Halifax Liberal Democrats have announced four of their candidates for the forthcoming local elections.
Pauline Nash
Pauline Nash has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate in the Skircoat Ward. Pauline hopes to become the second Liberal Democrat Councillor in the ward following Cllr Stephen Gow’s victory in 2007. Pauline stood in Skircoat, her home ward, in the March 2009 by-election, when she came just 118 votes behind her Conservative rival.
A former youth and community worker, Pauline, of Heath Road, Halifax, has been a magistrate since 1981 and has served as a member of the Board of the Halifax Opportunities Trust.
Pauline says, ‘On the doorstep people are concerned that their voice is not heard in the right places in the Town Hall and that important decisions, such as the sudden withdrawal of the 36 bus and the proposals for Copley, are being made without consultation. That is why I support the Liberal Democrat plans for a more open council that consults local people properly on the matters that affect them the most.’
Cllr Stephen Gow says. ‘Pauline is known by many people throughout the ward and will make an excellent local ward Councillor. She is a no nonsense character who will work hard for the residents of Skircoat ward.’
Shazad Fazal
Shazad Fazal has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Park ward. Shazad hopes to become the second Liberal Democrat Councillor in the ward following Cllr Mohammed Ilyas’ victory in 2009.
Halifax born and bred, Shazad currently works for the Lloyds group of companies as a customer service advisor. Shazad has been active in the community, volunteering for the Citizens Advice Bureau and as a governor of Saint Augustine’s school. He is a union member, and vice chair of the Park Kashmir Society.
Shazad says: “People in Park ward feel the Council does not pay them enough attention. They want basic services from the council – starting with clean streets, and better amenities for young and old.”
Cllr Mohammed Ilyas says: “Shazad is keen, energetic and concerned about all the community in Park. He would be a fighter for the area.”
Elizabeth Ward
Newcomer Elizabeth Ward is challenging council leader Cllr Stephen Baines as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Northowram and Shelf. Elizabeth attended Northowram Junior School and Crossley Heath School before completing her A levels at Greenhead College.
She recently graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in French and German, and is currently working in a pastoral role in a Kirklees school. At university Elisabeth was the Lead Student Ambassador, working in outreach projects to encourage secondary school pupils from under-represented groups to continue to higher education. This is her first council contest.
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Elizabeth says: “I was inspired by David Howarth MP in Cambridge, and joined the Liberal Democrats while I was at Cambridge University. Now I want to do something in my own community.”
Parliamentary Candidate for Halifax Elisabeth Wilson says: “Elizabeth is a competent and energetic candidate who would be an asset to Northowram and Shelf. I was elected to the County Council when I was her age.”
Ashley Evans
Ashley Evans has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Warley ward, bidding to join Cllr Jennifer Pearson and Cllr Robert Pearson. He runs a successful retail design consultancy, and has lived in Sowerby Bridge since 1990.
Ashley was Vice Chair of Governors at Crossley Heath until recently, and has been Chair of Governors at Triangle J & I School for many years. He is a member of the Calderdale Schools Forum, an active member of Sowerby Bridge Rotary, and has experience setting up food co-operatives including early involvement with Suma. Outside work Ashley was a keen rugby player and later coach, as well as managing a pop band. Ashley Evans has stood for Ryburn ward previously for the Liberal Democrats.
Ashley says: “I am looking forward to joining the committed and effective Liberal Democrat team in Warley, and working for the communities of Pellon, Mount Tabor and Warley.”
Cllr Jennifer Pearson says: “Ashley brings a wealth of business and voluntary experience that will be a tremendous asset for the people in Warley ward”.
On Saturday all four of the Warley team went to the clean-up in Warley village: Elisabeth Wilson, Parliamentary candidate, Cllr Jennifer Pearson, Cllr Robert Pearson and Ashley Evans, candidate for Warley ward. About 40 people turned up despite the persistent rain. The aim of the cleanup was to help prepare for the “in Bloom” judges who will come round in early April. We worked on a back lane, clearing weeds and tidying up.
