I wanted to say a great big thankyou to the Campaign team and the loyal and hard working Conservative activists across the region.

We managed to achieve a fantastic result with a 3% increase in the vote over last time. In fact we managed to get a significantly better result than many of the Target seats across Scotland who benefitted from extra funding and resources.

The dedication and support that I have received has been enormous and it has been an honour and a privilage to serve as the Candidate for Inverness Nairn Badenoch and Strathspey for this Westminster election.

I also wish to thank all of the people who voted for me and who can now see that progress is once again being made with the Conservative party in this area.

With continued hard work and an emphasis on assisting local people with the issues and concerns I am certain that we will continue to see the share of the vote increase in forthcoming elections.

I am also delighted to let everyone know that my wife Jodie and I have just had our fourth child Nathan who was born at 5.29am on Sunday.

Both are doing very well.

So once again to everyone from Nairn and Granton, Avimore and Inverness and Drumnadrochit and to all who assisted me my sincere thanks.

Its been a pleasure and a privilege to represent you as a Candidate and to fight for the Conservative party in this region.

Jim Ferguson

Tweet this!

We are in desperate need of social and “truly affordable” housing for rental with 10,000 people on the Highland Council Housing Waiting List.
Those on local average earnings have little chance of accessing mortgages since the Banking crisis.
Most work locally and need housing in the areas where they work.  Spiralling petrol and diesel costs make it even more difficult for those on lower incomes who live in rural areas, hence my concern on this issue.

Members of the public have made clear their dismay over Labour Government’s failure to control immigration.
Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrat comments, recently broadcast, have incensed the electorate when stating Inverness and other areas need more migrants! Gordon Brown’s Labour “open borders” policy has been a complete failure. Massive increases in migration have resulted in overstretched Public Services. The increased cost of the Benefits System underpinning the policy could have major economic consequences.

If migrants are to be welcomed, we must ensure crucial infrastructure is in place, including jobs, education, health and housing and naturally the ability to cope with the diversity of languages involved which is particularly difficult in rural areas.

We need to develop Tourism further as it is a principal Highlands industry and vital for local economy creating crucial meaningful jobs and provide the necessary homes for these people.

We need a common sense approach to address Highlands problems.

Jim Ferguson
****************************

Press Release 21^st April 2010

Lib Dem proposal increasing cost of new homes sheer madness

Home building industry body Homes for Scotland, whose membership provides 95% of all homes built for sale in Scotland as well as an increasingly significant proportion of affordable housing, today slammed Liberal Democrat proposals to add VAT to new build homes if elected to Government.

On the day that Tavish Scott launched the party’s manifesto in Scotland, the organisation’s Chief Executive Jonathan Fair said:

“Somehow, the Liberal Democrats seem to be unaware that Scotland, not to mention the UK as a whole, is facing its worst housing crisis since the Second World War.  Not only has our industry lost up to half its workforce, development is touching an all-time low and vital First Time Buyers are struggling to find deposits of up to 25%.  Any measure increasing the cost of new homes, whether in the public or private sector, is sheer madness and will simply exacerbate the problems we as a country already face.”

Ends

Enquiries to:

Jennifer Kennedy, Homes for Scotland – 0131 455 8350

Notes to Editors:

Homes for Scotland (www.homesforscotland.com) represents the country’s home building industry which, prior to the onset of the credit crunch,:

-  was the largest source of private investment in Scotland and the largest user of the planning system

- built 20,000 new homes, contributed £6bn to the economy and directly impacted the employment of 100,000 people (2007 figures)

Half the industry’s directly employed jobs have already been lost and Scottish new build housing output has plummeted, presenting far-reaching and long-term social and economic consequences.

Click here to read Homes for Scotland’s “building for their future” appeal to MPs as they prepare to enter the election season.

Tweet this!

May 6th has now been officially declared as the date of the next General Election.

Over the last two years I have been a serious political Candidate and campaigned hard during this time.
Visiting every area,  holding regular coffee mornings and surgeries, canvassing and leading from the front.

The people of this region deserve to be heard and the weakness shown by those currently in office, to properly represent the people of the Highlands needs to come to an end.
My main motivation for standing is to ensure that real support is brought to the Highlands and the people of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey. My desire to bring the high degree of support that a Conservative Government would bring and to do so it is imperative that this region elects me to represent them in Parliament.

Out of every other Candidate who is standing, only I will have the ability, as a member of the party in power to get the investment and infrastructure to ensure that the businesses and people of this region get the top support they deserve.
All  the other Candidates will be in opposition and can only ask what they will of a Conservative Government.
I would remind everyone  that I would be the MP of the party in power and it is  that thought that I ask you to seriously consider.

This General Election is a clear choice. A vote for any other party will help to keen Gordon Brown in power.
Do you want Gordon Brown for another 5 years or David Cameron as Prime Minister?

I would ask that every person in this region look closely at what I can offer. It’s time to play this to your advantage and ensure this region gets the strongest support from a Conservative Government possible. If you have never voted Conservative before, you need to seriously consider doing so now.

I am not a career politican,  I have worked hard all my life with a family business that I started from scratch 16 years ago.
If you invest your trust in me, you can be certain of having an honest and hard working MP who understands what you are all going through and who acknowledges that your concerns and interests are my concerns and interests.

It’s time for change and true representation for the people who live and work in this region.

Make your vote count – there is much at stake!

Jim Ferguson

Tweet this!

Monday, April 5 2010

The Conservatives have launched a poster as part of a wider campaign highlighting how Labour’s job tax will kill the recovery.

“Labour have confirmed today that they are going ahead with a national insurance tax rise on jobs that Britain’s business leaders say will endanger jobs”, said George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor.

