Introducing Graham Evans
Graham is the prospective MP for Weaver Vale and being from Cheshire knows how wonderful a place the area is. However, having a young family means that he understands the problems people are facing on a daily basis in the area. He wants to address those matters on your behalf and will work with the rest of the Conservative team on Vale Royal Borough Council to make the area you live in a better place.
Graham’s priority at the moment is to meet and speak to as many people as possible to find out their opinion, so he can represent them effectively.
Graham has experience of local Government, having been a councillor for many years, but now wants to represent people at a national level. Graham would be delighted to speak to you or any group you may represent, so please do not hesitate to contact him.
Campaigning in Frodsham right to left Cllr Lynn Riley, Cllr Andrew Dawson, Graham Evans, Cllr Mark Ingram.
Below - at the Salt Works playing fields
Plans to freeze council tax for Weaver Vales residents – saving £213
Conservative proposals to help families and pensioners from soaring cost of living
Hard-pressed local residents across Weaver Vale could benefit from lower council tax, under national plans which have been drawn up by Conservatives. Taxpayers in Scotland benefited from a council tax freeze this year, thanks to a deal struck between Scottish local authorities and the Scottish Executive. But those living south the border were not so lucky.
The new Conservative proposal involves a partnership with local councils, giving them extra support to deliver a council tax freeze in the first two years of a Conservative Government.
• If a council keeps its council tax bill rise to 2.5% or less, then central government will provide sufficient additional resources to fund a further, additional 2.5% reduction in council tax bills.
• Each council will be completely free to accept or reject this offer. Those that accept the offer will be able to give their taxpayers a complete freeze, or even reduction, for two years in a row.
• Across Weaver Vale, the value of a council tax freeze would be equivalent to saving £213 over the two years. Under Labour, council tax has soared by 97% over the last ten years, taking the average Band D bill to £1420.
The cost to central government of reducing council tax would be funded from savings from cutting central spending on public sector consultants and advertising, and not from the overall local government budget. The Labour Government is now the second biggest advertiser in Britain, spending five times more than Tescos. It has also been slammed for the irresponsible and expensive use of consultancy firms, on top of civil servants.
Cllr Graham Evans said:
“Under Labour, council tax has soared across the country, pushing up the cost of living. Families and pensioners facing the economic squeeze cannot afford yet more tax rises from Gordon Brown.
“The next Conservative Government will work with local councils to freeze council tax for at least two years.
“Instead of rising council tax bills year after year under Labour, millions of families will get help at the time they need it most. Conservatives will not leave people to struggle with the credit crunch on their own.”
Graham's Press Release on Stamp Duty
New figures expose growing reach of Gordon Brown’s stamp duty hikes
Average detached home in Weaver Vale now pays £2114 in stamp duty
As concerns grow about the state of the housing market, worrying new figures have This week revealed how family homes across the country are being hit by punitive rates of stamp duty imposed by Gordon Brown. The average detached home is now being forced to pay 3% stamp duty, and has seen its stamp duty bill rise by almost £9,000 under Labour.
• Stamp duty hiked by stealth: The thresholds for 3 per cent and 4 per cent stamp duty have never been increased to compensate for changes in house prices. As a result, at every Budget, the lack of any announcement on indexation means more and more homes are sucked into the higher tax bands. By saying nothing, Gordon Brown literally increases stamp duty and rakes in more money.
• £9,000 tax bombshell: New analysis of official Government data has revealed that the average detached home in England paid just £1,170 in stamp duty in 1997. Today, the average detached home pays £9,903, by virtue of being pushed into the 3% stamp duty bracket – a hike of £8,733. In Weaver Vale, the average detached home pays £2114, an increase of £1207 since 1997.
• Three out of four detached homes hit: Detailed calculations across each local authority reveal that almost three quarters of family homes are now being hit with punitive stamp duty. The average detached home in 70 per cent of local authorities in England and Wales now pay 3% or 4% stamp duty, compared to none in 1997.
• Taxed if you move, taxed if you don’t: High rates of stamp duty are discouraging many families from moving. Yet they now face the prospect of new stealth taxes if they stay and build an extension. Spurred on by Government rules, town halls are starting to introduce a ‘bedroom tax’ of £1,000 per spare room if an existing house wants to obtain planning permission. New conservatories or garages could also be taxed in such a way. A council tax revaluation is also being planned for England by the Valuation Office Agency, Gordon Brown’s council tax inspectors, which will target home improvements, scenic views and nice neighbourhoods.
