Duncan Hames for Chippenham

Would-be local MP, Duncan Hames, has voiced concerns raised by Wiltshire residents at the Liberal Democrat Annual Conference in Bournemouth.

During a debate on the Lib Dems central policy paper ‘A Fresh Start for Britain’ Duncan addressed delegates from across the Country on the importance of not losing the opportunity to clean up politics.

During the debate Duncan said:

“Back in Wiltshire my neighbours are sick of the old politics. Sick of politicians who put themselves first…. Sick of people who promise the world instead of telling it to them straight…. These are difficult times: they aren’t comfortable for ordinary families. They shouldn’t be comfortable for MPs either.”

Later, Duncan said: “I raised this issue because when I speak to people on the doorstep the no. 1 issue that comes up is a feeling of being let down by the way Wiltshire MPs have claimed expenses. People tell me that it is not the money that bothers them most - but the abuse of trust.

“There is now a great danger that the two main parties will conspire to sweep the need to clean up politics under the carpet and go back to business as usual. I and my fellow Lib Dems are determined to make sure that this does not happen.”

Duncan reacted with disbelief to the news that the new chief executive of Wiltshire Council will be paid between £171,000 and £189,000 a year - on a par with the Prime Minister and around £25,000 more than the acting-chief exec. It has since been announced that the acting-chief executive will not be applying for the job but will instead be in line for a bumper redundancy payout.

Prospective local Lib Dem MP, Duncan Hames, said: “The Conservatives promised us that the move to a single council would save taxpayers money but instead they have voted for this massive pay-hike and are spending £50,000 on consultants to find a candidate for the job. At a time when many people are having to tighten their belts and are thinking very carefully about what they spend, Wiltshire Conservatives prove to be completely out of touch with ordinary people.”

Duncan has also spoken out against the size of the redundancy payments which the Council has been giving to outgoing senior staff: “The reason why payments, such as the one the outgoing Chief Executive might expect, are so large is that senior Conservative councillors met in secret session and agreed an exceptionally generous increased redundancy policy. No one made them do it. Where else would it cost over £6 millions to make 35 people redundant? Their generosity with taxpayers’ money was extraordinary. They would not have done it with their own money in their own businesses, of that I’m sure.

“I have written to the Audit Commission asking them to investigate the council’s policy on redundancy payments. There was no need for so much taxpayers’ money to be shared by so few. It really is scandalous.”

Duncan Hames, who is standing to be Chippenham’s next MP, has completed a sponsored attempt to walk, climb and run 100 miles to raise money for the Parkinson’s Disease Society, culminating in running in Sunday’s Chippenham Half Marathon (13 miles, completed in 1h 59mins 23secs).

As part of this effort Duncan also trekked 12 miles to the top of Ben Nevis and back (Britain’s highest peak) and walked the Great Glen Way from Fort William to Inverness (76 miles over 5 days).

Duncan said: “I would like to say thank you to everyone who has sponsored me. The Parkinson’s Disease Society is an excellent charity which does a fantastic work for people suffering from this cruel and often forgotten disease. It’s nearly a year since my Grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson’s; this is just a small way in which I can say ‘thank you’ for all that the Parkinson’s Disease Society do.

You can still sponsor Duncan at:

http://www.justgiving.com/duncanhames-100miles

A pledge made to local people by Liberal Democrat prospective MP, Duncan Hames, has been voted one of the ten most important ‘Commandments’ for MPs in a public poll.

The poll, which was conducted by the politics website tweetminster.co.uk, asked people to vote for the ten best ideas on how to clean up politics as submitted by parliamentary candidates and the public. Duncan Hames’ promise to constituents not to employ any family or household members if he is elected as our MP, and to advertise all jobs in local newspapers, was voted as one of the ten best ideas. All MPs and Parliamentary candidates across the country will now be asked to sign up to these “10 Commandments for MPs.”

Duncan Hames said: “The pledge was one of three promises I have made to local people about how I will act if elected as their MP. The others are to be a full time MP not paid for any other jobs or business on the side, and not to claim expenses to pay a mortgage. Lots of people are relieved to hear these pledges when I call to see them. I’m delighted to learn that my pledge not to employ family or household members will now be taken up by this national campaign and hopefully help to clean up politics beyond Wiltshire, and across the country.”

The full list of Tweetminster’s 10 Commandments can be found here: http://10commandments.tweetminster.com/results.aspx

Liberal Democrats in the new Chippenham Parliamentary Constituency are celebrating victory in last Thursday’s Town Council by-elections in Chippenham and Melksham.

In Melksham Spa, Lib Dem, Peter Dauncey, polled 732 votes (59%) to the Conservatives’ 432 (35%) with the BNP trailing a poor third with 81 votes (6%). Peter now takes a seat previously held by the Conservatives and his victory means that the Conservatives now lose overall control of the Town Council.

In Chippenham Park, Lib Dem, Lorraine Roberts-Rance, took 427 votes (66%) defeating sitting Conservative Wiltshire Councillor, Peter Hutton, on 216 (34%) and will be joining the successful Lib Dem-led Chippenham Town Council .

Prospective Lib Dem MP, Duncan Hames, said: “This is a great result for Lorraine, Peter and the whole local Lib Dem team. Peter and Lorraine have been doing a lot of work for residents and both will make excellent local councillors. These wins build upon our success on June 4th - when we won the greatest number of votes across the constituency - and go to show that local people continue to prefer the Lib Dems’ positive, community-led approach to politics.”

Prospective Liberal Democrat MP for Chippenham, Duncan Hames, is making efforts to help find a new home for staff and pupils of the Snapdragons Nursery after it was made to leave Wiltshire College’s Chippenham campus.

