Made In Preston – the blog

The government announced its proposed 250mph High Speed Rail link plan today with a Y shaped network. The line to Birmingham from Euston is to be first followed by a line to Manchester and a separate one from Birmingham to Sheffield and Leeds. With the first full speed trains running all the way to Birmingham around 2027.

Sounds great but still a lot of questions to be asked. 

What about the full capability link to Scotland.  Will it go up the west or east coast or both or remain a slower line. Liverpool is on a spur from Manchester so will Glasgow be on a spur from Edinburgh via Newcastle on the east coast.  That could mean Preston missing out. 

Protests from people living on the route will be considered with one person in the Chilterns saying they aren’t convinced of its value – yet living only 20 miles from London it has no value to them. Although I wouldn’t want the line near us particularly if it spoilt nice areas of green.  The M40 cuts through the Chilterns and has created an ugly gash in Englands green and pleasant, lets do better than that.

The Conservatives are listening to the people on the route and looking at a line via Heathrow.   That seems to have some sense as cutting out flights is one of its purposes. Although  is a line via Heathrow less politically messy for the Conservatives as it would run further west.

The other issue is the timeframe. It’s so far in the future that it might be overtaken by technology.  The Conservatives have said they’ll pull it 2 years forward which sounds better but not good enough.  It should be running to Manchester in 2020 at the latest.

The technology will probably all be imported into the country that built the first trains. Surely we can do better than that, where are the British companies that can do this.

Other countries are now building trains that run on magnetic fields and by 2027 will the HST begin to look like the stagecoach and horses. The canals and original railways were built quicker.

 The line is planned to within 5 metres it is said so lots to think about, need more information.

Council taxes have hardly increased in 2010 / 11.  That appears to be good news although I’m a bit sceptical about why, just before a General Election. Mustn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

Preston has increased its Band D from £1566 to £1577.  Doesn’t sound a big increase but it sounds like a lot of money. Considering it’s a tax paid after tax. Add on your income tax, National Insurance and it really costs around £2000 per household at the mid-band, D. Some houses pay twice that and there are proposals from the Liberal Democrats to add an extra tax for houses over £1m.  They also propose a local tax that will get rid of council tax.

Fire and Police are about £200 for all regions of Lancashire.

Preston has its own rate and that is added to Lancashire’s which is £1108, unchanged.  Unitary councils like Blackburn have the one rate which at Band D is £1476, up £30 this year.  While Blackpool is £1516, up £40.

Other parts of Lancashire like South Ribble pay £1521, Fylde £1486. Although many of the rural villages have Parish Councils that charge up to £30 on top of that.

Overall the people of Preston pay the highest council tax in the region.

The second article on how parties could affect the Preston area and Lancashire if they obtained power or held influence after the General Election.  UKIP are today’s subject as they were in the news last week after a speech by their leader that said Belgium wasn’t a proper country.

The main policy and purpose of UKIP is to leave the EU and reach a free trade agreement.  It isn’t easy to say how that will impact the region particularly as we are the furthest away from the continent, although close to Ireland.  Although it could be said that free movement of people across EU borders will no longer be a right and therefore migration patterns will change.   Most of the immigration in this area has not been from the EU so it will have little effect.  Although it seems locals don’t want to do the jobs EU migrants are doing and if they do it increases costs.  So whether increasing costs will drive work elsewhere, and if there would be an increase in illegal and non-EU labour to make up the numbers is an unanswered question.

One of the policies that might be good for the area is a 40% increase in the defence budget as there is a large regional defence industry. Although it isn’t said where the money will go, I assume home defence will be the main agenda. 

Also the policy of building nuclear power stations will retain existing Lancashire jobs at Heysham and Salwick and create new ones for the replacement stations that will be required soon.

The policy to replace VAT with local tax could have mixed effect.  If local areas are able to keep their sales taxes it should benefit areas containing businesses, although it would be subject to central government agreement no doubt. Councils with mainly residential property will not have as great an income from this so whether that effects them isn’t clear.  It could start a tax war between say Preston and Blackburn to attract trade. Although it would have to be a significant change to make effect.

