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Does DEFRA's top brass represent value for money?
January 12th 2010
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The Liberal Democrats' Environment Spokesman, Tim Farron MP, has questioned whether DEFRA's top brass really represent value for money for Britain's farmers.
Quoted in the Yorkshire Post (Jan. 12th 2010), Mr Farron has criticised bonus payments made to staff in the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), which has been responsible for bungles that have cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds and have given many farmers major financial headaches.
Bonuses to RPA staff last year totalled £558,943 bringing the total bonus payments since 2005 to almost £2million.
According to the Yorkshire Post, the RPA has been heavily criticised by the National Audit Office, which called its handling of Single Farm Payment cheques "a masterclass of maladministration", with the average cost of handling claims being £1,743, even for claims which were for only a few pounds. The National Audit Office also said that the agency had shown "scant regard for the protection of public money" and that its negligence had left a black hole of £628m to be funded by the taxpayer.
Mr. Farron said, "With the average hill farmer earning just £5,000 per year, it is hard to justify the extravagant amounts being paid to these civil servants. But what makes these figures all the more unbelievable is some of the high-profile errors made by DEFRA within the last year, particularly the loss of 100,000 farmers' bank details by the Rural Payments Agency"
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Taking Liberal Democrat Policies into Government
The policy agreement for the new Government is full of Liberal Democrat policies. It is a real chance to put into action the ideas that we have campaigned for. Full details of the agreement are here
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Take Back Parliament - Campaign for Electoral Reform
- More than 2,000 people turned up to march in the rain in Central London, and more turned up at events up and down the country yesterday.
- Within the first 48 hours, more than 35,000 people joined our movement for fair votes now, and we're not stopping there.
As thousands in the crowd chanted as one yesterday, and all the news channels carried us live, you could feel that we are shaping the conversation about our next government and the necessity of concrete electoral reform as part of any deal.
Check out the TakeBackParliament website
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Election Result
The election result in Beverley and Holderness was:-
Conservative (G Stuart) 25,063 47.1 %(+6.4%)
Craig Dobson (Lib Dem) 12,076 22.7% (+3.6%)
Labour (I. Saunders) 11,224 21.1% (-14.5%
BNP 2,080 3.9% (+3.9%)
UKIP 1,845 3.5% (-1.6%)
Green 686 1.3% (+1.3%)
Independent 225 0.4% (+0.4%)
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Time for a Real Change
Craig Dobson says, "I will put local people first - being there to listen and stand up for my constituency at Westminster. I will be open and honest about all expenses incurred in representing Beverley and Holderness."
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Craig Dobson - What I want for Holderness
Holderness is an attractive part of the world in which to live and work. I want to keep it that way. But to do that, we have to make sure that the economy of the area is strengthened and we also have to address some particular problems that Holderness faces, in the local economy; agriculture; rural services; renewable energy; flooding and coastal erosion.. amongst others.
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Clegg Shines in Second PM Debate
The public's reaction to the second prime ministerial debate showed that Nick Clegg and David Cameron are running neck-and-neck, despite attempts by some sections of the press to smear Nick Clegg in the run-up to the debate.
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East Riding Tories Waste Council Tax Payers Money On Huge Golden Handshakes
Craig Dobson, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Beverley & Holderness has criticised the system of giving large payments to the pension funds of Council officials.
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Lib Dem Support Growing, says Craig Dobson
Most commentators agree that Nick Clegg was the clear winner of the first ever TV election debate for Party Leaders - and Vince Cable was the most convincing in the earlier Chancellors' debate. They have proved that the Liberal Democrats are in tune with Britain and have the policies and experience to get the country back on track.
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Liberal Democrats want a fair and sustainable economy
A decade of complacency by Gordon Brown has meant that with falling growth, rising inflation and high unemployment, the outlook for the UK economy has not looked so bleak since the Tory recession of the 1980s.
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Liberal Democrats want Our Children to have a Fair Start
Liberal Democrats aim to give every child the fair start they deserve through a transformation of our education system that will build the foundations of a fair society. Dr Craig Dobson explains, "We will cut class sizes so children get the individual attention they need to thrive. We will be putting an extra £2.5 billion into schools to pay for more teachers, better discipline and catch-up classes so children get the individual attention they all need.
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