Funny isn't it how Labour seem committed to pricing us all off the roads but don't seem quite so keen on providing us with alternative transport choices. One such alternative is of course the train and I am delighted that Snaith and Cowick Town Council have started a campaign to improve the line between Goole and Leeds which presently has just two services per day from Rawcliffe or Snaith to Leeds and just one return service, at a time that commuters who work in Leeds would probably find difficult to catch.

Well, despite a plethora of local Labour politicians jumping on the bandwagon, nothing to do with the local elections of course, the Government has this week said that it has no funding available to improve services on this line. I doubt they even know where Snaith is.

How can we be expected to ditch our cars if we there are no alternatives? It seems to me that all parties have serious decisions to make on public transport. For my part I will be arguing for us to restructure the railways and invest in upgrading lines and improving services on existing lines. Snaith and Rawcliffe really would benefit from extra services and from better timetabling of services. The only return journey from Leeds available at present is 5.20pm which is not practical for those who work in Leeds.

I had a phone call today from a lady who was very concerned about the cuts to midwifery services in the area. One of the reasons I started my NHS petition was because of the re-organisation of midwifery services which now see Goole's midwifery team covering a huge area, including the Isle of Axholme, with less staff than ever!

No wonder so many people have signed my NHS petition, hundreds more have responded to my survey questions on the NHS. Labour's response was to poo-poo my efforts, well it would seem they are the ones out of step with the people of Brigg and Goole.

Concern at Government plans to levy £120 year
bin taxes on the East Riding
New taxes will be unfair and harm the local environment, warns Andrew Percy

Government plans to introduce new rubbish taxes, on top of council tax, were criticised today Andrew Percy. It has been revealed that Downing Street is actively considering introducing additional ‘user charges’ for household rubbish collection.

·Under the clandestine plans for new bin taxes, hidden microchips will be used to weigh the contents of each household’s rubbish bin and then allow the town hall to levy a weekly or monthly bill based on its weight. Locks would have to be installed on every bin, and wheelie bins would be compulsory.
·New municipal ‘bin inspectors’ would be employed to police the system, fining those who do not use their wheelie bins or who leave rubbish bags outside the bin.
·The Keep Britain Tidy Campaign has warned that rubbish taxes would cause a surge in fly-tipping, with families being hit the hardest. Such taxes are also expected to cause a surge in ‘backyard burning’; in the Republic of Ireland where such controversial taxes have already been introduced, one in ten households now burn their rubbish in their back garden to avoid paying, filling the air with toxic chemicals.

Andrew Percy remarked,
“There is already massive public resentment at the way working families and pensioners are being punished by punitive levels of council tax – thanks to the Labour Government. Now every household in the East Riding faces the prospect of new rubbish taxes on top. I fear poorest families will be hit the hardest. The East Riding is already one of the worst funded Councils in the country, this year receiving the fourth worst education grant in England.

Litter is already a huge problem in many areas and you are hardly going to encourage responsible waste management by effectively taxing residents for putting rubbish in their bins. As such bin taxes threaten to damage the local environment by causing a surge in fly-tipping and backyard burning in local neighbourhoods. No-one believes that Gordon Brown would cut council taxes if top-up charges were introduced. This threatens to become yet another Labour stealth tax.”

Brigg and Goole's Labour MP, Ian Cawsey, claimed £12,130 in travel expenses last year (April 2005 - March 2006) . The highest of any of the North Lincs MPs. The Labour Cleethorpes MP had a total claim of £5,012.

The figure breaks down to -

• £5,195 on car mileage
• £6,935 on rail travel

I will leave it to you to decide whether or not you think these figures are justified. I certainly think that the figures should be public.

As I believe the public has a right to know how much their elected representatives are costing, here are my Councillor travel expenses for comparison. Of course our expenses have been public for years, MPs were quite happy to make our expenses public yet it took a Freedom of Information request for their expenses to become public.

• 2005-06 £0
• 2006-07 £200 or there abouts, yet to be finalised

Oh dear, yet again the Humberside Police Precept is on the rise! I don't blame the Police Authority Members for this rise, they are after all only having to raise the precept so that they can pay for the additional 100 or so Police Community Support Officers recently cut by the Government.

Labour promised our area 310 PCSOs but then reduced this figure to 220. The local Labour MPs said they were going to lobby the Government on this reduction! Hmmmm, forgive me for thinking this, but aren't those three Labour MPs also a part of the Government? They certainly seem to be receiving thousands of pounds in additional salaries as government ministers and whips etc. Consequently, it is THEY who agreed the cut! Labour's spin machine locally knows to bounds.

These shameless cuts have led to yet another increase in our precept but at least we know that the extra £6.1 million raised by the Humberside Police Authority will be used to provide the additional PCSOs Labour promised us but refused to deliver.

What all of this proves is the need for more local accountability, that's why I support creating elected Police Chiefs of Police Boards which would have real power over local policing, taking powers away from the Home Office and in so doing, ensuring that local people can hold to account more effectively our police force.

Don't be conned out of your clothes!


Donating your old clothes and fashion mistakes to charity, not only helps good causes, it is also good for the environment as it prevents them going to landfill. But Andrew Percy, Prospective Conservative MP for Brigg and Goole, has warned local householders to make sure their good intentions aren't exploited by bogus charity clothing collectors.
While many of the leaflets pushed through our doors asking for unwanted clothes give a strong impression they are benefiting the poor and needy, many of them are delivered by businesses which sell our donations and pocket the proceeds themselves.

