The Manifesto Cumbria First Manifesto

Our children should not have to march and protest to ensure the right to an education and funds for schools.  
Our Schools need funding to ensure that we have an education system funded and able to deliver our next generation with the skills to meet the needs of the Future progress into the workplace.  
The cutting of funds will lead to increased class sizes cuts to teaching staff and support staff. Teaching staff will be under pressure to do more and more with less and less resources leading to health and wellbeing issues for them that will then affect the children through staff changes due to illness lack of moral and as we all know as parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles our children pick up when things are wrong. This will result in health and wellbeing issues for them as well.  
Our children deserve a first class free education equal for all giving every child the chance to reach their ambitions to take their place in the world. To do this we must ensure our schools have the funds and resources to deliver the widest choice of subjects possible to meet the needs our nation's future skills needs and the needs of our children.  
Cuts to school funding will result in subjects been cut or scaled back to basics levels and failing our children's future. 

The NHS has been failed by successive government's Conservatives the Conservative Libdem coalition and Labour been guilty of failing our NHS. Our Hospitals contracted out under PFI resulting in Our local health services been left with crippling contracts to use the hospitals.  
Government targets and administration removing the focus from frontline health care to administration and paperwork. 

The NHS has become management and administration top heavy and this needs cut with cash reassigned to frontline care to keep beds on wards and wards open. 
In Rural areas like Penrith and The Border rural services are vital we need community care provision with beds available to cope with demand A&E facility's in rural community's not focused on central points of the County. NHS resources are been lost to commercial operators providing the services back for profit to the NHS.  
The outsourcing of the NHS is failing Us, Our Children, Our parents and Grandparents alike. 

The recent issues that have seen the NHS computer systems been crippled with files been encrypted and held to ransom have highlighted the cuts to the NHS the conservative party has made and Put lives at risk as a result.  
In April 2015 the Conservative government cancelled an ongoing legacy support contract with Microsoft to provide ongoing support and updates for Windows XP systems across the NHS still heavily used. The 16-year-old system no longer supported with updates was left wide open to attack resulting in the NHS grinding to an almost halt with hospitals unable to perform surgery DR's surgeries unable to access records Ambulance services affected and the lives of patients put at risk.  
All because of the cuts made by the Conservative party in April 2015. 
 

Small Business across Great Britain there are over 5 million small business making a significant contribution to the nation's economy and providing vital jobs both in towns, cities and rural areas. As a nation, we are still at a significant disadvantage to many other nations with low guaranteed broadband speeds and patchy mobile phone services. Poor transport infrastructure. Red tape slowing business growth. Crippling business rates forcing our high streets to empty.  

 
A lack of vision and value of small business has been shown by the Conservative's under Theresa May & Boris Johnson that threatens the very existence of many small businesses and the vital part they play in our economy from National Insurance hikes for self-employed to more administration burden with Tax returns. Labour have unveiled in their manifesto further blows through Corporation Tax hikes that will affect many Small Business. 

  
We must support small business and encourage more people to start up in business if our local and national economy is to grow and prosper beyond Brexit.  
We need to ensure we have world class broadband available for all and universal access to mobile 4G services. The current roll out here in Cumbria is failing the people of Penrith and The Border and our small business we need the current roll out process reviewed and if not delivered fully then alternative providers found to deliver the service for Cumbria. Mobile operator's need held to account for the poor services they are offering across rural areas. 
If the commercial providers fail to provide the level of service required then communities should be enabled to deliver the local infrastructure networks.  

 
If elected I will call for Business rates to be scrapped and replaced with a Land Charge that is fixed regardless of the investment made by you to your business property that increases the property value and in turn its Business rates. Instead, you will have fixed charge based on the Land footprint of your property.  

