34 Reasons to Vote Labour

T O V O T E L A B O U R
REASONS
34
S E A M U S K E L L Y

AS SOON AS THE GENERAL ELECTION WAS ANNOUNCED
Seamus Kelly began posting daily reasons to vote labour on
Facebook. This is a collection of all of those reasons. Please feel
free to share and comment. You may agree or disagree with views
and comments but please remain respectful and polite.

REASON 1
TO REVERSE PRIVATISATION
OF THE NHS
The NHS was created by the Labour Party and over recent years under right
wing governments more and more of its services and facilities have been
handed over to private organisations which seek to make profits from what
should be a public service. There are so many conservative MPs with links to
those companies that it is an outrage.
The NHS is ours, bought and paid for by the public - governments have no
right to give away our public services. Only Labour has pledged to reverse the
privatisation of the NHS
VOTE LABOUR TO RETAIN OUR NHS AS A PUBLIC SERVICE

REASON 2
ATOS AND PIP ASSESSMENTS
In the name of austerity and supposedly trying to stop people claiming lots
and lots of benefits they shouldn't be entitled to the Conservatives use the
organisation, laughingly called, "Atos Healthcare" to carry out PIP (Personal
Independence Payments) Assessments with incentivised targets to find sick
people to be capable of work and take away their benefits.
By the use of both numerical targets, which have no basis in any evidence
based assessment of the situation, and financial incentive payments the
government are able to take benefits away from many genuinely sick people
and reward their friends in a commercial organisation for doing so.
After the benefits have been taken away the claimants are able to appeal,
and should they survive long enough (many don't as we well know), the
majority of them get the benefit reinstated. That would be because it was
wrong to take it off them in the first place!
Of course this is all designed so that we can target any lazy scroungers and
protect the growing fortunes of the wealthiest against any sensible taxation.
And the crazy part is that doing all this ends up costing more than just paying
the benefit.
This is one of the cruelest and most vindictive policies that even a
conservative government has ever implemented. It is wrong. It is very very
wrong.
VOTE LABOUR TO END THIS IMMORAL AND INIQUITOUS
PROGRAMME OF DEPRIVING AND EVEN KILLING THE
MOST VULNERABLE MEMBERS OF OUR SOCIETY.

REASON 3
LEGAL AID
Britain is usually justifiably proud of its legal system which, while not
perfect, has historically offered some protection to individuals regardless of
their personal circumstances.
The Conservative government, in coalition with the Liberal Democrats,
massively reduced the budget for legal aid (by £320milion) in 2013 removing
the right to legal aid to many of those least able to source their own
representation.
The conservative policy seems to be to make sure that the most vulnerable
and least well off stay that way and denying them what had been a basic
right to legal aid is one tool in their arsenal. They couched it as austerity and
money saving and pointed out that there were people claiming legal aid who
might not deserve it - but the vast majority of people denied the support are
of course deserving cases.
Even those in the legal profession itself have been horrified by this attack on
people's rights and freedoms and several parts of the legislation have been
challenged and overturned by the courts.
In reality nothing good has come from this policy and any money saved has
simply kept down the tax burden on the wealthiest.
VOTE LABOUR TO ENSURE THAT THE MOST VULNERABLE
AND LEAST WELL OFF HAVE THE SAME RIGHTS AS THOSE
ABLE TO AFFORD THEIR OWN LEGAL REPRESENTATION.

REASON 4
FOOD BANKS
Food banks are a symptom of two things:
1) that some people care enough about the plight of others and support them
voluntarily through food banks
2) that some people are happy to create a situation where the vulnerable and
least we'll off are forced to rely on charity to feed themselves and their
families
The first group are unlikely to vote conservative, the second group clearly
includes conservative prime ministers.
I realise that food banks were not created by the conservative or coalition
governments, I expect that Theresa May would probably like to see fewer or
no food banks (so that her victims wouldn't have this support to prop them
up a little).
The reality is that people, including some working people, are forced to rely
on food banks. The reasons are varied and include benefit cuts, benefit
sanctions, restrictions preventing asylum seekers from working and of
course woefully low wages and ridiculously high housing costs. Only Labour
has the desire and drive to challenge and change this.
Today the food bank, tomorrow the workhouse....
Is that what we really want?
VOTE LABOUR TO ENSURE THAT PEOPLE, WORKING OR
OTHERWISE, ARE NOT FORCED FORCED TO USE
FOODBANKS BY POOR WAGES, CUTS TO BENEFITS AND
THE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENTS UNRELENTING
ATTACKS ON THE POOREST AND WEAKEST.

REASON 5
N ATIONAL EDUCATION SERVICE
This one is close to my heart having spend most of my life linked to education
having studied and taught in schools, colleges and universities as well as
spending 20 years supporting schools from within LEAs.
I've watched successive governments damage the system and through nonevidence
based policies create levels of stress that are unsustainable and
lead to multiple failures.
The recent governments under David Cameron and Theresa May have done
more harm than most. The massive waste of money that comprise the
Academies, Free Schools and Grammar Schools are even worse than the PFI
scheme. These programmes are not only massively expensive but have been
unable to demonstrate any measurable improvement in overall educational
standards - there was no evidence base for these programmes.
Labour has pledged to create a National Education Service to progressively
restore free education for all; ranging from childcare through to adult
education and apprenticeships.
Education for all is the best possible protection for the country's economic
future and also the best protection against extremism in politics and
government. It might be argued that some governments prefer the
population to be less well educated and it reduces dissent and ensures a pool
of cheaply available labour.
VOTE LABOUR TO ENSURE THAT EVERYONE HAS ACCESS
TO DECENT QUALITY EDUCATION REGARDLESS OF THEIR
PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES AND WITHOUT THE PROFIT
MOTIVE OF PRIVATE BUSINESS AND "CHARITIES"

