Monday 29 June 2009

June Days

June was not a month for relaxing - despite the glorious sunshine! Since the election we have been out delivering and canvassing most days. Last Saturday we were 13 strong out all day in Newton Abbot. Many of you should now have received "People Talk" and those of you who read the Mid Devon Advertiser will have seen my views set out in a new fortnightly column on page two, an advertisement sponsored by Conservative supporters. Any feedback on what you would like to see me cover in future on that page would be welcome.

I sent out a survey last month to over 2,000 of our local businesses and have been delighted by the high response rate. We are now analysing the results and I will post them on my website http://www.annemariemorris.co.uk/ as soon as we have completed the exercise. If there is any business who would like to contribute and did not receive my survey, please do let me know and I will send out a survey to you. I am determined that our smaller businesses get the support they need - they are the unsung heroes of our economy.

I was delighted this month to be invited to attend the Federation of Small Businesses' annual awards dinner in my capacity as a Board Member of the Devon and Cornwall Institute of Directors - especially as one of the winners was our very own local taxi business - Teignbridge Taxis - well done! A special mention should also go to Anne Walker at International Dance Supplies in Newton Abbot who has just been named a winner of the prestigious First Women Awards run in association with the CBI and Lloyds TSB, a national award that recognises women who are the trailblazers and pioneers of Britain. I chair a networking group of local businesses of which IDS is a founding member and we are very proud of what she has done to keep the Newton Abbot business community flag flying.

Following my meeting with the Devon Pensioners Forum last month, this month it was the Senior council for Devon ,which represents the over 50s. We had our bi-monthly branch meeting and our quarterly Devon wide meeting of the Council's Assembly which I attended representing the Newton Abbot area which includes Kingsteignton. Key issues for us here locally are health and transport and we are planning a series of meetings to look at these issues in more detail to come up with some locally relevant recommendations. I had been approached by a local group wanting to see if we can establish a patient transport support group in Newton Abbot rather like Kingscare. I took this to the Senior Council branch meeting and we hope to meet with them to see how we can help. It must be a good idea!

I was very pleased to be able this month to spend some time at Rydon School where I am a governor with Year 5. We had a great time talking about what they had learnt about Henry the VIII and his wives - not a great advert for marriage! We talked about the science work they had been doing - including the solar system and the life cycle of plants - which led to a great trip around the school grounds as the children showed me the gardening club's work and the butterfly patch.

Saturday was particularly busy - it was armed forces day, a day to celebrate what a huge contribution our serving men and women make to the community. I am a member of the British Legion and joined everyone in Dawlish for a great celebration. It was also the Friends of Dawlish Hospital's fete - which added the treat of a great cream tea! And then on to Shaldon where the RNLI had a super fundraiser - and I enjoyed another scone or two! As Roger, my other half, and I sail, we are great supporters - not least because one day we may need them!

But the summer is a time to have some fun together - and that we are doing as local Conservatives in our community. We had a cheese and wine in Dawlish at the beginning of the month, we have a lunch party in Broadhempston next week and a wine tasting at the end of July in Preston, Kingsteignton. I should love to meet anyone who would like to come and join us at one of these events. All events are advertised on http://www.newtonabbotconservatives.org.uk/

July will be hotter - and busier!

Friday 26 June 2009

Apology

It has been drawn to my attention that there was an error on my last Blog entry in relation to the designation of the party allegiance of Colin Authers in my report of the county election results. I have corrected the error and apologise unreservedly to Mr Authers.

Monday 8 June 2009

Moving on - towards a general election!

The voters have spoken quite convincingly! Devon was a landslide in favour of the Conservative Party - and locally there was a strong vote for change. Across the country as a whole the Conservative vote share was 15 percentage points higher than Labour - a 9% swing. Of the seven Devon county council seats in the Newton Abbot constituency, as it will be at the next General Election, we now hold five - four substantial gains. John Clatworthy held his seat in Dawlish increasing his majority. John has now been joined by Dennis Smith who lives in Ipplepen (Teignbridge South), Mike Walters who lives in Kingsteignton (Kingsteignton), James McMurray who lives in Teignmouth (Teignmouth Town) and Chris Clarence (Teign Estuary) who lives in Shaldon. John Clatworthy has been appointed Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group in Devon County Council. This gives us a strong voice in Devon. One of their first challenges as a team will be to find savings and reduce the county debt. The aim - no council tax rise next year. Working together we can get things done!

It has been a rollercoaster of a week with very little sleep. But it was all worth it. The two seats out of seven we did not regain were the two Newton Abbot seats - but it was close. After the first count, Newton Abbot North was declared a Conservative win - on the recount it was a loss - but only by 191 votes. We also have an interest in the results for Exminster and Kenton. This seat includes the villages of Starcross and Kenton which are both part of the new Newton Abbot constituency. Here Alan Connett's majority was almost knocked out - he is now hanging on in there by just 33 votes. Now the task moving on is to prove to the electorate that we were worth the vote and deserve to go to Westminster at the next general election - whenever that election is.

Every day Gordon Brown seems to lurch from crisis to crisis. No one has confidence in him - not even his ever changing cabinet. Britain deserves better than this. Instead of thinking about what is best for the country, Labour has spent thinking about what is best for themselves. At a time of economic and political difficulty, we need a strong and united government. Instead we have a Government in complete chaos. But will the Labour back benchers be able to agree on a successor to force a leadership vote? Even if they do succeed will that individual take the country to the poles? Its a bit like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas! The British people should get to decide who runs the country, not Labour MPs!

These were the Devon County Council election results for the constituency:

Teignbridge South:
Dennis Smith (Con) 1,849
Aistair Dewhirst (Lib Dem)
Karen Eberhardt-Shelton (Green) 561
Mary Kennedy (Lab) 152

Dawlish:
John Clatworthy (Con) 2,236
Derek Collins (Lib Dem) 969
Margaret Fountain (UKIP) 901
Richard Fairfax (Green) 273
Graham Hesse (Lab) 236

Kingsteignton:
Mike Walters (Con) 1,269
Andrew Fear (UKIP) 886
John Smith (Lib Dem) 655
Jane Baker (Green) 267
Babs Errington (Lab) 229

Teignmouth Town:
James McMurray (Con) 1,209
Christopher Bray (Lib Dem) 1,120
Chris Whitlock (UKIP) 631
Roy Phillips (Ind) 228
Ros Langdon (Green) 177
Niall Duffy (Lab) 129
Colin Authers 129

Teign Estuary:
Chris Clarence (Con) 1,618
David Cox (Lib Dem) 1,306
Richard Stanton (UKIP) 642
Adrian Prter (Green) 211
Alan Lumb (Lab) 127

Newton Abbot North:
Anne Fry (Lib Dem) 1,323
Lorna Lowes (Con) 1,132
Lucia Capaldi (Green) 408
Robert Kennedy (Lab) 208

Newton Abbot South:
Gordon Hook (Lib Dem) 1,940
Anthony Ballinger (C0n) 1,169
Corinne Lindsey (Green) 441
Barry Kaye (Lab) 201

The European election results are just hot off the press. We won as many votes nationally as Labour and the Liberal Democrats put together. We came first, increasing our vote share and we're thirteen per cent ahead of Labour. It's clear that the Liberal Democrat's position on Europe is not resonating with voters. And no wonder, when they have reneged on their promise to support a referendum on the renamed European Constitution, voted to abolish Britain's rebate from the EU, and want to scrap the pound and join the Euro!