Privatisation of Care homes in Medway Demo

Outside the Pentagon yesterday

Yesterday the Trade Union Against the Cuts (socialist Workers party) organised a march to protest against the Closure of the elderly Care homes in Medway and attracted support from the Save Nelson Court group, the Liberal Democrats, Labour, the Greens, and the most important – the public in what Councillor Maple (lab) described as;

A true Coalition, a Coalition against the cuts.

I’m not saying that in this period of Austerity and shrinking economy that National and Local government has to make tough decisions, economise and try and save money tragically wielding the axe - I’m not question that, indeed it has to be done . What I am questioning is where the axe will fall.

In that respect I completely agree with Geoff.

In his column in Party People (Medway Messenger 3^rd February) entitled Councils must look closer to home over cuts, Councillor Juby outlines that the Medway Council is still spending money on

Holds onto its prestige positions for favoured Councillors while getting rid of front line staff.

As I understand it from sources close to the campaign, the very basic steps of inside streamlining within the facilities has not even been taken and that staff, who are concerned by the term “outsourcing” are really willing to take steps to do this. This is because “Outsourcing” is a terrifying prospect for public sector workers. Yeah it could end well and you get a good pension and employer but it could also mean the complete opposite. The only guarantee is that your current contract is honoured by the new Private company for up to a year. So even though they are motivated by the concern for the patient’s care they are also motivated to save their jobs. After all a privately run home will be trying to make a profit and will “trim the fat”, pay less, work them harder (as my Mum found when she started working for a private home) and even “tactically redeploy” staff to other owned facilities nearby.

Councillor Murray (lab) also outlines similar concerns about the Privatisation of the homes. In a recent Medway messenger report it was exposed that several of the privately run homes voicing concerns about standards in the privately run Winchester House and Friston House. She reminds the Council that there is less regulation in the Private sector and inspections no where near as regular. It is a genuine concern that standards for patients will slip – it is not a case of opposition parties starting rumours to cause problems.

As accountability in the private sector is less regulated, many private homes refuse potential clients and their families the right to drop in unplanned when trying to choose a home.

There is also the possibility that places will become limited and that prices will rise as the private company tries to make money and stay above water. Councillor Jarrett said in Party People at the end of last year that all the homes were increasingly uneconomic and that the Balfour centre was hemorrhaging numbers of users - in fact it is around a third but I think he and the Council maybe missing the point. If they followed Geoff's suggestion and cut back their expenditure "in house" (both at the homes and in Gun Wharf itself) they may find the extra money to keep them open. I have heard rumours that I cannot confirm or deny, that the Council has already pre-budgeted for a successful consultation and the privatising of these homes - I would suggest that this could make a mockery of the whole consultation process if it is true and that they will only hear what they want to hear. Lets hope it is false. They also have a duty to the elderly members of our community and to help provide for them. Yes Privatisation and Outsourcing are an alternative but surely trying to provide the best care possible is the best way and that is clearly under Council control.

As Jac Berry of the TUAC said at the demo; The Council are being short sighted in its privatisation - we are going to get old and it will be the next generation and their children that will suffer if this is removed.

 The Demonstration, petitions and voiced concerns by Medway's opposition parties and Councillors from a cross spectra of parties shows that the people of Medway are really concerned about this and their fears are grounded in reality and not just in political hype.

I hope the council follows the Conservative Leader's example stops and listens to a Big society that has voiced its concerns before thinking again and reconsiders all of its options carefully rather than plowing ahead.

Boundary Changes and its affect on Medway.

Rehman Chishti, Tracey Crouch, Mark Reckless MPs for Medway

One of the many progressive policies we as a party have brought in is to trim Parliament to a more efficient 600 MPs representing 72,000 to 77,000 voters.

At the moment there are people working diligently pouring over maps and drawing lines and marking up new or re sized constituencies. In Kent we are set to lose one MP.

But... This arbitrary cut and slice may be a touch too arbitrary.

For example one proposal for Medway was to cut the Hoo peninsula and Isle of Grain away and put them into Gravesend and Gravesham, combine Rochester and Chatham town with Cuxton and Halling passing to Maidstone. Gillingham would swallow up the river ward and Brompton but Rainham would be joined with Lenham ward in Maidstone!!!

With our current MP's (pictured above) it would look like Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch would lose her seat to a more Labour leaning Chatham but then again the loss of Conservative rural areas may be replaced with the Cathedral city of Rochester's conservative voters. OR she could lose out altogether as Mark Reckless is already holding the seat of Rochester for the Conservatives and thus she may face redundancy.

As for Gillingham, Rehman Chishti will lose support from Conservative stronghold Rainham but instead gain those down in Brompton but it would negatively affect his majority.
There is also the consideration that the heart of Gillingham remains Liberal Democrat/ Independent group consisting of ex- Liberal Democrats.

This could severely eat into his majority and could tip the scales in favour of Labour or he could get in again on the split left vote.

