Here’s a quick summary of news, events and casework for May 2007
May
27th – Nottingham Green Festival - hold a stall but it’s a very wet day;
26th – Shrewsbury Town play at the new Wembley;
25th – Nottingham East CLP nominate Gordon Brown and Hazel Blears for the leadership of the Labour Party;
25th – East Midlands Regional Assembly; the first Region whose local councils have all signed the Nottingham Declaration; ask a question on smart meters; Glenis Willmott MEP highlights Labour Group achievement on moderating mobile phone companies’ roaming charges;
25th – BBC Breakfast highlight Nottingham as a green city; appear with Alan Simpson MP;
23rd – Local Government Chronicle conference on - “Tackling climate change in your authority”; I’m a speaker; then attend Prime Minister’s Question Time;
22nd – Environenergy board meeting;
22nd – Executive Board - - agree recommendations for primary schools serving St.Ann’s & Mapperley, except for The Elms, the closure of which is to be considered by an adjudicator; - agree sell-off of Beechwood and 2 neighbouring properties;
20th – Labour Party leadership hustings at Coventry; I favour Hilary Benn for Deputy;
19th – Labour Party social; Hazel Blears attends to congratulate Nottingham Labour Party on making the most gains of any ruling Labour Group;
18th – Shrewsbury Town win at Milton Keynes to go to Wembley;
18th – Full Council - nomination of co-Councillor Mo Munir for Lord Mayor;
18th – Health & Environment Partnership - presentation on smart meters and power stabilizers to save energy and money;
17th – Nottingham Development Enterprise; presentations on a lottery bid for a new Robin Hood Centre in the Sherwood Forest, and on Greater Nottingham Transport;
14th – last football match at the Gay Meadow;
10th – Tony Blair announces plan to resign as PM on 27th June;
9th – Evening Post journalist Sean Kirby co-writes a column for me on the latest on the environment;
7th – 24,542 attend the Women's FA Cup Final at the City Ground; big attendance cos of large active County women's teams; Arsenal beat Charlton Athletic 4-1;
5th – last normal Football League match at the Gay Meadow;
4th – elected to serve Mapperley ward for a further 4 years; then re-elected as Deputy Leader;
3rd – election day;
From my blog -
Mon 28th May 2007
Bank Holiday weather
Nottingham Green Weeks has begun. 3 weeks of events to highlight the importance of climate change. Within it, the Green Festival, going for 20 years or more (originally known as the Peace Festival).
And this year, it was moved forward to Bank Holiday weekend (on Sunday). What were people thinking? A British bank holiday weekend. It rained all day.
I always hold a stall. Nothing very exciting, just some basic information displayed on a wallpaper pasting table and an offer to answer "any questions?" I usually get around 10 cases to forward and hand out around 50 leaflets. This year, 1 case and about 5 letters. Stalls with shelter did better - but I was worried about engaging some people knowing they'd be drenched if we got into any kind of conversation.
Sun 27th May 2007
the new Wembley stadium
A trip to the new Wembley stadium to see Shrewsbury Town play Bristol Rovers. A wonderful start as we take the lead in 3 minutes, but doubts began as we miss 2 opportunities to increase the lead in the next 10 minutes. We lost 3-1 in the end despite a lot of possession. But I'm looking forward to seeing highlights of Derek Asamoah's dribbling on TV.
The stadium is fine and it is huge. The arch is special and can be seen from a number of the main railway lines into London. This morning it was glorious in this sunshine, lit up against dark clouds in the background. The arch adds to the excitement of the prospect of going to Wembley, and to arriving. So does the Bobby Moore statue.
Postscript: There was repeated talk of the expensive burgers at Wembley during the FA Cup Final preparations. I don't know enough about the economics of mass catering - accommodating for lots of people wanting to be served in a very short period must be expensive. At the Salop game, the caterers did seem to misjudge the sale of beer - lots of poured pints weren't bought at half-time - and that could be price or it could be the type of fizz offered. The cola served was short of syrup.
But the bigger concern had to be the empty second tier of seats. Very strange. Although no Salop fans have not been able to get tickets - we only nearly bought the whole allocation, it might have been nicer to not be quite so high up.
