Facing the music - yes. Pantomime politics - no.

This week the BBC's Nick Robinson expressed political surprise that Labour is rising in the opinion polls despite the pre-elections media onslaught and the Chilcott enquiry hearing Gordon Brown's evidence. I am not surprised, because I'm talking to people here everyday. With elections looming, people are thinking seriously about what they do want for the future. And while this may be mainly about Labour's investment and delivery for the many, people also want politicians who are prepared to face the music. If the Tory leader didn't know Lord Ashcroft's tax status after ten years of public questions being raised about it, most people are wondering why David Cameron didn't ask his Party's biggest donor and deputy a few straight questions.

People here are also saying they want politicians of all Parties to work together. Nationally, the Tories walked away from government talks about care of the elderly and the new National Care Service. Most people recognise this is one of the biggest challenges we face, and they want politicians who will get round the table and help work out positive practical solutions. Locally, Cornwall Council is no overall control, but the Liberal Democrats walked away from being part of the Cabinet, allowing the Tories to dominate decision making while the Liberal Democrats whinge, grumble, and protest about local decisions after choosing to be in opposition.

People don't want pantomime politics with politicians shouting each other down. It does seem that some local politicians really haven't got this message. BBC Radio Cornwall this week pre-recorded an 'Any questions?' style event at County Hall with a panel of the four Cornwall Council political group leaders. I was upstairs at county hall at a well-attended public event discussing transport needs, while this recording took place, although I mingled downstairs and spoke to people before and after the recording. The audience invited by political Parties were mainly prospective parliamentary candidates or Cornwall councillors - who heckled loudly, objected and interrupted as political opponent group leaders answered their questions. The public - and the Independent group of councillors - were not invited to be part of the audience.

Last June, people here elected a no overall council. Now they are saying loud and clear that they want politicians who will work together to do what's best for Cornwall. I doubt that those who listened to the pre-recorded BBC broadcast felt that their views are being heard or listened to by most of those taking part in this local political bun fight.

Total politics

There has been no shortage of things to blog about, just a lack of writing time. This weekend I wrote the PPC diary and review of the week for the political magazine Total Politics. I decided to focus on local news production and community media. It was published today and I decided to include it here too.

Sunday 21 February

First up an 8am interview about Fairtrade fortnight on BBC radio Cornwall - as a Truro councillor, I chair the city's Fairtrade group. With me are two youth workers from the charity Young People Cornwall, who run some great projects and are helping to raise awareness of Fairtrade. As we part company after the interview, one of the youth workers dubs me the "Fairtrade guru".

Monday 22 February

I do a candidate interview on Penryn community radio The Source. I enjoy talking to Gwen Willoughby, whose programme creates the relaxed atmosphere of a chat in the kitchen. Gwen starts the telephone interview by asking my view on the news headlines. Her concerns about the number 10 allegations by Andrew Rawnsley confirms for me that this is probably going to be the issue that local voters will want to talk about today. Later in the programme, Gwen gives me a good opportunity to chat about my constituency priorities. No sooner had I put the phone down, than I got a call from a broadcasting student asking if I could go to the campus to be filmed at their studio this afternoon - I said no, because of other commitments.

Tuesday 23 February

Monday's Council and today’s community network meeting both include discussion of plans for local development including new park and rides, and housing needs. I express my concern at Cornwall Council's decision to market a former school site in my ward as a potential district retail centre, and to reduce the affordable housing expectation from 50 to 35 per cent, as well as cutting the total number of homes to be delivered on a site previously identified as for housing. A local newspaper journalist calls me for more information and a quote.

The community network meeting includes a housing presentation. I ask for an update on the Council's re-registration process. It emerges that something has gone badly wrong. Some households previously registered with more than one former district council, but nobody believes that the 7,000 households that have re-registered so far reflects the full extent of housing needs in Cornwall. Previously, there were over 18,000 households registered. The form is complex, and worryingly re-registrations are almost non-existent in some areas. I ask what the Council is doing to publicise the re-registration process, and I am now following up these concerns.

Wednesday 24 February

I give a short talk to politics and academic academy students at Truro College, and am impressed by the fact that both groups have lots of searching questions about politics and the news headlines. Discussions like this - and the fact that I can remember wanting to be able to vote when I was doing A-levels - contribute to my view that the voting age should be lowered to sixteen.

Thursday 25 February

I pick up copies of the local weekly newspapers. One of the local MPs is now expressing concern about the housing re-registration process. The former school site story gets a write up too, and the quote I gave them is included. In the early evening, I pre-record another telephone interview for The Source; and then meet a broadcasting student in Falmouth to record comments for her “radio programme” assignment on whether personality is important in politics.

Friday 26 February

On Friday evening, I catch up with some local political blogs. These are growing in number from Councillors, candidates, activists and commentators, and there are now new sites devoted to aggregating Cornish blogs and political comment. Most of the content is local, although the activists write comment on the news headlines too. This week, one anonymous blogger who isn’t a Labour supporter describes me as “media-savvy”. By late Saturday evening, the latest opinion poll showing Labour closing the gap to win is published online.

