Why investment matters

Ever since I started using Twitter and Facebook I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many people take an interest whenever I write about local politics, sport or the chaos that comes with being a father of two.  But I never suspected that the famous right-wing blogger and aspirant Tory politician Iain Dale was one of [...]

CONFIRMED £7.7m from Labour Government to support the link between Gloucester town centre and the Quays retail centre. Good for jobs and business

You may be aware I have been heavily involved in lobbying the government to improve the linkage between our town centre and the new docks development.  We have now heard  that we have been successful.  Congratulations to all those involved, particularly the businesses and employees in our town centre who will really benefit from this boost
Question from:  [...]

Time to move on from expenses to the issues

I think we saw the best and the worst of Parliament this week. On the plus side I think we moved closer to getting a £30 million investment from the government in to education in the City of Gloucester for a new-build Academy Secondary School.
It’s something I’ve been pushing for – for ages. Education [...]

Conference speech demonstrates Labour have the right policies to move Britain forward

Politics has to be about policies.  When people cast their vote at the forthcoming General Election they deserve to know exactly what changes they will see in their daily lives, regardless of which party they choose.  It is only carefully considered policies that can make these changes, not slick PR or spin.
The Prime Minister’s speech [...]

Confirmation that the Council are keeping us in the dark on incineration

In a press release designed to attack me for running a petition against an incinerator, Allstone’s have let the cat out of the bag about a possible incinerator on the Railway Triangle. 
In the press release Allstone’s revealed: “Mr Dhanda is trying to drum up protest against a County Council recommendation to allow planning permission for an incinerator [...]

Tory Incinerator for Railway Triangle?

The truth about the Tory plans to Incinerate
Gloucester City Council and Gloucestershire County Council (both Tory run) have been in discussions about the possibility of a giant incinerator on the railway triangle site.
You can read about it in the Gloucester Citizen front page story http://tinyurl.com/mae8hm
Despite previous manifesto commitments to oppose incinerators the Tories have bid [...]

From one World Cup to the next how much Gloucester has changed

A lot can happen in 24 years. Six World Cups can pass in that time. Come the year 2015 our nation will host its second Rugby World Cup in 24 years.
It’ll be part of a sporting decade that sees London host the Olympic Games, The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the Rugby League World Cup and [...]

Read the Tory PPC’s most recent and most outlandish claims … What do you think?

Of course the Tory Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Gloucester is wrong.  The idea that immigrants are given a priority to social housing has been dismissed as a myth by the equalities watchdog.
A study for the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that only 1.8 per cent of social tenants had arrived in Britain within the past five [...]

Fox hunting to Return?!

Are the Tories right to bring back fox-hunting if they win the next general election?
I voted to ban hunting with hounds, but not out of a narrow prejudice against the countryside, and not with a desire to carry out class war either. Before I made my decision to vote for a ban on fox-hunting I [...]

Glorious Gloucester

I don’t make a habit of reading the Daily Mail, however I was delighted to read the rave review of Gloucester by Frank Barrett recently.  As the MP I’m obviously biased about the City’s appeal, but I have to say it put a smile on my face to read such a glowing recommendation of Gloucester [...]