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Author Topic: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour  (Read 47663 times)

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simonesaffron

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #67 on: March 15, 2015, 04:04:39 PM »
Hello Rambler,

Just a few points on your recent posting.

IMHO Labour have got absolutely no chance of winning a local seat in Marple nor the Parliamentary seat in Hazel Grove. If Michael has got any political intelligence (which I am sure he has) he knows that already.

How did you come to the conclusion that all LibDem Councillors work hard for their constituents and neither Labour nor Conservatives don't. How do you know this ?

Who are these LibDem  Councillors that you speak so fondly of that have 'vanished from the scene.' What are their names? As I look around with one or two exceptions we seem to have the same LibDem Councillors that we've had for a good while. In fact we seem to have some that have been around forever. 

simonesaffron

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #66 on: March 15, 2015, 03:53:29 PM »
Hello Rambler,

Just a few points on your recent posting.

IMHO Labour have got absolutely no chance of winning a local seat in Marple nor the Parliamentary seat in Hazel   

tigerman

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #65 on: March 15, 2015, 01:43:36 PM »
For your information, Labour volunteers are leafletting Offerton and Woodley this weekend. Any offers of help to spread the word??

Duke Fame

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #64 on: March 15, 2015, 11:17:12 AM »
In fairness, I got a leaflet from Michael this week, possibly as we are in business and it was an attempt to woo the small business voter.

Good for you Michael but as soon as that arrived, your leader was announcing his great pledge launch and guess what? There was not one mention of businesses and employment. Even in his speech, there was nothing, just a broken record about 1930's spending which in pretty meaningless rubbish. 

marplerambler

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #63 on: March 13, 2015, 08:56:58 AM »
Michael Taylor is a registered user of this forum and has provided a copy of his declaration for publication on here.

Other candidates are welcome to provide similar information and it will be treated in the same way. Of course in all cases candidates are welcome to register an account in your own name and post information yourselves, and interact with forum users if you wish.

Local Businessman & Community Activist To Fight Hazel Grove for Labour

10 DECEMBER 2014

Labour has selected Marple businessman, Michael Taylor, to fight the Hazel Grove parliamentary seat in the forthcoming general election.

Michael Taylor lives in Marple with his wife Rachel and their five sons. He is an active member of the local community and has campaigned passionately for the improvement of the local area through Marple in Action and the Labour Party. He is a governor of a local school, Harrytown Catholic High School, and a strong supporter of local youth sports through his work with Marple Athletic Junior Football Club. All his five sons attend state schools in the constituency.

As the chairman of Downtown Manchester in Business, and in his 12 years as the editor of a leading business magazine, Michael has campaigned for better local transport and is involved in the Friends of Rose Hill Station. “If our area is to thrive we need first class public transport. We talk a lot to local residents and one of their biggest complaints is the poor public transport links with poor, old-fashioned trains, poor weekend and evening services and unreliability.”

Better jobs are the key to a better future, in Michael’s view. “The coalition’s economic model doesn’t work. There are too many low-wage and zero-hour jobs and these are holding the economy back and failing to fulfil the dreams of our children.

“We need innovative thinking which is why I support the idea of a Greater Manchester Mayor to make better decisions on skills and infrastructure. And locally, we need ideas to create the seeds of success for local businesses, looking at cutting parking charges and reform of business rates to make our local centres thriving places, attracting customers and jobs.

“I will be a dynamic, energetic, committed Labour candidate. We desperately need an end to the Coalition’s ‘back to the thirties’ economics and the damage they are causing.”

Michael Taylor contact details:
M. 07973 890236
H. 0161 427 9161
E. Michael@wethinkmore.com
T. @MarpleLeaf

Well Mr Taylor, four months on from your introduction as Labour candidate and what a waste of time you have turned out to be so far at a time when there is mass disillusionment about the LibDems and the Conservatives and  Marple and the country desperately needs a change, the LibDem/Conservative attempts to ensure that healthcare and care for the elderly will be non-existent within the next few years, that teenagers from poorer backgrounds will never get a fair chance in life. A huge number of people are totally disenchanted with the Condem government but the only illusion of the Labour Party has created is Marple has been an illusion of mass disenfranchisement which has not been helped by the Libdem/Conservatives changing the voting registration system to ensure that even fewer of the population will vote . A large but quiet minority are fed up and their votes could be there for the asking.  Labour  has its only chance to win this constituency and what have I seen other than your comments on the Marple website? Sweet nothing!!!!

You might as well be writing the LibDems leaflets saying that the Labour Party cannot win here because there has not been the slightest whiff of a Labour presence at street level attempting to prove that Labour could be the most palatable of Labour/Conservative/LibDem parties that seem to be ruled by PPEs from red-brick universities who choose politics as a career or to save us from the madness of the opportunists of the National Front, sorry UKIP. No knocks on doors, no leaflets, no introductions, no nothing.

