I was alerted today to the blog of the local Conservative prospective candidate, so in the interests of fairness, here's links to all 4 of the main parties for Yeovil.
http://kevindavis.wordpress.com/
http://www.yeovil-libdems.org.uk/david.asp
http://www.labour4yeovil.org.uk/
http://southwest.greenparty.org.uk/southsomerset/
and here is David Laws voting record in the Commons
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/david_laws/yeovil
Kevin Davis has a go at Laws for asking lots of questions at taxpayers expense: Clang! As a LibDem front bench spokesman, that's what he's there for.
thankfully the BNP has gone silent in Yeovil for the time being.
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteI think you are being a touch unfair on me here.
I was having a go at him because despite having asked nearly 1,400 questions in the past year alone (at a cost of nearly £500,000) he had not asked a single question on the issue of Pittards of Yeovil, who have just announced job cuts due to the strength of the pound.
He might well be a party spokesman but it is for a minority party and his job is to represent the people of Yeovil, not use the privilege of questions to do research for his party.
Hi Kevin
ReplyDeleteIt's a fair cop, my apologies, though were you being unfair on DL by not mentioning in your posting that he was a front bench spokesman and had been asking lots of questions in that role?
My understanding was that front bench people were holding the government to account through asking questions, rather than 'doing research for his party'. If that's what you're accusing him of, then which of these is the shadow cabinet doing (he asked cheekily)?
You have a fair point, I just sometimes wonder what the real purpose is behind these questions because the questions are often very obscure and could probably better be answered through the select committee process.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I sometimes think politics may get in the way of good government. To give you a recent example of a question David Laws asked Gordon Brown:
"To ask the Prime Minister how many people worked in No. 10 Downing street on (a) 1 May 2007 and (b) 1 December 2007, broken down by policy area; and if he will make a statement."
Gordon Brown wrote in response:
"I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 15 October 2007, Official Report, columns 819-20W."
The question I have is what had that question got to do with either Yeovil or his brief as a spokesman? The fact GB had already put the information into the public domain does ask was it worth asking.
Oh, and it cost the tax payer over £300 for the answer!