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Profile of Labour’s candidates for the Bristol mayoralty: Peter Hammond

28/05/2012, 02:09:08 PM

Amanda Ramsay on the leader of Bristol city council Labour group, Cllr Peter Hammond, one of Labour’s mayoral short-listed candidates.

Campaign literature has been arriving at Bristol Labour party members’ homes for weeks now, glossy leaflets, letters and round-robin emails. One says: “There’s a big chance that November’s election will be won or lost in the next fortnight, depending on who wins the selection, so I hope we choose wisely.”

Indeed, once the postal ballot result is known, expected 15 June, whoever Labour chooses will become the favourite to win in November, say Ladbrokes.

According to the bookies, former Labour councillor Kelvin Blake tops the poll at 5/1, councillor Peter Hammond comes in joint second at 6/1 with former MP Dan Norris, while councillor Helen Holland ranks 8/1 and NHS manager Marvin Rees is at 12/1.

Which one of these five short-listed candidates will be best capable of cutting it as Bristol’s first mayor?

“Words are fine,” Hammond says, pointing to his record as former leader of Bristol city council and current leadership of Labour’s 21 councillors. “But only actions change things. Under my leadership we have promoted a living wage, fairness at work, changed the council’s pay policy and fought for an ambitious new council-led housing programme.”

A local councillor for St George West ward in Bristol East, Hammond is an FE lecturer, has worked in the past on the railways and in a small business. He is also a director of Bristol Community FM, one of Bristol’s community radio stations.

“Between 2001 and 2009 I was a member of council cabinets,” he says of his time on the council scene, “and was leader for a short time. I dealt with services for both older and younger people – the largest spending departments – and instigated Bristol’s complete rebuilding or refurbishment of our secondary schools worth in excess of £250 million.”

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Question time for commissioner candidates

28/05/2012, 07:00:14 AM

by Kevin Meagher

Ballot papers to choose Labour candidates for the new Police and Crime Commissioner roles are set to land on members’ doormats in coming days.

Despite the party’s opposition to the policy, these are important and powerful new roles. Commissioners will set the strategy and budget for their force and revolutionise public accountability, replacing anonymous police authorities with high-profile figureheads to stand up for the public’s priorities.

At least that’s the promise. But will commissioners go native and become little more than the dancing puppet of chief constables? Or will they throw their weight around wrestle with the top brass over where the split between ‘strategic’ and ‘operational’ lies?

Just as importantly, will they reside in their new plush new offices or spend their time out and about, working with communities to tackle crime and improve public safety?

Take it as read each of the candidates will campaign against the government’s crazy police cuts which will see up to 16,000 officers, a similar number of back office roles and 1,800 PCSOs face the chop.

But what are their views on some of the other big issues? Here are a few suggestions about what we should be asking them.

1) What are candidates’ views on the deployment of water cannons, tasers and baton rounds (rebranded ‘plastic bullets’)? Any repeat of last summer’s riots will undoubtedly lead to further calls for these potentially lethal weapons to be deployed. However Association of Chief Police Officers President Sir Hugh Orde described water cannons as “useless” in tackling the riots we experienced last August.

Will your commissioner stand up against this creeping militarisation of our policing?

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The Sunday review: The 2020 Tax Commission and the Beecroft report

27/05/2012, 07:00:02 AM

by Anthony Painter

I like mango. You may not be interested in that fact but I think you should be. It’s not just a taste or preference, it’s a potential public good. I’m not going to leave it at simply enjoying the odd glass of mango juice or a mango half now and again. I’m going to use my love of mango to transform our economy and society. Just you watch me.

First of all, I’m going to get together with other mango lovers and we are going to explore the ways in which mangoes can change the world together. We will talk about the health giving benefits of the fruit, the positive economic impact of expanding consumption and production, the moral benefit to be derived from its consumption and the civic advantages of building a real discourse around mangoes. We will then set up a Mango Commission and ask independent experts to come up with a plan to promote the mango through public policy.

