Tracey Crouch

Protect pensioners from Brown’s plans to scrap benefits

2009-11-21T18:26:00.002Z

I was alarmed to learn that the small print of Labour’s plans to create a National Care Service reveals they will scrap Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance for pensioners to pay for it.

An average £3,400 a year will be snatched away from 2.4 million pensioners – equivalent to a quarter of the average pensioner’s income. In Chatham & Aylesford this would affect a shocking 2,670 pensioners. Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance are based on need; they are not means tested and are intended to cover the extra costs arising from the impact the disability has on the life of the disabled person. The key feature of these benefits is that they can be spent by disabled people how they wish, without restrictions, to best support their individual care needs.

It is clear that Gordon Brown has chosen to penalise one of the most vulnerable groups in our society for the sake of another of his eye-catching announcements. As with every Labour initiative, someone has to pay and, as with many of them, it is once again those who are least able to afford it who are hit by Brown. These benefits provide vital support for disabled pensioners, giving them the chance to lead an independent life with the freedom to tailor their care to their needs. Of course, we need to do more to help people with their care costs, but it is completely wrong to do so at the expense of disabled pensioners.

David Cameron has made it clear that the Conservatives will protect Chatham & Aylesford's pensioners and fight against Gordon Brown’s plan to scrap benefits for the disabled.

A week is a long time...

2009-11-21T17:32:00.002Z

This week has been incredibly busy starting with a dinner on Monday to celebrate the retirement of John Blundell, the Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs. David Davis MP and journalist Simon Heffer spoke well about the policies that John has advocated over the years and the impact they have had on global economics. I was lucky enough to be sitting next to two Sky journalists and the future Director, a former Lib Dem staffer, who I think was rather daunted at the task ahead by the end of the evening. Amusingly I was accused of not being a free marketeer after questioning the amount and value of money in football - i.e. was Ronaldo really worth £80m?

On Tuesday, I joined the team at the phone bank for some telephone canvassing. My sheet was Larkfield and I had a really positive response, as did my colleagues telephoning in other areas. One chap called me an angel but a huge number of people said "we gotta get this lot out"! The team came away feeling positive and looking forward to next week's session.

Watching the Queen open Parliament on Wednesday, I felt embarrassed for her. The State Opening of Parliament is a major constitutional function and yet it felt like it was all about the Labour Party saving itself, not serving the country. Gordon Brown has nothing to offer except a series of half-measures aimed at partisan point-scoring – even Cabinet Ministers admit that their programme is about playing politics not improving people’s lives. There was nothing in the Queen's Speech for the hard working man, woman or family in Chatham & Aylesford. A point, Sir John Stanley MP made as well on Thursday when I went to speak to his Executive Association. I had (have) a dreadful cough and rather rudely disrupted the proceedings with my spluttering before croaking my way through my own speech! Having tweaked my hamstring at training on Wednesday, I felt a tad crocked!!

The hamstring isn't feeling too great tonight after delivering our latest newsletter with Tashi to probably the longest road in the constituency - Churchill - before going up to help in Blue Bell Hill. I am however getting lots of sympathy at home so have my feet up watching my sister's best friend from school, captain the England Ladies Rugby team against New Zealand at a rainy Twickerham.

Dinner with the Chairman

2009-11-14T00:12:00.003Z

Tonight, Chatham & Aylesford Conservatives had its annual dinner at the Larkfield Priory Hotel and we were honoured to have the Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles as our guest speaker. Eric gave a thought provoking and inspiring speech about what we need to do to win the next General Election - returning a Conservative MP for Chatham & Aylesford is an essential step on that road to victory.

It was a wonderful evening - the food was delicious, the company excellent and we raised vital funds for the campaign ahead.

Charity Rugby at Aylesford Bulls

2009-11-12T08:49:00.002Z

At training last night it was announced that Meridian Girls had won, for the second year running, the silver medal at the Medway Sports Club of the Year awards. The club, and especially the management, deserve nothing less as they all put in hours of voluntary time to make sure that everything runs smoothly. In the meantime my girls are third in the league with a game in hand - we have a crunch game on Sunday against Bearsted...I am not sure it will decide the outcome of the league but it is pretty important!!