Cornwall's Tories: community asset strippers

Following my questions to the Council about the office transformation plan, Council Leader Alec Robertson wrote a letter to local newspapers saying they own over 4,000 properties, and suggesting that disposing of 48 of these is really not that significant. I don't agree, but I do think that if he wants to communicate directly, openly, and transparently with the public he shouldn't just tell us half of it.

So let me refer to two other Council properties which they are currently marketing:

(1) Devoran Old School. On Monday evening I was one of over 100 people who attended a meeting called by Devoran Action Group. This group has been working to develop plans for the community to take over the village centre building and develop it as a community centre with a nursery, after school clubs, village shop, and other employment units. The Council backed this scheme by applying for it to be one of two possible community asset transfer pilots and access government funding. The outcome of this bid is not yet known, but those at the meeting on Monday evening want it to go ahead. However, while the Council is waiting for the outcome of the bid they have put the property on the open market, and say that if Devoran Action Group cannot come up with a competitive bid and available funds by 11 February (next Thursday) they will accept one of the other bids they have so far received. The fact that they are trampling on the wishes of the community seems to make no difference.

(2) Old Richard Lander School site - which is in the ward I represent as a councillor. This site was placed back on the market on 23 January 2010. Now this is one of very few brownfield sites in Truro, and one which local residents accept could sensibly be used for new social and affordable homes. The draft Truro and Threemilestone Action Plan - which has been through public consultation - ear-marked the site for housing development including 50 per cent affordable housing as it is currently public sector land. But the Council has now ignored it's own plan and advertised the land as suitable for development of a district retail centre, with limited housing, of which only 35 per cent will be expected to be affordable. The fact that they are trampling on community aspirations to meet the need for social and affordable housing on a suitable, available site which is in public ownership seems to make no difference.

Neither of these Council property decisions has been communicated well, or fairly, to the communities involved. Indeed, as a councillor, the only communication I previously had about the Council's change of thinking on the Richard Lander School site was an anonymous letter with a Plymouth postmark, which was sent to all Truro councillors.

I am glad the Liberal Democrats lost control of Cornwall Council last year, but the fact that their group of councillors then refused to work as part of a no overall control Council leadership means that - frankly - they have no-one else to blame for their current exclusion from decision-making, no matter how often they throw their toys out the pram at scrutiny and other meetings, as they did today. Choosing to be Liberal Democrat is choosing to support a political Party that will never form a UK government, but they could if they wanted to accept responsibility for stopping the worst excesses of Cornwall's new Council leadership, rather than opt to protest feebly and futilely from the wings. This is not just about Council properties east of Bodmin, important though these are to residents in east and north Cornwall.

I have no illusions about the Tories. I saw what they did at every level of government in the 1980s and it didn't work. What they did impoverished and damaged entire communities including many in Cornwall. People were made homeless while unscrupulous profiteers cashed in by buying repossessed first homes and turning them into holiday lets - not least, in this constituency. If you want to find out what 'broken Britain' - or broken Cornwall - would be like, time travel to the 1980s by asking someone who can remember.

2010 - the year for hope

The new year is about hope.

As I write it is dark outside, blowing a gale, and the temperature is dropping sharply. Nevertheless the days are getting longer, one of the things I love about Cornwall is how quickly ever-changing weather blows across this narrow peninsula - as well as the fact that it is usually a few degrees warmer than the rest of the UK - and the next few days are forecast to be sunny and dry.

Political forecasts which turn out to be right are always lucky guesses. Journalists and politicians spice plausibility with personal predilections and the 'predictions for 2010' article is written.

The new year messages from the Prime Minster, opposition Party leader, and Liberal Democrat Party leader encompass the mood music and issues which it is believed will determine how people make their choice in the 2010 general election.

David Cameron clearly believes the way to maximise the Tory vote is to seek to occupy Labour's ground - 'the same progressive aims: a country that is safer, fairer, greener and where opportunity is more equal. It's how to achieve these aims that we disagree about.' This actually shows the strength of Labour's achievement and election potential as we enter a general election year.

No matter how many times Cameron wails 'politics is broken' like a needle stuck on a scratched vinyl record, his core vote message is: "we can't beat Labour, so let's pretend to be them". Politics is broken when it is reduced to a focus group led PR exercise that results in empty presentational cross-dressing. Politics is broken when a Tory democratic choice is marketed as a 'change' label with the fraudulent strapline 'same progressive aims'. Many Tory, UKIP, and BNP voters are happy to be honest that they don't in the least subscribe to 'progressive aims' - they know it's their democratic right - and fortunately in the UK, their retrograde views are in the minority.

David Cameron's new year message included much headlined cosying up to the Liberal Democrats: 'between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats is a lot less disagreement than there used to be.... And once the battle is over, we will need to rise above our differences and come together because that is the only way.' Whereas Nick Clegg's new year message was devoid of the same message a few weeks after he signalled a willingness to work with a Cameron government.

