Scott Collins

Nick Clegg and Scott Collins campaigning for a better Britain

The Liberal Democrats have announced they will fight the General Election on four key principles, designed to make Britain a fairer place.

PPC for the new constituency of South Northamptonshire, Scott Collins, has today set out his campaign priorities: fair taxes; a fair start for every child; fair, clean and local politics and a fair, green economy with jobs that last.

Scott said:

“People in South Northamptonshire have been let down by their politicians and are rightly frustrated. I am going into the election with a clear direction and a manifesto that is short, direct and to the point.

“We will introduce fairer taxes by closing loopholes for the richest, introducing a tax on mansions and tax cuts of £700 for everyone else.

“If your child is at school in South Northants, we can promise investment to help reduce class sizes, improve discipline and develop one-to-one tuition.

“We would also give you the right to sack your MP. The Liberal Democrats are the only party committed to real change of our political system, flushing out big money and corrupt donors and reducing the number of MPs by 150.

“And we will rebuild the economy in every part of Britain in a way that promotes green technology and creates lasting jobs. We will put an end to casino banking, bring back competition and support local entrepreneurs to make sure South Northamptonshire businesses can find the money they need to grow.

“The coming months are a crucial time for politics and I will be using them to focus on these four priorities and delivering real change for South Northamptonshire.”

In his speech this morning (MON), Leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg said:

“David Cameron and Gordon Brown are playing the politics of the airbrush and the focus group.

“One doesn’t know what he believes. The other doesn’t know what to do with the power he clings to so desperately.

“I believe the country wants something different. The Liberal Democrats are different. We offer credibility where it’s needed. And hope for our common future.”

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With the General Election due within 6 months Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidates in Northamptonshire have launched a ‘Clean Campaign Pledge’ and challenged their opponents to sign up in a bid to set clear standards for the coming election.

Scott Collins, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for South Northamptonshire , said “With all that’s happened in politics over the last 12 months with the expenses scandal and a myriad of other events have left the public’s view of politics and politicians at an all time low.

“By organising this pledge it is our hope that we, all the candidates, can help try and restore some of the respect and trust lost over this period by agreeing to run a clean campaign sticking to key principals as listed in the pledge”

“For all of us to agree that any statements we make about our opponents will be referenced with evidence to support them. Also we will publish details of our major donors and make clear how our campaign is funded.”

Commenting further “All of this is common sense but it shows that we want to have clean politics and not have the election clouded in untruths or misinformation”

The Clean Campaign Pledge makes the following commitments:

· We will never lie to the electorate

· We will not make statements about our opponents without evidence to support them

· We will provide references for these statements on our web sites

· We will be honest about our past records, good and bad, and we will be open about the policies we would support as MP’s.

· We will publish details of major donors to our campaigns

· We will never let electioneering stop us fighting for our constituents

In conclusion Scott said “This pledge will be made available on the local party and candidate websites, along with the evidence supporting statements we make. Every single member of the public should have access to the sources of the information that politicians want them to believe.”

“With every Liberal Democrat candidate in Northamptonshire signing this pledge it is a real statement of our intent over the coming months to have a clean election campaign”

Following both Labour and Tory policy announcements on the future of food production and pricing it has become apparent that neither party really has the answer for British Farmers.

With the Labour party issuing its strategy for sustainable farming up to 2030 it is clear that it lacks direction and any real safeguards for Farmers in a period of recession and still does not address the issue raised by the Liberal Democrats and farmers across Britain, What is being done to help farmers to trade fairly and expect a decent farm gate price for their produce?
“There’s no point in having a strategy for 2030 if farming is dead by 2020,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary.Commenting as the Government launched its food strategy to 2030.
“While the Government has finally recognised the importance of UK farming to the future of Britain’s food supply, the reality is that English farmers have been badly hit by rock bottom farm gate prices which have slashed incomes.
“It’s clear that the Government’s model for sustainable farming isn’t working. What farmers need right now is a fair price for their produce.

“With thousands of farmers on the brink of bankruptcy, we need a new independent regulator to ensure producers are never forced to sell at a loss to over-powerful supermarkets”
Whilst the Tory party has announced a policy which talks tough on curbing the dominance of Supermarkets by creating a Supermarket Ombudsman.

“This is typical Conservative Gimmickry” Said Scott Collins , Parliamentary Candidate for South Northamptonshire.

“The body which they seem to be proposing lacks the legal status of the Food Price Regulator that we, The Liberal Democrats, proposed last September

“Farmers need a body which will be able to enforce conditions linking the Farm Gate price the retails price to prevent more farmers being driven to the point of bankruptcy and eventually out of business as they rated at a loss. Whilst at the same time Supermarkets make huge profits at the expense of hard working farmers”.

“The simple fact is that if farmers are to succeed and maintain there massively important role in food production in Britain then they need help now to curb the losses they currently suffer.”

Only the Liberal Democrats want to see Farmers protected from trading at a loss through the creation of a Regulator with legal powers to be able to protect farmers and food producers across Britain. This will not happen if the Conservatives create a toothless Ombudsman with no legal powers to prevent supermarkets from driving farmers out of business.