NUCA Dinner

Yesterday I went to the NUCA dinner organised by our excellent outgoing Vice President, Luke Black. It was really good and I recommend anyone to dine at the World Service Restaurant  in Nottingham.

A nice Picture of Luke (@lukerobertblack) and Robert (@robertdgsmith) after the meal.

Our life President John Hayes, also a former NUCA President, came as well and was our after dinner speaker. I like John Hayes because he does a lot of things I agree with, for example he is helping us fight the wind turbine crusade. He also told me what the government is planning to do on wind turbines in a few weeks. I won't give the story away to the left wing news at this early stage but it looks like things are going to get better for those who oppose the monstrous windmills. His honesty is most refreshing for politics, especially considering how he is in No.10.

John Hayes giving a speech, we forgot to do a team photo with him after the dinner.

So what did he say in his speech? Well first of all he said to be as outrageous as possible, which many of the NUCA members already try to do. But he tried to take away the political message of Liberalism is bad saying it was all about individuals and not society. Although I do believe in what he said about focusing on the future and the past more, I think the scathing view of Liberalism is not one I share. Liberalism to me isn't really about individuals by themselves, it's about individuals working together. We are not some conglomerate mass of people but to get on and make our lives better people wilfully and happily co-operate to bring about advancement.

Henry living life to the full on the advice of John Hayes.

But unlike most of the conservatives in the party, like Dave, who are very wet John Hayes is far from it. On the majority of issues I would say he is sound and will vote the 'right' way. Isn't ironic that usually those who are the most liberal are considered to be on the right wing more than most of the conservatives.

Luke's after dinner speech was also good, with some favourite puns about NUCA members. But the surprise came when both John Hayes and Luke found out they were both born on a council estate in Woolwich. Interesting coincidence.

A Woolwich council estate, John Hayes had the second left room on the top and Luke had the bottom right.

So an enjoyable night and I hope next year is as good, if not better. 

Alex Bright (@alexanderbright) and Andy Phillips (@andy_phillips15) having a nice old chat after the dinner.

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Steve Barclay MP Backs EU Referendum

I am pleased to announce that yesterday my MP, Steve Barclay, for North East Cambridgeshire backed the motion calling for a referendum on EU membership.

Steve Barclay MP was pulling pints before Nigel Farage strapped one to his hand.

Steve has realised with 115 other Tory MPs that the people of this country deserve to have a say on the EU. Steve has made a good decision because our European membership needs to be debated and reformed at the very least.

Personally I am for leaving the European Union with the majority of the British people. But at the very least the British people should have a reformed EU and a proper debate about whether this is enough. A referendum will allow this. I can't wait till the Bill is introduced to Parliament by James Wharton MP, who is also a CF member.

Well done Steve for backing the motion; if you want to see what he says see http://stevebarclay.net/why-i-joined-fellow-mps-in-calling-for-an-eu-referendum-bill/. If you want to see if your MP also voted with Steve see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22547912.

One of the Best MPs in Parliament

I'm going to do another Biography in response to me decrying Sarah Teather MP as possibly the worst MP in Parliament (see http://thingselliottsays.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/sarah-teather.html). However, this one is a good recommendation of John Hayes MP for South Holland the Deepings, who as it happens is my next door MP. I'm doing this because he will be present at tonight's world famous NUCA Dinner as NUCA's Life President.

So what is so good about John Hayes. Well for starters he doesn't like the wind turbines. As energy minster he spoke out against government policy of subsiding this awful energy source. Wind turbines are bringing fuel poverty to thousands. Wind Turbines are so inefficient that electricity from them costs five times more than it would do if the energy was produced by a coal or gas power station. South Holland is full of these damn things and John Hayes has been a great supporter of FENRATS, a local wind farm pressure group, to save the British countryside and people.

John Hayes is also now in Number 10 advising Dave what to do. Because of him Dave is adopting a Conservative stance on issues from petrol prices to Europe. John Hayes has never been shy to say how bad Europe is, as most NUCA members will tell you from the last dinner he was at.

Now as a personal reason John Hayes helped us win the Spalding Grammar School mock election in 2010. At school I was a candidate for the Conservative Party in a mock election and we won by a landslide. John helped us by doing a speech on why students should vote for us at a whole school assembly. My personal thanks go to him for the help. I can also say from this experience and meeting him at other times that he is a genuinely nice person who cares about individuals in his constituency. People in South Holland and the Deepings keep voting for John Hayes.

Embarrassing copy of our posters to get me elected in 2010.

So that's John Hayes, one of the best MPs in parliament. He is in my top 10 MPs at least. 

Petrol Promise

People of Britain, your country needs you. For too long a cartel of Oil Companies have been forming a cartel to brass us off over oil prices. Have a look at this graph. Oil prices are below that of before the recession and yet we are paying more at the pumps.

Now it can't all be the direct fault of the government with tax. In fact the Conservatives in the budget reduced petrol tax by 1p and got rid of the fuel duty escalator. Under this government fuel is 13p cheaper than it would have been under Labour.

