Sheffield council admit flop festival lost TEN TIMES more money than they said it did 19 days ago.

Correction: This article originally stated that SIV was "owned" by Sheffield City Council. In fact, SIV is owned by Sheffield City Trust, a charitable trust set up by Sheffield City Council.

Sheffield City Council yesterday admitted Sheftival, the sport and music festival held on Don Valley Bowl last year, lost an eye watering £180,000, ten times the figure they gave just 19 days before.

Sheffield International Venues (SIV), the company who runs the city’s major venues, including Don Valley Stadium and Sheffield City Hall, previously said the cost of the festival was in the order of £10-20,000. SIV is owned by Sheffield City Trust, a charity set up by the council. The company told the Star the accounts that revealed the true cost were “just finalised.”

Earlier this month, when Labour councillor Bryan Lodge went on local radio to justify the planned closure of the Stadium, and of Stocksbridge Leisure Centre, he confirmed the figure was one he recognised.

The BBC’s Toby Foster quizzed Lodge over claims the festival had cost vastly more than was being admitted on March 5th. Foster asked, “So the losses as far as you're concerned, of Sheftival will be as SIV say they are, between 10 and 20 thousand pounds.” to which Lodge replied “Yeah, SIV reported this. It's their event. It's up to them to cover those losses within their business.”

According to the Star:

SIV said the event attracted 20,000 visitors and led to an uptake in people taking part in sport, volunteering, and joining its membership schemes such as Fitness Unlimited.

Steve Brailey, chief executive of SIV, said: “We would have liked to have seen a better financial return. But the investment – at no cost to the council or any of our facilities including Don Valley Stadium and Stocksbridge Leisure Centre – brought benefits to the city.”

Jack Clarkson, a UKIP councillor on Stocksbridge Town Council, told the BBC on March 5th that a whistleblower had come forward had knowledge of SIV finances. The wistleblower, said Clarkson, claimed the festival had lost £180-200,000, and that the cost had been buried in the budgets of Don Valley Stadium and Stocksbridge Leisure Centre. At the time, SIV denied the claim to the BBC, as did Cllr Lodge, who told Toby Foster:

”We have the figures, we look at the figures and we're happy. The figures are there that say [it cost] £400,000 to operate SLC [in 2012-13]. If Mr Clarkson feels they're something different, then it's a matter for him to come up and bring this information to us. We're happy with the figures, we've looked at the figures, we've reviewed the figures constantly over and throughout the process. SIV confirm the figures are £400,000 and SCC confirm it's £400,000."

With SIV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sheffield City Council, somehow managing to underestimate the losses of a major event by £160,000 less than a month from the end of the financial year, here are the questions the council must now answer*:

How much money did Sheffield International Venues put into Sheftival, and how much did they get back? Who bears the cost of Sheftival’s losses?

Who at SIV told the council the figure was £10-20,000, and when was the council made aware of the correct figure?

Cllr Lodge told Toby Foster “We're happy with the figures, we've looked at the figures, we've reviewed the figures constantly over and throughout the process.” Did Cllr Lodge know the correct figure before he went on Toby at Breakfast?

Considering the scale of the underestimation, will the council be ordering an inquiry into the management of SIV?

If SIV’s estimations for the costs of Sheftival are this far out, how far out are the figures on which the council based its’ decision to shutter Don Valley Stadium and Stocksbridge Leisure Centre?

*and which I’ll be putting to them first thing in the morning...

Is Clegg planning to sell out on Lords reform to save his own electoral bacon?

According to Channel 4 News' Gary Gibbon, Nick Clegg and David Cameron could be close to a deal which would see boundary reforms kicked back into the next parliament. In return, Lib Dems will allow the Tories to "dilute the language" on Lords reform in tomorrow's Queen's Speech.

To recap, here's what the vote in Nick's constituency of Hallam looked like in Thursday's local elections, and what it looks like when you factor in the proposed boundary changes.

Yes, these are crude projections. Yes I mainly made the second pie chart to point out the shortcomings of the first one. But still, if there are figures out there suggesting Nick Clegg has a safe seat in Sheffield West and Penistone, I'd love to see them...

To the casual observer, it looks like someone selling out their deeply held principles the second something more attractive is dangled in front of them. Doesn't sound like our Nick, does it?

Hubris

At the risk of further accusations of anti Lib Dem bias (as soon as Labour do anything this hilarious, I swear I'll call them on it), here's an amusing infographic Manor Castle Greens grabbed from the Broomhill page of the LD website before the election...

