Before you need a Plan B it is worth having a credible Plan A

With all the talk of cuts, it is worth remembering that the coalition have pushed through £16 billion of spending reductions compared to Labour's plans for £14 billion. Moreover Government spending has not actually been cut - what has been reduced is the actual rate of increase in spending.

So the Labour Party are exaggerating about the cuts - all for party political advantage.

The latest gimmick has been over he weekend, when the Shadow Chancellor demanded a 'Plan B' and implied the economic recovery plan was not working. He could not answer what Labour plans were, or what the level of debt should be, even though his party is calling for a slow down in the Government's deficit reduction programme.  If this were not bad enough, today the IMF said that the Government's economic programme was working and did not need changing - despite Mr Balls indicating that the IMF thought otherwise.

Labour's weakness in economic policy has now been exposed. Electoral history shows that when you lose economic credibility, you lose the credibility of the electorate.

Harlow Community Update

Harlow Hospital Radio (HHR). As regular readers will know, I am a great supporter of HHR and make regular visits to this amazing radio station. Well, I was there on Saturday for the HHR Open Day and had some great fun with Presenter Ian Jackson. We played a wide variety of tracks from the Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll by Bob Dylan, to beautiful by Christina Aguilera!

Harlow Fire Service: You will remember that not so long ago I visited Old Harlow Fire Station. This time it was to the Town Centre for a special Fire Service Disability Day, where I was asked to give a short speech. All Disability groups from Halrow and Essex were there. The Fire Officers are progressive and forward looking - and very much community minded.

Metwest Chemists: Last week, I visited
Metwest Chemists in Staple Tye, to meet staff and the owners. We discussed the NHS reforms - particularly the role of pharmacies under the new GP Commissioning roles.

Separately, I have had meetings with the Canal Boat Project to look at Fund Raising ideas and with PC Chipchase to examine ways of combating knife crime in Harlow.

I also went to see the Head Teacher of Burnt Mill School to talk over education in Harlow and literacy. The school is doing some great things on improving standards and I wanted to find out what is being done. There is a rigorous programme on advancing Maths and English skills which is producing some remarkable results. The stats show a remarkable level of improvement in the last couple of years.

Burnt Mill, alongside Passmores and Stewards are applying to become an Academies, a positive move that will improve standards - giving schools much greater freedom over their own affairs.

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Overseas Aid is an important component of muscular enlightenment

If spent carefully, overseas aid is a vital tool of every neo-con.  It can be used as a force for spreading liberty across the world:  promoting democratic parties, preventing terrorism, stopping disease and starvation.  Too often, the critique of neo-conservatism, has been that  its objectives can be achieved through the use of arms.  "You can't drop democracy from the barrels of a B52 bomber" is the oft quoted refrain.

But neo-conservatism is much more than that.  It is as much about hearts and minds as it is about using military force.   It supports muscular enlightenment:   helping to create and sustain a rule of law, religious tolerance, equality towards women and property rights. Democracy - parliament and elections) is just one of the components of freedom, not the whole sum.  International development is one of the means to achieve that objective.

You can argue about the level of aid, or even that some of it gets wasted.  Both have validity.  I have my own views about finance ending up in the hands of terrorists in the Palestinian Territories for example.

But the principle, that wise aid can advance the cause of greater freedom -for countries suffering from repression - remains strong.  Just because some aid is mis-used, does not mean that all aid is a waste of money.

So, I welcome our Government's support for a decent level of overseas aid spending - especially if it is used to advance muscular enlightenment around the world.

P.S.  It is well worth reading Sir John Major, who makes a similar point HERE

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

You can run but you can't hide

It is as good to see the allleged 'butcher of the Balkans' Radko Mladic, on trial in The Hague, as it was to hear about the death of Osama Bin Laden. 

The symbolism of the capture of these individuals is as important as the penance they pay for their crimes.  It shows that the free world will not tolerate perpetrators of genocide.  It gives a warning that mass murder will never go unpunished, however long it takes to capture the killers.  Five years, ten years, twenty. It doesn't matter.  Eventually justice will be done. 

In the same way, the capture and sentencing of Nazi, John Demjanjuk, - the guard who assisted the murder of 28,000 Jews at the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland - reminded the world that we must never forget.  It doesn't matter that these crimes were committed during the Second World War.  Genocide is a crime is a crime is a crime.