The leader of the Bury Council Labour group has been hurling numerous accusations and insults in the direction of local Lib Dems accusing us of everything from betrayal to doing deals with the devil (well the Conservatives actually – which is nearly as bad so far as Labour are concerned).

But whereas the Lib Dems locally and nationally have shown a pragmatic approach to politics, putting the interests of the country and Bury first, Labour are still embroiled in the bitterness of their fall from power and influence.

The fact of the matter is any betrayal has come from Labour. During the course of their 13 years running the country their now well documented over spending and mishandling of the economy ultimately failed. In so doing they failed the country, those that elected them and perhaps more importantly the very people that needed their support most.

It now falls to the coalition to pick up the pieces and to try and mend the economy, deal with the treasury deficit and do what we can to save priority front line public services.

Over the coming months, with a new leader Labour will try to re-write history, painting themselves as innocents swept up in a global economic storm – a storm they could not avoid, mitigate nor protect the country from.

The trouble is when the storm came only then did they notice that there wasn’t any life jackets and not enough lifeboats - they mishandled the economy, failed to mitigate against the credit crunch, stalled on banking reform and urged us all to spend and borrow.

Meanwhile back in Bury Labour’s mishandling of the High School review when they ran the town hall will be a lasting legacy.

Their attempts to manipulate the review so that Radcliffe High was preserved at all costs and re-built at the expense of 2 or 3 other schools failed miserably. In fact it failed so spectacularly that delays and mistakes ultimately jeopardised the committment to a Radcliffe High School at all.

In these difficult times undoubtedly some of the decisions being taken by the Coalition Government may be unpopular, and will face stiff opposition. But this new politics is reaching out to people and is trying to be open and transparent, engaging with voters and communities – that in itself to me, is a breath of fresh air compared to he past 13 years of Labour spin and media manipulation. You just can’t trust Labour to be honest with people anymore.

Perhaps that is why the Liberal Democrats have attracted many new members both locally and nationally. People know we will tell it like it is, we will be straight with people, explain to them the problems we face and tackle the problems head on. We will show them more respect.

It has to be a better way.

I, along with a significant number of local councillors are becoming increasingly dismayed at the seemingly endless round of weakening of democracy and over centralisation of power at Bury town hall.

For those that don’t know Bury has 51 Councillors, no one party has overall control – the Conservatives are the largest party. Yet Bury is effectively run by 5 Conservative councillors with barely any input, checks and balances and very basic scrutiny of decisions and policies.

I am increasingly of the opinion that there is no point in attending meetings at the Town Hall, my time would be more effectively spent in the area I represent.

This is what is called the “Strong” leader model of Local Government , as introduced by the last Labour Government. The idea being that it makes for more effective government by placing more executive power with the leader of the council and his appointed cabinet members.

The trouble is that it isn’t really that strong and it is undermining the democratic process.

Only today the Deputy leader of the Council , a cabinet member, decided to cancel all future meetings of Area Partnership Chairs meetings without consultation with the members of that committee and without giving any reason.

Then earlier it was revealed that a Council officer had rejected the submission of a petition from residents concerned about proposals to privately manage the Radcliffe Civic Suite, again without councillor involvement.

Two very recent examples, and over the past year there have been numerous others. I amongst others and the Lib Dem group have been very critical in the past about the Conservatives attempts to silence residents – denying questions without notice and supplementary questions amongst other things.

The Coalition has pledged to improve democracy and bring more power to the people – the message doesn’t seem to have reached Bury Council yet.

The Government has announced a major crack down on benefit cheats and fraudulent benefit claims – including the possible use of private credit reference agencies on a results basis.

Personally I have no problem with the use of private companies in this way so long as the agreed contracts are clear with specified limits to define how far such organisations can go and ensuring civil liberties are protected. There would need to be careful monitoring and accountability must be maintained.

The fact of the matter at a time of extreme financial concern, with a delicate economic recovery and on-going cuts to public services, the public have every right to expect the Government would do all that is necessary to deal with this problem.

