Mark spent a day with MEP Malcolm Harbour touring Worcestershire. The morning started with a visit to one of Worcestershire’s greatest success stories – Morgan Motors. As an example of a family business that has been running for 100 years, Morgan is second to none, using a business model that may appear, on first sight, to be dated.
As part of the ongoing campaign to save Kidderminster Test Centre, Rosemary Thew, managing director of the driving standards agency, came to a packed public meeting at Kidderminster’s Corn Exchange to address angry local residents, driving instructors and learner drivers. Mark spoke at the meeting about progress being made in Westminster, advising of the upcoming visit to Downing Street.
Mark Garnier, Wyre Forest’s Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, has backed the decision of the Parliamentary Select Committee for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to conduct an inquiry into the future of the Post Office.
The Committee wants to identify those services which Post Office customers value most, and look at services which are not currently provided but could be in future. The Committee will look at the future of the Post Office network as a whole, not at the locations of individual offices.
Dear Sir, With the news full of economic doom and gloom and more violence in the Middle East, it is always a pleasure to see positive stories and events. It was with this in mind that I was delighted to attend the Wyre Forest Sports Awards last week at Kidderminster Town Hall.
Every year, Wyre Forest recognises its finest sportsmen and women with an award ceremony. This year, there was the added advantage of having some Wyre Forest Olympic athletes in attendance, talking about their achievements and experiences at the games in Beijing. Mark said after: “I hugely enjoyed the evening and it is a tribute to the youth of our district that we have so many excellent sportsmen and women. They are an example to us all.”
Recent figures showing jobless claimants show that Wyre Forest is suffering worse than the UK average. Although Wyre Forest's current claimant numbers (as of the 13th November) showed the district was marginally below the average for the country, the rate of increase in claimants is far higher than would normally be expected.
Mark Garnier, Wyre Forest’s Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman, added his voice to the calls to cut taxes for savers and pensioners in Wyre Forest. Conservatives have called for special help for these “innocent victims” of Labour’s recession, who are suffering as the income from their savings falls. Over the long term, cutting taxes on savings would help build a savings culture and end Britain’s addiction to debt under Gordon Brown.
The Government yesterday announced a proposal to hike business rates (the National Non Domestic Rate, or NNDR) by an inflation busting 5%. At the same time, it announced that it would not help small businesses any further and held the small business discount at its current level.
Just days after the Business select committee warned the government that awarding the Post Office Card Account contract to a third party private provider would result in up to 3,000 more post offices closed; the government announced an end to the tender process. In so doing, existing post offices will continue to serve 4.3 million post office card account customers who receive benefits under the system.
Just a few weeks after Wyre Forest learnt that it is to lose four of its post offices, it now seems more are under threat. In a report published yesterday by the House of Commons Business and Enterprise Select Committee, details of the tender process for the Post Office Card Account (POCA) highlights potential losses for the Post Offices Ltd (POL).
