The Tory Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne says he wants to scrap the Financial Services Agency and hand all regulation over to the Bank of England. This places himself in something of a dilemma. He has ridiculed the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable’s policy to protect our money from casino banking by splitting High Street banks from the Investment Banks. Yet the Bank of England’s Governor, Mervyn King agrees with Vince and advocates the same actions. Does George Osborne’s policy mean that he’ll capitulate and accept the Cable / King plan or that he’ll just dictate policy to the Bank of England, as the Conservatives did before 1997?

Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Candidate, Wyre Forest

Nick Griffin talks of protecting the indigenous English who are the people who have predominantly been here for the last 17000 years.

Hmmm? As it’s generally accepted that the Celts turned up from eastern Europe about 3000 years ago (clearly not indigenous by the Griffin standard), followed by the Romans (with people from just about every country round the Mediterranean), the Angles, the Jutes, The Saxons, The Norse, The Vikings, The Normans and so on, that doesn’t leave many people that fit Griffin’s idea of indigenous.

Perhaps he’s decended directly from The Beaker People but as they didn’t write much down, it would be difficult to do a “Who Do You Think You Are” programme to prove it. Anyway, it seems that they spread out from Spain and were found as far away as Sicily so they’d quite possibly be… erm, Europeans!

There is nothing whatsoever about the BNP’s claims about races and nationalities that bears close scrutiny. Britain is a nation built on the blood and sweat of millions of people of every colour and creed. To suggest otherwise is cowardice. After his pathetic performance the other night, I hope people will realise that to vote for the BNP you have to be either thick or sick or both.

Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Candidate, Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

 We’re all sick of the MPs’ expenses scandal. It’s boring, undermines our beliefs in British fair play and drives people away from politics. The best thing to happen when the MPs open their letters is to accept them, pay up and move on. I understand those MPs who want to stand and fight against being told to pay back thousands of pounds they were originally told were legitimate expenses but that’s the price that must be paid for not fixing the system earlier. It’s nothing compared to the price we’re all going to pay for the collapsed economy, which could also have been sorted years ago.

There is a bigger story, however; the story of the lack of responsibility throughout society. Britain stands or falls on the efforts of all its people. There is no such thing as a self-made man or woman. Whether you are a multi-millionaire or surviving on benefits, you owe it to Britain and generations of its citizens that you’re alive and fed and sheltered and educated. You owe it to Britain to pay back that investment, whether by volunteering for something, working hard, complying with its laws, paying all the taxes you’re supposed to or by voting for something you believe in. There is no excuse, at all for sitting back and saying “it’s got nothing to do with me” or “well, why doesn’t the government do something about it?” Usually, the government is the last lot you want to sort things out.

I’ve been attacked recently for getting involved in exposing shoddy behaviour by local government, as though that’s the way life is and there’s no point trying to stop it. Well, I’m sorry but that kind of defeatism impoverishes us all. We are all flawed and I’m no less likely to fail than the next man, but that doesn’t mean morals don’t matter and that we should just ignore it when people do wrong. We have a collective responsibility to fix things when they need it.

As the MPs’ expenses scandal shows, if you ignore little problems, they soon turn rotten. The purpose of democracy is to give us government that best reflects the dominant view of the people. As long as people don’t vote; don’t stand up for what they believe to be right; don’t hold their chosen leaders to account, we open the doors for incompetence and corruption.

Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Candidate, Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

For the last three years, I have worked with the business community across the country to fight the unworkable and un-constitutional immigration laws that Baroness Scotland helped draft. There is a bittersweet irony in the fact that she has been caught out by her own idiotic policy.

I met her last winter to discuss debating societies for children and found her a warm, likeable and intelligent women, as you might expect. But the way in which this law was written is just plain wrong-headed. She has proven it to herself by being fined £5000 without a court hearing for failing to photocopy the papers of a maid who, it turned out, was an illegal immigrant.

The problem with the law is multi-faceted. 1. It expects employers to be immigration officers by placing threat of instant £5000 fines on them if they employ illegal immigrants. 2. There are over 80 different types of document that confirm the right to work and although the government offers guidelines to employers, many are easily forged. 3. The instant fines are called “civil penalties”, meaning they don’t require a court case and deny the employer the right to confirm innocence before being punished; totally at odds with British principles of justice.

Again and again the government denied that this was a problem. The then Home Office minister, Liam Byrne sneered and laughed at me when I pointed it out to him in a meeting at Parliament. Now Patricia Scotland has shot herself and her government in the foot by proving my point exactly.