Clegg's new year message contains a rare moment of clarity, in which all his fluffy claims about the third Party delivering 'fairness' are replaced by a directly simple message urging voters to 'vote for what you believe in'. I had thought that the Liberal Democrat blog 'Moment of clarity' might have the inside track on their intended election platform when he worried out loud of the leaders' planned TV debates that 'Participation will also force us to solidify our narrative and the somewhat schematic approach we have to policy-formulated-to-grab-headlines (which vanishes soon after its served its purpose) may well be exposed.' If 2010 is going to be the year when the Liberal Democrats ditch forked-tongue campaigning and tactical voting before a general election, I will be the first to welcome their honest conversion to sincere politics. It's not what Nick Clegg said in his letter to me.

Of the three Party leaders, only the Prime Minister had a message that sounded sincere to me. I think Gordon Brown does believe that 'what matters is not where you come from but what you have to contribute', and his message outlined a substantial strategy for economic recovery.

I hope that the coming general election will be a real debate about future prosperity, equalising access to opportunities, and political renewal.

I hope that Cornwall will take local action to tackle climate change, while we wait on practical commitments from some world leaders.

I hope that this will be the year when voters decide to ditch tactical voting in favour of sincere politics.

And I hope that 2010 really will be the first internet election.

My letter from Nick Clegg

The post has been getting later every day, and fell through the letter box at about 2pm. I opened the Christmas cards first and put them up. I'm registered with the marketing preference service, so I very rarely receive junk mail. Organisations lobbying on a range of issues write to me as a prospective MP. Some with informative briefings on issues which matter a great deal to some people in this constituency, like that from the Alzheimers Society. Others adopt a more clubbable approach, and the stack of invitations can make Westminster appear like an all year round Party conference of events hosted by interest groups. I thought the envelope that contained my letter from Nick Clegg might be one of these.

The letter headed as from the House of Commons address bore the Liberal Democrat logo and a photo of Nick Clegg. It contained a postal vote application form and freepost envelope addressed to the local Liberal Democrat office in Truro. The Electoral Commission recommend that people return completed postal vote application forms direct to the local Council's electoral registration office, to avoid the risk of interference. A previous similar mailing by Julia Goldsworthy MP made using her parliamentary correspondence allowance led to her actions being investigated by the parliamentary standards watchdog.

Last week Paddy Ashdown made a campaign visit to Cornwall. The local newspaper's 'Ex-party leader shows support for candidates' reported that Mr Ashdown said "In Mr Cameron I think you will get a Home Counties Government with a Home Counties cabinet, which will not be good for the Westcountry." But if the coming general election were to result in a hung Parliament, Nick Clegg said recently Liberal Democrat MPs would lend their support to the Tories to enable Cameron to form a government (pictured above). It is presumably through this route that Mr Clegg feels able to make the imaginary claim in his letter to me that "our growing force of Lib Dem MPs after the next election ... will be able to get even more done for you."

In his letter to me, Mr Clegg says: "hardly anyone really wants a return to the way things were under the Conservatives. Many cannot forget the way they treated Cornwall when they were last in power." This is true, and Cornwall since 1997 has benefited from unprecedented investment in the NHS, a new university, new school buildings, more jobs, the minimum wage, and home improvements for tenants. Now why is that? Because, and only because, Labour has been in government. It has nothing to do with the Liberal Democrats, nor does Mr Clegg claim that it has.

However, Mr Clegg says "Cornwall needs real change. Real change that only the Liberal Democrats will deliver." This is a strange claim for him to make, because Cornwall's current MPs are Liberal Democrat. Mr Clegg doesn't pretend it is they who have delivered any of the positive changes in Cornwall since 1997, nor does he acknowledge that Labour's successful track record needs built on. Many people in Cornwall want Labour's investment to continue.

In contrast, after four years of Liberal Democrat leadership of the county council, only one is six of the Cornwall councillors in this constituency are now Liberal Democrat - their voteshare fell by 13 per cent, and the Independents won most seats here in the local elections this year.

There are no claims in Mr Clegg's letter that Cornwall is better off thanks to Liberal Democrat MPs, rather than Labour in government. The only achievement claimed by Mr Clegg on behalf of his MPs is a recent OFWAT decision which is likely to take about £6 a year off an average local water bill. If more is achieved for water customers it will be because the government decides to take up recommendations in the Walker review which Labour commissioned - the Liberal Democrats responded to the consultation and spoke to the water Minister about it. As a Labour prospective MP, so did I.

The next bit made me laugh out loud: "Your support really will help [us] get a better deal for Cornwall...PS Don't forget the choice is between [a] Cornish local champion ..who has a record of action or the unproven Conservative." Zero promises of what the 'better deal' would comprise, zero examples of any local action by the Liberal Democrat PPC, zero support gained from me (obviously), and zero acknowledgement that the last time this person was candidate here she took the Liberal Democrats from second to third place when Labour won the seat.

