My Conservative and Unionist (& peppa) adventures at La Mon (pt4)

Well, through a bit of messing about and even Eamonn Mallie's intersession Hannah, Freya, Peppa, Kitty and even I got a photo with David Cameron.

Woohoo!!!

My Conservative and Unionist (& peppa) adventures at La Mon (pt3)

David Cameron's ETA has been put back a bit but he is on his way.

It has taken quite a chunk out of his day today, and to me at least shows how important he holds Northern Ireland.  So, fair play David.

I have in the meantime been given a few extracts of what David is to say today .  

He is to say to the people gathered at La Mon that,

Our two great parties have created a dynamic new electoral force for Northern Ireland.  And it’s because we made that step that today we are not just saying that we are the party of the union. We are showing that we are the party of the union.  The party of Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England – with candidates standing in every part of the United Kingdom.


Nobody else can say that. Not Labour. Not the Liberal Democrats. And none of the local parties here in Northern Ireland. So why is this so important?


It’s important because of our deep commitment to the union.  So let me repeat the pledge I made to you in Belfast a year and a half ago. I will never be neutral on the Union.


We passionately believe that England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are stronger together, weaker apart – and the union of our two parties strengthens those bonds. But our new electoral force is also important for another reason.  For as long as anyone can remember, politics here has been dominated by constitutional issues – the latest developments in the peace process.


This election presents a new opportunity to participate in the mainstream of British politics.  Mainstream politics in which issues like taxes, pensions, defence and foreign policy.  That are decided in Westminster yet affect every single person in Northern Ireland are part of the mainstream political debate.


Mainstream politics in which people in Northern Ireland can participate at all levels of government in the UK – from the council chamber right the way to the Cabinet table itself.  At this election, only Conservatives and Unionists are offering people in Northern Ireland that opportunity - the chance to elect MPs who can be part of the government of the United Kingdom.


We’ve got record government debt. Record government borrowing. Unemployment is up.  In this contract are the radical plans to dig us out of that mess.  Plans to make government accountable, stop the waste, stop Labour’s jobs tax – and get better services for the taxes you pay.  Plans to make the UK the best place in the world to do business.  Stopping the rise of red tape, lower corporation tax rates, abolishing employment taxes on the first ten jobs created by new businesses.  We’ll bring a new age of enterprise and ambition across the United Kingdom.


In this part of the UK we’ll go even further, looking at ways of turning Northern Ireland into an enterprise zone.  And we’ll produce a government paper examining how we can change the corporation tax rate here, so that we can get even more investment coming in.  We want to grow the size of the private sector in Northern Ireland to create new jobs and investment.


But let me also say this.  The country faces some difficult decisions ahead on how we will tackle the deficit.


I want people to know that if elected I will make these decisions with compassion, reasonableness and a concern for the most disadvantaged.  That is who I am and that is what a government I lead will be like.  So we will continue to fund Northern Ireland according to its needs, and we will tackle the deficit while protecting the essential frontline public services that we all rely on.  There is no way Northern Ireland will be singled out over and above any other part of the UK.


I know that for many years people in Northern Ireland felt cut off from the rest of the United Kingdom, including from the government.  I want to end that sense of isolation.


I want to give voters in Northern Ireland the right – for the first time in generations – to vote for a party capable of forming the government of our United Kingdom to enable people in Northern Ireland to play their full part in the affairs of the country as a whole and to realise at long last the basic democratic right to equal citizenship within the United Kingdom.


That can only happen through the partnership of our two parties.  Other parties can talk about this.  Only Conservatives and Unionists can deliver.  Of all the parties standing in Northern Ireland at this election – only we can form the government of our country.


Of all the parties standing in Northern Ireland at this election – only we can get a decisive mandate and strong majority in the House of Commons.  Of all the parties promising change – only we can deliver it.

Well, he will be really putting forward his Unionist credentials and highlighting once again how he wants to help businesses and put \northern Ireland at the very heart of government.

He will give a very clear indication as well that the Conservatives and Unionists (the link with the UUP) is the only show in town.

My Conservative and Unionist (& peppa) adventures at La Mon (pt2)

Well, it is 12.25 and still no sign of David - though I have been told he is in the air.

It should be an interesting

Sandwiches and an impromptu picnic methinks. Hannah, Freya, Kitty and Peppa.

