Dear Birkenhead Electors,

I would like to thank every one of the 3722 people who took the trouble to vote for me on June 7th. The Liberal Democrat vote increased while the turnout fell.
Only 48% chose to vote. After all, many people ask,why bother when the result was inevitable and when there seems no possibility of getting politicians to really listen?
We need to change the voting system, devolve serious power and elect politicians who can connect with ordinary people.
If you are not happy with the system, why not join us and help to change it?
The Liberal Democrat vote was strong throughout Wirral.
We are the Party of the future.

Thank you again.
Roy Wood.

Married with 2 grown up sons

Member of::

• Wirral Local Agenda 21 Forum
• Wirral Green Alliance
• British Trust for Conservation Volunteers

22/5/01

People on low incomes pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than do the better off, thanks to Labour's stealth taxes. Liberal Democrats believe that people start to pay tax on too low an income. Over time we will cut the 10p rate to zero, so that nobody pays any tax on earnings up to £6500. This policy would mean that anyone earning under £25000 would pay less income tax, even allowing for our 1p increase for education.

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23/5/01

There is still far too much air and water pollution. Liberal democrats will expand the inspectorate of the Environment Agency, to ensure that polluters are caught. Penalties to be paid by polluters would be significantly increased.

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24/5/01 Britain's railways are in chaos. We aim to impose a restructuting of Railtrack to make it a not-for-profit public interest company. We will ensure increased public control over investments in the railways by giving a new sustainable Transport Authority responsibility for the allocation of public funds intended for new developments. How long will Wirral people have to wait for the electrification of the line from Bidston to Heswall and Neston, with a new station on Woodchurch Road. This should have been done years ago!

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25/5/01 At a meeting with leading Wirral GP's this week, Liberal Democrat candidates were brought up to date on some of the difficulties being experienced locally. Although Wirral's health service problems are less than some other areas, the service is not as it should be. The wait to see a consultant in ENT or orthopaedics at Arrowe Park is far too long. GP's are inundated with paperwork and are seriously overworked. Experienced GP's are taking early retirement because of the pressures. Only Liberal Democrats are pledging enough money to start to make the big improvements needed. There are simply not enough doctors, nurses and other health workers. Government must also learn that if you try to force changes through too fast, you often make matters worse.

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26/5/01 We will publish an annual "green budget" with an assesment of every budget. This will ensure that environmental priorities are at the heart of government spending plans, and that the chancellor is held accountable for making the economy more sustainable. We regard it essential to make a long-term shift in taxation for "goods" like employment and wealth creation to "bads" such as pollution and gases which cause climate change.

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27/5/01Labour plans to make half of Birkenhead's secondary schools into "specialist" schools in the next parliament, giving each school over £100,000 and more money each year. Liberal Democrats believe that it is unfair and devisive to treat our young people differently in the way their schools are funded. This is a silly policy. Extra money should be shared fairly between all schools.

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28/5/01 At a packed meeting of Police Sergents at the recent Police Federation Conference, speakers from all 3 main parties explained their policies on crime and justice. At the end, the sergents voted for the party that had the best policies. The result was Conservative 6, Labour 4, Liberal Democrats 180 !! We not only want 6000 more police nationally but our progressive prison policies would cut reoffending. At present over 50% of released prisoners are convicted of further offences. This figure is far too high.

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30/5/01 The government set up a Commission to look at the financing of long-term care for the elderly. They recommended that all such care should be free. The Labour party rejected this idea. This means that, for example, an elderly person with dementia would have nursing care paid for but not personal care until any savings were used up. Of course they cannot explain how to separate nursing care from personal care, perhaps they would like to adopt the bar code reader system that is used in nursing homes in the USA. Elderly people in Scotland have free care thanks to the Liberal Democrats and we, alone, plan its introduction in England. Labour's plans (supported by the Conservatives) are unfair and unworkable.

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31/5/01 President Bush is pushing ahead with the USA's astonishingly expensive, unproved and probably unworkable Missile Defence system. This undoubtedly represents a threat to international stability and arms control agreements. Most European governments are very sceptical. However The Conservatives have given it their enthusiastic backing, although we do not know what system they will finally decide on, and the likely British bases could be fantastically expensive. Tony Blair refused to give a clear answer on his views but his press secretary said they were in favour in principle. I strongly back the Lib Dem position that we are opposed to the whole idea. This is NOT the way forward towards a more peaceful world.