Like that election, in this constituency the next one will be a choice between a Labour and Tory government and the future they offer for Cornwall. Bring it on. A vote for either of the other Parties is a vote for Cameron to form a "Home Counties" government, with Clegg's collusion, and to bring Labour's further planned investment in Cornwall's future to an end.

Climate justice and poverty

The Queen's speech commitment to increase international aid to 0.7 per cent of the UK's national income by 2013 has had limited coverage, partly because the Tories fell in behind the proposals rendering them politically neutral. And yet the stalling of the UN conference at Copenhagen showed that global co-operation needs new momentum. Since the Make Poverty History campaign, one of Gordon Brown's strengths has been finding ways to provide aid as practical support - such as HIV vaccination - rather than as liquid funds which can be diverted away from their intended purpose. The global response to climate change needs to provide practical support for sustainable development and adaptations to climate change, and accept that developed economies need to make bigger cuts sooner. It is better to be where we are now than for the UN to have put a detailed but inadequate agreement in place. The agreement as it stands includes funding of 10 Billion dollars a year. Now we need to raise our game by agreeing robust targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions - the next opportunity to discuss these will be in February.

Deal or no deal?

There's a media strategy which says if you raise hopes too high you may end up disappointing people, but if you lower expectations you may be able to snatch success from the jaws of failure if things turn out better than you have led people to expect.

The messages put out before the Copenhagen summit - that a deal might be reached but it was expected to take more time to make it legally binding - reminded me of the latter. Several of Obama's big US policy shifts - including health reform - have gone right to the edge of possible failure before the decision-makers votes were counted and the reforms came in.

So - as the Copenhagen conference comes to an end - the prospect of a fragile accord on the longterm goal of stopping climate change, with no agreement on targets for 2020, feels like a let-down. In the world of politics, it will be easy for people to emphasise the negative uncertainties left lying on the table as the world leaders and negotiators pack their bags to go home.

I'm a natural optimist, but following the G20 I wrote about why it was going to be much more difficult to get agreement at Copenhagen. I would love to have been proved wrong. And yet, comparing where we are now to Kyoto, real progress has been made. At Copenhagen we have three things that weren't there at Kyoto: a scientific consensus on the need for action that withstood the climate change deniers best efforts to undermine the reasons for action; a US President at the conference calling for agreement and pledging an 80 per cent cut in his country's emissions by 2050; and perhaps most importantly, poorer countries with the confidence to bite the hands that partly feed them by demanding a further shift in their direction to achieve a fairer global deal, and prepared to walk from the negotiating table when it wasn't forthcoming.

The threat of climate change is the opportunity to utilise the growing necessity of climate justice to end global poverty. Creating a stable and prosperous world economy will not be easy - it will take much more than tinkering with the financial systems we make until they start up again. But the international dialogue in the past two weeks put the real issues out on the table, and it isn't really surprising the deal is still some way off.

Social care

A national care service has the potential to make a huge difference for people needing care in Cornwall.

Today, the Care Quality Commission reported on Cornwall's adult social care, placing it in the bottom eight out of 148 local authorities. The care provided is 'adequate' - no authorities are providing 'poor' care - and this rating has not changed since last year's report.

Behind every official report like this there are people receiving less good care than each of us would wish for our loved ones. One of the issues highlighted is the lack of integration between Cornwall's NHS and social care services. There are some similarities here with the concerns about child protection, in that it relates to improving communication and response to care needs.

The Council committee responsible for scrutinising these services (the local NHS and adult social care) is the Committee whose chairman recently called an 'emergency' meeting to discuss the issue of upper GI services which has already been under discussion for over a year partly because the Council did not refer it for consultation when it was first raised.

The Council needs to grasp the nettle here and set in train improvements in Cornwall's adult social care, as they are already doing through the Government led improvement Board for children's services.

Their 4.5 per cent increase in funding for next year needs applied to our major services. Now is not the time to be looking to make cuts given the savings achieved as a result of the switch to a unitary authority.

Cornwall's democratic conundrum - you decide

The move to a new unitary authority had some vocal critics. The Liberal Democrats tried to counter these partly by suggesting it might lead to devolution of more powers to Cornwall. I would welcome that.

Enter the new chief executive, Kevin Lavery, who in January this year warned members that the former Cornwall County Council was on the brink of Government intervention. Calls for the then Liberal Democrat leader to resign were faced down.

This is Cornwall's democratic conundrum - would our elected representatives rather make decisions locally, with the accountability that brings? Or carry on collecting their allowances, while blaming 'Whitehall bureaucrats' and the 'London Parties' for local service decisions it is within the Council's powers to make.

