Steve Webb decides not to stand again as MP

Flashback: Steve Webb and team celebrating the go-ahead for Yate cinema

Our popular former long-serving MP Steve Webb, who was narrowly defeated at the 2015 General Election, has announced he will not be seeking re-selection. Instead he will continue his local work as part of a new candidate’s team.

Thornbury and Yate Liberal Democrats have just announced that they will select Steve's successor as Parliamentary Candidate on 15th July. 

With speculation mounting about a possible snap election, Steve said “It has been a huge privilege to serve the people of this area for eighteen years.  In that time, I have met so many committed campaigners and selfless individuals who give so much to their local community.  I also owe a huge debt to my team in the constituency office and to our active local campaigners who have taught me so much.  Our strong team of local councillors and campaigners and our new candidate for Parliament will continue to have my wholehearted support”

South Glos Council leader, Ruth Davis, said "It is impossible to put into words our gratitude to Steve on behalf of our community and the countless people he and the team have helped. He has built a really strong team of people committed to the needs of our residents. That team is carrying on the work, with him as part of it. Since the Referendum we have been staggered by the large number of  people coming forward to join the party locally. We had a massive growth in membership just after the general election and that has happened again this year.  So we are in a stronger position than ever and ready for the challenges the country faces"

Steve Webb was MP for Northavon and then for Thornbury & Yate from 1997 to 2015 and Minister for Pensions from 2010 to 2015. As well as his highly-regarded work on pensions, Steve has been a passionate local campaigner, working alongside local people to deliver a cinema for Yate and improved bus services to Southmead Hospital, fighting cuts to local services and raising local issues in the House of Commons. He still lives with his family near Thornbury.

At the last General Election the Lib Dems were defeated in this constituency by just 1495 votes, making this seat the closest fought between Lib Dems and Conservatives in the whole South West.

Never mind the TV debates...

... what happened when the candidates for Thornbury and Yate went head-to-head for the first time?

At the start of the General Election campaign the five candidates for this constituency took part in their first ‘hustings’ meeting. Young people attending sixth forms across Yate and Chipping Sodbury, and voting for the first time at this General Election, organised a meeting at Yate International Academy, attended by over 100 sixth formers. What was THEIR verdict on all the candidates for this seat after quizzing them?

Before the hustings, in a secret ballot the Tories were neck and neck with Steve Webb, with the other parties trailing.

But after a two hour head-to-head grilling of all the candidates things changed.

In an exit poll at the end of the event the Tory vote halved from 25% to 12%, while Steve Webb's vote surged from 25% to 43%.

After testing the candidates on all sorts of issues, the young people's verdict was clear. THEY want Steve Webb to win - they see him as the best person to help deliver the future they want for themselves and their world.

You can hear the candidates at the following public hustings meetings:

Tues 14th April – 7pm
Armadillo, Station Road, Yate, Bristol, BS37 4FW
(organised by Federation of Small Business)

Thurs 16th April – 7.30pm
Zion United Church, Woodend Road, Frampton Cotterell, BS36 2HY

Tues 21st April – 7.30pm
Thornbury Baptist Church, Gillingstool, Thornbury, BS35 2EG

Thurs 23rd April – 7.30pm
Cranleigh Court Chapel, Cranleigh Court Road, Yate, BS37 5DQ

When people hear Steve and what he has been able to achieve with residents locally and nationally it strikes a chord.

Now the election campaign really begins

Parliament has now been dissolved, and the election campaign is well under way. Steve Webb was unanimously adopted as the Liberal Democrat parlaimentary candidate for the Thornbury and Yate constituency at a meeting of Lib Dem members in Chipping Sodbury Town Hall this week. Steve will be very busy for the next few weeks because quite apart from campaigning he's still the Minister of State for Pensions - the government doesn't finish until the election result is known.

Meanwhile local Lib Dems have been out on the streets talking to as many voters as possible, though you may well have seen us at other times - we make a real effort to keep in contact between elections, either on the doorstep or via our regular Focus and other leaflets.

If you would like to help Steve's campaign in a practical way you can email Steve on steve@stevewebb.org.uk or click here if you would like to make a financial donation to our campaign.

Victory on Yate train overcrowding

We're happy to announce the end of the long fight to get extra train carriages from Yate. From December the 7.40 and 8.09, and the return journeys from Temple Meads at 14.41, 15.41, 16.41 and 17.10 will each have an extra carriage. First Great Western told us this good news at the rail users meeting this evening.