Other policies include scrapping inheritance tax, allowing doctors to work as many hours as needed and having elected health boards. How many workers want their hours to be unrestricted? Personally I’d prefer to be treated by a doctor who hasn’t been up all night.  Notice there is no mention of scrapping the 48hr working limit for everyone else.  Scrapping Human Rights laws, increasing prisons and local voting on police priorities are listed.

UKIP’s other polices include combining income tax and national insurance and raising the tax threshold to £11,500, which sounds a good idea, both of which are similar to Liberal Democrat policies.

It could be said that overseas investment will be less if the UK isn’t in the EU.  Many companies invest here in expectation of it being a place with equal access to EU markets but generally with a more business friendly climate.  Also without a UK influence the EU could take measures against UK interests, perhaps deliberately, without us having a say.  Britains standing in the world might be affected by not being in the EU with the move towards large power blocks.  Some say Australia for example doesn’t have such an arrangement but Britain has historically been at the top table and might find itself squeezed unless being outside the EU creates a resurgence.
 
Overall an interesting package of populous measures designed to appeal to those who don’t like bureaucracy and don’t like the EU.   They are similar to what many Conservative voters would like.  It could therefore be said a UKIP vote is likely to help Labour, a triumph of unintended consequences.

An election is coming so what will some of the parties be offering to the region.  Starting with the Green Party. They deserve a couple of seats in Parliament, I think. 

You expect the Green Party to support green policies. Yes, wind power, insulation and waste management are high on the agenda.  Along with quite high social provision and low defence provision. 

Who could argue with wind, insulation and waste measures? Insulation seems to be one of the biggest factors in reducing energy bills. It isn’t very glamorous though and isn’t going to gain technological credibility so doesn’t get a lot of press. 

All those windmills.  Are they becoming a bit of a blight already?  They’re often not turning, so not very dependable. For the region with its seas, hills and facing the prevailing wind we can expect a lot more who-ever is in power but even more with the Greens. We can also expect Heysham Power Stations to close and the fuel site at Salwick.

Waste? All that plastic packaging and milk cartons. Surely it should be discouraged.  Some countries already re-cycle twice as much as the UK without too much difficulty.

Another Green policy is an increase in public transport.  Not too long ago their promise of building 30,000 new buses would sound like manna from heaven for this region, Leyland,  but now there is hardly any bus building except some body work at East Lancs Coachbuilders, Optare.  

There wasn’t much written about reducing car use but cutting rail fares by  30% and expanding public transport implies a reduction in car use. I’m not convinced about a 30% cut in rail fares. A cut from £10 to £7 is only marginally advantageous and if I was spending that every day, a cut from £50 to £35 wouldn’t be life changing. I’m against encouraging distance commuting so in some ways an increase in fares might help that.  I have free bus use now and have never used it, so cars will need to be penalised. 

The 30,000 buses are an interesting concept. British jobs for British workers?  Including steel from Middlesbrough for windmills and buses, although probably it’s the wrong steel and too little, too late and steel making isn’t green. 

Taxes on aviation, like VAT on aviation fuel, and restrictions on new runways coupled with reductions in rail fares, might create an advantage to resorts like Blackpool.  Especially if the pound sank because of the financial controls the Greens promise. 

On defence the Greens are looking at a defensive posture and only venturing overseas under the UN. As UN don’t usually use more than Land Rovers and light armour you could say no overseas capability will be needed.  Is that goodbye to Ascension, Falklands and perhaps Gibraltar.  Aircraft Carriers and their aircraft and probably a lot of the navy wouldn’t be needed. Trident is definitely out.  I wouldn’t hold much hope for the aircraft industry in Lancashire or ship industry at Barrow.  As an area with a large defence and nuclear industry how many defence workers does it take to insulate one loft.

The Greens are also big on social welfare including workers and human rights and a citizens wage. 

