The World Dock Pudding Championship - One of the biggest days in the Mytholmroyd community calendar and where was Labour?

This year the added attraction of a bit of celebrity in the form of Robbie Coltrane didn’t bring a single Labour MP, councillor or candidate to the event.

Last week :

• No Labour faces at the Mayor’s civic dinner
• No Tory/Labour appearances at the Luddendenfoot Community Assoc. fundraiser
• No local Labour/Tory councillors or candidates for the Hebden Royd cleanup in Mytholmroyd.

Congrats to Darren Kay for knocking the ringer (Mr. Coltrane) into second and winning the Dock Pudding Competition.John Beacroft-Mitchell

PS. If you are Labour candidate/councillor and did go to the Dock Pudding competition please feel free to put me right by posting a comment or sending me an email john@beacroft-mitchell.co.uk.

It’s going to be a straight fight between the Tories and Liberal Democrats for Luddendenfoot Ward this year.

Last year the Liberal Democrats held the ward with the Tories coming second.

Labour dropped behind the BNP for the first time ever.

There is nothing to suggest this year will be any different.

The Liberal Democrats have a good reputation for getting things done in the ward all year round.

At an often lively, and robustly debated meeting on Wednesday 14th March, Hebden Royd Town Council passed its budget for the forthcoming financial year of 2007/08.
“We are delighted that the precept of 2.7%, we proposed and council passed last month has now finally been broken down into a radical, progressive, and prudent budget”. said Cllr Fekri.
The council has decided to re-examine the notion of having some community groups on base budget, which is what is seen as good practice by many other authorities and grant-giving bodies.
“We are delighted that with sensiblet financial management we have managed to increase our grant-giving capacity to £45,000, whilst also putting more into reserves should anything untoward appear over the horizon”. said Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Cllr John Beacroft-Mitchell.
“Our main priorities next year are the development of Central Street, Calder Holmes Park, Environmental Renaissance, Mytholmroyd Community Centre, The Ground Floor Project, and of course The Arts Festival and the Junior Band among others,”added a clearly delighted Cllr Fekri.
“It just goes to show how much we can achieve if we all work together for the benefit of all the communities in Hebden Royd”, concluded Cllr Beacroft-Mitchell.

Calder Valley MP, Chris McCafferty, has been challenged to vote against the replacement of the Trident nuclear submarines by a leading local Liberal Democrat.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, backed by David Cameron’s Conservatives, have forced a vote in the Commons on replacing the four Trident submarines which will be held on Wednesday 14th March.

Upper Calder Valley Liberal Democrat chairman, John Beacroft-Mitchell said, “The decision on the replacement of the Trident submarines is not needed until at least 2014. This is the date accepted by many experts and by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.

“And there is a powerful reason for taking the decision in the next decade rather than now. In 2010, the next round of international nuclear disarmament talks will be held. It is vital that they are successful.

“Taking a decision on replacing the Trident submarines now pre-empts the outcome of those talks and could cause them to fail. It will show the rest of the world that the UK is not serious about negotiating away nuclear weapons.

“And it will encourage countries such as Iran to continue developing their own nuclear programme.

“The most sensible course of action is to decide whether or not to replace Trident, with all the costs involved, after we have seen the outcome of the nuclear disarmament talks.

“That is why Liberal Democrat MPs will be voting against the Blair, Brown and Cameron decision to press ahead with replacement now on 14th March.

“And I am calling on Chris McCafferty here in Calder Valley to come off the fence and vote against this decision which could cause these vital international talks to fail.

“This is too important a situation for Chris McCafferty to follow blindly the instructions of the Labour Party whip. If hshe is serious about negotiating away nuclear weapons, backing Blair and Brown on this is definitely the wrong thing to do.”