After training, I went to a charity Rugby match at the Aylesford Bulls between a President's XV and an Army team. The "Poppy Day Match" was played in aid of Help for Heroes and was extremely well attended by supporters of the Club, the Royal British Legion, the Parish Council and local residents. I only managed to get to the last 30 minutes but at least I saw an Aylesford try! I don't know how much the game raised for Help for Heroes but with very persuasive army personnel collecting money from the supporters I imagine it will be a significant sum.

May we never forget

2009-11-08T18:24:00.003Z

I went to two different but very moving Remembrance Services today. This morning I attended the Service at St Peter & St Paul Church where the vicar had invited a serving soldier to address the congregation. The soldier from the Royal Engineers spoke about his time in Iraq and Afghanistan and the loss of two soldiers in his regiment; he then took questions from the children attending the service which ranged from how high had he parachuted from through to did he think there would be a World War III. It was poignant how interested the young children were in him, his uniform and his medals - I saw a beautiful young girl staring in awe at him from her mum's lap and it reminded me of the photographs you see of youngsters looking up at World War II veterans and wondered if today's brave soldiers will be similarly respected in 50 years time.

This afternoon I attended the Service at the Royal British Legion Village. Sadly, there were fewer men marching this year but I was told later by Edwin Boorman, President of the local British Legion that there were 250 people at the ceremony. I sat next to some veterans who were shivering as they braved the cold wind in just their jackets with their medals proudly pinned to their chests. It was clear that this Remembrance Service meant more because many had fought in World War II and had lost friends and colleagues. You could hear their voices break when they repeated the words "we will never forget".

The sombre ceremony was broken by Squadron Leader Des Butters loudly asking everyone who returned from laying their wreath if they were going for a cup of tea after - Janet, who read a poem during the service, and I found this so surreal that we started to chuckle into our scarves and coats. Des, who wears hearing aids in both ears, was totally oblivious to what he had started.

Litter picking in Luton with Tashi

2009-11-08T18:11:00.003Z

After a Friday night at the Snodland Quiz, it was fabulous to get out in the Saturday winter sunshine to go litter picking in Luton with Tashi and the team. We were planning on meeting at Christchurch and heading up Luton Road, Upper Luton Road and Beacon Road but when we arrived we started speaking to the church steward Dave Boss and decided to concentrate our efforts around the church grounds and its local environment. Within an hour we had filled 10 black bags! I found £10 in a bush which I donated to the church box and Tashi stood in for Tony Goulden who hadn't arrived for his surgery when someone turned up to see him. So all in all it was a good morning!

Speaking to law students

2009-11-05T09:10:00.001Z

Last night, Rehman Chishti, the PPC for Gillingham, and I were invited to speak to some law students at the University of Kent. Although I read law at University, I never went into practice despite my then-held ambition to become an international maritime lawyer! Instead I was more interested in the constitutional and philosophical side of law and so my political journey began. Reh on the other hand is a practicing barrister so whilst he was able to give them a lengthy insight into what it is like to stand up in front of a judge and what the law and Conservatism have in common, I focused my speech on the time, as Chief of Staff to the then Home Secretary David Davis, I watched a legal and constitutional nightmare unfold - i.e. the passage of the Prevention of Terrorism Bill through Parliament. I spoke of how it felt to be sitting discussing legislation that could have stripped away centuries of civil liberties, enshrined in the Magna Carta, in order to detain suspected terrorists that under legislation would effectively be put under house arrest on the say of a politician not a judge.

Preparing for the speech reminded me of the all night sitting, the tension between the Commons and the Lords, the fear from all sides that we were about to ancient freedoms, that a draconian Bill would be introduced with no prospect of any future review - it was an extraordinary 3 weeks, dominated entirely by this piece of emergency legislation introduced not because of an act of terrorism, but by a Law Lords ruling on the incompatibility of previous legislation with the European Convention on Human Rights. By talking about the Bill I hoped to demonstrate the brilliance of our system of checks and balances - the Executive were held to account by a mutinous Parliament, and then the Act when passed was considered by an independent judiciary. In this case, the emergency legislation proved (as all rushed legislation tends to be) bad legislation and so the process began again with a new Bill...

