New members flock to join the Labour Party

15,000 joined Labour online, extra 3,000 joined off line. That's 18,000 new members in last 14 days - Remarkable.


Let us build on that as the electorate are supporting us and I suspect showing Labour respect .
from Cllr Ian Robertson
secretary Walsall South and agent for Valerie Vaz MP

Valerie Vaz new MP for Walsall South

Congratulations to Valerie Vaz on winning the seat of Walsall South for Labour. In her acceptance speech Valerie paid tribute to the tremendous service that Bruce George had given to Walsall during his 36 years representing Walsall in Westminster.

The Walsall Labour team would like to thank all those who voted Labour and all those party members who have worked so hard to acheive a successful result.

you are invited to visit my website on www.valerie-vaz4walsall-south.org.uk

Best wishes

Valerie

Dave Miliband Foreign Secretary lends support to Valerie Vaz in Walsall

David Miliband Foreigh Secretary lends support to Valerie Vaz in centre with retiring Walsall South MP Bruce George on right.

published by Ian Robertson on behalf of Valerie Vaz both of 128 Broadway North WS1 2QE printed by electronic communication

Labour celebrate Sure Start success with Yvette Cooper

Yvette Cooper visits Sure Start Palfrey with Bruce George with Valerie Vaz in the centre. Labour candidate for Walsall South.

Sure Start is one of the many great successes of our Labour Government. Do no put them at risk. Vote Labour on May 6th

published by Ian Robertson on behalf of Valerie Vaz both of 128 Broadway North WS1 2QE printed from electronic communication

Val Vaz on the election trail.

Valerie Vaz hands in her nomination papers at Walsall Electoral Office accompanied by Ian Robertson ( agent)

To the left of Valerie are her daughter and husband.

Tory waste

TORY WASTE

Since 2000 Walsall’s Conservative Council has increased Council tax by over 75%, whilst :
- £3 million to be repaid to the
European Union because the
Council didn’t keep proper
accounting records
- £6 million cut from Social
Services this year, but the
Tories won’t say who’s going
to suffer.
- £6 million overspend (and
rising) on the new Walsall ring
road
- £6 million extra payments to
lighting contractor, Amey, for
our streetlights
- £2 million plus spent on
employment tribunal cases
- £? millions in payments to
former Council officers.
Total of £23 million plus wasted
SCHOOLS IN CRISIS….
Despite millions invested in the education of our children by a Labour Government, Walsall - under the Conservative-run Council - is still at the bottom of league tables for national GCSE results (131 out of 149).

FLAGSHIP TORY POLICIES
- Closing sport and leisure centres
- Closing Arboretum Illuminations
- Failing to provide enough affordable
family homes
- Shutting our public toilets after
4.00 pm. For the sake of just £12000 ! LABOUR SUCCESS
Labour has invested massively in Walsall, including :
£63 million on our new College

£170 million on our new Manor Hospital
£100 million to start rebuilding our secondary schools
£100 million to start rebuilding our primary schools
Investing in 16 Surestart Children’s Centres across our Borough
More doctors, nurses and dentists in our health service
More Police officers and PCSOs on our streets - leading to significant falls in crime
More teachers, nursery nurses and assistants in our schools.

Don’t let all this go to waste !

VOTE LABOUR - HERE’S WHY

- Walsall Labour is committed to
protecting our frontline services.
- Walsall Labour will give greater
control to our local communities.
- Walsall Labour believes we must
make sure that every £ works for
the people of Walsall ….and to
avoid headlines like these !

Walsall South Labour mark end of 36 years for Bruce George Serving the residents of Walsall South

Walsall South Labour Party paid tribute to the 36 years that our MP Bruce George has served all the people living in Walsall South. Pictured here holding a gift of a picture drawn by local artist Gordon Turner, depicting the view from the steps of St Matthews Chuch looking down the hill towards the market.
Pictured on the left is the artist Gorden Turner next to Valerie Vaz whos has been nominated as the candidate to succeed Bruce in the imminent General Elections.
On the lef tof Bruce is Rose Burley who is also retiring as secretary to Bruce.
We wish Bruce and his wife Lisa a long and happy retirement from politics but moving on to other issues. Bruce and Lisa will remain with a home in Walsall. Bruce has earned the respect of those of different political persuasions and has helped so many with his weekly surgeries, run without favour to any party, creed colour or age
We shall all miss you.
posted by Ian Robertson secretary Walsall South

Latest from Andrew Lumley on Yam Yam

Growing anger over Walsall Council’s failure to keep track of more than £3million in European funding has led to calls by a Walsall MP for an investigation into the lack of an adequate audit trail and the likelihood of disciplinary action being taken against those who are considered to be responsible for the blunder.

