Fletcher, By-election and Budget: #ThingsElliottSays is Back

Yes, after a fairly long break with not much going on, #ThingsElliottSays is back. We shall continue to show up the socialist oppressors, Europhiles and CF wannabes.

You are probably wondering what has been going on for me to take a long period of time off? Well I was working very hard on the Clifton North by-election, which we sadly lost, and on my essays. I could tell you some wonderful things about the Carolingian Renaissance, Peter the Great of Russia and Stalin but we must move on.

I'm all clued up on Charlemagne.

So in celebration of #ThingsElliottSays' return let's do a quick summary of three things that have been going on. Firstly, do you remember Cllr Sam Fletcher, the woman and gay hating UKIP councillor from Keighley? Well he has decided again that Facebook is exactly the right place to publicly air his strange views. Cllr Fletcher has called Trans-Gender people "part-time homosexuals" and admitted he was "a bit confused by them". You can see all his delightful comments below and read about them further on the Pink News, The Backbencher and International Business Times. I think the people of Keighley will be demanding a right of recall soon.

On Thursday I was also at a by-election in Gamston, in Rushcliffe. I was out there with Ken Clarke and co. campaigning to get the Conservative candidate Jonathan Wheeler elected to serve on Rushcliffe Borough council. This was a seat we needed to hold and I am glad to say we did so. Jonathan got 444 votes with Labour coming second with 218. UKIP also ran and received 173 with the Lib Dems 4th with 170 votes (this was a much better result for the Lib Dems than the Clifton North by-election where they were beaten by Elvis). I hope Jonathan does well on the Borough council, in the time that I got to know him he seemed to know exactly what needed to be done in the area.

Jonathan, Sam and I just about to go out into Gamston to campaign.

And lastly I want to talk about the budget. The word BINGO could be heard across the whole of England (most notably in Harlow) due to the great work of Robert Halfon MP in getting George to cut Bingo tax by half. Rob is very good at making sure the Conservatives attract that 'white van man worker'. But after Petrol and Bingo being slashed, what will Rob and his team, led by the wonderful ex-University of Nottingham student Emily Burditt, be planning for next year?

Eyes down Rob.

Good work was also done by Michael Ellis MP for his pot hole fund. £200 million has been put aside by the government to help with all those potholes that have been caused a record breaking wet winter. Praise all around to Daisy and Ben, the campaign manager and TCO for Northampton North, who helped massively on that campaign. People back in Wisbech will be very pleased as well as the people of Northampton North.

Michael Ellis MP has got a £200 million government grant for pot holes.

But most importantly, George has made my pint cheaper. Beer duty has been cut twice in a row under this government, something to definitely raise a glass to. Cheers George, students across the country thank you.

Cheers George!

So to end up my summary of the past few days here is one of the best parts of the whole political show around budget day. A song commissioned by Sky News about their coverage of the events.

The Budgie

It's budget day, and now the dust is beginning to settle let me tell you what I thought about it. George Osborne has done an alright job but don't let it cover up the underlying message is that Britain is not in great shape.

First the Good Stuff. The TPA must be pleased as they can now change their hashtag to #mashedbeertax with the alcohol escalator now axed. Sin taxes never bring in any money so just let people drink what they want. Good news for York University as their Hagueathon (an attempt to drink 14 pints like William Hague) is now 55p cheaper*. Also petrol is not going to be put up. Horray!! It is 15p cheaper to fill up under this government than it would be if Labour were still power. There is a continued Capital Gains Tax holiday. There are quite a few things to like.

Also there is this:

 

But now the overall picture of the British economy. Well borrowing is going to go UP again this year, oh dear. By 2017/2018 this country's debt will stand at 85% of GDP!!!!!!! Also growth is predicted to be just 0.6% this year, not very good either. Makes you wonder whether Mervyn King is right when he says 'there is underlying growth in the economy'. There are also no net cuts again. This is the worst bit as we are cutting £2.5 billion from department budgets to spend on programmes that are not needed. This is so stupid it's unbelievable, all wasted on projects like HS2 that make no money. What a loss.

So overall. We have No Net Cuts. No huge tax cuts. But we do have some good things on the side which may make a difference. Mind you the average family is still £700 better off than under Labour.

Also wait till next week. By then Labour may have picked out a sex tax or something.

*I would like to point out this is NUCA's idea first with the campus 14.