There are other policies about building solar arrays in Africa and using high voltage d.c. transmission lines to bring in the power.  As well as local generation.  It’s not long ago I was reading about the advantages of the a.c. distribution system so I must re-visit that. Surely a policy like that couldn’t be written without engineering awareness. 

The Greens also support the EU, but not as a nation, and support international co-operation, who doesn’t.

As you’d expect, some big changes would result and I was a bit surprised that they seem quite left wing when out of the major elements of the ‘green zone’.   I’d support a ‘greener’ track in many aspects and use of local producers and local workers appeals. There’s always a downside to this type of social engineering in that if basic stuff becomes more expensive you’ve less to spend on enjoyment. In conclusion they won’t get my vote but have my support as a pressure group.

The starting grid for the General Election is taking form.  What can be expected in the region?

In 2005 the results were:

Preston – Labour – majority 9,407.  Achieved 50% of the vote.

South Ribble – Labour – majority 2,184. Achieved 43% of the vote.

Ribble Valley – Conservative – majority 14,171. Achieved 52% of the vote.

Fylde – Conservative – majority 12,459. 53%.

Lancaster and Wyre - Conservative – majority 4,171. 43%.

West Lancashire – Labour  – majority 6,084. 48%. 

Chorley – Labour – majority 7,625. 50%.

Since October 2007 the Conservatives have been well ahead in all the major opinion polls but the lead has decreased over the last 6 months. Whether shocks are in store due to expenses and apathy, hard to say. 

Some of  the seats are being changed. For example Lancaster and Wyre will become Wyre and North Preston. Ribble Valley will extend  into South Ribble and an element of Preston constituency south of the river. South Ribble will move south.

Assuming there will be an overall swing to the Conservatives only one constituency on the list above looks likely to change: South Ribble. According to UKPollingReport this seat is Conservative target number 50 and the boundary change is mildly advantageous to Labour.

Chorley is regarded as a bellweather seat that since 1964 has changed with the government. Yet it is 152 on the Conservative targets which would signal a comfortable C win. The boundary changes are said to be mildly advantageous to Labour according to UKPollingReport.

West Lancashire is Conservative target 134.

The Conservatives need to win an extra 117 seats to get an overall majority. On current trends 80 seats looks more likely, but it’s all to play for.

The Coastal Management Plan for the next 100 years has been issued and the coast around the Ribble estuary is largely to be protected except for an area on the south bank that will be allowed to make a managed change.

A bit of a surprise as 10 years ago it was common to see maps showing Preston on the coast with the Fylde underwater except for a few islands by 2050.  Ten years on maybe the rate of change doesn’t make it sound probable anymore.

Reading that further does it make the climate change warnings overall seem a bit more distant and with a lesser scale.

Todays Times newspaper names Preston as one of the top ten most resilient places in the UK during the recession.  The story is from a report by a group called the Centre for Cities. It says the claimant count has increased by 1.3% (2,882 people) in Preston between February 2008 and November 2009. This compares with the lowest, Cambridge, with 0.8% increase and the highest, Hull, with 3.7%.  Surprisingly perhaps Blackpool was slightly better than Preston while Wigan and Rochdale did quite a bit worse.

Without reading the report there are a lot of unanswered questions. For example, the report says the government should put money into Swindon because of its high increase.  Yet not long ago Swindon was the place with zero unemployment. Is it not more important to say how many are claiming, not just the change since 2008.

Swindon has lost 3,813 jobs which although over twice the percentage of Preston is a lot less than double the number. If Preston had 3.1% it would be 6,800 and one of the highest numbers. So percentage isn’t telling a full story either.

Why are Preston and Blackpool relatively unchanged? Is it that many people are working in the public sector or on government projects?  If so, what happens if  the government starts cutting the public sector later and the money has gone into Swindon.

If Preston was one of the worst the increase would be over double which would be another 3,000 on the dole. A lot of people.  Take Birmingham, it has an increase of 41,000. That is serious stuff.

So to the 2,882 who have lost their jobs and probably some more who don’t claim, this ‘resilience’ is not really good news and they’ve as much right to government help as anyone else. The M4 corridor is a job magnet, Swindon will soon be doing fine without help.

