Question Time for MacShane?

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MacShane has finally surfaced again, as predicted, a few weeks before the General Election!
He set up his own version of Question Time, organised by the supposedly non political South Yorkshire Women's Development Trust.
Chaired by MacShane himself with a hand picked panel, he even included his latest girl friend for good measure. None of them having any relevance to the voters of Rotherham.
Denis hand picked the questions to give himself an easy ride, preaching to the converted! From this point of view a 'Church’ hosting such a politically partisan event seems to me to be crassly inappropriate at best and an outrage at worst!
Not one direct question on his scandalous expenses! None either on the lamentable record of the Labour Government! Or anything about the disgraceful scandals that have engulfed him and the information he simply refuses to give us! John Healey can manage it, so why can’t MacShane!
MacShane thinks he can go into this election without explaining any of his expenses to his voters! He is treating his voters with total contempt!
Anna Chester, one of MacShanes party organisers, said "there is clearly an appetite to have those meetings more often". I can assure her there is.
Perhaps Anna, who as well as being a labour organiser and also a volunteer with the non political SYWD, would organise a Question Time chaired by a neutral.
Invite a panel that included Peter Thirlwall and MacShane.
It would give you an audience that would be so large that there is no venue in Rotherham that could fit everyone in! The tickets would be very much sought after!
The Women of Rotherham require answers too!
They deserve answers from both the incumbent and his principal challenger, Peter Thirlwall. Answers to the questions they actually want to ask!
Peter Thirlwall, the Independent Candidate, is an incredible politician and if the roles were reversed and MacShane was the Independent candidate at the next election, MacShane would lose his deposit!
Thirlwall's popularity is increasing by the day. With your help, he will defy all the odds, and win the Rotherham seat!
If you would like to help Peter or would like to speak to him directly, don't delay he is the most approachable person you are likely to meet and would love to hear from you.

George Valentine
Council Waste Watcher
Stag
Rotherham

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Tory Candidate for Rotherham Constituency Announced At Last!

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It has just been announced, that the Rotherham Constituency Tory Candidate, is to be businesswoman, Jacqueline Whiteley.

A former 'Yorkshire Woman of the Year' and winner of other awards in business, including a Business Link Competition for 'bucking the trend' in the recession.

She is reported to be a member of the Leeds Chamber of Commerce.  She has also been a Woman's Ambassador for Enterprise for campaign group Forward Ladies.

She is said to be an ambitious candidate, presumably here to add to her political CV for next time and a safe seat. The Conservative vote in the Rotherham Constituency will probably have the rather dubious distinction, of being the only constituency in the country, where the Conservative vote actually goes down!

All the evidence we have, clearly shows that this trend is already under way here in Rotherham. That is even before Jacqueline Whiteley was selected. It is being said that it will probably not be as much benefit to her future career prospects as she is hoping.

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The Rotherham Star Joins the Fray on First Class Travel!

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Peters Campaign to change the way the Council spends your money has now reached the Rotherham Star and has been covered on the Rotherham Independents Campaign site.

Peter's View.

"The time is coming when all of Rotherham's voters will be able to vote for candidates they can trust to be honest, open and committed to bringing basic decency and a non-dogmatic attitude to making the best decisions for Rotherham and all of it's people".

Peter Thirlwall

Rotherham’s Prospective Independent Parliamentary Candidate.
Rotherham Independents Campaign.

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Stephen Fodor Writes - On Thirlwall.

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Stephen Fodor and Peter Thirlwall 

at a recent campaign event

"I fully endorse Cllr Peter Thirlwall’s candidacy to be Independent Member of Parliament for Rotherham!  He offers the best opportunity to bring back, good old fashioned accountability!" 

"He has often already shown at local level his unremitting commitment to work in Rotherham’s interest, and has a way of connecting and voicing the real concerns of people... now that would be fabulous to see in the House of Commons!"

