Charles West

Thank you for visiting the Charles West Liberal Democrat website.  I am standing for Parliament at the next General Election.  Here you will find all campaign news.

Shrewsbury – Salary £17,000 – £20,000 pa pro rata.

A new post has been created for an Organiser to assist in the run up to the General Election. The post will cease at the end of the month that follows the General Election or at the end of June 2010 at the latest.

This will be a part-time position, working two to three days per week based on an annual equivalent salary of £17-20,000 pa full time. You will be responsible for working with Parliamentary Candidate, Charles West, and the local party on the full range of activities necessary to ensure the delivery of the constituency campaign plan. This will include literature production, volunteer co-ordination, events organisation, and press work.  Applicants will need to demonstrate proven organisational, motivational, computer and literature skills. For an informal discussion, contact: Anne Woolland on 01743 356380 or email awoolland@yahoo.co.uk  or Charles West on 07775 800744 or email charles@charleswest.org

For a full job description contact Charles West or Martin Beardwell.
Applications (a CV and covering letter) should be sent to: Martin Beardwell, 30 Ridgebourne Rd, Shrewsbury  SY3 9AB   martin.beardwell@btinternet.com
by noon on Monday July 27th 2009.

This is a good moment to be a Liberal Democrat. Constitutional reform grips Westminster. The bigger parties are being discredited by expenses – the double departure yesterday of Labour’s Margaret Moran and the Tories’ Julie Kirkbride symbolising shared disgrace. Lib Dems have been tainted, too, but not on the same scale, and the party can claim to have championed reform when it was unfashionable. Nick Clegg’s proposal yesterday for a 100-day revolution was eye-catching, but most of the ideas in it have been backed by his party for years. The difference is that other parties are now competing to match them.

All this ought to put a spring in Lib Dem steps. The party has had an unhappy last few years, dumping two leaders while searching for a cause to equal opposition to the Iraq war. And Mr Clegg’s first year in charge did not go down well with voters. David Cameron took the market for fresh-faced public schoolboy leaders; Gordon Brown looked like the heavyweight progressive. No one seemed quite sure what Mr Clegg wanted to be. Vince Cable cut through the economic crisis with an intelligent mix of diagnosis and cure. But that did not help Mr Clegg build a public personality of his own. He seemed nice, but a bit anonymous.

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Shropshire Council Elections

The national political news is clearly poisonous and threatens to undermine public confidence in elected politicians.
We condemn the behaviour of many of our national MPs and in doing so wish to state that we recognise none of this in local politics in Shropshire. In our long years in local government politics in Shropshire, councillors and candidates from our parties have overwhelmingly wanted to do good for their communities. They may have had different ideas on how to achieve this and some members may have been more effective than others.  However, the objective has been honourable: working for the best public service for our communities.
The Shropshire Council elections on June 4th are historic. The outcome will make a real difference. Your local councillor is undoubtedly able to show you dozens of ways in which he/she has achieved improvements, locally, for individuals, the community and for Shropshire as a whole.
We urge everyone to turn out and vote on June 4th. Your Council and its members make a real difference in the community.

Margaret Hamer
4 Woodside
Bicton
Shrewsbury
SY3 8ET
Tel: 01743 850551

Peter Nutting’s letter purports to clarify the three elections which are being held on June 4^th. However it deteriorates into nonsense and a cheap jibe.

Anyone who is resident or employed in Shropshire is entitled to stand as a candidate in the Unitary election. Similarly residents of Shrewsbury are entitled to stand in the Shrewsbury Town Council regardless of where they live in the Town. The Liberal Democrats standing for the Unitary council all know their divisions very well, in several cases having lived there for many years.

Mr Nutting’s description of the powers of the Town Council is inaccurate. The precise delineation of each authority’s responsibilities is complicated and can be found on the www.shropshire.gov.uk website. Generally speaking the major services are now in the hands of the Unitary Council, which also controls in Shrewsbury, The Square and Theatre Severn.

Surely the elections should focus on policies and the failings of the previous Tory controlled Shropshire County Council (on which Mr Nutting represents not Shrewsbury but Burnell). Liberal Democrats want to scrap our unfair council tax system, safeguard our schools and stop their closure, improve our recycling facilities and reduce the imposed landfill tax, maintain our roads and in other ways improve our daily lives.

Let the elections concentrate on policies and what candidates can do for the people who vote for them.

Margaret Hamer
Bicton, Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury Lib Dems met on 29th April to hear a talk from Martin Holland, South Shropshire Housing Association, about housing problems and solutions in Shropshire.

This was part of a regular series of meetings organised by the Lib Dems to discuss current political issues. Dr Charles West, PPC for Shrewsbury and Atcham, chaired a lively discussion.

Despite recent financial crises, we heard that house prices in Shropshire had not fallen as much as in other parts of the country. This, together with persistent low wages in Shropshire means that it remains almost impossible for many people to get onto the housing ladder. We learned also that prices in the private rented sector had not fallen.

The failings of local authorities, not least Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council under Tory control, to commit to affordable housing was lamented by successive speakers. Many expressed the view that to see a rise in house prices as some sign of economic recovery can only be bad news for young people on average earnings in Shropshire.

Various models of part ownership with Housing Associations or Councils were discussed together with a more imaginative approach to renting as opposed to ownership.