During the last Labour government the Inland Revenue office was centralised from Penzance added to the local courts leaving and even our job center being downgraded. Not to mention the stripping of West Cornwall hospital's accident and emergency department and other services at the hospital being centralised out of town. We saw here in Penzance time and again European funding Objective One and Convergence being spent elsewhere. The amount actually successfully invested in Penzance during Labour's time in power was pitiful compared to Cornwall's other major towns. Quite why Labour has such disdain for investment and jobs in Penzance is unclear, why we are less worthy than other areas is beyond me and defies the fact that we are just as in need of investment as elsewhere. The net result of the Labour years of centralisation was and is hundreds of jobs, hundreds of workers spending money in the town center gone. Is it really any wonder that our town has one of the emptiest town centers in Cornwall?
Looking through the archives this is what Labour had to say before the 2009 election:
"The Labour government was right to make the unitary option available."They went on to say:
"But it can only be made effective by a different kind of local politics: one which – still within essential regional and national frameworks – can think and act consistently for Cornwall as a whole, not in a merely sectional or opportunist way. Labour alone among the parties seems capable of doing so."'Sectional and opportunist', they certainly know what the people want to hear, but why is a Camborne councillor lobbying against funding in Penzance, if Labour is a party that wants to think and act for the whole of Cornwall. I don't blame Jude being the only Labour councillor on the council she simply has to stand up for her area and I share her concerns about the awful sale of facilities at Carn Brea leisure center, really glad to see Mebyon Kernow councilors at the protest against the decision by the council. As Jude well knows the sale of St Clare will pay for the St John's Hall improvements and is nothing at all to do with Carn Brea leisure center. But from my perspective why is it always Penzance Labour choose to take jobs from and divert investment from? With policies like this it's little wonder that Labour couldn't find anyone west of London to contest the St Ives constituency seat at the last general election.
"The Labour government was right to make the unitary option available."
ReplyDeleteAvailable? As I recall it was forced upon us. I certainly had no chance to vote on it.
Indeed, a scheme dreamt up by the Labour govt. Thanks for the comment.
DeleteAlthough I shall almost certainly vote MK in any election I think we should bear in mind that currently it is Labour that can save us from the horror of this unholy coalition.
ReplyDeleteI see your point,but its very unclear what Labour would do differently to the coalition. They too are committed to austerity and other than reinstating the 50p tax rate its unclear how they really differ.
DeleteThis is a lie from start to finish. I have never 'decried' investment in St John's Hall, Penzance or anywhere else. I actually say in the blog that 'Investment is good'.
ReplyDeleteWhat I said was that the project at Carn Brea should be treated in the same way - as investment.
Please apologise and delete this blog. If you repeat this on a leaflet, it will be an offence under the Representation of the People Act and I will make a formal complaint.
I see you've since amended your blog Jude. I don't really feel I should apologise. Read the above years of Labour government saw hundreds probably over a thousand jobs lost in the public sector in Penzance. Your party has never welcomed investment in Penzance, I see little has changed.
Delete