Rayleigh And Wickford Parliamentary Election- Mike Pitt

mike pitt  crop

 

We have a really good candidate. His name is Mike Pitt and he is definitely worth voting for.

Mike has a very strong background in education and business. After attending a comprehensive school, Mike went on to Cambridge University where he obtained a degree in mathematics. After gaining business experience he re-trained in education and now teaches maths -? in a comprehensive school.? He currently lives in Cambridge and is also a Cambridge City councillor. (Incidentally he wasn’t impressed about how Rochford run their cabinet system when we explained it to him).

He’s somebody who’s very bright, hardworking and with a social conscience. He’s easy to chat to, understands how councils work and how to improve them.

Over the last five years the coalition has been clearing up the financial mess left by the last Labour government. (Remember the note left by the outgoing Chief Secretary to the Treasury – “There’s no money left”). Having a stable coalition was crucial, because it helped the government to keep borrowing costs low – maybe the lowest interest rates ever .? Now we can concentrate more on maintaining and improving services. To quote our candidate:

Like most of us I am proud of the NHS, and acknowledge its pressures. Under Liberal Democrat spending plans Health Service funding will be at least ?8bn higher per year in real terms by 2020. The Liberal Democrats are the only political party to set out a credible road map for how we will safeguard the NHS over the next parliament. We can?t however do this without finishing the job of deficit reduction: not cutting services for the sake of it but ensuring a fair share of the load being met by a contribution from the richest in society through targeted tax changes. In particular we will continue progress made on tax avoidance and target ?6billion more by 2017/18.

mike and chris

 

 

About the author, admin

  • That’s what we need, someone who understands the issues in the area, someone local, someone who has lived here for a while. Now where is he from, ah yes, Cambridge…….

  • Funnily enough Oz, I think you are wrong….

    Firstly, Cambridgeshire is hardly the other side of the world, it’s a county next door to Essex for heavens sake. Also Mike used to work in Essex.

    Also, do you really need to live here for years, to understand for example, that Rawreth Lane already has too much traffic? I’d say it depends on who the person is. Most people, wherever they come from, might see the problem within 5 or 10 minutes. But there are people who actually live around here who couldn’t understand that after years.

    And even if you have the local understanding you have to be willing to do something. Apart from us, were there any other political parties campaigning on the core strategy in Rayleigh when it kicked off about 7 years ago?

    Someone with experience beyond the modest arena of Rochford District Council, someone with experience of a better-functioning highways department than Essex County Council could be very useful.

    I’ll agree that being local can give you more passion and it’s much more important for being a councillor. .

  • Perhaps a bit of honesty wouldn’t go amiss. Like UKIP’s methods in elections I would venture Mike Pitt is not much more than a paper candidate e.g. a name on a ballot paper so a party can claim they put someone up. Does this man know anything about this area? How often has he visited Rayleigh or Wickford as a Libdem member?

  • ok people I have read your comments on the Lib.Dem. candidate. It would seem to me that a person that can bring Rayleigh to the forefront of our situation is better than having one’s face plastered over the newspapers and waving about whether to go in line with RDC or changing one’s mind doing a 180 turnabout. The only way this situation can be dealt with is put your x in the right box and not in the box that decides what is best for you without asking first.

  • Here’s a real vote winner from the Lib Doomed, it shows just how out of touch they are. Can they explain just how small businesses, say employing 4 – 10 people can possibly survive if they have to implement this nonsense. The sooner Claggy loses his seat and leaves for Spain the better. I wonder if he will give time off for the people in his beach deckchair business ?

    Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg and Women and Equalities Minister Jo Swinson have unveiled plans to triple paternity leave for fathers.

    To mark the introduction of shared parental leave, which begins on April 5, Nick announced plans to give dads an extra four weeks off work with their newborns.

    • Oz, I’m very grateful to you for publicising Lib Dems policies 😉 As that Liberal publication the Daily Mail said today:

      How paid parental leave helps your baby: Children with a stay-at-home parent are less likely to develop asthma and hearing problems … and the health benefits last for SEVEN years

      A baby is more likely to become a healthy child with paid parental leave
      If a parent stays at home with paid leave for baby’s first months, the child is less likely to develop health issues, including asthma and hearing problems
      A seven year study followed the health of more than a thousand babies
      Paid leave has the greatest impact on health of babies in families with a lower socio-economic status
      Parents are likely to stay at home and breastfeed their baby for longer
      Government-funded leave’s more beneficial than workplace-funded leave

      This is based on studies in Australia.

      I appreciate the point about small businesses, but from what I’ve read there will be consultations with the business before any government introduced this. Its still modest compared with other countries such as Norway.In Germany fathers can have up 12 months off, although they only receive 65% of their salary, max 1800 Euros a month.

  • oz a change is needed because the amount of time and money spent on the issue of housing etc. should have been foreseen. Those at the council chamber were elected to do what the people wanted and it is obvious this has not happened. My thoughts are put your x in the right box for the candidate who is going to work for Rayleigh.

  • Having just read most ( but not all ! ) of Linda’s site I am very impressed, common sense at last ! I am happy to admit that I got it wrong about Linda and for that I apologise unreservedly. I recommend that all readers of this site, and there are many, take a look before you vote in May.

  • Admin, like you I believe everything I read in the papers, especially that left wing rag the Daily Mail. Can any reader explain to me how a hearing problem is cured by staying at home with a parent. In fact my hearing is not so great, maybe I should spend a few weeks with my 81 year old dad. What a complete crock.

  • Chris, whilst I am impressed with the way you are handling the housing development issue, I don’t feel that someone who lives in Cambridge will represent the area to their full potential. Mike Pitt might as well live in another country! He’s not going to experience the pain of the local people. Is he registered at our doctors surgery’s in Rayleigh or Wickford? Doubt it hence he won’t experience the waiting times there. Does he use Southend or Basildon hospital? Doubtful again. Does he sit in traffic on London Road? No. Does he use our Southend to London train line? Does he have his children in our local schools? Need I go on….? I’m sorry but I think the lib dems are really ‘out of touch’ this time and I only hope as a district councillor you don’t feel the backlash from the electorate should a certain other MP slip back in.

    • James.you are assuming that if Mike wins he won’t move to Rayleigh, that’s not the case! Mike would be an excellent MP.

      Actually, the history of south Essex is full of examples of MPs who didn’t live here before being elected. Teddy Taylor is a shining example, came from Glasgow and the Liberals criticised him strongly. But in all fairness he was a good constituency MP.

      You are also assumimg that if we didn’t stand all our votes would go to Linda, that’s also not the case. My analysis is that our votes would be spread fairly evenly across all the other parties.

  • Mike@21, I would not worry too much, there is absolutely no chance that Pitt the Remote will be our next MP. On May 8th we will wake up to another 4 years of Mr Francios.

  • Oz ( the not so positive these days ) is I think right , the previous majority is so large that turning it over is clearly a real long shot , I think that all the other candidates will,
    Collectively, put a dent in it but no one party will have enough to overhaul him.
    I look forward to him continuing his stance on no more building before infrastructure improvements……..????

  • Chris – I was not saying that should he not stand your votes would go to Linda, although opinion is that MF will get back in, I think he may find is a closer run election than previously. Wickford are not happy from what I’ve been reading, and one wonders who thinks MF does such a great job for the area – or is it just an ‘I’m alright jack’ from the electorate in general in this area?

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