The High Speed 2 Company submitted its plans to Lord Adonis who will declare the preferred routes in March 2010.  To date the proposal has shown a line up the west coast via Preston to Glasgow but yesterdays newspapers seemed cooler on this idea.  The routes being showed seem to favour going to Leeds from Manchester and then to Newcastle with Glasgow being fed via Edinburgh. With a route via Nottingham, Sheffield to Leeds as well. One paper said the Conservatives favoured the east coast route to Scotland, missing Preston, and that Lord Adonis is trying to get all party agreement on the routes.

Politics will play as big a part as economics in the decisions. Already noises are being made about damage to the countryside and cities are vying to get a station on the route. This matches the French experience where too many stations were built as a political sop and made the service less attractive.

The timescale for the service is also much too prolonged.  To say the service will start to Birmingham in 2025 means the north won’t be linked possibly for 30 years.  By then the technology will be on the verge of obsolescence.  High speed rail has been around for 40 years now, after 70 years most transport technologies are looking old.

Making the service available in under 10 years could bring a boom. With London 1 hour from the northern cities it could transform work and leisure.

If Preston doesn’t get this line it will damage the local economy and the north west beyond Manchester will become a remote area. This space needs watching.

Yesterday, 9th Dec, the Chancellor stood up in Parliament and said in his pre-budget announcement;

‘I can tell the House today that I have also given the go-ahead to further plans for rail electrification between Liverpool, Manchester and Preston. The SoS for Transport will announce further details shortly.’

This has been widely interpreted in the Preston region as meaning the line between Preston, Bolton and Manchester will be electrified.

Some are saying it will happen within 4 years. Others are saying it might mean the line between Manchester and Liverpool with the link into the West Coast Main Line.  Even more extreme, others are saying plans have the go-ahead not the actual work. 

Then there are the pre-election conspiracy theorists who see the line going through key Labour seats but in reality it being a pointless piece of electrification that won’t happen.

It does appear most trains on this line go on to non-electrified lines that weren’t mentioned, such as Preston – Blackpool, Oxenholme – Windermere, Manchester  -  Buxton. So unless a re-jig of the services is afoot it isn’t clear that this will be any more than a diversion line and only benefitting  Manchester – Scotland trains.  That would only need the extra line just south of Wigan electrifying not the Preston to Bolton section.

The full pre-budget statement appeared to contain more proposed spending than you would expect in an almost bankrupt economy so the conspiracy theorists have some credibility.

A full statement is promised next week, so we look forward to that with a mixture of optimism and scepticism.

Watched John Prescott on TV last night with his wife on the subject of north v south.  Quite like John Prescott he’s a down to earth type who can stand his corner, although him and his wife especially like their fancy trimmings.

The programme touched on a few things that I’ve often thought such as the north grew out of industry and now the industry is gone what is the future.  Does it have a meaning?  A study was discussed that said some towns – I noticed Blackpool, Wigan and Blackburn on the list – should be left to rot as their purpose was gone.  To which John said if those people that could moved out you’d be left with the old and the unwanted which would lead to major social problems. So jobs must be moved to people. Although maybe his social problems could also include a fear of extreme political parties getting seats in parliament.

Yet these jobs need to have some meaning and ambition.  The region needs to have a meaning and some symbolic industries yet it seems hard to imagine what that is at present except for a mixed portfolio of foreign owned industries.  The few major industries remaining include defence and chemicals. Some headquarters need to be located in the region. The only ones I can think of are the Co-op which isn’t industrial and Pilkingtons which somehow managed to be taken by over a smaller  Japanese company. After 12 years of a government that you might think would try to spread wealth around the country it seems the north has a fairly transitory base and the only businesses based here were devastated by the credit crunch and allowed to collapse - Bradford & Bingley, Northern Rock to name two. A bit depressing if you let it be.  In someways a case for a breakaway country from the south could be made but I’d have no confidence of its success and I’d imagine it would be an unhappy socialist enclave. Although some Welsh and Scots think they can do it and I’d think the Welsh are further downhill than the north. So like the recession maybe this is a low point and the future is up but some higher than others.

