Ashley Fox MEP campaigns in Shepton Mallet

Ashley Fox MEP for the South West of England visits Shepton Mallet for some serious campaigning and to meet the Conservative activists.

Here is the story of the evening in pictures.

Meeting the local Conservative Activists

Warm welcome to Shepton Mallet

On the doorstep

Discussing the EU budget being filmed by the BBC

The canvassing crew sets out.

All points of the compass covered.

Discussing the issues with Shepton residents.

The BBC get up close and personal.

It's a great evening to be out and about.

Waiting for an answer!

Taking notes and recording the results.

It's quicker when you call three at a time.

Happy residents with Bente and Jeannette

Great reception on the doorstep, everyone wants to talk.

Off to the next street, keep up Bente!!

Keith very happy with his evening in the metropolis.

"Come back Ashley, I need a word"

Canvassing was so hot the fire brigade had to be called!

And even the snapper gets snapped.

Winston Churchill on the Alternative Vote System

In 1931, Parliament debated the introduction of the Alternative Vote system. During the debate, Winston Churchill spoke passionately against the proposals, using the now famous quote "worthless votes for the most worthless candidates"

Below is a fuller text of what he said, Churchill was seldom wrong, the country heeded his words then and we need to heed them now.

The Government have, as it seems to me, rejected without reasonable consideration both the method of Proportional Representation and this method of the second ballot. The plan that they have adopted is the worst of all possible plans. It is the stupidest, the least scientific and the most unreal that the Government have embodied in their Bill. The decision of 100 or more constituencies, perhaps 200, is to be determined by the most worthless votes given for the most worthless candidates.’

‘Imagine making the representation of great constituencies dependent on the second preferences of the hindmost candidates. The hindmost candidate would become a personage of considerable importance, and the old phrase, “Devil take the hindmost,” will acquire a new significance. I do not believe it will be beyond the resources of astute wire-pullers to secure the right kind of hindmost candidates to be broken up in their party interests. There may well be a multiplicity of weak and fictitious candidates in order to make sure that the differences between No. 1 and No. 2 shall be settled, not by the second votes of No. 3, but by the second votes of No. 4 or No. 5, who may, presumably give a more favourable turn to the party concerned.

This method is surely the child of folly, and will become the parent of fraud. Neither the voters nor the candidates will be dealing with realities. An element of blind chance and accident will enter far more largely into our electoral decisions than even before, and respect for Parliament and Parliamentary processes will decline lower than it is at present.

‘It is a Bill which will weaken the structure of Parliament and vitiate electoral procedure. Great sacrifices may be demanded of us for great causes, but rarely has so great a sacrifice been demanded of our country for so petty a cause as this, when the fabric of the House of Commons is rotted and popular elections are confused, in order to secure a few more months’ experience of the bitter sweets of office to this dismal, fatuous and impotent Administration.’  

He knew a thing or two did Winston!

Doctor Osborne's medicine is working

It appears that George Osborne's prescription for the economy may well be working as today we have seen official figures published that shows retail sales and car production up and public borrowing down.

Retail sales rose unexpectedly in March, up by 0.2 per cent month-on-month - defying experts' predictions of a 0.5 per cent plunge.

Car production in the UK also rose last month, with a total of 135,052 vehicles coming off out of the factories - a 14.8 per cent increase on March last year.

And public sector net borrowing for March was £18.6billion, taking the total for the financial year to £141.1billion - almost £5billion below the forecast.

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The Chancellor has every right to be excited about the publishing of a raft of positive data, which comes just days after a fall in unemployment was announced.

It comes as the Government is standing firm over drastic spending cuts, which came into force in earnest at the start of this month.
Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, described today's figures as 'encouraging'. 'This is the eighth consecutive monthly rise in car output and robust export demand indicate long-term strength and stability in the sector,' he said.

Retail sales appeared to show department stores are bucking the gloomy trend on the High Street. Their sales were up 1.4 per cent month-on-month.

Experts had predicted sales would fall in March after a series of disappointing company updates and dismal surveys from the likes of the British Retail Consortium.

Public borrowing for the last financial year has come in £15.4billion lower than the previous year, when net borrowing - not including banking bailouts - reached £156.5billion.

The figure will be welcomed by the Treasury but it is still higher than that of Greece of Portugal, both of which have been forced to turn to the EU for a multi-billion pound bailout.

Total tax receipts shot up by 13.1 per cent in February to £34 billion, the Office of National Statistics said, helped by the overall improved economic performance through the past year and the increase in VAT.

