Archives for February 2011

In fact the party machine has been revving up since well before the election was called.

Candidate Dan Jarvis has had so many shadow cabinet ministers and senior MPs in town supporting his campaign that even party managers have lost count.

With just five days to the 3 March ballot Labour leader Ed Miliband joined them.

Why so much effort for a seat where they are defending a very healthy 11,000 majority gained at the general election just nine months ago?

Well, by-elections are traditionally used by the party in opposition as a platform for attacking government policies.

Ed Miliband, Ed Balls, John Healey, Andy Burnham and the rest have not wasted the opportunity of hammering the Coalition's policies from the streets of Barnsley.

However, there is another concern that is never far from the surface amongst Labour supporters.

Will the party suffer from the "Illsley effect"?

Right from the off Labour has been keen to draw a line under the fact that this by-election is only taking place because the veteran MP for Barnsley Central is now behind bars after admitting fiddling his expenses by over £14,000.

But will Labour be allowed that luxury?

Is it mere coincidence that the biggest election posters in the town ask whether convicted prisoners should be allowed to vote?

Jane Collins, the UK Independence Party candidate who put them up, says this is just an example of the kind of EU-driven policy that she opposes.

The far right BNP, which came fourth with almost 9% of the vote at the General Election, never misses a chance to rub Labour's nose in the embarrassment of its jailed former MP.

One Independent candidate, Tony Devoy, says he wants back the £500 deposit he lost when he stood for the seat at the General Election. He claims Eric Illsley must have known he was about to be arrested so the election should have been declared void.

As for the Coalition partners?

Well at the time of writing they have mustered one "big hitter" each on the Barnsley campaign trail.

Dewsbury-born Baroness Warsi, the Conservative party co-Chairman, turned up to launch candidate James Hockney's campaign a couple of weeks ago.

Simon Hughes, the LibDems' Deputy leader went out canvassing for a day with his party's choice for Barnsley Central, Dominic Carman.

Would it be churlish to suggest that the effort being put into the by-election as far as the coalition partners are concerned is inversely proportional to the high odds being offered on their candidates at the bookies?

Don't forget that you can keep up to date on the latest Barnsley Central by election news with the BBC South Yorkshire and Sheffield website.

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North Yorkshire's Little Red Bus Company could be a role model for David Cameron's Big Society.

It started as a volunteer-operated dial-a-ride service with one minibus in 1987. It now has a £850,000 turnover, 56 staff and operates 25 vehicles providing a whole range of public transport services across the county.

The little red buses go where commercial services are few and far between.

A call centre at its HQ at Killinghall just North of Harrogate operates highly complex booking software to tailor the service to requests from local people who might otherwise find it hard to leave their homes.

In an era where council subsidies to commercial operators in rural areas are being squeezed, the Little Red Bus services are in increasing demand.

Now its Chief Executive Lynne Costello is a leading light in a movement aiming to combine the handful of community bus services that exist across the Dales and rural North Yorkshire.

But the proposals for the integrated transport plan are far more ambitious than that.

It wants community groups to take on the multi-million pound tax payers' budgets currently spent on taking children to school; patients to hospital; social services clients to day care, and even replace the courier services moving medical supplies between hospitals.

To succeed it has to persuade government, local authority and NHS Transport bureaucrats to hand over the cash.

I went on trip on one of the Little Red Buses this week as Lynne explained the plans.

Instead of a number of different organisations sending out half-full vehicles she argues that one bus could combine as many roles as possible.

That would free capacity which could then be redirected to give public transport to remote communities where a bus is hardly ever seen.

It is not solely up to the community groups. They have to put forward a joint initiative with the local transport authority - North Yorkshire County Council.

Agreement would allow detailed planning to go ahead as well as a bid for an estimated £5m set-up costs from the government's Department for Transport.

That is where there is currently a difference of opinion.

The County Council is accused of dragging its feet in order to keep control of its transport budgets.

In turn, the County Council issued a statement to me saying that very careful consideration has to be made if such a radical move is to succeed.

It could be several months before any agreement is possible.

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The race is on to be Eric Illsley's successor in Barnsley Central.

By the time nominations closed at 4pm on Wednesday, nine candidates had put themselves forward to replace jailed former MP Eric Illsley as the member for Barnsley Central.

On the face of it, Dan Jarvis, the 38-year-old former army officer chosen to defend the South Yorkshire seat by Labour, has to be in pole position based on the General Election results of just nine months ago.

Eric Illsley took 47% of the poll as he romped home for the fifth time as Labour MP with his 17,487 votes, giving him a handsome majority of just over 11,000 votes.

But there's been political history created since then. Eric Illsley has become the first sitting MP to be jailed for expenses fraud.

How much will the Illsley affair dent Labour as it tries to draw a line under the scandal and return its door-step campaigning to the more familiar territory of the economy, jobs, pensions, social provision and the NHS?

