withdrawal from the EU. He should be honest about that.
---
Sent via BlackBerry

The days of National Express running trains on the East Coast are very very numbered. Excellent news. On 12th December, the National Excess Fat Controller will be redundant. A new publicly-owned operator, called East Coast Main Line, (very original!) will operate the trains. The arrangement will last for at least 18 months. The franchise may or may not then return to the private sector. I am open minded as to whether that should happen. The issue that should govern the decision is whether or not such a move will lead to better services whilst cutting pollution and boosting the regional economy.

It is interesting to note however that the Government will not require an end to the new and controversial £5 seat reservation charge for return tickets. Labour will allow it to remain in place. All that bleating and gnashing of teeth by Labour in Gateshead in the summer about how bad this charge was now all looks a bit like a dose of hypocrisy from the "socialist" brethren.
---
Sent via BlackBerry

It's hardly surprising the share price of Lloyds benefited from the announcement today on cash injection and branch sales and closures. The company is almost certainly of the view that it has vastly more branches than it needs, now that HBOS has been absorbed into it. There must be hundred of Lloyds branches sitting near a Halifax. This duplication would not have continued, even if it had not been an EU requirement for additional state aid to get rid of them.

Earlier this year Lloyds announced that the entire Cheltenham and Gloucester branch network would close. Months later the closure plan was abandoned though I have a suspicion that the cancellation was forced on them so that the mortgage wing of Lloyds could be sold off with a high street presence of its own. So Lloyds gets to dump the troublesome branches after all. Okay, so the mortgage wing will have to be demerged and sold off but Lloyds could still continue to sell C&G mortgages if it turns out to be financially beneficial to do so. C&G after all has only a limited high street presence of its own so it will not want to lose the extensive reach it has by being sold through Lloyds branches. Lloyds benefits by not having to pay for the network they had initially planned to close anyway.

So, the EU and the government have provided Lloyds with the excuses for dumping a huge number of branches, many of which the company will see as a drain on its resources. No wonder the share price has gone up.
---
Sent via BlackBerry

I have been in London for a few days and took with me my laptop to edit a load of travel videos. I don't upload them to YouTube from the laptop as the files I create are so large that it would take forever (and cost a lot of cash). So I stockpiled them to upload now that I am just back from London. I thought I'd put them up before heading off to the Sunniside History Society meeting and pie and pea supper tonight.

Alas at this moment YouTube announces that the site is closed for a short while "for maintenance". Bloody typical. I've got 10 videos waiting to go up. 1 gig total size. I'll have to wait til after the meeting.

One interesting impact of the Czech signature on the Lisbon Treaty will be the future of David Milliband. The possibility he will be the new European 'Foreign Secretary' throws up the need for a by-election in South Shields, just down the road from us in Gateshead (what a joyous early Xmas present that would be - not). It's enough to make any political activist wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat!

The second and arguably more serious point is about Labour itself. No doubt (and despite the portestations of non-interest in the post) Milliband will have considered future prospects. Let's assume a poor result for Labour at the general election. Brown resigns as Leader. But what state will Labour be in? It could be that they will be out of power for a considerable time. The new Leader could spend many years in opposition. Would someone like Milliband, who enjoys the reins of power, really want the job of rebuilding Labour in opposition with prospects of power not being strong? I'm not sure he does. The European Foreign Secretary position could be a tempting post, striding the world stage and giving him the stature he craves and the influence he clearly enjoys exercising.

Or maybe rebuilding Labour is a challenge he wants to take on. But there again, to become Labour Leader, he needs to win a leadership election and I'm not convinced he could pull it off, especially with his Blairite baggage.

This is of course all speculation. Labour have not yet lost the election but it will be interesting to see which way he goes. And were Milliband to opt for Europe, it would suggest that at the very heart of government, the writing on the wall is being read.
---
Sent via BlackBerry

The Czech signature on the Lisbon Treaty today now forces David Cameron's hand. No longer can he hide in a fog of meaningless statements. He will have to state his abandonment of a referendum or look completely ridiculous. It also means that the anti-European obsessives and headbangers in the Conservative Party will be going wild with rage at Cameron's climbdown. Should make for an interesting exhibition of traditional Tory mutual knifing!

---
Sent via BlackBerry

The proposals coming out of the Treasury today that the big nationalised banks will be partly broken up raises the question of why on earth did Gordon Brown push through the very opposite last year with Lloyds and HBOS. This merger was very much the pet project of Brown. It has been a disaster for Lloyds. And it also created a vast banking organisation which a year later the Government wants to reverse. The merger went ahead because Brown did not want another nationalisation on its hands. The outcome was that instead of nationalising HBOS it has had to part nationalise a far bigger share of the banking sector which itself was weakened by the decision to merge.

It seems that the Government are making policy up as they go along and it changes regularly.
---
Sent via BlackBerry

Quite how the Tories are going to respond to the final implementation of the Lisbon Treaty will be interesting to see. The news in the Guardian this morning suggests Cameron will abandon the promise to hold a referendum once the Czechs have signed up, which is expected within a month. It means that the Tory Europhobic headbangers will go apeshit. Cameron very much has himself to blame. He made unsustainable promises to the anti-Europeans which means an embarrassing climbdown will have to be made. And it all suggests that were the Tories to win the election and form the government, Cameron will face continuing divisions on Europe and the anti-Europe obsessives grabbing the headlines all the time.

So nothing new there.
---
Sent via BlackBerry

So Tony Blair is not getting the backing of the socialist group in Europe for the Presidency of the European Council. Can we really be surprised at that? After all, Blair can hardly be described as a socialist. And being best mate of a failed, right wing US president is hardly a characteristic that will inspire support.

I wonder just how many of the "socialist" brethren of the Labour Party would be keen on a Blair presidency. At the rate they are going however, there are probably more than there are who want a Brown leadership of the Labour party.
---
Sent via BlackBerry