Here's the actual result from last May's election:

**Candidate**	**Party**	**Votes**	**Percentage**
Stuat Wattam	Labour	**1741**	34.6
Bernard Little	Green	**1315**	26.1
Michael Ginn	Conservative	505	10.0
Alan Whitehouse	Lib Dems	**1371**	27.2
Sullivan Pat	UKIP	104	2.1
**Total**		5036	100

Turnout: 37.8%

So that massive gap equals 1.1% of the vote. A little dishonest.

...and here's this year's result...

**Candidate**	**Party**	**Votes**	**Percentage**
Jayne Dunn	Labour	**1303**	37.04
James Little	Green	**1102**	31.32
Timothy Moffatt	Conservative	197	5.6
Paul Scriven	Lib Dems	**809**	22.3
Sullivan Pat	UKIP	107	3.04
**Total**		3518	100

Turnout: 26.61%

hubris (ˈhjuːbrɪs)

— n

_1. pride or arrogance _

2. (in Greek tragedy) an excess of ambition, pride, etc, ultimately causing the transgressor's ruin

Lib Dems circulate meaningless pie chart to "prove" Nick's electoral safety

It's hard to imagine anyone describing Thursday's local election results as good news for the Liberal Democrats. But that hasn't stopped them giving it a try.

Late on Saturday night, a number of Lib Dem twitterers began to pass around a pie chart based on the election results from wards in Nick Clegg's Hallam constituency - Crookes, Dore & Totley, Ecclesall, Fulwood and Stannington.

Not a bad result, as long as you don't pay attention to the rest of the city. With the exception of Graves Park, where Denise Reany (ousted last year from her seat in Gleadless Valley) squeaked in by 99 votes, Hallam seats were the party's only wins.

But no matter, said Liberal Youth England chair Conor McKenzie. "It's only those [areas] in Hallam that matter, surely? Shows Clegg is safe."

As a bit of spin designed to make downhearted party faithful feel better, it's pretty deft and probably does its job. As a piece of electoral analyis it has one quite serious flaw. In 2015, when the next general election is likely to take place, the constituency of Sheffield Hallam is unlikely to exist.

The Sheffield West and Penistone seat, proposed by the Boundary Commission to take effect by 2015 would cover Clegg's Stannington home, and include Crookes, Fulwood and Ecclesall from the current Hallam constituency. Unfortunately for Nick, it also brings in Barnsley's Penistone West - a Labour/Tory swing seat, and Stocksbridge and Upper Don, a Labour gain in Thursday's poll.

Applying the Lib Dems' rather unscientific method of taking local council elections as a barometer for general election success to the new constituency, Clegg's position is altogether more precarious.

The end of an era

After losing Hallam to Paul Blomfield in 2010 and losing control of the council in 2011 - here's the moment Paul Scriven learned he'd been beaten into third place in his ward of Broomhill.

Whether or not you liked him and his style of politics (and there are many in both camps), the council was never boring with him in it. With Paul and John Hesketh both out of the game, characters on both sides of the chamber will have to step up lest full council meetings become dull.

Oh, and if you were unsure, that's Labour councillor Harry Harpham heckling Scriven as the results were read out.

UKIP dump flagship candidate following epic vetting failure

UKIP unceremoniously fired their candidate for Dore & Totley on Tuesday, after a blog entry emerged in which he attempted to counter the "nonsense" that has been written about Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik.

That pretty well everyone – myself not excluded – recoiled at his actions, does not belie the accuracy of Breivik's research and analysis in his 'manifesto', which is in line with most scholarship in respect of both Political Correctness and Islam.

It is clear that the mass of ordinary people are considered with utter contempt by the government-media-education uber-class across the Western world; this as the result of 'cultural Marxism'. So we are, in effect, 'at war' within our societies over PC, as Breivik claims.

At great length, he goes on to develop an argument that amounts to Breivik's massacre being regrettable, but that he kind of had a point. His heart was in the right place.

UKIP announced last month that their "Target 28" campaign, intended to run canidates in every Sheffield ward had been a success. Their website now has a blank space next to Dore & Totley. However, Moxon's deselection will have come too late to take his name off the ballot, so voters will still be able to select Moxon should they wish to. Last time UKIP put a candidate up in Dore in 2010, Elizabeth Arnott drew a grand total of 880 votes, putting her in fourth place.

Where it gets a little more interesting is that since his deselection, there's been something of a to-and-fro between Moxon and his party. The sticking point is the statement UKIP made to explain why they were dumping him:

“We note that Steve Moxon has not condoned the actions of the maniac Brievik. However he has made a number of remarks on subjects such as the Brievik manifesto and Islam that are at odds with UKIP policy and perspective."