Stephen Fodor
Rotherham Businessman 

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Peter's Perspective - On MacShane

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Like many Rotherham people I find the revelations in this weeks Advertiser, about my opponent to be, and his disappearance at a time when his disgraceful behaviour is made public, are the actions of someone not worthy to represent Rotherham and its people.

I know that my outrage and anger and the feelings of shame over this expenses affair are shared by many, both in his constituency and throughout the whole of Rotherham.

Unless the Labour Party suddenly comes to its senses, prevails upon MacShane to step aside as their candidate and chooses an honest replacement more interested in their constituents, the problem will be put in the hands of the Rotherham constituency’s voters at the General Election.

I am proposing to stand in Rotherham as a serious alternative to candidates locked in the confines of tribal politics that all the mainstream national parties, of whatever hue, practise here in Rotherham and throughout the country. This has resulted in the people in the Towns and Cities of the North feeling abandoned, little understood, and taken for fools by being taken for granted.

The people of Rotherham deserve better than this! Now is the chance for change!

The power is in all our hands come the elections. Remember we live in a democracy, where every vote counts and the decision you make is yours alone.
Each and every voter has to make their mind up whether to vote the way they always have or to vote for a candidate committed to the highest standards of conduct and openness.

I invite you all to take the time to find out more about me and the fresh start my candidacy represents, before making your choice in the General Election to come.

I am also the most easily contactable of the prospective candidates and invite you to do so. See left side panel for ways to contact me. I would love to hear what you have to say.

If you would like to know more or help in our campaign, you would be most welcome. We are a friendly bunch, totally committed to our task of offering real and effective change both in Parliament and here in Rotherham.

Peter Thirlwall
Rotherham’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
Rotherham Independents Campaign

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More Questions for MacShane?

I can now reveal the contents of a letter I have written to Denis MacShane asking him to account for his behaviour to his constituents, something he has always refused to do.

I am still considering the rest of the information now in the public arena, thanks to the Advertiser and their reporters, Phil Turner and Naumaan Farooq.

Rt. Hon. Dr Denis MacShane MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A  0AA

Dear Dr MacShane,
For some time now you have been prevaricating on the issue of your use of public money. You expect to be re-elected later this year, yet you continue to treat your electorate with contempt. You refuse to answer even the most basic of questions about your expenses.
The standard of accounting for expenditure now expected of our elected representatives is such that those accounts presented by John Healey on his website should be the benchmark of what is expected in terms of minimum disclosure. When do you propose publication of this information?

Scrutiny of all the available online sources providing information on your use of public money has been illuminating and leads inevitably to ask that you clarify the following areas of concern to me and no doubt many of your constituents that you will be asking to return you to parliament at the elections to come.

Firstly a matter of general principle, why have you, at every opportunity, argued and voted against disclosure of the information that is now required? Don't you think your electorate has a right to know how you have spent their money?

Is it true that, amongst other things, you are presently being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over the £12,400 you have given your brother, Edmund Matyjazek in the years 2005-8 for translation services?  Please specify the languages translated between and indicate how this was justified as being 'actually and necessary to your work as Rotherhams MP' or was it performed in pursuit of your journalistic activities?

During the period December 2004 and January 2008, covering just 3 financial years, you claimed for a total of 10 computers (mostly portable ones) at a cost of £6654:39. Were they all properly receipted? Why did you need so many? Did you keep losing/breaking them? Where are they now?

There appears much confusion on your designation of your second home for allowance purposes that does not fit well with your Council Tax arrangements, please clarify the position?
I am led to believe that you spend the majority of your time at your London home. If this is correct it means that you are claiming your second home allowance on the wrong property. Could you please clarify this matter and perhaps substantiate this by providing your travel claims? Is it also true that you are being asked to pay back hundreds of pounds that you have over claimed for food?

Confusion also surrounds your arrangements viz a viz your constituency home and your office. It appears for all the world as though you have driven a coach and horses through even the previous rules then in force. Bills that must apply to your Rotherham home have been claimed against your office costs allowances, in contravention of the then rules. You seem to have found a way of financing both your properties at public expense. This type of behaviour is a disgrace that has never been tolerated under any rules applicable since you entered parliament and the Green Book specifically warns against it!   Why have you not yet applied for planning permission for change of use of your garage from domestic to business use? And why are you not therefore paying the proper council tax?