Take three issues:
(1) Waste management - there will now be a completely unecessary, costly public enquiry to inform a decision which will be made by the Secretary of State. This stems from the failure of the Liberal Democrats to develop and implement a locally workable approach when they were elected in 2005.
(2)  Children's services - given the child protection concerns uncovered by Ofsted, I welcome the creation of the improvement Board overseen by Children's Minister Dawn Primarolo MP, but it should never have reached this point. The new Board was reported in a local newspaper on Thursday 12 November, and by the BBC twelve days later (yesterday). It is strange but true that a member of the children's scrutiny committee is now twittering in the blogosphere that nobody told him - he heard it first on BBC news this morning.
(3) Transfer of upper-GI cancer services to Derriford. Enter the not-so-independent Tory Chair of the Council's NHS and Adult Care scrutiny committee, who has called a special meeting and appears to be trying to steer the local service decision onto the Secretary of State.

People in Cornwall deserve better.

Who do you trust on Cornwall's economy?

On Saturday, Truro was busy with shoppers. It reminded me that almost a year ago Woolworths closed - the shop now occupying the former Woolworths store in Truro seemed to be doing a brisk trade. However, in Falmouth the former Woolworths store has not yet re-let. The recession is affecting people, places, and businesses in different ways, even within Cornwall. Some places may turnaround more quickly than others, but the latest data suggests Labour's active measures to stop the economy nose-diving into depression are working, and that Labour's real help for people is making a difference.

The local evidence to support this?

1. The new constituency of Truro and Falmouth covers the former Carrick District Council area except for Mount Hawke ward. To enable comparisons over time, the Office of National Statistics still publishes some data for 'Carrick'. The latest unemployment data shows that in October 1,492 people locally were claiming Job Seekers Allowance. This is 2.7% of local people of working age, compared to 4.1% nationally. Three quarters of people who are known to be seeking work are claiming JSA. This is similar to numbers in January 2009 - the number of people out of work fell during the summer season. For every one of the people seeking work, it's an exceptionally difficult time. Despite the recession, long-term unemployment (more than 12 months) is around one quarter what it was in October 1996 before Labour defeated the last Tory government.

It is Labour's investment in Falmouth and Truro which has helped to make that difference. That investment needs to continue through convergence and other funding to maximise new jobs in renewable, digital, and creative industries.

2. Housing. For those waiting for social housing in Cornwall - 3,400 households in Truro and Falmouth - much hangs on the success of Cornwall's bid for new council housing, and other positive future action by the Council. Tucked away at the end of this newspaper article is the news that - thanks to Government action to keep people in their own homes during the recession - the repossessions forecast for this year is now 48,000 rather than 75,000 - and that at 1990s repossession rates, that would have been 91,000. I hope the Treasury will invest more in new council housing as Housing Minister John Healey MP is asking - construction also helps to keep people working. The repossession numbers show how important it is that people facing mortgage difficulties and the frightening prospect of being made homeless find out what help is available - you may be able to keep your home.

Most people will welcome the new legislation to stop fat cat bonuses and ensure that the mistakes and excessive risk-taking of the financial sector are not repeated. Many people would also accept or welcome a new tax on financial transactions such as buying and selling shares - sometimes called the 'Tobin tax'.

There is a need to pay down debt, and Labour's commitment to halve the UK's deficit during the next four years demonstrates seriousness of purpose. I am not going to second guess what will be in the coming pre-budget report. What I want to see for people in Cornwall is continuing investment in jobs and homes, and protection for the lower paid and those like pensioners who are on fixed incomes.

A burning issue

Cornwall's waste management should never have reached this point.

Cornwall Council is in what can only be described as a lose-lose situation in relation to proposals for a centralised incinerator. A public enquiry, and ultimately the Secretary of State, will now adjudicate between it's former planning and waste decisions (which, coincidentally, have been brought together in a single department at the new unitary authority).

Let's start at the beginning. There has already been a public enquiry into a proposed incinerator for Cornwall's waste. It recommended that the previous proposals for an incinerator did not go ahead, and also that Cornwall should develop an integrated municipal waste strategy. Cornwall's seven former Councils failed to do that, instead pursuing six different District approaches to recycling and waste collections, while the County Council continued to rely on landfill for its waste disposal.

French social historians like to write about what they call the 'longue duree' in history - focusing on long-term continuities rather than the dramatic short-term events of politics and wars which they term 'eventual history'.

There are those who would say that the 'longue duree' of Cornwall's waste management are the officers at County Hall. Following the previous public enquiry, proposals for an incinerator resurfaced in the run up to the 2005 local elections. The then NOC Cabinet approved issuing tender documents for a 30 year waste management contract which included incineration. They did so without the support of Labour Councillor Jill Ferrett, who was a member of that Cabinet. During the 2005 local elections, Labour ran a petition calling for genuine, open consultation on Cornwall's waste management plans.