And now following the Derby - West Brom match, it's become clear that the second tier seats have been bought through "Club Wembley" which enables people or businesses to have bought out all tickets for all events for that seat, in the knowledge that they might not go to them all. As a result, nearly 10,000 people who might have wanted to go, have not the Monday game; and the teams have not played to a capacity crowd. The Daily Mirror has picked up on this. It does need resolving so that seats are available to the real fans if others don't want them.
Fri 25th May 2007
My first official non-appearance on national television
Today was a better day for Nottingham’s efforts on climate change.
Someone, somewhere has started the notion that Nottingham wants to be Britain’s first green city. Whatever, the BBC Breakfast show brought us to Experian’s new offices to talk about the aim and tackling climate change, and to highlight Experian’s efforts in reducing energy consumption and waste.
My first appearance on national tv – and yes I rang my Mum! And I was interviewed with Alan Simpson MP was there to talk about his eco-house. And my mum says they didn’t show it! So, my first official non-appearance on national television. Whatever.
Next to the East Midlands Regional Assembly, which had a big focus on climate change today.
I’d placed a question to highlight the potential for councils to save on costs with smart meters and power stabilisers. Then the Assembly celebrated that it is the first to ensure that all member councils have signed the Nottingham Declaration. And a Health Service delegate got up to announce that she was trying to mobilise all the health authorities in the Region to sign (an adapted version) too.
We had presentations from the Stern Review; and from the Business Council for Sustainable Development who seek to mobilise manufacturing industry to produce the new products that we will require – like smart meters.
In discussion, I asked all Councils to stand firm behind the alternate fortnightly collections to sustain the progress made in recycling. And I was firmly supported by the Councillor delegate from North Kestevan – yes that Kestevan – as in Baroness Thatcher of Kestevan. A first - Nottingham and Kestevan working hand in hand.
Back at The Council House, we gave approval to a bid (called “The Ozone”) for the Meadows part of Nottingham to bid for both a water tower and a wind turbine as part of a regeneration – recreation – green living bid to the Lottery.
One of the better days.
Wed 23rd May 2007
I met the Minister for Trams in the strangest of bars
Today I gave a presentation on local government leadership on the issue of climate change. And I had spent hours on it. Especially putting photos and graphics into the 48 page presentation so that it could be both viewed and re-read when the proceedings are distributed to delegates.
And then with 10 minutes to go, the producers' portable stopped communicating with the projector. Would I mind working from notes? And not use the rostrum cos they might need to change the equipment?
So it was that I tried to convey messages expressed in lots of pictures from a printout holding a desk microphone up against my chest cos the amplification was too low. Worse, the microphone's wide, heavy base meant I had to hold it with 2 hands and peer round its edge to read the notes on the table 3 feet below. Wipeout.
I did manage to convey a point about neighbouring Gedling Council, which went Tory earlier this month, threatening its recycling rates by introducing weekly collections of general waste for summer months. Poorer environmental impact at a higher cost to the public.
I also cited the progress made by Nottingham City Council on reducing the consumption of water and power through the use of smart meters, something Ian Pearson (the Minister for Climate Change) had told me was going to be encouraged in today's Energy White Paper, when I happened to meet him in the Stranger's Bar at the House of Commons last night.
A similar thing had happened in November when I happened to meet the Trams Minister in the same bar, the night before a presentation to transport professionals on the Nottingham's tram. That conference had a stenographer, who either didn't have enough general knowledge or couldn't make out my West Shropshire accent. And so it was that the publication of proceedings records me as "having met the Minister for Trams last night in the strangest of bars".
Sun 20th May 2007
Candidates for Deputy answer everything but why be a Deputy
In a contest where the candidates are all said to want a focus on the campaigning ability of the Labour Party, it was somewhat of a surprise to find that the 7 questions selected for the hustings were all focussed on policy. And as such, the opportunity to define the differences that mattered in this election were left to closing remarks from the candidates. (Perhaps a query against selecting a non-party member - Polly Toynbee - to oversee the proceedings.)
I’m one of those who’d not really heard of Jon Cruddas (despite all the e-mails) and remain unimpressed by the argument that he should be Deputy Leader cos he wouldn’t worry about being Deputy Prime Minister. His policy answers were not sufficiently significant or good to warrant the obvious disadvantage he has by not being in the cabinet (his first answer on nuclear power was a bit fly). (He also queries the need for expanded higher education - Gordon Brown later said that the country would need significantly more graduates.) But I'm also concerned that a Dagenham MP wants to play a national role citing the importance of tackling the toxic issues that can arise from concerns about immigration when it appears that what is most needed (from the perspective of the Midlands) is for more time to be spent in Dagenham sorting those issues out.
