Personal Blog
I set out my personal thoughts on these pages on the major (and very minor) news events of the week in Parliament & politics. The idea is to get behind the newspaper headlines and the spin to see what is really happening and what a typical week is really like in Parliament.
I am also active on Twitter and Facebook so why not join me there too. I update my pages on a regular basis throughout the day, posting details of meetings and events in Parliament.
It is up to you... those who don't know
Posted: Thu, 06 May 2010 10:14
After 20 years of working hard in this area it is now D-Day. Decision day.
In the last 13 years as the MP for Lughborough I have worked tirelessy every day for individual people, for local communities and for the constituency as a whole. I take a deep interest in the future of the planet and the poorest people in the world too. We live in a world of injustice still, and I can't rest until more is done to make our world safe and more equal.
But after today I can do none of that unless those 30% of people who still can't decide what to do with their cross vote for me.
Instead we head backwards to a Tory government that would look and feel just like the last one. Mean spirited and quite nasty. They have airbrushed Cameron to look better than Thatcher and her heirs but they are the same old Tories.
So I make a plea to the Don't Knows. We have weathered the economic storm that hit the world last year by taking tough decisions. The Tories bottled it. Please don't put at risk all the extra investment in schools,teachers, teaching assistants, hospitals, nurses, doctors, police on the beat, surestart, -- I could go on.
Today you stand the chance of throwing it all away on change for change sake. Change - but change to what?
As colleagues put it in our final rally cry...
"Loughborough is seat the Torie have taken for granted. They smugly think theyhave already won it. You have the power toshow what you think of their smug claims. "
"You have the power to keep a good, local, hard working MP with a proven track record. An MP who was unscathed by the expenses scandal, who resigned over Iraq and has never been afraid to put morals before party and to put Loughborough first.
"You the undecided voters will decide if Andy is the MP on Friday - you have that power in your cross!
"The choice is simple. If you like and want Andy as our MP you have to vote for him. There are no hiding places in this election. A vote for the Lib Dems just lets the Tory in by the back door. A vote for any body else or staying as home is as good as signing Andy's P45. Don't be responsible for doing that. Don't wake up on Friday regretting losing Andy Reed - our MP.
They Will be Voting Labour - Will You
Posted: Wed, 05 May 2010 16:17
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Passionate Speech from Brown
Posted: Mon, 03 May 2010 21:58
It is not often I do this but I simply want to bring something direct to you and let you make up your own mind. Apparently this was one of Brown's best performances - a brilliant speech delivered with passion. A passion lacking in the other two candidates - Cameron and Clegg.
But guess what. You will hardly here anything about this - because it does not fit the media commentary on this election. So make up your own minds without the Murdoch spin!
Brown:
When people say that politics can’t make a difference, when people say that people are apathetic and indifferent, when people say that there are no great causes left, let them come to Citizens UK, let them come here.
Our shared belief is that wealth must serve more than the wealthy. That prosperity must serve more than the simply prosperous. That good fortune must help more than those who are just fortunate. And your movement is like every other great movement in history, it is built on moral convictions.
First hundreds, then thousands, then hundreds of thousands of people they say. Inequality should not be woven into the fabric of our lives. People of compassion and good will should never journey without hope. And no injustice should endure for ever.
Do you know what taught me more than any book ever taught me, it was a video. It was a video created for the Make poverty History campaign. And it’s a video that sums up for me the strength of a movement. It encompasses the great campaigns of our time, it’s a video that shows the abolitionist movement, the civil rights movement, the votes for women movement, the anti-apartheid movement. And every time it shows that movement it passes by the leaders who spoke on the stage and zooms in on the faces of the crowds like the crowd here today.
The people who gathered to hear Wilberforce speak about slavery, the men and women on the march to Washington with Martin Luther King. And the point of zooming in on the crowds is that nobody was a spectator. That the people in the crowd, the people whose names are not recorded in the books of history are the real change makers, the people who made history by being there and demanding change.
And so when we saw Barack Obama place his hand on that Bible to take the presidential oath on Capitol Hill on that Washington day, we saw not just one man, we saw all who fought and campaigned. Top end slavery, to win the vote, to go back to Lincoln and beyond and we know that for all the great leaders of history there are millions of other unnamed men and women who are heroes who make our history happen.
And you know from one person, one candle, can be lit thousands of candles. And then tens of thousands of candles, all lit from that one flame. And think of the change that your movement can create. Once you have learnt something, nobody can unteach it. You cannot ever again humiliate the person who has got pride. You cannot suppress men and women who are afraid no more.
And so it is with Citizen’s UK. Each of you hear will know that your work may not always make the headlines. But you can always make the difference. And I know that in your work as community organisers you share testimony with each other. So please allow me to testify today to what I believe and to tell you who I am.