The Treasury said this week's credit rating downgrade to the U.S. Government's debt outlook by agency Standard & Poor's showed concerns persist over budget deficits.

The Government needs to stick to its plan 'to pay off the nation's credit card over the rest of this Parliament', the spokesman added.

James Knightley, economist at ING Bank, said: 'If the UK economy can keep growing and fiscal austerity continues at its planned pace then there is a very good chance that the Government can achieve its aim of a zero structural deficit within the current Parliament.

The Conservatives Hit the Town

Your Conservative Candidates were out in force in Shepton Mallet today. The "Action Day" was called to ensure that everyone in the town had the opportunity to meet the candidates , discuss their concerns, and to find out what local politics in action is all about.

Conservatives from all across the county came to Shepton to support the local Town, District and County Council candidates in delivering leaflets and canvassing opinion.

Pictured here before the morning session are some of the activists, more joined the group during the day and for the afternoon session.

We must have visited close on 2000 homes in the town during the day, the response we got was great, if you missed us this time, don't worry, we will be back in your road sometime very soon.

Local politics is hard on the feet!

Voice croaking, feet throbbing, muscles aching, recognise the symptoms?

Well its not flu if that's what you are thinking, it's the penalty of running for election. Days spent delivering election literature to 4000 plus houses, evenings spent talking to people on their doorsteps about the challenges ahead, what our plans for the future are, how is this or that was allowed to happen etc etc.

Not that I'm complaining mind you, this is grass roots politics, the real stuff, meeting real people, discussing their problems, and persuading them that I'm their man. I relish election campaigns, yes it is very hard work, you need good shoes, boundless enthusiasm and real resolve to get through it. We will spend the best part of six weeks campaigning and all that after months of preparation, but it must be done.

It is always difficult to quantify the impact that you have during the campaign, some people have no desire to talk to you, many have already made up their mind,  for and against and nothing I say will alter that. But there are a significant group of people who want to talk to you, have views and issues that they want to discuss, and who will make up their mind as a result of that short face to face meeting.

I've already received a number of e-mails from people who have read my literature, and who I've talked to on the doorstep who have told me that they will vote for me in this election, and in some cases will be voting conservative for the first time in their life. I'm extremely heartened by responses like that and I have to say the reception that I've been given has been very positive so far. There is a long way to go, and many roads to cross before May 5th, so there will be no counting chickens for me.

The main debating points so far seem to be, public sector cuts, many saying its about time the public sector was trimmed back, others saying there should be more and deeper cuts, while those employed by the public sector are worried about their future. The frozen council tax is a big plus, as are recycling and the investement into Shepton's town centre. Many people have noticed how the high street is improving and undesrstand that this is a long term project that must be protected.

The next three weeks will be very interesting. We will have to see how the debate progresses, so beware, I will be in a street near you very soon, so if you want a chat let me know and I'll be happy to oblige.

250 Conservative councillors already elected !!!

Nominations closed for the Local Council elections at midday on Monday last, (April 4th) and the nominations have now been published and analysed.

More than 9,000 councillors will be elected on May 5th, about 5,000 of which are currently held by the Conservatives, 1,800 the Liberal Democrats, 1,600 by Labour and 800 by other parties and independents.

Official nominations published yesterday showed that the Lib Dems have candidates to put up in only 59 per cent of the seats, down from 64 per cent when they were last fought four years ago. The biggest falls appear to be in the south-east and north-west, both down about 10 per cent.

Ed Milliband said that Labour will contest seats all across the country, but even after a massive recruitment drive, they cannot find candidates for 3 in every 10 seats.

Compare this to the Conservatives, who will field candidates in 93% of the seats next month, up from 88 per cent in 2007.

Around 250 Conservative councillors won't have to wait until May 5th for their result, as they have already been returned un-opposed when the other parties failed to put up any candidates to contest their seats.

These statistics have been reflected locally as well, as contrary to the delusional Mrs Hudson's assertion that the Lib Dems would field a "full slate of high quality candidates", they have only managed to field 44 out of 47 candidates for Mendip, and only that many because they have stuffed the ballot boxes with "paper candidates" in several seats.

Two candidates were disqualified because they failed to get themselves properly nominated by 10 people from the ward that they want to represent. These unfortunates then blamed the returning officer for their mistake, saying it was a devious tory plot to ensure they didn't make it onto the ballot paper. If they can't even sort out a minor bit of admin properly, we shouldn't let them loose with a £15 million budget.