New MPs must stop the cuts to education
PERHAPS it’s unfair to expect candidates to be just robots, programmed to their party lines, slavishly loyal on topics which they have had no part in formulating and not been appraised of the implications for their constituents.
Such a topic is school funding where allegations of eye-watering cuts facing our children are claimed.
Nobody really knows what we will end up with but candidates can be asked to put their names on the line to defend their constituents – many of whom do not have a vote.
Some have already done so, some may be ignorant of the specific threat. But they can all make a pledge and then use their integrity and reputation to challenge their party leaders in the future.
To find out how it effects your children, be they family members, neighbours or simply fellow Mancunians (and friends around the country) visit schoolcuts.org.uk from which you can email candidates standing to be your MP. Concerned Grandparent
Labour costs do not add up
THE Labour Party claims that its manifesto proposals are fully costed is proving to be a figment of its own imagination given the performance of senior figures in recent interviews.
The shadow home secretary was unable to give an accurate cost of employing additional police officers, the shadow education secretary could not provide the cost of employing additional teachers to meet the objective of reducing class sizes to 30 pupils, and Jeremy Corbyn did not know the cost of his child care policy.
Furthermore, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has stated that the proposed tax increases will, even on an optimistic level, result in a shortfall of £9bn.
There is no doubt that if a Labour government is elected, the nation’s finances will, within four years, be back to the parlous state they were in 2010. J Hedley, Ramsbottom
Train advice was off track
THE debate about rail privatisation reminded me of a time some years ago when my wife and I arrived at Euston railway station, in London.
It was early evening and we wanted to go home to Manchester. We were told that there was no more trains until the next morning.
We could get a train in the early hours that arrived in Crewe at 4am next morning, but we would have to wait hours for it to leave.
We phoned our son and arranged for him to meet us at Crewe at 4am next morning and he would take us home from there.
We settled on a bench to wait for the Crewe train.
After some time, we saw the MP Gerald Kaufman walking past us followed by a few people.
I thought, he is from Manchester and looked to see where he was going.
He walked to a train a few platforms away and got on. The other people got on so we did the same.
We found out that the train was from another company and it was due to leave in 20 minutes for Manchester.
We found that the ticket man worked for somebody else so was not allowed to tell us anything. DH, Manchester
Good to see justice done
AT Action on Elder Abuse, we were heartened to read that Ruth Blatchford, the carer who slapped and kicked a vulnerable older man with dementia while working at the Moston Grange care home (M.E.N,
May 22), has received a 12-week custodial sentence, although we do question why she was charged with the lesser offence of ill-treatment rather than assault.
However, we’re still heartened because, unfortunately, it is so rare for those who commit crimes against older people to actually serve time in prison. Indeed, many of them are never prosecuted at all.
Our analysis shows that despite an estimated 413,500 people aged 65 or over in England and Wales experiencing some form of abuse each year – ranging from neglect and fraud to physical and sexual assaults – in 2015/16 there were just 3,012 successful criminal convictions.
This means it is likely that 99 per cent of those who abuse older people are not being punished.
This is a situation that cannot be allowed to continue and, for this reason, Action on Elder Abuse is campaigning for abuse of older people to be classed as an aggravated crime, so the police and our justice system are forced to take it more seriously. Gary FitzGerald, Chief Executive, Action on Elder Abuse