There was a golden opportunity when Liberal Democrats formed the next Council, with a promise of a more consultative style, to reconsider the agreement by the previous NOC Council before issuing the waste management contract. In 2005, the Liberal Democrats five recently elected MPs issued a press statement opposing plans for an incinerator. All Labour county councillors voted against the proposed incinerator. Against vigorous public opposition, the Liberal Democrat led Council ploughed on and awarded SITA the contract. Negotiations on detailed terms included a contractual obligation to a centralised incinerator that had no planning permission; that permission was then refused by Cornwall County Council in the run up to the 2009 local elections.

The golden legacy left by the Liberal Democrats for the new unitary authority's waste management is dead cert landfill tax and legal bills, with the Council liable both through it's contractual obligations to SITA, and for the costs of defending it's planning decisions. It has been reported that to break the contract would cost the Council £30 million.

As a Truro councillor, I'm aware that the community dividend from landfill tax helps to support some very worthwhile local projects, including contributing towards the Hendra skatepark and Trelander community centre. But a relatively small proportion of the total landfill tax bill returns directly to the community.

At both stages of the planning consultation, Truro and Falmouth Labour Party made representations against the single, centralised incinerator in favour or more localised waste facilities. There is no household amenity site in Truro, although planning permission was granted this year for a new site near Falmouth. I also spoke for Transition Truro against the incinerator at a public consultation meeting in St Dennis which formed part of the planning process.

Despite public debate of this issue for over five years, and a new unitary authority, the facts of Cornwall's current waste management aren't easy to assemble. SITA says fairly that it has increased the proportion of household waste that is recycled - but all that this means is that more of the waste taken to its household amenity sites is reclaimed and recycled. All of the black bags collected every week go to landfill, they are not included in the figures showing increased recycling. Meanwhile, the former district Council in this constituency area reported that four out of ten households make no use of kerbside recycling collections - that's a lot of unused bumper boxes and recycling bags, and many more weekly black bags of recyclable items being ploughed into landfill.

Cornwall Council is now NOC with a Tory-dominated executive. The new Council badly needs to bring it's thinking on waste management up to date. There's an opportunity to move to an integrated municipal waste strategy - with unified recycling services - with a single new unitary authority replacing seven former councils. From April 2010, the Council has new legal obligations to reduce carbon emissions in it's activities; is a centralised incinerator generating 120 mile round road trips going to help do that? Landfill also produces greenhouse gas emissions.

Whatever the 'eventual history', Cornwall needs a new, fit for purpose waste management strategy that will make a positive contribution to meeting carbon reduction targets and generating renewable energy in the 21st century.

Digital Cornwall, digital economy

Most important of all for Cornwall's digital economy is keeping our infrastructure up to speed with latest developments. Act Now - which was supported by EU Objective One funding - provided almost universal geographical access to broadband in Cornwall, and helped many businesses understand and access the commercial potential of the internet. The legacy of this funding is optimism and confidence among Cornwall's business community - and has helped provide increased resilience through the recession.

As the only UK region to receive EU convergence funding, Cornwall has an opportunity to step ahead of the game with next generation broadband access, and Digital Cornwall is the project that is leading the search for investors to unleash that potential. In Cornwall, and for everyone who wants the UK to accelerate our exit from recession, the Tory shadow spokesperson for the digital industry sounds quaintly twentieth century in his 'urban first' perspective on priorities for investment in next generation infrastructure. Hopefully, commercial investors have more vision.

Cornwall's University - built with Labour's investment - has raised awareness that digital industries across the spectrum from electronics to film and other creative industries have a vigorous contribution to make to Cornwall's new economy. Locally, premises for digital industries relying on next generation infrastructure are already being built into strategic investment frameworks and other plans. This vision is now part of everyday dialogue about planning our economic future in local organisations such as Falmouth Town Forum.

The digital economy Bill included in the Queen's speech will shape the way in which digital industries and communication will be regulated, and covers issues such as protecting copyright on the internet, digital radio, and ensuring the future of regional news. It will provide for regional news consortia to be established and guarantee a plurality of news providers.

In Cornwall, the long-anticipated switchover to digital TV has now been completed. However, ITV's decision to close it's Plymouth studio reduced local TV news coverage in Cornwall. So I welcome steps to provide a new framework within which a plurality of local news providers can flourish, and I hope we will see independent TV / digital channel news in Cornwall.

Cornwall has vibrant local newspapers and other media, which are trusted news sources off and online. We are fortunate too that the University teaches professional broadcasting and journalism. Community radio stations in Cornwall are already taking advantage of the opportunity to broadcast on the internet.

A growing number of elected representatives, candidates, and other opinionated individuals express their views through websites, blogs, and social media. As a politician, I welcome and utilise these relatively openly accessible media. If other candidates agree, the first parliamentary candidate hustings on Twitter will take place in Truro and Falmouth. Another first for Cornwall.     

Free personal care at home

No-one who listens to older people in Cornwall can be unaware that many fear needing everyday care, and worry about what this might mean for them and their families. People fear major illness, but the NHS means that in the UK this fear is not about how to pay for care that is needed. In contrast, at the moment, personal savings and - for the three out of four people who are home-owners - the value of a person's home are drawn into the calculation of how individual social care is funded.

