Esther McVey

What a night last night at Sands, Dee Lane, West Kirby – music, art, fundraising and a chance to remember a dear friend. Over £1,000 was raised for Macmillan Cancer care. So a huge well done to Fiona and Ali and all the team. For more on Macmillan cancer care go to www.macmillan.org.uk

The Friends of Meols Park have been nominated for The Group award at this year’s Your Champions Awards. They’ve been selected for all their hard work refurbishing Meols park.

Added to that the treasurer Roy Shuttleworth and lead campaigner has been singled out and recognised as a champion within the community.  Roy really is a local Hero. 

The Awards will be held on Friday 6th Nov so fingers crossed.

For more information go to www.friendsofmeolspark.co.uk

I read with interest yesterday that Stephen Hesford the current Labour MP for Wirral West is standing down as parliamentary aide (though remaining the Labour MP) in light of the Baroness Scotland affair. He is quitting  as  an ‘act of principle’ and I have to say I agree with him for standing down. For here we have the chief legal advisor to the government refusing to leave her post, comparing her actions to forgetting to pay congestion charges when in fact she broke the law. Her arrogance is startling and endemic of this entire Labour administration. This latest episode serves only to confirm the gross ineptitude, double standards and double dealing of this Labour Government. A government that continually refuses to tell the truth until forced into a position where it has no alternative, from government spending to prisoner release, from home office data loss to smear tactics. This government has lost its way.

 Now as we draw closer to the General Election we may well see MP’s seeking to distance themselves from their party supposedly acting as independently minded individuals, but a glance at their voting in Parliament shows they serve only to bolster and maintain this Labour Government.

Yes, principles are at stake, a Nation’s principles, and it’s time this entire failing Labour Government stood down.

I have worked closely with Iain Duncan Smith since he established the Centre for Social Justice back in 2004. This cross party think tank, aimed at fighting social injustice, initially undertook an in-depth study into the social problems facing Britain in the 21^st Century in the document ‘Breakdown Britain’ followed by ‘Break through Britain’ which provided a series of solutions and policies which were adopted by all 3 major parties and have been universally applauded.

Last week the centre reveals its latest research ‘Dynamic Benefits, Towards Welfare That Works’ the most far-reaching review of the welfare system in 60 years, estimating a shake-up that will boost the incomes of the lowest paid by nearly £5 billion. This research also sets to transform the “static” way the welfare system works, by removing barriers that discourage the unemployed from seeking work, described as “financial disincentive to work” – the way in which the newly employed see barely any increase in their income as benefits are cut when they start to work for example a 21-year-old man earning £5.50 an hour takes home just an extra 89p an hour because 84% of his wages are lost in tax and benefit withdrawal.

Such heavy taxation in the current system serves to trap people out of work, producing greater injustice and weaker social mobility with Britain now having greater unemployment of its young people than anywhere else in Europe. Although Iain Duncan Smith predicts an initial cost of £2.7bn to establish, it will reform and save the taxpayer £3.4bn after one to two years – a net saving for the taxpayer of £700m year on year, more importantly it will provide a fairer system into work.

Another busy weekend in Wirral West

Friday night I was part of the debating panel with Chief Constable Bernhard Hogan Howe and the head of the Crown Prosecution Service Paul Whitaker – Families and friends of FFFJ packed out the room wanting to know what a future government would do to curb crime as well as wanting to know what changes to the system would help the police and CPS do their job more efficiently and effectively.  The debate was moving and at times heated as the relatives of murdered families voiced their views and concerns.

Saturday I headed to London to support Jenny Packham one of our top English designers as she showed off her new spring collection for 2010. There is only one word to describe the collection and that is Stunning! Yes it was a wonderful day with friends and colleagues – but there is a significant fashion and textile industry in the UK – worth £9B a year and employing 165,000 people across the UK – hence I wasn’t surprised among all the celebrities and gorgeous people attending to discover that several MP’s including Peter Mandelson were fighting for tickets for London Fashion week too!

Saturday night I raced home to prepare for this month’s Super Sunday – nearly 50 people from across Wirral West came out to help and I always do bacon butties back at mine to feed the helpers afterwards. Yes it’s like a military operation now and John who always comes to help (ok, ok more than help, do all the cooking) gets to mine first thing and takes great delight banning me from my own kitchen. He was a chef straight after university preparing 3 course meals for 100’s of people on a nightly basis – so what’s breakfast for 50 once a month!! Anyhow he’s a star and when we get back it’s all done. He usually departs with a smile on his face though as he leaves me the dishes and the cooker to clean…… 

Straight from Super Sunday I went to help raise funds to pay for the new model boating lake in Hoylake - Lorraine, Jacky and I shook tins for several hours as we took in the remaining rays of the September sun and consumed one too many 99 ice creams – Jacky and I blame Lorraine for leading us astray. …

From model boats to helping arrange some press for a sponsored walk I’m doing next weekend. If anyone would like to sponsor me and the rest of the team please go to www.justgiving.co.uk/EstherMcVey

Many thanks and see you there