REASON 6
THE BRITISH BILL OF RIGHTS
The conservative government, whilst Theresa May was Home Secretary,
brought forward plans to pull out of the European Convention on Human
Rights and replace it with a British Bill of Rights.
Please note that this has nothing to do with Britain Leaving the EU. We have
been part of the convention since it was introduced by the Council of Europe
- nothing to do with the EU either - and there are 47 members. The fact that
the convention involves other countries offers some additional protection
for our human rights should we find ourselves with a more extreme
government.
Groups who have benefitted from judgments under the convention have
included the disabled, gay and trans people, children and innocent people
whose data was unlawfully retained.
The Bill of Rights proposed by the Conservatives will not be published until
after the election but the document proposing the change includes the
phrase "There will be a threshold below which Convention rights will not be
engaged" - in other words a level at which our rights may not be guaranteed
or defended as they would be under the convention.
Labour supports our continuing membership of the convention.
VOTE LABOUR TO ENSURE THAT EVERYONE'S HUMAN
RIGHTS ARE FULLY PROTECTED - INCLUDING
PROTECTING THEM FROM OUR OWN GOVERNMENT

REASON 7
SUPPORT FOR THE ARTS
I'm posting a bit late today as straight after work we headed off to the launch
of the new edition of The Bolton Review and then a showcase of creative
writing talent from the University. It therefore feels even more appropriate
to focus on the creative arts for today's post.
The conservative government has systematically cut funding and eroded the
importance of the arts across education, galleries, museums and libraries as
well as damaging employment conditions for those working in the arts.
Many reading this may well ask "so what?" - well the simple truth is that
creativity is at the very heart of all of our significant scientific, financial,
industrial, technical and environmental developments. The encouragement
and support of creative thought, both within and beyond education, is vital
for all of our futures.
Only the Labour party has firm plans to reinstate and expand provision
across arts and culture, having set out a comprehensive policy in 2015 and
reiterated recently.
VOTE LABOUR TO ENSURE THAT EVERYONE BENEFITS
FROM THE PROTECTION, INCREASED ACCESS AND
DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE CREATIVE ARTS.

REASON 8
THE BENEFITS CAP
In November 2016 the conservative government reduced the level of
capped benefits (as originally introduced by their former chancellor, George
Osborne, in 2010) from £26000 to just £20000 (outside London).
Many families found themselves £115 per week worse off from November -
remember these are not well-off families with disposable income.
So far the benefits cap has affected around 70000 families (note this is
families - i.e. we are taking of some hundreds of thousands of people with the
bulk being children).
The tory excuse (other than of course the nonsense of austerity) is that they
want to encourage people back in to work etc etc. I prefer not to swear
(online or offline) but a famous American abstract artist famous for dribbling
and splashing paint over canvasses comes to mind!
This is nothing less than another attack by the strongest on the weakest
under the cloak of a supposed fairness and support of hard working families
etc. - I'm seeing those paintings again!
Stop the tories from blaming the poorest for the government's rapidly
expanding debt and place the blame where it belongs - with the conservative
government which works for the few at the cost of the many.
VOTE LABOUR TO STOP THIS INIQUITOUS ATTACK ON
THE LEAST WELL OFF FAMILIES IN OUR COUNTRY.
LABOUR - FOR THE MANY NOT THE FEW.

REASON 9
"SPICE" ON OUR STREETS
Some people will feel that the problems widely reported, especially on the
streets of Manchester, of homeless people in a shocking state due to taking
the drug "spice" (a synthetic canabid) is not the problem of government.
I argue that it is very definitely a problem of government caused by absolute
grinding poverty, caused by homelessness, caused by austerity limited
mental health and welfare services.
Yes there are criminals out there taking advantage of people in desperate
situations and selling them this new cheap and therefore attractive drug. But
they take advantage because of the situation our government fails to
address and indeed exacerbates through its constant attacks on the poorest
in our society.
Until we've no job, nowhere to live, nowhere to get proper healthcare, no
chance of getting an education and no idea where your next meal is coming
from then we are not in a position to really understand. But the causes are
clear.
Nothing, neither economics or politics of any kind make this acceptable
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONLY MAJOR
PARTY GENUINELY INTERESTED IN TACKLING THE
POVERTY AT THE ROUTE OF THESE PROBLEMS.