As sacking statements go, it seems pretty fair. UKIP make absolutely clear that they don't think Moxon approves of the cold blooded murder of 77 people, but they note that agreeing with Breivik on any level is not good for business.

Moxon's response was that he had been "happily suspended," and to argue that despite the statement to the contrary, UKIP agreed with him really.

The statement put out by the UKIP Sheffield and National Organiser, Jonathan Arnott, is, however, not as Jonathan read to and agreed with me. Jonathan stated to me that the issues were "outside the orbit" of the party's politics. That is very different to "remarks ... at odds with UKIP policy". UKIP has no disagreement with me on anything, so far as I'm aware; and certainly no disagreement on any topic has been put to me. The Party hardly could have such a disagreement unless it wants to disagree with the weight of published scholarship, and clearly it is hardly likely to engage in such illogical foolishness; and the Party is determinedly anti-PC in any case.

See, his case revolves around the concept of political correctness. Too long have we lived in a world where it's unacceptable to state agreement with a man's social policies just because he's a murdered. I mean, just because someone has such contempt for human life that he killed dozens of innocent teenagers, that doesn't mean that his stance on immigration will be similarly cold, ruthless and inhumane. And another thing, that Mein Kampf was a bloody good read, I don't care what the author did with the rest of his career.

And so on.

There are no winners in this story, but the biggest loser is the credibility of UKIP's vetting procedure. Prior to joining the party, Moxon worked for the Home Office in Sheffield. He achieved minor notoriety in 2004 after blowing the whistle on immigration fast tracking at the department. Since then, he has written The Great Immigration Scandal on the same subject, followed by The Woman Racket, "a serious scientific investigation into one of the key myths of our age that women are oppressed by the patriarchal traditions of Western societies."

Announcing Moxon's candidacy less than a month ago, General Secretary Jonathan Arnott said: "We are delighted to welcome Steve Moxon, a man prepared to stand up for his beliefs, to our team of candidates for this year's Council elections."

UKIP claim to have been unaware of Moxon's blogpost, despite it having been published months before his selection. A spokesman said it would have taken an "inordinate amount of time" to read everything Moxon had written before his selection.

But considering how proud they were to be considering someone as famously outspoken as Moxon, you'd think they'd have taken the time.

Perhaps they were so keen to bag a minor celebrity candidate that they feared what they would find if they looked.

Sheffield Lib Dems get sneaky with negative leaflets

Labour List drew attention to some of Sheffield Liberal Democrats' leaflet designs yesterday, mainly noting the absence of the Deputy Prime Minister's name. The flyer above, however, is worth closer examination, as it tips the party's hand on their strategy for tough seats.

At first glance it's hard to see which party the flyer is promoting. In fact, the only thing keeping it on the right side of the law is a roughly 2pt row of text, printed along the leaflet's fold, whispering that it's on behalf of a Mr R Frost.

That's Rob Frost, the Lib Dem candidate for the Crookes constituency, but the words Liberal and Democrat appear nowhere on the leaflet.

Many Lib Dems will be uncomfortable with the flyer's tone, and particularly the sneaky concealment of its author, but Frost has few options at this point in the campaign. On top of the electoral problems that come with being the party on the soggy end of a Coalition, what Lib Dem voters remain are likely to be split. John Hesketh, a long serving councillor for the Lib Dems before being unseated by Labour's Geoff Smith last year, is running as an independent candidate.

This unsportsmanlike behaviour doesn't seem confined to Sheffield. Similar designs have been spotted in Wimbledon and Brent, suggesting the strategy has been planned centrally. Still, it's hard to imagine Sheffield residents responding well to a leaflet so negative, even the party that printed it is ashamed to be associated with it.

SheffieldPolitics Review of the Year: 2010

2010 has seen Sheffield become a second home for national politics, as well as placing the actions of the local authority under a much bigger microscope. SheffieldPolitics takes a timely look back at how it all panned out.

As the dust settled from 2009's last big battle, over the closure of Abbeydale Grange School, January saw all three main parties join forces in opposition to the Labour Government's plans to increase council house rents.

The leaders of the council's Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green groups have signed a joint letter asking Prime Minister Gordon Brown to reverse the policy.

Lib Dem council leader Coun Paul Scriven said: "This isn't about meaningless party politics, this is about trying to avoid financial hardship for many tenants across Sheffield.

"If the Government accept our case and change their mind it will save tenants hundreds of pounds."

Coun Chris Weldon, Labour's housing spokesman, said: "Labour will of course sign this letter, as we're interested in getting the best deal for Sheffield tenants."

Meanwhile, Nick Clegg was already fighting off amorous advances from his political rivals:

“I am being love-bombed,” Clegg says, grinning, a phrase used by the Tory party chairman, Eric Pickles, to describe courtship of political opponents.

