Watford’s Labour Party really don’t understand how elections work
Yazan: Sara | 06 June 2010 | No Comments
Categories: Labour, Watford
The Watford Labour Party has published a members’ newsletter and placed a copy online. In the report of May’s local elections it reads: ‘In the Mayoral election, Nigel Bell came a close second’. Which is strange. Because in the vote for Watford’s elected mayor, won for the third time by Lib Dem Dorothy Thornhill, Labour’s [...]
There ain't no justice in Watford
Yazan: sarabedford | 10 June 2009 | No Comments
Categories: Claire Ward, criminal justice, expenses
So Claire Ward has her sideways shove, from the Whips’ Office to the Ministry of Justice. Doesn’t sound like so much of a change to me – now she’s doling it out to the rest of us, rather than just her colleagues! Gushing with excitement at the move, Ms Ward said, “In essence it will [...]
For the sake of the MP's children
Yazan: sarabedford | 28 April 2009 | 15 Comments
Categories: Claire Ward, expenses, MPs, Watford
I’m getting increasingly worried that my MP Claire Ward is losing track of her life. Under pressure for claiming the maximum in second home allowances since at least 2002, Ms Ward has come up with a number of justifications as to why she needs the allowance, despite being just a 16 minute train journey from [...]
How our MP takes more for her second home than most of her constituents earn in a year
Yazan: sarabedford | 31 March 2009 | No Comments
Categories: Claire Ward, expenses, Watford
In 2007-08, Watford’s Labour MP claimed the maximum £23,083 for her second home, despite living well under an hour’s journey from Westminster, a commute carried out by many local residents every day. This amount is paid free of tax and National Insurance, meaning that it is equal to a gross salary of £39,124. According to [...]
I don't really live in Watford because it's a long way from London, says town's MP
Yazan: sarabedford | 31 March 2009 | 2 Comments
Categories: expenses, MPs, Watford
Even I was surprised at the speed at which Claire Ward went to the local paper in an attempt to justify her second home allowance.You can see that her constituents don’t agree with her from the long list of comments (I’m the one using my real name, BTW). The paper reports Ms Ward as saying: [...]
Hypocrisy – alive and well and living in the Labour Party's second home
Yazan: sarabedford | 26 March 2009 | No Comments
Categories: expenses, MPs
The last few days have been full of the large claims made by London MPs for second home elsewhere in the capital. Minister Tony McNulty has come under fire for claiming £60,000 for his parents’ home in Harrow, whilst living just nine miles away in Hammersmith. Labour MP Dawn Butler has claimed £37,245 over the last two [...]
Whipped to freeze the poor
Yazan: sarabedford | 22 March 2009 | No Comments
Categories: climate change, energy, fuel poverty
I was absolutely gobsmacked that David Heath’s Fuel Poverty Bill had failed to get the requisite 100 votesto progress in the Commons. Technically it is still there, but it goes to the back of a long queue and has virtually no chance of becoming law. In that arcane way that Parliament works, the Minister for [...]
Surprise, surprise as MP goes in for self-flagellation
Yazan: sarabedford | 29 January 2009 | No Comments
Categories: Claire Ward, environment, Watford
Yesterday’s vote on the third runway was supported not only by LibDem and Conservative MPs, but also 28 Labour MPs, according to Greenpeace, the biggest rebellion on an opposition motion since Labour came to power. Sadly, the Labour MP for Watford, Claire Ward, was not amongst the brave 28. Not that I expected her to [...]
Conservative hypocrisy on phone masts
Yazan: sarabedford | 10 July 2008 | No Comments
Categories: casework, Conservatives, LibDems
I expect that I am not alone amongst local councillors in having large numbers of objections every time a mbile phone mast is proposed. As Chair of the planning committee for seven years, I heard many pleas from residents, many of which could not be taken into account, due to the government’s rules on planning [...]
Ward defends tax-free perk
Yazan: sarabedford | 04 July 2008 | No Comments
Categories: MPs
So MPs have voted to retain their second homes allowance, including the now infamour ‘John Lewis list’. They also voted to block plans to have their expenses externally audited. No surprise that Claire Ward voted to retain all the allowances. After all, it’s a long journey from Watford to Westminster. Several thousand of her constitunts [...]
