From: Greg Hands MP [email protected]: News Bulletin
from Greg Hands MP #438
Date: 7 June 2015 14:08To: [email protected]
!
In this edition:
Greg Hands MPs Diary Website of the Week:The Fulham Society
Photo news:Tower Hamlets Mayoral by-election Greg Hands
opposescurtailing 424 Bus Routethrough Fulham Greg Hands visits
ChelseaMuslim Community Record Number of Peoplethink K&C
Council is doinga good job This summer, enjoy ninedays of fun with
CelebratingFulham, thanks to theFulham Society Hands in the
papers:Ministers told to releasegovernment land forhousing Hands in
the papers:New head of ConservativeWay Forward aims to keepTory
activists busy Hands in the papers:Osborne to speed cuts
forsmoother 'rollercoaster'deficit plan Photo news:Inverclyde,
Wallasey,Worsley and NorthTyneside Candidates 7 ways to contact
GregHands
Issue 438 - Sunday 7th June 2015
Since the last edition, Greg:
Worked up a plan to make 4.5 billion on in yearGovernment
savings for 2015/16, announced by Rt HonGeorge Osborne in the House
of Commons last week. Forcoverage, see below.Attended Cabinet, as
Chief Secretary to the Treasury.Addressed the public at the Chelsea
Muslim Centre, WorldsEnd. For a full report, see below.Voted for
the Queens Speech, with wide-ranging legislativeproposals on the EU
referendum, devolution, the Right to Buy,immigration and
anti-strike laws.Was guest speaker at a Conservative Action Day in
TowerHamlets to support our candidate Cllr Peter Golds, for the
re-run mayoralty election. For photos, see below.Held a
constituency surgery for Chelsea & Fulham residentsat Fulham
Library. Gregs surgeries are now being held mostFridays, from 4:30
to 6pm, in Fulham Library. A new Chelseavenue is also being
explored.
!
Website of the Week:www.fulhamsociety.org The website of the
Fulham Society, who are again running theirCelebrating Fulham week
at the end of the month. For moreinformation, see below.!
Photo news:Tower Hamlets Mayoral by-election
Greg Hands MP campaigning in Tower Hamlets for the
mayoralelection there, with London Deputy Mayor Stephen
Greenhalgh,Syed Kamall MEP and the senior team from Conservative
Way
Forward.!
!Greg Hands opposes curtailing 424 BusRoute through Fulham Greg
Hands, Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham, isopposed to
the changes to the 424 bus route due to be proposed byTransport for
London (TfL). Greg is aware that TfL intends to conduct a formal
consultation onproposed radical changes to the 424 bus route.
Currently, the 424 busruns right the way through Fulham, from
Craven Cottage to PutneyHigh Street, providing a vital service for
residents in Sands End andPeterborough Road amongst other
locations. However, TfL isproposing to change the route so that it
will no longer include BagleysLane, Pearscroft Road, Broughton
Road, and Byam Street.Furthermore, the Sainsburys on Townmead Road,
as well as PutneyHigh Street both of which are popular with
shoppers would nolonger be included in the service. Moreover, of
most concern, as aresult of these changes Sands End would lose its
only direct busservice. Along with the local Conservative
councillors for Sands End andParsons Green & Walham wards, Greg
Hands MP is opposed to suchchanges, saying, I believe it is vital
that Sands End should continue tohave a bus service, and that the
route should still reach Putney HighStreet. Pensioners who rely on
the 424 for their shopping, and otherlocal residents who rely on
this route to go to work would be leftwithout an option by these
proposed changes. Accordingly, I believe that Transport for London
should reconsiderthese poorly thought out proposals, and I intend
to make a submissionto the consultation as soon as it opens. In the
meantime, the local Conservative councillors have sent out
apetition to retain the 424 bus route, which can also be accessed
atwww.hfconservatives.com/424bus.
!Greg Hands visits Chelsea MuslimCommunity
Greg Hands MP addressing the public at the Chelsea
MuslimCentre.