There is no point expecting employers to carry the can for giving work to illegal immigrants if the government does not set out a clear way of proving someone’s status. It is against British justice to fine someone a huge amount of money without trial.

For the Baroness, the £5000 civil penalty is an embarrassing but affordable amount. To a Chinese or Bangladeshi restaurant that fine could bankrupt them, especially when it is multiplied by the number of apparent illegals employed. That is why thousands of restaurant workers who’s papers seem slightly vague have been kicked out on the street where they have no choice but to work for criminal gangs selling pirate goods, drugs or sex.

Once again, Labour has proved its contempt for the law, justice, humanity and business. Baroness Scotland, nice or not, must resign if she is to retain the slightest honour and this law must be withdrawn until it is workable.

Neville Farmer

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate

Wyre Forest

Boris Johnson, the Tory toff mayor of London, thinks his ultra-rich chums in the banking industry should be let off paying their full tax responsibilities. That is the Tory view because they, like the government, are terrified of losing banks from the City of London.  Boris was defending the indefensible against former a former banker’s comments that the British banking industry was “swollen”, “socially useless” and should be taxed to prevent the excessive profiteering that has brought our economy to its knees.

The taxes suggest by financial top-dog, Lord Adair Turner might not work as he describes, but is Boris saying that the people who destroyed our economy should be a protected species?

It’s true that, while freeing up the banks to act so irresponsibly, Thatcher’s government left British industry in tatters, so any government would be nervous about losing its last golden goose.  Does that mean we are to be held to ransom by people who, from recent experience, care nothing for Britain?

As Lib Dem Economic spokesman, Vince Cable told me a few weeks ago, all countries want to rein in the bankers, so where will they go? Surely, those decent members of the British banking industry, like Lord Turner, are here for more than pure profit? Surely there are good, responsible bankers who are proud to be British and don’t mind having their huge incomes fairly taxed for the nation’s benefit? Britain’s great banking reputation was built on commonsense and trust, not gambling and greed. A return to that culture should mean a return to a City the world can have faith in.

Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Candidate,

Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

YOUR VOTE IS YOUR WAY OF SAYING WHO YOU WANT TO WIN.

IT IS NOT A BET ON WHO YOU THINK MIGHT WIN. 

THAT IS A WASTED VOTE.

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE VOTING FOR.

YOUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT.

Neville Farmer, Parliamentary Spokesman, Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

Here’s an interesting chain of events –

In an effort to help the little guy defend himself against the big bullies, Tony Blair brings in California style “no win no fee” legal services which can be advertised on TV…

…Many of us, including me, predict disaster from this but it goes ahead regardless…

…Seeing a good business opportunity large firms employing dozens of hungry young lawyers are established to entice people to sue other people…

…Daytime TV is largely funded by adverts telling you how you’ll win 100 percent of the compensation at no risk to yourself…

…Thousands of people start suing everybody they can, for grazed knees, work stress, overgrown leylandii trees, wet holiday weather…

…legal firms and insurance companies work together to create a business model that allows lawyers to take a piece of the action from grossly overinflated insurance premiums charged against schools, hospitals, councils, restaurants, scout groups, public transport companies and even, now, the armed forces…

…All these bodies cease offering school trips, scout camps, rare-cooked beef, pancake races, soft-boiled eggs, swimming lessons, sports days, old people’s events or kids parties because the extra insurance is too expensive…

…Our great traditions are terminated…

…No-one is able or willing to volunteer for anything…

…Our children become listless, bored, unhealthy and anti-social…

…Our bills with policing, the NHS and schooling increase dramatically…

…We complain about health and safety, the EU, human rights, everything…

…Lawyers and Insurance companies dictate our lifestyles and laugh all the way to the bank…

… There now, Tony, wasn’t that a good idea?

Certainly, this system has allowed some people to get restitution from companies who would previously have beaten them down with legal expenses. But it’s also allowed people to sue other people who still have to pay for a defence lawyer, even in nuisance cases. Most of all, as I and many others predicted at the time, we are now beholden to a bunch of opportunists profiteers who impoverish our lives.

What we need is easy, rapid, low-cost court systems that helps the little guy without encouraging this flood of destructive and unnecessary claims.

 Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Spokesman

Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

A couple of weeks ago I met with members of the Falun Gong group. I’m not a religious person and am wary of “movements” or “cults” but I wanted to hear about the treatment their supporters have received since the Chinese government turned against them 10 years ago. On the face of it, Falun Gong promotes peace, tolerance, healthy living. It’s founder was accused of being homophobic and racist but this certainly wasn’t the view of the people I met. Indeed, the initial reaction of the Chinese Communist Government was encouraging, with many officials and military leaders joining up. The problem started when they realised Falun Gong had more members than the Communist Party. Then they turned nasty.