 
We must ensure our small business across Cumbria have easy fast transport access to the rest of the UK and the World to enable small business from our towns and rural areas in Cumbria to be part of the beyond Brexit global market and prosper. We need to ensure our Roads are fit for purpose and have the capacity to meet the demand.  
We need to ensure the East-West links are full Dual Carriageway both on the A66 and A69 and have adequate links into rural areas and onto the M6.  
We need to ensure the M6 can deliver rapid North-South transport links from our business growth spaces.

We must also enable the development along the M6 corridor of Business growth space.  
The M6 corridor has been a talking point for too long we need to turn the talk into actions to ensure the areas has space for business to grow and relocate to the area.  
  

We need to ensure that the there is a fit for purpose rail infrastructure both locally and as a nation enabling our small Business to travel and send goods via rail for a fair price. The area has The Westcoast mail line the Carlisle to Leeds line and Carlisle to Newcastle line and the Local line serving out to the west coast. However, the services are fragmented and need to deliver a unified service but also look to expand it network into further rural areas with more stations and services and look at new lines such as linking into the Borders railway through areas such as Longtown, Carlisle Airport and Brampton and linking up with the Carlisle to Newcastle Line.  

 
Will call for more services to be provided on the Carlisle to Leeds line with faster speed services while ensuring the vital tourism trade is protected that this line delivers. 

By linking Road and Rail services with Carlisle, Leeds, Manchester Airport's and delivering a connected transport system for across Cumbria. Our small business can take advantage of the post-Brexit global market without barriers to transport but only with a transport network that delivers and is funded. 

We will call for a review of Police management structure with a view to abolishing the role of Police and Crime Commissioner in Cumbria. 

The savings from removing this post used to support our frontline police. To ensure rural community's homes, business and farms are protected. 

We will call for local community police contact hub's established to enable communities to interact with our Police officers and support community focused crime prevention. 

We will call for a review of crime punishments. The current system has become unbalanced with some committing low-level crimes receiving heavy punishments than those that have committed more high-level crimes. 

When a young person who has, for example, is involved in criminal damage and receives a custodial sentence and is placed into the prison system.  
This can set them on a path to re-offend and effect the course of their life. It can place an additional drain on police resources in the future along with Social care and NHS treating them for physical and mental health issues. Yet a person who has committed a deplorable offence such as a sex offence may get away with been put on offenders register with a possible cash penalty and let back into society treated in effect the same as a speeding offence. 

It's time for the punishments to fit the crime committed.

We need to ensure we have world class broadband available for all and universal access to mobile 4G and 5G services.  
The current roll out here in Cumbria is failing the people of Penrith and The Border and our small business and needs calling in for review. Mobile operator's need held to account for the poor services they are offering across rural areas. 

If the commercial providers fail to provide the level of service required, it's time for local communities to be empowered to provide and own infrastructure networks. 

Cumbria led the United Kingdom into the Digital TV era with the Switchover from Analogue TV to digital, yet large areas still cannot get the full Freeview service or access to Digital radio. We will ensure Cumbria is supported with universal access to all digital services. 

we call for funding to support community digital projects from community broadband networks to community media projects such as community sites, radio and Video projects delivering local community news and information keeping rural community's connected and promoting local rural traditions to a new generation through the power of digital media.

Our local economy is driven by Farming and Tourism as primary employers in the area but has a diverse range of business delivering substantially into the economy.  
We must ensure we provide the capacity for them to grow through business growth space and the infrastructure to support and link them to the world. 

Over recent years we have heard a lot of talk about the Northern Powerhouse and what it will do for the North, but Cumbria has had little benefit from what has been a lot of talk and promise with little action and impact. 

We need to move beyond powerhouses and look to the delivery of real economic benefits for the area. I will call for the Northern Powerhouse to either be delivered to benefit the Whole North or be consigned to the history books as another Conservative smoke and mirror act. 