Pauline Nash, Stephen Gow and Elisabeth Wilson at the Godfrey Road busstop.
The Skircoat ward Lib Dem team (Cllr Stephen Gow, Skircoat ward candidate Pauline Nash, and parliamentary candidate Elisabeth Wilson) have been out and about in Skircoat Green with a survey about changes in bus services.
On January the 25th the number of peak time buses through Skircoat Green reduced from 6 to 1.
The 531 service now runs hourly
The 36 became the 31 service and only runs off peak
In order to make representations to Metro to get a better deal for local residents, the Skircoat team have been calling door to door with a survey on bus usage. So far they have had a very good response and hope to collate replies soon.
Elisabeth Wilson with Susan Kramer MP and other Lib Dem activists at "The Wave"
Elisabeth was a founder member and is a continuing supporter of Treesponsibility, which plants trees in the Calderdale area and campaigns against climate change. She has personally planted 100s of trees. Children from Mount Pellon and Beech primary schools in Halifax have been involved in planting trees and forest activities with Treesponsibility.
Elisabeth was delighted when Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems introduced a debate on 21st October 2009 in parliament, demanding government support for the 10:10 campaign. This asks individuals and organizations to commit to reducing their carbon footprint by 10% in 2010.
Elisabeth has signed up to 10:10.
On 5 December 2009 she was one of many 1000s of activists who went to demonstrate in “The Wave” outside Parliament, just before the talks on climate change started in Copenhagen.
So what has Elisabeth done since?
Things that have saved me money or cost nothing
I have turned down my thermostat
I shut the door to one room, and turned off the heating altogether
I use the train or bus as much as possible
I’m eating vegan food three days a week
I take my own bags shopping
Had an “eco” driving lesson to learn how to drive economically
Things that have cost me money – but will save it in the long run
I’ve had my bedroom ceilings lowered and insulated
There’s an extra door on the stairs from my basement kitchen so that the heat doesn’t escape upstairs
I’ve changed my car to one with much lower emissions
I bought thermal curtain linings
I bought a bike
Things that I think are the right thing to do:
My electricity supply from Good Energy is 100% from renewable sources
I use the Phone Coop, which is ethical and green
I put food waste in a wormery [it’s not collected where I live]
I went on holiday to Switzerland by train
I’m on the waiting list for an allotment
I am a member of Friends of the Earth, the Ramblers, and the National Trust
Elisabeth has also been a member of a rail action group for 5 years.
Major surgery need on banks – Nick Clegg tells Elisabeth Wilson
Lib Dem candidate for Halifax, Elisabeth Wilson, took the opportunity to ask Nick Clegg, Lib Dem leader, about the future of banking at a “town hall meeting” in Bradford. Pointing out that “the Halifax” had gone from a building society to a bank, to a bigger bank, and now part of the huge LloydsTSB group, she expressed her concern for the effects on local employment as well as financial stability.
Nick Clegg said banks needed major surgery. There should be a tightly regulated sector for high street banks where the public could trust their savings – and if things went wrong they would be bailed out.
This sector should be completely separate from the risk taking activities that had caused the banking crisis, which he said was the fault of greedy banker. This had led to the current recession. In his view there should be a 10% levy on the profits of banks until the loan from the taxpayers was paid off.
Nick Clegg compared Lib Dem proposals to the weak efforts of the current Labour government, merely having a one-off tax on bonuses, which many banks were planning to get round.
Later in the evening Elisabeth Wilson was able to have more discussions about the concerns local people have for employment in the Halifax area with Nick Clegg.
Nick Clegg was visiting Bradford for a town hall meeting at the Karmand community centre, where members of the public could put any questions to him.
The picture shows Elisabeth Wilson, Lib Dem candidate for Halifax with Nick Clegg MP, Lib Dem leader
I attended a charity bazaar with Cllr Mohammed Ilyas,in aid of the Haiti appeal set up by Islamic Relief. This was held at the Calderdale Multicultural Activity Centre, Akeds Road.
