Local Elections - 3rd of May 2012

[mk1]

Why would anyone believe that a few more years of Labour will make the slightest difference?

Well a Devil's Advocate could at least say 'think how much worse it would be if you had Conservatives in permanent Office"?
In truth the argument is silly.
Is it being claimed that everyone who votes Labour  or is Labour has no brains and are incapable of rational thought?
Get serious. The  only check we have is the threat of being voted out and if one party felt they no longer had the need to (at least) pretend they are listening to public opinion then we really are in the s*it.
The bulk of posters  here are (in the main) hystericaly anti-Labour and thus lessens the impact of something that can  be portrayed as just another whiney partisan right wing  site

[testing times]

The point I was making is that Labour have had plenty of opportunity to put their retorick into action and yet haven't; they could have done far more to switch the balance of the country from the South East to regions like ours - but didn't.
The only real change of any significance we've seen in Hartlepool is the Marina and the surrounding area which resulted from a Tory initiative - how ironic is that?
What will Labour do if they retain the balance of power next Thursday?

   
• They'll channel resources into their own pet projects and 'community groups'
• They'll blame the Tories for the maximum hike in council tax we're all destined for next year.
• They'll continue to spend money like confetti on a 'buy-now-pay-later' basis
• They'll do everything they can to keep up the numbers of UNISON staff employed in the Civic Centre.
• They'll sit back and shrug their shoulders when it's announced that the hospital is closing and North Tees is to receive a major refurbishment.

We, the people, will be in their somewhere too - round about number 27.

[notinshadow]

   

• They'll channel resources into their own pet projects and 'community groups'
• They'll blame the Tories for the maximum hike in council tax we're all destined for next year.

   
• They'll continue to spend money like confetti on a 'buy-now-pay-later' basis
• They'll do everything they can to keep up the numbers of UNISON staff employed in the Civic Centre.
• They'll sit back and shrug their shoulders when it's announced that the hospital is closing and North Tees is to receive a major refurbishment.

We, the people, will be in their somewhere too - round about number 27.

The nail on the head!!

[beanzontoast]

I can Shadow,  THERE is nor will be any need to increase the CT  its dogma from a certain party. ( red flag )

[Julie noted]

TT,

Code Select Expand

219; That is my point exactly. We have had a labour Govt. and labour council for so many years...why are we all of a sudden in the mire because we have a coalition Govt. 

Hartlepool will never amount to anything whilst we have people in this town that are only interested in self enrichment. That includes the £200,000 a year (with on-costs) senior managers, as well as profligate cllrs. 

We have to change what has held us back for so many years, before we can ever progress.
Otherwise my children have no future in this town, and that makes me very depressed.   

[beanzontoast]

Testing times Labour is about deprivation, unemployment, big government, it relies on this, its their core voter. let`s look at this, ED Milliband, brother David Milliband, Both never had a job in their lifetime, father Marxist interlectual member of the london school of economics, ( think tank ) still no job as we know it. A Marxist is a             COMMUNISTIC IDEAL, Labour preferes the Russion model, they love Stalin you see, he called it the people`s party, you follow, he killed more people than hitler, continued prison camps in peacetime, and all subjects thereafter were peasants, this was the time when Neil Kinock went to shake the hand of this regime. CAREFUL

[mk1]

On the Thatcher 'revival' for the Teeside area-am I the only one who remembers the Ron Norman/TDC   scandal?
The one where assets were made to vanish or ended up in the hands of his mates for a pittance?
Graft is not confined to your political enemies!

[mk1]

they love Stalin you see, he called it the people`s party, you follow, he killed more people than hitler

To all those not in the loop. This claim is a staple of far right loony forums like Stormfront. In short the people making this claim need careful watching.

[Straight Talking]

I don't know the answer so asking the question..

Why do councillors vote it through then?

Councillors don't vote on the Police and Fire Authority precepts, what they vote on is to agree the aggregated figures which then produce the Council Tax amount charged to households.

I have copied sections from the minutes of the meetings to carry out the process this year that show this.

Meeting 23rd February 2012

145. POTENTIAL CHANGE OF DATE/ADDITIONAL COUNCIL MEETING
It was reported that as Members were aware, the budget process each year
was not concluded until the Council had approved the necessary statutory
calculation of the overall level of Council Tax, including precepts to be levied by
the Police and Fire Authorities. Council usually completed this task in a
separate meeting after the Council had set its own budget and Council Tax at
an earlier meeting.

A Council meeting had been scheduled for 23 February to approve the overall
Council Tax level on the anticipation that the Police Authority would have set its
budget and Council Tax by this date.

