WHO YOU would vote for
if there was an election tomorrow?
All the polls
indicate a substantial Conservative majority but we have a two-party system and
we need an alternative government. Sadly, the Labour party is a long way from
providing a serious alternative and in fact are not even capable of providing
effective opposition.
Has anything you have
seen or heard from the Party Conferences that changed your mind, strengthened
or weakened your support for any of the parties?
Understandably it's
the leader's speech that receives the most coverage and we now have a much more
comprehensive picture of Theresa May's style of Conservatism. My assessment of
the mood of the Party is that it is delighted and relieved that it now has more
of a feel of the traditional Conservative Party, David Cameron can be credited
with making the Tories electable in the political era dominated by Tony Blair.
Every period demands our politicians to redefine their party based on the
dominate theme and public concerns of the time.
What Theresa May made
clear was that she recognises the mood of the country and has adapted the
Government's policies to address that mood. The challenge as always is
converting these aspirations into actions. There will be events completely
beyond our Government's control that come along and knock them off course but
knowing Mrs May's determination and looking at the quality of those around her
I'm confident that a lot will be achieved.
Speaking of those
around the Prime Minister one thing that is helpful at party conferences is
that, since you are spending three or four days more or less locked away with
other politicians, supporters and those mysterious people the 'spads.' That's
the jargon for special advisor something that all ministers have and rightly
so. The most senior of these is the man dubbed by the media as the man behind
the throne. It is Nick Timothy who is the PM's Chief of Staff. I had a brief
chat with him on Sunday evening. He's clearly going to have considerable
influence so it was worthwhile flagging up with him the issues facing our area.
Apart from getting to know more of these influential people I also took part in
a number of fringe meetings; one about the Northern Powerhouse, another about
the importance of transport connections and one about devolution of power from
central government. The devolution debate is of particular relevance to
Lincolnshire as we are currently involved in a process that will, hopefully,
bring about a Greater Lincolnshire Combined Authority and an elected mayor to
pull together the differing priorities from around the county.
The meeting was dominated
by councillors – no surprise there – but it highlighted how some of our elected
representatives are looking inward rather than outward to the communities they
represent. There was too much talk of structures. The fact is that the public
are not concerned whether it's the District Council or the County Council who
empty the bins, make sure the street lights come on or fill the potholes. What
matters is that these things get done. Thankfully in North and North East
Lincolnshire we have unitary councils rather than the two-tier structure.
It's the fringe
meetings that are far more interesting than what takes place in the main
auditorium which is just a series of speeches from leading figures and
important though that is when you are the governing power it is on the fringe
that the more lively debate takes place.
Back in the
constituency after the trip to Birmingham it was encouraging on Thursday to
visit two new businesses.
The local economy is
still expanding and despite the inevitable setbacks more jobs are being created
and opportunities for our young people though there remains a gap in that we
still aren't producing enough young people with the skills that they require
for many of our industries.
Yes, there have been
improvements but as employees repeatedly remind me there is more to be done and
I will be discussing the issue with the Skills Minister and the Humber Local
Enterprise Partnership who are specifically charged with addressing skills.
