Good discussion about matters of importance

Many people do not watch political conferences. If they had watched the recent Liberal Democrat conference they would have seen a lot of good discussion about important matters.

Without the Coalition Government our country would be in a very poor shape, perhaps like Greece, as there would be infighting about how they are to solve their financial problems. Our coalition has amicably started to reduce the budget (and the huge interest payments this will save us). None of this is easy but it needs to be done. We are doing better than the USA, Spain and Greece to name a few countries.

Locally we want to see less paperwork in the Met and that money spent on front-line officers that can reduce crime and the fear of crime we have in Ealing. At the conference we spelt out our disgust of the rioters and looters that rampaged across the country. We also went on to say that the Met need to be quicker at adapting to tricky situations to ensure that if Ealing needs more police in the short term because of an emergency then they can get the resources they need.

Vince Cable stated that as a country we need to do more and more is planned to prompt growth and jobs. Some examples include initiatives like Crossrail which can bring jobs in the short term but also bring jobs to London. Vince followed up by announcing plans to separate the risky investment section of banks from the high street banks. This will mean that we should not be in the situation, left to us by the last government.

We then debated the difficult subject of domestic abuse. The coalition government has launched a cross-department body to end this type of violence. Also the government has opted in to the European Union Directive on human trafficking, which will strengthen the assistance offered to victims of human trafficking.

Finally we know in Ealing, with a growing population of toddlers, that we need to expand or create new schools. The government introduced a Liberal Democrat policy called the Pupil Premium which will continue to help Ealing’s most disadvantaged children. The government allocates an amount of money per child, so whichever school they attend, the money goes with them so the school can fund a better or more tailored education for them. This helps those pupils who need the most help at the start of their education.

So the next time you catch a TV show covering a political conference do at least watch five minutes and see how different parties might have policies that affect you.