REASON 10
HOSPITAL AND ACCIDENT &
EMERGENCY UNIT CLOSURES
There are currently plans to close 24 A&E units across the country. This is in
addition to closures over the last 6 years.
Very few of us are in the fortunate position of never needing an Accident
and Emergency unit. Strangely though the public have continued to support
a government who have been decimating the system. Will that same public
complain when it isn't there on the day they need it?
Where I live the local A&E has already been closed meaning that our nearest
units are at least 30 minutes away (when roads are empty in the middle of
the night). One of our remaining closest units is on the list of 24 to be closed.
If these units were not needed then there could be some argument in favour
of closures - but that is not the case. Recent personal and family experience
includes waits of over 4 hours just to be seen in both units, even though the
patient had a condition that can become very severe (dangerous) if
untreated for more than an hour.
I will not criticise those working in these units, they work extremely hard
and always do their best for patients. And please don't blame the people
attending who don't need to - we've watched them sent away whilst we
waited - they didn't cause delays.
And don't blame immigrants either - a very large proportion of the staff
providing the service are immigrants - without them we'd really be
knackered.
The problem is very simple - lack of resourcing, units that have been closed
making others too busy and even people needing more complex treatments
because of the extra time taken travelling to, and the longer waiting in more
distant units.
Labour will fund the service properly, they will ensure it is a nationalised
rather than private service - and it can be funded through an equitable and
progressive tax system.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE THEY ARE THE PARTY THAT WILL
HALT THESE CLOSURES IMMEDIATELY IF ELECTED.

REASON 11
HOUSING BENEFIT FOR 18-21
YEAR OLDS
The conservative government chose to take away housing benefit from
young people aged 18 to 21.
They justify this punitive and heartless measure by telling us that it will
discourage young people from heading into a life reliant on benefits.
Even if that were true it exposes the shear lack of care of this government
and the conservative party; they would happily increase homelessness, see
more young people in poverty and see more families struggle even though
there is absolutely no evidence that this policy would work.
Essentially they are prepared to experiment with these ideas even if many
thousands are hurt by their actions.
This is of course all part of the governments policy of austerity; i.e. convince
us all they are reducing the deficit whilst not doing and convincing us they
can do this by hitting the most vulnerable and least well off in society. This of
course enables them to reward themselves and their wealthy cronies.
VOTE LABOUR TO END THESE INIQUITOUS ATTACKS ON
THE YOUNG, POOR AND VULNERABLE PEOPLE.

REASON 12
TORY CUTS IN POLICE
NUMBERS
he conservative party like to call themselves the party of law and order, they
believe it gets them votes. Maybe it they really were they'd deserve a few of
those votes.
But they are not the party of law and order and this is ably demonstrated by
the reduction in the number of police officers by 20,000 during their 7 year
tenure in government. In my region, Greater Manchester, we have seen a
reduction of just over 1900 officers.
The tories will blame cuts on local government and pass the buck wherever
they can - but the buck stops with the government who set policies and
budgets. In particular the buck stops with the government minister who was
responsible for policing for most of that period - one Theresa May.
"Strong and stable" - don't make me laugh!
NOTE - I'm not focusing on the other reasons they can't be considered the
party of law and order (electoral fraud, numerous court decisions finding
their actions to be unlawful e.g. treatment of disabled people, trying to
circumvent parliamentary process, privatisation of prisons etc.), those are
for other days.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE THEY HAVE VOWED TO STOP
THESE OUTRAGEOUS, UNNECESSARY AND
COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TORY CUTS IN POLICE NUMBERS

REASON 13
FOX HUNTING
On a factory visit in Leeds, Theresa May said that she has always been a
supporter of fox hunting and she re-confirmed the tory party policy to allow
a free vote.
The chairman of the Council of Hunting Associations, Lord Mancroft said
that a sizeable majority for the conservatives could usher in a new era of fox
hunting and a vote could be scheduled as early as this year.
We won this fight before and 84% of the public are opposed to fox hunting. I
beleive we would win the same fight again.
The reason I'm raising this issue here is that it very nicely demonstrates the
nature of Theresa May and her party. She is so keen to follow the wishes of
the public, and to know how important our views are when she talks about
Brexit - yet on this issue where she's already lost previously and knows that
the vast majority of the public disagrees she will ignore our views.
Her approach here also calls into question her environmental credentials
(we'll talk about fracking another day).
And just what kind of level of compassion does it demonstrate? None
whatsoever.
Only voting for Labour can remove this class driven and environmentally
dangerous government which has no compassion.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE THERESA MAY CANNOT BE
TRUSTED TO RESPECT PUBLIC OPINION, SHE DOES NOT
UNDERSTAND OR PROTECT OUR ENVIRONMENT AND
SHE HAS ZERO COMPASSION.

REASON 14
FREE HOSPITAL PARKING
As promised here is my Fourteenth daily "Reasons to vote Labour" post,
there'll be a new reason every day until the election. Please feel free to share
and comment. You may agree or disagree with views and comments but
please remain respectful and polite.
For the Active Travel/Cycling folks here's the explanation I offered above:
It would be great if we had the public transport infrastructure to access
these services - but we don't. As an example our "local" hospital for much
"routine" surgery is actually about a 30 mile round trip. To make that trip by
public transport is possible; there are a couple of options:
1) Take two buses to Manchester and one back out to the hospital (reverse
for return trip) - approx 2 hours travel time each way
2) Take bus/walk to train station plus train to Manchester and bus back out
to hospital (reverse for return trip) - approx 1.5 hours to 2 hours each way
dependant on connections.
Imagine doing that every day for a week or more to visit a sick relative - in
fact after work it isn't even possible to fit with visiting times.
So the only feasible option os to drive or take a taxi - have you seen how
uncomfortable taxis tend to be for poorly people travelling to/from
hospitals?
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE THEY WILL SCRAP THESE
CHARGES; RELIEVING STRESS ON PATIENTS AND
VISITORS AND STOPPING THESE PRIVATE COMPANIES
PROFITING FROM OUR ILLNESSES.

