Ivory slams Council Tax anguish

Trevor Ivory is concerned that too many families are facing soaring bills at a time of financial pressure.

Labour’s Council Tax hikes are putting Norfolk’s families under huge pressure as they are forced to tighten their belts.

The man who will fight North Norfolk for the Conservatives at the General Election, Trevor Ivory, has expressed anger at new figures that reveal the soaring use of court orders and bailiffs to collect council tax.  Council tax bills have more than doubled across the country under Labour.  In North Norfolk, bills have risen by 138% since 1997, thanks to Gordon Brown.

New statistics show that 1.4 million households had bailiffs knocking at their door for unpaid council tax last year – up nearly 70 per cent since 1997. Another 1,517 people were made bankrupt by the courts for their council tax debts. In North Norfolk alone, the bailiffs were called in on 1,480 people who had not paid their Council Tax.  The latest official figures also reveal that that a record 3.1 million households nationally are now in severe council tax difficulties and face liability orders for unpaid council tax. Liability orders allow councils to seize money from wage packets and benefits or commence bailiff proceedings.

Trevor Ivory said, “Thanks to Gordon Brown doubling council tax bills, a record number of families in North Norfolk and across the country are struggling to make ends meet.  More people now face the threat of menacing bailiffs knocking at their door.  This is a crisis of Labour’s own making and at a time when people are already feeling financial pressure.

“Labour Ministers have blocked a council tax freeze for England, whilst one has been introduced in Scotland.  This shows how out of touch Gordon Brown is with the plight of hard-working families and pensioners.  A Conservative Government will make sure that local councils can freeze council tax for at least two years, bringing real help to low and middle income families. ”

Ivory: Put the law back on the side of local people

Trevor Ivory has long supported local people's calls for a tough approach to crime and anti-social behaviour. Last year he arranged for the Shadow Home Secretary to visit Briston to discuss local people's concerns with police.

Blueprint to tackle crime in North Norfolk is welcomed, as figures reveal that 805 violent attacks took place in the area last year

Trevor Ivory, Conservative Candidate for North Norfolk, has strongly endorsed radical and bold new plans to tackle crime and to restore confidence in Britain’s ‘broken’ criminal justice system.

The importance of the Conservative plans is underlined by new figures showing that there were 805 violent attacks on people across North Norfolk last year, a rise of 48% per cent in a decade.  The Conservatives have published their crime manifesto, which includes proposals to give people greater protection if they have to defend themselves against intruders in their homes or if they stop a crime being committed in the street.  The plans also include measures to create fifteen new rape crisis centres across the country and give all existing rape crisis centres stable, long-term funding.

Mr Ivory said that local people would particularly welcome new powers for councils to fight booze-fuelled antisocial behaviour and to clampdown on supermarkets selling alcohol at below cost-price, which is destroying law-abiding local pubs and fuelling low-level crime.

The Conservative Candidate told a meeting of concerned local people that part of the solution to the problems of Broken Britain is to make the police accountable to local communities and highlighted plans to replace the invisible and unaccountable Norfolk Police Authority with a directly elected person who will set priorities for local policing.

Speaking in Northrepps last night Mr Ivory said, “Labour have launched endless initiatives and top-down schemes which have made little difference to criminals.  Their broken promises have undermined people’s trust.  We can’t go on with the police filling in forms instead of fighting crime.”

“Our hard-working police officers do a great job, but people are frustrated with the criminal justice system.  They feel that it’s just not on their side anymore. These major Conservative proposals will help put the law back on the side of local people and give our police the full support they so richly deserve.”

To see the draft manifesto, click here.

A ray of light for Norfolk’s future?

Whilst the Government is hellbent on pushing through a unitary council for Norfolk despite most local people opposing the idea, our Shadow Local Government Minister, Bob Neil, could hardly have been clearer than this.

Let’s hope that Labour now act decently and at least wait until after the election before pressing ahead with these unpopular plans.

Conservatives will deliver a new “age of agriculture”

North Norfolk’s farmers welcome new Conservative plans to tackle the power of supermarkets

Local farmers have welcomed Conservative plans for a Supermarket Ombudsman

North Norfolk’s farmers have welcomed a major speech on the future of farming by the Conservative Shadow Environment Secretary, Nick Herbert.  Addressing the Oxford Farming Conference, Mr Herbert promised action on food security and recognised the need to increase domestic food production as global demand threatens foreign supplies.

Mr Herbert promised that a Conservative Government would do more to support British farmers, including legislating to ensure honest food labelling.  He also announced that a Conservative Government will create a Supermarket Ombudsman to prevent supermarkets abusing their market dominance to the detriment of British farmers and consumers.

Announcing the new body, Mr Herbert said, “We will introduce an Ombudsman to curb abuses of power which undermine our farmers and act against the long-term interest of consumers.  As the Competition Commission has made clear, failure to do so could result in reduced investment by suppliers, lower product quality and less product choice, with potentially higher prices in the long run.  It is time to act.”