Recent political history must also be causing problems for the campaigning thrust of the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.

In the General Election, the parties were trying to knock spots off each other just as much as Labour.

In the months since then the parties have gone into coalition.

It will be interesting to see what the electorate make of the parties as they now fight separate campaigns on the streets of Barnsley.

The results from the General Election do not make promising reading for the new Conservative candidate, James Hockney or the Liberal Democrat, Dominic Carman.

The Barnsley Central election results in 2010.

The parties finished virtually neck-and-neck but were still a distant second and third .
Statistically, both parties took a 17.3% share of the poll but the LibDems' 6,394 votes gave them a slender six vote lead.

Hockney, a Conservative councillor in South Oxfordshire, is having a second attempt at fighting a Barnsley seat. At the General Election he stood in neighbouring Barnsley East trailing home in third place.

The Lib Dem's Dominic Carmen is another veteran of last year's General Election in another seat traditionally dominated by Labour.

The writer and journalist stood in the London seat of Barking where Labour's Margaret Hodge was the runaway winner. He came fourth behind the Conservatives and BNP leader Nick Griffin.

As for the rest?

The British National Party had the most support of the minor parties in Barnsley Central at the General Election but It still finished up well behind in fourth place with 3,301 votes and 8.6% of the poll.

The far right party says it will be mounting its largest by-election campaign for its new candidate Enis Dalton.

BNP policies remain odious to every other mainstream party. Despite protests at being labelled "racist" it says it makes no appologies for promoting what it calls the rights of the "indigenous population".

The UK Independence Party candidate is Jane Collins the anti-Eu party's regional organiser.She stood for UKIP in Scunthorpe at the General Election. On the campaign trail with her UKIP's leader Nigel Farage said EU laws are all around us.

"For instance", he told me "how can it be right for the EU to demand that we give the right to vote to convicted prisoners like Eric Illsley?"

The English Democrats did not have candidates for the seat in 2010. This time around it is putting up the party's Barnsley Chairman Kevin Riddiough.

Candidate 'Howling' Laud Hope

There are the two independent candidates on the ballot paper who have each forked up the necessary £500 deposit and found a minimum 10 local electors to nominate them.

Tony Devoy from Grimethorpe is repeating the anti-sleaze campaign he waged against Eric Illsley last year. His 610 votes put him second from bottom in the poll.

Michael Val Davies, who lives in East Devon, is the second independent candidate to put himself forward. I have yet to find any information about him or his campaign.

The ninth slot on the ballot paper will bear the name "Howling" Laud Hope of the "Official Monster Raving Loony William Hill Party".

He was once a backing singer in the rock band of party's late founder "Screaming" Lord Sutch.

In 2010 "Howling" stood in the Oxfordshire seat of Whitney.

If he had won, David Cameron would not be the Prime Minister today.

For the record, David Cameron is the Prime Minister.

Don't forget that you can keep up to date on the latest Barnsley Central by election news with the BBC South Yorkshire and Sheffield website.

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There was little sympathy for Eric Illsley on the streets of Barnsley as he was handed down his 12 months jail sentence for claiming more than £14,000 in bogus expenses.

As he was whisked from the dock of Southwark Crown Court to the cells at Wandsworth prison few people I interviewed in the town where he has been the MP for more than 24 years thought he had got anything less than he deserved.

The concern now for the Labour Party is whether his fall from grace is reflected at the ballot box when voters in the Barnsley Central constituency go to the polls in three weeks time to choose his successor.

On the face of it defending a majority of just over 11,000 in a town which has returned a Labour MP at every election since 1935 should be a formality.

But there is a big cloud hanging over this by-election.

Can Labour shrug off the anger generated by the man who has worn the red rosette in Barnsley for so many years?

There is clearly an anxiety in the party at local and national level to do just that.

The choice of Labour's candidate in Barnsley is not just a clean break with the past it opens up a yawning chasm.

Few constituents would have expected to find Dan Jarvis on the their doorstep asking for their vote. He is a posh speaking 38-year-old who resigned his commission as a Major in the Parachute Regiment to stand for Labour.

It breaks a 73 year chain of working class, locally-born men who still had coal dust on their boots when they walked into the House of Commons for the first time as MP for Barnsley.

As the minutes ticked away to Eric Illsley being sent down to the cells the first Labour "big hitter" on the campaign trail since the by-election was formally called was also trying to draw a line under the affair.

Ed Balls, with the new candidate standing alongside him in a Barnsley car park, told me that he had been good friends with the disgraced former MP.

"He made a bad, bad mistake. He is about to pay a huge price for it for it and I think we should now move on."

That might not be so easy.

As the Shadow Chancellor was speaking my BBC Look North colleague Danielle Hewson sent me a text message from outside Southwark Crown Court. She was watching the far-right British National Party preparing a loud reception for Eric Illsley.