Under the European Structural Fund Objective 2 initiative, local community groups shared £3.2million in grants intended to improve neighbourhoods. Walsall Council was the “accountable body” responsible for administering the programme and was answerable to the Government Office of the West Midlands. But the accounting fiasco means that the money will not be reimbursed from the EU leaving Walsall council tax payers to foot the bill.

After the true extent of the financial disaster was revealed, Leader of the Council Mike Bird said: “If anything this has made me dislike Europe even more than before. They can come in up to 10 years afterwards and audit the books. However none of this excuses that our officers misled the elected members. I was assured that we were looking at paying back £700,000, which was bad enough.

“I commissioned the independent report because I wanted to make sure that everything was open and honest. Now we’ve got to deal with this at election time but so be it. People have a right to know.”

The Grant Thornton report commissioned by the council investigated the European Regional Development Fund grant allocation round that ran between 2000 and 2006 and discovered that £2.8million was unaccounted for. The report details events from 2003 onwards and makes no reference to the preparations for the bids between 2000 and 2002 when, coincidently, Councillor Bird last held the position of Leader of the Council.

Former council officer Peter Francis became aware of the problem within two weeks of being appointed but was dismissed after blowing the whistle. He was subsequently awarded £650,00 in an out of court settlement for wrongful dismissal.

The debacle has prompted Walsall North MP David Winnick to write to district auditor Jon Roberts demanding an urgent investigation. The veteran Labour MP said: “The position, which has obviously generated much concern locally, is that grants were allocated to various groups on the basis that the monies would be recouped from the European Regional Development Fund. Now it appears that due to an inadequate audit trail it is not possible for this to occur.

“This failure may well mean that council tax-payers will have to foot the bill. In these circumstances I have asked whether he will look into this matter as soon as possible. I think it is important that the district auditor should investigate, and not wait for the annual audit which he would normally carry out.”

The intervention by Mr Winnick provoked a characteristic response from the Council Leader, accusing the MP of “grandstanding”: “We’ve already had an independent audit. We paid Grant Thornton £80,000 to do it, and that was published last week. David Winnick ought to get his act together. He’s just grandstanding.” Mr Bird said.

“There’s a publicly available document with the findings and it’s quite clear that this comes down to failings by Council officials. All those responsible have now left, apart from three who will be subject to disciplinary action.”

Councillor Bird added that “there is absolutely no question” that the ruling Conservative group will take any political responsibility for the scandal. He said: “The report says there is no blame attached to any elected member – it goes straight to the officers.”

Paul Sheehan, Walsall Council chief executive said: “We will consider the implications of the report before taking appropriate action. It is essential we respond to any weaknesses in the council’s processes in order to avoid any repetition in the future.”

It was revealed this week that Mr Sheehan is one of the highest paid council officers in the country, taking home £203,000 a year.

What do you think? you can post a reply... we think this waste of your Council Tax money, the equivalent of a 3.5% rise in Council Tax is a disgrace... the tory cabinet had this reported to them in 2007.

Valerie campaigning in
Walsall Town Centre
on Saturday 27th March
with Bruce George MP

Valerie Vaz the Labour Party Candidate for Walsall South
write to Val at 79 Darlaston Road Walsall WS2 9RD
tel 01922 636077
email on valerie4walsall@gmail.com
VALERIE VAZ FIGHTING FOR WALSALL

published by Ian Robertson 87 Belvidere Road Walsall WS1 3Au on behalf of Valerie Vaz of 79 Darlaston Road Walsall WS2 9RD