All this failure nationally and his mate locally on the Wirral wants to run our Council. God willing he too will fail.

Well, after last nights result in Seacombe it’s time for me to move into a different phase of my life. It felt very strange waking up this morning not having to consider which local residents issue needed to be prioritised first.

Instead I found myself not having to worry about that any more as it’s now someone elses concern and maybe, just maybe I can get my life back.

Looking around the house I can see lots of jobs that have been put on the back burner while I have been focused on the local elections, so now I have all the time in the world to get them done.

I hope the residents of Seacombe receive the same attention I was able to provide as a full time councillor with the new representative they now have.

The best I can do and will do is to refer any enquiries I receive to the Town Hall and wish them well.

Since the General Election, we’ve been busy delivering the promises set out in our Manifesto. We’re reforming welfare to end the benefits culture once and for all. We’ve cut corporation tax to help businesses. We’ve protected the NHS budget, capped immigration and we’re passing a law to ensure any Government that tries to give more powers to Brussels will have to hold a referendum first.

Most importantly, we’ve taken urgent action to bring Britain back from the brink of bankruptcy. Labour doubled our national debt, leaving us with the biggest deficit in our peacetime history. So we’ve put in place a tough but fair plan to cut the deficit and get our economy growing again.

But there is still so much more to do – and we need your help to ensure the country keeps moving forward.

Ed Miliband and Ed Balls will make opportunistic attacks on everything we do - reducing the deficit, reforming welfare, getting immigration under control. But we can’t let them drag us back to the bad old days.

We need to tackle their attacks head on and that will ensure Labour are never again allowed to set the economic or political agenda.

You have recently received a letter asking you to support your local conservative candidate in Thursday’s elections and beyond. With your help, we can continue to build a better future.

Dear Steve,

I hope you have been enjoying this election campaign. As we reach the final few days and as you are seeking to lead the Council once more, I wanted to give you this opportunity to publish your Party’s plans, should this happen.

Indeed, I, and many others, have been disappointed that your Party has said so little of your plans. The only policies I can divine from your voting pattern in Council and from what you have actually published are to scrap the ‘deep clean’ of our shopping centres and to reintroduce parking charges after 3pm in all Council car parking spaces.

For this reason, I would ask you to urgently reveal your Party’s plans so that the electorate can make an informed choice ahead of the vote on Thursday.

1. Would you continue the implementation of our Action Plan to tackle the weaknesses and failures in the Council’s adult social care which occurred during your time in office, as revealed by the inspection report of the Care Quality Commission?

2. So far you have been silent about my decision to offer Martin Morton re-employment with Wirral Borough Council. Knowing now how he was treated while you were Leader of the Council are you going to join me in apologising to him for the way he was treated and do you support my decision?

3. Given the support for our policy by business and trader organisations, can you explain how widely you consulted on your plan to reintroduce car parking charges after 3pm?

4. Your Party’s national Local Government Spokesman has described the Council Tax freeze as ‘a gimmick’. Do you agree?

5. I have given a commitment that no library or leisure centre will close while I am Leader of the Council. Can you give the same commitment?

6. Within weeks of gaining power in Liverpool, your Party scrapped free swimming for children and pensioners. As you know, because of action my administration took, Wirral has retained both. If you become Leader, would you maintain that policy?

7. So far, your Group has refused to reduce their allowances. If you were to regain control of Wirral Council, would you increase allowances paid to Cabinet members to the level they were under your previous administration?

8. As you know, we have opened up Cabinet by reducing the number of reports marked as exempt and we were one of the first to meet the request of Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to publish all spending of £500 or more. Would a Labour-led Council go back to the way things were before you were removed from office?

9. Your candidate and councillor in Liscard claimed we have ‘cancelled’ help for Liscard. Do you accept this is wrong and, if not, can you explain exactly what it is we are supposed to have cancelled?

10. I am proud of the fact that we included every part of Wirral in our consultation exercise and we have made this approach standard operating procedure for the Council. Given your Party’s hostility to the last consultation exercise, would you give all of Wirral’s communities and public an opportunity to share their views with the Council again this year?

11. You opposed the early voluntary retirement and voluntary severance given to 1,100 staff and have previously said you will ‘re-employ’ a number of senior managers. Given that all of 1,100 staff who have left the Council volunteered to leave and we have reduced the number of senior managers in the Council by 25%, which ones will you re-employ, in which departments and at what cost?

I hope you will take this opportunity to explain to the people of Wirral what your vision is
for our communities and people and what you would do,

Leader of the Council
Councillor Jeff Green
Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Town Hall
Brighton Street
Wallasey
Wirral CH44 8ED
0151 691 8652
jeffgreen@wirral.gov.uk
www.wirral.gov.uk
www.leaderofwirral.com
www.twitter.com/cllrjeffgreen

Prime Minister David Cameron has issued a statement on the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Osama Bin Laden, who was responsible for some of the worst terrorist atrocities including the 9/11 attack, was killed in a US operation in Pakistan.