REASON 15
R AILWAYS
Compared to many other countries we have a very poor rail service - this
isn't just inconvenient but it is bad for the environment, bad for business and
bad for the economy.
When railways were privatised, using the standard tory process of run it
down, fall out with unions by treating people badly, make it fail and then sell
it at lower than true value to businesses, we were lied to. We were told that
it would make things better (yes; I can say "lied" because I'm not an MP in
parliament).
Running public services for a profit for a whole host of private companies
has never and will never make any sense. If anyone thinks railways cannot
run effectively under nationalised ownership (that means they belong to the
people) you only need to look at our nearest overseas neighbours; France,
Germany, The Netherlands, for the evidence. Add in the fact that our fares
are generally much higher (well we have to pay higher fares for the profits of
private business don't we) it seems we, the paying public don't get very good
value for our money.
Railways are a public services.
Public services are for the many not the profiteering few!
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE WE CANNOT HAVE DECENT
PUBLIC TRANSPORT AT THE LEVEL SEEN IN EUROPE
WHILST PRIVATE COMPANIES MIS-MANAGE IT FOR
PROFIT WHILE SQUANDERING OUR SUBSIDIES IN THE
PROCESS.

REASON 16
THE BEDROOM TAX
The conservative government dealt up an idea where people renting homes
with a spare room would be "encouraged" to move to smaller
accommodation thus freeing up the large homes for those with a need for
the additional space.
Surely it wouldn't take a genius to realise that this wasn't going to work.
There are all sorts of reasons why people live in the homes that they do and
the word itself "home carries with it really important connotations of
stability, comfort, security and even significant emotional attachment. Add
in the fact that suitable home for people to move into were not available
(perhaps due largely to the tory's previous exercise in selling off council
homes).
People would be penalised if they stayed in the house with extra bedrooms
even if they was no realistic prospect of moving.
It was and is an evil and badly conceived measure and has not achieved the
result the tories were aiming for.
The opposition that is roundly condemned for not opposing the government
did indeed oppose very strongly but listening to reason was never too high
on the tory government's agenda and the measure was put through.
Labour will end this monstrous tax.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE WE MUST END THIS INIQUITOUS
TAX THAT HURTS THOSE LEAST ABLE TO AFFORD IT AND
HAS MADE NO DIFFERENCE TO THE AVAILABILITY OF
HOMES

REASON 17
DEFENCE
Over recent years our right wing and "centrist" governments have
consistently tried to defend us. I am not suggesting they've not done what
they thought was right (in most cases) and I'm not suggesting that they've
not really wanted to defend our country.
But, and this is the real crunch, we don't find ourselves in a significantly safer
position than before.
In fact it could be argued, so I'm arguing it here, that the number and range
of military interventions we've taken part in over recent years have put our
country at greater risk.
There are many factors to consider here including going to war without
proper UN approval, going to war before other channels have been
exhausted and of course selling weapons to countries that use them
immorally either against their won people or others and of course supply
other groups who may well be attacking our own people.
Our attitude to defence has become "defence by offence" and if you are big
and powerful enough that makes you a bully and if you are no longer big and
strong enough it makes you vulnerable. The best form of defence is always to
talk, to exhaust diplomatic options before when absolutely necessary
reaching for the option of force.
The only political leader who is prepared to avoid unnecessary wars where
other options are available, the only political leader who understands how
much can be achieved through diplomacy, the only political leader who
would refuse to sell arms in the indefensible way we do now, the only
political leader who would do all of this whilst still maintaining our defence
spending at the same levels as the current government is the leader of the
Labour Party.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY PARTY THAT
UNDERSTANDS THAT THE BEST FORM OF DEFENCE IS
NOT TO GET INVOLVED IN MILITARY ACTION UNLESS
ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, AND WOULD USE DIPLOMACY
IN FOREIGN POLICY FOR ALL OF OUR BENEFITS.

REASON 18
PRIVATE PRISONS
In any society we have people committing crimes which are so serious that
only prison can serve as a punishment - I beleive that all political parties
agree on that basic principle. I also believe that they all would agree that all
the processes around bringing people to justice should be the responsibility
of the state and involve an independent judiciary.
Once a person is sent by that judiciary to prison it must surely be wholly the
responsibility of that state to manage that person and ensure that the
sentence is served properly and that the person is properly looked after
whilst in the system. That might include a range of educational and
psychological support as well as being kept secure etc.
That state responsibility should never be delivered by a private company for
the generation of profits.
The conservative government are planning to go beyond the current
situation where we have G4S providing custodial services (with of course the
serious conflict of interests with the prime minister's husband among others)
and private companies managing prisons to a system where private
companies would build and manage private prisons.
Yes, it sounds like one of those crazy 1980s movies where private companies
run prisons and in order to make more money need more criminals to
generate the need for more prisons and thus make more profits while
gaining more power over people's lives - Except that this isn't one of those
crazy movies - this is the tory idea of reality.
This madness needs to end!
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE PRIVATE PRISONS ARE WRONG
ON EVERY LEVEL AND LABOUR ARE COMMITTED TO
ENDING THIS ABHORRENT REGIME.

