Dan is Proud to sponsor the Bedworth United Football Club Youth Team for 2008/9






Conservatives Pledge Council Tax Freeze



 

Wherever I speak with local people, on the doorsteps and on the high street, people tell me that they are struggling with rising mortgages, fuel and food bills. At a time like this, the Government should be helping people to make ends meet. After 111 tax rises under Labour, this Government has become part of the problem.

Council tax in particular has doubled under Labour, and is causing people real difficulties.

That's why I am delighted that George Osborne has pledged this desperately needed help for hard working people - a complete freeze on council tax rises for two years, paid for by slashing wasteful Government spending on advertising and expensive private sector consultants.

Instead of rising council tax bills under Labour, thousands of local families will get help at the time they need it most.

Post Office Battle Lost



  Statement by Dan Byles, Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for North Warwickshire and Bedworth:

 “The battle to save local Post Offices across North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth is over. We lost. The Labour Government won. All nine threatened branches across the region have now closed.

 “I’d like to thank everyone who took part in our campaign to save these branches. The sub-Postmasters who defied bullying and threats from Post Offices Ltd to host our petition; the Atherstone Chamber of Commerce and local Bedworth Councillors for their support and for coming with us to 10 Downing Street to petition Gordon Brown; all of the volunteers who gave up their Saturdays to man street stalls in the rain; but above all I’d like to thank the thousands of local people who signed our petitions and encouraged us in our campaign.

 “Sadly we were unsuccessful, although I don’t think anyone is really surprised. Everyone knew that these cuts were Labour Party policy. Everyone knew the public consultation process was a sham. And everyone knew that our local Labour MPs supported these cuts from the start – refusing to join our campaign, refusing to sign our petitions, and continuing to vote for these cuts in Parliament. Shame on them.
 “The Post Office network is a unique asset, and by the time of the next General Election Gordon Brown will have cut one third of it. Once it has gone we will never get it back. 

 “This is a sad day for North Warwickshire and for Nuneaton and Bedworth”


Post Offices cut by Gordon Brown include:

Arley Post Office, Old Arley
Lea Marston Post Office, Lea Marston
Piccadilly Post Office, Piccadilly
Ratcliffe Road Service Station, Atherstone
Collycroft Road, Bedworth
Newtown Road, Bedworth
Manor Court Rd Post Office, Nuneaton
Ridge Lane Post Office, Nuneaton
Bramcote Post Office, Nuneaton

Dan's Campaign Against Crime And Antisocial Behaviour

"Crime and antisocial behaviour are the two top issues people want to talk about when I speak with them on the streets and the doorsteps of North Warwickshire and Bedworth. It is blighting people's lives. Here in Warwickshire, we are seeing first hand the results of Labour's failure to tackle crime. Last year in North Warwickshire, burglaries rose a staggering 31%; while in Nuneaton and Bedworth, the violent crime figures are the worst in Warwickshire. Enough is enough."

"Crime isn't a right wing issue or a left wing issue. It is a daily threat that all people - rich, poor, black, white, urban and rural - face in their daily lives. And the sad fact is that Labour's approach is failing."
 

"While crime rates soar, police resignations have tripled under this Government. Labour are releasing a prisoner early EVERY TWENTY MINUTES because they haven't built enough prisons. Meanwhile Ministers try to tell us that crime is falling, but no one outside the New Labour champagne bubble really believes that. The police are doing a magnificent job, but they have one hand tied behind their backs thanks to the madness of Labour's red tape and form filling culture."

"The Conservatives are proposing a three dimensional approach: to liberate the Police, punish the guilty and strengthen our society and our families. This is a positive approach that stands in stark contrast to Labour's ineffective authoritarianism."

"I've been out with my team of volunteers on the highstreets of North Warwickshire and Bedworth, handing out free Crime Advice Packs and conducting a five question ‘quick crime survey.' The response from local people has been overwhelming:

"Everybody I spoke to felt angry and let down. I spoke with local shopkeepers who are resigned to the fact that their windows are broken every few months. I spoke with young people and pensioners alike who don't feel safe walking through the town centre after 5pm. 95% of those who answered said they felt that crime and antisocial behaviour are getting worse over the last couple of years.