This commission will show how mango consumption can replace international aid to poor mango-producing countries thereby reducing potential migrant flows and saving public cash. The public health benefits will be lauded and a massive mango subsidy will be advocated. Import duties on mangoes will be eliminated and that will increase economic growth as an entire new industry emerges around mango importation, processing, distribution and retail.

By the end of the 2020s, this industry will add 5% to GDP. It will expand employment. Mango growers, sellers and distributors love it and they know what they are talking about. We will live longer, fuller, richer, happier lives. With this new healthy and wealthy outlook, we will commit ourselves to public good works and civic renewal. We will be the virtuous society. We will be the virile society.

So I had the answer from the beginning. I then set about dragging together evidence to prove that my preference was in fact a wider public good. It wasn’t just my taste. There was a wider ethical, economic, political and scientific case.

This pretty much sums up the approach to the report of 2020 Tax Commission from the Institute of Directors/Taxpayers’ Alliance.

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Profile of Labour’s candidates for the Bristol mayoralty: Dan Norris

25/05/2012, 02:31:40 PM

As part of a series on all Bristol mayoral short-listed candidates, Amanda Ramsay speaks to former MP and one time Bristol City Councillor Dan Norris.

Back in May 1997, Dan Norris was elected as Labour Member of Parliament for Wansdyke, north east Somerset. He still speaks with great pride, of securing the biggest increase in Labour’s share of the vote in the south west.

After that historic Labour landslide, Norris was re-elected in June 2001 with an increased majority over the Tories, then winning a third term of office at the May 2005 general election. He makes great play of where the Lib Dems came: “At all three elections, the Lib Dems finished a poor, distant third place.”

Boundary changes in 2010 changed things and the new north east Somerset constituency effectively became a Conservative seat, he explains. Since then he’s worked in media and communications, running his own business and becoming more involved with various charities, including Kidscape, who specialise in anti-bullying and the Snowdon award scheme, for students with disabilities.

Of the Bristol mayoralty, he has this to say:

“Our city has punched below its weight for decades. So much so that Bristol people, of all political persuasions, have become cynical about the prospect of change. It means that whenever the local media re-ignite debates about much-needed things like affordable and efficient public transport, an arena, and so on, nobody believes it can happen.

In many ways it’s this mindset that’s the challenge. Get that right, and progress on all issues can flow. We need a ‘can do’ Bristol, not the ‘can’t do’ city that too many people perceive.”

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Hunt memo proves David Cameron manipulated the BSkyB bid process to favour the Murdochs

25/05/2012, 09:27:51 AM

by Atul Hatwal

Although the media focus this morning is still on Jeremy Hunt, the real story should be about David Cameron’s conduct. The reason? The already infamous Hunt memo to Cameron, from November 2010, is a game-changer.

For the first time there is clear evidence that the prime minister, as opposed to a junior cabinet minister or special adviser, directly manipulated the quasi-judicial process considering News Corporation’s bid for BSkyB, in favour of the Murdochs.

When David Cameron stripped Vince Cable of responsibility for adjudicating on the bid in December 2010, he understood he would face a problem in simply handing over the process to Jeremy Hunt at DCMS.

Hunt was well-known as an admirer of News Corporation: while in opposition he had given a breathless interview to Broadcast magazine where he had eulogised about Rupert Murdoch,

“Rather than worry about Rupert Murdoch owning another TV channel, what we should recognise is that he has probably done more to create variety and choice in British TV than any other single person because of his huge investment in setting up Sky TV which, at one point, was losing several million pounds a day”.

Shortly after Hunt became secretary of state, he had followed-up in June 2010 in an interview with the Financial Times where he speculated on the BSkyB bid,

“It does seem to me that News Corp do control Sky already, so it isn’t clear to me that in terms of media plurality there is a substantive change, but I don’t want to second guess what regulators might decide.”

Cameron knew these comments would inevitably surface and be used by Labour to challenge Hunt’s ability to manage the process impartially. The prime minister needed cover for his decision and turned to his cabinet secretary, who duly obliged.