Clarification of your apparently large staffing allowance would be appreciated as there is little discernible evidence of output from all this activity. Do they all work in support of your parliamentary duties or were they expended on your work as a journalist or author?
You are spending extremely large sums on you telecommunications in excess of £700 per month! The public purse really should not bear the burden of your long distance and international calls that are essentially private and that is what your salary is for. If this impression is false then please disclosure is the answer.

I have one last question for you, what precisely do you think your parliamentary salary is for? The rest of us have to pay for a great deal of the things you claim for out of our income, so why don't you?

Yours sincerely,

Peter Thirlwall

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Peter Thirlwall and Ben Slade Challenge Greedy Rotherham Councillors

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Our Independent councillors, Peter Thirlwall and Ben Slade, are proposing the following change to Council Policy at the Full Council meeting on Wednesday February 3rd:

"At a time of severe pressures on the Council budget, this Council resolves to discontinue first class rail travel for Councillors and use the money saved to support front line services for the people of Rotherham."

Peter will be proposing and Ben will be seconding the proposal.

Rotherham Independents Campaign members are fully supportive and consider it the most reasonable thing to do when Rotherham's residents are suffering great economic hardship.

In a bi-partisan approach to fellow councillors, Peter has written individually to all Rotherham councillors asking them to consider what Rotherham's people want, just for once.

What Peter has said to them:

Dear Fellow Councillor,

On Wednesday at the full Council Meeting I will be proposing the following motion to bring to an end the practise of using first class travel whilst on Council business.

Motion to Council on the 3^rd February 2010

"At a time of severe pressures on the Council budget, this Council resolves to discontinue first class rail travel for Councillors and use the money saved to support front line services for the people of Rotherham."

Proposed:  Councillor Peter Thirlwall

Seconded:  Councillor Ben Slade

I would ask you all to consider your position carefully before rejecting this motion, which would be taken by the vast majority of Rotherham people, a sign that you do not live in the same world as them. For just once take a decision to save some taxpayers money to help save the front line services that your constituents may rely on.

Collectively councillors in Rotherham are already amongst the most well rewarded in the country. Last year each of you received the basic allowance of £12,271. Most of you in addition have received 'special responsibility allowances' varying from a Cabinet Adviser on £1.203 to the Leader of the council on £32,544. The Special Responsibility Allowances cost the taxpayer a total of £356,150. A grand total of £1,136,767 last year in fact!

The fact that you insist on getting every last penny out of us, is nothing short of an outrage, especially when it comes at the end of a financial year when you have made swingeing cuts to essential services that the most vulnerable in our communities depended upon.

I would point out to you that these cuts are occurring now, before any of the post election belt tightening that all parties are promising to come. I do hope that you do not suggest that, even in a time of great austerity in public services, you are totally unwilling to share any of the pain? (If giving up first class travel could in any way be described as pain.)

Finally I make the plea, once again, on behalf of all in Rotherham for you to stop first class travel. 

Yours,

Councillor Peter Thirlwall

Rotherham Independents

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My Personal Pledge to Rotherham

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 Martin Bell and Peter Thirlwall, together in Birmingham recently.

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I have had a 'ringside seat' from which to observe the decline in basic standards of politics in Rotherham and I am now, like many, convinced that most of our problems can be laid firmly at the door of the Labour Party.
I was briefly encouraged by the increasing size of the opposition on RMBC, but my disappointment at their failure to hold the ruling Labour Group properly to account has been very great indeed and I am now convinced that they suffer from similar internal issues to labour which ensure that narrow party interests always get in the way of Rotherham's peoples best interests. Patronage is like a cancer, subverting the political decision making process and corrupting it.
It is time for a fresh start here in Rotherham.
This is why I have signed up to the principles below and together with my colleagues in the Rotherham Independents Campaign are offering a fresh start and offer hope for our future. I challenge all election candidates in Rotherham this year to publicly declare their support for them, whatever their political affiliation.

