Sunday the 13th October marks 100 days since the General Election and 100 days of a Labour government and a Labour Member of Parliament here in Derbyshire Dales. Now I cannot promise to be impartial as my political allegiance to the Conservative Party is in no doubt, but as a Derbyshire Dales resident, this is my take so far.
Despite having written to our Labour MP, Cllr John Whitby three times, I am yet to receive a response to any of my correspondence, so I remain unaware of his stance on planning or Traveller sites. Although I did not receive a response to my request for his views on the scrapping of the Winter Fuel Allowance, he voted to remove this from pensioners in Parliament recently, so at least this provided clarity on his support for what in my opinion is a cruel Labour Party policy.
The first 100 days of Labour seems to have been marred by a series of blunders and nonsensical decisions. Labour said they would put people and country before politics and party, yet apparently this did not include our pensioners. I know from my years of supporting vulnerable residents here in Derbyshire Dales that many have worked very hard to make modest savings for retirement. Sadly, these savings will now take them just over the threshold and pensioners this winter will quite literally go cold thanks to Labour.
Nationally we have a millionaire Prime Minister who received countless undeclared gifts. This resulted in one of his own MPs resigning in disgust and now his Chief of Staff Sue Gray has resigned too, although the reason for her leaving is not yet clear.
Labour is looking into policies which would end inheritance tax reliefs, which in my view will have a catastrophic impact on our farmers and food security, as family farms will be forced to split up if agricultural property relief and business property relief are scrapped. I know from speaking to local farmers they feared this move and I sincerely hope our MP will fight this.
Labour plan to tax private schools when they have no plan to support the thousands of children who will now be back in state education. This is divisive politics and has not been thought through, all it does it put further pressure on local schools.
The Conservative Party have lessons to learn, and I sincerely hope our next Leader makes the changes that are so desperately needed and stands on a platform of true Conservative values. While Rishi Sunak is working to hold the Prime Minister to account, the Conservatives are in the midst of a Leadership Election. It is vital that governments have strong opposition in Parliament, and I personally would have preferred to see a new leader of the Conservatives in time for what is likely to be a brutal budget from Labour.
It does feel disingenuous that Labour keep referring to an unknown economical blackhole, yet that hasn't stopped them finding billions for above-inflation public sector pay rises. The Chancellor herself said during the campaign, "we've got the OBR now. You don't need to win an election to find out about the public finances." The Labour Party also has had privileged access to Senior Civil Servants at the Treasury since January as the Lead Opposition Party, this does not sound like a hidden ‘black hole’ to me. So, was this their plan all along?
I love our Country, and I want us to prosper. I sincerely hope the next 100 days from Labour are better than the 100 so far. It is vital that we hold the Labour Party locally and nationally to account, so I urge residents to join me in writing to our MP to hear his views on the issues that impact us all.