Members were advised that the Council had been informed that the Police
Authority would not be determining its budget and therefore its Council Tax
precept until Wednesday 29 February. This was a week later than in previous
years, although it was within the statutory timescales for Police authorities
setting the budget and Council Tax. Accordingly, there would be a requirement
this year to hold an additional meeting of the Council on Thursday 1 March to
approve the necessary statutory calculation of the overall level of Council Tax,
including the Police Authority precept.

Meeting 1st March 2012
Report of: Chief Executive
Subject: FORMAL COUNCIL TAX SETTING 2012/2013 –
INCORPORATION OF FIRE AND POLICE AUTHORITY PRECEPTS

1. PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1 To enable Council to set the overall level of Council Tax follow ing the notification by
the Police and Fire Authority of their Council Tax levels for 2012/2013.

2. BACKGROUND
2.1 At your meeting on 23rd February, 2012, Members reconsidered the proposed
Medium Term Financial Strategy and this Authority's own 2012/2013 Council Tax
level, including Parish Council Tax levels w here applicable.

2.2 In accordance with statutory requirements the Council then needs to approve the
overall Council Tax, inclusive of the Police and Fire Authority precepts.

2.3 Both the Fire and Police authorities are eligible to receive the Council Tax freeze
grant if they determined to maintain their individual Council Taxes at the levels set
in the current year. The Fire Authority set its precept with a 3.95% increase in its
Council Tax on 10th February, 2012.

2.4 The Police Authority is scheduled to set its precept and Council Tax on the 1st
March, 2012. It is currently anticipated that the Police Authority will increase its
Council Tax by 3.5%.

2.5 The Council Tax bills for Hartlepool residents w ill clearly show that Hartlepool
Council froze its own tax and will show the relevant percentage increases for the
Police and Fire Authorities.

3. DETERMINATION OF OVERALL COUNCIL TAX LEVELS
3.1 The determination of the overall Council Tax level is a statutory function, which
brings together the individual Council Tax levels determined by this Council,
Cleveland Fire Authority, Cleveland Police Authority and where applicable Parish
Councils.

[Straight Talking]

Labour preferes the Russion model, they love Stalin you see, he called it the people`s party, you follow, he killed more people than hitler, continued prison camps in peacetime, and all subjects thereafter were peasants, this was the time when Neil Kinock went to shake the hand of this regime. CAREFUL

Get real, Stalin Died in 1953 and Neil Kinnock was born in 1942, so unless he went to Russia before he was 11 years old he could never have met Stalin.

I also think your post shows that you see the Labour Party as one person, there are I am sure many in the Labour Party who do not agree with Stalin. I am also sure that there are those in the Conservative Party who did not agree with Thatcher.

[notinshadow]

Thanks for the reply S.T.

[Straight Talking]

they love Stalin you see, he called it the people`s party, you follow, he killed more people than hitler

To all those not in the loop. This claim is a staple of far right loony forums like Stormfront. In short the people making this claim need careful watching.

I agree with you MK1 - the same people deny that Hitler used Gas Chambers during WWII - ask those British Soldiers who went into the Concentration Camps towards the end of the war. They know the truth, they saw it.

[beanzontoast]

Straight Talking, i never said he met Stalin, read carefully what i said was he shook the hand of those in power at the time, his time. My father in law was a union man i got on with him very well in the end, but his lady wife said he invited two russion union men to come over and stay in the house, the Labour party are COMMUNISTS, and want, need to keep people in poverty, and they always deny the Labour Party is Stalins mentor. come on staight talking tell me Kinnock didn`t go to Russia ( the homeland. )

[Straight Talking]

I am not going to deny that Kinnock went to Russia, if that makes him a Stalinist not sure about that either.

I think it is too simplistic to try to pigeon hole people rather than accept that we all try to do the right thing most of the time.

Posters on this site, in general have a clear Anti-Labour slant, they have stopped looking at individuals, I think this is narrow minded and wrong.
There are some very good Labour Councillors, MP's and MEP's. You can find bad apples everywhere even amongst Independents.

[beanzontoast]

straight talking, i dont have an opinion one way or another, im a floating voter who to make an educated opinion when i vote i read a Manifesto. being a floting voter gives me some latitude when i communicate on these matters, also i am not a spring chicken, and i am very interested in history, so when i say that the Labour party is only one step removed from a Communist regime you can be sure it`s a correct assesement, where i will agree with yourself is that there are indeed many good councillors of all persuasions, the difference is in the history of their choosen party, in this case the Labour Party which they may not be aware, you can rest assured however, the leaders of the Labour Party throughout history know it only to well. In the days when a film called Rosemary`s Baby was depicted there was indeed place and time for unions, but today what does a union which is the Labour Party do for a working man or woman. In fact all 3 major political party`s membership, has been in such decline, that at the present day, there are more members in the caravan club than all 3 party`s put together.