Local Conservatives lead the way when it comes to working for Blackpool.  Last year, Ron Bell, prospective Conservative MP for Blackpool, lead a team that transformed some waste land into a real community asset.  Since then the Chepstow Road Garden has become the hub of the local area.

“I was delighted to be involved and 18 months on I still bob in and check it out.  It’s great to see all the kids playing and we’ve got a big thumbs up from all the mums and dads for the benefit it brings” 

Community Action is not only about these grand schemes, it’s about supporting the local groups and organisations, it’s about making Blackpool a better place to live.  Take the work of the Paul Nicholas School of Acting, a scheme launched by Ron, has seen nearly a 100 children build up confidence.  “I say to people, if you’ve a spare hour or two a week, get stuck into something to help Blackpool out.” Adds Ron

Speaking as a local man, recent weeks have been both bitter and sweet. We have seen the successes of the new Conservative administration’s, Clean Up Campaign”, announcements of many new initiatives such as the College Development and others that are still to be unveiled, so all in all things are starting to look up. Sadly however we have had the promise of Post Office closures which I see as a damaging threat to our communities and our way of life. There can be no doubt that it is the Conservative Party that is leading the way with new ideas in Westminster only to have them stolen by Gordon Brown. I was absolutely dismayed and called for answers from Gordon Marsden when I learned that he had recently voted in Parliament against the Conservatives proposal to stop the closure of 2,500 Post Offices . To their credit many of his Labour colleagues did vote with the Conservatives knowing this to be what the electorate wanted, sadly however Gordon Marsden was amongst those who said one thing but did another. Last September I raised a motion requiring the Chief Executive to write to Gordon Marsden asking him to signify his support for a referendum on Europe.

Gordon Brown’s election manifesto  promised the people of this country a referendum and following approval of my motion in full Council the Chief Executive wrote to Gordon Marsden asking him to signify his support for the right of the people of Blackpool to a democratic vote.  Sadly, he once more decided to accept the Government whip and voted with the government to deny the people of Blackpool a referendum. As a local man I am wholly committed to returning Blackpool to its former glory and I strongly believe that an MPs raison d’etre should be community first even before Westminster.  I believe that I can demonstrate my worth by showing what I can do for my community and I promise to do all in my power for the people that I one day hope to represent.

What interesting times we live in, Gordon Brown seems to be clinging on to his reputation despite a decade of economic mismanagement which has all but brought Britain to its knees. The same man who bragged about, “throwing away the fiscal rule book,” and being, “a safe pair of hands” has now suddenly decided that it is alright to borrow vast sums and has doubled our national debt to over £1 trillion. Browns jam today approach to borrowing must inevitably mean a lot of pain for hard pressed taxpayers who are going to have to pay for his blundering. We already know that future tax rises are inevitable and many believe that Brown has a secret plan to raise VAT to 20 per cent if Labour get elected again. Labour's Pre-Budget Report was a disaster for British families - full of tax cons, not tax cuts. It wasn't about helping the economy; it is about helping Gordon Brown cling on to power. 
Conservatives believe in real tax cuts, not tax cons. So to help beat the recession, we will:, freeze council tax for two years by cutting wasteful Government spending,.

Reduce employment costs for small businesses by cutting National Insurance  and through a tax break for new jobs. Get credit flowing by guaranteeing lending to business and over the long term we will get the public finances back under control with an Office for Budget Responsibility, so no Labour Government can ever bankrupt this country again. Happily we now have a Conservative administration in Blackpool and the positive changes are there for all to see. We no longer roll out reams of artists impressions and pie in the sky schemes that never materialize, if we say it is going to happen it does.. But what we really need now is a change in Government so that we can get Britain back on course. The saddest thing about the last eleven years are the missed opportunities, the billions of pounds raised by Gordon Browns countless stealth taxes and sale of  Britain’s assets which appear to have disappeared down a black hole. That money is gone and without any perceivable improvements and without a thought of putting anything away for a rainy day, well the rainy day is here and it is the British people who will have to pay the price.