Labour's personal care at home bill will enable adults with high levels of assessed care needs, who want to continue living in their own homes with the support they need, to do so free of charge. It is a first step towards creating a national care service like the NHS - free at the point of need, and free of worry about how care that is needed is going to be paid for.

In Cornwall, more than half the population are over the age of 55. There are many people who need care and support to continue living in their own homes. Dementia affects a growing number of people, with almost 8,000 people with Alzheimer's living in Cornwall. I recently attended a carers' meeting to learn more about dementia, local care services and support, and the impact that dementia has on sufferers, carers, and their families.

We are fortunate to have vocal and determined local groups advocating a better deal for people with disabilities. While creating a national care service is applauded as the right principle, people want to know 'what's this going to mean for me?', and - if they already receive care and support - 'will this be better or worse for me than current arrangements?' Both the Disabilities Living Allowance and the Attendance Allowance give people living at home and in need of care freedom to create care arrangements which suit their personal circumstances - and free to decide whether and when everyday care is provided by family, friends, and professionals. It is that freedom of individual choice that advocates hope to see continue in the new system. Following discussion with local campaigners, I've already written on their behalf to Secretary of State Andy Burnham MP.

This morning, I was interviewed by a local community radio station about the changes announced in the Queen's speech.

Given the number of local people this issue affects, the Liberal Democrats showed how seriously out of touch they really are by suggesting the Queen's speech "contained none of the key measures necessary to help residents in Cornwall". A Party that has previously called for free care for the elderly, in an area where a majority of electors are over 55, made no mention of Labour's plans for free personal care at home. Perhaps that's because they've abandoned their own previous manifesto pledge to free personal care for the elderly.

The Tories have been equally political and opportunist, scare-mongering that future arrangements would not provide the same level of support for people who currently receive DLA and Attendance Allowance - in fact, Government Ministers have already provided an assurance that they will. So far, the only Tory promise is that they will make people pay £8000 for needed care - that's £16,000 for a couple; and force people off incapacity benefit, many of whom have mental health difficulties.

Queen's speech

In seven minutes the Queen's speech was strong on substantial measures, and short on detail. Some I particularly welcome, not least because people I speak to on a daily basis are calling for changes or will benefit:

1. Stronger financial regulation and control of bonuses.
2. Halving the deficit over the four years of the next Parliament, making this a legally binding target.
3. Improving social care and free access to care.
4. Communications - implementation of the Digital Britain report, and strategic investment in next generation broadband.
5. International co-operation through Copenhagen to tackle climate change.
6. Global justice - investment 0.7% GDP in international development, supporting middle east peace process, furthering progress on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
7. Ending child poverty.
8. Equality Act.
9. Elected second chamber.
10. Education and families.

In future posts, I will look in turn at some of the proposed legislation, and what it will mean for people in Truro and Falmouth.

Housing - here's some I made earlier

As a councillor, as well as prospective MP, I advocate meeting the need for affordable local homes. And I have been calling on our local Councils to work together - and with Labour in government - to that end.

There is a growing need for social housing, with the Cornwall Council website saying 3,400 households are registered as in local housing need in this constituency. I want every one of those families and individuals to find homes which meet their housing needs sooner rather than later.

The Liberal Democrats practical track record on this issue in Cornwall is utterly abyssmal. To be fair, let me acknowledge two things first. Matthew Taylor MP's report for the Labour government includes some sensible proposals which have support in the housing sector - I hope these will be implemented. And it was the Liberal Democrat led former district council which decided to set up Carrick Housing Ltd, which is now an award winning registered social landlord. This had two direct results: it made the management of Carrick housing independent of Council decision-making, while allowing the Council to retain public ownership of the properties as assets.

Carrick Housing Ltd successfully accessed Labour government investment to improve homes whose maintenance had been neglected since the Tories sought to abandon public responsibility for social housing and homelessness. New rooves, cladding, central heating, kitchens, and bathrooms were installed as needed in most Carrick Housing properties. At the same time, with a vocal tenants forum able to have a formative influence on Carrick Housing's decision making, they have been positive partners in the development of new community centres and other projects to improve previously neglected local neighbourhoods, including effective action to tackle anti-social behaviour. And it was Carrick Housing which first made Cornwall eligible to build new council housing.

There is a catalogue of reasons why I say the Liberal Democrats record is abyssmal. Here are just four examples:

(1) When considering the latest draft local action plan for Truro and Threemilestone, I proposed Truro City Council advocate more than one in three homes be affordable. With one abstention, Liberal Democrats voted against more affordable homes when the Council agreed by a majority vote to include a 50 per cent target for affordable housing in new developments.

