News

Thank you for visiting my site.  As election year draws to a close I have decided to suspend activity on this site and will no longer be adding new content on a regular basis. 

I will revive activity at some point in the not too distant future and will email everyone who has signed up to my mailing list when I do so.  If you would like to be notified, please sign up to my mailing list by providing your email in the box to the right of this entry.

Thank you for your interest and support. If you require assistance from Luton Conservatives, please contact admin@lutonconservatives.co.uk or call 01582 729 511.

Nigel

The Daily Telegraph is reporting this morning that Margaret Moran may be the fifth Labour MP to face criminal charges over her use of tax-payers money. 

Click here for the story.

The Telegraph says:  "officers suspect Miss Moran of submitting claims for work which was not conducted at the property designated as her second home for parliamentary purposes. Other invoices may have been inflated or the dates altered."

Such allegations do not surprise me in the slightest.  When it comes to spending other people's money Margaret Moran is a pro.  I have no sympathy for her.  She neglected her constituents and then accused others of causing her stress which she blatantly brought upon herself.  She left myself and others to pick up her casework while refusing to step down as an MP and by desperately hanging on she ended up being rewarded with a golden goodbye and a hefty retirement pot.  The woman is a disgrace.

The new Labour MP for Luton South, Gavin Shuker, is an honourable man who has undersandably distanced himself from Margaret Moran since the expense scandal broke last year, but the Luton Labour Party as a whole have a lot to answer for - for standing by her for way too long.

I have just returned from Conservative Party Conference.  The overall tone was very serious and professional.  The weight of the task ahead of them was clearly weighing on the shoulders of all Ministers and MP's I met.  But there was also an air of celebration for regaining power mixed with genuine anger about the mess Labour left behind for us to clear up.  We are not able to implement all the things we would like because of Labours legacy and I don't think we should stop reminding people of that for some time.

In a few weeks time I shall be closing down this website and shall sortly be setting up a separate blog.

I would like to thank the thousands of people who have visited my site over the last few years and I can promise this:  the site will be revived well in time for the next election as I have every intention of standing again.

Thank you for your support.

Nigel

New Conservative Party post conference election video, below:

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Tourism, digital infrastructure, the arts and creative industries generally are all growth sectors of the UK economy.  They are also all the responsibility of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.  Once somewhat condescendingly labelled ‘the ministry of fun’, DCMS will play a critical role in shaping the future business landscape of the UK.  If we get the roll-out of broadband wrong or fail to maintain our global tourism share then businesses will suffer and entrepreneurship will be stifled.  DCMS will play an increasingly important role in decisions impacting the speed of UK economic growth.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that David Cameron chose to elevate tourism on the political agenda in his keynote speech yesterday.

According to a recent Deloitte/Oxford Economics study for Visit Britain, Tourism directly generates 4% of the UK’s GDP or £52billion, and supports 1.36 million jobs and indirectly (via interaction with other businesses in the supply chain) generates nearly 9% of GDP or £115billion.  Over the next decade, the UK’s visitor economy is forecast to be one of the best performing sectors with above average growth of 3.5% per annum – outperforming key sectors such as manufacturing.

Tourism is particularly important in rural areas and in Wales and Scotland, and due to relative ease of entry into the industry, the visitor economy encourages entrepreneurship and supports a disproportionately large number of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

We must maintain our competitiveness and can not rely on a weak pound forever to drive growth.  Public transport in the UK, especially trains, are notoriously expensive compared to Europe, our accommodation offerings are relatively expensive and our service standards are of variable quality.  Yet nearly 30 million tourists visited Britain last year and while they are spending more per trip than at any time in the past, that number is nearly 3 million visitors down from the 2007 peak. Public policy (transport, training, encouraging  SMEs) will play a key role in shaping the future of tourism in Britain and the acknowledgement of this fact by David Cameron yesterday was widely welcomed by the British tourism industry. 

The responsibilities of Jeremy Hunt and the DCMS team are both broad and considerable - and the DCMS should no longer be seen as a ‘second tier’ department.  In less than two years time the world’s eyes will be on London as we host the Olympic Games which is a fantastic opportunity to showcase Britain and boost our tourism sector for years to come.  We can not afford to get it wrong.