Admiring glass painting with Cllr Mohammed Ilyas
I was also aware of a lot of other fundraising activities going on in Halifax, for instance Rotary outside Tescos.
Experienced campaigner Dr Elisabeth Wilson has been chosen by Halifax Liberal Democrats to fight the 2010 general election. She is well known in the area, as a former County Councillor, member of the Calderdale health authority, town councillor and mayor of Todmorden, and school governor. Elisabeth has experience of fighting two previous general elections. In 2005 she held the vote at 25% in Colne Valley constituency in a tough three-way fight.
Elisabeth Wilson holds MBA and PhD degrees and is currently self-employed as a lecturer and consultant. She has worked for both Manchester University and Bradford University School of Management, and from January to March 2009 she was a visiting professor at the University of Ahfad, Omdurman, Sudan, a women’s university. She has undertaken short assignments overseas for the Department for International Development and UNESCO.
Elisabeth Wilson is a Quaker (member of the Society of Friends). She lives in Slaithwaite, very near Halifax. She has two adult children and one granddaughter. Her hobbies include theatre, yoga, walking, and decorating celebration cakes – you can find out more about her on Facebook.
Halifax Liberal Democrats will soon be meeting in order to set out a timetable for the selection process of a new Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Halifax constituency.
Until a General Election is called, no party can have a candidate for election, but parties normally chose to select a potential candidate in advance who will then act as the party’s parliamentary spokesman and campaign on parliamentary issues within the constituency.
Halifax Lib Dems regret the decision of previous PPC Diane Park to resign from the role and withdraw from party politics, and hope that the new PPC will be able to build on the work she carried out.
The Liberal Democrats, in both Houses of Parliament, are committed to changing the current immigration rules and criteria that are unfairly prejudiced against Gurkhas who retired from the British Army before 1997. We feel very strongly about addressing the inequality of the current Gurkha immigration policy, which is why we used one of our debating slots to highlight the issue of Gurkha settlement on 29th April.
The Liberal Democrats believe that Gurkhas who were prepared to fight and die for this country should have the right to live here. They should be treated in the same way as their foreign and Commonwealth counterparts, who have a right to indefinite leave to remain after four years of service in the armed forces.
Under the Government’s new provisions, announced in April in response to Mr Justice Blake’s judgement that present policy was unlawful, Gurkhas who retired before 1997 and want to live here have to serve for five times as long as Commonwealth soldiers or Gurkhas who retired from service after 1997. This 20 year service rule effectively excludes most private soldiers, who normally serve for 15 years. This inequality is, in our view, unjust and intolerable.
The Government suggested that approximately 4,000 Gurkha soldiers would benefit from their new policy, leaving 10,000 in total once dependents are included. Lawyers working with the campaign believe that a much smaller number would be able to benefit, possibly even as few as 100. The Government has said that if all Gurkhas, including those who were discharged before 1997, wanted to come to the UK the total would reach 100,000 including their dependents.
This is fanciful. It is like estimating the potential migration from the rest of the European Union as the entire population, because every EU citizen can work anywhere in the EU. It takes no account of the high living standards enjoyed by most discharged Gurkhas in Nepal and hence the attractiveness of staying in their country. In fact, just 1350 Gurkha soldiers who retired before 1997 have lodged appeals to be allowed to stay in the UK. The figures released by the Government on the number of Gurkhas they expect to settle in the UK and the potential cost are highly dubious. Channel 4 News fact check gave the Government’s estimates a rating of 4, one below the rating for ‘the claim has no basis in fact.’
But the numbers are surely secondary. The Gurkhas have made an unconditional commitment to our nation, and we cannot repay that extraordinary service, bravery and dedication with a penny-pinching attitude. This is an issue about our own values as a people, as much as it is about the Gurkhas.
Wonderfully, we managed to defeat the Government by a vote of 267 to 246, the first success for any opposition motion for more than thirty years and only the third Government defeat in the Commons since 1997. It was a moment of great pride and elation, as it seems the Gurkhas will finally receive the respect they deserve.
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