Dudley Conservative Future

Archive for June, 2009

Margot James, PC for Stourbridge, has spoken out about Stourbridge colleges failed bid to the Learning and Skills council for funding last week. Sandwell college was awarded the funding in place of Stourbridge college. A copy of the letter is below;

Dear Editor,

I think the public should know the scale of incompetence that lies behind the outrageous decision taken by the Learning & Skills Council (LSC) last week to reject the bid for capital funding by Stourbridge College, whilst approving the bid made by Sandwell College.

People might be surprised to know that between thirty and forty per cent of all public money spent on education is channelled through QUANGOs of which the LSC is one. The LSC, for all their highly paid executive staff, had no proper financial controls in place. Nationally they had a budget of £2 billion for building improvements in the further education sector. They approved in principle bids costing £8billion, a fourfold over spend.

But for the economic crisis this overspend would probably have been brushed under the carpet together with so many other poorly executed public expenditure programmes (or “investment’ as Gordon Brown calls spending). However the scale of debt the country is now burdened by has made such fudges impossible. So the Government has had to renege on the approvals it made, via the LSC, to Colleges like Stourbridge College last year.

With what little money there is now available hard choices have had to be made. But why reject Stourbridge and approve Sandwell? On every measure of performance Stourbridge is far and away the superior college. Stourbridge had the highest A level point score in the Black Country last year. It has improved from a position five years ago, when it was performing in the lowest half of the sector nationally, to its position now in the top twenty five per cent of all colleges and is heading for the top ten percent of colleges nationally by the year end.

Not surprisingly the success of Stourbridge College attracts vastly more students than Sandwell College. The skills training programme, known as ‘Train to Gain’ is known to be excellent at Stourbridge. In the current year 5648 learners are enrolled on Train to Gain programmes at Stourbridge compared to fewer than one thousand at Sandwell.

Unemployment has risen by 120% over the last twelve months in Stourbridge, the second highest increase in all areas measured west of Birmingham. We need more skills training. But this is also being cut back, again because of the incompetence of the LSC and their over spending on the Train to Gain programme (this time by thirty per cent) last year.

Our College will not give up on its bid to secure funding for the development of much needed new facilities. But it is scandalous that public money has been so wasted by the LSC; and then the wrong decision is made with what little money is now left. Like its Labour Government masters the LSC has chosen to subsidise failure rather than reward success with its decision to prefer Sandwell over Stourbridge.

Yours sincerely

Margot James
Conservative Party Candidate for Stourbridge and Governor of Stourbridge College

After a very successful EU election campaign in Dudley, all 4 constituencies are back out campaigning after activists have enjoyed a much deserved rest! Campaigning resumes this week in Stourbridge – delivery & canvassing teams will set off at 10am from the Crabmill car park! Halesowen – a team will be out in Halesowen from 10am also! Campaigning will as ever be as strong in Dudley South and North, more details to follow.

You can try to destroy him. You can try many ways. You can attempt to destroy him from the opposition benches. You can attempt to destroy him from the backbenches. You can even attempt to undermine his authority by resigning from the cabinet. But despite this he will cling on. Almost like the Terminator, no matter what you do you can never stop him. At first people thought this was quite admirable, but now it’s just comical. The people dont want him, polls show that they have no confidence in the Prime Minister and instead put confidence in a credible leader - Cameron

Lets end the ineffective executive. Lets have a General Election.

Well, what a week it’s been in the world of Politics! Labour have suffered not only two major election defeats, in which the Conservatives triumphed, but Gordon Brown has provided more proof, if any was needed that he is weak and unable to govern. I recall watching the news on Thursday night last week, and hearing the new that James Purnell had resigned; there and then I thought “this is it, he’ll be gone within the week!” Yet, the Scottish flag is still flying at half mast outside Downing Street! Gordon Brown has battered down the hatches, and barracked himself in; for now it would appear we are stuck with him. Despite there being a new cabinet, to which I use the term loosely, it’s still the same old story of initiative after imitative and leaked policy announcements. That’s not what this country needs; we need change – in the form of a Conservative government. In order to achieve this we must keep up the momentum on the campaign trail right across Dudley for the summer, so that when ever Gordon Brown decides to call an election, Dudley, Halesowen & Stourbridge are ready, and we can play our part in ceremoniously kicking out this pathetic prime minister. His stubbornness and ineptitude was funny to start with, now it’s just becoming annoying!