Anyway I am sure the law students found it more interesting to hear about how to address a judge but I certainly enjoyed talking to them and hope that I bought the constitutional law that they are currently studying to life.

Collecting for the Poppy Appeal

2009-11-01T17:19:00.005Z

The weekend started off with the delivery of my latest newsletter in Aylesford which actually gave me an opportunity to check out the progress of the new crossings on Station Road. The crossings are a hard fought victory for Cllrs Dave Smith and John Balcombe - especially the one at the exit of Medway Court which was supposed to be built at the same time as the estate over 6 years ago. The weather held off yesterday which meant the road surfacing work was speeding along (is it wrong that I love the smell of tar?) so hopefully it will be finished within the few days.

After lunch, John and Dave joined me for the first day of the Poppy Appeal stand at Aylesford Sainsbury's. We manned the stand for a good two hours and did a roaring trade - it was not only amazing how many children were encouraging their parents to get a Poppy but also how much people were donating. A few people came over to talk about the report in the paper yesterday regarding the lack of helicopters/military equipment and others mentioned the shocking state of our rehabilitation services. I met with the Royal British Legion recently and pledged "to do my bit" for Service Personnel and their families, the bereaved, veterans and dependants. I hope yesterday I've done that little bit extra for the Appeal.

The disrespect of the anti-war protesters

2009-10-29T10:59:00.003Z

I am absolutely disgusted by the story on the Medway Messenger website regarding outrageous defacing of the Poppy Appeal posters by anti-war protesters. The Poppy Appeal not only raises much needed funding to support current servicemen, women and their families but it reminds us of the heroism of those who fought and died during two World Wars to defend the very freedom that allows people to protest in this country!

There is a time and a place for a protest but the defacement of a charity poster to make a political point is not it and I find I am sickened by the disrespectful and thoughtlessness of this act.

I hope they are caught and that the guilty party/parties are made to stand alongside veterans on Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester High Streets and made to collect for the Poppy Appeal from now until Remembrance Day.

New Luton & Wayfield branch!

2009-10-27T23:18:00.002Z

I have just returned home from the inaugural meeting of our new Luton & Wayfield branch! It is absolutely fabulous to have a branch up and running in what until recently had been a safe Labour ward, which of course returned its first Conservative councillor in decades in the September by-election. In all my time, and those of other political oldies at the meeting, I have never seen so many people actively involved in a branch - even in solid Conservative areas - so I feel very excited tonight by the enthusiasm and interest shown by new and old members alike to ensure the branch successfully contributes to the association and to my campaign.

Good luck Luton & Wayfield branch and welcome to the team!

What is going on in the X Factor?

2009-10-25T20:58:00.001Z

Danyl in a sing off with Miss Frank.

John & Edward survive.

The world has gone mad!

KCC AGM and canvassing in the rain!

2009-10-25T20:22:00.002Z

On Friday I attended the Kent County Council Conservative Group AGM followed by the annual lunch with Guest Speaker Michael Howard. It was fascinating to hear what KCC has in story for the next few years although I was horrified to learn that Kent has the highest percentage of drugs misuse in the country.

After I left Maidstone I went to see a gentleman in Chatham about the standard of dementia services in Medway. Home visits are one of the most fulfilling parts of the job of being a candidate - it gives you a real opportunity to sit down in a relaxed atmosphere and talk through the issues at length. Carers are too often forgotten but they fulfill a vital role in our society and they need our support more than we can ever fully understand. I will definitely be picking up with the local health providers standards of dementia services when I next meet them.

