Some photos from Ming's visit to Hurworth School

Top: the media scrum as Sir Menzies Campbell arrives at Hurworth School, in Sedgefield constituency.
Second: Ming meets the children in an art class.
Third: Ming, with local Lib Dem Councillor Martin Swainston, meets parents from Hurworth School who fought for its survival.
Bottom: Greg Stone, Martin Swainston and Ming Cambell.
An excellent visit to Hurworth School with considerable media interest. Ming Campbell was able to hear at first hand from the Head, local councillors, parents and students about the campaign to save the school, and the exciting plans they have for the future.

Council Procedures and Conventions

Photo of the Town Council in session in the old Town Hall

Last night was the final new members' training session before the Full Council meeting next Thursday (and how annoying is that: on by-election day).

Surprisingly, a number of long-standing councillors attended, including one previous mayor.

While the officers' presentation stuck to the nuts and bolts of procedure in the Council Chamber, there was a lively discussion amongst the councillors present about the need (or otherwise) for reform.

It seems that Darlington has lagged behind modern thinking in terms of engaging the electorate in the Council's activities. The emphasis in the Constitutional reform which will be taking place this year will be on opening the Council up to the community and encouraging community involvement in the activities of the Council. I shall be speaking on this subject when it comes before Council.

Much of the discussion last night, however, prompted by Alan Coultas, a new Conservative councillor, was about the need to change the way in which Council meetings are conducted, to allow genuine and open debate and questioning of Cabinet members. The fact that each member can speak once only on any given agenda item, and that no further debate is allowed after the Cabinet member has responded does not allow for a free-flowing debate in which the Cabinet can be held to account.

The Labour Councillors present defended the current system, blaming the opposition parties for not using the various other means at their disposal (such as putting motions before Council or initiating call-ins by Scrutiny Committees) to challenge the ruling group. The Conservative councillors (and me) belied their party name by calling for reform of the current system to enable a free-flowing debate where Cabinet members can be held to account. This seems unlikely to be part of the Labour Group's reform strategy, however.

Certainly, last night, and when I have discussed this outside the Council with Labour Councillors, their view has been that this would just lead to long-winded Council meetings going on late into the evening - much like in the old pre-Scrutiny days. Well, that's tough: if it makes for a more democratic and challenging Council, then the Labour side are just going to have to wait a bit longer for their bedtime cocoa.

Leaflet after leaflet

And the show goes on. Despite the best efforts of the Labour bully boys, the Lib Dem campaign in Sedgefield continues to build up a head of steam. The quality and variety of our leaflets, newsletters, tabloids and glossies is superb.

Here in Darlington we're delivering to Hurworth, Middleton St George and various odd spots around the south of the constituency. Yesterday I delivered in Aycliffe Village, around The Green, which a lovely area you just wouldn't expect to find a few yards off the A167. Old cottages and houses cluster around, dominated by The County, where, as a notice outside proudly announces, Tony Blair entertained Jacques Chirac for dinner.

Yet just a mile away, in Newton Aycliffe, the Labour Council and the local MP have allowed the town centre to decline so dramatically. They should be thoroughly ashamed of their record in the constituency - perhaps that's why their campaign is so negative and defensive, having little more positive to say than that their candidate was born in the constituency.

Tomorrow, Ming Campbell tours the constituency, with more MPs to come every day from now own.