The other people here seem to be enjoying the delay using it as a time to catch up with each other on how the campaign in its final hours is going in the different constituencies.

I have also seen Owen from Three Thousand Versts here and Mark Devenport as well. Obviously lots of journalists as well.

Ah, well a bit  more waiting.  Ho hum.

My Conservative and Unionist (& peppa) adventures at La Mon (pt1)

Well, I arrived at La Mon around 11am with kids in tow for the possible big arrival of David Cameron, who is more than likely the next Prime Minister for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

I was told the event would originally be at 11.30 but it seems put back at the moment.  Hey ho - kids to amuse now.  Which given the large crowd is easier than I first thought!

The big news at the moment is that Hannah, my eldest, has brought a very Tory Peppa Pig (who did not want to meet with Gordon) to see if she can meet David! 

We shall see. :)

Cuts, cuts and more cuts? or how I don't always believe the hype

I pick up the Saturday's Belfast and what is on the front page? 'Cameron: I'll target Ulster for Cutbacks'. 


And I thought, what on earth has he said now?  


Well, my first reaction to this was not a good one - feeling very angry about the issue of financial cuts, especially when it comes to cuts in the public sector.  Yes I am and Ulster Unionist, yes I am a Conservative supporter, and yes I believe in a social conscience. A bit mixed up, but you can't be perfect.

On reading through the headlines and reaching once more for my trusty filibuster busting book "The Tiger That Isn't" to calm me down and move me towards a more clinical questioning standpoint.

So lets go through the headline 'Cameron: I'll target Ulster for Cutbacks' - OK David Gordon (the correspondent of the piece), where exactly did he say this? I am not the greatest in constantly picking up on small things but i listened to the Paxman interview and could not hear anything. Nor was it actually quoted as verbatim in the Belfast Telegraph report.  Hmmmm.

Maybe David Gordon should have looked a bit harder through his red tinted glasses and also had a wee look at what Peter Robinson and Sammy Wilson have already said.

Peter Robinson, then Minster of Finance and Personnel said 

"I want to serve notice to this Assembly and to the wider community that I am determined to take the drive for greater efficiency in public services to a new level.  I am simply not prepared to stand back and leave unchallenged the countless instances, large and small, across all our public bodies where taxpayers’ money is being wasted on over-staffing, absenteeism, poor working practices and a resistance to radical change in the way we go about delivering services. We owe this, not just to those who use and need our public services, but also to the many public servants who want to see change and improvements in the way they do their jobs.

I believe that we can go further than this in finding ways to free up more resources for reinvestment in public services. In the period between now and my announcement of the final budget in January, I want to finalise and then publish details of how departments will deliver on their efficiency programmes.  I will also want to examine the scope for delivering even higher levels of efficiency beyond the 3% a year targets already set, and I will announce new targets for reductions in the size of the Civil Service over the next three years.”

As MP for East Antrim, Sammy Wilson (now Minster of Finance and Personnel) said

Given the changes already introduced under direct rule, such as the review of public administration and cuts in the number of quango's councils and bodies controlling health and education, people will need to be redeployed quickly from the public sector into the private sector.

Now I would have thought these comments were more stark in making cuts.

David also in his first paragraph states 

"Tory leader David Cameron has signalled his intention to slash public spending in Northern Ireland — picking out the province as a region where Government expenditure must come down."

Cameron never said slashes, cuts, or anything else - he did say that 

In Northern Ireland it is quite clear – and almost every party accepts this –that the size of the state has got too big ... We need a bigger private sector. There are other parts of the country, including in the north-east. The aim has got to be to get the private sector, to get the commercial sector going.

He merely states that he wants to increase the size of the private sector.  This does not mean cuts in the public sector.

I want to see the Private Sector in Northern Ireland grow, but not to the detriment of the public sector.  We do not need cuts (and I realise David Cameron's speech does not yes or no to a reduction in funding.) we need business improvements in our public sector, where they can be made.  We need Sammy Wilson to stop rewarding the top civil servants with such large percentage salary increases (though he has stopped the bonuses that were given on top of the salary increase) bonuses, whilst reducing head counts in the Departments of lower grades.

I expected a bit more accurate, or even reflective reporting from David. But then he is a bit of a Lefty, so I can forgive him that ;)

I hope to be at the Conservatives and Unionists Manifesto launch tomorrow. And i will investigate further.