So please sign the petrol promise petition to try get more action on this and send an email to your MP demanding action. http://www.petrolpromise.com/

#TheBigPicture

Once again I’m on the air debating this week’s issues on the political radio show, the Big Picture, on URN. I am putting this up a few minutes before we start, at 6pm. Please listen in.

Tonight we have a Conservative Majority with Luc Chignell (Country and Western fanatic) and James Constantine on the show.

Up for debate tonight is the David Cameron's alleged Cronyism in Number 10, Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats future (this will be amazing fun) and the Privatisation of the Probation service.

You can send it texts to our show on the URN homepage and are able to listen to us on there too. Make sure you quote #ThingsElliottSays. Here is the link http://urn1350.net/ .

Over The Pond

Today the growth figures for Europe came out. What a mess, is the best description of what is going on.

The best news is that Germany received 0.1% growth in the last quarter, although they probably lost 0.2% from serve snow. Essentially it's not going well, the German economy has lost 1.4% growth in 1 year. The Germans should be a lot higher than this seeing as they're the biggest economy in Europe. The recession in  the rest of Europe is going to hit them hard, I wouldn't be surprised if they go into one as well.  

 The German economy narrowly missed recession today. That may not happen in the Future.

France entered its third recession today, which shows how well Hollande's policy of tax the people till 'they're bled white' (to quote Clemenceau) is going. The problem with the French economy is that it is very inefficient and has been so for a long time. Three hour lunch breaks and some of the strictest employment regulations in Europe says it all. There is very little work because of government intervention and no actual desire form the French people to knuckle down. They'll pay for this very hard, 10.6% unemployment is nowhere near the peak.

Hollande's vision of what makes a good economy is rather clouded. My advice is not to be so wet.

And what of the rest of Europe? Nine members of the Eurozone are in recession. Spain has 27% of its population unemployed. Recently Greece has been re-classified as an emerging economy in line with Botswana or Tibet. There is no hope within the Eurozone because countries are reluctant to overcome their inefficiencies which a single currency demands.

The ECB cannot really help much eithe,; earlier this year it lowered interest rates to 0.5%. That's fine if there is credit in a country but there is none in Europe at this moment because of the ongoing crisis. The wacky smash and grab policy of raiding people's savings will not help this problem. I'd watch out for a banking crisis in the next few years.

The European Economy is getting to a point where countries in Europe are doing worse than some in Third World Africa. 

How do we compare then. Well we have just better growth than Germany of 0.3%. We haven't had a recession since the days of Gordon Brown as the one last year was recently discovered to have never happened. The only way is up for the moment. Nor do we have the problems of a single currency or any of the financial controls placed upon us by being in the Euro. So I think we'll do fairly well compared to Europe in the next few years. This is in spite of having a trade policy that makes it so difficult to trade with anyone not on the continent. And Nick Clegg thinks Europe is the economic future, Greece can't even ship in medicine, most African states can. 

Comparatively the UK economy is doing well. Once we get over the hurdles of our debt we will be doing better than the rest of Europe.

Crunch Time

Today the EU Referendum Bill has been published today. The Majority of the Conservative Party, including many Cabinet Ministers, were going to vote for the Queen's Speech amendment against Dave's wishes. He had to do something and he made the right decision.

So what does the future lie in store. Douglas Carswell today said that all he wanted from David Cameron is an acceptable situation; where Carswell could say to the PM 'that will do'. The moment this Bill gets brought forward there is virtually irrefutable proof that the Conservative Party wants a referendum on the EU. Some MPs like Ken Clarke will vote against this Bill because they still secretly want us to join the Euro, but I would think over 95% of the Party will back it.

'That'll do, Prime Minister. That'll do.'

But is this Bill enough? Well it promises the referendum in 2017, yet the majority of opinion wants it just before 2015 or on the election day itself. Personally I think just before will be better because, despite the money saved if it is on the same day of the General Election, it will be very hard for people to concentrate well enough on two major campaigns on one day. I thus personally think some MPs will still push forward with the 2015 plan and try with amendments to get it in, a sizeable number will sign up to this but not the majority of the Party. 

The main question is will this Bill get through in this parliament? I think taht because of the electoral pressure currently on the Lib Dems they will allow government time to be used for the Bill. However, the Lib Dems will not support the Bill itself, despite being the only party that promised it in 2010*.

The Lib Dems are Liars. Cleggers should be ashamed.

However, the big question is will Red Ed back the referendum? He may have to even if he doesn't support it. He'd be on the wrong side of history and he must know that. A few Labour MPs will  back the Bill anyway and Red Ed could offer a free vote on the matter. But I think he will be indecisive, which may pan out worse than not backing the Bill.

As a last word Tory MPs, make sure you back this Bill. 

Crunch Time for Red Ed on Europe. If he makes the Wrong decision it could be over for him.

*They're great at keeping promises these Liberals, they give decent politicians a bad name.