Peter Thirlwall, PPC Rotherham

If you would like to know more, or you would like to join with us please email us here

I reproduce below the principles I am committed  to uphold. 

The Bell Principles build upon Lord Nolan's Principles of 1995.
We will

• abide wholeheartedly by the spirit and letter of the Seven Principles of Public Life set out by Lord Nolan in 1995: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership
• be guided by considered evidence, our real world experience and expertise, our constituencies and our consciences
• be free of control of any political party, pressure group or whip
• be non-discriminatory, ethical and committed to pluralism
• make decisions transparently and openly at every stage and level of the political process, enabling people to see how decisions are made and the evidence on which they are based
• listen, consulting our communities constantly and innovatively treat political opponents with courtesy and respect, challenging them when we believe they are wrong, and agreeing with them when we believe they are right
• resist abuses of power and patronage and promote democracy at every level
• work with other elected independents as a group with a chosen spokesperson
• claim expenses, salaries and compensation openly so the public can judge the value for money of our activities

The Seven Principles of Public Life

The Rotherham Independents Campaign believe that 'Seven Principles of Public Life' should apply to all in the public service. These are:

Selflessness
Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other benefits for themselves, their family or their friends.

Integrity
Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties.

Objectivity
In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.

Accountability
 Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

Openness
Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.

Honesty 
 Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.

Leadership
Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

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An Alternative to Spoiling Our Green Belt

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An Alternative to Spoiling Our Green Belt

By Councillor Peter Thirlwall

I have always said that a criticism is only as good as the alternative that it replaces. Well I would like to suggest the following alternative to the proposed greenbelt incursion ( LDF ) being offered by the Rotherham Labour Group:

(1) Remove the ‘Growth Points Status’ of 2,200 houses which was entered into by the Leader of Rotherham Council, along with other council leaders of South Yorkshire. It is understood that Sheffield, for instance, can accommodate their ‘Growth Point’ housing numbers without the need to use greenbelt land at all. It’s a shame, but not entirely unpredictable, that Councillor Roger Stone didn’t take the time to check what effect it would have upon Rotherham and its residents, before he committed us to the ‘Growth Point’ agreement.

(2) The number of houses that the Government say that we will need in Rotherham by 2026 is 22,300. In the Government calculations they have assumed that 11,150 of those houses will be required for people emigrating into Rotherham from other parts of the country. I believe this figure is ridiculously high and should be reduced by 5,575 houses i.e. from 50% to 25%.

(3) If the amount of houses needed were reduced in accordance with (1) and (2) above, then the industrial land needed could also be reduced by around 82 hectares.

(4) The council have assumed a building density of between 30 to 40 dwellings per hectare, but the planning guidance says it should be between 30 to 50 dwellings per hectare and I therefore believe that figure, should be used so we can accommodate more houses on the precious land that we have.

(5) We should trawl the Borough again to find more brownfield sites, which includes talking to Corus and also our neighbouring Councils, to see if they have any brownfield sites on their borders that could be used in our calculations.

If we could achieve the above, I believe we could avoid building in the green belt at all, other than the bits of scrubland that have no amenity value. Although I don’t have access to all of the figures and the ones quoted are not strictly accurate, they are I believe in the right ball park.
In the past, Rotherham has not been able to build houses at the rate at which the Government required and it is very unlikely that we will be able to so in the future, so the outcomes of the LDF are fairly academic. We certainly do not therefore want to give up our green belt based on the whims and fancies of a few statisticians in Whitehall, and their obedient servants at Rotherham Council.

Not all of what I have suggested may be achievable, but I do hope that the Labour Group will at least consider, for a change, the points that I have made with a view to making Rotherham a better place to live.




Peter Thirlwall 
Independent Parliamentary Candidate
Rotherham Constituency

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