Publications

The decision by Stroud District Council Planning Executive Sub Committee to give consent to a motorway service area at Brookthorpe dredges the bottom of the barrel in terms of its competence and ethical standards – quite simply there is no need for an MSA at this point on the M5 and yet again the Tories on Stroud District Council have at best bottled it when it comes to protecting the countryside.

The harshness of the Budget whilst anticipated nevertheless shocked in terms of its severity and its blatant attacks on the poor and the vulnerable. Of course we were only looking at the revenue implications of the Coalition’s plans and the real impact of public spending cuts have yet to be spelt out.

At the pre-election hustings for Parliamentary candidates held at Dursley URC each candidate was asked in turn how committed they were to keeping Vale of Berkeley College open. There was unanimity in support for the College. However we now know how honest an answer that was in the case of the new MP.

There is much in the media about tax and pensions policy. I cannot let this go unchallenged. I am afraid that it is totally disingenuous to pretend that tax policy was responsible for the decline in private sector pensions.

Many of my friends feel that I am going from the frying pan into the fire. However the opportunity to become non-executive Chairman of Forest Green Rovers was a challenge I could not turn down. My love for the club is widely acknowledged but probably less well known is the way in which I have tried to help over the years both in terms of advice and support given.

The new Coalition Government was set to revolutionise UK politics and yet one of the first acts by the majority partner was to try to neutralise the power of its backbenchers. David Cameron achieved this by changing the electoral arrangements for its 1922 Committee.

I did something last Saturday which I had not managed to do for the last 20 years. I went for a one-day walk with my wife which we had not planned and even better it did not matter what time we arrived back home. The simple fact is that for the last 13 years as MP for the Stroud Constituency, and the previous 7 when I was a candidate, virtually every hour was accounted for and even though of course I could take some time off it would mean that I would come back and have to work late on unanswered post, emails or phone calls.

So he has started to make a difference then contrary to what many were beginning to say. The he is President Obama of course and after a tentative if not tepid start to his administration he has now made two massive changes for the better.

The reasons for introducing new laws can be categorised in many different ways, to raise revenue for government, the right wrongs, to advance the public good are just some of them. However legislation is also about bringing up to date how we deal with new advances in technology.

I welcome the recent emphasis upon the issue of caring. Given the rising numbers of older people as life expectancy continues to climb it is inevitable that many more in our society will need to have access to the care sector and in turn more of us will become carers in due course.