Greg Hands, Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham,
visitedthe Chelsea Muslim Community at their local Hub on the
Worlds EndEstate on Friday 29 May. Dr Mustafa Abu-Lisan, Chairman
of the Chelsea Muslim CommunityHub, welcomed Greg Hands to the
community centre, along with otherrepresentatives from the Royal
Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,including Borough Police
Commander, Chief Superintendant EllieOConnor, Leader of the
Council, Nicholas Paget-Brown, ChelseaRiverside councillor, Gerald
Hargreaves, and Stephen Morgan, Headof Community Engagement Team at
RBKC. During the visit, which took place immediately after the
Communityswell-attended Friday prayers, Gregs constituents had the
chance tomeet their newly re-elected Member of Parliament, and to
posequestions to the panel of guest speakers. The questions ranged
fromhousing to the provision of youth facilities, and Greg welcomed
thechance to discuss their shared responsibility to combat
extremism.Gregs constituents were also keen to find out about his
new rle asChief Secretary to the Treasury. According to the 2011
census, 10% of the population of RBKC self-describes as Muslim, and
approximately 15% of the residents of whatwas then Cremorne Ward
(now Chelsea Riverside), are Muslim. Greg Hands says, As someone
who has travelled widely through theIslamic world, from the Maghreb
to Central Asia, and from Syria toBosnia, I welcomed the chance to
attend the Chelsea MuslimCommunity on Friday and to meet
constituents from a variety ofMuslim backgrounds. Furthermore, as
someone who likes to speaklanguages, I am particularly happy to
hear that the Hub offers freeArabic classes to the wider community.
I am also pleased to hear that the Chelsea Muslims mission is one
ofuniting the community based upon the concepts of tolerance
andsocial interaction, and within a socially cohesive and
law-abidingframework. In addition, I support the efforts of Dr
Mustafa and otherswho contribute to the Bi-Borough
counter-radicalisation strategy. After the panel satisfied the
local residents with their answers, DrMustafa provided sweet green
tea and a selection of baklava for theguests. Greg Hands now looks
forward to working with the Chelsea MuslimCentre in the future, and
wishes his Muslim constituents well forRamadan, which is due to
begin the evening of 18 June.
Greg Hands MP with Cllrs Nick Paget-Brown and GerardHargreaves
at the Chelsea Muslim Centre.
!Record Number of People think K&CCouncil is doing a good
job A record number of Royal Borough residents think that the
Council isdoing a good job and that the borough is a great place to
liveaccording to our annual survey of residents. The survey sets
out to record just what people who live in the RoyalBorough think
about the services they receive, their local environmentand a range
of other important issues such as crime, jobs and counciltax and
compares this with the results from the Annual Survey ofLondoners.
This year 86 per cent of Kensington and Chelsea residents said
theywere satisfied with the way the Council was run, which is the
highestsatisfaction rating it has ever received since the survey
began in 2007and compares with just 70 per cent of Londoners. An
even higher 95 per cent thought the borough was a good place tolive
in. The Council continues to perform well compared with London as
awhole with Kensington and Chelsea residents more satisfied
withservices such as street cleaning, street lighting, policing and
repair ofroads and pavements. Residents are also more positive
about theCouncil doing a good job, being efficient and well run and
providingvalue for money than other Londoners. The percentage of
residents agreeing that the Council involves themwhen making
decisions, has staff that are friendly and polite, and thatthe
Council is doing a good job all significantly increased this
yearalthough there was also increased concern that the Council is
difficultto get through to on the phone. Lack of affordable
housing, traffic congestion and litter on the streetscontinue to be
the key concerns for people who live in the borough. Concern about
crime continues to decline and is much less than inLondon
generally. Concern about lack of jobs, not enough being donefor
young people and the level of council tax also declined this
yearbut there was an increase in concern about the number of
homelesspeople. Commenting on the survey, Councillor Nick
Paget-Brown, Leader ofthe Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
said: I am verypleased to read that, despite the enormous financial
challenges wehave faced, so many residents think were doing a good
job for them. This reflects well on all the hard working officers
who deliverconsistently good services to our residents. While such
complimentary figures do provide a warm glow I know wemust continue
to work very hard indeed to make sure our highstandards are
maintained. And we must also look carefully at thoseareas where
residents say they are not happy and see where we canimprove.