Fraudulent benefit claims are one of those areas that successive Governments have failed to deal with but with welfare and tax credit fraud and errors costing the taxpayer £5.2bn a year, there really is no time like the present.

To put it in perspective the cost of benefit fraud equates to the cost of more than 200 secondary schools or over 150,000 nurses. So let’s tackle this issue once and for all.

On saturday I was delighted and honoured to have been able to attend the wedding of fellow Lib Dem Councillor, Richard Baum to Tamsin Thomson.

For those that don’t know, Richard is a Lib Dem Councillor for St.Mary’s ward, Prestwich, where he has lived with Tamsin for some time.

Now whilst it probably didn’t match the same scale as the recent Chelsea Clinton wedding, just! It was nevertheless a marvellous occasion, in a beautiful setting, with an emotionally charged ceremony. 

On Bury Council Richard has built a reputation as an eloquent, effective speaker at Council meetings, and so it was that the guests were treated to a fabulous humour filled and occasionally emotional speech from Richard on Saturday.

Anyone who knows Richard and Tamsin will know they make a wonderful couple and I wish them health, happiness and many years of joy and married bliss together.

The recent announcement by a Conservative Housing minister that he was looking at limiting the period of tenancy agreements on Council Housing is worrying and showed a remarkable lack of empathy and understanding.

Perhaps the minister concerned has never lived in social housing, but I am happy to inform him that they are more than temporary shelters and are actually peoples homes, much as his home is. Homes with memories, homes where people feel safe and comforted from the outside world and can protect their families and relax.

Any tinkering with tenancies has to be seen against this backdrop AND it is essential that individual social circumstances are taken into consideration . Putting it bluntly the trauma of moving a frail elderly person that may have lived in a council house for the past 50 years could well finish them off at worst and at best adversely affect their wellbeing.

I agree it is important to deal with anti-social tenants or those that won’t pay rent and that’s why I support probation tenancies.

I also agree that incentives should be used to encourage tenants in houses that are subsequently too large to free up much needed larger houses for larger families. But it’s a matter of sensitivity and consideration and understanding – elements that you can’t put a price tag on but are still vitally important nonetheless.

After all we’re talking homes not just houses and whatever comes forth from the consultation currently being undertaken the Government needs to remember that otherwise the consequences will be damaging for many.

The Justice secretary Ken Clarke has launched a review of Court property as part of the Coalition cuts programme to try and tackle Labours budget deficit/spending legacy.

The Justice department have identified 103 Magistrates Courts and 54 County Courts across England and Wales that are to be considered for closure. Amongst them is Bury County Court.

As part of the process a consultation has been launched and views are being widely sought about the proposals.

There is growing concern that closure of local courts would adversely affect people from disadvantaged groups in society, thos on low incomes and perhaps without transport.

It is especially inportant that voluntary organisation respond to this consultation, but as with any consultation the more the better. So make your views known.

I attach a copy of the letter being circulated for information here: hmcs-consultation-letter.pdf

The welcome news that (state owned) Lloyds TSB today and Northern Rock yesterday have reported profits for the first time in two years coupled with healthy profit announcements for HSBC and Barclays surely marks the the end of the 1st stage of recovery from recession and the global economic/credit collapse.

I know I can still vividly picture the queues of people lining up outside Northern Rock branches to withdraw their savings, the 1st time there had been a run on a British Bank for a century. If we were ever to mark the start of the credit crunch in this country those incredible scenes would be the most powerful symbol.

The big BUT of course is that it may be the end of the beginning but it surely aint the beginning of the end yet. And the persistent cry I hear as an accountant and of course in the media and from MP’s and Ministers is that the Banks are not lending enough to small businesses.

The Banks seem to be retaliating on this issue at the moment, perhaps aware of possible Government sanctions/impositions or regulations to force the issue. But the heart of the matter is yes they will lend, but the terms they are imposing including charges for credit are so offensively high they are a positive deterrent to borrowing. I believe the Government could make a real impact by forcing the charges and terms down to more pre-recession levels – especially with regard to SME’s.

But where the Government could make a huge and almost immediate impact would be with its new version of the loan guarantee scheme for businesses.