REASON 19
CORPORATION TAX
Corporation tax has been a real bone of contention in the current debates
leading up to the election. The tories and their ilk keep telling us that raising
corporation tax will scare off businesses and therefore the economy will
suffer etc. etc.
They're telling you that it is the biggest ever rise in corporation tax.
They don't explain that the rise if only taking it back to the level it was
before they reduced it - and they won't point out that big businesses were
here before 2010 will they.
They reduced it to gift to big businesses whilst imposing austerity on the rest
of us.
They don't explain that it will still be the lowest rate of the G7 countries
(hardly non-competitive then is it!)
Under their regime the tories have given away billions in tax cuts to the
biggest businesses and billions to the wealthiest individuals.
There has been no demonstrable improvement in our lives because of the
tories gifting their cronies, funders and supporters.
They've been lying to us. The media have been peddling their lie.
Corporation tax needs to go up for the benefit of the population so that we
can have a proper and fairer society.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE BIG BUSINESS SHOULD PAY ITS
SHARE AND LABOUR WILL MAKE THAT HAPPEN

REASON 20
A FAIR DEAL AT WORK
Theresa Maybe May has promised that she'll do more to protect and
enhance workers right than any previous tory government.
Wow, that wouldn't be very difficult considering that tory governments,
including this one have a history of either decimating (Thatcher), hammering
(Cameron) or chipping away at workers rights (the rest including May).
Labour's manifesto released today includes a total of 20 specific points to
give workers both security and equality at work. highlights include ending
the public sector pay cap, banning zero hours contracts, banning unpaid
internships and abolition of employment tribunal fees (enabling people to
challenge unfair decisions regardless of their financial position. There are
lots more.
This is genuinely good stuff. You won't see much of it in the media but I'd
strongly recommend both those who support what I say and those who
disagree to have a look at the actual document (not the draft version leaked
last week) - you can find it at
http://www.labour.org.uk/…/ma…/Labour%20Manifesto%202017.pdf
When I was a manager I valued my staff and fully understood that by looking
after them properly both they and our business reaped the benefits. Looked
after workers look after your business. Mrs Maybe May doesn't understand
that.
.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE LABOUR IS THE ONLY PARTY
THAT HAS AND WILL ACTUALLY PROTECT WORKERS
RIGHTS AND IN DOING SO PROMOTE A PRODUCTIVE
WORKFORCE AND BOOST THE ECONOMY.

REASON 21
FRACKING
Fracking is not environmentally friendly both in terms of pollution caused by
burning the extracted fossil fuel and in terms of the damage caused by the
process of extracting the fuel.
The damage and disruption is especially problematic where it has potential
to affect water supplies and can affect local flora, fauna, woodlands,
wetlands etc.
Fracking also means continuing to rely on fossil fuels where we ought to be
looking beyond finite resources.
Labour understands this so whilst the conservative government and busy
forcing fracking onto local people and councils; Labour are committed to
banning fracking.
No good comes from fracking, a range of harmful effects are caused by
fracking, it needs to be banned
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE FRACKING MUST BE BANNED.
LABOUR WILL IMPLEMENT THAT BAN.

REASON 22
FREE SCHOOLS, ACADEMIES
AND GRAMMAR SCHOOLS
The conservatives are trying to make schools become Academies, allow
more building of Free Schools and set up more Grammar Schools.
I've worked in very many schools over the years and mu own experience
supports the evidence that none of the above are cost effective and none of
the above offer any real equality of opportunity.
What they do achieve is more selectivity, removing opportunity from many,
many young people who either lack resources, lack parental support or just
live in the wrong location.
What Free Schools and Grammar Schools also do is suck massive amounts of
money away from the remaining schools which will of course drive their
standards down thus "proving" that the Free and Grammar schools are doing
better.
The final thing that these schools achieve is to syphon public money,
intended for the education of our children, off to private concerns.
It is a waste of our money(yours and mine), it is unfair to our young people
and it is based on ideology not evidence.
It needs to end.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE THE PARTY IS COMMITTED TO
STOP WASTING PUBLIC MONEY ON THESE TORY VANITY
PROJECTS

REASON 23
A FAIR DEAL FOR OLDER
PEOPLE
The conservatives have now turned on older people with their offensive
austerity plans (i.e. their plans to divert as much funding as possible away
from public services and those in need to private business and their cronies).
So far we have:
The "Dementia tax" - which not only unfairly penalises old people but does
so on the basis of their specific need for care.
Scrapping the triple lock.
Plans to push the retirement age ever higher - beyond 66 after 2020.
Means testing the winter fuel allowance in England.
Labour on the other hand:
Have guaranteed the triple lock, oppose the concept of the dementia tax
Have plans to review pensions which include not raising the pension age
beyond 66 after 2020.
Will ensure that winter fuel payments and free bus passes will remain as
universal benefits.
Labour will also extend pension credits to hundreds of thousands of the most
vulnerable older women.
The conservatives have continually portrayed themselves (helped by an ever
loyal media) as the party for older people. That is certainly not the case now.
VOTE LABOUR TO SECURE A FAIR DEAL FOR OLDER
PEOPLE

REASON 24
IVORY
Ivory might seem an odd reason to vote labour but the attitude of the parties
to the ivory trade speaks volumes about the kind of people we are being
asked to vote for. There has been an international ban on the sale of new
ivory for a long time - clearly this is an attempt to reduce the decimation of
populations of elephants caused by poaching for ivory.
The biggest chink in the armour of that ban is that some countries still allow
the trading of old/antique ivory. Those wishing to cash in have found that
they can disguise new ivory as old, create false documentation and get away
with trading the new ivory. This sustains the poaching business. It is pretty
simple.
This could be stopped by banning trade in all ivory domestically as well as
internationally. Even China banned the trade in all ivory earlier this year and
the USA already has a ban in place. Even Prince William supports the ending
of this evil trade.
David Cameron included a total ban on ivory sales in his last manifesto but
didn't get round to implementing that promise. Theresa May, along with her
colleagues and civil servants have been heavily lobbied by the British
antiques trade, especially The British Antique Dealers Association who's
president is tory MP, Lady Victoria Borwick, a friend of Theresa May.
Theresa May has dropped the commitment quietly from the manifest
launched this week.
This is about more than just ivory and elephants. It gives a measure of the
kind of people we are dealing with and it is clear that the tory leader is not
bothered about our wildlife and environment and is more interested in
making sure her friends make money regardless of the cost to the world.
Labour have committed to end this trade.
VOTE LABOUR TO END THE TRADE IN IVORY WITHIN AND
WITH THE UK

REASON 25
CENSORSHIP OF ONLINE NEWS
In China the government are too frightened of the power of the Internet to
allow their population to use Google, Facebook etc.
Surely that sort of thing couldn't happen here.
Could it?
Well the measures in the conservative manifesto would allow them, if
elected, to regulate the news and content that is posted online. They do not
set any kind of limit on the power this might give to government.
The words used include "take steps to protect the reliability and objectivity
of information that is essential to our democracy" - essentially if they as the
government decide that some news item posted online doesn't meet that
same government's opinions as to objectivity and reliability then they as that
government can force the internet companies to remove it or face sanctions.
For example the kind of article that is posted on sites like the canary might
be deemed not objective and the site effectively shut down.
That is tantamount to the type of media control we've seen in the past from
extreme left or right wing governments. It borders on dictatorial. It is plainly
wrong.
VOTE LABOUR TO PROTECT US FROM POTENTIAL
GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP OF NEWS ONLINE

REASON 26
STRENGTH AND STABILITY
The conservative machine, with plenty of support from the mainstream
media have fed us the "Strong and Stable" line as if it were established fact.
Because of this "Strong and Stable" line we are supposed to believe that Mrs
Maybe May is best placed to negotiate on our behalf over Brexit.
However, what about....
"Snoopers charter" bill 2013 - U-turn (blocked by LibDems)
"Investigatory Powers" bill 2016 - U-trun (blocked by court)
No vote in parliament on Brexit - U-turn (forced by court)
National Insurance in budget - U-turn (forced by opposition)
Not going to have an election - U-turn (opportunism)
Dementia tax - U-turn (in fear of the electorate)
The above, especially today's unprecedented U-turn, don't exactly paint a
picture of strength and stability and absolutely do not paint a picture of
someone capable of negotiating with the EU at the highest level.
Theresa May is not capable of negotiation - she can't even collaborate on a
party manifesto with her ministers.
Jeremy Corbyn is a pragmatist and a democrat and understands the
processes of negotiation, he does not intend rushing into negotiations based
on non-existent strength and stability.
VOTE LABOUR TO AVOID A STRING OF EMBARRASSING
AND HARMFUL U-TURNS, ESPECIALLY WHEN FACED
WITH COMPLEX NEGOTIATIONS OVER BREXIT.

REASON 27
UKIP
Because of the launch of the UKIP manifesto today that will be my subject tonight.
I have gone through the painful process of reading it, it wasn't nice and I won't
provide a link. I have not picked up on every section as this would be too long a
post. The ones I have picked up on are so bad however that they would negate any
positives in this manifesto and it is essential that
18 - Protecting the NHS - the only stuff here that is actually different is (a) the
removal of EU directives that provide protection of the employees - allowing
employees to work even longer hours is not a protection for the NHS. (b) No nonurgent
care for foreign nationals unless they've already paid UK tax for 5 years -
tough if you've been here for 4 years 11 months and get ill isn't it - it just doesn't
make sense, the NHS doesn't have a problem here and it appeals only to selfish
and anti-foreign sentiment.
35 - One Law for all - this is patent nonsense; we already have one law for all and
the only people who seem to get away with too much are the most wealthy and
powerful. They mean they want to scrap Sharia law which of course is a set of rules
for religious followers - they don't want to ban Canon law (Anglican, Catholic or
Orthodox) or similar rules for any other religion - so this is a simple case of
Islamophobia. They also want special measures applied by OFTSED to islamic
schools that they don't want to be applied to other religious schools (page 38) - yet
more Islamaphobic nonsense.
47 - Trade not Aid - they want to reduce Aid to overseas countries to less than a
third of current levels. They say the reallocated Aid money would go to the NHS
and other public services - when did we hear something like that before? We are
one of the richest countries in the world we can afford our aid payments to help
others. This policy is negative (small minded even) and unlikely to help build our
international standing with others.
.
VOTE LABOUR TO AVOID A STRING OF EMBARRASSING
AND HARMFUL U-TURNS, ESPECIALLY WHEN FACED
WITH COMPLEX NEGOTIATIONS OVER BREXIT.