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Profile of Labour’s candidates for the Bristol mayoralty: Helen Holland

24/05/2012, 02:32:00 PM

As part of a series on all Bristol mayoral short-listed candidates, Amanda Ramsay speaks to the former leader of Bristol city council, Cllr Helen Holland.

Helen Holland offers a wealth of experience as a former teacher and leader of Bristol City Council. She is regarded as an extremely hard-working case-worker for her Bristol ward of Whitchurch Park, where she has won six terms of office, building-up to over 50% of the vote.

Holland understands the regional dynamics required for the job and once sat on the board of the south west regional development agency. She is also a non-executive director of Bristol Community Health.

The answer most Bristol Labour party members will be looking for, as they start to receive their all-postal ballot papers any day now, is why should a Bristol Labour party member vote for you to be their Labour mayoral candidate?

“I am passionate about Bristol’s future and Labour values. I have the energy and enthusiasm,” Holland tells me, “the experience and vision to win this selection and election for our party.

“I have the track-record of having delivered, in partnership, many of the major projects in the city over the last fifteen years, but there is so much more to do, and this is a real priority for me, to make sure Bristol has all the components expected in a 21st century city.

“If you look at the impact of what has been achieved, both in terms of physical regeneration and job creation, from Symes Avenue in my own ward, to Cabot Circus, and more recently, the Hengrove Park developments, South Bristol Community NHS hospital, the leisure centre and City of Bristol College Skills Academy, you can see how I have made this work for the city and have the credibility to take those big future projects forward.”

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Labour is missing a trick on Beecroft

24/05/2012, 07:00:13 AM

by Peter Watt

There is nothing like a bit of hysteria to whip up a good story. The report from venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft into possible changes in employment law was finally published this week. I say finally, as the draft report leaked to the Telegraph was dated October 2011. The reaction of much of the left has been so frenzied Labour is in danger of missing a trick.

First things first; the report is not in itself going to deliver growth in the economy, it is not in fact in any shape or form a growth strategy and, as far as I can tell, no one from the government is claiming that it is.

People keep saying that we need a growth strategy, as if growth is simply in the gift of the government but no one has yet established quite what this holy growth grail looks like. Hikes in spending aren’t possible and the options to tax raise tax to fund investment are limited. And so, whoever was in charge, would face the same problem.

Labour of course has its “five point plan for growth and jobs” which is ok as far as it goes but it really isn’t going to singlehandedly turn the economy around, even if it was fully implemented tomorrow. No, the uncomfortable truth is that the road to growth is likely to be paved with luck and a series of small and not very exciting stepping stones that cumulatively help encourage investment and inspire consumer confidence and thereby, help our economy to grow.

The government has however put all of its economic eggs in one basket; as David Cameron seemed to confirm this week when he again claimed that the only way to deliver growth was austerity.

In the face of this, it is right for Labour to criticise the government’s lack of ambition on growth and or even tweak its economic approach in light of evidence that it needs to do more. Where is the creativity, the innovation or the optimism? Some measures may work, others may fail but when faced by a flat lining economy, surely it is worth trying?

The government could continue to cut spending while taking some modest steps that may help deliver growth. Some of these measures could be very local or regional whilst others, as Peter Mandelson and Ed Balls set out, should be delivered internationally.

So why then has Labour become near-hysterical about the Beecroft report. Logically, looking at removing barriers preventing firms from employing people has to be a sensible thing to do. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to allow a government to remove red tape to allow business to prosper.

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Time for some nostalgia marketing for Labour

23/05/2012, 07:00:05 AM

by Peter Goddard

We are living, as the old Chinese curse has it, in interesting times. Greece is on the verge of exiting the Euro, in Spain, Bankia has to deny rumours of a run, the News International debacle just keeps on going. Short of Rebecca’s horses eating each other, the signs that the old certainties no longer apply couldn’t get much worse.

The Tories are playing directly into this narrative of unease with their programme of cuts, cuts and more cuts. And this week they have further identified themselves with the sense of national uncertainty and fear with their plans to make sacking employees easer.