Jon Cruddas would lack the authority needed for a Deputy Leader to sometimes bring people together to get things sorted and done, and this has to be a concern for Hilary Benn, the candidate I currently favour, who only got just enough nominations to stand. I think Hilary has also to show a bit more on how he’d improve our organisation. But on values, I appreciate his answers most, most particularly on emphasising firstly the value of party politics for progress and then on emphasising the value of Labour’s politics, including the redistribution of power, wealth and opportunity. I think the party is looking for more of these values, in a modern setting, as we prepare for a new phase.
But Hazel Blears was also quite effective, especially in warning us not to lose the coalition that won us the last 3 General Elections. As a Nottingham member, I might have been swayed cos Hazel’s cited our good campaigning and election results, first on the BBC TV this morning and then at the hustings. But she also made a strong point on carers losing allowances once they start earning.
Alan Johnson made similar points about building on the achievements of the last 10 years but I was left wondering why he couldn’t be just as effective as a senior Cabinet Minister.
On a day when coverage of the event was slighted by the media’s focus on both a heckler inside and a protest rally outside, rather on what Labour candidates actually said, Harriet Harman is pledging “no spin”. We all know part of politician’s and a political party’s key to success is to present a case effectively. To achieve that and have to appear to not be spinning seems to me a tremendous challenge and should she be elected, she might be constantly reminded of her pledge. Or is a pledge not to spin in fact one of the most effective pieces of spin to deploy?
Peter Hain, like Hilary Benn, picked out affordable housing in answer to the last question as the single issue that most needs to be addressed. He was generally fine, but I was astonished to see the difference between his final statement and the others', simply cos he chose to read out a statement from a lectern. He lost eye contact and seemed hurried. Not a reason to not vote for him, but I suspect he’ll address future hustings more directly.
The session with Gordon Brown was fine (although both he and Polly probably needed to stand up to project more effectively into the hall). What comes across is conviction through knowledge and analysis and these are fine attributes to have. (The premise of the TV series “The West Wing” was ‘wouldn’t it be great to have a leader of substance’ and Gordon Brown will take having substance to a new level.)
A special argument was his analysis that Britain currently has 6 million unskilled workers and by 2020, we’ll only need half a million. (There is some pressure in Nottingham for a 20 year strategy and ensuring adults are skilled, alongside adapting to the challenge of climate change, could be key issues for us to consider).
As a Councillor, I was pleased to hear his answer on Council tax - that it was now time to reflect and consult upon the Lyons Review (which I had feared other Ministers had already dismissed key elements of).
I did get value from the event, although I suspect it’s not what others might regard as entertainment.
Sun 20th May 2007
Saturday night - alright for parties
Nottingham Labour Party held its victory party and around 150 people turned up.
A good mood and Hazel Blears turned up to acknowledge the achievements of Nottingham Labour Party - (I understand) the only controlling Labour group to increase its majority this May.
There were awards for key contributors - some of which were a bit spurious. I won “most inspirational e-mails” award - eh? But as I squinted at the piece of paper, I could make out the words “geek of the campaign”.
Afterwards, I was introduced to 2 students who’d helped us win a Lib Dem seat in Arboretum ward. And their names were both Edwards; and they were both originally from Shrewsbury. What are the chances of that? So that’s 3 for the train to Wembley on Saturday.
Fri 18th May 2007
Thank you for the day - and for Paul McCartney
Friday was a special day and not just because it was the first meeting of the new Nottingham City Council.
Started fine enough with a meeting at the nearby Attenborough Nature Reserve in the visitors’ centre (built to green principles). I was early, so I sat in the sun, having breakfast and watching goslings & baby moorhens.
I was there a meeting of the Health and Environment Partnership, which, chaired by Alan Simpson MP, tries to focus on doing good green things.
A presentation for a City Council officer showed the value of reducing consumption of energy first, before worrying about green fuels, and showed how much was being saved by the Council using smart metering of electricity, gas and especially water. Metering changes behaviour. The officer was making a difference.
Then to the Council House. Because our Leader had predicted we’d lost seats, he’d said that if we gained seats, he’d walked through the new fountains in our new Market Square. And so, at lunchtime, he paid his penance.