“Without being truculent about it, I made it very, very clear right from the beginning that I was not interested in that kind of politics. History tells me that it would be daft for the Lib Dems to get involved in dalliances.”

...

Clegg insists it would be wrong to start “playing footsie” with his opponents before voters have had their say. “There will be no backroom deals. It is really the people, the voters, who count. It is not for politicians to speculate now how they would cobble together an administration if there is a hung parliament.”

In February, Sheffield's Councillors rejected a pay rise to show solidarity with staff facing a pay freeze:

An independent panel is recommending basic councillors' annual allowance of £11,742.45 is unchanged.

But it is proposing large increases in additional payments made to councillors with extra responsibilities.

The recommendations advise a £12,000 rise for the leader, which would bring their total allowance from £18,167.68 to £30,206.24, with £54,212 to be split between the other nine members of the Cabinet team.

But Sheffield Council leader Coun Paul Scriven said: "At a time when the council is going the extra mile to keep council tax increases low, it's important we don't see a big increase in the amount paid out to councillors.

"The Liberal Democrats don't intend to approve the significant pay rises for senior councillors that the independent panel recommend.
"Personally, this means I won't receive the £12,000 pay rise the independent panel recommends. I believe, if senior politicians talk tough on cutting down costs in the Town Hall to keep council tax low, we need to lead by example."

The city celebrated it's inclusion on the shortlist for European City of Culture, but the council's media team were under fire for "misleading" the public with claims about housing investment:

The Lib Dem-controlled authority issued a press release announcing £111 million of investment in housing over the coming year.

But the majority is money which has already been announced over previous years - when Labour councillors were in power.

The investment over the 2010/11 financial year includes £59.1 million to carry out Decent Homes programme renovation work at 2,900 council houses - secured five years ago.

The council has also announced £2.87 million towards a scheme to rebuild housing at Scowerdons, Weakland and Newstead estates, in the Frecheville and Hackenthorpe areas, also secured a few years ago.

Coun Chris Weldon, Labour housing spokesman, said: "It's misleading - the Lib Dem council appears to be recycling announcements of funding we secured years ago.

February also saw Mr Clegg visit Cambridge, and put his autograph on a bit of paper. Probably seemed like a good idea at the time.



 

March saw the the first of countless estimates of job losses due to council funding cuts from the BBC, who warned of "up to 1000" redundancies in the next five years.

In Westminster, Labour were rushing to pass the last of their legislation as parliament drew to a close. The Digital Economy Bill, which was controversially passed with minimal scrutiny in the "wash up" drew much criticism, as well as some creative protests:


When veteran Central MP Richard Caborn announced he was to retire from parliament, it's unlikely he would have imagined his last days in the job quite as they turned out. March saw him caught in a "cash for influence" sting arranged by Channel 4's Dispatches, after he offered access to his considerable Westminster connections for £2,500 a day "plus expenses".

Come April, the general election campaign was in full swing. Sheffield, unique in being home to a party leader and having a battleground constituency in its' boundaries, was getting a lot of attention, and some high profile visitors.

Eddie Izzard announced his plans to run for office, while offering support to Central Labour candidate Paul Blomfield. There were no end of cabinet ministers pounding the streets, notably one Ed Miliband. SheffieldPolitics spent a day on the doorstep with Ed, then Climate Change Secretary, who talked to us about Labours plans for electoral reform, and his reaction to the election debates.

Baroness Williams meets a balloon seller on Fargate

As May dawned and election day loomed, the city's last campaign visitor also gave perhaps the most inaccurate prediction of the year. Veteran Liberal Democrat Baroness Williams categorically pooh-poohed the idea of her party joining a coalition that did not have full proportional representation as a strict condition.

 

 

Last week David Cameron accused Mr Clegg of trying to “hold the country to ransom” after insisting that reform be a pre-condition for offering support to any party in a hung parliament.

Baroness Williams, 79, said: “It’s not the country. The country’s completely lost faith in the first-past-the-post system. They did some time ago.

“It’s absurd to think that the country is devoted to first-past-the-post when they clearly aren’t. I would say if anyone’s been held to ransom, it’s Mr Cameron.”

Of course, we all know what happened next. Paul Blomfield beat Paul Scriven to parliament by 165 votes, but the Lib Dems maintained council control, despite losing their majority.

And despite hundreds of students being turned away from polling stations in his constituency, Nick Clegg was re-elected as the honourable member for Sheffield Hallam.

A story broke in June which would dominate politics in Sheffield for the rest of the year, the cancellation of the government loan to Sheffield Forgemasters. Shortly after, the new government outlined it's strategy of cuts in its first budget, which drew the first of an unprecedented number of public protests in the second half of the year.