Enis Dalton, the BNP candidate at the by-election, is rubbing Labour's nose in its embarrassment at every opportunity on her website.

So far little has been heard from the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives.

The Conservatives have just announced their candidate will be James Hockney who fought neighbouring Barnsley East for them at the General Election.

The information was released some hours after it emerged that Barnsley-born cricketing hero Darren Gough had declined a personal approach to stand from David Cameron.

The Liberal Democrats have yet to pick a candidate.

The only other party to declare what name will be on the ballot paper is the UK Independence Party.Ukip has chosen Jane Collins, a veteran of the recent Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election.

Nominations will be open until the middle of next week for an election which is already on territory not previously entered.

The 3 March ballot will be the first to replace a sitting MP toppled by the expenses scandal.

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Disgraced former Labour MP Eric Illsley left his house at Pogmoor near Barnsley this afternoon without a word to my BBC team who had been waiting outside all day.
It may be some time before he returns.

He was setting out to London for tomorrow's sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court where there is a strong chance he will be jailed.

He has remained silent throughout the month that has passed since he admitted fiddling his expenses to the tune of £14,000. He has made no attempt to explain why he ignored all calls for him to resign.

He finally quit late on Tuesday night with just one full day remaining before his return to court on Thursday.

What has angered local people is that while he has been on bail he has been on full pay and is thought to have earned £5,000 since his conviction.

It has also blocked the process of electing his successor as a by-election could not be called until the seat became vacant.

As the incumbent party Labour can choose the timing of the poll. So within hours of the news that he has finally gone Rosie Winterton, the Doncaster MP, who is the shadow leader of the house moved the writ in the House of Commons.

Polling day will be Thursday 3 March.

Labour's anxiety to get things moving to retain a seat it has held since 1938 is show by the three week timetable it has set.

It is just about the briefest time that the law allows with a week for nominations to be made then a further fortnight of campaigning before the polling stations open.

The party is defending a majority of just over 11,000 and has already chosen its new candidate.

So far only the UK Independence Party and the far right BNP have announced who will stand for them. Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are expected to make a decision over the weekend.

There is one silver lining for Labour at the embarrassment of its former veteran back- bencher staying put and collecting his pay cheque.

As one Labour insider told me, if Eric Illsley had resigned as soon as he admitted his crimes than it is possible that a three week by-election would have had the shadow of his potential jail sentence hanging over it.

Not only that, polling day could well have taken place on Thursday 10 February - the same day he is likely to be jailed by the court.

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That line could have been written in 1948 when the NHS was launched.

Local GPS were so concerned that they refused to become employees of the state-run service. Instead they set up small businesses, mainly run as partnerships, contracted to the NHS. This is how the bulk of family doctors work to this day.

Fast forward almost 63 years and the suspicion and concern amongst GPs has returned.

Over the next few months they will be preparing to take on a role which is the complete reversal of the position they insisted on taking at the start of the NHS.

They will take control of how the bulk of NHS money will be spent. Everything from surgery to x-rays will be bought in by GPs.

Primary Care Trusts, whose army of managers and back-office staff do that job at the moment, will be scrapped.

Existing NHS hospitals, private clinics and providers of specialist health services will be bidding to become the customers of local doctors.

It is sending a shockwave through every part of the public and private health industry.

The job is far too big for single practices to take on alone so the Government is asking neighbouring groups of doctors to band together in consortiums which will then be approved to buy services on behalf of each other.

Veteran GPs like Tim Moorhead, a partner of a practice at Outibridge, just north of Sheffield say doctors are in an invidious position.

If doctors successfully manage the budgets and cut the costs of the National Health Service then they could be accused of "lining their own pockets".

If the new system fails then they will be written off as "incompetent".

Tim, who is the Vice Chairman of the Sheffield Local Medical Committee, told me in an interview for Sunday's edition of the Politics Show, that there could be some obvious advantages to doctors having more say in how NHS money is spent.

But he has huge reservations at the speed in which the new systems have to be in place.

It is a view shared just up the road at the Walderslade Surgery at Hoyland near Barnsley. Here Dr Pete Lane has been a senior partner in one of the village's three practices for over 20 years.

At Leeds General Infirmary, another note of caution comes from senior paediatric heart surgeon Mike Blackburn.

He believes GPs will be tempted to save money by switching routine surgery from his giant NHS teaching hospital to private clinics that are increasing in numbers across the country.

He says that could reduce the hospital's cash flow and compromise the LGI's ability to maintain its world-class specialist units providing complicated and expensive treatments.

So will the advantages of local choice and potential cost saving outweigh the risk of what has been described as the biggest change to the NHS since it was set up in the first place.

Well, there will not be a long wait to find out. The changes are due to be up and running by 2013.

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