Southampton Protest Against Labour's Tax on Tenants

A delegation of Southampton tenants is today heading to Westminster to protest against Labour taxing their rent money. This year 10% of the rents paid by city tenants will be taken from the city to be spent in other parts of the country. In all £5.8m will be taken by the government, money which otherwise could have been spent on improving our council homes and estates.

Southampton's housing stock is in desparate need of improvements and the city has some of the most deprevied areas in the South East. As well as directing tenants rents away from Southampton, locally the government is forcing up the rents by an 6% this year, double the rate of inflation.

Click HERE for more information on the lobby due to take place today.

Earlier this week the Prime Minster and his Cabinet visited the city. Rather than meeting with local groups like pensioners and tenants to hear their concerns, the visit consisted merely of a series of photo shoots. The Cabinet ducked critical issues like the chronic government under funding of the city and the appropriation of council tenants' rents.

David Cameron talks to Jon Snow about the state of the economy

No New Taxes on Southampton Businesses

Last week Conservatives in Southampton pledged not to introduce a new Government tax on local businesses. At a meeting of business leaders on Thursday we ruled out the new Supplementary Business Rate which would have meant more than 700 Southampton businesses, pubs, restaurants and even local schools and colleges paying anything up to £190,000 a year more in tax.

The new Conservative run city council rejected the tax, calling in a stealth tax on business at the worst possible time. Our focus is on supporting local businesses, protecting and jobs and not unduly burdening companies who are struggling with the recession and who already are facing the Government's inflation busting 5% increase in business rates this year.

Click HERE for details of the story on the Daily Echo website.

Rose Road Charity Skydive

Thank you to everyone one who sponsored me last weekend for the Valentine's charity skydive for Rose Road.

It was a fantastic day and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't done it before. Once you are out of the plane it is not that scary! It is the bit leading up to jumping that's the worst!

I am well on the way to raising £500 for Rose Road, but any last minute sponsorship would be very welcome. I am on about £450 at the moment. HERE is a link to my justgiving page.

Rose Road is a charity in Southampton that provides vital services including education and respite for children and young people with severe, profound and multiple disabilities. It provides care and support for children in Southampton, Hampshire and across the South East.

Southampton Launches Special Constable Drive

Conservative Councillors in Southampton have launched a groundbreaking new initiative. On Wednesday approval was given for a scheme which will see council tax scrapped for local people who sign up as volunteer police, to help police Southampton's streets. The drive to recruit a further 25 special constables in Southampton comes the same week that Hampshire Police Authority, facing financial pressures from government, has moved to axe 81 uniformed police in Hampshire.

This is a great initiative. We are hopeful that we can help recruit more specials in Southampton and support existing volunteers who do a tremendous job, currently with no reward. Specials have full police powers and make a huge difference, supporting the police and keeping our streets safe.

Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Royston Smith holds the the Council's portfolio with responsibility for community safety and he talks HERE about the new scheme:

Conservatives Keep Council Tax Pledge

Conservatives are sticking to an election pledge to keep council tax under the rate of inflaion. This year’s council tax rise will be the lowest in the history of the council at 2.94%.

It has been a challenging year for Southampton. We are faced with the backdrop of worst recession in recent times, a miserly funding settlement from the government and falling income revenue and investment revenues.

Chronic underfunding from the Government means that the city council faces huge budgetary pressures each year. We face cuts in real terms to the funding received from central government. The dismal financial settlement means added pressure on the council tax and on local residents.

When the Southampton Conservatives took office in May we were faced a budget blackhole of over 13m. We have been working harder to deliver more for less. In the last year we identified over £11m of efficiencies and savings.

As well as balancing the books, by prioritising and redirecting spending we will also invest millions of pounds more in front line services, such as schools, road repairs and the city’s infrastructure, improving street lighting and safety, safeguarding vulnerable children and reducing the financial burden on pensioners.

Free Swimming for Under 16s

With Cllr John Hannides at the Quays

Last week Southampton City Council announced that it was pushing ahead with a two year scheme for free under 16s swimming. A deal was struck with local schools (including our two new city academies) and the Primary Care Trust to find the extra money needed to meet the shortfall in government funding for the scheme. Funds from the government will meet less than a third of the cost, meaning that locally we have to pick the rest of the bill.

I am delighted that working with other partners in city we have managed deliver the scheme. Sport is high on the agenda with the Olympics fast approaching. Locally we are doing all we can to meet the challenge. The under 16s scheme comes on top of a similar scheme announced last year for over 60s and our schools sports partnership with Southampton Solent University which is already proving a tremendous success.

Dan Hannan talks about Localism

On Friday Southampton University was host to Dan Hannan MEP. Over 40 people came along to hear Dan speak about 'The Plan', his new book which he co-authored with Douglas Carswell MP.

The Plan is a radical and thought provoking read which sets out a vision of a more democratic Britain. It builds upon an earlier book, Direct Democracy where Dan and colleagues from the 2005 intake of Conservative MPs present their localist agenda.

As a local councillor and a prospective member of Parliament I am fully behind a more local decentralised approach to politics. This means more decisions being taken by Parliament and indeed by local councils. Over the past 10 years more and more decisions have been taken away from our directly accountable institutions and passed to an ever growing list of quangos.

It also frustrates me that in Southampton we get such a rough deal from the government. Southampton pays more into the government pot than we get back and we receive far less in funding than similar cities in the north of England. As I mentioned in a posting just recently, our council tenants also receive a raw deal. You would imagine that the rents they pay would all be kept locally but in fact about 10% of the rents for the whole city is appropriated by the government. This works out at over £300 a property next year. I think a more local system of financing for local services would be a much fairer and more accountable approach.

Also speaking at the event was Tim Aker of the Tax Payers Alliance. I had a chance to speak with Tim earlier in the day in my capacity as the council cabinet member for finance and explained how underfunding from the government effects Southampton. I went into more detail last week in an interview with the Daily Echo. It was also interesting to hear Tim's views on what local councils can do to save money and become more efficient.

In all it was a hugely successful event and I am grateful for all the hard work by the Southampton University Conservative Association in organising the talk. Dan said a few some kind words about the work we are doing locally in Southampton and we are looking forward to helping with the campaign for the Euro Elections in June.