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1/6/01

Larry Elliott, The Guardian, 16/5/01

'The sums in the Lib Dem manifesto add up. There is no funny money, no black holes a few years down the road. This would be a progressive package that would make the tax system fairer. Only the change to the basic rate of income tax would affect the vast majority of tax payers. The package as a whole is both solid and, to the credit of the Lib Dems, honest'

Anatole Kaletsky, The Times 16/5/01

'The 1p tax increase would merely return the tax rate to the level inherited by Gordon Brown from the Tories'!

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2/6/01We are committed to making significant increases in Pensions over that proposed by Labour. In addition to retaining all existing benefits such as a free tv licence, we would increase single pensions by £5, rising to an increase of £10 for over 75's and £15 for over 80's (the figures for couples are £8, £18, £28).

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3/6/01What a nonsense it is that Britain still has a second chamber "The House of Lords" to which people are appointed by the Prime Minister and the Queen! The government started reform and then chickened out. We need an effective second chamber of about 250 members, wholly or largely elected by a fair voting system within the next three years. The second chamber has an important part to play but it can only do so if it has the legitimacy conferred by having its members elected.

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4/6/01 A new poll has put the Liberal Democrats well ahead of Labour and the Conservatives in the battle for the youth vote. An email survey of 15-21-year-olds was conducted by the Labour-supporting magazine New Statesman, in collaboration with the thinktank Demos. Of those eligible to vote 28% of respondents backed the Lib Dems, 22% Labour, 17% the Conservatives and 6% the Greens. 16% (of a total of 1,180 eligible voters) were undecided or refused to say who they would vote for.

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5/6/01 On Friday morning at about 1:30am, Frank Field will be declared as the M.P. for Birkenhead and there is nothing you or I can do about it. We have a pathetic, out-of-date voting system that Labour promissed a refferendum on reforming, then backed off. The Jenkins commission proposed a system that would keep constituency M'P's (about 540 of them) but would have an extra 100 elected to ensure that the balance in parliament fairly reflected the votes cast in each area. This is not the Preferred Lib. Dem. system but it's so much better than what we have now that we are prepared to go along with it. However, Labour want absolute power and our prepared to risk the appalling prospect of a Tory government to retain "first past the post". We will get fair votes eventually but only when Labour think they may lose without a change in the system. The best way to pressure Labour into giving us a referendum is by voting Liberal Democrat.

6/6/01 Liberal Democrats are continually gaining momentum at the expense of both Labour and the Conservatives. Voting Lib Dem is the only way to send a message to the other Parties. To the Conservatives about 18 years of under funding for schools and hospitals and to Labour that under funding has to end now. Liberal Democrats are set to increase their vote and increase the number of seats, and will be the ‘effective’ opposition to Labour. In Birkenhead, voting for Frank Field would give Tony Blair a vote of confidence in what Labour has done. They don't deserve a vote of confidence. Show your dissatisfaction by voting for Roy Wood, Liberal Democrat.

6.Green Targets

Long Term Care

Following the Scottish Executive's decision to implement free personal care for the elderly in Scotland, Charles Kennedy MP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, is calling for long-term personal care costs to be made free UK wide.

Liberal Democrats are stepping up their campaign to secure the full implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission on long-term care across the UK. Commenting, Charles Kennedy MP said:

"The Government's plans fail the fairness test. It is indefensible that dementia sufferers are forced to pay for personal care such as help with washing and bathing which cancer patients in hospital get for free."

"Charging for care on the basis of who provides the care and where rather than on what care is needed is a recipe for confusion."

Paul Burstow MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesman for Older People, added

"A hundred thousand sick and elderly people have lost their homes in order to pay for their care since Labour came to power. Under the Government's plans it is the sick, the old and the disabled who pay."

"We need a UK wide debate on delivering a care system fair and fit for all."

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Two Tier Schools

Government's School Plans Unfair says Lib Dem. Roy Wood, Liberal Democrat candidate for Birkenhead, has bitterly criticised Labour's plans to give extra money to just half of Birkenhead's comprehensive schools.

Within a few years there will probably be two or three speciaist school and two or three of what they decsribe as 'bog standard comprehensives' in the town. The lucky two schools will be able to select up to 10% of their pupils, will get up to £123000 extra each year and a capital grant of £100000. The others will be told 'you are the weakest links, you leave with nothing'.

'This plan is a total nonsense' Roy Wood told a recent meeting of Birkenhead Liberal Democrats. 'All our comprehensive schools need more resources. Thanks to the efforts of teachers, parents and pupils, standards have been rising but, under Labour, there have been fewer teachers per pupil than in any year since 1979. As a teacher myself, I know that standards will only rise to the level that the new economy needs when all schools are properly funded and organised.'