Interesting week.  Irish vote to sign the EU Reform Treaty also known  as the Lisbon Treaty. It’s now a bit of a tightrope for the Conservatives as to whether the Poles and Czechs sign before an election in the UK. If the Conservatives win and it’s not signed then a referendum is likely in the UK. Some people think a referendum should be held anyway. The trouble with this is that the objectors are making a lot of noise but it isn’t clear if they are representative when it comes to the crunch.  Personally I think there should not be a referendum on this treaty as I’ve not been convinced it makes a significant change to the sovereignty of the UK.

The IMF is looking to reform to be more representative and it has been suggested that countries like the UK might lose their seat. I guess this could also be a precursor to losing a Security Council seat as well. On the other hand the UK is the 7th biggest economy and has political and military influence that is significant both historically and from it’s position as a major member of the EU. If the G20 is symbolic of how these things run it’s a bit of an odd grouping as the 20 aren’t the biggest in any one sense so even in an economic grouping financial clout isn’t the main factor. There is nothing to suggest at the moment that the UK will cease to be in the top 10 economies for many years so how any restructuring occurs is subject to debate.  Although personally I favour the EU representing Europe in duality for now but perhaps taking over from individual nations at some point. Although for me it’s complicated as I’m pro-pound, pro-EU and think David Cameron is OK but I’m not certain.

The SNP are demanding a seat in any debate of leaders that is shown in Scotland. I agree with this. It is probable that the SNP will be the biggest party in Scotland after the General Election and as such they should be given equal billing in Scotland.   The Conservatives will likely get into power with a predominantly Southern England base and although this might once have seemed a non-issue, nowadays it questions the validity of the electoral process. Gordon Brown has hinted at some kind of reform but I wouldn’t like to hold my breath even if he was likely to win.

Another interesting point is that the SNP are looking to hold a referendum on Scottish Independance. It isn’t clear if they have enough power to do that at present or if they’d win. But if a Conservative government was elected by Southern England with no seats in Scotland I’d think it would strengthen the SNP.  Although, as a side point, is it possible in some cases for votes to be split between SNP and Labour to give the seat to the Conservatives. So going back to the original point in this post, assuming Scotland became independant and knocked 8% off the size of the UK then it might reduce the ability to defend the seats at the IMF and UN. On the other hand the World Bank forecasts that even with a 10% reduction the UK will still be the 7th largest in 5yrs time. Although Brazil, Russia and India are on a trajectory that might change that in 10yrs, but there are so many if’s here. So the Scottish effect although significant isn’t critical for now in powerplay. Although I’d think it will have some effect.

BAE SYSTEMS, the biggest high tech employer in Lancashire and the UK, is in the news today. The Serious Fraud Office are saying they will ask the Attorney General to press charges with a punitive £1000 million fine for offering alleged incentives to obtain business in 2 EU and 2 African countries.   This is on top of the talk of defence cuts that might injure BAE.

The Lib Dem spokesman is in for the kill, appearing on every broadcast, adamant that this is shocking behaviour although his opinion on other similar shocking behaviour isn’t widely known so maybe he doesn’t like the defence industry.

Just before an election will Gordon Brown fire these arrows into the heart of Britains largest manufacturing company or is he more pragmatic?  BAE SYSTEMS has changed its management and is reported to be agreeable to some compromise.

In the last 10 years large British manufacturing businesses have nearly all disappeared or been taken over by foreign companies.  An injured company with good products is prey.

Take the water companies they were said to be too fat so they got a windfall tax. Next thing they are owned by the French.  How much will BAE be damaged, the shares went down 4% today which doesn’t seem too much although they had already fallen in the last few weeks.  How much will this injure the company and who would be interested in taking the business or breaking it up?

The Evening Post alerted me to the Competition Commission (CC) report issued on 3rd September 2009 relating to Stagecoach taking over Preston Bus Limited. The CC have quite a good website and there is a lot of stuff related to this inquiry. In fact it’s a very big read with a few hundred pages on this case alone.