The Conservatives have also unveiled new research showing how National Insurance has become Labour’s favourite stealth tax:

• Total receipts from National Insurance have risen over five times faster than income tax receipts over the last decade.
• Average National Insurance Contributions (NICs) per family have risen over twelve times as much as average income tax receipts per family over the same period.
• In that time Gordon Brown cut the basic rate of income tax once (as part of the 10p tax con) but he increased National Insurance rates in three different ways – and that’s even before Labour’s new tax on jobs planned for 2011

“With Gordon Brown now finally forced to call the election, the choice is clear”, Osborne added.

“Labour’s jobs tax and debt will stamp out the green shoots and kill the recovery. Conservative plans to cut wasteful government spending and stop the jobs tax will get Britain working.”

Tweet this!

Brown ‘Used Wrong Immigration Statistics

The figures Gordon Brown gave in a podcast about immigration were wrong, the statistics watchdog has told the Prime Minister in an open letter.

The PM’s speech was correct but his podcast was not, the letter says

Mr Brown “did not use comparable” sets of data when he discussed the number of people who had come to Britain in recent years, the note the chair of the UK Statistics Authority said.

A statement from Downing Street said it accepted some of the numbers used were unclear and not strictly comparable.

The Prime Minister used the podcast to talk about his points system and reassure working families that the system is fair.

“Some people talk as if net inward migration is rising. In fact, it is falling – down from 237,000 in 2007, to 163,000 in 2008, to provisional figures of 147,000 last year,” he said.

“Some people talk as if all immigrants stay here forever. In fact, most come for short periods and then return to their own country.”

But the chair of the statistics authority, Sir Michael Scholar, said the figure for 2007 should have been lower – the official number was 233,000, not 237,000.

It means the scale of the fall is less dramatic than Mr Brown implied.

There is an urgent need for immediate steps to properly control immigration instead of the free for all flood of  migrants some with no skills and many who cant even speak English.

Labour systematically ignored the warnings just to rub the rights nose in it and in the hope of getting more votes. They betrayed the interests of Britain and the British people and now growing pressure mounts on all major frontline services with education, healthcare and the prisons bursting under the strain of an endless flood of people invited into the UK by Labour.

Labour lied to us all.

Jim Ferguson

Tweet this!

Jim Ferguson

Conservative tax reform to aid self employed

Wednesday, March 31 2010

Mark Prisk, the Shadow Business Minister, has announced that a Conservative Government would undertake a full and fundamental review of small business taxation, including IR35.

The aim will be to provide a simpler, clearer and lasting tax regime, so businesses can plan with confidence.

“For the last 13 years, Labour have constantly meddled with the tax rules for freelancers and self-employed, Prisk said. “IR35 has especially proved to over-complex, uncertain and often unfair”.

IR35 has cost business £73 million over 10 years but it has barely raised revenue for the Treasury. Prisk criticised Gordon Brown for making it harder to be self-employed at a time when Britain should be open for business.

“This is why a Conservative Government would mandate the independent Office of Tax Simplification to undertake a fundamental review of current arrangements with the aim of providing a clearer, lasting and fairer tax regime”.

This announcement is in addition to previous plesges to simplify the tax system, cut Corporation Tax for small firms, and make small business rate relief automatic.

“Small businesses cannot afford 5 more years of Gordon Brown”, Prisk added. “Only the Conservatives have the energy and the ideas to get Britain working by boosting enterprise”.

Tweet this!

Tuesday, March 30 2010

Previously unpublished papers reveal the true scope of Labour’s dependency on union cash.

Following Conservative pressure, the Government will publish the previously confidential minutes and papers of the Inter-Party Talks on the Funding of Political Parties.

Francis Maude, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, led the Conservative delegation in the Talks. “Gordon Brown wrecked the opportunity to clean up politics because he wanted the unions’ votes to become Labour Party leader”, he said. “These documents expose the Labour Party’s addiction to union cash”.

The Talks were chaired by Sir Hayden Phillips and were suspended without substantive agreement in October 2007.

Peter Watt, then Labour General Secretary and a delegate on the Talks, has subsequently written how the Talks failed since “the Labour Party could not resolve its internal issues”, “my own party was the biggest block to reform” and Gordon Brown “repeatedly warned the Prime Minister [Tony Blair] that he would block any attempt to reduce the unions’ power.”

Peter Watt also notes how the Liberal Democrats were bought off by Labour:  “[Labour] managed to clinch a deal with the LibDems by promising that Menzies (Ming) Campbell would get a taxpayer-funded car and driver if the reforms went through.”

The newly published papers today reveal the true extent of the union funding of the Labour Party:

• Many union members would not pay a political levy to the Labour Party if given a choice.
• Some trade unions affiliate more individuals to the Labour Party than they have union members paying a political levy (only money from the political levy can be used for political purposes).
• From 2001 to 2006, the unions gave the Labour Party £45 million in cash.
• Trade unions pay £1 million a year to the Labour Party at a local and regional level, tying in local Labour Party branches through binding “Constituency Development Plans”.

Sir Hayden Phillips drew up detailed option papers on how the political levy could be reformed to give union members genuine choice. The Labour Party objected to these proposals. This was the key stumbling block that led to the Talks failing.

It’s wrong that union barons, not rank-and-file union members, decide how much to give to Labour”, Maude added.

“A Conservative Government will seek an agreed long-term settlement that would introduce an across-the-board cap on donations to end the big donor culture. As part of that reform, union members must have real choice on whether they want to pay a political levy and where it goes.”

Interesting to see how easy it was to buy off the Libdems.  I suppose some things never change.

Jim Ferguson

Tweet this!