Mr Cameron congratulated President Obama on the operation and said now was a time to remember all those murdered by Osama Bin Laden.

The PM said:

“The news that Osama Bin Laden is dead will bring great relief to people across the world. Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the worst terrorist atrocities the world has seen – for 9/11 and for so many attacks, which have cost thousands of lives, many of them British.

“It is a great success that he has been found and will no longer be able to pursue his campaign of global terror. This is a time to remember all those murdered by Osama Bin Laden, and all those who lost loved ones. It is also a time too to thank all those who work round the clock to keep us safe from terrorism. Their work will continue.

“I congratulate President Obama and those responsible for carrying out this operation.”

Mr Cameron also spoke on television at his residence at Chequers. The Prime Minister said:

“This news will be welcomed right across our country.

“Of course, it does not mark the end of the threat we face from extremist terrorism. Indeed, we will have to be particularly vigilant in the weeks ahead.

“But it is, I believe, a massive step forward.

“Osama bin Laden was responsible for the death of thousands of innocent men, women and children right across the world – people of every race and religion.

“He was also responsible for ordering the death of many, many British citizens, both here and in other parts of the world.

“I would like to congratulate the US forces who carried out this brave action. I would like to thank President Obama for ordering this action.

“And I think it is a moment when we should thank all of those who work day and night, often with no recognition, to keep us safe from the threat of terror.

“But above all today, we should think of the victims of the poisonous extremism that this man has been responsible for.

“Of course, nothing will bring back those loved ones that families have lost to terror.

“But at least they know the man who was responsible for these appalling acts is no more.”

Cash-strapped councils on Merseyside have been asked to sponsor the Labour Party’s conference in Liverpool. Labour is hoping income from the Conference will help to plug its own £16 million black hole. Meanwhile, Labour MPs complain that councils in the region do not have enough money for services such as Sure Start.

The Leader of Wirral Council, Jeff Green, received his letter from the General Secretary of the Labour Party, Ray Collins, with an invitation to an ‘open day’ to discuss ‘commercial opportunities’ with ‘independent experts offering advice on making the most out of the event for Exhibitors and Sponsors’.

Cllr. Green said: “Labour’s hypocrisy is breathtaking. For months, their MPs in Merseyside have been complaining that councils do not have enough money for really important services such as Sure Start, free swimming or libraries. Yet, their leaders nationally, believe we are so awash with cash that we will hand some of it over to the Labour Party to pay for their conference in Liverpool.”

“I do not know about the other councils in Merseyside but Wirral Council will not be using Council Taxpayers money to advertise, sponsor or subsidise the Labour Conference. Our priority is to provide the services that people in Wirral want while freezing Council Tax and avoiding compulsory redundancies.”

You can read the Labour Party letter to Wirral’s Council Leader, Cllr. Jeff Green below:

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Children across Wirral are making the most of the free swimming this Easter as the sunny weather drives the under 18s into the Borough’s six pools.

Councillor David Elderton, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Tourism, said: “Keeping swimming free for children in school holidays – and for pensioners all year round – was one of the first decisions the new Council made last summer. During hot weather like this you realise how much this is valued by children across the Borough. In addition to free swimming, we are also investing more in improving our leisure centres.”

The six pools – Leasowe, Woodchurch, The Oval, Europa, Guinea Gap and the West Kirby Concourse – have programmes for families, children and the over 50s. Councillor Elderton added: “This year, we are also extending free swimming to our serving armed forces as a token of this Borough’s appreciation for all that they do.”

Free swimming this holiday lasts until 1st May and centres are only closed on the day of the Royal Wedding.

Potholes (453), dodgy pavements (328) and dog fouling (324) are the top issues for Council Taxpayers. More than 3,000 suggestions and requests for help across 45 council services were received following the first-ever Council Tax survey. Issued with the Council Tax bills, the survey asked residents to tell the Council of problems and everyone who responded will be kept informed of what is being done in response.

Councillor Lesley Rennie, Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transport Services, said: “This is a brilliant response and is the latest step we are taking to open up the Council and make it easier for people to get things done in their neighbourhood.

“We’ll use the extra cash we are investing in maintaining our roads to tackle many of the potholes and our new team to tackle dog fouling has already made a great start but, as we can see from the results of the survey, there is still a lot more to do,” added Councillor Rennie.

Meanwhile, people have also offered to get more involved in their local community – 18 people want to join or set up a ‘Friends’ group for their library, another seven want to get involved in the running of their park and six people want to become foster carers. Someone has also offered to become a lollipop lady.

Council Tax Questionaire Analysis 170311 – 200411

Wirral’s Conservatives have launched the Borough’s first election broadcast. You can see it by clicking on the arrow below:

Am I a stone and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop
Thy blood’s slow loss And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in the starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon —
I, only I.

Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more,
And smite a rock.