Then it was mayor-making. My co-Councillor, Mo Munir, who only got in by 66 votes, was made Lord Mayor. A nice time for him and his family & friends.
And time to deliver a message to the Tories who’d said 8 weeks before the election that they’d already regarded my ward as a Tory gain. (For the first time, we saw that despite the defeat, Nottingham Tories have not changed their leadership and don’t seem to want to change their attitude. One of their young turks even suggested to me that really the Tories needed to be more right wing.)
The reception overran and I faced a journey to Milton Keynes via the A453 and the M1 on an early Friday evening - and didn’t meet a single jam - how lucky is that!
And so to Milton Keynes for a semi-final to play at Wembley on the 26th. M K Dons were favourites cos of their height & their route one approach to football and their offside trap. But I had a hunch because I thought from the first leg that their ball control was poor.
Halftime and a local woman sang “Hey Jude” to a karaoke machine over the PA. And yep, the ending lent itself so well to that chant - “Na Na Na Na - Shrewsbury”. So easy to sing - even for football supporters. It went on for ages.
And the chant got stronger when our centre-forward - originally from Shrewsbury - came on in the second half and got behind them to score 2 one-on-one goals. So we’re through and even my 72 year old Mum is coming to the play-off, to see the new Wembley.
I can imagine that not all the above represents everyone’s cup of tea.
But for me, it was time to say “thank you for the day” - and for Paul McCartney.
Wed 16th May 2007
Join the party
Gordon Brown has got off to a good start and the response in the polls is welcome. When covering policy, there's an understandable tendency to ensure all the bases are covered, but he comes over better when he can find more time to tell stories to make his point.
The party has published web-pages to encourage activists to e-mail others. Unfortunately, they only offer 1 design in the standard e-mails, when I think they could offer a choice. But it's right to emphasise that we are an open house for people who want to see progress, and now is a good time to ask people to join. So I have e-mailed helpers and voters with my own version.
Soon, the whole Labour Party will be voting for who they want to win and ultimately become Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. This election is going to determine the political climate for years to come, and will shape the policies of the Labour Party and Government.
I’m writing to ensure helpers and supporters are aware that you can join the Labour Party now, to be part of this process.
In Mapperley, you’ll be joining what Tories have called an effective campaigning team. In Nottingham, you’ll be part of an active and forward looking party, ambitious for our city and working to improve the quality of our people’s lives. Nationally, we’ve had economic growth, more in work, lower unemployment, better schools and attainment, lower waiting times for operations, lower crime and higher environmental standards. Internationally, we have done a lot to help developing countries (particularly in Africa) and are leading on negotiations concerning tackling climate change; and we play a sensible role in Europe, and as a part of Europe, to deliver co-operation and progress.
If you’re interested, surf - join (using credit card) or join (by direct debit); or phone 08705 900 200.
Fri 11th May 2007
... go back to 1997. Think back. No, really think back.
Tony Blair’s announcement was effective.
And the Nottingham City Labour Group have agreed to write to him to acknowledge his achievements.
Key passage for me was “... go back to 1997. Think back. No, really think back.”
But I can’t remember. So I looked up my reports as a Councillor to my local Labour Party from early 1997.
- a stand-still budget for education;
- cuts in social services cos of the restraint in local gov’t spending to enable a 1p cut in income tax;
- unemployment in my ward was 11.4%;
- the neighbouring Tory MP was in some trouble as part of the Hamilton inquiry.
As it happens, the Labour Party held its local government conference in Nottingham in 1997; this year it was the Tories, who might have been expecting better, instead of having 1 seat less than 4 years ago.
I’m slightly surprised that commentators and party spokespeople are not picking up on those cities (like Nottingham and Leicester) where we’ve made progress, including Tribune.
But, it turns out, it should have been easier for me to remember 10 years ago.
The local newspaper ran an opinion piece (mostly) by me regarding green issues. And the photo at its head was based on a 10 year old council photo that they’d doubled up from passport size, and then blurred. Bizarre to look at and slightly scary. And not a single grey hair in sight (when I am now most decidedly salt’n’pepper).
Tue 8th May 2007
Splitters
Have been staring at the results in 20 wards & for around 150 candidates all day and a trend has become clear - that Labour did better in the marginal wards. Cos the City Labour Party targeted resources and asked colleagues in safer wards to campaign in the marginals.