Cumbria as a LEP that is tasked with delivering projects from infrastructure to business support and growth. The Cumbria LEP is underperforming and in need of radical change and leadership. The Cumbria LEP has been rated as one of the bottom two in the United Kingdom in recent years and is failing us, as a result, to get the full potential from funding that is available to Cumbria as the LEP is the route for the Government investment into Cumbria. 

we will set up an Independent review of the LEP working with MP's & local council's across Cumbria to identify the reasons for the failings and implement change working with the stakeholder groups to ensure the Cumbria LEP delivers the service and economic benefits it should for Cumbria. 

We need to ensure our Roads are fit for purpose and have the capacity to meet the demand. We need to ensure the road network is given the funds it needs to maintain and improve the road network through new roads ring roads and bypasses. To ensure or bridges can safely continue to link families and communities. 

We need to ensure the East-West links are full Dual Carriageway both on the A66 and A69 and have adequate links into rural areas and onto the M6. 

We need to ensure the M6 can deliver rapid North-South transport links from our business growth spaces. With a new link from Industrial sites onto the M6 like the Junction 41 linking directly into the East Lakes Business Park in Penrith. 

We need to ensure that the there is a fit for purpose rail infrastructure both locally and as a nation enabling our small Business to travel and send goods via rail for a fair price. Allowing visitors and locals to travel in and out Penrith and The Border as well as travel around Cumbria. The area has The Westcoast mail line the Carlisle to Leeds line and Carlisle to Newcastle line and the Local line serving out to the west coast. 
However, the services are fragmented and need to deliver a unified service but also look to expand it network into further rural areas with more stations and services and look at new lines such as linking into the Borders railway through areas such as Longtown, Carlisle Airport and Brampton and linking up with the Carlisle to Newcastle Line. 

I will call for more support and services to be provided on the Carlisle to Leeds line with faster speed services while ensuring the vital tourism trade is protected this line delivers. 

By linking with Road Bus and Rail services and the Airports this brings in reach of Carlisle, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow and delivering a connected transport system for Cumbria small business to take advantage of the post-Brexit global market without barriers to transport. It will allow tourists easy access to the area and enable those that call Cumbria & Cumbria home greater freedom of movement and remove the isolation and barriers many faces through lack of rural transport.

We call for full support for our productive and resilient farmers and growers with support and reduced red tape from central government. We must ensure they have the support and backing to get through Brexit and beyond to deliver a grow, sell & buy it local sustainable food chain. Delivering local food with reduced food miles and guaranteed providence of the food we are eating and to deliver sustainable local jobs for our rural communities in Cumbria We must ensure the Agri-Food forms a key part of our education policy as a nation.  

Children should be educated to know where all their food comes from and how it is produced from the field to plate. 
No child should ever be left thinking the bottle of milk comes from the supermarket.  
We must enable farms to diversify and work with rural business to grow and develop a diversified business potential for our rural economy from food producers to tourism potential to business space.

As part of our core policy for Cumbria we fully support and with work to deliver a Vision Zero policy for Cumbria   

The reduction of deaths and serious injury from road action through the delivery of policy and actions to cut the risks and deliver a safe transport system for Cumbria is one we feel is important and one that must be delivered. 

Vision Zero as well as working to deliver a safer road and transport network also links with our Net Zero policy to cut environmental impacts through common sense changes that can be implemented and delivered effectively and realistically as part of wider efforts..   

Our Vision Zero policy is evolving but aligns with the global movement to deliver Vision Zero. We are actively pushing for 20mph speed zones in urban arias as a vanguard to this policy to help cut speeding, encourage active travel and help reduce pollution in communities.

We oppose any proposals that result in cuts to our local councils that result in cuts to our local services they provide.   

We oppose any social care reform that results in you been worse off now or in the future. I will call for Rural fuel duty reductions. 

We will Call for protection of our most vulnerable in society with funding and better laws to protect and help them.   

We will call for the current benefits assessments by private contractors to be replaced with a national run service using an assessment team including medical staff.   

All our candidates and elected members will always be ready to meet and talk with You and never be too busy for those we serve if given the honour of being your elected representatives.