In July, the council narrowly approved £6.5m in budget cuts, during a heated assembly of the full council.

Far from the sombre faces put on by George Osborne and the cabinet on budget day, the Lib Dem cabinet appeared in more jovial spirits this afternoon. After pointing out that the country was paying out £80,000 a minute in interest, three councillors (Colin Ross, Shaffaq Mohammed and Simon Clement-Jones) openly joked about their three minute “quarter million pound” speeches. Their humour was met with uproarious laughter from the Lib Dem side of the chamber and stony faces opposite.

August saw the sad death of former Leader of the Council Jan Wilson, who had been suffering from lung cancer.

Council Chief Executive John Mothersole said, “John Mothersole, Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council said: “We are deeply shocked. Jan will be sorely missed. She was an inspiration to us all. She was totally committed to working for Sheffield and was recognised for her dedication by being awarded a CBE in 2006. Her work with Yorkshire Forward was also celebrated. As well as being admired and respected locally, she was also much admired regionally and nationally.”

August also saw Cllr Scriven take Sheffield Futures to task over their planned redundancies, claiming their funding cuts do not justify the number of job cuts. Questions were also raised about the lack of transparency surrounding an emergency loan to struggling museum caretaker charity MuseumSheffield.

Sheffield's Labour group elected a new leader, Julie Dore, at the beginning of September. A few days later, just before visiting Sheffield to launch the Local Enterprise Partnership, Nick Clegg announced he was to sell his constituency home, prompting questions about whether he would keep his promise to return any profit to the taxpayer.

On his return, Mr Clegg was greeted by a noisy protest outside the Town Hall, and by cries of "Judas"

A busy month, September also saw the Liberal Democrats announce that they had reduced the number of council "fat cats", but they were shaken just days later by the defection of Councillor Ben Curran to the Labour Party. There was much noise about data theft and police investigations, but it ultimately came to nothing. Cllr Curran crossed the floor and the Liberal Democrats no longer had a working majority in the council.

October was the month that Sheffield City Council finally stood up to their party chiefs in Westminster, rebelling to condemn the proposed rise in tuition fees. This was the story that would dominate the news through November, as students, schoolchildren and teachers, angered by the Browne review and by the proposed scrapping of EMA repeatedly marched on the Town Hall. Each demonstration was larger and louder than the one before.

And finally, as if to give us the Christmas present we all needed after such a depressing year...in December, this happened:


Gloomy as the year may have been, you couldn't ever call it boring. Most other reviews of the year tend to end with predictions for the year ahead, but looking back on this year's surprises, twists and turns, it's probably best just to go along for the ride. These are uncertain times, and here's to more uncertainty in 2011.

Does Paul Scriven's hotel video break any rules?

The emergence of Paul Scriven's musical debut yesterday has certainly been controversial among the people of Sheffield and beyond, but did it actually break, or even bend any rules?

Standards for England, who monitor ethics in local government, say it's unlikely that the video breaks the Council's Code of Conduct.

The code (Par 8, sub par 1b) makes it clear that members may not take actions or decisions which might be of benefit to family or friends.

While Mr Scriven admitted to the Yorkshire Post that he made the video as a "favour to a friend" (the general manager of St Paul's Hotel), it's unlikely a complaint on this basis would be upheld as the video makes no mention of his position as a councillor. As Mr Scriven says, "I did this as Paul Scriven, not as a councillor."

There is a question as to whether Cllr Scriven should declare a personal interest should any matters concerning St Paul's arise in council in future, as despite declaring on twitter that he was not paid for the appearance:



...it could be interpreted as employment under Par8, sub par 1a(iv) of the code linked above.

One rule which the video almost certainly breaks is the Copyright, Designs and Patents act 1988, which forbids modifying the lyrics of a published song without first obtaining permission from the copyright holder. While it is unlikely that Cllr Scriven would be held responsible for this action, unless the producer of the video (apparently the general manager of St Paul's Hotel) has obtained written permission from Lou Reed or his publishing company, he could be open to criminal prosecution.

The final rule that is most certainly broken by the video, is the unwritten law that you should never, ever cover Perfect Day. It's about heroin for goodness sake, and look how creepy SuBo's version turned out.

SheffieldPolitics has also been attempting to clear up some of the apparent inconsistencies in the story given by Cllr Scriven as to how he came to make the video.

When the video first came to light, Cllr Scriven made several postings to his Twitter account, the first being an explanation that:



However, the Yorkshire Post later reported him saying he had

"stepped in at the last minute" to film the two minute, 47 second video after arriving at the hotel on other business and hearing that an actor booked for it had dropped out.