 I spoke with a woman who was ensnared in the Chinese government crackdown. She told me in detail how she was tortured for about 18 months until she cracked and recanted her belief in Falun Gong. She would be forced to sit on a small stool for over 20 hours a day with her back straight, and knees and feet together. If she needed the toilet she would be forced to wait so long she often soiled herself but she was never allowed to clean her clothes. Even on hot days, she was allowed just half a litre of water and a small piece of hard, black bread. She had no bed and little exercise.

 What was really sinister was the medical examinations every few months. They weren’t normal. It was as if they were being checked out for body parts.

 It now seems that this is exactly what was happening. From the estimates of two Canadian politicians and an American journalist who is investigating the subject, it seems that members of the special Chinese Government unit set up to stamp out Falun Gong, thousands of their members have been imprisoned, “disappeared” and harvested for their hearts, livers, lungs, gall bladders and corneas. These organs are then sold to hospitals across the world and to “transplant tourists” who go to China to get operations they cannot wait for at home. Only Israel has had the moral integrity to legislate against their citizens going to China for that purpose.

 It is for that reason that I spoke in Parliament Square on July 21^st along with my Lib Dem colleague, Tom Brake MP. I was told that I was probably being filmed and photographed by Chinese agents. If that means I am no longer welcome in China, that is a shame. I love China and would love to see more of it but surely there are people in the Chinese Government who see this as wrong and understand why we have to speak out?

 Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Spokesman, Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

Giving Tesco planning consent in Stourport was almost inevitable. Many local people want it, regardless of the obvious threat to the high street traders, the officially predicted traffic problems and resulting poor air quality. A couple of weeks back, I spoke to a planning consultant who advises companies like Tesco and he told me that all these three were good grounds for refusal. But he admitted that most councils have nowhere near the knowhow or the muscle to take on Tesco lawyers so, councillors of all parties voted in favour of the plan.

What is interesting is the way Wyre Forest’s Tory Councillors are now positioning themselves against the project. It looks like a classic political trap being set for the beleaguered Health Concern County Councillors. It makes for an entertaining scuffle if you set aside the fact that this shoddy piece of political one-upmanship involves the lives of thousands of local taxpayers and the future of a rather lovely Georgian town.

This is how it appears to be panning out –  

Because the inexperienced Health Concern County Councillors didn’t see fit to attend the Tesco planning meeting, the Tories of Wyre Forest can argue fairly that they didn’t care about the implications for the town’s roads – a County Council matter.

Talking to the Shuttle, the Tory District Council leader appeared to support the project, decrying the “bully boy tactics” of the Co-op, which sees its own supermarket ending up on the slab in their new funereal home down the street and tried to prevent Tesco moving in. But in the same interview, he deftly passed the buck to Health Concern, saying that sorting out the Tesco traffic was down to Stourport’s County Councillors.

A few days later, his tone changed. Armed with two Tory District Councillors (who also missed the planning meeting), he told The Wyre FM that he is against the Tesco project until the traffic issues are attended to. He didn’t mention that the Highways officer at the meeting, who works for the Tory County Council of which he is also a member, could offer absolutely no workable solutions to the inevitable nightmare of car-bound Tesco shoppers pouring onto Stourport’s clogged little streets.

Perhaps the councillor knows that when the poor Health Concern County boys go cap in hand to County Hall for help with traffic management, they will get short shrift… and the blame from Stourport’s residents for an almighty cock-up.

Of course, as I say, this political game-playing is only entertaining if you don’t care about Stourport’s long-suffering citizens. Personally, it sticks in my throat. Interesting, isn’t it, that this occurs as a by election is called on a former Health Concern seat in Lickhill.

Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Spokesman, Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

Here’s a conundrum… If you lock up public conveniences early you protect the facilities from vandalism but people end up peeing in doorways.  

Well,  there is an answer that has found favour in Richmond on Thames – pay a couple of hundred pounds a year to a few of the pubs in return for letting the public use their toilets. A simple sticker in the window can inform passers by of the relief offered within. 

Far from being a burden for the pubs, the landlords that have tried it say their business has increased with many of those caught short stopping for a spontaneous pint.

I did suggest this in a development plan early last year but as the Broadwaters residents had commented on the problem, it seems worth repeating.

Neville Farmer

Parliamentary Spokesman

Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats