James Buckley has been presented with a Princess Diana Award at a ceremony in Halifax this week.
The event, arranged by Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Philip Allott (pictured above with James), was hosted by the Vice Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Mr John Brennan in the Mayor’s Parlour at Halifax Town Hall.
Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has delivered a keynote speech in Leeds on the 15th anniversary of the National Lottery.
He explained how Conservatives will reform the National Lottery to ensure more money goes to good causes by:
• Abolishing the National Lottery Commission and moving regulation of the lottery to the Gambling Commission.
• Banning lottery distributors from spending lottery money on press, pr, and public affairs activities. Instead this will be done by the existing National Lottery Promotions Unit.
• Returning the lottery to its original four purposes of supporting the arts, heritage, sport and charities.
Conservative MP and Shadow Treasury Minister Greg Hands visited two schools in the Morley and Outwood constituency to hear from staff and students.
Top of the agenda will be hearing the views of Sixth Form students on the economy and the experiences of young people looking to win a university place or employment during the recession.
The MP was joined at the Rodillian School in Lofthouse and Silcoates School in Wrenthorpe by Antony Calvert, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate in Morley and Outwood.
After meeting students, Mr Hands and Mr Calvert discussed education policy with the Headmaster of the schools, Mr Andrew Goulty at Rodillian and Mr Daryl Wideman at Silcoates.
Greg Hands MP said:
“I have very much enjoyed hearing what students in both schools think about the issues facing Britain and their ideas on how their future employment and educational aspirations can be fulfilled.”
“Listening to school students and their head teachers is especially important at a time where many people are concerned with the state of the economy and a government that is unceasingly meddling in the workings of schools.”
Antony Calvert, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Morley and Outwood, continued:
“This has been an extremely valuable opportunity to hear first hand the experiences of students during the longest recession this country has ever seen. I will be feeding back their thoughts to senior Conservative figures on a range of areas, in particularly areas covering higher education, further education and training.”
“I am determined that as many senior Conservatives can visit Morley and Outwood to give a potential new government a good idea of the very real issues and concerns local people have.”
The Rt Hon William Hague MP visited Penistone & Stocksbridge to meet with South Yorkshire business leaders.
His visit was hosted by Spencer Pitfield, Parliamentary Candidate for Penistone & Stocksbridge.
Representatives from business within Barnsley, Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham were able to meet with Mr Hague informally over tea. The visit was used as another opportunity for business leaders in the region to meet with the Conservative Shadow Cabinet, following on from the very successful visit of Baroness Warsi to the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry the week before last.
William Hague MP said:
“I am very pleased to be here in Penistone & Stocksbridge supporting Spencer’s campaign and meeting local business leaders. At the General Election people in this constituency will have a clear choice. To vote for the Conservative Party who are offering positive change and policies which address the serious problems our country faces, or to stay with this tired and discredited Labour Party”.
Spencer said:
“I am very grateful to William for coming to meet with local business leaders here in Penistone & Stocksbridge to hear about the problems they are facing. We were able to highlight our policies to address the jobs crisis, get credit flowing again with our national loan guarantee scheme, and to reduce red-tape across the board”.
On the day that official statistics reveal that UK has been in recession for six months longer than France, Germany and Japan, the Conservatives are setting out plans to get Britain working by creating 25,000 new training places or jobs in West Yorkshire, opening up new opportunities for people across the region.
We will create:
10,000 new apprenticeships in West Yorkshire
5,000 extra training places in West Yorkshire
4,000 new work pairings in West Yorkshire
2,000 new jobs in start-up businesses in West Yorkshire by abolishing the national insurance they pay on new employees.
1,500 new young apprenticeships in West Yorkshire
1,500 new opportunities for self-employment in West Yorkshire
450 new university places in West Yorkshire
These new jobs and training places will be funded by refocusing the Government’s employment and training programmes, including Train to Gain and the various New Deals, and reducing the benefits of Incapacity Benefit claimants found to be fit to work.
Our Approach
A Conservative government will launch a national Work Programme which:
Simplifies Labour’s numerous and piecemeal programmes into one single back-to-work programme for everyone who is unemployed.
- Includes the 2.6 million people claiming Incapacity Benefits currently excluded by Labour’s plans.
- Pays welfare-to-work providers according to whether they get jobseekers into sustainable employment of a year or more.
Recession Support. To provide extra opportunities to those looking for work, we have also announced:
Youth Action for Work – 100,000 additional apprenticeships and training places, 50,000 additional training places at FE colleges, and 50,000 work pairing places each year for two years.
- Work for Yourself – offering business mentors and loans to support self-employment and franchising as a route back into work.
- Work Together – a programme to connect people to volunteering opportunities in their area.
- Work Clubs – places where people can receive mentoring, skills training and help to find local job opportunities.
- 10,000 additional university places next year.
- New technical schools in England’s largest cities, as part of our plans for radical school reform.
Abolishing tax on new jobs. As part of our plan to Get Britain Working, we will abolish tax on the jobs created by new businesses in the first two years of a Conservative Government. Any new business started in the first two years of a Conservative Government will pay no Employer National Insurance on the first ten employees it hires during its first year.
The tax break will encourage new entrepreneurs and is predicted to generate around 60,000 additional jobs over two years. Clear and simple rules will ensure that the jobs created are genuinely new.
West Yorkshire’s Jobs Crisis under Labour
- Unemployment doubled. There are 68,275 people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in West Yorkshire, this has risen by 92 per cent since the start of the recession.
- Unemployment higher than 1997. The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance is almost 10,000 higher than in 1997 when Labour came to power, up by 16 per cent.
- Youth Unemployment. There are 21,110 young people aged 18-24 claiming JSA in West Yorkshire, up by 87 per cent since the start of the recession. Youth unemployment is 35 per cent higher than in 1997.
- Long-term Unemployment. One in ten people claiming JSA have been on benefits for over a year.
- 7 people chasing every job. There are 7 people on JSA in for every vacancy advertised at Jobcentre Plus in West Yorkshire compared to 2 people per vacancy at the start of the recession.
- Almost 200,000 have no qualifications. 190,600 people in West Yorkshire have no qualifications.
- 100,000 on Incapacity Benefits. There are 99,700 people claiming Incapacity Benefits or the new Employment and Support Allowance in West Yorkshire.
- Economic Inactivity. 305,200 people in West Yorkshire are economically inactive, 83,600 would like to work but don’t appear in the unemployment figures.
(All figures from www.nomisweb.co.uk)
Shadow Work and Pensions Minister James Clappison has met with business leaders from across Calderdale on a visit to the area.
He attended the monthly meeting of the Calder Valley Business Forum, hosted by Calder Valley Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Craig Whittaker.
During the meeting he heard about the problems they have faced during the recession and the challenges that continue now and in the future.
Shadow Work and Pensions Minister James Clappison said:
“I was delighted to be able to come to Calderdale and hear directly from businessmen and women. It is only by listening to those on the frontline of our economy that we can discover what is really happening.
“A year ago when I visited Calderdale I heard how the area was being badly hit by the recession and, with the continued fear over the future of HBOS jobs in the area, those worries don’t look like easing anytime soon.”
Craig Whittaker, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Calder Valley, added:
“The aim of my business forum is to bring together businessmen and women from across Calderdale to discuss the issues and challenges they face in their firms.
“They all welcomed the chance to question James Clappison about Conservative policies on work and business and had their say about what they thought needed to be done to improve things in the future.”
Spencer Pitfield, Prospective MP for Penistone & Stocksbridge, together with local Conservatives recently hosted a Charity Fashion Show for the Barnsley Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Helpline (BSARCH). The fashion show, which was held at the Brooklands Hotel in Dodworth, raised over £800 to support BSARCH.
BSARCH exists to provide support services to any woman who has experienced sexual violence or abuse. The charity offers a number of services to its clients including a telephone helpline and face to face counselling. It also employs an Independent Sexual Advisor who is on hand to offer specialist advice.
Theresa May MP, Shadow Minister for Women, visited the centre last year and talked about its own personal plight in the House of Commons.
Spencer Pitfield said:
“It was a fantastic fashion show and I would like to publicly thank all the many sponsors, helpers and volunteers. Over 140 people attended the event and we were able to raise in excess of £600 for the charity.
“We also used the event as an opportunity to raise awareness about the wonderful work that BSARCH offers supporting women at risk in our community. My only sadness is that the charity continues to struggle for funding and so I am working hard to make sure that Government will provide core funding in the future. Such state support will mean that the charity doesn’t need to have to live hand to mouth each month waiting for emergency funds to materialise.”
The Conservative Party’s Yorkshire Conference 2009 takes place on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 November.
Find out more and download an application form at www.yorkshireconservatives.com/conference
The Conservative Party in Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East have held their annual Reception at Party Conference in Manchester.
Shadow Foreign Secretary and Richmond MP William Hague and Party Chairman Eric Pickles joined hundreds of people from across the region at the event at the Midland Hotel.
Brighouse will feature on national television this week in the Conservative Party’s Party Conference Broadcast.
When David Cameron brought his Cameron Direct event to Brighouse High School in August he was quizzed by people from across the Calder Valley on a variety of topics and, all the time, the cameras were filming.
Now some of the event will be featured alongside other Cameron Direct events from across the country in Wednesday evening’s broadcast.
Craig Whittaker, Parliamentary Candidate for Calder Valley, said:
“It is fantastic that millions of viewers will be able to see David Cameron answering questions from residents in the Calder Valley on national television.
“I know that the over 200 people who attended the event at Brighouse High appreciated the fact that the leader of a major political party had taken the time to come to talk to them directly. Now many more will be able to see some of the questions posed and the answers given.
“They will also see the positive reaction David Cameron got and how much he really cares about listening to their views and taking them on board for the future.”
The Party Conference Broadcast is on Wednesday evening (7 October) at 5.55pm on BBC Two, 6.55pm on BBC One and ITV 1. You will also be able to view it online at www.conservatives.com
