Hi I’m Victor Agarwal the Labour Candidate for North Swindon.  Today I was talking to residents in Western Ward with the local Councillor and candidate in the May elections,  Kevin Small.  People were worried about the state of the roads, the closure of care homes and the some of the ways the Tory Borough Council was spending your money on cunsultants and loans to private companies – while they are cutting back in important areas like  Dial-a-ride.   These are some of my supporters at Rodbourne Green,  please email me if you’d like to join the campaign.

On the doorsteps I was able to tell people about the five campaign priorities that Gordon launched today.  You can learn more by clicking the links below ……….

• Securing the recovery
• Protecting frontline services – health
• Protecting frontline services – education
• Standing up for the many
• New industries future jobs.

Gordon and Alistair have guided the country well through an amazingly tough recession – with unemployment ending up 450,000 lower than the experts predicted (saving the taxpayer around £2 billion) – with the VAT cut and the tax cut for 22 million people helping families and businesses at a tough time  – and with the car scrappage scheme helping to sell over 300,000 cars and keeping the car industry on its feet!!

Andy Burnham is doing a great job protecting our health service.  Its Labour’s health service.  Andy runs a department which has delivered 89,000 more nurses and 44,000 doctors than in 1997, brought hospital waiting to their lowest level since records began, and ensured that over three-quarters of GP practices now offer extended opening hours.

Ed Balls in education runs a department which has appointed 42,400 more teachers and 212, 000 more support staff, including 123,000 more teaching assistants since Labour came to power.  It has built or rebuilt 4,000 schools, and gives a guarantee of a good education for every child, including catch-up tuition for pupils falling below their best.  It has also introduced a guarenteed education or training place for those up to 18, and a job or training place for any 18-24 year-old who is out of work for six months.  Ed is proud of Labour’s creation of a Sure Start children’s Centre in every community, and the offering wrap around childcare, healthcare and other services offered by these Centres.  The Tories are pledged to close these.

Alan Johnston the Home Secretary has seen overall crime fall by over a third since 1997, violent crime is down by 41 per cent, and the murder rate down to a 20 year low!  His department has given new guarantees on police response times and a pledge that your neighbourhood policing team spends at least 80 per cent of its time on the beat in your community.  Alan has also presided over the introduction of the Australian-style ponts-based system of immigration control to ensure that only those with the skills that we need to build a stronger economy can come here.

Peter Mandleson is the new supremo of the Department of Business, Industry and Skills.  Labour is investing £5 billion to help people back into work and will guarantee a job or training place for all 18-24 year olds out of work for six months.  Ed Miliband is the minister for Energy and Climate Change.  Having exceeded our Kyoto target, insulated millions of homes, and become the first government to bring into law binding climate change targets, Ed’s department is laying the foundations for new low-carbon industry.  Our blueprint for a low-carbon economy could create 1.2 million green jobs in areas such as renewables, nuclear power and clean coal.

So, thats just some of the ways that Labour is getting out of the depression and helping make our society safer and fairer.  Soon I’ll tell you how the Tories will put all these achievements under threat.

Want to know more?  – email Victor