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Posted

I'm still wondering if we'll hear anything about our local election/canvassing anomalies.

 

Namely the Freedom Church political flier, endorsing the conservative candidate, and election leafleting taking place on the morning of voting in the Bobblestock area.

 

As anyone who follows this forums discussions will know, these weren't the only concerns. When the result in several wards came down to a handful of votes, these issues matter!

 

I'd also like to know why Glenda was down as being unaffiliated...... she has said herself she's Independant, and should have been listed as being so. I think this may have caused confusion for some voters who perhaps are new to the area, and were unaware of Glenda's work locally??

Posted

As anyone who follows this forums discussions will know, these weren't the only concerns. When the result in several wards came down to a handful of votes, these issues matter!

 

Kings Acre was won by 19 votes, Saxon Gate by 19 votes and Widemarsh by 23 votes. Mysteriously in Widemarsh there were 27 votes thrown out because of no official mark on the paper. What's that all about? In the neighbouring ward (College) no votes were missing an official mark. 

Posted

All candidates can put down on the nomination form how they wish to be recognised on the ballot paper. Political party candidates, Labour, LD, Tories UKIP have to have permission from their parties to call themselves their candidate. Independents, need not put any description. I suspect, but do not know, that Glendale did not fill in that part of the nomination form!

 

Occasionally the polling officers mark on ballot papers does not show up, this happens quiet often but seldom makes a difference as it is same for all candidates.

 

In this country there is no limit to when you can stop canvassing or leafleting. Often goes on all day on Election Day.

Hope this helps

Posted

Occasionally the polling officers mark on ballot papers does not show up, this happens quiet often but seldom makes a difference as it is same for all candidates.

 

I accept fully what you are saying. 27 official marks not showing in Widemarsh but nil in the College would point to a faulty device or a faulty Polling Officer. In my view. The chance of fraud there is unlikely. 

Posted

And the Freedom Church leaflet, Chris?

 

Endorsing a candidate?

 

You seem to have omitted to answer that point!

 

Good point. Tories walked that in Wormside with Jon Johnson beating a split vote. I don't think the leaflet would have had a material impact myself. But splitting the vote with two viable candidates against a Tory (in Herefordshire) will get what you got! 

Posted

It still needs to be investigated though.

 

From the research I did at the time, it was completely unacceptable. If things like this are allowed to pass by unchecked, then come the next elections it could be a significant issue in several wards.

 

Rules are there for a reason!

  • 2 months later...
Posted

Were Jesse Norman and Bill Wiggin really representing the people of Herefordshire when they voted FOR a reform in Tax Credits resulting in £4.4bn being cut from tax credits meaning over 3 million families losing over a £1000.00 per year from their income.  With Herefordshire being one of the lowest paid counties and many people relying on zero hour contracts and minimum pay this is not going to encourage people back into work. 

Posted

Were Jesse Norman and Bill Wiggin really representing the people of Herefordshire when they voted FOR a reform in Tax Credits resulting in £4.4bn being cut from tax credits meaning over 3 million families losing over a £1000.00 per year from their income.  With Herefordshire being one of the lowest paid counties and many people relying on zero hour contracts and minimum pay this is not going to encourage people back into work. 

 

They obviously were. As North and South Hereford are safe Tory seats. It's not just wealthy landowners voting them in as they are vastly outnumbered by rank and file people just living in a street near you. Just a fact. 

Posted

Roger are you saying that there are more wealthy people in Herefordshire than there are people who are just managing.  Looking around I would have thought it was 50/50 

 

No. I was pointing out that Jesse Norman and Bill Wiggin campained on the back of a Tory Manifesto that was austerity based with a well advertised benefit cap and a crystal clear policy that if they got back in they would slash the welfare budget by £12 Billion. They both got back in comfortably. Presumably with votes from some of the 50% of people you suggest are 'just managing'. 

Posted

Thinking about it I have decided to change my ratios for Herefordshire to 25% very wealthy/25% wealthy/40 - 30% struggling but managing just and 10-20% really desparate. I maybe totally wrong

 

Those ratios are just a guess. The only facts we know are that Jesse Norman and Bill Wiggin both polled over 50% of the vote in the last election. ie they both had more votes than all the the other candidates combined in their respective constituences.

  • 2 months later...
Posted

You've got to give it to him the boy is bright

 
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    "Rural residents earn less, pay more for their local government and receive fewer services than those in cities." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/countryside/12041187/Stop-robbing-our-countryside-to-pay-for-the-cities.html â€¦

     

     

Posted

 

You've got to give it to him the boy is bright

 
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  2.  

    "Rural residents earn less, pay more for their local government and receive fewer services than those in cities." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/countryside/12041187/Stop-robbing-our-countryside-to-pay-for-the-cities.html â€¦

     

     

 

I bet he won't blame the government for it.

Posted

MPs have voted to allow fracking under Britain’s national parks, amid accusations that the government has sneaked the measure through parliament without a proper debate.
 
Ministers used a statutory instrument to push through the new rules, which means legislation can pass into law without a debate in the House of Commons. MPs voted in favour by 298 to 261.
 
The new rules allow fracking 1,200 metres below national parks and sites of special scientific interest, as long as drilling takes place from outside protected areas. This comes despite the government in January pledging an outright ban on the controversial technique for extracting shale gas in national parks.
 
In January Amber Rudd, the then parliamentary undersecretary of state for climate change, told MPs: “We have agreed an outright ban on fracking in national parks [and] sites of special scientific interest.â€
 
Sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) cover about 8% of England and similar proportions of Wales and Scotland.