The output says they provisionally believe there will be a significant lessening of competition (SLC) in commercial bus services  but not in tendered bus services after submissions from a broad base of involved parties.

On the face of it that seems fairly obvious. As does the statment in the report that Preston Bus and other local operators feared competition from Stagecoach and so were restricted in opening any routes that might be thought to be threatening. Also that Stagecoach feared Preston Bus being taken over by another large operator. Although that isn’t to say the report isn’t worthwhile as it contains interesting information that would not have otherwise been public.

The report says the Stagecoach Frenchwood garage was one of the least profitable so in my opinion it isn’t hard to imagine that Stagecoach would seek ways to improve it although at the time maybe Preston Bus didn’t know Stagecoach had such a strong need.  Small bus operators are bound to be at a disadvantage against larger companies. The only protection they could have would either need to be legislative or through loyalty of customers. In this case the people of Preston seem to have voted to travel on Stagecoach buses to a level that made Preston Bus struggle. Unfortunately it wouldn’t need that many to have done that.

There is local pride, sentimentality and a sense of control in having the name of the city on the buses but when it comes to business those factors don’t pay any bills.  The provision of bus services is one where competition is fierce and the players are circling each other all the time. That no-one else was willing to buy Preston Bus for a decent price during the competition, as stated in the report, meant that Stagecoach had played their hand well.

My own opinion is that Stagecoach got a bad reputation in the early days of deregulation when they were building up their business but since then they have maintained a decent fleet and provide a good service. Any business is going to look to make the best of its resources and in general if you are not growing you are shrinking in the world of consolidating globalism. Preston Bus was quite vulnerable and Stagecoach are operating on a national and international scale. On the other hand I would have liked the buses to have kept their livery and the badge of Preston on their side. A world of bland uniformity might be our destiny as we pop out of WH Smith and onto the Stagecoach in Lancaster and for a moment thought you were in Preston. How much do you want to pay for diversity or are council tax and bus fares high enough?

Vince Cable was on the BBC just now getting a bit shirty that he was being asked questions about his supplementary tax on houses valued over £1million. As I’m against any new tax that brings a foot in the door for future increases I thought the BBC reporter was asking good questions.

The other thin end of the wedge is the clear statement that a form of council tax will be used to reduce income tax which is the opposite principle to what many people want, e.g. road tax pays for roads.

The other side is that there is some truth in the Liberal Democrat position.  Most people pay council tax on a sliding scale but when it gets to a certain point it ceases to slide. There is no council tax band above H which in general means a cap of £3,000 per household on council tax.

A halfpenny on the increment above £1m, say it was on a house worth £2m would be £5,000. If you live in a £2m house £5,000 a year or £400 a month is big enough to prick I’d think, coupled with the new 50p tax rate in some cases. So it’s too much. Therefore I’d support additional council tax bands with an increment of a few hundred between each as now although there are losers and exceptions with whatever system.

I vote that the Sage of Twickenham has got it wrong on this matter.

The Lib Dems are also supporting Local Income Tax. This can be paid as an increment on Income Tax. I’m not sure where the break even point is. Is it that a house with 1 average wage taxpayer breaks even with the current system? Those with large incomes or say 2-3 low to middling incomes will pay more. Sounds a bit iffy.

Then the Lib Dems want to make the tax threshold £10,000 so presumably you won’t pay council tax if you earn less than £10,000.  I’ve long thought the tax threshold way too low and for Labour to actually make poorer people pay more tax by removing the 10p rate is astounding.

To take this a bit further the Lib Dems also support the re-valuation of houses for council tax purposes in England, if council tax continues. Personally I fully support this as our house was right at the bottom of a band. Although in Wales it turned out that most houses went up a band. If the charge on bands came down I’d say that was OK as the overall tax demand should not change. In Wales it appears to have been a money grabbing exercise. Can this be avoided in England. Probably not.

In general the Lib Dems have some interesting points here although I’m not sure whether I agree with the way they are being implemented or if they are safe to be implemented. I’ve never voted LD and doubt I ever will as they’re soft on too many subjects, although they have moved in a more flavourful direction.