Working in local government brought one very important factor to my attention and that was just how hard the LibDem councillors worked for their constituents in Marple and Stockport prior to the last election - with notable exceptions  many of a just few Labour and the odd Conservative the councillors basically looked upon work as a councillor as a meal ticket.

It is beyond my comprehension that the LibDem Councillors did not all rebel and become independent when Sir Andrew sold his sold to the devil in a pact exchanging destruction of public services, healthcare, education and public transport for a knighthood: he knew when he created that coalition that the result that he was betraying the hard working councilors who have been able to do nothing since but implememt cuts and apologise as they saw much of there work in previous years flushed down the toilet (although the ageing population of Marple who need the loos more desperately as they grow older have been denied the convenience of public toilets by the LibDems and now might as well pee into the wind). Much loyalty to the Libdems in Marple is the consequence of their councillors' hard work in the past but we have seen LibDem councillors who worked hard for many years vanish from the scene and the LibDem Party in Marple in 2015 is very different to that at the time of the last election. The loyalty of an electorate once served well by its councillors, if not by its MP, is frayed and the cross of those seeking an alternative to the Tories/LibDems has never been so readily available.

You state:
“I will be a dynamic, energetic, committed Labour candidate. We desperately need an end to the Coalition’s ‘back to the thirties’ economics and the damage they are causing.”

I have seen no evidence of this to date. This hardly inspires confidence for the future. It is about time you pulled your finger out to win Marple before it is too late.

Dave

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #62 on: March 10, 2015, 09:09:06 AM »
Take Philip Hammond, he is the defence minister and he should know what his defence budget is.

As I said, I didn't catch the interview, so I may be wrong about this, but according to the press reports Hammond wasn't asked what his defence budget is, he was asked what it will be in the future.  No government minister can know that for sure, especially just before a general election.

simonesaffron

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #61 on: March 10, 2015, 07:59:44 AM »
I'm not really interested Dave in getting involved in long bundle and break arguments and searching out examples to substantiate my point. If you think our politicians are honest and responsible then that is your entitled perception but unfortunately it isn't mine.
It used to be at least for some of them, but no longer.

When I said the leadership I wasn't particularly referring to Cam, Milli & Clegg but to the wider leadership, although I was including those three in the criticism.

Take Philip Hammond, he is the defence minister and he should know what his defence budget is, but what he did in that interview was  hide behind the unpublished manifesto and grasp it as an opportunity to avoid giving an answer to the electorate. If you are happy to accept that, that's fine. I see it as yet another example of being dishonest and irresponsible.  I don't think I am being unfair to him, I think that he is being unfair to me.

I have voted in every election since I was old enough and I probably will vvote in this one but for the first time it has crossed my mind to stay away from the polling booth for this one.

Dave

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #60 on: March 09, 2015, 01:59:44 PM »
I was watching the Defence Minister on TV yesterday and he wouldn't even answer a straight question about his own defence budget. The way he squirmed out of an answer that he should know and did know, was toe curling and embarrassing.

I didn't  catch that interview, but if it's the one that is reported in today's press, in which Philip Hammond refused to say whether the Tories, (if elected) would maintain defence spending at 2% of GDP, then  I think Simone is being somewhat unfair to him. Far from being 'an answer that he should know and did know', he would have no idea!  If it comes up in the Tory manifesto, then yes, by then he should be able to answer the question.  But the manifestos are not out yet.

If we end up with a Tory government, or a Tory-led coalition, then it will be down to the new Chancellor, with the support of the cabinet, to allocate departmental budgets.  But in the last Autumn Statement, Osborne provided a financial forecast showing real-terms government spending falling to around 35% of GDP by 2020.  Many people doubt whether that is achievable, and if defence spending were to be protected, as schools and the NHS already are, then it would be even more improbable. 

I also think this is a bit unfair:
None of the leadership of the Westminster big three seem to have any integrity, honesty or even responsibility.

Perhaps Simone could give us a recent example of dishonest or irresponsible behaviour by Cameron, Clegg or Miliband?

simonesaffron

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #59 on: March 09, 2015, 07:48:26 AM »
There are so many faults and accusations that could be thrown at all the party leadership (with the possible exception of UKIP) that it is hard for me to know when to stop and start. None of the leadership of the Westminster big three seem to have any integrity, honesty or even responsibility. They are all media obsessed, when you would expect them to be electorate obsessed.