Another suggestion could be, if there is a swing against the Conservatives and Austerity cuts that could lead to Vince Maple or Tristan Osborne as MP for Chatham and Rochester and Me (yeah right!!!) or an esteemed Libdem colleague, or Andy Stamp or even the very talented Jacqui Berry for the TUSC party in Gillingham.

In short, I doubt it!

A plan has been put forward by the Medway Liberal Democrats- which I am not allowed to discuss unfortunately. However we I can say that it readdresses the harmony of Medway and keeps Rainham and Gillingham together. I can tell you that Kent Lib Dems have accepted the proposal. It would be a ridiculous decision to separate a chunk of the community from Medway especially when Rainham councillors would still sit on Medway council.


On the 8th of August the Medway KM ran a story on the commission and their academic sources suggested that again Hoo will go to Gravesend, Cuxton, Halling and Aylesford will go to a new constituency MidKent and Gillingham and Rainham swallow up the river wards. According to their projections Labour will take Rochester and the Conservatives will hold Gillingham.

Stuart Wilks-Heeg, director of the Boundary commission said that they wouldn't be deliberately partisan and that the lines would be drawn in as balanced a way as possible.

Also; "As far as we know this is the most detailed attempt to map out how it could look."
(Of course this is up for review every five years.)

Despite all the conjecture and suggestions, yes even my ill informed predictions, it will not be visiting until November to get residents views on the matter. Hopefully they will size up the communities and see that lines on a map do affect people and their representation. Hopefully they will also listen to the local parties suggestions, not in a partisan way - which is difficult- but to their constructive arguments and criticism.

As for Tracey Crouch...

 "I will be disappointed if Chatham and Aylesford is the seat that is abolished.
 
"We won't know the outcome of the Commission's review until early September, but we do know one seat in Kent will go."

I know I'm on on dodgy ground by saying this but... I like Tracey as an MP, she was on the streets of the Chatham the day after the riots and she was there all day. She gets involved in local issues. More importantly as a Lib dem I admire the fact that she voted against Tuition fees, something that half our party cannot say, she also stood up to the Home Secretary to combat the Government closure of Social Networking at a time of civil disorder whilst Nick had looked on earlier as David Cameron had spoken the same words. I know that elections see a lot of good MPs lose their seats due to the knee jerk reactions of the electorate who don't think of good constituent MPs but who will be PM, but I can honestly say that it will be a massive shame for her to go out like that.

Back to the point though. The commission will of course make its suggestions to parliament and it will be debated. I agree that the constituencies do need to be made uniform and that parliament's constituent parts need to be examined for the first time in a long time. However I hope that they do talk to the residents and listen to the concerns and thoughts on the shift. I really hope that Rainham isn't separated from Medway, it is a part of these towns and an MP from Maidstone may not represent their needs as much as someone who represents that town and Gillingham solely.

Splitting the left vote?

This election saw the TUSC movement trying to gain local council seats in localities. Here in Medway we had Jacqui Berry for Gillingham South, aged 23, Andrew Feist who had just turned 18 for Gillingham North, they are young, they are enthusiastic and they are a party to watch out for in the future, but are they dangerously going to split the left vote and keeping the Tories in power?

The party's main aims are to the left of Labour's current position and I would say have a lot in kin with old Labour. Their basic message is that Labour has failed to represent the unions or the electorate and TUSC are moving into the void. They aren't, as some commentators have labelled them "this TUSC band of lunatics" but a serious party that should, in my opinion be taken seriously.

It is easy to throw labels around and neatly box people and parties up but if you intend to fight parties at the ballot boxes you should study them and evaluate them and their messages - after all parties exist because they represent someone. With the shift of Labour towards the right many people feel unrepresented, especially some of the unions like the PCS who have seen their workers in the civil service maligned and targeted by the last administration and will continue to be so under this government. Now as an ex PCS member and a member of the civil service I can agree with the sentiment. When they talk of civil service pay freezes across the board at £22k pa it hits people like myself who work in London and earn that much as prices for the commute, food, VAT, interest rates go up. One of my Colleagues said that she can only just scrape by on her wages and I myself am forced to face the very real possibility that I may be priced out of my job in three years times by the level of rail fares! Other governmental moves by the Labour administration included alterations to the Civil servants compensation scheme which would make staff easier to get rid off and cheaper too, after all as in any place of employment its always the bottom rung person who'll get let go rather than a manager and that had been our Union Rep's fear.

Other groups, that are separate from the Unions are apposed to the cuts, everyday people who supported the peaceful UKuncut demonstration back in March and went to Hyde Park to listen to Mr Miliband speak.
Others who work for the NHS are worried about job cuts, privatisation, "efficiency savings" that will not only jeopardise Patient care but also patients lives.
On the local level people are worried about affects on council services, loss of Sure start, wasting money on a new Bus station that no one really wanted, public services etc
Who do these people turn to? The Conservatives? Labour- who have let them down in the past and whose plan for the future is pretty much the same just slower or a blank sheet of paper, Lib Dems?- The bedfellows of the Conservatives and betrayers of the people (obviously not my view but a common one) UKIP or the BNP? Greens? -aren't the environmentalists? No one is there...