Then on Saturday, we had a large team out in Snodland for a canvass session despite the persistent rain. There were some interesting issues raised on the doorstep this week including Nick Griffin's controversial appearance on BBC Question Time - the whole episode has clearly divided opinion although I think whilst the BNP are a legitimate party whether we like it or not, the BBC were not wrong to give him a slot on the programme. Unless their share of the vote decreases or they are banned by the Government then they will no doubt get other opportunities in the future.

After ham, egg and chips at the Robin Hood, I headed off to Homebase - this is clearly now what my free time will consist off...

Unemployment rises in Chatham & Aylesford

2009-10-18T19:32:00.003+01:00

Shocking news buried in the unemployment figures released earlier this week for workers in Chatham & Aylesford. This time last year there were 1361 claiming Jobseekers Allowance but now there are a massive 2681 Jobseekers and increase of 97%. But there are only 189 jobs available meaning that there are 14 applicants for every vacancy. As stock markets recover and bankers bonuses return many are predicting an early end to the recession but it is clear that unemployment levels are still rising and that local workers are going to continue to find it very difficult to make ends meet.

Unreported from Conference, the Conservatives outlined detailed new plans, to simplify Labour’s numerous and piecemeal work programmes into a single back-to-work programme for everyone on out-of-work benefits. This would be backed up with new and additional work pairings, apprenticeships, further education college places and vocational education for young people. There would also be programmes to support self-employment, work clubs and volunteering opportunities to help people prepare for work and find jobs.

Unfortunately it is likely to be six months before Gordon Brown finally calls an election and with national debt rising quickly it looks like it is going to be a rough ride especially for those struggling without a job. The sooner we get rid of this failing Government, the better.

Brown takes the biscuit!

2009-10-18T19:07:00.003+01:00

Why oh why did Gordon Brown need to take 24 hours to decide what his favourite biscuit is? Asked by mumsnet to name his preferred biscuit, he ignored the question despite being asked a Paxman-esque 12 times! Cameron and Clegg answered with oatcakes (are they biscuits?) and Rich Tea/Hob Nobs but clearly Brown needed to ask his advisers or appeal to focus groups before coming back with "anything with a bit of chocolate". OK, I appreciate that this is not the biggest problem on the Prime Minister's plate but it does show that he is unable to make a decision without dithering first. First he bottled an election and now he has crumbled over a shortbread but what next? The mum's weren't impressed, unsurprisingly.

For information my favourite biscuits are pink wafers. I have no idea what that tells you about me but with one of those in my hands I am not sure I would really care!!

A new house

2009-10-18T18:54:00.004+01:00

I have had a quiet weekend politically but a busy one personally! Finally, after months and months of building work, I started moving things into my new house in Aylesford. The painters are still in, the bathroom needs to be tiled and the phone line connected - so it is not all perfect just yet but I have a bed, sofa, kettle, pasta strainer and wine glasses...a few more trips to Ikea and B&Q will no doubt take place over the coming months but I cannot wait to finally put my feet up in front of the TV in the new pad!

Update - Aylesford Flood Defences

2009-10-14T22:42:00.003+01:00

Following football training tonight, I dashed down to Aylesford Community Centre to catch the last 40 minutes of a public meeting on proposals to defend Aylesford from flooding hosted by the Environment Agency and in conjunction with the County, Borough and Parish Councils.

The meeting follows one I organised earlier in the year and it was great to see that the EA have made some progress on proposals to prevent the Aylesford stream flooding again. However the downside is that by the time it takes to get approval, funding, contractors and then the work finished probably means that local residents will be worried every rain storm for a good few years yet! Mind you the Village is some way forward from where we were at the beginning of 2009 and we now have a flood plan which is a very good start and can be found HERE.

A poem about Coney Banks

2009-10-13T21:54:00.002+01:00

I have been sent a rather nice poem about Coney Banks. Sadly it is not signed which is a shame because I like it and can't reply to say thank you. So instead I shall showcase it here:

CONEY BANKS OF CHATHAM

The faint yellow glow at the east of the valley

changes to an orange hue,

as night time transforms, at the break of day,

it enhances Chatham's unsung view.

