Stephen Dorrell, a former minister in the Thatcher Government
and tipped for a return to the front bench under Cameron has been
questioned by Radio 4's flagship investigative journalism program
File on 4. The programme, (click here) ,
took a close look at companies who are alleged to have turned to
the tax payer to bail out black holes in pension schemes. Uunder investigation is Dorrell's corporate
clothing company Wensum PLC, which suddenly went in to administration
in June 2009. The collapse of Wensum took place barely 4 weeks after
the company agreed a merger with the UK holdings of LA Group of South
Africa in return for a 19% stake in the new company and a loan
guarantee of £500,000. A group of Far East bankers then purchased
the assets of Wensum, including LA Group's UK holdings, and
re-appointed Dorrell as Chairman. Whilst legal, the use of what is
known as a 'pre-pack' deal is highly controversial. LA Group were
left as a major share holder of a bankrupt company with substantial
debts, and it now seems a pension fund with a minimum multi-million
£££ black hole. LA Group are
justifiably aggrieved, and are taking legal advice on how they can
recover their UK assets. The File on 4
investigation centred around Wensum's Pension Fund black hole, which was not part of
the 'pre-pack' and must now be bailed out by the tax payer.
Along
with the assets of LA Group, the new 'Wensum' also acquired a Royal
Warrant as suppliers of Corporate wear to the Queen. This warrant was
awarded to the long established Norwich based Wensum before it was
acquired by Dorrell's family business, Faithful Holdings in 2008
using a 'reverse take-over'. It is now under the control of the Far
East Banking consortium.
Eric Goodyer, Labour's Prospective
Parliamentary candidate for Charnwood said “Whilst all these city
deals may be legal, they are wholly immoral. It also brings in to
question the judgement of David Cameron, who wants to appoint Stephen
Dorrell to his front bench.”
Goodyer added that his main
thoughts are with the pensioners, many of whom held company shares,
and staff who have lost everything. “As a minimum he should
voluntarily surrender his Royal Warrant to prevent a further
embarrassment to Her Majesty. If he wants to run a business full-time
then that he is free to do so, but he is supposed to be our MP and he
does not even have an office in the Constituency – we call him the
Invisible Man”.
Our MP, Stephen Dorrell, who has spoken in the House to oppose Labour's
Plans to provide free Home Care for the Elderly, took his and his
wife's pension out of the scheme before the company closed, in an
attempt to reduce its liabilities.
Eric Goodyer added "This claim implies that Stephen Dorrell was aware of
his companies imminent collapse. So why did he take out his money and
not warn his other employees and fellow investors. He should immediately
resign as Charnwood's MP, I will be writing to David Cameron to ask why
he is considering him for a return to the Conservative Front Bench"
Don't Risk the Recovery
With unemployment well below
worst expectatons, the economy now shown to have returned to
growth in 2009, do not risk a double dip recession with Cameron &
Osborne. They made all the wrong choices on the way out of the Banker's
recession. They are pledged to abolish the Building Schools for the
Future programme, R&D Tax Credits, and Working Families Tax
Credits. They want Stephen Dorrell to return to the Front Bench as a Minister. We cannot afford a Conservative Government.
WE HAVE A DUTY TO CARE FOR OUR PARENTS
Care for the elderly has rightly taken centre stage. We live an an
ageing society, and we have to find a way to pay for it. It is tragic
that the all-party consensus was collapsed by David Cameron, who placed
making a political stunt above the need to fund care provision. In
contrast Andrew Landsley has made a serious contribution by proposing an
£8000 insurance policy to pay for residential care. There is merit to
this, for those who wish to take it up. However only 12.7% of older
people actually go in to residential care. Thus the scheme will fail to
offer anything for the majority who choose to live at home, which is the
best way to preserve your assets. There is also a 7/8th chance that you
would be giving £8000 to a bank or insurance company for nothing. We
must review the funding of home based care urgently, as they are the
majority. So far Andrew Landsley and David Cameron have made no
suggestions at all on this issue. Independent studies have proven that
home care saves the nation millions, both through the unaccounted input
of carers and the huge savings made by the NHS. The York Economic
Foundation have just concluded that the Scottish NHS alone will save £40
Million over 3 years thanks to the use of Assistive Technology which
enables older people to continue living at home. Significantly Scotland
now offers free home and residential care to all, without a means test.
Home care also has better health outcomes, and enables older people to
remain in contact with their community, friends and family. I genuinely
hope that Andrew Landsley is allowed to return to the non-party talks so
that a consensus can be found to provide free home care for the elderly.
Britain can and must afford it.
Stephen Dorrell and Wensum PLC - Judge for yourself. Our view is that he should surrender Wensum's Royal Warrant
ATOC analysis estimated annual income of £2.54 Million pa from
507188 passenger journeys, at a running cost of £1.42
Million p.a. - This is an annual profit of £1.12 Million per
annum
WE DO NOT NEED INCINERATORS IN LEICESTERSHIRE
There
is an alternative to incinerators - anaerobic biodigestion plants are
able to dispose of organic waste cleanly, and produce usable
by-products such as bio-fuels and fertiliser - Why is Leicestershire
County Council ignoring this new technology - It works in Shropshire. New plants are being built now in Gateshead and South Yorkshire, and mroe are planned
THERE IS A CLEANER GREENER ALTERNATIVE TO INCINERATION
I would like to express my full support for the campaign group seeking to
stop the construction of an incinerator in Shepshed, not because I am
opposed to incineration, but because there are more modern, cleaner and
greener alternatives. I hope that the campaigners identify the
true cause of the problem,
which is Leicestershire County Council (LCC). Biffa are more than
capable of managing a wide range of waste disposal methods, including
incineration, but also the more modern techniques of Mechanical
Biological Treatment (MBT), Autoclave (AC) and Anaerobic Digestion
(AD). They are already operating MBT & AD for Leicester City. Biffa
are
only doing what any commercial company is entitled to do, responding to
a tender from LCC. The fault lies with the Tory leadership who refused
to rule out the use of incineration in the tender documentation. Other
local authorities in the UK are in the same position and
specifically stated that incineration was not an acceptable option; and
I anticipate the Leicester City Council will do the same. As a direct
result there are a number of MBT, AD & AC processes
already under construction or operating in the UK. More sinister is the
way that an infrastructure to support incineration seems to be already
under way by stealth. There is simply not enough rubbish generated in
the County to keep a
Shepshed incinerator burning at maximum efficiency, and LCCs assumption
that there will be 180,000 tons available in time fails to take account
of three major factors: 1) We are recycling more. 2) The City is unlikely to offer rubbish for incineration. 3) Legislation is forcing manufacturers to produce products that result
in less waste. The only alternative is to import rubbish from
Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire to keep the fires
burning.
That is why the waste strategy document recently approved by LCC states
clearly that the proposed Sustainable Urban Extensions (SUEs) will be
preferred locations for non-strategic waste disposal; which means they
can be used to stock-pile rubbish to be used as fuel for the
incinerator. One SUE is planned for Leicester Forest East, just by the M1 and
perfect for a waste transfer station to store Northamptonshire rubbish.Another is planned for Thurmaston, perfectly
located to store rubbish from Nottinghamshire transported on the
A46.One will be located in North West Leicestershire, well-placed to
store rubbish from Derbyshire.Protecting our environment is a political
decision, not a just an economic one and the Conservatives have badly
let us down.