"Crime is rising, but Labour are releasing a prisoner early every twenty minutes because Gordon Brown refused to fund enough prison places when he was Chancellor. We asked people whether they support the Government spending up to £20 billion on compulsory ID cards, or whether they prefer the Conservative plan to scrap ID cards and spend the money on more prison places to keep criminals behind bars. 83% said they'd prefer to see the money spent on prison places than ID cards.

"The policemen and women we trust our safety to are on the front line everyday in the struggle against crime, but under Labour they are drowning in red tape, police resignations have tripled, and for the first time in a generation the police are voting on whether they should strike. The Government has lost the confidence and support of rank and file police officers. People don't want to see policing on the cheap. We asked people if they would rather see more trained police officers on the streets, even they are more expensive, or more Police Community Support Officers. The results are staggering: 96% of local people want more trained police officers on our streets, and not more PCSOs.

"The results of our survey are an indictment of 10 years of this Government's failure to tackle crime. Reoffending rates are up and detection rates are down. 11,000 criminals have been released early, and police officers spend on average only one hour in five actually on the beat. And most worrying of all, the police have lost confidence in the Government.

I was delighted to be chosen at an Open Primary as the Conservative Party’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for North Warwickshire. This is a very exciting time for the Conservatives nationally, and for North Warwickshire in particular. We now control both the North Warwickshire Borough Council and the Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council for the first time in history, and everywhere I go throughout the constituency, knocking on doors and speaking with people, I sense a real hunger for change.

Under David Cameron we have our best opportunity in a decade to end Labour’s damaging obsession with spin, and their centrally controlled, target driven approach to our public services, and Gordon Brown's tax and debt bombshell which threatens to bankrupt the country.

Thanks to Labour’s mismanagement, essential services in North Warwickshire are under threat:

Post Offices. I have been at the forefront of the campaign to save local Post Offices across North Warwickshire and Bedworth, but sadly the fight has been lost. Nine branches have been cut across the region as a result of Labour Party policy. By the time of the next General Election Gordon Brown will have closed down one third of the entire Post Office network, and our local Labour MP has voted in Parliament for every measure that has led to these cuts, and against every measure to stop them. In many rural and outlying urban areas, the post office is often the only local shop. When it goes, it is the vulnerable and the elderly who are hardest hit. I have been leading the campaign locally against these cuts, but unfortunately this was a fight we did not win.

The George Eliot Hospital. The Trust is doing a fantastic job of clawing itself out of millions of pounds of deficit caused by the recent NHS funding crisis. Sadly, part of the cost reduction programme required the closure of 75 beds and the cutting 116 clinical posts. Question marks remain over whether essential health services will continue to be provided locally. The Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Nuneaton and I are campaigning jointly, and are determined to keep a close eye on services at the George Eliot. Recently our two Labour opponents refused to join us for an independently chaired public debate about the future of healthcare in North Warwickshire, Bedworth and Nuneaton. They are determined to avoid debating the real issues that affect people's lives.

North Warwickshire Fire and Ambulance Services. Our emergency services are being regionalised without us having a say. As a former Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps, I am well aware of the issues involved in providing a robust emergency response capability. Labour's approach is yet more centralisation. It won't do.

Threat to Greenbelt. The unelected West Midlands Regional Assembly is planning to impose almost 14,000 new houses in North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth. Labour's Soviet-style housebuilding plans are centrally led, top  down and overly bureaucratic. They drive a coach and horses through local, democratic accountability and threaten our local greenbelt land. why doesn't Labour trust local democracy? Why won't they allow these decisionsto be mde locally, by democratically elected councillors who are accountable to local voters? The Conservatives have pledged to abolish undemocratic regional planning quangos and return decision making to local councils.

Local Farmers. Local rural communities have suffered under Labour , from the ill-thought out and illiberal ban on hunting with dogs, to the fiasco of the Single Farm Payments Scheme. Frankly, Labour do not understand rural issues, and nor do they care.

Gordon Brown started his unelected Premiership spinning furiously to pretend that he represented a break from the Blair-Brown years. He knows that the country is crying out for change, but all he has to offer is more of the same old Labour leadership. He has been at the heart of this discredited Government for the last ten years. Only David Cameron and the Conservatives can offer the change that the country needs.

The bottom line in North Warwickshire is, a vote for any other party is a vote for Labour. If you want change in North Warwickshire and Bedworth at the next General election, make yours a Conservative vote.
 
I will work hard for the ordinary people of North Warwickshire to protect our local public services. Your voice matters. Labour isn’t listening to it. We are.