As Mr Scriven helped out at the last minute, it must be assumed that the vocal track, which sounds like his voice, was recorded in a studio at a later date.

The other question is about the intended use of the short film. Mr Scriven, again on Twitter, said it was a training video intended for internal use only.



It's hard, however to see the benefit an internal training video could have for local tourism:

Even if the above are simply the fallout of Twitter's 140 character limit, or even lapses in memory, it's hard to argue that Cllr Scriven's involvement in the video isn't a lapse in political judgement.

Despite it clearly being a work of fiction, is it sensible for the Leader of the Council to be filmed buying purple cocktails on a VIP card in a swanky hotel in a week which saw council workers warned they'll be seeing a pay freeze?

Cllr Scriven accuses his opponents (which we at SheffieldPolitics, it should be noted, do not consider ourselves to be) of suffering sense-of-humer failure, and maybe he's right. Maybe some politicians do take themselves too seriously.

It's understandable though, that in such straitened times, many would fail to see the funny side. People want to believe politicians take their jobs seriously, and whether as a result of this, or of the hysterics and braying from both sides of the aisle every other week at meetings of the full council, they are finding it difficult to do so in Sheffield.

We approached Cllr Scriven for clarification and comment, but at the time of publication he had not replied. To be fair, it is Christmas and his Twitter says he's got a nasty chest infection. SheffieldPolitics wishes him a very happy Christmas, hopes he feels better soon and invites him to get in touch with any clarifications he may wish to make in the New Year.

Sheffield Council and Sheffield Liberal Democrats declined to make any official statement, as it is "not a council matter".

Clegg's Sheffield home up for sale. Will he keep his promise to the taxpayer?

The Star reports this morning that Nick Clegg's Ecclesall constituency home is up for sale. In the run up to the election, the paper notes, Mr Clegg told Andrew Neil that any profit made from the sale of his home "will go straight back to the taxpayer."

Several months prior to the Andrew Neil interview, I spoke with Mr Clegg on this subject at a Lib Dem event at the University of Sheffield. This was shortly after he had agreed to pay back £910 of his £3900 gardening expenses claim, and he said a little more about his constituency home:

As you know, Sir Thomas Legg, who has conducted this retrospective review of MPs expenses, has retrospectively applied a number of rules of thumb, if you like, which he felt should have been in place when MPs made their claims. He has come up with a rule which says that...I forget the limit. He has come up with an annual limit of what he thinks MPs should have paid on maintaining their gardens and their properties. And in hindsight then calculated how much should have been spent for each MP. I could have quibbled about that. A lot of MPs are. I could have said I don’t understand the logic of retrospective rules. I could have argued that as it happens the home that I have here, in Ecclesall, on Knowle Lane was in a complete derelict state, the garden was an eyesore. My view of the money that I use, your money, taxpayers money doing my job is very, very simple. The home that I occupy, subsidised by the taxpayer is not my home. It’s on loan to me from you, the taxpayer. That’s why I think I’m pretty much unique in British politics in saying when I sell that property, any net gain goes back to you, the taxpayer. It’s not my money.

And that’s always the attitude, and that’s why I thought it was right for me to keep the garden in basic good nick. It was an eyesore for the neighbours otherwise. Sir Thomas Legg thought otherwise, but the last thing people want is politicians quibbling about this kind of thing. So I payed the money back. That’s the story and that’s the most candid and honest answer I can give to you on that.

Neither the estate agent, nor asking price has been revealed.

Mr Clegg has also said that he believes it is time to stop MPs from buying and selling property altogether, perhaps suggesting that he will take a rental property in his constituency after the sale of his home.

I assume Mr Clegg will shortly be implementing a procedure to return the gain on the sale of his property to the taxpayer, although how he intends to do this remains to be seen. If he keeps his word, it will set an interesting precedent, and perhaps rescue his credibility as a man at the forefront of "the new politics".

Sheffield in Westminster - w/c 26th July 2010

We all see plenty of the Rt. Hon. member for Sheffield Hallam on News 24, but what of Sheffield's other MPs? Here in a taster of what will (hopefully) be a regular feature after the summer recess, we'll take a look at what your elected representatives are getting up to in the big smoke, as well as the less well covered items from Mr Clegg's agenda.

Tuesday saw an exchange between David Blunkett and Nick Clegg over voter registration during Deputy Prime Ministers' Questions.


Following a question from Southend Conservative MP David Amess on the effectiveness of voter registration, Mr Blunkett suggested that the proposed changes to constituency boundaries are not as fair as they are seem to be. The equalisation of constituency sizes in based on the electoral register. This raises concerns because high numbers of 16-19 year olds, private tenants, and black and ethnic minority people, and inner city residents are not registered to vote.