It's also become clear that Labour has done relatively well in the East Midlands' 3 Cities - Nottingham, Derby & Leicester (where we've taken control back again).
In all 3 cities, a distinguishing factor has been the poor state of the Lib Dems. Of course I'm generally underwhelmed by Lib Dems. They are weak on tackling crime and don't develop much of a policy analysis beyond cleaning gully pots out and picking up dog mess.
But there were particular stories in the East Midlands (where the Lib Dems don't have much of a reputation anyway).
(As it happens, in Derby, their leader had to resign in unfortunate circumstances.)
But in Nottingham & Leciester, the Lib Dems groups spilt.
In Nottingham, the Lib Dems split 6-5 within 6 weeks of the 2003 election.
Tue 8th May 2007
B'stard
Went to see the Alan B'stard play tonight, despite my reservations.
It was apparently time to start going to things with my partner again (after the weeks of campaigning) and she couldn't be persuaded to regard Spiderman 3 as a thing to go to (and she didn't even know about the bad reviews and the suspicion that they've drawn upon an old Superman movie story - looks like I'll have to watch it in secret, one afternoon when the cinema is empty; our secret).
B'stard is now New Labour. But if the audience were expecting any real & killing insights, they'd have been disappointed. It's way too surreal for that. And in fact I did enjoy the slapstick and some of the straight abuse :- Condaleeza Rice - "How come you know so many things?"; B'stard - "I went to school in England". I know, I know.
(Women's FA Cup was attended by 24,542 on Monday - 10,000 above the previous record.)
Mon 7th May 2007
"Must work harder"
The FA are in town cos we're hosting the Women's FA Cup. Nottingham wanted the event cos it emphasises our drive to be a happening city and the new market square was used to effect on Saturday for a showcase of women's football before 4,000 passers-by.
I met council officers at a dinner who stressed how hard we must of worked to get back in. And as if to emphasise this point, Mo (my co-Councillor) and I took a trip around part of the ward with a loudspeaker to say thank you to our voters.
So is this another call from a party activist to all to work harder? Is this another - "the campaign for the next election starts now!" - exhortation.
No. Cos people need a break. And cos in this campaign, more than any other, we tried to bring insight to bear so as to maximise our chances.
I love the parable from "Animal Farm" of Boxer, who knowing Animalism was good and Animalism worked, concluded that the reason it wasn't going well is that the animals weren't working hard enough. We can't just be saying "I must work harder!"
We need a fresh insight on the arguments we use and the context in which we pitch them, so that they have more impact. (We should not be struggling on the NHS at a time of falling waiting times and a 7% real growth in an NHS budget for this year alone.)
We need a new insight that makes potential activists feel there is a greater reward for participating in our campaigns and in our work.
Sun 6th May 2007
A - B - C, 1 - 2 - 3, that's how easy voting can be
Nottingham results did get some TV coverage today, but only on regional TV. An independent analyst said something akin to the Cameron effect had not been reflected in the local Tories, who were still perceived to be a bit nasty - a clip was shown of the existing Nottingham Tory leadership being re-elected in Wollaton West ward as he mentioned 'nasty'. Ouch! As I've said before, the issue with the media is not often one of bias, but of sustained negativity.
Meanwhile, I've started analysing the samples we took of the ballots. The samples seem to suggest we convincingly won most of the polling districts. Except, we only won by 66 votes. So something's wrong with the samples. Hey ho.
Never mind, one re-assuring point was there were very few single votes cast for a Labour candidate - our voters got the message about using all 3 votes.
And another re-assuring point was I only saw one "1 - 2 - 3" vote. I'd seen a lot more 4 years ago - and had thought that people voting 1 Green and 2 Tories last time came from a large number of mistakes about how to vote.
Now, I'm not so sure. I think people are making their own choices and whilst the vast majority stick to party slates, there are people making conscious decisions e.g. to give the single Green a vote, and then cast the other votes in other ways; or to ensuring that only local candidates get a vote.
I may not like the choices, but the distribution of these votes will be worth further consideration.
It remains true however, that candidates higher up the list tend to win more votes within their list. Sometimes factors of race, or being well-known break this pattern. But not often, and so it was, and so it remains, that over a quarter of the City Councillors' surnames begin with A, B or C.