The way it works is that you go to your bank and apply for a loan as normal, and if it is refused you can then apply for the loan via the guarantee scheme. The trouble is that the Banks would still be lending the money albeit most of the risk is covered by the Government. The Government could make a massive coalface difference if they were more specific and generous with the terms of the scheme in order that so long as the initial criteria was met then it would be difficult for the Banks to reject the application.

Many people rightly point to Banks being at the heart of many of the credit crunch problems and a catalyst for the recession, but they are now facing greater regulation – they have to maintain larger deposits etc and to a degree that means that in order to meat stricter regulation and at the same time return to profitability etc they face a difficult job if they are expected to lend to all and sundry. And understandably after the excesses pre-recession a number of lessons have been learned. They can’t face all directions at once.

However, if the Government strengthened their innitiatives in support of small business finance in conjunction with the banks (especially state owned), then that lending partnership would surely bear fruit for many struggling small businesses to the benefit of the economy as a whole. 

Watching the news last night I was amazed at the lengths Poole Council in Dorset had gone to establish whether an applicant to a local school really did live in the catchment area.

Under legislation excitedly called the “Regulatory and Investigatory Powers Act”, Council have the legal right to utilise a whole range of surveillance techniques to effectively spy on employees, members of the public and local businesses etc. The snoopers charter as it has become known has been used over 165 times in Bury over the past 5 years.

Last September I proposed a motion to a full meeting of Bury Council calling for greater scrutiny of the use of these powers by Bury Council, specifically by councillors, sadly the motion was opposed by both Labour and the ruling Conservative group and the motion failed.

In light of the apparent widespread abuse of this legislation and the Poole case I think the time has perhaps come for these powers to be scrapped altogether. Where covert action is justified and required by (say) trading standards etc I am sure if there is not appropriate legislation in existence already then more specific limited powers could be introduced.

The trouble with RIPA, the snoopers charter, is that the legislation is too vague allowing local authorities to justify the use of surveillance for almost anything they liked and in some instances they have clearly exceeded their authority.  

There will be plenty to tantalise the tastebuds when Prestwich Farmers Market returns to the Longfield Centre on Sunday August 22.

The market has become a regular fixture in the Prestwich calendar offering a range of locally sourced foods and products to suit every taste.

On offer will be traditional, quality goods ranging from speciality meats, pies and cheeses and home-made cakes to pastas, chutneys, jams and drinks. There will be plenty of opportunities to sample the food, enjoy entertainment from Squeaky the Clown, and enter a draw to win a hamper worth £50.

Cllr Vic D’Albert, chairperson of Prestwich Local Area Partnership commented, “The partnership supports the Farmers Market as part of our strategy to promote Prestwich Village as a visitor and shopping destination and to support our local businesses.”

The farmers market runs from 9.30am to 2.30pm.

I am pleased to see that at long last we have a Government that is prepared to start taking tough decisions on retirement age and pensions.

This issue was tinkered with by the last Government but they avoided tackling the issues head on – especially regarding pensions.

We have to face facts that people are living longer and retain far greater mental and physical attributes and powers much later in life than past generations and this trend is set to continue. Depriving individuals the right to work when they can and want to makes no sense whatsoever, and of course denying the economy, commerce and industry the benefit of their experience and knowledge likewise is a nonsense.

Clearly it is necessary to increase the pensionable age as well, and the initial proposal to take this to 66 is I think prudent and fair.

Now with such difficult decisions on issues that will literally affect everyone in the country eventually there will doubtless be further issues arising. And these will have to be handled sensitively and fairly, but a start has been made.

One of the issues that will need examining further is the potential knock on affect on youth employment. There may be an initial slow down of youth vacancies, but that should then settle down – after all people will still want to retire generally as soon as possible – as suits their personal situation.

In anticipation of an impact on youth employment prospects the Government would be wise to look at how they can generate more prospects for young people at the same time as these other reforms take hold.

As a liberal I am conscious that providing individual empowerment for one sector of our society can damage the liberties/freedoms of another. We need to ensure the increased freedoms and opportunities that this would provide the older population doesn’t come at the expense of others.