Death and Council Tax

In 1817 Benjamin Franklin re-used a previous quote originally written by Daniel Defoe and said  "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

Many things have changed since 1817, but death and taxes have certainly survived!!

This week saw Shepton Mallet Town Councils annual fist fight over the budget and precept, to be fair, this time things were dealt with fairly amicably and entirely predictably, more of this later. The whole process set me thinking as how it is possible that a small group of people, from a small town in Somerset, with, well lets be charitable, honest intentions for the good burghers of the town, can have such wide ranging views on just about everything!

On a National level we are all pretty accustomed to the differences between the major parties, Labour spend, spend and spend some more until as Liam Byrne said "there's no money left", the Conservatives come along after Labour and sort out the mess left behind, and the Lib Dems, well what can I say, basically have no idea at all, and need to be kept locked up in a darkened room without a key.

We have seen what the Lib Dems do when let out of their box, at Somerset County Council they increased the debt from £15 million to £347 million in less than 10 years, while at the same time increasing Council Tax every year, and by over 60% during one notorious 4 year period. Luckily the electorate called time on their disastrous tenure in 2009, but not before they had destroyed the county's finances for a generation or more.

The Lib Dems in Frome, similarly racked up the tax year on year to the point where Frome is now by far the most expensive place to live in Mendip, the Town Council's precept is rapidly approaching the same level as the District Council. There was never any attempt to control spending, just the inner arrogant belief that they know best how to spend your money. The Lib Dems in Frome have now been superseded by the IFF's, a rag tag bunch of Independents who have formed a party to run the council. (Independents forming a party, how does that work then!!!!!). The IFF's have just announced that they are going to put the Town Council precept up by 23% this year, no that's not a misprint twenty three percent increase at a time when families are seeing their budgets squeezed from all directions, I bet the voters in Frome are delighted that they voted for the very iffy IFF's now!

So lets compare and contrast the Conservatives to our Labour and Lib Dem opponents, Labour more or less bankrupted the country and were spending more than they were receiving in tax even at the height of the boom, when finally McBroon had to admit that he hadn't ended boom and bust after all, it was all much too late to put the spending genie back in the bottle, hence the dire mess Cameron and Osborne inherited.

The Conservatives at Somerset County Council have had to take much more difficult decisions thanks to the legacy left behind by the Yellow Peril, where servicing their huge debt is a major part of the budget, and spending on debt repayment is money that can't be used to support libraries, youth services, road repairs or anything else that everyone cares about.

Spot the difference at Shepton Mallet Town Council, under Conservative control since 2007, the Town Council finances are, or at least were sound, we had seen a period of 4 years where the precept had not been increased at all, and where at the same time the councils reserves, money put aside to help to smooth out the inevitable peaks and troughs in spending, had been steadily increased. The situation at the moment is that we are still working within the budget introduced by the last Conservative administration, and it is predicted that at the end of the current financial year the council will have just over £45,000 in reserves, enough, if spent wisely, to cover any increases in council tax for the next 3 or 4 years.

However, the electorate, in their wisdom, decided not to give the Conservatives a majority on the Town Council at the last election, and as a result we have 6 conservatives, 5 Lib Dems, 4 Independents and a solitary Labour councillor. During the last 8 months or so the unholy alliance of Lib Dems, a couple of Independents and the lone Labour supporter has decided to tear up the blueprint left behind by the Conservatives and to embark on a spending splurge worthy of Gordon Brown at his most profligate.

The budget proposed on Tuesday evening sought to increase the precept by 3% as well as spending £39000 of the £45000 reserves IN ONE YEAR. All the hard work put in for years by the Conservatives to balance the books, blown in one go by people who appear to have no idea how to run a business.

The Conservatives managed to head off some of the increase in spending by forcing through a vote to reduce the budget by £10,000, however, we are merely delaying the inevitable tax increases that will have to follow. To add insult to injury the unholy alliance then agreed to increase the tax by 3%, with the Labour chairman not only voting in favour of the increase at the first vote, but then using his casting vote to force through the tax rise when the vote was tied at 7 all, I guess leopards never change their spots.

Benjamin Franklin was right about death and taxes, especially if you vote Labour, Lib Dem or now as it appears Independent as well. Frome desperately needs a Conservative council to protect its citizens from the excesses of the IFF's, I think the people of Shepton will start to rue their decision last May as soon as the council tax bills start landing on the mat.

The Political Advent Calender

Just in case you missed it, here are the entries for Matt Chorley's brilliant political advent calender, I hope you enjoy it, have a very Happy Christmas and I'll be back with my review of the year next week.

