Labour unhappy PM brought his Cabinet to city
THE Labour Party has complained about David Cameron's decision to bring his Cabinet to Bristol this week.
MP Michael Dugher has written to Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood alleging a "potential breach" of strict rules governing official announcements ahead of tomorrow's elections in the city, when voters are being asked to choose Bristol's first ever directly elected mayor, as well as the post of Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset.
During the six weeks before a vote national and local government departments are advised not to make any new policy announcements which could be seen as giving one side in an election an unfair advantage or which might commit an incoming candidate to a controversial policy they do not support.
Mr Dugher wrote: "There are strict rules dealing with propriety in the run-up to elections. As Cabinet Office guidance from before mayoral elections this year states, care needs to be taken over government activities that could have a bearing on the election, particularly to ensure that public resources are not used for 'party political purposes'."
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The Cabinet meeting was held in the John Cabot Academy in Kingswood on Monday.
Afterwards Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced £100 million of spending to revamp Temple Meads station.
Mr Cameron later went out campaigning with Tory Police Commissioner candidate Ken Maddock, while Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg showed his support for mayoral candidate Jon Rogers.
Mr Dugher asked whether the government had sought advice on whether the visit complied with the rules, and queried the cost of the meeting.
A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: "Normal government business continues during local and mayoral elections, with full regard for the established Cabinet Office advice."
Comments
by bris28
Wednesday, November 14 2012, 4:50PM
“Magic Marvin must be getting worried, or should I say desperate, if this is the best he can do for Wednesday's publicity stunt. George Ferguson seems to be powering ahead despite what the bookies are telling the Post. The Rees boy should start thinking about how he'll spend the time in future (after he loses the poll). Wonder what stunt he'll come up with for Thursday's edition of the Post. Wonder if the paper will do a special edition on Saturday with the result. Otherwise we'll have to wait until Monday.”
by macadam212
Wednesday, November 14 2012, 3:53PM
“Don't be a sheep - vote for an independent and lets kick party politics out of this city.”
by J12345678
Wednesday, November 14 2012, 2:38PM
“Michael Dugher is MP for Barnsley East. So he should stick to Yorkshire politiics”
by november15
Wednesday, November 14 2012, 2:29PM
“Of course their unhappy. Labour spent decades destroying Bristol and the last thing that they want is to see anybody get in the way of them being elected to undo a few years of progress so that they can destroy it all again. Labour cream off the poor, they keep people poor and they live off the rich. Labour introduced tuition fee's and they used tax payers money to save the banks. Everything that Labour are against is actually what they practice. They have no sense of direction of economics.”
by TomC87
Wednesday, November 14 2012, 1:00PM
“This just shows all that Labour are good for. They are a party of obstructers and hypocrites. They blindly oppose everything the Tories say and drag up silly irrelevant and unnecessary complaints such as this one just to cause problems which ultimately doesn't help anyone. All it does is diverts valuable attention, time and money away from serious problems.
An example of this is their current call to scrap or delay the 3p fuel duty rise. It was Labour who introduced the automatic increase and if they were in charge the fuel duty would already be 12p higher than it is now!
Labour is a shambles and an embarrassment, as are the other two.”
by harry12911
Wednesday, November 14 2012, 8:39AM
“I don't think the labour party need worry about this. First, they managed to hold their meeting outside Bristol's boundaries, so showing their ignorance of the situation. Second, the local tories distanced themselves and pretended it was not happening, knowing what a toxic bunch the national tories are.
I think it is time the people of this City rejected all party politics and the empty lying rhetoric which it espouses. Vote for Independents for Mayor and PCC. Lets get this City back from the party machines.”