Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Lesson 1, pay attention
The campaign website for Hilary Armstrong was updated, this week..says the 18th but I am sure I was on the site on Monday and yesterday (I had a slow blogging day yesterday as I had to work so I might have missed it.)
Anyway she was at Durham Castle in the rain to launch the North East Manifesto.
Government Chief Whip, Hilary Armstrong was today joined by Labour’s candidates for County Durham to officially launch Labour’s manifesto for the North East.
Hilary was joined on the platform by Kevan Jones (North Durham), John Cummings (Easington), Roberta Blackman-Wood (City of Durham), Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) and former Cabinet Minister, Steven Byers.
"The North – Forward not back" was unveiled at an event a Durham Castle. Hilary Armstrong also unveiled Labour North’s new poster campaign.
Launching the manifesto, Hilary Armstrong said;
“Labour wants to give everyone in the North East the opportunities they deserve. This manifesto is our vision for taking this region forward. Our economic management has but the building blocks in place for a more prosperous future for the North East. Measures such as Working and Child Tax Credits, Minimum Wage and the New Deal are making work pay and giving people a chance to build a more comfortable future for their families.
The choice is clear. We all remember the damage the Tories did to this region especially when they were in office, with cuts to our public services and boom and bust economics.”
I am guessing that this is the "Manifesto for the North"
Hilary has got a mention in two newspaper articles out of this:Families better off
- Unemployment in the North has fallen by 51 per cent since 1997.
- Long-term unemployment has fallen by 88 per cent since 1997.
- Long-term youth unemployment has fallen by 83 per cent since 1997.
- 94,730 people have found employment through Labour’s New Deal in the North.
- Families with children are on average £1,350 a year better off than in 1997.Every child achieving more
- Standards in the North are up:
- 16 per cent more 11-year-olds are achieving good standards in literacy and the number getting good grades in numeracy has risen by 13 per cent.
- 13 per cent more 14-year-olds are achieving good standards in literacy and the number getting good grades in numeracy has risen by 13 per cent.
- 12.2 per cent more 15-year-olds in the North are achieving five or more good GCSEs since 1997.Giving every child the best start
- 273,200 families in the North are benefiting from tax credits.
- Already over 65,506 children in the North are eligible for The Child Trust Fund.
Minister visits factory
North is poor pay relation
The last one I suppose is the Tories response.
Now I am not telling Jamie how to respond/run his campaign, but Hilary has been in the Cronical/Journal 6 times this month and unless Jamie is running adverts in these papers he has not been given a mention.
The Liberals are not bothering to campaign as far as I can tell, Hilary is a headline grabbing name, get stuck into her man.
Lets make this an interesting campaign.
Right I know Tories are mostly pro-war (with only 2 of them voting against the war) and you might be pro-war..but if you say your not (good practice) and start pressing her on it could make for some interesting news.
Go on...or are we living in Fawlty Towers...don't mention the war....