Council work goes on

By-election campaigning is fun - but there is still much to learn about being a Councillor, and plenty of interesting work to do there.
Yesterday, the Environment Scrutiny Committee organised a conference for councillors from all scrutiny committees about climate change. Starting at 10am it was planned to continue until 3.30pm. All councillors were invited: about 10 of us started the day, but only about 7 made it through to the end. Apparently 8 others had said they were coming, but didn't turn up.
It was a shame that others were unable to attend, particularly as officers and experts from outside the Council had made such an effort with their presentations. Cllr Copeland, the Cabinet member with responsibility for much of this area, was present throughout the day.
At least those of us who did attend - a good mix of all three parties - were passionate about the subject. The main aim of the day was to find topics which relate to climate change which could be suggested to the various Scrutiny Committees for their consideration, as well as to learn more for ourselves about the subject.
What is apparent is that, at long last, climate change has been brought right to the top of the political agenda. Local authorities have a major role to play, through the planning system, as social landlords, and by setting an example, in helping to combat this problem.
There is also the need not just to change our behaviour to help reduce the release of greenhouse gases so that future generations do not suffer the appalling consequences of climate change, but also to take action to ameliorate the worst effects of climate change which are already happening.
While our actions today can help to reduce the problem in the future, there is nothing that can be done to reverse what has already happened. An average temperature increase of at least 2 degrees centigrade will be with us for generations. The extremes of weather which we have experienced over the past few years will continue, and get worse, so ways have to be found to adapt, so that we can cope effectively with extremes of temperature and rainfall.
The task now, for those of us from all three parties, is to ensure that the lessons of today's meeting are taken forward into every committee and into cabinet, to ensure that all decisions are made with consideration of any effects there might be on climate change.

Photos from HQ

Pictures of the Campaign HQ in Newton Aycliffe taken by Jonathan Wallace. Top: candidate Greg Stone with visiting MP Andrew Stunnel; middle: Carol Woods, Parliamentary Candidate for Durham, at work with the clerical team; bottom: some of the thousands of leaflets being delivered today.
There is so much to do to get our message across in just two weeks, so, if you support the Lib Dems and want to join in the fun, go to the campaign website to find out how YOU can help http://sedgefieldlibdems.org.uk/

On the campaign trail

If there's one thing Lib Dems love - it's by-elections. As the third party, normally we tend to get less news coverage than the other two parties, but by-elections give us the opportunity to get our message across directly to the electorate.
So this week, party members and organisers from across the country have been streaming into Sedgefield constituency. Tens of thousands of leaflets have already been delivered, while canvassing teams are spreading out across the constituency.
The overwhelming message I got on the doorstep yesterday in Newton Aycliffe was the huge disappointment felt by lifelong Labour voters at being let down - for example over Iraq and by the Government's mishandling of the NHS. They're also wondering why Labour's campaign is already turning petty and negative - clearly that's to be their tactic, when they have so little to boast about.

Now I've seen it all

Rubbish Bags. Fashion handbags made by a Fairtrade Co-operative using discarded juice cartons! Shall I stock them?

Techie error

Ooops, this week's posts have disappeared. That'll teach me to try new ideas. Will try to catch up later.

Delivering leaflets in the rain

Back from holiday on Friday night in time for the official celebrations to open the Pedestrian Heart. Fairly constant drizzle made it a rather damp occasion, and unfortunately drove most of the stalls at the Community Carnival into the Arts Centre. This also meant no live music in Stanhope Park, which was a shame.
The Carnival procession did not seem as long or grand as in previous years. It's a real pity that the Health and Safety police have decreed that floats on the backs of lorries are not allowed. Professional carnival artists provided some colour and put on a good show in the town centre, while the kids from local community centres processed enthusiastically in their excellent home-made costumes, despite the rain.
Then, in the afternoon, over to our campaign HQ in Newton Aycliffe, where members are begining to gather to fight the by-election campaign. I squeezed in an hour's leafletting in the pouring rain - oh, the joy of being a Lib Dem activist. We may only have just over a couple of weeks to fight this campaign, but it's already off to a flying start.

Scared Labour rush poll

The Labour Party has called both the Sedgefield and Ealing Southall by-elections for the earliest possible date: July 19th. Having lost a number of seats to the Liberal Democrats over the past few years, and nearly losing rock-solid Hartlepool to us, Labour has decided to rush through these elections to stop us gaining any campaign momentum.
Surprisingly, although they knew about this long ago, Labour does not have a candidate yet: and apparently won't be selecting until Wednesday. The Tories have appointed Graham Robb, a PR consultant from Darlington.
All Liberal Democrat approved parliamentary candidates, were emailed details of the application procedure overnight on Wednesday/Thursday - to be returned by 10am on Friday morning.
Local party members, appointed by our local executive, carried out a short-listing from those who applied. The full local party membership will vote to choose our candidate at a hustings on Tuesday evening. The shortlist contains very high quality candidates from the northern regon, including local members. Whoever we choose will be an excellent candidate.