I do like David Pedrick-Friend the Labour Party Candidate for Torbay. He reminds me of one of those Japanese soldiers, stuck on a Pacific Island, who for years after the surrender didn’t realise the Second World War had ended.
Similarly for David’s army, the games up and they will be surrendering office at the next election. The battle now is between the progressive forces of the Liberal Democrats and David Cameron’s Conservative Party.
You can narrow the battle lines down to the completely different approaches of the shadow Chancellors, Vince Cable and George Osborne.
One of the main reasons we are in the economic mess we are in is because Gordon Brown when Chancellor ignored Vince Cable’s warnings about escalating borrowing.
The main cause behind the depth and length of the recession in the UK was the failure of Alistair Darling to act when Vince Cable suggested intervention in the market.
Why we have gone so far into debt and had to borrow so much is because Chancellor Darling delayed taking over the troubled banks that for weeks Vince Cable had been urging him to do.
Now the debate is about how we prevent market collapse in the future while paying off the trillions that had to be borrowed because the bankers got too greedy and the Government acted too late.
The contrast between Vince Cable and George Osborne is stark. Cable wants to recreate the high street bank and mutual building society separate from the casino investment banks and fund managers. Osborne does not.
Both know cuts will have to be made. Vince says they should be made at the right time and slowly as economic conditions dictate. George wants to slash spending immediately.
Vince wants to take people earning under £10,000 out of tax altogether by savagely cutting the tax loopholes the very wealthy enjoy. George wants to cut inheritance tax for the wealthiest one per cent of the population.
If Vince is going to meet his pledge to protect front-line services such as in education and health, then the expensive ID card scheme will need to be scrapped and a new tax on million-pound homes may have to be levied.
For the Conservatives the pledge is to maintain health and international development spending only, while remaining silent about cuts, except to the staff canteen subsidy in Parliament.
Cable has proposals to ensure our armed forces are better paid and properly equipped paid for by cutting the number of pen pushers in the Ministry of Defence and by not replacing the expensive trident nuclear missile programme.
As the opinion polls and local council by-election results are beginning to show, the contrasting positions of the two opposition parties are forcing former Labour supporters to choose between them.
It won’t only be in seats like Torbay where Labour is out of the race at the next election. Right across the country Vince Cable’s Liberal Democrats will be challenging George Osborne's Conservatives for the chance to fix the economy.
It’s time David Pedrick-Friend laid down his arms and took stock of the new political landscape. I fear though he will keep on fighting until someone locates the island he inhabits and rescues him.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The other week I obtained figures showing that Torbay Council called in the bailiffs 10,780 times last year to collect arrears on council tax and other payments.
At a time when the Government is asking mortgage lenders to avoid repossessions the same ought to apply to councils, who should seek more sympathetic payment plans and make bailiffs a last resort.
When the Government runs out of money, it can defer payments and borrow more. The general public don’t have this luxury but in times of recession, public bodies should do more to be more lenient to hard pressed families.
It is not about writing off debts, but ensuring that they can be repaid with as much sympathy for the current economic climate.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Recent Treasury figures have shown that up to 1.5 million families with children are entitled to child tax credit but don't get it, and up to 1.5 million working people are entitled to working tax credit but are missing out.
In each case the average amount unclaimed is in excess of £2,000 per year and in Torbay as many as 7,000 households could be affected. That’s a whopping £14 million a year that could be ringing the tills of local shops and businesses.
You would assume that if it was 'free money' then people would claim it. But the system is so complicated that many people don't even know they are entitled. Others are put off by the daunting complexity of the forms, whilst others have claimed but had such a bad experience that they've given up. Particularly hard hit are those who are awarded money in good faith only to be told years later that the figures were wrong and they now owe thousands.
From my direct dealings, and in the experience of my office, Torbay Council’s staff are very good at alerting people to any support they may be missing - they will often go the extra mile to help people. There are plenty of people out there to ask and who will help with applications.
All of those involved in giving advice in these matters agree that the system needs to be simplified so that people know where they stand.
People who provide all the information accurately and on time should not be the victims of failures with the HM Revenue and Customs systems and processes.
The tax credits system needs to be on the side of hard-working families, not making their lives a misery.
Recent Comments