Roy Wood noted that even Labour MP's have accused the Party of betraying their traditional values by saying that 'selection by aptitude, ability, race or class is inherently divisive in society'. Mr Wood concluded by adding ,'As you will see during the election campaign, only the Liberal Democrats have the progressive policies and the guaranteed funding to back them up that schools in Birkenhead need'

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Anti Social Drinking

Anti-social Drinking. Roy Wood, Lib. Dem. candidate for Birkenhead is calling on off licences and shops to stop selling cheap, high alcohol drinks that are targeted at young people. 'Throughout Wirral large groups of young people are making resident's lives miserable and doing considerable damage particularly on Friday and Saturday nights. The problems caused are made much worse when the young people have been drinking. Beers at 8.5% and more and cider at 7.5% are being consumed in large quantities. A 3 litre bottle of "cider" can cost under £2.50 yet it contains the alcohol equivalent of over 10 pints of ordinary beer. These drinks are damaging to health and are creating the conditions in which young people behave in a dangerous and anti-social manner, often harming themselves as well as others."

"The purchasers are usually people who are, or seem to be, over 18 and they then pass the drinks on. I am therefore calling on responsible shops and off licences to take these products off their shelves. I am sure that the big chains that want to maximise profit at any cost will not readily respond, but, if some shops behave responsibly, the rest of us will know which ones to patronise."

Roy Wood is calling on all parliamentary candidates on Wirral to join his campaign to put the maximum pressure on the people selling these dangerous products.

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Thoughts on Europe

Why Tell The Truth When It Is Easier To Play On Fears?

Many aspects of our lives are closely tied to our relationships with our European neighbours yet Britain has never been truly at ease with its European destiny. Scepticism exists elsewhere in the EU, but in Britain public debate is characterised by defensiveness, insecurity and, occasionally, paranoia. These attitudes are encouraged by our political system in which some parties excluded from government wage a parliamentary war against everything the governing party tries to do, especially with regard to Europe.

International diplomacy is conducted in an entirely different way. Whereas politics in Britain is seen as a win - lose game, diplomacy consists of the often time consuming search for the win - win outcome in which each of the parties makes concessions to secure a greater good. Press coverage of European affairs is littered with language such as 'threat', 'victory' or 'surrender'. The picture that is presented is hopelessly distorted. Negotiating concessions are described in hysterical terms while real achievements are ignored or taken for granted. The further the Tory party has drifted from power, the more erratic it becomes and the more corrosive is its effect on public debate. Why tell the truth when it is easier to play on peoples fears?

Qualified Majority Voting is routinely portrayed by the Eurosceptics as a threat and any move in that direction is seen as a surrender by Britain. The facts, however, tell a different story. In 1998/9 there were 85 QMV votes in the Council of Ministers. Britain abstained or was outvoted 5 times, less than France or Germany. Therefore, on 80 occasions measures backed by Britain were agreed when without QMV many would have been blocked by someone's veto.

In any family, organisation or business compromise is essential. Everyone understands this but our dealings with Europe are portrayed as if we only get our own way if we 'Fight them on the beaches . . . .' Let us hold fast to our Liberal vision of a Europe organised for people not for power blocks. A Europe of the shared values of freedom, tolerance and justice. A family of people, of regions and of nations working together for the common good.

Roy Wood (PPC Birkenhead)

(Adapted in part from "The Progressive Century: The future of the Centre Left in Britain"

by Robin Cooke and Menzies Campbell.)

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Roy Wood, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate today promised he would support the five environmental targets set by pressure group Friends of the Earth.

The targets, set out below, must be supported by the next Parliament in order to protect our environment.

·        Provide every household with quality doorstep recycling to ensure that no new incinerators are needed and half our waste is recycled by 2010

·        Treble investment in buses and traffic calming by 2005 so that everyone has access to reliable, affordable public transport and can live in a safe street.

·        Make biotech companies responsible for any harm caused by genetically modified crops and food by introducing strict liability legislation.

·        Protect the world’s climate by cutting UK CO₂ emissions by 20% and by generating 20% of electricity from renewable sources by 2010.

·        Make businesses accountable to society by requiring directors to report on,  and take into account their environmental and social impacts.

Roy Wood added, ‘these are sensible and well thought out targets that the next Parliament must meet. We all share the same environment and any damage we do is passed down to our children. I hope the other Birkenhead candidates will also sign up to these FoE targets.’

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