TUSC does represent people's needs and fears. They aren't some loony lefty fringe party that only has one message they have practical suggestions and courses of action that would solve unemployment and their plans are drawn from historical precedent and actions of the Attlee government.

(Please see: http://gingerliberal.blogspot.com/2011/04/trade-unionist-and-socialist-coalition.html for more of what they stand for and what I think, Jacqui Berry's facebook page; http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vote-Jacqui-Berry-anti-cuts-candidate-for-Gillingham-South/189146447796319)

As a Historian I am forced to ask what has History taught us about this? At the turn of the last century the leading party that represented the people and brought in reform such as better health, old age pensions, votes for women and residential reform looked at a small party led by Ramsey MacDonald and Keir Hardie as a group of left wing radicals that were over exposed to Marx and Engels and would never develop, in fact Asquith offered them a loose coalition just to help keep the Conservatives out and his party in power. A century on the Liberal party is all but gone, its successor the Liberal Democrats just suffered a major electoral loss to this small party - Labour.
I'm not saying that in a hundred years time Labour will have been supplanted by TUSC but it is a scary precedent!

So how well did TUSC do in the local vote in Medway? Well they stood 8 Candidates across the whole conurbation and received, on average 249 votes per candidate! Well that's more than I got! Some people will say that they only got 0.72% of Medway's vote but as I said they only fielded eight candidates so that's pretty damn good in my opinion.

(Figures quoted from: http://wwwjohn-m-ward.blogspot.com/2011/05/medway-council-election-results-some.html)

BUT and back to my original point, does their existence threaten to keep a Tory majority by splitting the left vote? Yes it does.

Some people, who would normally vote Labour or Lib Dem are drawn to the message, decisiveness and drive of Ms Berry and co. as well as their direct campaigning on the streets of Medway and at the PCS hustings, an event the Conservatives and ourselves failed to attend ( I was there, just didn't have the gumption to get up and speak!) By default the Conservatives get in, however this is no reason not to vote for a party or its representatives. After all only a year a go the Conservative media was telling us "A Vote for Clegg is a vote for Brown!" and I recall an episode of the Simpsons where the evil aliens Kang and Kudos are running for US president,
Homer says: "We could vote for a third candidate"
Kang and Kudos in unison. "Sure you can, throw your vote away!"
If the party were to use this election as a learning experience and get out on the streets and really push the message then they may even take seats at the next election, especially if the Libdems continue to fall apart and Labour continue not to do anything about their economic policy or properly oppose cuts etc.

If Labourites are worried enough about the rise of TUSC, and I believe they should be, then they need to address their party's policies or represent genuine people's problems in Medway and dare I say it the UK in general and remove the need for a splinter party. As for us, I'm not sure. I think the Lib Dems have their own journey to make and because of our spot in the coalition it could cause massively harmful ramifications for us.

Ultimately the appearance of TUSC has inconvenienced Labour at this local election, probably cost them some votes and maybe even a seat or two across the board but they aren't some lunatic fringe that should be ignored, I think they're a force to be reckoned with and should the economic situation fail to improve or, as Ed Balls suggests, double dip, then their support will, rightly, grow and grow.

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition flyer in Gillingham South

I felt it only fair that after I reviewed the leaflet of the Independents and LibDems I should cast equal light on Jacqui Berry's election pamphlet which was delivered yesterday.

I am surprised as to how impressed I am with Ms Berry's proposition. From her photograph I would say she is quite young and from the text she is very passionate, possibly from personal experience about cuts.
She is very direct and to the point and I find myself agreeing with her on many of her points and I admire her passion.

I worry about the way cuts are being carried out, and job losses should be kept to an absolute minimum. I also feel massive empathy that the bankers and big business (and the rich) should make more of a donation towards the damage that has been caused and not the working classes who already struggle with day to day costs of living.

I also agree that a massive job creation scheme is necessary and in my opinion I think we should go back to constructing industries, ships etc.

I also worry about pensions... People of my Grandfather's generation are in a good situation but the current generation, myself included, could find themselves in serious problems when they are in their formative years and I agree that the pension system needs to be looked at seriously,

I especially agree with her belief in renationalising the railways and I'm sure many of my fellow commuters will agree too! The companies that run it do not care how they treat us as they hold a monopoly.

My only problem is that unfortunately I think we need to make cuts over the next few years. The Debt is high but the large deficit is making it bigger at a scary rate and it needs to be fixed now, this parliament. We cannot hand a massive spiraling  debt to our Children. The projects, such as renationalising the railways and banks as well as housing projects are amazing and I agree that they are the way forward but we don't have the money to do it at the moment.

But Thank you  Ms Berry. I sincerely admire your flier and passion! You've also made me think, something which is always a good thing and something a candidate should do and next time I run (not a paperless as I am this time) I hope I can do the same.