56 - Future Energy Security - just after talking about protecting the environment
they say that they want to build an energy policy on "coal, nuclear, shale gas,
conventional gas, oil, solar and hydro, as well as other renewables when they can
be delivered at competitive prices." - in other words lets carry on with fossil fuels,
fracking and nuclear because the renewals are not yet cheap enough. They also
want to remove VAT from fuel to keep prices down - that doesn't sit with investing
money in more environmentally friendly fuels or with reducing fossil fuel reliance.
THEY SUPPORT FRACKING - it is in their manifesto!
32 - Fair, balanced immigration - they want zero net immigration, they want an
Australian points based system. I've tried, I really have, but cannot see any reason
that the word "fair" is used in the title and throughout this section - there is
nothing fair in allowing the wealthiest and most highly qualified immigrants to
come here but not the less skilled and less fortunate to come.
I know I may get some flack for this but every manifesto this organisation has ever
produced includes racist elements and the ethos of the party is bigoted (look up
the dictionary definition). I'm not saying all their supporters are racist and bigots,
but those that are not have been gullible in the extreme.
.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE ONLY LABOUR WILL DELIVER A
FAIR SOCIETY FOR ALL OF US WHEREAS UKIP CAN'T
BRING THEMSELVES TO TREAT ALL GROUPS EQUALLY.

REASON 28 HOMELESSNESS
Did you know that the average age at which homeless people die is just 47?
Did you know that homeless people are almost 17 times more likely to be
victims of violence than the rest of us (Figures from Crisis UK)
Did you know that homeless people are over 10 times more likely to suffer
from mental health problems? (figures from Mental Health Foundation)
Did you know homeless people are 70% more likely to have long term physical
health problems? (from Homeless Link)
Did you know that under the conservatives since 2010 homelessness has
increased every single year (it dropped under the last Labour government)?
Did you know that under the conservatives since 2010 the number of rough
sleepers more than doubled in just 5 years?
The Conservatives should be ashamed!
Do you care?
If you do then please vote Labour because Labour have a proper plan to
reduce homelessness and rough sleeping. Unlike other parties they have
properly costed and identified funding for their plans.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE ONLY LABOUR HAVE PROPER
PLANS TO REDUCE HOMELESSNESS

REASON 29
THE RAPE CLAUSE
In January the conservatives have enacted a policy whereby families will
only be able to claim benefits for the first two children.
The two child policy is bad enough in itself and has been criticised by the
Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The government included a measure that would enable the cap to be ignored
if a third (or subsequent) child was born to a mother who was in an abusive
relationship or where she had been sexually assaulted. The so-called "rape
clause" requires a mother seeking benefits for a third child to prove she has
been sexually assaulted or that the child was conceived during an abusive
relationship.
The very concept that a woman would need to claim she had suffered in
these ways in order to claim benefit for a third child is inhumane. The
feelings and safety of any women involved have not been understood or
taken into account.
The reporting requirements are invasive and humiliating for people who may
already have suffered terribly. Further the children themselves may never
need to know the circumstances of their conception but under this law it will
become known if the mother needs to claim benefit.
This law is cruel, it lacks compassion and understanding.
It comes from a cruel government which lacks compassion and
understanding.
That all needs to end. Labour are committed to ending this obnoxious law.
Lets end this obnoxious government.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE WE CANNOT AFFORD TO
CONTINUE WITH A GOVERNMENT COMPLETELY
LACKING IN BOTH COMPASSION AND UNDERSTANDING

REASON 30
THE NAYLOR REPORT (NHS
ASSET-STRIPPING
PROPOSAL)
Most people won't have heard of the Naylor Report and Theresa May would
like it to stay that way. But then she did, when interviewed by Andrew Neill
confirm that she and her party support the report.
The Naylor report is an asset-stripping proposal for the NHS on a truly
massive scale.
What is it about? - the report basically suggests that £2billion worth of the
NHS Estates (i.e. our property) could be "released" (i.e. sold off to private
business) to reinvest and to "deliver" (i.e. give away) land for 26,000 homes.
What would happen if it is followed through? - well you can only ever sell
assets once, then when you need them later on you'll have to buy more, from
private business, at a significantly higher cost. And of course we know how
reliable the conservatives are with regards to reinvestment (i.e. they
promise it but don't do it). Of course some organisations and people will
benefit - the same ones who usually benefit from tory asset-stripping (i.e.
thieving) activities. They've followed the usual process underfund, create a
backlog, complain about the backlog (in this case maintenance) and then selloff
to their cronies.
The Conservative government has already started work on some of the
recommendations in the report - we can't afford to let them follow through.
Let's end this obnoxious and self-serving government.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE WE CANNOT AFFORD OUR NHS
TO BE EVEN FURTHER DISMANTLED AND ASSET-
STRIPPED

REASON 31
A FULLY COSTED MANIFESTO
TO BENEFIT ORDINARY
Today Jeremy Corbyn forgot a number. Later on he apologised and
PEOPLE
explained the detail of the cost he had forgotten. The interviewer asking the
question did of course have the ready prepared question in front of her and
also had access to the figure - so the only reason to ask was to trip up the
Labour leader.
The significant point is that the Labour manifesto is a substantial document
with lots of policies and there is also a well prepared supplementary
document giving costs and funding proposals.
I know that some supporters of other parties will disagree with the figures
and try to pick holes in them, they'll say they are unworkable etc. But at least
Labour have costings and funding proposals and are able to defend them.
Plus of course the costs involved are for the benefit of the people of our
country.
But what about the conservative's position?
The conservative manifesto is actually quite thin on policy and costings are
pretty much invisible. There are no costings for Theresa May and her
ministers to remember because they haven't work out any costs yet (or if
they have they are far to scared to share them with mere voters).
We don't need more austerity from a party that does not understand value
and won't tell us about the costs of there rather vague manifesto.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE WE NEED A GOVERNMENT WITH
A PLAN AND WE DESERVE TO BE TOLD WHAT IT WILL
COST AND HOW IT WILL BE FUNDED

REASON 32
IMMIGRATION
This is perhaps for me the most controversial policy area in the current
election campaign.
My personal belief is that one of the greatest tragedies in choosing to leave
the EU is the loss of free movement of people across Europe. Coming from
an immigrant family and with members of our family living and working
elsewhere in Europe this is really important to me. Immigration as an issue
has been overstated by all parties.
However as it is now an issue for this election I am addressing the issue and
why I consider Labour to have the best approach of the parties on this issue.
The Conservatives have expressed a target than net-immigration will fall to
"tens of thousands" per year. They've promised that before and of course
haven't come remotely close to delivering it and won't. The conservatives
say the level of immigration will depend on our needs, but having no idea of
the needs they've still set a target of "tens of thousands". Really they just
think that people will go for "tens of thousands" as somehow reasonable, a
bit like their other mantra "strong and stable". An unrealistic and untenable
policy.
UKIP have of course promised a net-immigration of zero, yes they really say
zero. They say they've got a plan to base immigration on our needs as a
country but with no evidence that the figure of zero has any merit other than
voter appeal (in UKIP's case a lowest common denominator appeal) their
policy is meaningless.
Labour have not set a target number for immigration. They have promised to
guarantee that EU citizens living here will be able to stay and with that
promise will be able to expect a reciprocal arrangement from the EU. They
have also stated that immigration levels would have to depend on the needs
of this country. The big difference is that Labour will not attach a numerical
target because nobody knows yet what our needs will be after Brexit. Under
Labour the levels will depend on our needs not on an number that might look
attractive to an electorate on the verge of an election.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONLY PARTY
THAT UNDERSTAND THAT LEVELS OF IMMIGRATION
NEED TO MEET NEEDS AS THEY EXIST RATHER THAN
TARGETS CHOSEN TO SATISFY SHORT TERM ELECTORAL
AIMS

REASON 33
BREXIT
Colours to the mast: I believe that the decision to leave the EU was a terrible
mistake and one largely resulting from outright dishonesty by the Brexit
campaign. However that boat has now sailed and I believe we now need a
deal with the EU that best protects our national interests.
The media, the conservative party and plenty of others have been telling us
that only by electing Theresa May with an increased majority can she use her
fabled strength and stability to force through the best deal for the UK or no
deal at all. Now it seems that even if she wins the election her majority will
be reduced, totally undermining the reasons for calling it - that will hardly
put her in a position of strength for any negotiation.
We are also being told that her insistence on being able to walk away with no
deal at all is a good thing. But is isn't a good thing; if we have a no deal exit
then the EU will of course pursue us for money owed, they'll do that through
legal channels and not only would we still have to pay but we would also face
the legal costs; furthermore it would be nigh on impossible to make any
beneficial trade arrangement with the EU once we'd alienated them so badly,
our economy would be hammered.
In all of the above the real elephant in the room is Theresa May as a
negotiator - she has no history or experience of successful negotiation, that's
why as home secretary and as PM she has been repeatedly dragged through
the courts for not doing things correctly.
Negotiation after the age of 2 no longer consists of stamping your feet,
holding your breath until you turn blue or being a "bloody difficult" woman.
It's about time that she and her party grew up and learned what negotiation
means.
Labour on the other hand have as leader a man who understands
negotiation, who has the ability to listen to others, consider their points of
view and develop consensus. That is the kind of pragmatic person we need to
negotiate on our behalf. Jeremy Corbyn will argue for the best deal for the
UK not by threatening but by the negotiation process which, as all successful
negotiations must, will seek out the areas of mutual benefits and strengthen
those.
.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONLY PARTY
THAT CAN ACTUALLY NEGOTIATE THE BEST BREXIT DEAL
FOR OUR NATIONAL INTERESTS.

R EASON 34
S T U D E N T TUITION FEES
The Labour party have understood the benefits of having a well educated
population and in particular the benefit of that education being genuinely
available to all.
Because of the economic and social benefits that education brings Labour
have quite rightly promised an end to University tuition fees and
reintroduce maintenance grants. We beleive that nobody should be put
off from seeking a higher level of education because of debt or lack of
money. Last year the number od applications saw its biggest drop in 30
years. Education should be a right for all at all stages of life and at the
level they can achieve.
Labour will also look at ways of reducing the burden of debt on those who
have already completed their studies.
Student debt is now directly funding profit for private business - the is
outrageous and morally wrong.
Some will moan about pointless courses, about easy subjects and lazy
students; in the real world however learning at University isn't just about
subject knowledge, it is about developing a wide range of skills and
capacities through study that equip people for their lives.
Some will complain that students come out of the system and are not
ready to jump straight into industry jobs - industry seems to forget that
with a pool of highly capable young people to choose from it is industry's
own responsibility to train those demonstrably capable people for specific
industry needs.
.
VOTE LABOUR BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONLY PARTY
THAT CAN STOP THE UNFAIR SYSTEM OF CHARGING
OUR YOUNG PEOPLE FOR THEIR EDUCATION