From Waterworks Hill, beyond Fitness First,

across the Pitch and Putt course, to the Coney Banks,

on the horizon, the lines of silhouetted firs,

like charcoal drawings, on parade, in ranks.

Once this glimpse of morning glory

has passed, and the day's begun,

into focus will emerge the rows of houses,

windows reflecting the rising sun.

Tranquil, until the onslaught of traffic

breaks the stillness of this Kentish morn;

breathtaking, for a fragment of time,

as a brand new day is born.

Breaking News is Bad News for Kent Commuters

2009-10-11T20:11:00.002+01:00

The BBC is reporting that tomorrow Gordon Brown will announce the sale of UK assets in order to raise £16bn to plug the Treasury black hole. This sale will crucially include the Dartford Crossing; if a private company or investor is going to be interested in buying the assets it will obviously want to make a profit.

So if the Dartford Crossing is sold, Kent's commuters crossing the Bridge will continue paying the tolls that should have finished in 2002. Charges were introduced in 1963 to finance building the tunnels and latterly the bridge but were due to end once the debts had been paid off - this happened nearly 7 years ago and instead of the tolls ending, they went up! The proposed sale of the Crossing signals that the charges will now never end and the cash strapped motorist trying to get to work will be the ones that get penalised again.

Canvassing in Snodland

2009-10-10T16:54:00.002+01:00

It was great after a month or so of delivering newspapers to get back on the doorsteps canvassing today. Ten of us met in Snodland this morning and spent 2 hours talking to people about their local and national concerns. I love canvassing and think that senior politicians and their advisers should do more door knocking in order to find out what people are really thinking!

We didn't find anyone who confessed they were going to vote Labour next time; we did find some (including a former senior Labour activist) who were not going to vote Labour on polling day. I spoke to several public servants who had heard George Osborne and David Cameron's speeches on freezing public sector pay and both recognised that whilst they weren't over the moon at the idea of a pay freeze, they would much rather have a job in a year's time. They did also say that they believed that whichever party won the next election their pay would have been frozen so they thought the openness and honesty of David and George was refreshing.

People are still angry about the MP expenses scandal and it seems that the more affected they have been by the recession the more cross they are - and who can blame them? It certainly hasn't been Westminster's finest hour.

Immigration is still a hot topic of conversation and the perceived inequity, from housing allocation through to job seeker centres, is still prevalent. A number of people also raised with me the amount of bureaucracy in place today - as one chap said, "how many people do you need to make sure my bin gets collected"?

After the week in Manchester with the leadership sending out strong honest messages about how tough the next few years are going to be, it was good to go out in Snodland and be welcomed so warmly; one chap said when I introduced myself as a Conservative "that's alright then luv, I want to belt the other lot" - his chance will come soon enough...at the ballot box in a few months time!

I am alive!

2009-10-09T18:46:00.003+01:00

My apologies for the blogging break - I am indeed still alive...just!

Since I am still working full time for me the political party conference season is about more than just my own party's conference and therefore through work have attended the Liberal Democrat and Labour conferences too, hence the lull in posts.

However over the past few weeks I managed to also fit in a wonderful evening speaking to Strood Conservatives, kept up to date with my correspondence and telephone calls, had several meetings with key charities and organisations, finished delivering my latest newsletter, and managed the girls to a 3-1 victory in our second league match of the season!

Now that I am back in my routine, normal blogging will resume...

Meeting Freshers at Medway

2009-09-23T21:45:00.002+01:00

I took today off work and joined Conservative colleagues from across Medway for Freshers Fayre. Today was sports club day and our stand was positioned in between the hockey and cricket stand and across from the netball. There was a lot of ball play going on between the stands and although it was fun trying to dodge cricket balls it was also quite interesting talking to the students. Most would say they aren't interested in politics but once you ask them what they think of the bus service, or crime, or litter they soon realise that they are very interested in politics but just hadn't labelled it as such before. The strangest moment of the day was when Communities Minister Shahid Malik was being shown around the Fayre and the organisers stopped to explain something to him right by our stand. Shahid was very cool and came over to shake my hand but his advisers looked very nervous and were desperate to get the Minister away as soon as possible!