This summer, enjoy nine days of fun withCelebrating Fulham,
thanks to the FulhamSociety Residents are invited to a nine-day
festival of fun and often unusualactivities in Fulham to suit every
taste from, June 27 to July 5. Celebrating Fulham 2015 is offering
a packed programme of events. Rocking West Ken will celebrate the
areas musical past in a walkingtour taking people back through the
decades on July 4. The Fair on the Green will treat residents and
visitors to a family funday in Parsons Green with rides,
performances and over 100 stallsalso on July 4. Festival organiser
Maya Donelan said, Theres something foreveryone to enjoy. Why not
watch Wimbledon on a roof terrace, learnto bluff your way with
French wines, join in a sing-along, see a play ora classic film or
take in a concert? Or you could go walking with bats, explore
monuments in MargravineCemetery, take a lion house tour, go
foraging for food or just strollaround Charing Cross Hospitals
unique art collection. The Fulham Society is the local amenity
Society, keeping an eye onwhat is happening with planning
applicatons, parks and the river. Forinformation, visit
www.fulhamsociety.org or [email protected]. Celebrating
Fulham 2015 is sponsored by Whole Foods Market andAspire.
Hands in the papers:Ministers told to release government landfor
housing Tim Ross, The Sunday TelegraphSunday 31st May 2015
Thousands of acres of unused land owned by the government will
beturned over for house-building under a new drive to be launched
byministers. A top level Cabinet taskforce will begin work this
week with the remitto sell-off enough government-owned land for
development to build150,000 homes. Greg Clark, the new Communities
Secretary, will urge departmentsacross Whitehall to loosen their
grip on sites that are lying idle tomeet the new target to free up
the enough land by 2020. He will also call on Englands 326 councils
to follow the governmentslead and use vacant plots on brownfield
sites to deliver new homes fortheir communities. On Tuesday, Mr
Clark will chair the first meeting of the new Cabinethousing
taskforce, which will include the Business Secretary, SajidJavid,
Liz Truss, the Environment Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin,
theTransport Secretary, and Greg Hands, the chief secretary to
theTreasury, among others. Their remit will be to ensure that
government departments meet thenew target to release enough
property for 150,000 homes by 2020 which is equivalent to the
number of homes in Wakefield. Over the past five years, Whitehall
departments released enough landto build 103,000 new homes. Mr
Clark said: I want to see departments going further and faster
thanbefore, starting right away, to loosen their grip on sites that
arestanding idle and to turn them over for house building. The
chance to own your own home should be available to everyonewho
works hard. The Department for Communities and Local Government and
itsquango, the Homes and Communities Agency, have already
identifiedaround 150 sites, enough for 14,000 new homes, which can
be madeready for sale for house building on top of the 146 sites
they havealready released in the last five years. Mr Clark said
councils should also sell their spare assets to createsites for
house building. Councils are significant landowners and Town Halls
should be lookingat their estate, particularly brownfield sites,
and thinking about howthey could make better use of their holdings
by releasing land for newhomes for their communities," he said.
Government accounts show that in 2011, councils held 223 billion
ofassets of which 108billion was in land and buildings.
Hands in the papers:New head of Conservative Way Forwardaims to
keep Tory activists busy Sebastian Payne, The SpectatorTuesday 2nd
June 2015 Westminster is still recovering from the 2015 election
but someConservatives are already thinking ahead to 2020. Two
ofConservative HQs activist movements, Team 2015 and Roadtrip2015,
were key in mobilising support on the ground, as well as gettingout
the vote. Although Team 2020 is a long way off from hitting
thestump, a key member of the Tories operation is planning to
continuethis work from outside the party. Grant Shapps former chief
of staff Paul Abbott is leaving ConservativeHQ to run Conservative
Way Forward, the Thatcherite pressure groupthat counts tub-thumpers
Norman Tebbit, Liam Fox and Conor Burnsamong its patrons. Abbott
previously worked for partys deputychairman Rob Halfon,
masterminding his fuel duty freeze campaigns,so he has plenty of
experience in running successful campaigns too. By the end of 2016,
CWFs aim is to have thousands of activistsdeployed across the
country something that will be crucial for theEU referendum. The
revamped organisation is hoping to move awayfrom solely being a
pressure organisation. As a CWF source puts it:There are some huge
battles ahead in this Parliament: the race forLondon Mayor and City
Hall and the EU referendum. CWF will be achampion for the kind of
bread-and-butter, popular Conservatism thatpeople have just voted
for: more money in your pocket, decent jobs,and better schools for
young people. I understand that Abbott will be relaunching CWF this
weekend withan action day in Tower Hamlets, aiming to boost Cllr.