I was watching the Defence Minister on TV yesterday and he wouldn't even answer a straight question about his own defence budget. The way he squirmed out of an answer that he should know and did know, was toe curling and embarrassing. I've also given up on the permutations and implications of coalitions/partnerships. I looked at some polls yesterday and they all put Labour slightly ahead but with no outright majority. However when I'd looked two weeks ago the same polls had Conservatives in that position, so obviously there is fluctuation.

As far as local is concerned, I'm voting Lib Dem. I've conducted my own poll around Marple which is very sophisticated and involves talking to friends in pubs/cafes/shops/streets. Often when I've been drinking and so have they. It might just be the circles that I move in but they are all voting Lib Dem too in Locals. I am therefore expecting Lib Dems to win in Marple.

As for National, except for the donkey voters, everybody seems to be as perplexed as I am. I decided previously that I'd vote for the candidate as opposed to the party but that doesn't seem to have got me anywhere down the road towards a decision either. Although I have to say I'm getting a bit fed up of the repetitious, uninteresting, leaflet bombardment from the Lib Dems in particular. In fact it could on an impulsive day turn into a reason for me not voting for Lisa.




Melancholyflower

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #58 on: March 08, 2015, 06:58:33 PM »
It says a lot about the ineffectiveness of party politics in engaging the electorate in this country that, despite its apparent unpopularity, the senior party of the coalition is probably the favourite to get back in. It also says a lot about the hopelessly outdated electoral system we've chosen to keep.

Tigerman - AV was an achievable step towards PR but the electorate who could be bothered were scared into a No vote after a highly negative campaign - something the Scots could now relate to, I feel.

It's not just party politics that needs to move forward. Government in its true form needs to as well, but that's not on the agenda of course. Short-term point-scoring and leaders' image is the only thing occupying media time these days.

Dave

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #57 on: March 08, 2015, 05:05:01 PM »
I suspect that's off the agenda for a while now - certainly if the Tories get back in.

I've just had another look at the current bookies' odds, and they have changed a bit in the past couple of weeks.  At Paddypower, the favourite is now a Labour minority government (10/3).  Maybe that's a reflection of the damage Cameron could be doing to his poll ratings by appearing to be running scared of a television debate with Miliband?   

After that the current odds look like this:

Tory minority: 9/2
Tory/ Lib Dem coalition: 9/2
Tory majority: 5/1
Labour/ SNP coalition: 6/1
Labour/Lib Dem coalition: 13/2
Labour majority: 8/1
Lab/ Lib Dem/SNP coalition: 10/1

And so on.

You can also get 25/1 on a 'grand coalition' of Tories and Labour, and a Lib Dem majority comes in at 500/1 (any takers?)

I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I might be tempted by 6/1 on a Lab/SNP coalition, especially as William Hill make it favourite at 7/2.   

tigerman

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #56 on: March 08, 2015, 01:24:49 PM »
Perhaps it is time to consider moving to a form of PR as the electoral arithmetic suggests that some form of coalition is on the way again. At least one wouldn't waste a vote when one's favoured party cannot win in a particular constituency.

simonesaffron

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #55 on: March 04, 2015, 04:13:02 PM »
This constituency consists of the following six wards of Stockport Council and AFAIK none of them currently have a Labour councillor:   Bredbury and Woodley, Bredbury Green and Romiley, Hazel Grove, Marple North, Marple South and Offerton.

So it doesn't look too promising for Michael Taylor. 

Technically you are correct Dave especially when you use the word currently. However for the sake of total accuracy and to be pedantic Laura Booth was up until a few months age Labour member for Offerton. In fact she won the seat from the then Council Leader, ( now Lord Goddard) in 2012. Last year she resigned from the Labour Party and now sits as some kind of Independent. She could of course return to Labour or maybe join the Libdems or even the Conservatives.

In fact including Laura, there have been four defections within SMBC  in the last three months 3 Labour and 1 Conservative.

It's interesting but I don't know what to draw from it.

Does anybody?   

Dave

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #54 on: March 03, 2015, 12:21:24 PM »
This constituency consists of the following six wards of Stockport Council and AFAIK none of them currently have a Labour councillor:   Bredbury and Woodley, Bredbury Green and Romiley, Hazel Grove, Marple North, Marple South and Offerton.

So it doesn't look too promising for Michael Taylor. 

simonesaffron

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Re: Michael Taylor to fight Hazel Grove for Labour
« Reply #53 on: March 02, 2015, 08:15:41 PM »
Labour will have to concentrate resources on the more winnable areas of the Hazel Grove constituency. There are more Labour supporters than you may think in Marple, but some will have voted tactically in the last election to keep the Tory out.  After five years of Liberal collusion I suspect many wont be holding their noses this time and will vote with their hearts.

Where exactly are these 'winnable' labour areas in Hazel Grove?

Sounds a bit like whistling in the dark, to me,  tigerman