I’m a son of a Church of Scotland minister. He taught me, my father, that life was about more than self interest, that work is about more than self-advancement. That service is about more than self service. That happiness is about more than what you earn and own. My parents taught me the fundamental values of taking responsibility, doing your duty, being honest, looking out for others and that is the right way, it is your way and it is my way.
And when I was a student the two causes I worked for most were to force my university to disinvest in Apartheid and sell all its shares in South Africa. And I also ran a campaign for decent pay for university cleaners. And across the years I feel my life has come full circle, because when I became Chancellor of the Exchequer the first thing I was able to do was to create the minimum wage for the first time in 100 years. Justice for the low paid.
And the fight continues. And that is why we have said in our manifesto that the minimum wage rises at least in line with earnings. It will reach £7 on reasonable assumptions by the end of the Parliament. Because we must lead by example, Labour is pledged to go even further by asking all Whitehall departments to back the campaign that you have led and to which I pay tribute, the campaign for the living wage.
And your campaign has shown something even bigger. That a community is more than its buildings. More than its institutions. More than its fabric. A community is thousands of acts of friendship and service and compassion to each other. And you’ve shown something else that the public services, your hospitals, your schools, your children’s centres on which communities are built are not things that we can just do on our own, they are what we choose to do together, and that’s what a good society is about. Building together, investing in good schools, good hospitals, good public buildings, good community centres and yes, good banks for the future.
And we are fighting not just for the minimum wage but for Sure Start, for free childcare, for tax credits, for the Child Trust Fund. We are fighting to build on that with more childcare in the next few years, a new toddler tax credit and we are fighting to defend and extend the child tax credit and the child trust fund to help all, parents give their children the best possible start in life.
And I tell you this, we will not cut the child tax credit. We will not harm the child tax credit and we will certainly not propose an inheritance tax cut worth on average £200,000 to the richest 3,000 people in England, and that is a policy unfair.
The motto of that policy is not God helps those who help themselves, the motto is God helps those whom he has already helped, and that is not acceptable to me.
Now we are the only party backing an interest rate cap on the most exploitative, high cost doorstep lending. We will expand the funding of credit unions and other community finance organisations. We will make loans and savings available everywhere through the Post Office. We will fund this with hundreds of millions of pounds raised through a community finance levy we are putting on the banks and we will turn the Post Office into the people’s bank so that no one is more than a few miles away from the banking services at the best rate that people depend upon.
And we have a serious plan for better use of land and affordable housing. We will not charge stamp duty for houses below £250,000. We will increase that duty however on houses over £1 million. And we are pledged to build 10,000 council homes so that more people can become renters of their own homes. And because community trusts like you’ve talked about enabled people to have greater land ownership, we will be backing their extension all the way.
I have said throughout this campaign that the 6 May is fundamentally about choices. Nations need not be ruled by blind fate. Nations must choose their own history. And so I stand before you proud that Labour chooses to support the living wage, the interest rate cap, the community land trust and a return to community banking. These are your choices and these are our choices too.
And let the word go out that as you fight for fairness you will always find in me a friend, a partner and a brother.
When Cicero spoke to crowds in ancient Rome people turned to each other after hearing the speech and said ‘great speech’. But when Demosthenes spoke to the crowds in ancient Greece and people turned to each other they said, ‘let’s march’.
Let’s march for justice, dignity, fairness. That’s what we’ve all got to march for, and let’s march for it together. Thank you very much.
Last 72 Hours - Game On!
Posted: Mon, 03 May 2010 11:24
As we head into the last 72 hours of the campaign there is still so much to play for here in Loughborough.
This has been one of the most amazing elections I have been involved with. Usually by this stage you know what is likely to happen on Thursday. I don't know the exact result but I have been able to tell within about 500 votes how it will look in the past. This is not the case this time. I know we are neck and neck (a few votes ahead) with the Tories with the Lib Dems back in a poor third place with the minor parties picking up a small sprinkling of support. But it is the one third of people who are yet to make up their mind that will decide who the MP is on Friday morning.
However, I have never seen such personal enthusiasm for my campaign. People are coming out of their doors to wish me luck and to take posters. I have not seen that in 2001 and 2005. There is a realisation that being a marginal seat there is a possibility that Loughborough could end up on Friday with a Tory MP and not me. That certainly seems to be concentrating minds.
You would think from the media that there is no connection between MPs and their constituents. I think they are wrong. I know we have identified 2000 'personal votes' in the last few weeks. From the number of people offering unsolicited support and telling positive Andy Reed stories I am know there will be more. Fear of losing a good hard working MP is concentrating minds.