I heard it on Radio Lancashire, the government have announced that a public inquiry is to be held into whether Preston should be allowed to have a project as large as the Tithebarn. In effect the government are sort of putting Prestons investment onto a back burner. Even in these times when money is too hard to mention and it will create good jobs in the short term.

Like the Casino announcement in Blackpool there is a Manchester element in this as people from Manchester have been players in both judgements.  To cross the path of Labours pet city, Manchester, and a town with a senior minister as MP, Blackburn,  is opposition that Preston will find difficult.

Sounds like there might be a new government before the inquiry is finished so it will be too late for a cost cutting exercise to save £800,000. Although knowing the cynicism of pubic financing the inquiry will probably be cancelled and counted as an £800,000 ‘cut’.

On the other hand I’ve never been fully convinced of the project as I’m suspicious of developers who like the bankers see only money as an outcome. I guess I’d be sympathetic to that except that as you get older, say 50ish, you begin to realise that the visible trail from long ago to now has a value as well.   Even so a Public Inquiry costing £800,000 and taking a long time seems extravagent.

I was reading an article by Ed Milliband saying smart meters will give us a responsive more efficient electricity grid, enable billing without a meter reader and for consumers to be aware of what they using. All this at a cost of a few £bn.

Maybe we’re unusual but I can’t imagine any savings in our house. I know the hot water, freezer, electric cooker, tv, pc and lights use electricity.  We don’t leave switches or heat only the air. My own concern is that someone said that a person in Sweden saved 15% of their fuel, but that this was the only person and they left the fire on all day.

I just can’t see how reducing meter men and getting adjustable bills can be worth the cost.  The power companies are pretty good at regulating output and it’s a blunt instrument with whole power stations going on and off.   They did say that it would allow people to feed into the grid, although I would have thought that these exceptions would buy their own meter. If this is so good then presumably the power companies are funding it at no extra cost to anyone?

The other device I saw advertised was a voltage regulator that claims to reduce bills by reducing your voltage to 230Volts. It was aimed at businesses and domestic. In our house maybe our TV will work on 230V but our immersion heater will just give out less power and so be on longer. The freezer might work the same at 230V as it said motors show savings. At a cost of £300 to £400 installed that’s a years electricity for us and it would probably take over 10 years to pay back, if ever. Some hard facts about savings on different appliances would be useful.

I was reading some of the fuss from Alan Duncans statement that MP’s are on rations. It isn’t clear if he’s speaking for himself or for MP’s in general.

The economy is a mess and over 2 million are out of work including a lot of youngsters, also MP’s have mis-used their expenses. You might also think an MP would have a mission and salary might only be an issue if you could earn massively more. Also the pension and expenses are generous but the job can be consuming and precarious.

So what should an MP earn?

Someone who earns 50 to 65,000 a year is probably titled something like ‘Head of ….’, just below director.  Better than most but not top dog. So you could say the salary and pension isn’t bad for an ordinary MP without any special responsibilities many of who probably wouldn’t reach that level.  Although attracting top calibre people might be  a problem without the mission factor and I’m not aware of any grading or fast tracking.

So without going into much depth or even understanding it too much I’d conclude that the salary package is reasonable for most MP’s but needs to have recognition for performance in both government and opposition. Some kind of grading.

Alan Duncan is a very visible MP, and maybe that doesn’t make him any better than someone who is great for their constituents, but we are pleased when our MP’s excel on the national level.  So his personal case is good,  just badly timed,  and he should be forgiven.  Probably that wouldn’t be so for about 500 MP’s out of the 645.  Maybe more.

Considering the MP’s in the areas around Preston: Mark Hendrick, David Borrow, Michael Jack, Ben Wallace, Nigel Evans, Rosie Cooper. I wouldn’t say much for or against them but they tend to being worker bees for who the remuneration package is probably fair. Mark Hendrick has got a special role which might give him a bit more. Nigel Evans raises his head from time to time but can’t say I hear much of the others even though one of them is my MP.

