Best Year Ever for Liberal Democrats in Local By-Elections

The year since the last local election in May 2016 has been the best year EVER for Liberal Democrats in local by-elections, with a total of 33 net gains.

You can get involved in this success every week at the ALDC (Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors) offices in Manchester where they run a volunteer phone bank every Thursday evening, calling up voters in local by-elections around the country to help Lib Dem candidates win. Contact Jenny for more information.

Of course in Bury we have our OWN local by-election on 4 May 2017, Besses Ward in Whitefield with activity every day over the next month. Find out more by emailing Gavin. Donate to help Gavin win here.

Gender Pay Gap Reporting

A small, but important, measure which was championed by the Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government, came into effect last week. When Jo Swinson was Minister for Equalities, she introduced the requirement for companies with more than 250 employees to report on their gender pay gap (the difference between what men get paid and what women get paid).

In this article in on the Huffington Post website, Jo Swinson explains that the gender pay gap is not the same as equal pay:

“The media often mangles the distinction, so it’s not surprising many people confuse the two concepts. Equal Pay is when men and women are paid the same for doing the same work, and this has been a legal requirement for more than four decades. The Gender Pay Gap compares the average hourly pay for men and women. So most companies have a Gender Pay Gap driven by a concentration of men in senior, higher paid roles and women in junior, lower paid roles, but may not have an Equal Pay problem.”

She goes on to say:
“Transparency on the numbers means staff, shareholders and customers can hold companies to account on progress, so communicate with them your analysis of the problem and what you plan to do.

Gender pay gap reporting is not a panacea, but it is an important and helpful tool to bring urgency and accountability to efforts to tackle the entrenched problems of gender inequality in the workplace”.

First Ever Bury Pride – this Saturday

This Saturday is the first ever ‘Bury Pride event’. Bury Pride will support the LGBTQ+ community and celebrate equality and diversity right here in Bury. Bury Pride will be held on Saturday 8th April 2017 and will be absolutely FREE to all members of the community. You can register for your free ticket here: https://www.fatsoma.com/mobile/products/e2igalq4

A parade runs through Bury town centre. At The Elizabethan Suite, there will be around 30 stalls from a range of local LGBT and family-friendly businesses, offering products, information and merchandise.

Bury Pride is a family friendly affair, with activities and performances suitable for all ages. It’s bound to be a fantastic day out for everybody, whether you’re taking part in the parade, coming along to the party at the Elizabethan Suite, or just watching from the audience; the coming together of the Bury community to help break down barriers for the LBGTQ+ community will be a fantastic day in our local history.

The full programme for the event can be downloaded here.

GMSF Phase 2 Consultation DELAYED

The Council Leaders who sit on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority have delayed the next phase of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.

A revised version of Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, due out in March, has been delayed by six months. The proposals, which at present include plans to decimate Greater Manchester’s greenbelt, will now be out in <strong>September</strong>, with consultation period extended from six to 12 weeks.

There was a massive public response to the first stage of consultation with over 25,000 responses received. Many local people have campaigned against the proposals to destroy so much green belt land. Liberal Democrat councillors across Greater Manchester have used their local Council meetings to propose that the GMSF process be scrapped.

More information on this as soon as we have it.

<a href=”http://timpickstone.mycouncillor.org.uk/2016/10/21/massive-plans-to-build-on-green-belt/green-belt-mapjpg/” rel=”attachment wp-att-4328″><img class=”alignnone wp-image-4328″ src=”http://timpickstone.mycouncillor.org.uk/files/2016/10/Green-Belt-MapJPG.jpg” alt=”” width=”720″ height=”506″ /></a>

The full report being considered by the GMCA is <a href=”https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/1881/joint_gmca_and_agma_executive_-_31_march_2017_merged”>here</a> (it’s not very detailed). (Page 25)

Highlights are here.

Greater Manchester Mayoral Elections 4 May 2017

Residents will now be receiving polling cards for an extra election this year. Voters across Greater Manchester will be asked to vote for the first elected ‘Mayor of Greater Manchester’.

