Politics News Confrontations of an Unusual Nature
Regular political news from Leeds
Politics News: Confrontations of an Unusual Nature
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Leeds City Council has gone all out for education finance, announcing a £47m regeneration package for six Leeds primary schools at the same time as proposing that schools begin charging for community groups who use school buildings for their activities. Set to begin on 31st August, the scheme will also see the funding set aside for community groups halved from £1m to £500,000, as part of the council’s attempts to get to grips with its £15m funding cut announced in June.
MP for Morley and Outwood and Labour Party Leadership nominee Ed Balls has been challenged by a Leeds Baroness to repay his ministerial severance pay. Baroness Warsi has said she has written to all four Labour Leadership candidates to urge them to give up this payment, a one-off sum of £19, 938 paid to outgoing cabinet ministers to prove that they have ‘come to terms’ with the mistakes of the old Labour Government. Baroness Warsi, who is also the Conservative Party Chairman, is quoted as saying “At a time when people across the country are being asked to tighten their belts to deal with Labour’s economic mess, it is unacceptable that the very people responsible for the mess are eligible to walk away with up to £20,000 each”. Which of course sounds very reasonable to a poor serf like me, but Ed Balls’ office quickly responded with a measured, considered and persuasive counter-argument: they called the proposal “silly”.
Elsewhere, MP for Leeds West Rachel Reeves has been issuing some challenges of her own, although her target is somewhat higher up the political ladder. It’s been confirmed that Ms Reeves has written to the parliamentary standards watchdog accusing Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg of hoodwinking the Commons over the ditched £80m loan to Sheffield Forgemasters. The crux of the matter concerns the reasons Clegg originally gave for the cancellation of the loan, and a letter he subsequently sent to the company’s chief executive in which he claims alternate reasons. This has led Rachel Reeves, along with support from Labour MP for Brent North Barry Gardiner, to suspect something fishy. A spokesman for Clegg is quoted as calling the claims “bizarre”.
Posted on Wednesday 1st September 2010
PW
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