Andrew Percy offers people in the Brigg and Goole area these tips from the Charity Commission to sort the bogus from the benevolent:

Does the leaflet say the collection is for a registered charity? If so, what's the registered charity number? call 0845 3000 218 or visit the online register of charities at www.charitycommission.gov.uk to check that it's genuine.

Does it only have a registered company number? This just means that the organisation is registered with Companies House as a business, not that its a charity.

Be suspicious of wording like 'poor families in Eastern Europe/ the Third World' what's the name of the charity?

Does the leaflet give an address and a landline? Mobile phone numbers or none at all can be a sign the organisation doesn't want to answer questions.

Andrew said,

'Bogus clothing collectors fool the public and take money from legitimate charities. Carrying out these few simple checks next time a clothing leaflet drops through your letterbox is relatively quick and easy to do. That way we can sort out the real charities from businesses just out to make a quick buck out of our generosity, and stop charities losing out.

If in any doubt, take your donations straight to your local charity shop.'

Government plans to reduce the number of Police Community Support Officers

Brigg and Goole's Prospective MP Andrew Percy has hit out at Government plans to reduce the number of police Community Support Officers in the Humberside Police area from 310 to 220.

Andrew explains, "Labour promised us over 300 PCSOs and the Govenment is now, despite the record levels of violent crime in our communities, planning to deliver just 220. I support the efforts of the 3 Labour MPs for North Lincolnshire in trying to convince the Government that this cut is unaccapetable. Of course we should remember that all 3 of the local Labour MPs are Government lackies and so their attempt is a rather cynical and somewhat contradictory one. Despite that, it is important that politicians of all parties work together to ensure that North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire recieve the policing personell we were promised by Labour.

We are paying record levels of tax, the local police precept is at an all time high and yet still Labour continue cutting our local services. It's about time we had a government that delivered on its promises and was serious about cutting crime."

Concern at ‘paparazzi’ tax inspectors spying on homes

Council tax revaluation taking place by stealth across England warns Andrew Percy

Prospective Brigg & Goole MP Andrew Percy expressed concern at reports of “paparazzi” surveillance being covertly rolled out by the Valuation Office Agency – an arm of Inland Revenue. In a stealth council tax revaluation exercise, every home in the country faces photographs of their home – inside and outside – being stored on a computer database, in order to identify features which could be taxed.

·Two million homes already snapped by stealth: Covert photogrpahy is already under way by the council tax inspectors, despite the supposed delay in the English council tax revaluation. New figures have revealed that in the last year, the number of photographs of homes stored on the system has soared from half a million to over two million.

·Estate agents collaborating in privacy raid: The Valuation Office Agency is also using taxpayers’ money to obtain information on the outside and inside of people’s homes – by buying up the data from estate agents, Rightmove. Unsuspecting homeowners are putting their property on the market without realising that the tax inspectors are using it to find out how to hike up council tax bills.

·Tax spies armed with clipboards and long-distance cameras: The ‘Health & Safety’ manual of the council tax inspectors reveals that they are being armed with telescopic lenses & cameras, clipboards, laser pens and location plans and maps of every home. The inspectors are instructed to record any abusive or hostile behaviour by householders. They have the power to impose £500 fines, via the courts, on any household who refuses entry or obstructs the state snoopers.

·Scrap these powers says Opposition: Conservatives are pledging that the next Conservative Government will abolish the powers of the inspectors to enter people’s homes and gardens.

Andrew said,
“I am very concerned that the privacy and property of honest, law-abiding citizens is under threat from paparazzi-style council tax inspectors.

“There is already public unease at Labour plans for a compulsory national Identity Card Database and the new Children’s Database. The Government is now rolling out a property photo database to match and conducting a council tax revaluation by stealth across the country.

“Not only are civil liberties under threat, but I fear the photographs taken by these tax inspectors will be used to hike taxes on family homes – by taxing features like conservatories, extensions, gardens and patios. Conservatives are campaigning against these plans to send camera-wielding inspectors into East Riding and North Lincolnshire bedrooms, bathrooms and gardens, and we will abolish the snoopers’ powers of entry.”

Now it's North Lincolnshire pupils who miss out...

I recently revealed just how poorly pupils living in the East Riding of Yorkshire are funded by this Labour Government and sadly today I can reveal that this funding extends to pupils in the rest of the Brigg and Goole constituency.

North Lincolnshire pupils will receive hundreds of pounds less per pupil in funding for the 2007-08 school year then an average pupil in England.

North Lincolnshire ranks 118 out of 149 authorities in England, putting pupil funding in our area in the bottom 25% nationally.

An average North Lincs pupil will receive hundreds of pounds less than the national average, doing even worse when compared to pupils in the neighbouring North East Lincolnshire and Hull Schools.

It’s clear for everyone to see that despite having 3 Labour MPs, North Lincolnshire clearly isn’t a priority for this Labour Government.

Worse still, our local Labour MPs all have jobs serving in the Government, proving that when it comes to important issues such as pupil funding, the present Labour MPs are more interested in their jobs with London Labour than they are fighting for our local schools.