Voting takes place on Thursday 4 May 2017. If you don’t already have a postal vote but would like one, you can download form here. If you’re not registered to vote then you can find out how here.

People who already have postal votes will be sent postal votes for the Mayoral Election in late April 2017.

The ‘Greater Manchester Elects‘ website has basic information about the election.

 

The Liberal Democrat candidate in the election is Jane Brophy. Jane is an experienced councillor representing the Timperley area on Trafford Council. She works in the NHS and someone the Lib Dems in Bury have worked with over many years on campaigns together, for example on the GMSF, on Metrolink and on environmental issues.

Find out more about Jane on her website here.

 

 

Liberal Democrats call for ‘NHS Passport’ for the 59,000 EU Citizens who work in our NHS

The Liberal Democrats have called for an “NHS Passport” to secure the rights of the 59,000 EU citizens working in the NHS, as figures have revealed a sharp rise in nurses from the EU quitting the health service.

Over 2,700 EU nurses left the NHS in 2016, a 68% increase compared to two years ago. Separate figures from the Royal College of Nursing have shown the number of EU nationals registering as nurses in England has dropped by 92%, while there are 24,000 nurse jobs unfilled in the NHS.

Figures obtained by the Lib Dems show that 1,849 EU national left our local NHS Trust, Pennine Acute, in 2014, 2015, and 2016, including 558 nurses – one of the highest figures in the country.

The Liberal Democrats have called for an immediate guaranteed right to live and work in the UK for all EU citizens working in NHS and care services, in a motion passed by members at the party’s Spring Conference in York today. The motion also called for the urgent reinstatement of the nursing bursary to address the huge shortage of nurses in the NHS.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb commented:

“These shocking figures show you can’t have a hard Brexit and a strong NHS.

“It is vital that we reassure NHS staff and social care workers from the EU that they remain welcome and valued in the UK following Brexit.

“These people save lives, yet this Conservative government is treating them with careless disregard.

“NHS and care services would struggle to cope if significant numbers of doctors, nurses and NHS staff from the EU left.

“Theresa May must do the decent thing and ensure the right to remain for all EU citizens, with an immediate guarantee for those working in health and social care.

“It’s time to scrap GMSF” says Mayoral Candidate

JANE BROPHY, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester, is calling for the Greater Manchester Spacial Framework (GMSF) to be scrapped.

The GMSF process will only go ahead if all ten councils in Greater Manchester and the newly elected mayor vote in favour of it. If any one of the eleven deciding vote against the plans, then it will fall – and the Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate is now pledging to do just that.

Jane Brophy said: “The Government and Greater Manchester Combined Authority should have worked together with local councils, local people and local communities to ensure no more houses were built on our greenbelt until all other options were exhausted.

“There was no attempt to have any conversation with local people and their voices have been ignored. We now risk blindly destroying our green spaces and depriving our children of the areas to grow and play in.

“Before we open up the greenbelt for development we must bring empty homes back into use, develop every old mill building, empty warehouse, factory, brownfield space and derelict piece of land that we can.

“Only when all those options were exhausted should we have considered moving onto the greenbelt. But our voices have gone ignored for long enough and it’s now time to scrap this GMSF process.

“There was no discussion about where was going to be developed, and clearly no intention to begin any discussion.

“The GMSF has been top down, rather than from the bottom up. We need a plan that fully involves local people and their communities right from the start.

“This should have been about responsibly building affordable homes in areas that are near public transport and existing links, and it should be for local people in each area to decide the future of their community, not for a secret group at Manchester Town Hall to present a completed plan.

“Therefore, I am now withdrawing my support from the GMSF process and if elected I will vote to block the process, and work to ensure each and every local resident and local community is involved properly in the process to build the much-needed homes.”

More information www.janebrophy.com

 

Councillor John Leach writes – Help save fire-rescue hero from deportation

By Manchester Lib Dem Councillor John Leach:

If I asked you to imagine your ideal community, who and what would be in it? What kind of people would you choose to have as your neighbour? Would you want a neighbour who would be there in your moment of need – maybe even go as far as risking their life for you?

