THE LIBERAL DEMOCRAT MANIFESTO

This is a manifesto you can trust. We have stripped our priorities back to the essential, fundamental changes that Britain needs to make it fair:

• Fair taxes that put money back in your pocket
• A fair chance for every child
• A fair future, creating jobs by making Britain greener
• And a fair deal by cleaning up politics

These are deliverable, practical plans to make your life better, and they are right there on the front cover of our manifesto. Instead of rhetoric and razzmatazz, we are saying what we will do and how we will pay for it.

Elections should be a competition of ideas, not marketing budgets. They may have the bigger budgets but we have the bigger ideas.And you can trust us to deliver because unlike the other parties, we have spelt out, line by line in the manifesto how every single policy is paid for, and how we will reduce the deficit.

We have set out £15bn of details spending cuts and just £5bn a year of new spending, meaning £10bn for the deficit every year. We are the first party to put detailed spending plans into a manifesto.

Four key pledges

1. Fair taxes: We will ensure no-one pays income tax on the first £10,000 they earn. Most taxpayers will get a tax cut of £700 a year. We’ll pay for it by closing loopholes that unfairly benefit the rich, a new tax on mansions worth over £2m, a crack down on tax avoidance and higher aviation duty.
2. A fair start for all our children: We will get every child the individual attention they need by cutting class sizes. We will spend an extra £2.5bn on schools, targeted at children who need the most help. The average primary school could cut class sizes to 20. An average secondary school could see classes of just 16.
3. A fair future: a rebalanced, green economy: We will break up the banks and rebalance the economy away from unsustainable financial speculation. We will be honest about where savings must be made in government spending to balance the books and protect our children’s future. And we will create new jobs with a £3.1bn green stimulus and job creation plan in our first year in office, fully funded by cut backs elsewhere.
4. A fair deal from politicians: We will introduce a fair voting system. We will ensure corrupt MPs can be sacked by their constituents and stop non-doms from donating to parties or sitting in Parliament. We will take power from Westminster and give it to communities, with local power over police and the NHS, and introduce a freedom bill to protect and restore civil liberties.

We also have the following commitments:

• Protect front line NHS services. We will help the NHS work better with the money it has and protect front line services by re-investing the savings we find back into healthcare
• Recruit 3,000 more police officers to keep our streets safe and scrapping ID cards
• Scrap student tuition fees to reduce the burden of student debt immediately and eliminate fee debt altogether over 6 years
• A pay rise for our brave service men and women together with cut backs of bureaucrats and top brass officers in the Ministry of Defence
• Uprate the basic state pension in line with earnings immediately so that pensioners do not fall further behind when the economy starts to grow again

YOU CAN READ NICK CLEGGS MANIFESTO LAUNCH SPEECH HERE

YOU CAN READ OR DOWNLOAD A COPY OF OUR MANIFESTO HERE: libdem_manifesto_2010.pdf

ALTERNATIVELY YOU CAN VIEW OUR MANIFESTO IN FULL OR SECTIONS ON OUR WEBSITE HERE

Police in Whitefield and Prestwich are urging residents to be extra careful after a number of burglaries recently.

People calling at houses have pretended to be from the council and then stolen money from elderly residents.

Gaynor Mason, crime reduction advisor for Bury police said: “We would urge anyone who does have callers at the door to ask for identification. All official workers do carry identification and are pleased to show it. If you are still unsure then ring the company by looking up the number in the phone book. Any legitimate caller would be happy to wait while their credentials are being checked.

“People may feel embarrassed that they have become a victim of this type of crime but it’s important these crimes are reported, so we can investigate and catch the perpetrators.

If anyone knows the identity of the offender they should contact the priority crime unit at Bury on 0161 856 8179 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Bury MBC Service Managers and Managers within partner agencies are requested to ensure that staff, who may have a need to call on residents in the borough, carry suitable identification at all times.

We’ve been asked to share the following information around doorstep crime in the area.

The BurySafe Partnership and Trading Standards would like our help generally in preventing doorstep crime (bogus officials and/or rogue traders). Across the borough in the last few weeks, we have had a few doorstep crime instances; the tactic or modus operandi is as follows;

(1) Elderly vulnerable resident approached in her home, by a man with a holdall selling household items supposedly for the Epilepsy Group, she went into her home to get her money and was followed in. Another man later came in as well. She bought an ironing board cover, a polisher and a packet of handkerchiefs. The man filled in the cheque for her, told her it was for £50, when presented the cheque was made out for £150. She does not appear to have had anything stolen. She describes the men as white, 5 foot 7″ tall, one blond, one dark, of ordinary build, and in late 20’s.

(2) There has also been a couple of instances of consumers being approached for tree cutting. Trees have been cut down, for varying costs, however the father and son team, state they will take them away and don’t. One consumer has been taken to the bank to with draw the money. They are described as father and son, both white, approximately 6ft tall, thick set with short dark brown hair, father late 40’s early 50’s, son in 20’s.

If you have any elderly or vulnerable relatives, or know any one who may be the potential victim of doorstep crime, please try to discourage them from buying goods and services on their door step.

“Bury Safe” have have stickers available for any one who would like them which state no cold calling. If anyone wants to report a door step crime incident, please contact ether trading standards or the police. If you are in a “Homewatch Area”, your Homewatch Coordinator may also be able to assist.

For further information or advice in the first instance contact Trading Standards on 253 5566.
If a Crime is in progress contact the Police on 999 or 872 5050. Please feel free to contact your local councillors if you need any further information.