 

Another promise/pledge broken - did we really say that? If they frack under National Parks then they won't care about fracking under Herefordshire and AONBs.  They don't care about people and now they don't care about the countryside. It doesn't really matter, as the Chinese will have bought most of the country and its infrastructure in this government's term. Can't keep a good deal down!

Posted
Greenpeace links frackers to tax havens

Kiran Stacey, FT Energy Correspondent
Last updated: December 16, 2015 6:21 pm
 
Four in 10 licences to frack in the UK are held by companies that are partly or wholly owned in offshore tax havens, analysis shows, as ministers prepare to announce the next round of permits.
 
A study by Greenpeace, the environmental group, found that 40 per cent of the government-awarded licences already issued are held by companies with significant offshore ownership.
 
They include Cuadrilla, the only operator to have fracked in the UK, which is battling to win planning permission to drill on two sites in north-west England. Lancashire council has so far blocked it from doing so.
 
Chris Sanger from EY, the consultant, said: “The UK is looking for investment from those with the know-how and experience to develop the fields. This will necessarily result in drawing investment from abroad.
 
“From a tax perspective, the UK subsidiary will pay tax in the same manner as one owned by UK investors. The ultimate shareholders will pay tax on their dividends wherever they are based, rather than in the UK.â€
 
Hannah Martin from Greenpeace said: “The environmental costs of fracking will be paid for by local communities, and the government’s generous tax breaks by UK taxpayers. Yet some of the companies who stand to profit from shale gas are based in offshore tax havens.â€
 
The results of a second round of fracking licence approvals are due on Thursday. A total of 133 blocks across the country are up for grabs.
 
On Wednesday, MPs voted to allow fracking under national parks, despite opposition from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National party.
In depth
 
Fracking involves injecting water and chemicals to release gas and oil trapped in underground rock. While the technique has turned the US energy industry on its head, proposals to use it in the UK have been unpopular and many local councils have refused companies permission to drill.
 
Opponents say the process can generate high emissions, pollute the water table and cause earth tremors, such as the two minor ones triggered by fracking near Blackpool in 2011.
 
Ministers have said they will step in to resolve planning disputes, such as that in Lancashire.
 
Cuadrilla, the biggest UK shale company, is 45 per cent-owned by Riverstone, a private equity company fund registered in the Cayman Islands. Another 45 per cent is owned by AJ Lucas, an Australian company, whose largest shareholder, Kerogen Investments, is registered in the Cayman Islands.
 
The company said: “Cuadrilla Resources is a British company and pays and will continue to pay all applicable taxes in the UK.†
 
Ineos Upstream, which holds licences in England and Scotland, is part of the Ineos group, which moved to Switzerland in 2010 citing “potential cash tax savings of around €450mâ€. A company spokesperson said: “Ineos Upstream pays all UK taxes.â€
 
Another company with offshore ownership structures is Celtique Energie, which is majority owned by Avista Capital Partners, a US private equity group registered in Delaware. Delaware is known as a tax haven in the US because it only charges corporate tax on money earned in the state itself.
 
Celtique did not respond to a request for comment.
 
Third Energy, a UK-registered company, is 97 per cent owned by Barclays Bank via a holdings company called Third Energy Holdings, which is registered in the Caymans.
 
A spokesman for Third Energy said: “All of our companies are domiciled and pay tax

 

So 40% of the plundered nation's wealth goes overseas again. Voted for today and licences up for sale tomorrow - the sales have begun!

  • 1 month later...
Posted

According to The Guardian, this money is a blatant pay off to mainly conservative led councils as a way of heading off a revolt by 30 Tory MP's. These MP's were apparently set to cause quite a storm in their opposition to the local government finance settlement, which is due to be put to a vote.

 

Was Jesse one of them?? As a possible "PM" in waiting, he's not usually one to rock the boat....

 

Labour have pointed out that the five most deprived councils in the country - Middlesbrough, Hull, Knowsley,Liverpool and Manchester - will get nothing under this grant scheme. The top five least deprived - Hart, Wokingham, Chiltern, Waverley, and Elmbridge - will collectively receive 5.3 million.

 

David Cameron's own mother signed an anti cuts petition, which has generated quite a bit of negative publicity. Oxfordshire is now set to receive an extra nine million.

 

Quite a week for the Tories. The chancellor -  George Osborne's -  brother, psychiatrist Dr Adam Osborne, has also been struck off by the General Medical Council, after having a sexual relationship with a patient with mental health issues.

 

So that's both brothers guilty of screwing vulnerable members of society.....

Posted

Indeed, Denise.

 

Add in Jeremy Hunt, imposing his contract changes to the junior Doctors, it's been a busy few days for them....

 

And they wonder why they can't shake the tag line "The Nasty Party" off...

 

Give me Jeremy Corbyn and his principles any day of the week.

Posted

There is a petition now to get rid of Hunt already has over 100000 signatures

 

Off topic looking at Cameron  he looks very downcast is he on the skids?

 

I don't like or trust him but do have a modicom of sympathy for him he has had a hellish time so far this year he must already be ready for a holiday and I can quite understand now why he said he will not stand for another election.

Posted

Don't for one minute, waste sympathy on this man, Denise.

 

Everything that surrounds him, he has orchestrated.

 

The man is without morals, and bereft of principles. I have nothing but disdain for him.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

Predictably both Norman and Wiggin vote a massive FOR for this

 

They both voted through the disability cuts recently as well. Was this a 'whipped' vote ? 

 

I'm still not sure which side of the fence Jesse Norman is on about Brexit. But I haven't looked for a while. 

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