Sat 5th May 2007
Key questions
Local newspaper coverage has been relatively kind to Labour's victory in Nottingham(although we don't seem to have featured in any national coverage).
"Labour stunned opposition councillors by bucking the national trend and increasing its majority on Nottingham City Council.
"Most observers thought the national swing from Labour to Tory would play out in Nottinghamand overwhelm slender majorities in Sherwood and Mapperley wards.
"That would have yielded six seats for the Tories and created a platform for them to challenge Labour's control of the city council, which it has enjoyed for almost 20 years. It did not happen. Labour's battle-hardened councillors in those key wards are some of the party's best campaigners. They have excellent records of Labour voters in their patches and they hammered the telephones and knocked the doors to get the vote out.
"Labour says the Conservatives took victory for granted in Mapperley and Sherwood and did not do enough work. " And ...
"Disillusion with the national party was expected to erode Labour's vote, particularly in the key marginals of Sherwood and Mapperley. But not only did the vote hold up there, Labour gained four seats overall. ...
"Control of the city council was secured for Labour about halfway through the evening when the declaration of the results for Mapperley ward confirmed the three Labour councillors had hung on to their seats.
"Coun Emma Dewinton, a Labour candidate in Mapperley, said voters had judged Labour on local not national issues. She said: "We did a good campaign and worked hard and people appreciated that."
"That view was reflected by Mapperley resident Carrol Hackland, 66, of Sherwood Vale.
"After voting at the Walter Halls Primary School in The Wells Road, Ms Hackland said: "I voted Labour but I would not do so in a general election. Labour do a good job here. It is a local election and we should vote on local issues." "
In fact, we were judged on a wide range of issues, local, national and even global. And some of the national stuff played for us - including helping working families.
But the questions we asked the voters to judge us on were "who do you most want to represent you on the City Council?" and "who do you most want to run the Council?"
The Labour Group met last night in very buoyant mood. And I'm grateful to have been elected as Deputy Leader again.
Fri 4th May 2007
Tory says Labour won cos we were better organised
The former Tory candidate for Gedling and now prospective Tory candidate for Broxtowe, Anna Soubry, lives in my ward. Only last Friday she was campaigning on her local estate and telling a local Labour party member that the Tories were going to win my ward.
One week on, and she was the Tory party's foil for the media questions at the count. Questions such as - why were the results so bad for the Tories?
So it was that on TV, she proclaimed the reason for Labour's victory was our well-oiled campaign team.
Not policy, not even an attempt to allege of foul play (which the Lib Dems have resorted to). No, Labour was better organised. John Heppell, my MP could hardly contain himself - replying 'Labour runs the City Council and the Gov't in the same effective manner that it runs its campaigning'.
In a separate interview, she apparently said that the local Tory party (fielding 3 candidates to represent 11,000 voters) only had 4 helpers all day.
Fri 4th May 2007
Elected, despite the Neil Kinnock test
Re-elected last night - and we won all 3 seats in my ward last night - the third by 66 votes, something like a 2% majority.
I had thought we hadn't won, cos of the Neil Kinnock 1992 eyes test - too many people looked away if I met them as they came out of the polls. I thought that - and the very long conversations we were having with our natural supporters - meant we weren't winning - even though our own canvassing had shown a swing to us in April (compared to a consistent swing away until the end of March).
I've always remembered the story of Neil Kinnock talking with his wife about that General Election - and for all the political science - judging the imminent election result on whether people held eye contact.
So many stories to tell from recent days, but some I need to keep for political advantage in future elections. Suffice to say, we won cos we changed our campaign tactics from 4 years ago. Somewhat frustrating then for the local newspaper political journalist who thought I might finally have something interesting to say, only for me to say I'd rather not.
The Nottingham Labour Party has done well - we've gained 5 seats (actually 7 over the last 4 years) and lost 1 - and I understand this may be out of step with the overall national picture. We will be making sure that the party is briefed on what worked well for us.
Tue 1st May 2007
Rebuttal
Finally, Conservatives in our ward actually said something. Not much. But in their few words they managed to claim they'd stop a scheme that we've already withdrawn, they're drive on a school community facility proposal which the school itself is driving and they'd protect a school from having to pay for Severn Trent works - not that they would have to.
So we launched a rebuttal and it was delivered within a day of the Tory leaflet.
Comments