Also for those affected by the complete failure of the commuter train service to Bristol on the morning of Monday 26th, Nigel at the station has forms for users to obtain refunds, or you can claim via the passenger charter.

Campaigners celebrate extra rush-hour train from Yate

 

Claire Young, Wully Perks (Vice-Chair) and Sue Walker (Chair)
of Friends of Yate Station with Steve Webb MP at Yate Station

Following pressure from local MP Steve Webb and the Friends of Yate Station, First Great Western have agreed to put on an extra morning commuter train from Yate in the new timetable to be introduced in May.

Late last year, the MP held a meeting at his Yate office with First Great WesternChief Executive Mark Hopwood to register his complaint about overcrowding on rush-hour trains between Yate and Bristol. The company considered these concerns and has now announced that from May there will be an additional train leaving Yate at 0712, calling at Filton Abbey Wood, Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads before going on to Westbury. This is a train that was previously running empty through the station, starting in Cheltenham Spa and only beginning to pick up passengers at Bristol Parkway.

Commenting on his web site, Steve Webb said:"An extra morning train from Yate to Abbey Wood and Bristol is a big step forward. For passengers who have had enough of overcrowding on the later trains, this will provide an additional option of a less crowded earlier train. For workers with some flexibility on working hours it may mean that they can then travel back home slightly earlier, and thereby avoid the peak rush-hour trains out of Bristol in the evening. Coming on top of the additional carriage that we have secured for the 0815 service, this is another sign that where we campaign effectively we can get things improved".

In addition to the new 0712 service, there is an improvement in service for those travelling to Swindon, with the 0740 service now going on from Bristolto Swindon without the need for changing trains. 

MP forces Government to u-turn on MP's pensions

Local MP Steve Webb has succeeded in forcing the Government to re-think its plans to increase the amount of money taxpayers put into the MPs' pension scheme. You can read more on Steve's blog.

Thanks for the survey

Thank you to everyone in Chipping Sodbury who responded to the Residents Survey when we were going round with Steve Webb MP this morning.

It was good to meet so many people and to find out about your views and concerns.

Energy problems - and advice on renewable energy

With the cold weather and economic problems, many people will be worried about their fuel bills this winter. Local MP Steve Webb has discovered that the vast majority of people in "fuel poverty" are missing out on the special deals for vulnerable people. You can read more on Steve's blog and in The Times.

If your thoughts have turned to alternative forms of energy, you might be interested in SG Futurenergy, a partnership between South Gloucestershire Council and the Severn Wye Energy Agency which offers advice on renewable energy. The scheme also offers grants and low interest loans to help people install renewable energy.

Steve Webb live Q&A online Monday evening

Steve Webb will take part in a live question and answer session on the Lib Dem Voice website from 6.30pm on Monday evening.

This is a national event - Steve is of course the Liberal Democrat Climate Change and Energy spokesman, as well as being our local MP.

You can submit a question if you want to - Lib Dem Voice has details here.

Ten Green Bloggers

Steve Webb has got together a cross-party group of ten bloggers to try to use the power of the internet to force action on climate change.

Steve says "Our particular focus was on getting the Government's climate change bill amended so that the target for cuts in CO2 emissions by 2050 was not the current rather modest 60% but a bolder 80% - the least that most people think is needed to avoid catastrophic climate change"

Their first step has been to set up a website - www.canvassyourmp.com - to start a campaign to get ‘real people’ to go and see their MP, explain why 80% cuts in C02 by 2050 are needed, and then report back via the website. The website has the contact details of every MP in the country.

The site went live in ‘beta’ version today, 9th June, to coincide with the Second Reading of the Climate Change Bill.

If you live anywhere except Steve's constituency, please use the site to arrange to meet your MP and lobby them. Even if you live in Steve's patch, go to www.canvassyourmp.com anyway and sign up for the newsletter.

You can read more about this on Steve's blog and on Lib Dem Voice.

You can also sign up for our Facebook Group Climate Change - 60% cut is not enough.

10p tax made simple - Steve Webb explains the changes

Steve Webb's blog explains the Government's latest tax changes.

Are you a winner or a loser? Are the Government's changes a one-off, or will they apply next year as well?

Just a thought, is this U-turn anything to do with the Crewe and Nantwich by-election?

But there will be 1.1 million people that still lose out - earning between just over £6,500 and £12,800 - so they are worse off than most of the people who gain from this week's changes.