(2) When the Liberal Democrats led Carrick District Council, they sold some council-owned land which had been set aside for housing, next to the Malpas Road estate in Truro. They then allowed the private housing developer who had purchased the site to buy their way out of the usual requirement to include one in three affordable homes in a new development of more than 45 properties. So the Liberal Democrats waved goodbye to even 15 new affordable homes within walking distance of Truro centre, on a site that had originally been bought with public money to meet council housing need. And then, to make their intentions even more woolly, the Liberal Democrat MPs and prospective candidate for the Carrick area had themselves photographed at the gates of the construction site, and included it in their leaflets alongside calls for more affordable homes.

(3) When the Liberal Democrats led Cornwall County Council, the new Richard Lander School was built. Draft local plans identified the former school as a new housing site, the only substantial proposed housing development which has support of a majority of residents in the ward where I'm a councillor. Instead of making its land available for new social housing, the Council decided to market it to the highest bidder. The prospective purchaser then pulled out. One of the last acts of the outgoing Liberal Democrat led Council was to apply for planning permission to continue to use the old school site as business premises for up to three years - clearly they were not in a hurry to build new affordable homes.

(4) Neither Liberal Democrat MP will be a candidate in this constituency at the next general election. While both chose to make affordable housing an issue at the 2005 general election, neither then publicly challenged the failure of Councils led by their Party to maximise the practical delivery of more affordable local homes. Julia Goldsworthy MP's wobbling and contradictory statements in different forums on proposed housing developments in Cornwall makes jelly look like a solid and stable material - and I have not heard her say anything at all about locally controversial specific proposals such as new student flats in Penryn.

Apparently cast in the same woolly mould, a recent leaflet from the Liberal Democrat prospective candidate here, headed 'The facts' suggests 3,000 - not 3,400 - families are registered in local housing need; and blames 'Margaret Thatcher's right to buy policy' for local housing shortages - when in fact the increase in house prices means Carrick Housing say they are not losing any local housing stock to tenants' right to buy. Out of date, and no comment on the more recent dire failure of elected Liberal Democrats at every level to deliver more local homes - it seems it is easier to blame a Tory prime minister who was elected 30 long years ago partly on a popular platform of extending housing opportunity.

When the new Cornwall Council cabinet was announced in June, I immediately contacted Independent councillor Mark Kaczmarek, who is the housing portfolio holder, and asked for a meeting. I urged him to do two things in his new role - for the new Council to take up opportunities to bid for housing investment from Labour in government, including building new council housing, and to make some of the land owned by Cornwall Council available for housing development while retaining ownership of the land, because this makes it possible to deliver more lower-cost housing.

At the same time I made this campaign video about Cornwall's housing needs, calling for more action by the Council:



The Council didn't bid in June - it wasn't something the Liberal Democrats put in hand before the voters chucked them out - but the new Council has now agreed two things: to build new council homes, with Truro (Tresillian) and Falmouth included in the first three sites. And to bid for funding to build up to 900 homes on Council-owned sites, including 265 homes for older people and those with disabilities. The locations have not yet been announced.

Cornwall Council is still going to be a long, long way away from meeting local housing need if these proposals come to fruition - over 19,000 households are in housing need. Politics won't stop me welcoming the prospect of more affordable local homes if the new Council's bids are successful - they will after all be built thanks to Labour investment. And I will be watching closely at every stage to maximise new homes for families in this constituency, which has one of the highest levels of housing need in Cornwall.

Hitch your wagon to a star

Those seeking to hitch the electoral reform cart to the runaway horse that is the public response to MPs' expenses revelations misread - or wilfully misinterpret - the change that people want to see. Their opportunistic efforts to shift the focus of political renewal onto tinkering with the voting system will not succeed.

The Kelly report recommendations published today come closer to downsizing greed and exploitation by a minority of MPs, in a way that redresses the public outrage at what has been revealed; although many will question the proposal that mortgage payments should continue for up to five years for existing MPs who are re-elected. As a prospective MP, I welcome the proposed shift to rented accommodation in London rather than second homes. And I support moves to prevent MPs employing family members.

Political renewal in the UK is partly about ensuring public service is free of self-serving interests. It is also about delivering the new constitutional settlement that Gordon Brown promised as he became Prime Minister.

That is about whether legislation will be completed in this Parliament for the long overdue, fully elected second chamber. It is about creating a democracy in which citizens engage willingly and actively because they have a formative influence locally as well as nationally. And it is about Parliament carrying forward the call of the UK Youth Parliament for lowering the voting age to sixteen to be debated and decided.

Voters dismayed by some MPs abuse of the expenses system are not calling for changes to the electoral system; they just want to end the self-seeking, extravagance, and waste. They want representatives who understand that for most people everyday life is about working hard to afford one home for their families, and at a time when unemployment is rising. That means strengthening, not diluting, the link between voters, local communities, and the individual elected representative or representatives.

Political Parties that want to take a first step in that direction by holding open primaries can do so without changing the law. 

We need to keep talking about homes, jobs, cost of living, schools, hospitals, better transport, and safer communities. Not cynical, tactical or 'strategic' voting, and proportional representation.