Mr Blunkett said,

"Perhaps the Deputy Prime Minister would turn his mind to the reality of what is about to happen with the boundary changes that we have been discussing. Is it not a fact that this is a straight gerrymander, and that if he meant what he said, he would delay the boundary changes until there was a full 100% compulsory register based on the reality of where people actually live so that we do not end up with the distortion of taking away seats in inner-city areas?"

To which Mr Clegg replied,

"The right hon. Gentleman talks about straight facts; here are some straight facts. Last December, Islington North's electorate was 66,472. Just 10 miles away, East Ham's electorate was 87,809. It cannot be right to have constituencies in which the worth of people's votes is so very different from place to place. Fairness is a simple principle that should operate in our democracy."

Earlier in the debate, Mr Clegg was questioned by Blackpool Labour MP Gordon Marsden on his commitment to localism, following the coalition's abolition of regional development agencies, such as Yorkshire Forward, which employs 450 staff.

Mr Clegg said,

"I am interested that the hon. Gentleman should think that the abolition of the regional development agencies and Government offices is somehow a blow against localism. Our view is that the Government offices had become a representation of Whitehall in the regions, rather than a voice for the regions in Whitehall. Equally, some RDAs do a good job, but he knows as well as I do that many local communities do not identify with regional development agencies. That is why we were right to say that it was up to local communities to come together with the private sector and others to create local enterprise partnerships, which are genuinely representative of what local communities want."

With Parliament having risen on Tuesday for the summer recess, it's been a short week. If, however, you fancy some additional reading, crossbench peer Nicholas Le Poer Trench, 9th Earl of Clancarty, 8th Marquess of Heusden, spoke about the time he spent on income support in Sheffield in the 1980s, during a Lords debate on poverty last Thursday. Worth a glance.

Liz from Medway is very cross about recycling

Here's a prime example of why I still occasionally listen to the Jeremy Vine Show, despite disliking Mr Vine a great deal.

A lady called into a discussion on supermarket packaging and ended up in tears, some would say hysterics, because she couldn't recycle the packaging from her new toothbrush.

Behold:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bi4vbYlDIo]

My favourite bit is where she complains that "we're just not thinking outside the box!" Yarf, yarf!

Now don't get me wrong. I recycle. I think everyone should recycle. Recycling is a good thing.

I don't think I'd cry if I couldn't do it, like...

Izzard, Blomfield and Streeting on election 2010, Iraq, Nick Clegg and Digital Economy Bill

As promised, here's more footage from last week's Labour party Q&A event at the University of Sheffield.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAdsdnD2tWg]

Some interesting questions and answers, particularly Blomfield's characterisation of the Liberal Democrats as a party not of the centre left, but of the right.

Paul does have a paragraph on his website on the digital economy bill, but it should be noted that it wasn't uploaded until several days after the bill was passed. I spoke to Paul on the doorstep on the day the bill was being debated, and while he didn't say he was in favour of the bill, he didn't seem to think it was a particularly pressing issue. He said he thought it would "fall by the wayside".

VIDEO: Eddie Izzard talks about Labour, politics and his plans to run for office

Eddie Izzard visited the University of Sheffield today, to offer his support for Paul Blomfield. Some colleagues and I caught up with him backstage to talk about the election, his plans for the future and the Party Election Broadcast he made for the Labour Party.

For those who haven't seen it, here's Eddie's PEB.


I'll be putting together the footage I have of the Q&A session with Eddie, Paul and NUS president Wes Streeting tomorrow.

Thanks to Paul Garbett, Ben Rossi, Ben Wood and Chris Anstey for asking some good questions, and to Tom Hunt from the Labour Party.

The Analogue Election - Doorstepping with Ed Miliband and Paul Blomfield

Paul and Ed chat to a green leaning floating voterWe’re told that this year will see the first “digital election”, an election decided by who has the smartest twitterers and the biggest facebook groups. Either Sheffield didn’t get the memo, or the Labour party are leaving nothing to chance in this constituency, because we’re on our way for an evening of old school campaigning. We’re off to knock on doors.

As we step from Labour’s offices in Sheffield’s Trades and Labour club to the car park outside, I feel certain Paul Blomfield is leading me towards the silver Jaguar parked in the corner. A politician’s car if ever I saw one. I’m slightly blindsided when Sheffield’s newest Labour candidate flips the central locking on the much less ostentatious maroon Clio parked behind it. We’re making a short journey to Sharrow to meet environment secretary Ed Miliband, author of Labour’s recently launched manifesto.

