by Paul Scully | Mar 5, 2013 | News |
I spent the weekend in Moldova leading a seminar on behalf of the Westminster Foundation. This is an organisation that connects politicians from across the world and has been instrumental in helping democracy flourish in parts of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Moldova is a small country, Europe’s poorest, nestled between Romania and Ukraine. It is emerging from the shadow of decades of Soviet control. The journey from the airport immediately brought home the effects of Russian dominance with Soviet style apartment blocks dominating the streets into the city.
Although the Communists remain the largest party in Moldova, the government is a coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (LDPM). Confusingly two of their coalition partners are the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party. The LDPM are a sister party of the Conservatives, sitting on the centre-right of the political spectrum. Though the capital city, Chisinau, was dour, the people were anything but. The members of the young political party were eager to learn and proud to show the work that they had already done, reflecting what they had picked up from previous visits to the Conservatives in London.
I was there with a colleague and Cheam resident, David Park, to talk to them about selecting candidates for elections. David has been instrumental at a number of levels in selecting prospective Conservative Members of Parliament and of course, I have just gone through the process myself so we performed a double act of selector and selectee.
The differences were huge. The challenge was how to take the best from the UK and make it applicable in the very different and restrictive system in Moldova. They run a closed list system with 110 candidates put on a party list and ranked by the people at the top of the party. This means that electors vote for a party but have no say in which individual becomes an MP and they have no personal connection. The clear drawbacks to this system are that it encourages patronage from the leaders and little belief from residents that they can have an influence in decisions that affect them locally. Less obvious but very real problems are that candidates are not motivated to campaign for any significant length of time, with people being placed on the list sometimes just a fortnight before the election. This is very alien to people in the UK…except those who actually understand the way that we elect our Members of the European Parliament and some of the members of the GLA. Although UK parties don’t as far as I know rely on patronage from their respective leaders to rank their candidates, the vast majority of voters have little say, control or understanding on who gets elected and why.
For me personally, the trip was a rare opportunity to experience a place that I previously knew little about and meet many dedicated, friendly people. Secretary General of the LDPM,Victor Rosca and his committed team will go far. They need to. Just two days after I returned the LDPM Prime Minister, Vlad Filat lost a vote of no confidence leading to uncertainty as they scramble to arrange a new coalition. If they do not secure this, an early election will be in the offing, leading to a far too premature test for our conclusions on candidate selection.
Now I just need to work out how to explain to colleagues that I’ve been helping the Liberal Democrats with campaigning!
by Paul Scully | Feb 28, 2013 | News |
I was thinking of recycling, as you do (well, politicians and environmentalists do) and I searched for some old research that I had done into Sutton’s recycling figures a few years’ ago. I found this old photo showing a brown and green bin both being emptied into the same place after a resident had gone to the trouble of separating their rubbish and wondered what the council was doing now; if it was leading the way in reuse and recycling as many residents might think. I was surprised by what I found.
In 2002, Sutton council had the second best recycling figures in London with 28% of household waste being composted or recycled. This has gone up to 37% in the last decade, below the London average and Sutton has been overtaken by several boroughs, ending up 10th in the capital’s league table.
We have been in the 30 per cent bracket now for nearly a decade and things appear to be standing still whilst everyone around us is getting better. This council were seen as the bright young things, but they are ageing rapidly, and they have not kept up. We need to look at other boroughs and how they encourage recycling. Bexley recycle more waste than they put in landfill.
I spoke to the Sutton Guardian on this matter after they picked up a tweet of mine saying: “Look at Bexley. They have been top of the table from the start, what are they doing right? And why are we not opening a dialogue with them to find out?”
The Deputy leader of Sutton Council told the Guardian: “Recycling is only one of the tools we employ as part of a sustainable waste management system.
“Recently, our approach has been to develop other areas such as reducing the amount of waste produced by households (we are collecting less this year than last despite housing growth), promoting home composting, working with charities which collect textiles and other materials and looking at the environmental impact of our waste management services and practices.”
“Waste management must also be assessed using a range of factors. Recycling is one but value for money and resident satisfaction are just as important. We have very economic services and we also achieve very high resident satisfaction.”
With the plans for the incinerator due to be considered by the council’s Development Control Committee next month, it looks like they are giving up on recycling and going to burn it instead.
by Paul Scully | Feb 28, 2013 | News |
Today I had a letter published in the Sutton Guardian, welcoming the referendum pledge by the Prime Minister and setting out my views. Here’s the full text:
“Eight out of ten people in the UK want to have their say in the UK’s future relationship with the EU.
We now have the first real commitment in forty years to have an in/out referendum which should not be dismissed (Letters 14th February).