• Conservatives call for help for homeowners: Conservatives are calling for a series of measures to help the housing market, including abolishing the new red tape of Home Information Packs, cutting stamp duty for first-time buyers and cancelling the council tax revaluation plans. First-time buyers are being hit the hardest by the credit crunch.
Weaver Vales prospective MP, Cllr Graham Evans said:
“Gordon Brown has hiked taxes on family homes across Weaver Vale year on year. Labour have increased the burden of stamp duty by stealth, punishing people who have invested in and improved their homes. I fear even more stealth taxes are on the way in the form of new bedroom taxes to extend your home and a sinister, intrusive council tax revaluation.
“At a time when the housing market is so fragile, we need practical measures to help people move home – such as abolishing the red tape of Home Information Packs and cutting stamp duty for first-time buyers who are suffering the most.”
Graham's Press Release on Vehicle Excise Duty
Working families across Weaver Vale will find it even harder to cope with the soaring cost of living, Cllr Graham Evans, Weaver Vales Prospective MP, warned today, thanks to Gordon Brown’s new plans to hike taxes on family cars.
Fuel prices at the pump are rocketing, and households face ever-higher gas and electricity bills on top of higher council tax. The cost of driving a car will soon be even higher. Low-income households will be the hardest hit, just as they have been with the 10p income tax hikes.
The Government is to change the way that Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is calculated to raise an extra £2,500,000,000 for Gordon Brown’s coffers. Family cars face higher VED as well as a ‘showroom tax’ for new cars. The VED tax will be retrospective – so any car bought after 2001 will be hit by the higher tax rates. This will lead in turn to a plummeting re-sale price for second-hand cars. This will make it more difficult for people to replace their car and upgrade to a new or better one.
For example, the tax bill for a typical Ford Mondeo will rise from £210 to £310 a year, with a new £500 showroom tax on top. Yet, even the Government’s own estimates show that carbon dioxide emissions from motoring will hardly be cut at all.
Graham said:
“At a time when families are feeling the pinch of the rising cost of living – because of higher fuel prices, energy bills and council tax – the Government should scrap its plans for a big increase in road tax on family cars. This is yet another slap in the face for hard-working families from Labour, on top of the 10p income tax hikes.
“Conservatives have consistently opposed these measures. The Government must execute a sharp U-turn. Any change in road tax should focus only on the most polluting vehicles, and be offset by equivalent reductions in family taxes. All Gordon Brown is interested in is finding new ways to push up his notorious stealth taxes even further.”
Plans to cut red tape, promote charitable giving and get more people involved
Cllr Graham Evans, Weaver Vales Prospective MP, welcomed this week important new proposals from Conservative leader, David Cameron, to help boost the work of charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups across Weaver Vale. A series of practical policies seek to strengthen the voluntary sector, cut unnecessary red tape and get more people involved in local charities and local community groups.
The Conservative policy proposals include:
• Simplifying the Gift Aid system to reduce the bureaucratic burden on charities and promote more charitable giving
• Replacing the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) and with a Voluntary Action Lottery Fund; the BLF has attracted criticism for giving grants to controversial causes and spending money on government services rather than funding voluntary good causes.
• Creating a network of Social Enterprise Zones to boost social investment in deprived communities.
• Cutting unnecessary red tape and form-filling.
• Establishing a one-stop funding portal for significant government grants, to help voluntary groups through the confusing ‘jungle’ of different state grants.
• Enabling the voluntary sector to compete on an equal footing with the private sector to provide services.
• Promoting co-operatives, to allow local communities to run, and own, community assets and set up new government-funded schools.
Graham said:
“I welcome these new proposals to help boost local charities and community groups across Weaver Vale, by cutting red tape, encouraging more charitable giving and helping social enterprise to provide local services.
“The social challenges we face today are every bit as serious as the economic challenges Britain faced in 1979. The big dividing line in British politics today is about the role of the state. Gordon Brown believes in top-down state control; Conservatives believe in bottom-up social responsibility.”
The Conservative Party’s Voluntary Action in the 21st Century Green Paper was published on 3 June 2008.
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=145106
The policy proposals include pledges to:
1. Simplify the Gift Aid system to reduce the bureaucratic burden on charities.
2. Work with charities to sponsor a debate on whether it is possible to establish a new social norm around charitable giving.
3. Direct support for volunteering through grassroots volunteering organisations not government quangos.
4. Prioritise development work in ‘charity deserts’ to establish new volunteer-led organisations where none previously existed.
5. Support efforts to establish regular volunteering as a social norm – leading by example by giving central government employees an annual entitlement to at least eight hours volunteering.