As a postscript. It wasn’t apparant on national news but Nigel Evans MP for Ribble Valley was on the secretly taken video and in the Lancashire Evening Post is reported saying he can’t manage on his salary or words to that effect. He is also reported as saying it was a joke. My own opinion is that it sounds so ridiculous that I’d agree it was a joke although I can understand people doubting it based on other remarks MP’s have made. However like Alan Duncan, Nigel Evans is a visible MP and seems well meaning so I’d give him the benefit of any doubt.

I don’t like putting national stuff on here but sometimes I get a bit fired up.  So a note on a couple of things that came out yesterday.  Lets see if these are storms in teacups or just a further step up the stairway of public revulsion. I think the dog has now got a bad name and somehow is ignoring the signs of bad house training.

The Speaker of the House of Commons was selected last night. John Bercow a Conservative was voted in by Labour. So we’ve had MP’s voting that the Freedom of Information Act doesn’t apply to them. Exaggerated expenses. Now when everyone is distrusting MP’s the man selected to sort it out is one who has paid back several thousands of pounds, no-one has heard of and only 3 in his own party voted for him. Does this seem suspicious?

Number 2 event is the new chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland will be paid around £7m in bonuses if he meets certain targets which seem to be mainly focussed on short term gain. We’ve all been told that short term gain and large bonuses were the root cause of the banking problems. Does this sound like nothing has changed after all the moralising and £bn’s of pounds of taxpayers money? This man is tasked with getting the share price to 70p so taxpayers can make a profit which sounds laudible but is it more likely with the bonus? Does the bonus take away all scruples so he’ll work 24/7, sack people and do inhuman things to achieve this goal?  I thought it probably wouldn’t. Is there more that we don’t know about?

Is the world going mad or do we need a major change? I’m not thinking a General Election will help as I don’t see anyone who looks clean.  Maybe Monster Raving Lunatic, click below.

http://www.omrlp.com/

Bob Ainsworth appointed Minister of Defence. Time was when this was a very big appointment. Now the defence budget is much smaller than the social budgets.

It’s still big to Preston though if you work at BAE SYSTEMS. The minister can influence where money is spent and with the navy looking out for expensive Carriers and Trident replacements it competes for budget with the F35 Lightning II and Eurofighter and their developments.

Bob Ainsworth is a Trade Union Labour person from Coventry.  He did a sponsored activity with someone from a carbon fibre company in Coventry so there might be some link to aircraft. I did read in one paper that there is a fear he won’t be as strong against the treasury as previous ministers. Although we can only wait and see. Moneys too tight to mention anyway. Typhoon Tranche 3 is being negotiated and pressure from partner governments is significant.

After Thursdays election Lancashire County Council now comprises: Con 51, Lab 16, Lib Dem 10, Independant 3, Green 2, BNP 1, Idle Toad 1.  35 seats changed hands.

The Conservatives said they’d not increase Council Tax next year.  In the last few years council tax seems to have gone up far more than inflation and it is a popular cause of dissatisfaction. On the other hand council departments will say that new regulations and the need for more services during the recession are putting strain on the budgets.

Maybe those voters were mainly protesting about Labour and don’t really want reduced taxes and the Conservative victory wasn’t as emphatic as it looks.  Although I’d think the pendulum is swinging back to tax cutting and service cut-backs. Particularly now that we know we’re all in hock for 20 years and maybe we can’t afford our services.

It’s a difficult one as it must seem to government workers that they are like the banks and are protected. Governments can always print more money so pay up and spend your way out of recession.

Somewhere along the way repayment of spending has to start and maybe 2010 is the time.  No matter how much you dislike the banks for what they’ve done it is an unfortunate truth that banks are more important than many government services. Do you want your wages or that mortgage for your first house or do you want new council offices and library books?  Then again we don’t want young or old people to be vulnerable and  I use the library quite a lot.

I foresee complaining council workers and political manoeuvring to create public protest.  So lets hope the new councillors keep their promise without too much pain.