Duncan said:

“This closure is very sad news for everyone who used this valuable local resource. Many staff and parents at the nursery were only told of the closure a few weeks before it happened – leaving them little time to find a new location. Along with local councillor Chris Caswill, and many others, I tried to convince the College to give the nursery more time but, unfortunately, the closure went ahead as planned.”

“We shouldn’t give up, however, and I am now concentrating my efforts to help find a new home for a replacement nursery. I have asked Wiltshire Council if they could investigate whether we could use some of the public land close to the College as the location. I am confident that, if we all pull together in the same direction, we can still secure a nursery for the community.”

Duncan Hames, prospective Lib Dem MP for the Chippenham constituency, has presented Selwood Housing with the award for Quality Housing Standard for customer service.

John Alford, chair of Selwood Housing said: “The Quality Housing Standard recognises the effort that we put into providing excellent customer service. We were judged by mystery shoppers and auditors across 10 areas including our rent payment service, how we handle complaints, how we manage our estates and our reception and telephone services. In order to keep the mark we will be judged again every year to make sure that we aren’t resting on our laurels and that we are still focused on providing excellent customer service.”

Duncan Hames said: “This award is testament to the hard work of many staff at Selwood, and I congratulate them all on this achievement. It seems that both inspectors and tenants have been giving the team here their seal of approval.”

During his visit Duncan also visited Selwood Housing’s new homes in Broughton Gifford. The homes were developed for people with connections to the village after it was found that there was very little housing that local people could afford. The nine new homes are resplendent with solar panels and NIBE systems that recycle the water in the atmosphere from the kitchen and the bathroom to provide hot water and under-floor heating.

Commenting on the new homes Duncan said: “I know from my time as a West Wiltshire district councillor how important securing affordable housing for local people has been to Broughton Gifford. Parish councillors here have been working long and hard with their partners, especially Selwood, to make it happen. I was particularly impressed with the quality of this appropriately small development, and the measures that have been taken to reduce the environmental impact of these new homes.”

For more information please go to: http://www.selwoodhousing.com

On Wednesday 22nd July, the Lib Dem deputy leader and economics spokesman, Dr Vince Cable MP, came to Chippenham and Melksham to listen to the concerns of local people on the state of the economy, and to give his backing to Duncan Hames’ campaign to be the first MP for the new Chippenham constituency.

In the afternoon, Vince accompanied Duncan Hames to meet with representatives of the local business and education community at the Angel Hotel in Chippenham. Vince took the time to listen to guests’ experiences of the recession and answered questions about the causes of the credit crisis and the Liberal Democrats’ plan to get the economy moving again.

Later, Vince attended a dinner at the Melksham Assembly Hall hosted in his honour by local Lib Dem supporters. In his after dinner speech Vince congratulated local Lib Dems on their recent successes in the June elections and reminded them of the great opportunity they now have to elect Duncan Hames as Wiltshire’s first Lib Dem MP.

Local Liberal Democrat campaigner, Duncan Hames, is making three pledges to local people about how he will act if he is elected as our MP in the next General Election.

1. A full-time MP

If elected as your next MP, I will give up my business and will not be paid for any job or activities other than being a Member of Parliament. You deserve a dedicated, full-time MP.

2. No profit from expenses

I will not use taxpayers’ money to pay any part of the mortgage for a second home. I will only claim for expenses actually incurred to support my work on behalf of local people, and will publish all my expense claims for everyone to see.

3. No family favour

I will never employ any family or household members using tax-payers’ money. As your MP, I will conduct open recruitment for staff and advertise all permanent publicly-funded posts in local newspapers.

Speaking about his decision to make these pledges Duncan said: “Like so many of the local people I have spoken to over recent weeks, I was angry and disappointed by revelations about how selfish and irresponsible some MPs have been with our money.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. I am making these pledges now to give local people some confidence that they can expect a high standard of behaviour from their next Member of Parliament.

“You deserve a full-time MP who is open and about how they use your money, and who does not profit from it.

“We have heard too many excuses about what was ‘within the rules’, but put simply: your next MP should know right from wrong. Whatever measures emerge from Parliament later this year, be assured that these are the new standards you can expect from me as your next MP.”

Liberal Democrats in Wiltshire’s new Chippenham parliamentary constituency are celebrating victory in last Thursday’s elections. Of the 21 Council wards within the constituency, the Lib Dems won 11, beating the Conservatives who took 9 with one Independent. Labour failed to elect a single councillor. The Liberal Democrats elected a majority of the councillors within the two largest towns: Chippenham and Melksham, and all the councillors in Bradford on Avon.

The Liberal Democrats also won the popular vote across the Constituency (LD 43.5%, Con 39.1%, Ind 8.3%, Lab 5.6%). This means that, had these votes been cast in a General Election on Thursday, local Lib Dem campaigner Duncan Hames would have been elected as the Member of Parliament for Bradford on Avon, Chippenham, Corsham and Melksham.

Duncan Hames said: “This is an excellent result for the local Lib Dem team. Despite the Conservatives riding high in the national polls, local people have continued to prefer their local Liberal Democrats. I believe that these victories are a recognition of the hard work that local Lib Dem campaigners have put in for our area.

“They have elected a strong and experienced opposition to the Conservative ruling group at County Hall. We will ensure that the old Conservative administration behind the new Wiltshire Council is held to account for the decisions it makes and the way they spend local taxpayers’ money.

“People told me during this campaign, how angry they were about MPs expenses and that they were ready to give the Liberal Democrats a chance after Nick Clegg’s principled stand on cleaning-up Parliament and his plan to give them the power to sack errant MPs. Many former Labour supporters have come over to the Lib Dems in part because they understand that here in Chippenham, it’s a two horse race between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.”