After leaving Medway campus I had a meeting with Cllr Nick Chard at Kent County Council about, amongst other things, trying to resolve the problem of traffic on Lower Lunsford Lane. I hope we will get some kind of closure on this issue soon.

Britain clocks up debt at a rate of £6,017 per second!

2009-09-19T19:51:00.003+01:00

The Times has a very scary article on the front page today. For a taster these are the three opening paragraphs:

Britain is clocking up debt at a rate of £6,017 per second as the Government struggles to balance the books. With tax receipts plummeting because of the recession, state borrowing grew by £16.1 billion last month — almost twice the entire budget for the 2012 Olympics.

Net borrowing for the first five months of the financial year stood at £65.3 billion, compared with £26.1 billion at the same stage last year. Total borrowing soared past the £800 billion mark for the first time and total state debt as a proportion of national output reached 57.5 per cent.

Just to pay the interest on its ballooning debts the Government must find more than £30 billion a year — about £500 for every man, woman and child in the country.

This is incredibly bad news. It is quite clear that the UK's finances are in a shockingly poor state thanks to Labour's total mismanagement of the Treasury books over the past decade. The whole debate around who is going to cut what after a General Election is beginning to miss the point - control over public spending needs to start NOW not in 9 months time!

The full article can be found HERE.

Strictly Lordswood

2009-09-19T19:44:00.002+01:00

Thank goodness for Saturday night TV! Am sitting watching Strictly Come Dancing with my feet up drinking a cold glass of wine after an excellent delivery session this morning in Lordswood. We had a small team of 6 out today but still managed to get over 1500 houses delivered before lunch (thanks guys for the help). I don't know what I am going to do in 10 minutes when the X Factor starts...

School Closures

2009-09-17T20:00:00.002+01:00

It is deeply regrettable that Medway Council today decided to close St John's and Ridge Meadow Schools in Chatham. The consultation was as a consequence of Government legislation which forces a review of schools who have falling rolls and both St John's and Ridge Meadow fell into this category. Nevertheless both schools achieve good results and were contributing to educational excellence across Medway: it is therefore a shame that this decision has been made.

I am not the kind of person that likes to play party politics with a child's education and so I have always made my representation on these proposals in private. I had made it very clear to the portfolio holder that I believe both St John's and Ridge Meadow to be good schools with a strong community base, something that is often under-estimated and devalued in our current education system. I firmly believe that if we don't get primary education right, then we end up playing catch up throughout the rest of a child's education. This is not only unsatisfactory from a learning perspective but also costly.

I was also concerned that these proposals are being considered at a time when Government spending on capital projects is being examined in detail and as we know from leaked documents earlier this week that spending could potentially be frozen in light of the huge national debt that this Labour administration has built up. I remain extremely worried that the schools will be closed on a financial promise to invest in other schools which may then not happen. If this were to occur, our children will end up being educated in over-subscribed schools with an infrastructure unable to cope with the demand.

I am deeply passionate about ensuring that children across Chatham are given the best chance in life and fundamentally believe that the way to do this is to provide first class facilities, the best teachers, and an environment where they can thrive. Both St John's and Ridge Meadow, in my view, have provided such a base and so I am not going to pretend I am anything other than disappointed with the decision today.

First game of the season

2009-09-13T15:34:00.002+01:00

The new football season kicked off for Meridian Girls today. I am now manager/coach of the Under 12s having started as coach with many of the same players in the Under 10s - oh how time flies.

As you progress through the age groups the game development begins, so this season we play 11-a-side instead of 7, on bigger pitches with larger goals and for a longer time each way. Today we had an away game and an early kick off which was a bit of a shock to the system for those of us who have enjoyed their Sunday morning lie in during the summer break!

Our 10 girls (yes we were one short) battled hard against Gravesham and only really lost it in the last 5 minutes when the team understandably began to tire. No points but a happy manager, some very proud parents, and 10 exhausted girls who will no doubt sleep very well tonight!!