Day 1 Disaster at the Treasury Christmas lunch. The goose is cooked but the tax credits are still frozen

Day 2 Shoplifting row in the garden centre. Chris Huhne denies asking someone else to take the poinsettia

Day 3 Hokey-cokey falls into disarray in Nuttal household after David demands an in/out referendum

Day 4 Chocolate Grant Shapps says Mary & Joseph are squatting in stable. Moved to flat on other side of Bethlehem

Day 5 Disappointment in the Thurlbeck household when Santa insists he wasn't shown the "For Neville" email

Day 6 Cameron defends independence of No 10 carol service before launching into rendition of Jingle Bell Pottinger

Day 7 Mrs Lansley is so disappointed with her police drama box set that Andrew is forced to pause The Bill

Day 8 David Miliband unmoved by MI6 Choir's version of Silent Night but critics say it's an extraordinary rendition

Day 9 Lembit Opik dressed as a snow-covered Big Ben. Not the whole tower. Just the bell end!

Day 10 Disappointment as Molly and Arthur Letwin discover their letters to Santa in a bin

Day 11  Nick Clegg is privately seething, angry and furious that Cameron has organised the Secret Santa without him

Day 12  After realising he's misspelt his name in all his Christmas cards, Vince Cable insists he won't re-sign

Day 13 After No 10 Christmas lobby drinks last night, Clegg is astonished at 4am to find Cameron used the Vimto

Day 14 After his wife's reality TV escapades, John Bercow has signed up to spend Christmas living in a doll's house

Day 15 Steve Hilton, the PM’s guru. The only man happy to get just socks at Christmas

Day 16 Clegg uses his best French to tell Fillon he has 2 brothers, likes cats & invites him to "jouer au pingpong"

Day 17 Tom Watson tells Santa: “You're the first mafia boss who doesn't know he's running a Christmas enterprise”

Day 18 DEFRA staff keep tripping over baubles & tinsel on the floor in reception after Caroline Spelman sold their tree

Day 19 Mike Hancock pulling a cracker. How does he do it? Dirty dog.

Day 20 Sepp Blatter tells Mary & Joseph to ignore Herod's threat to slaughter son of God, by shaking hands

Day 21 Joni Mitchell comes out against government's planning reforms, saying Paradise has enough parking lots

Day 22 The Home Office Panto is cancelled after Theresa May makes a gang dispersal order against the Seven Dwarves

Day 23 Cameron apologises for cutting too much red tape after Santa's trousers fall down

Day 24 Commons nativity falls foul of Trades Descriptions Act when the Three Wise Men are played by Dave, Ed & Nick

The New Sheriff Rides Into Town

2012 will be a tough year for sure, even the PM reckons it will be tougher than 2011 and just about everyone I know is preparing themselves for the worst. One thing on the horizon that has not had an awful lot of publicity so far is the fact that in 11 months time we will be going to the polls to elect our "chief of police", or Sheriff as they call them in America, ours will have the catchy title of Police and Crime Commissioner PCC for short.

At the moment, the strategic direction of the police force and its overall budget, including the bit we all pay through our council tax bill, is set by an organisation called the Police Authority, a body which I have just recently started to serve on. Currently the Avon and Somerset Police Authority is made up of elected members from the councils within the police district (Somerset, North Somerset, BANES, Bristol and South Gloucestershire) with the addition of independent members to make up the committee.

As of November 2012 this body will disappear and it will be replaced by one person, the elected PCC, this elected individual will set the priorities of the force, he or she will decide on the budget, including the amount we will all pay, and will have the power to appoint or fire the Chief Constable. With that amount of responsibility, you would have thought it would be vital to have someone of considerable knowledge and experience in place to ensure that these important decisions are taken in a responsible manner, however it seems like we might be in for a celeb bun fight in a number of force areas if the recent rumour mill is anything to go by.

In addition to a number of washed up ex Labour ministers who seem to want to get in on the action, it is rumoured that Tony Robinson, Labour luvvie and actor, may be throwing his hat into the ring in Avon and Somerset, Carol Vorderman, Celeb and Maths whizz is also reported to be interested and Katie Price AKA Jordan is apparently going to stand in Hampshire.

Now I'm sure this trio, and any others in the background, have plenty of redeeming features, but in control of our police force?

Just what is Katie Price going to bring to the table? Perhaps she is going to paint all the police cars shocking pink and introduce new regulations for the control of Door Staff at Clubs and Pubs otherwise known as "bouncers", Tony Robinson is bound to have a few ideas to put forward for the police plan, most of them a cunning as a fox with a degree in cunning from the university of cunning, and Carol V shouldn't have too much trouble with the half a billion pound budget!! But seriously, this is a huge job, and it will require an individual with remarkable qualities to carry it out, surely it is far too important to be put in the hands of celebrities with no experience at all?