Trevor Ivory, the man who will fight North Norfolk for the Conservatives at the General Election, welcomed the announcement saying, “Local farmers are fed up with being treated as second class citizens by the Government.  Farming is not just one of North Norfolk’s most important industries, it is one of the biggest industries in the country, so why does the Government go out of its way to undermine farmers and their businesses?”

“Nick’s speech showed that the Conservatives understand the importance of domestic food production and the challenges faced by farmers.  Many of North Norfolk’s farmers have already told me what a good idea the Supermarket Ombudsman is.  They are tired of supermarkets forcing them to accept retrospective discounts and other unfair practices that can threaten the very survival of a farm.  An Ombudsman will be able to take action to stop these unfair practices.”

New plans to help North Norfolk’s struggling families get on the housing ladder

Conservative plans will help deal with North Norfolk’s affordable housing crisis

Conservative plans to give local communities more power over planning decisions, and greater support for people wanting to build their own home, offer new hope to local people struggling to get on the housing ladder in North Norfolk, according to local Conservative Candidate, Trevor Ivory.

As national figures show that individuals built more houses between them last year than all but one of the big housebuilders, Mr Ivory has been explaining how encouraging more self-build in North Norfolk would help many people, especially young families, to be able to stay in the area instead of having to move away to look for a home and a job.  And helping young families is not just good for them, but it is also important for the vitality of the whole community, Mr Ivory said:

“Like many other rural areas, North Norfolk has become one of the most unaffordable parts of the country to live in.  In 1997 the average price of a house in a rural area was £81,000 but this has risen to £224,000 today.  Rural wages have not kept pace with this inflation and young families are being forced to move to cheaper areas.  These families are part of the lifeblood of our communities and it is no coincidence that, at the same time, we have seen vital parts of village life in decline.  The rate at which village schools are closing has increased by over 650% since 2000 and more than 5,400 rural post offices have closed over the same period.  We have also lost too many rural shops, bus services and pubs.”

“Families use these local services and if we want to reverse the decline in village life we need to bring families back to North Norfolk.  The Conservatives want to find as many innovative ways to help families to stay in North Norfolk as possible.  The Community Housing Trust, which allows local people to use land to build their own home, has worked very well in Cornwall and I want to see it rolled out across North Norfolk’s rural towns and villages.”

Under the plans set out by the Conservatives, homes built under the scheme would have to be sold at just a third of their market value for ever more – making sure that they stay affordable for local people even when they are sold.

“Building your own house through is not only cheaper than buying one, but it also gives you a chance to learn new skills that you can then use to help to find work or to set up a business of your own afterwards.  This is just one of the ways that a Conservative Government would kick-start a rural housing revolution.”

Calls for honesty over food labelling

Trevor Ivory demands that the Government is honest with farmers and public about its views

Conservatives want to see honest food labelling with the country of origin being made clear.

North Norfolk’s Conservative Candidate has criticised the Government for saying one thing in public and doing another in private over Conservatives calls for more honest food labelling.  At present food that is processed in the UK can be labelled as British even though the meat comes from abroad.

Trevor Ivory has slammed the revelation in leaked Government papers that whilst the Government has claimed to support the campaign in public, they have been voting against more honest food labelling in private.  The papers reveal that the Government vetoed a European proposal to make country of origin labelling mandatory across the European Union.

Commenting on the news Mr Ivory said, “This is extremely disappointing.  The public is increasingly concerned about where the food that they are buying has come from and they also want to support British farming, but the Government seems to be intent on making it difficult for them to do this.”

“Our investigation into food labelling discovered that many supermarkets are labelling products as British when the ingredients come from abroad – one example we found was a “British” pork pie that used foreign pork.  This is dishonest and misleading, especially when the meat comes from countries with lower animal welfare standards than we have here in Britain.”

“Gordon Brown and his ministers must now come clean – do they support clearer food labelling or not?”

For more information about the Conservative Honest Food campaign, click here or watch the video below:

“Let’s make 2010 the year of change”

Trevor Ivory urges change to rebuild Broken Britain

Trevor Ivory, the Conservative Candidate for North Norfolk, has used his New Year message to urge the people of Norfolk to vote for change in 2010.  Mr Ivory said that the ‘Cool Britannia’ of 1997 had given way to the ‘Broken Britain’ of 2009.  But his message also offered hope that a general election could deliver change and a more positive and optimistic vision of Britain under a Conservative government that understands what is needed to fix Britain’s broken society, broken economy and broken political system.

Mr Ivory focused on the urgent need to free the NHS from political control and to curb public spending without harming frontline services.  He also talked about Conservative plans to create new jobs by supporting businesses and to restore trust in Parliament by introducing openness and transparency into its procedures and reforming party funding rules.

But Mr Ivory stressed that people should not be complacent about the prospect of a Conservative government.  For the Conservatives to win the election requires an unprecedented swing larger even than that achieved by Tony Blair in 1997.  He stressed that the only way to get change was to vote Conservative, adding that a vote for any other party was a vote for five more years of Labour.

The message was aimed at Liberal Democrat and UKIP voters in particular, who could unwittingly cause a Labour victory by stopping David Cameron from securing a working majority in the House of Commons.