This close identification between the Tories and personal insecurity for so many people provides Labour with an opportunity to offer something different.

Leaving it to finer minds to identify the policies that might take the country through this traumatic period and into happier times, there are a range of things we can do in terms of messaging and presentation to maximise the attractiveness of the party during a period like this.

It is a widely-agreed truth in marketing that in times of hardship or recession, nostalgia becomes a powerful ally.

As Martin Lindstrom says in his book, Brandwashing, “In the face of insecurity or uncertainty about the future, we want nothing more than to revert to a more stable time.”

Marketers have been acting on this for some time already. Back in 2009 the New York Times reported that, “As the recession continues taking its toll, marketers are trying to tap into fond memories to help sell what few products shoppers are still buying.”

Certainly things have not got any better since then.

Knowing this, what could Labour do?

First and foremost, it can stop reinventing itself, having ‘conversations’ in which nobody is really listening and obsessing about exactly what shade of what colour the Labour party might be today.

Secondly, it can start remembering, celebrating and reminding people of the substantial achievements of the Labour party, locating today’s party as the evolution of the party for people who stand up for the less fortunate.

The NHS. The sacrosanct-to-all-voters NHS that Labour built is the easiest example to point to, but there is much, much more. The post-war social housing revolution, equalities legislation and most recently, rebuilding this country’s schools and hospitals after generations of neglect.

Practically, this can be achieved without mechanical repetition in speeches. Labour doesn’t have to trap itself in a retelling of the past to make its point.

What is required is some retro show don’t tell.

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Whip’s Notebook: Where have all the Tories Gone?

22/05/2012, 07:00:53 AM

by Jon Ashworth

Since the Queen’s Speech, the House of Commons chamber has become a very different place. As a dutiful whip I spend most of my time in and around the chamber and although too many dismiss what goes in there as irrelevant, I still agree with Tony Blair’s valedictory description of it as the arena that sets the heart beating a little faster and is often the place for the pursuit of noble causes.

Whipping affords me the advantage of seeing our opposition on the Tory benches close up, indeed I can often see the whites of their eyes.

I’m fast becoming familiar with the various personalities on the Tory benches. There are the desperately ambitious types mustard-keen for George Osborne’s recognition (it’s always Osborne they want to impress not so much Cameron oddly), the eurosceptic rebels who bang on about nothing else, the thoughtful select committee parliamentarians and the patrician grandees who, I have to admit, are like nothing I have ever come across before in my life.

But this last week I’ve seen less of them. Labour MPs have totally dominated the debates on the gracious address. Our chief whip in the Lords has highlighted already the flimsiness of this Queens Speech. All quite extraordinary for a government’s second Queen’s speech considering this government is made up of a party out of office for thirteen years and another that has been out of office for ninety or so years.

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Profiles of Labour’s candidates for the Bristol mayoralty: Kelvin Blake

21/05/2012, 06:09:01 PM

As part of a series on all short-listed candidates, Amanda Ramsay speaks to former Bristol City Councillor Kelvin Blake

Kelvin Blake was the first Labour campaigner for a ‘yes’ vote in the 3 May referendum to publicly declare his interest in standing for Bristol mayor.

A likeable character, Blake presses all the right Labour buttons: “My focus and energy will be on delivering a fairer more equitable city for everyone,” he tells me.

Offering a good balance, with both city council experience and having spent his career in the private sector, Blake proudly tells of working his way up from the bottom, as he puts it, having left school with few formal qualifications. Blake is an experienced senior programme director at BT, living in Knowle West, about two miles from the city centre.

A non-executive director of University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, Blake is a softly spoken Bristolian who speaks with infectious conviction and a real passion, not just for the city he’s always lived in, but also for the future of the Labour Party at a city level.

“We have the opportunity, between now and the election, to talk about an inclusive vision for our city and a programme of delivery, to tackle the key issues with a sense of urgency. That’s exciting.”

Of the election on 15 November, he points out: “This election is almost as important as a general election. It is about Bristol’s future but it will also be a judgement call on the terrible direction of this Tory led government and Labour’s response.

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