So I am now more confident that I can still win Loughborough. It is down to those who have still to make up their mind. They will decide.
Volunteers - Thank You More than Ever
Posted: Mon, 03 May 2010 10:11
As most people know I am passionate about volunteering. As well as doing it myself in various guises I am keen to make it as easy for others to do. It is a win-win for us all.
It is the same for our political parties. In Loughborough we have no paid party workers. Everything that comes through your doors is delivered by your neighbours. Those 35,000 telephone calls and knocks on the door around the constituency in the last year - they are all your neighbours who have given up their free time to volunteer for a political party. They get nothing back. No expenses. No rewards - just the hope of a Labour victory and the real fear they have of letting the Tories back in.
So you can understand why I am so pleased to see so many more volunteers at this election than at any time in the past. It is a wonderful sight for any voluntary organisation. Everywhere I go people are coming up to me to ask how they can help.
I get stopped in the street with more positive messages of personal support than I had even in the 1997 landslide. People ask for leaflets, they ask to help and hey take posters.
We even have the biggest Student Labour Club than at any time in recent history. I will be shocked if turnout is not increased this time.
But most of all I want to say a big THANK YOU to the hundreds of volunteers who have given their time to this election. With no paid staff we have more than matched the Tory millionaires! I am proud of you all.
So whilst all the focus in the media has been on the TV and Leaders debates spare a thought that the ground war is where it is really happening and that is nothing more than hard working unpaid volunteers!All to Play For
Posted: Sat, 01 May 2010 20:31
A year ago the Tory press had decided this election was all over - Cameron just had to say nothing and keep smiling and he could walk into No10 with a 'massive' majority.
Well it doesn't look that way now does it. I will take pleasure at denying Cameron the keys to No 10 for 3 reasons.
First and foremost to stop him doing the damage the Tories did in the past to working people and public services. They have not changed and will do the same.
Second to deny Cameron. As many people will know I have deep distaste for his smug arrogance. To see that wiped from his face will give great pleasure.
Third - to see Murdoch humiliated. He has thrown everything at getting the Tories in to make sure his News International Empire is protected by the Tories and the attacks that will follow on the BBC. I hope the defeat of his attempts to buy the election will mean we all stand up to foreign media moguls damaging Britain.
There is all to play for. One third have people have yet to make their minds up. I find most I speak to are not wanting the Tories back. The horror of the 80s & 90s is still with them.
On all our figures Loughborough is a narrow 2 horse race which we can win. It will be a fascinating last few days as people start to finalise their choices!
Student Coverage of Gordon Brown Visit
Posted: Sat, 01 May 2010 16:29
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Prime Minister in Loughborough
Posted: Sat, 01 May 2010 15:18
The Prime Minister chose Loughborough to launch Labours' Sports Manifesto. He was in around for a couple of hours yesterday.
Loughborough is an obvious choice to launch the manifesto for a number of reasons, and for me demonstrates why people should vote Labour on Thursday. We have transformed sport and are on the way to doing even more. Let me explain.
In 1997 less than 20% of children were doing any PE in schools. We had come home with just one Gold medal from the Atlanta Olympic Games. We didn't look like winning anything anywhere. Our sports infrastructure was in decay every where you looked.
Sadly we didn't get on top if this straight away but by 2000 we were motoring. Sport got its act together and showed to government what it could deliver for the nation.
The Youth Sport Trust (based in Loughborough 170 jobs!) got the job of delivering school sport. Now running at 90% getting 2 hours quality PE and by 2012 we will be delivering 5 hours PE. Competition is back too.
2008 in Bejing saw us 4th in medal table with our biggest medal haul in a generation. That didn't happen by accident. It was because we invested in our elite athletes and gave them the best facilities in the world to train in. We also hired the best coaches. We aim to come 4th again but with a bigger medal tally in 2012. Oh yes we won 2012 for Great Britain. And we have won hosting other sporting world cups right up to 2018 - cricket, rugby League & Union as well as hundreds of other major championships. All bringing economic benefit.
In community sport there IS still along way to go. We are building capacity but it needs another decade of growth to get us all doing our bit.
To Loughborough I guess the number of jobs sports brings to the town is more than 1200 - direct. There are many more indirect benefits.
So this transformation has not happened by accident. It is because Labour has acted and invested. When people say nothing has changed remember only 1 in 5 children doign PE in 1997 and now 90% doing it now. That's change and progress. It is only when you look back you remember where we have come from and where we have got to!
The Loughborough Brand is enormous. We should embrace it and shout about it. Not whine from the sidelines in jealousy. It benefits us all - even if you hate sport.
So no wonder the Prime Minister and Olympic Minister were so impressed by the athletes, facilities and enthusiasm we bring to the table.