Mr Ivory ended his message by wishing everyone in North Norfolk a happy and peaceful 2010.

Trevor Ivory backs “homeowners, not criminals”

North Norfolk Candidate backs Conservative steps to protect homeowners who defend their property

Trevor Ivory has long supported local people's calls for a tough approach to crime and anti-social behaviour. Last year he arranged for the Shadow Home Secretary to visit Briston to discuss local people's concerns with police.

Trevor Ivory, the Conservative Spokesman for North Norfolk, today pledged to support any steps by a future Conservative Government to ensure that the law allows a homeowner to defend their family and property against criminals.

The public outcry following the case of Munir Hussain, who was jailed last week for beating a burglar who tied up his family, has reopened the debate into whether the current law gets the balance right.  Whilst both Labour and the Lib Dems have indicated this weekend that they are happy with the law as it stands, the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, yesterday said that a future Conservative Government would consider strengthening the law to protect homeowners.

Mr Ivory today welcomed this news saying, “The Conservatives have always led on this issue and we have already tried to have the law clarified twice in Parliament.  I am delighted that Chris Grayling is willing to agree to review the situation and I shall certainly support any measures that protect homeowners.”

“The current position is ludicrous and ignores that fact that the person in your home is there illegally.  Surely that entitles a homeowner to assume that their motives are not good and to take steps to protect their family and property?  Of course excessive force is not acceptable, but the current test of reasonableness does not take account of the stress of the situation.  If there was someone in my house whilst my wife and child were asleep in their beds I certainly would not act reasonably – my first priority would be to make sure that my family were safe, only then would I worry about the intruder’s motives.”

New action plan to help Norfolk’s coastal towns

Conservative proposals to create a renaissance in seaside towns and villages

Conservative plans recognise the importance of North Norfolk's traditional seaside towns and villages to the local economy.

Trevor Ivory, the Conservative Spokesman for North Norfolk, this weekend welcomed a new action plan from the Conservatives to reinvigorate Britain’s coastal towns and villages.  The plan – ‘No longer the end of the line’ – outlines how Conservatives intend to end the sidelining that seaside towns have suffered at the hands of the Labour Government.

Most coastal towns across Britain have fewer people in jobs, higher levels of benefit claimants, more people in poor health and worse transport links than their inland counterparts.  The Conservative plans include new tax breaks for local firms and allowing privately owned historic seaside attractions to apply for lottery funding.

Mr Ivory welcomed the plans, saying, “The tax breaks will make a real difference to North Norfolk’s seaside businesses that are struggling under the weight of Gordon Brown’s red tape and tax rises.  The plans are not just tinkering around the edges, what we have set out is a comprehensive review of tax for small seaside businesses.  This includes introducing local business rate discounts, reducing corporation tax for small businesses and waiving National Insurance contributions for firms that create new jobs.”

“But it is not just about tax, whilst urban areas in Labour heartlands have seen billions of pounds of investment in regeneration under this Government, our seaside towns have struggled secure their fair share of investment.  Although Gordon Brown’s recession has put pay to the spending bonanza, Conservatives will put our seaside towns back at the heart of their local economies, recognising that tourism in areas like North Norfolk is not just an important employer, it is the biggest source of jobs around.”

“Unlike many other parts of the country a lot of the heritage of seaside towns is in private ownership and until now this has stopped it getting investment from the Lottery.  We shall make sure that Lottery money is available to support these tourist attractions and to make sure that seaside towns are able to compete in the 21^st century.”

Click here to download a copy of the plans.

Let’s fly our flag with pride

Trevor Ivory launches a campaign to get the Union Jack flown by North Norfolk District Council all year round.

Trevor Ivory is asking everyone to sign the petition to get the Union Jack flown from the Council offices all year round.

In the week that the new Speaker of the House of Commons has agreed to fly the Union Jack over the Houses of Parliament all year round, North Norfolk’s Conservative Candidate, Trevor Ivory, is calling on North Norfolk District Council to do the same.  The Council currently flies the British flag at its offices in Cromer only on special occasions and Mr Ivory wants to see it flying proudly all year round.

“Britain is a great nation and we should not be ashamed to show it.  Our flag is recognised the world over as a symbol of freedom and democracy and I think it should be flow on all public buildings in this country – including North Norfolk District Council’s offices,” said Mr Ivory as he launched the campaign.

“The new police station building next door to the Council offices is flying the flag and I do not understand why our District Council is not showing the same pride and patriotism.  At a time when our brave armed forces are fighting overseas, I think it is even more important that the flag is flown here at home.  It is only right that our councillors see the flag every time they enter the Council Chamber, to remind them of the honour and privilege that it is to be a small part of the government of our great country.”

Mr Ivory has launched a petition and is asking people to sign-up to show their support for the campaign.

“If we can show that there is enough support for the flag to be flown all year round, the District Council will have to listen.” Mr Ivory added.

“I have wanted to see the Union Jack flown by the Council all year round for a long time now and I am delighted to support Trevor’s campaign,” said Angie Tillett, the Leader of the Conservatives on the Council.

To sign the petition, click here.