Peter Goldsefforts to replace Lutfur Rahman as mayor of Londons
rotten borough.140 activists have already signed up for a campaign
day and the chiefsecretary to the treasury Greg Hands will be on
hand to help out too. Conservative HQ has been criticised for
focusing too much on theelection at hand and not enough on keeping
the Tory activist basefresh and active between campaigns. Given
David Camerons surprisevictory, recruiting new activists to boost
the Tory cause should beeasier. CWF should provide a mechanism to
keep them enthused withbig campaigns.
Hands in the papers:Osborne to speed cuts for
smootherrollercoaster deficit plan The Financial TimesFriday 5th
June 2015 George Osborne is to accelerate his programme of
governmentspending cuts, announcing efficiency savings and asset
sales including the disposal of the taxpayers stake in Royal Mail
worth4.5bn. The move is partly to address criticism of the
rollercoaster profile ofhis deficit reduction plan, in which steep
cuts in the next two years arefollowed by higher spending in the
run-up to the 2020 general election. Mr Osborne said on Thursday:
When it comes to living within yourmeans, the sooner you start, the
smoother the ride. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development isamong the bodies urging Mr Osborne to smooth out his
austerity plan,urging him to protect the poor and not to stifle
growth. But Mr Osborne told the House of Commons that he would
deliverplanned savings of 30bn on schedule by 2017-18, including
his planto cut the welfare bill by 12bn. The chancellor insisted
there would be no delay in the timetable, butthat accelerating
savings in the current financial year would soften thejagged
profile of cuts as they intensify next year. The bulk of the 4.5bn
is made up of in-year departmental savings of3bn, which Mr Osborne
said was a significant first step towards the13bn of departmental
savings he is seeking. (One casualty will be a notorious study into
aggressive urban seagullsin Bath saving 250,000 for environment
department Defra.) A further 1.5bn will be achieved by one-off
asset sales, includingplans to sell the remaining 30 per cent stake
in Royal Mail. Thesesales will pay down the national debt but will
not help to cut the annualbudget deficit. Mr Osbornes new Treasury
chief secretary, Greg Hands, hasconcluded the in-year search for
savings and the biggest cuts wereoffered up by Sajid Javid, the
Thatcherite business secretary. Mr Javid has cut the amount of
money going to further and highereducation colleges by 450m; the
Treasury said the savings would beachieved by further efficiency
savings and underspends. Hisbusiness department is also saving 450m
from its general budget. The Ministry of Defence will be one of the
hardest-hit departments,having promised 500m of in-year cuts. A
spokesman for thedepartment insisted operations would not be
affected, saying that themoney would be found from cutting down on
external consultants,travel and overtime by civilian staff. But the
figure could have been worse had the MoD been forced tosave 5 per
cent from its resource budget, as some in the Treasury
hadsuggested, it would have cost 1.4bn. Mr Hands trawl for
Whitehall savings has also yielded spendingreductions of 249m from
the Ministry of Justice and 230m from thelocal government
department. Mr Osbornes biggest challenge is finding a promised
12bn of welfaresavings, even though much of the savings will fall
on the workingfamilies that he has promised to champion. The
chancellor told the Commons that the Conservative governmentwould
be full square behind the working people of this country.However,
the welfare cuts are proving so problematic that he isshelving some
of the toughest decisions until his autumn statement. Ed Miliband,
the former Labour leader, returned to the Commons afterlast months
election defeat to say that his party would judge MrOsbornes
policies on his own one nation rhetoric. Mr Miliband said that
inequality between the very rich and the rest of asociety was a
problem for left and right in British politics, citing SteveHilton,
the prime ministers former adviser, who recently advocated amaximum
wage for bankers. The former Labour leader added ironically: That
is anti-aspiration andanti-business and I have no truck with
it.
Photo news:Inverclyde, Wallasey, Worsley and NorthTyneside
Candidates
Greg Hands MP with recent Conservative Party
parliamentarycandidates in Inverclyde, Wallasey, Worsley and North
Tyneside.
7 ways to contact Greg Hands:
By Phone: 020 7219 5448By email: [email protected] post: Greg
Hands
House of CommonsLondon SW1A 0AA
In person: Click here for details of howto book an appointment
atGreg Handss weeklysurgery
www.greghands.com
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