6. Reduce the burden of regulation on volunteers – improving the system for Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checks and clearing up the confusion over benefit rules.
7. Replace the Big Lottery Fund with a Voluntary Action Lottery Fund dedicated in its entirety to the voluntary and community sector – returning the National Lottery to its original four good causes.
8. Respect the difference between grants and contracts – using contracts, rather than grants, only where there is a clear justification.
9. Operate a genuine one-stop funding portal for significant government grants.
10. Set up a funding passport scheme so that voluntary organisations can bypass repetitive grant application and contract tendering bureaucracy.
11. Draw up model grant and contract agreements to minimise the bureaucracy facing voluntary organisations in seeking funds.
12. Create a network of Social Enterprise Zones to provide incentives for social investment in deprived communities.
13. Set up a Social Investment Bank as a wholesaler of ‘patient capital’ to a wide range of social investment institutions.
14. Allow voluntary organisations delivering public services to earn a competitive return on investment by sharing substantially in the rewards that come from success.
15. Offer multi-year funding terms on contracts and grant agreements.
16. Remove the interference and bureaucracy of state funding by agreeing on goals and outcomes, not dictating methods of delivery.
17. Agree and implement a Co-operative Action Plan – empowering and enabling co-ops to play a much bigger role in running and owning community assets and services.
18. Create a powerful Office for Civil Society at the heart of government to fight for the interests of charities, social enterprises, co-operatives and community groups.
19. Ensure proper democratic scrutiny of government policy towards the voluntary sector – led by a new civil society select committee.
20. Enforce an improved version of the Compact on relations between government and the voluntary sector.
Graham's comments on the loss of personal data by HMRC
A massive 20205 children in Weaver Vale are affected by the latest data protection blunder at HM Revenue & Customs (Formerly the Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise). The figures, obtained by follow the disclosure that the name and personal details of every child in the country have been "lost in the post"!
Graham said, "Families across Weaver Vale are rightly concerned about their personal security, not least their bank details potentially getting into the wrong hands of criminals and fraudsters. This latest fiasco proves, yet again, that the Government has no ability to run their proposed national ID card database".
Graham's press release on the proposed closure of Overton Post Office
The Post Office has confirmed that the closure of local branches in Weaver Vale will start with a public consultation. So far Hillside Road, Frodsham has been targeted for closure. Under the plans, the Government aims to cut 2,500 branches from the Post Office network.
The cuts are designed to ensure that 95% of people are within six miles of their nearest Post Office branch. Conservatives are calling for the plans to be scrapped and, instead, for new business to be brought into the network.
Graham said: "However, public consultation stars here and I want to give a clear and simple "No" to any more cuts. Post offices are vital to Frodsham and I don’t believe that a 12 mile round trip is reasonable or realistic for some of the most vulnerable people. The recent report by the National Consumer Council confirmed that the cuts so far have disadvantaged local communities".
"I believe that Hillside Road Post Office has applied over the years for add-on services but been declined by the Post Office, it is ironic that lack of services is now being used to justify the closure notice"!
Shadow Post Offices Minister Charles Hendry MP added: "This is a very bad day for many local communities. This is a consequence of the Government refusing to look at ways to bring in new business but instead being determined to manage the decline of the network.
The next Conservative Government will immediately stop the compulsory closure of profitable sub-post offices and review new ways of bringing additional business into the network, so we can maintain the service rather than merely manage its constant decline". said "As with most Government-inspired consultations these days I am very concerned that the decision may have already been taken on which branches are to close in our area".
GET ON THE DOG AND BONE FOR CHARITY!
Old mobile phones are being hunted down by Graham Evans, the Parliamentary Candidate for Weaver Vale, who has launched a campaign across Weaver Vale for people to send their mobile phones to Guide Dogs for the Blind and help the environment at the same time.
Graham said,
“A lot of people have unused or broken mobile phones at the back of a drawer. If everyone donated their old handset we could raise a lot for charity. Any mobile, working or broken and no matter how old can raise cash under the scheme. It costs £10 a day to breed, train and care for each guide dog. Graham added, “A guide dog transforms the life of a blind person, but training is expensive. Recycling your mobile has two positive benefits, raising money to feed a dog for five days and it protects the environment from the harmful effects of adding your phone to the growing number in landfill”.
If you wish to donate your phone please send it to Weaver Vale Conservatives, Vale House Business Centre, Ashton Lane North, Runcorn, WA7 3PA or email to the address below.
Email: weavervale@fsmail.net
www.weavervaleconservatives.com
Tel: 01928 790547