As we park up, we’re joined by a small army of volunteers sporting red rosettes. There’s an air of giddiness about the younger members of the group. Part pure enthusiasm, part excitement at the imminent arrival of such a rock-star of politics. The team disperse through the nearby streets, knocking on doors to ask people’s allegiances, and seeing if anyone fancies a chat with a cabinet minister.
Paul
Ed’s running a little late, he’s been visiting a recycling centre near Scunthorpe and the traffic’s a nightmare. One of the younger campaigners jokes that an approaching, slightly tired looking Jag could belong to the minister, to which Paul quips, “No, I’m pretty sure he’s driving a Prius.”

Ed soon arrives, wearing a slightly weary smile and a suit that surely cost more than my education, and heads off with Paul in a door-knocking tag team. The army’s tactics are starting to become clear. They’re looking for wavering Labour voters whose fears they can calm, and Green supporters who Ed can convince to vote tactically. He offers his eco-credentials as assurance that they can vote for a winner without betraying their values, along with promises of electoral reform, to make conscience voting easier next time round.

Does he not find it odd asking people to vote for them, so they can more easily vote for someone else next time? “Obviously I want people to vote Labour, but the truth is if you want accountability of MPs it's good to have a system where you have to get more than 50% of the vote.” Ed tells me, “We want people to be able to express their opinions, but then vote second or third for someone else, and frankly we’ve got to take this opportunity to reform our politics.”

Today’s other big message is that the Liberal Democrats, Labour’s only serious competition in Sheffield Central, “can’t win nationally.” Nick Clegg gave a crowd pleasing performance at the first round of leaders debates last night, surely cause for concern in such a hotly contested seat?

“The reason I'm here to support Paul is that this is one of the key seats where a vote for the Liberal Democrats could let in a Tory government.” Ed says, deftly dismissing the idea of a hung parliament, let alone an outright Lib Dem win. “I think Nick Clegg clearly had a good outing in the debate, but he didn't come under much scrutiny because the Liberals tend not to. I think he'll face more scrutiny in future debates, but on that key Labour-Tory choice, Gordon Brown won the debate.”

One thing Ed and Paul clearly have in common is an enthusiasm for the old fashioned pressing of flesh. While enthusiastic pledges of Labour votes have been a little thin on the ground, people are genuinely impressed that the pair have bothered to turn up in person to ask for them. It may be quicker and easier to reach a lot of people with a tweet, but it’ll never have the same impact. As Ed says before he heads off to his next meeting, “Getting out and meeting people, there's no substitute for it.”


Originally from this week's Forge Press. Well worth picking up a copy if you can, the election section's really good, and you'll find my guide to the Digital Economy Act in the Fuse pull out.

Chasing the NME vote? Reverend singer McClure backs LibDems.

Not satisfied with courting the “anti-politics” vote, liberal intellectuals, frustrated left and nervous greens, it seems the LibDems are after the indie vote too.

As evidenced by this lovely photo op. Local celebrity, indie darling and Arctic Monkeys’ bezzie mate, Jon McClure, looking a bit like Lib Dem PPC Paul Scriven has got him out of bed.

McClure For LibDems
22nd April 2010

Reverend and the Makers frontman John McClure this week pledged his support for the Liberal Democrats election campaign.

The Sheffield born singer publicly endorsed Paul Scriven, Lib Dem candidate for Sheffield Central, and is displaying a giant banner outside his home.

He said, "The Lib Dems have shown on such issues on the War in Iraq, no to Trident and the abolition of Student Tuition Fees that they have got it spot on. I like the fresh and new style of politics Paul Scriven would bring to Sheffield."

Paul Scriven said, "It is great to get the Rev's backing he knows we want real change in British politics and are a progressive force that can bring about long lasting results here in Sheffield and the UK based on fairness and a new way of doing things"

In 2008, John teamed up with The Libertines' Carl Barat to launch Instigate Debate, a project which encouraged young people to engage in politics. The collective organised public debates at the Reading and V festivals, which brought together politicians, activists and musicians to discuss topical issues.

From Forge Press, 22/04/10

The Abbeydale Grange Saga

The decision by Sheffield City Council to close Abbeydale Grange School, which was met with some pretty bitter opposition, is bound to become one of the key local issues in this year's general election.


Paul Scriven, currently leader of the council, will be standing for the first time as the LibDem party political candidate for Sheffield Central this year. As long time Labour MP Richard Caborn will be standing down*, Scriven will be up against another newcomer, Paul Blomfield, who you'll be surprised to hear spoke out against the closure of Abbeydale Grange at every opportunity.

*Nothing to do with expenses, he announced his departure in 2007