Well, you may have heard that just over a month ago, a resident here in Manchester did just that.

Robert Chilowa ran to the scene of a ferocious blaze engulfing a neighbour’s house after hearing screams of terror. He rescued two young children from the flames and assisted another who had broken her ankle in the disaster that had already claimed the lives of their grandparents. His heroic efforts were the only saving grace in an otherwise tragic event.

Now, I’ll take a pretty good guess that you’d want this man as your neighbour, right? Well, despite braving the devastating fire in Withington, rightly garnering national headlines, he has now been threatened with deportation.

Mr. Chilowa received a letter from the Home Office informing him he had no right to stay and was to be deported back to Zimbabwe. Mr. Chilowa is a member of the political opposition party in Zimbabwe, and could face persecution for his political activity, were he to be forced to return.

Deporting this man would be an act of gross injustice, critically undermining our sense of humanity and our commitment to inclusion and tolerance. As a Liberal Democrat, as a local representative, as a Mancunian, as a citizen of the UK and the world, I will not stand by and watch this happen.

After meeting and speaking with Robert last week, I wrote a letter to Home Secretary Amber Rudd demanding that he be allowed to continue living here in Withington.

Yesterday, I made my letter public. And since then, more than 700 people have backed me.

An extension to his deportation deadline was granted, but a final hearing will be held this week to determine whether he can stay, and I need you to stand with me.

I need you to stand up for an open, tolerant and united country, and I need you to do it right now.

Because this may be happening in Manchester, but it is of national significance – just think about the kind of message we would send out if he were forced to leave the UK? Right now, whilst a family mourns, this Government, instead of lauding and thanking a hero, is trying to deport him.

I need you to add your name to my campaign. Please, go here, add your name and share it as far as you possibly can.

We need an emergency £4 billion for the NHS and Social Care in tomorrow’s Budget.

The Liberal Democrats have called for an extra £4bn funding in this week’s Budget for the NHS and Social Care services to tackle the crisis emerging across the country.

Cuts to local government have hit social care badly, with more than a million older people having un-met care needs and thousands stuck in hospital for days after their treatment has finished because the care they need once they return home is not available.

Alongside this, the NHS has seen rising demand for treatment and needs more funding to deliver vital improvements such as achieving equality of access to timely treatment for those with mental ill health, and digitising the NHS to improve care and to make the system more efficient.

The Liberal Democrats believe we need a long term solution for funding Health and Social Care which will include raising additional revenue for these vital services from taxation.

The party had established an independent expert panel who will make evidence based recommendations on how this can be delivered in the fairest way.

Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron said:
“People across the country know the cost of underfunded health and social care services. It is the longer waiting lists and the trolleys in hospital corridors. It is the shorter care visits and the loved ones stranded in hospital because their local authority hasn’t got the resource to provide the care they need.

“The Government cannot continue to avoid this issue. More money is needed for NHS and care and only the Liberal Democrats are being upfront with people about the tough decisions that need to be taken and that will include fair tax rises.

“This looks like it will only get worse, with Theresa May’s reckless dealings with Europe hitting our economy, meaning even less resources will be available. The Government needs to face facts – you can’t have a strong NHS and care service with a hard Brexit.”

Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb said:
“It is time for a new deal for our NHS and care services.

“Anyone using the NHS and care services knows they need more money and that is what the Liberal Democrats will deliver. We will set out a long term plan for funding, which will include fair tax rises. However we also know that services are at crisis point. Patients can’t wait any longer. That is why the government must put in this upfront investment without delay.

“Patients and their families are fed up with politicians sidestepping the difficult questions when it comes to improving the NHS and social care services. I am determined to set out a bold, new deal and a vision that will safeguard Britain’s health and social care services for generations to come”.

Liberal Democrats are calling for an injection of £4 billion extra funding for 2017-18 and that it should be delivered as follows, to ensure it has maximum impact and reaches those services where it is needed most:

£2bn additional funding for social care
£1.5bn additional transformation funding, to deliver modernisation and improve efficiency in the NHS
£500m additional dedicated funding for mental health