Unlike the Prime Minister my default position is to leave the EU unless I can be persuaded that renegotiated terms are of significant benefit to this country. Such a renegotiation will undoubtedly be tough but not impossible. Few believed that David Cameron would lead the way in securing the first budget cut in the history of the EU; but he did.
Pragmatists on both sides of the European debate will understand why such a referendum has to be held after the next election. We have a coalition government. The Liberal Democrat shift from wanting a referendum in 2010 to rejecting the idea now makes the necessary legislation impossible to get through Parliament.
UKIP has chimed with a section of the public as a pressure group but as a party, risks pushing the country further away from its stated aims by helping to usher in a return to government by the people who negotiated the Lisbon Treaty, lost control of our immigration system and ran up a huge bill for our children to pay back in decades to come.
I know that when the referendum comes, the answer will impact on this country for at least the next 40 years. With polls swinging either side of the 50/50 mark as to whether to leave or remain, we need to make sure that the public has a clear understanding of the options and we simply have to get that answer right.”
Whatever your view, I believe that this is a sensible pragmatic approach to ensure that we actually see some action. Yes, it means that we’ve got to secure an outright Conservative majority in 2015 but as David Cameron is the only leader promising a referendum that would be true at any given point in time. Whether you favour staying in the EU believing that it is important to be part of the biggest trading bloc in the world or want to leave, taking the view that Britain could and should establish trading links with other economies, reconnect with the Commonwealth countries and can forge a new relationship with Europe, David Cameron’s promise is the only way that you are going to get a say in the matter. It’s worth a short wait and the work involved. It’s not before time.
by Paul Scully | Feb 16, 2013 | News |
I joined Cheam councillors Graham Whitham and Jonathan Pritchard and Cheam Ward Action Team member Holly Ramsey, to undertake some tree planting in Cheam Park earlier today. It was a crisp, but dry and sunny morning which helped encourage a good number of people and families to come out and help plant a significant number of trees in the Park near the playground. This batch has augmented those planted last year and was once again funded from Public Realm money granted by the Conservative-led Local Committee.
Public Realm money is of course taxpayers’ money, but which is spent by local councillors and representatives of residents’ association rather than officers in the Civic Offices. If you want to get involved in local decision making or just want to find out more about what is being planned for Cheam, keep an eye on the council website for details of forthcoming meetings of the Sutton South, Cheam & Belmont Local Committee and Cheamlive – the informative website of your local Cheam councillors, Graham and Jonathan
Thanks too to Ben Morris and his team of council tree specialists who gave up their time to prepare the ground and show us how to discover our green fingers in double quick time.
by Paul Scully | Jan 30, 2013 | News |
I was delighted that my first invitation to speak to a residents’ group in Sutton was from Age UK who are an important lynchpin in our local community. Last week I attended their annual review meeting where they showcased their wide variety of services ranging from offering advice on switching energy suppliers to volunteers acting as Helping Hands, doing chores around the home and offering company. For many people my age, we don’t notice the extraordinary work that is being carried out without fanfare, supporting our ageing population. According to the 2011 census figures Sutton has the 4th highest proportion of retired people in the outer London boroughs and so we need to ensure that we have a support structure in place to address areas where State provision and modern family support often falls short including loneliness.
I spoke to the One Voice for Age Sutton group; twenty or so local residents who meet regularly to discuss issues around local healthcare, transport and other services that are of particular interest to older people. I talked about what I did and my life experiences that had shaped my priorities of healthcare in Sutton, enough school places for our children and building a thriving local economy. Questions from the group reflected their knowledge of local issues and their dedication in seeing some of those concerns addressed, ranging from bus services to Kingston Hospital, the future of St Helier, localised health services provided by the Jubilee Health Centre in Shotfield, Wallington and Stanley Park High School in Carshalton.
Most questions I could answer, others I took away to find the right person to ask. After all none of us want another politician who will offer flannel rather than substance. The politician’s default position of blustering through everything was why Peter Ustinov never considered a political career, saying, “I did not become a politician because I could not stand the strain of being right all of the time.”
If you are interested in getting involved with Age UK, either as an older person who may be interested in their services or someone that is able to volunteer in a friendly environment with rewarding work, do get in touch with Marion Harper and her team via the contact details on the Age UK website.
I spent the weekend in Moldova leading a seminar on behalf of the Westminster Foundation. This is an organisation that connects politicians from across the world and has been instrumental in helping democracy flourish in parts of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Moldova is a small country, Europe’s poorest, nestled between Romania and Ukraine. It is emerging from the shadow of decades of Soviet control. The journey from the airport immediately brought home the effects of Russian dominance with Soviet style apartment blocks dominating the streets into the city.