Steve Webb speaks out on bus service changes

Read the full story in today's Bristol Evening Post.

Note - story no longer available.

First boss tries out train from Yate - and it's late

First Great Western's Regional Manager, Andrew Griffiths, accepted Steve Webb's invitation to try out the Yate train for himself today. And yes, it was late. And no, he didn't know why. We imagine he asked when he got to Bristol.

But seriously - well done, Mr Griffiths, for being prepared to find out what it's like for local commuters. It would be good if more senior people in other services did the same. Let's hope that some service improvements come out of this.

You can see Mr Griffiths and Steve Webb in a short BBC news film here.

The Gazette story gives more detail here.

Steve Webb on TV talking about e-petitions

There was an interesting item on the BBC's Politics Show West today. They were talking about electronic petitions. Their first example was the 8000-signature petition to save the Bristol to Bath railway path, popular with cyclists and walkers, from being converted into a rapid transit bus route.

The programme interviewed Steve Webb MP about the effectiveness and the disadvantages of e-petitions.

Then they spoke to the campaign to save Lacock Post Office, which was based on a conventional petition. Finally there was a discussion with Dr Lisa Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of the West of England.

You can watch the broadcast item by going to this page and clicking on the "Latest Programme" button at the top right. It will be available for the next week - this item starts 6 minutes 20 seconds into the programme.

A YouTube video of Steve Webb's complete contribution can be seen here:


Steve Webb - Click the arrow to play the video.

Steve Webb's back on Facebook

We're glad to see that Steve Webb's Facebook page has now returned. Let's hope it stays that way. Thank you to everyone that contacted Facebook, and thank you also to the person at Facebook who decided to reinstate the account.

For those that don't know what this is about, Facebook is an online networking system that many young (and not so young) people use. Steve had more than 2500 contacts on there, and many of them used it to raise problems with Steve - education, buses, housing, you name it.

Two minutes on the site would have shown Facebook that it wasn't a fake. Let's hope they'll be more careful next time.

If you're on Facebook you can see Steve's Facebook page here - if not, you would need to register.

Of course Steve's blog is still at http://www.webbsteve.blogspot.com/ and his website is http://www.stevewebb.org.uk/.

Steve Webb and Facebook - update

I have just emailed Facebook as follows:

"Please restore Steve Webb MP's facebook account

I was very disturbed to learn that the Facebook account of Steve Webb MP - a member of the UK Parliament - has been removed because you believe that his site is a fake, and that it is a breach of your rules not to give a genuine first name and last name.

I can assure you that Steve's site is genuine. He is a colleague and a friend of mine. If you don't restore his site you risk extremely adverse national and international publicity for something which looks like political censorship, but may of course only be an error on your part. It's already spreading through the blogosphere. Please act before it is too late to avoid unfortunate publicity for your otherwise excellent service."

If you are on Facebook please do something similar - you can find the messaging link under Help / Signup and login problems / Write us a message - and also join the Facebook group Steve Webb is real!

Paul Hulbert

Facebook delete Steve Webb and say he's "not real"

Social Networking site Facebook has deleted Steve Webb MP's account saying that his site site is a fake and that it is a breach of their rules not to give a genuine first name and last name.

Looks like they just couldn't believe that a local MP would have 2500 Facebook friends!

There's a new Facebook group Steve Webb is real! - please join it.

You can read Steve's full story about it at his blog here.

Women's pensions - Steve Webb's campaign gets pension justice

Steve Webb MP has been campaigning to get proper state pension payments for women whose computer records had been lost, so that they weren't receiving credit for periods when they were at home raising children.

Steve was contacted by more than a thousand women who have been affected. Steve and his team identified a dozen key cases and took them to the Department of Work and Pensions, who agreed that they had lost out. One woman has received more than £10,000 in back pension and interest.

The Government has now agreed to trawl through millions of National Insurance Contribution records to identify the people affected - the back payments may add up to tens of millions of pounds.

For the full details, see Steve Webb's blog.

Steve Webb in his own words

Steve has written a post on his blog "The Webb Log" explaining the reasons why he didn't join in the Lib Dem Leadership race. Please read it for "straight for the horse's mouth" information (no offence meant, Steve!) and for his view of the forthcoming contest.

Best wishes to Steve and family from all your many supporters.

Breaking news - Steve Webb not joining Leadership contest

Steve Webb has just told the BBC that he will not be putting himself forward for the job, but will be supporting Nick Clegg. Full BBC story here.