Well we will soon know, over the next 6 months or so, the selections from the various political parties will start their campaigns, alongside I'm sure a number of very able independent candidates, I only hope the public use their common sense and vote in someone who can do the job, rather than someone who has been famous on TV for five minutes.

The Cameron Bounce is confirmed

Over the weekend I blogged about David Cameron's use of the Veto at the Euro summit last week, and how I thought that he had done exactly the right thing for both the government and the country, I also spoke about how the chattering classes, especially auntie BBC, had started to have palpitations at the thought that we might take a couple of steps backwards from Europe, there were claims that this would be a "disaster darling", that we would be sidelined, that no-one in Europe would love us anymore (not that they did in the first place), and how this was going to be terribly bad for all of us.

In my view that lot is utter nonsense, Europe needs our billions in subsidy and our buying power (we buy a lot more from Europe that they do from us) an awful lot more than we need them, and Cameron needs to stick to his guns and make sure we get a deal on our terms.

It now seems that the great British public also loves Cameron's bulldog spirit, the four opinion polls that have been carried out since last Thursday's summit show that the Conservatives have either moved level with Labour or in two cases show a 2% lead for the Tories.

If these polls were translated into a general election it would mean that Labour would have lost 600,000 voters in less than a week, while the Conservatives have gained just over two million, and Europe has become the third most important issue in the minds of the public.

In addition the old three headed Lib Dem snake has reared its heads all over again, on Friday last week the Cleggmeister announced he had agreed the stance that Cameron was to take, and that he was happy with the outcome, by Sunday after getting stick from his Europhile colleagues he was deeply disappointed in the outcome and it would be "bad for Britain", then last night he was giving his MP's a three line whip to get them to vote with the government on a motion that congratulated the PM on his mission, and confirmed the UK's position on the matter! His MP's promptly ignored him and abstained from the vote!!!

Is it any wonder the Lib Dems are in disarray when they take three different positions on one subject in four days?

PMQ's later on should be interesting to say the least!

Didn't He do Well!!!!

I first met David Cameron shortly after he had become leader of the party, he was doing the "plastic chicken" circuit of all the party constituencies and he came to a lunch at the Bath & West showground. I have to say that I was impressed by his performance that day, although I did have doubts about his leftish policies. I discussed my fears with one of his aides that day and I expressed my view that I had doubts as to whether he would be strong enough as Prime Minister to take tough decisions. His aide said "don't you worry about David, he might seem smooth and polished on the outside, but I tell you he is capable of being a bastard if he needs to be"!

The memories of that discussion have stayed with me, and now after years of wondering whether Cameron had the cojones to be PM, and more recently wondering whether he had been infected with Europhile tendencies thanks to his close relationship with Nick Clegg, it now appears that he certainly has got the balls for the job after all and as Sir Brucie might say "Didn't he do well".

I and many other Eurosceptics have been arguing for years that we need to take a step or two backwards from Europe, I certainly don't want to live in a Euro Federal state with Germany and France holding the whip hand over our economy, I don't want the European Human Rights Commission hamstringing our police and courts and I certainly don't want our borders open to whoever may want to come here. This recent decision may only be a small step down the road to getting our country back, but it is a significant step as it's the first time since Margaret Thatcher that any politician from these shores has stood up for our interests in Europe and said No, Non, Nein to their demands.

I watched Clegg on the Andrew Marr show this morning squirming and wriggling his way through what was obviously a very painful interview. The full reality of what it is like to be in government with the big boys, having to take tough decisions that you may not like is clearly having a detrimental effect on the man. He looked shattered and defeated, the flack he is getting from his own Europhile MP's must be piling up on him, my guess is that he will not be able to go on much longer.

Vince Cable once vaunted as the all seeing and knowing sage of economics has been exposed as merely a semi-useful elderly rambling malcontent, he has done less than nothing as the business minister, his budget has been savaged and he has been left impotent, if he were to throw his toys out of the pram and resign, who would notice?

The odious Huhne spends more time trying to fend off speeding allegations than he does doing his job, in many respects thank goodness for that, otherwise we might have even more useless wind turbines cluttering up the landscape and costing us more £billions every year and then catching on fire.

With the hapless Milliband always on the wrong side of every argument, ably (!!!!!) supported by Balls forcing him down the wrong track, perhaps the time is approaching for Cameron to ditch the Lib Dems completely, go to the country while his personal stock is on the rise, and then go back into No10 with a proper Conservative government instead of the mishmash we have now?