Paul's Blog from the Liverpool Conference - final installment from our parliamentary candidate

11.55.21am GMT Mon 10th Mar 2008

Paul Zukowskyj, Parliamentary Candidate for Welwyn Hatfield.

Says Paul:

"Sunday started with a visit to the main conference hall. Listening to the

impassioned arguments for and against policy changes on housing was

illuminating and interesting, and I learnt a lot about the invidious

position councils are in when it comes to social housing (council houses).

The situation where councils have to find the money from local budgets to

build new homes, but if the tenants take up the option of 'right to buy'

the national government takes the money and feeds none back to the council,

is clearly why only 300 new council homes were built in the last year in

the whole of the UK! The result? An increase in waiting lists for council

accommodation from 1 million to 1.6 million in the last ten years. New

labour are happier spending money on rents to private landlords than on

building homes for those most in need. Their strategy to remove council

housing from local authority control is also plain wrong, basically a bribe

to allow them to say 'it's not our fault' when things go wrong and families

are forced to live in poorly maintained accommodation. Our housing policy

would change this by allowing councils to build new homes by keeping the

money raised from right to buy. An interesting debate all round.

"Next came a question and answer session on schools. The New Labour fudge of

introducing 'diplomas' and running them alongside A levels is clearly

barmy. Those doing diplomas would be viewed as having failed to achieve and

the qualification will simply not be valued. The Lib Dems are looking to

start consultation on schools and qualifications in the next month or two,

and hopefully update our current policy to make it more coherent with

changes in society we can see starting to happen in today's world. I'll be

contributing to this debate, as I have two vested interests, not only as a

parent but also as an admissions tutor for the University of Hertfordshire.

"The very last session before the Leaders Speech was an emergency debate on

energy prices. The current tariffs for direct debit versus pre-payment

meters was a central feature of this. Those with pre-payment meters

typically pay 20% more for their energy than those using direct debit. This

is over-pricing for the poor. A simply unacceptable situation. Our policy

is to force energy companies to look at social tariffs, where the poorest

in our society are NOT paying more, and where issues people have about not

being able to pay their gas and electricity bills are treated personally

and sympathetically. We're also going to look at the possibility of a

windfall tax on energy companies, which would be used to fund energy

efficiency improvements to people's homes, reducing their bills even more,

these improvements being directed to those least able to afford the

improvements.

"The final session of conference was our leader's speech. As a long-time

supporter of Nick for leader, I must admit to some concern about his

speech. After such a controversial week, Nick really needed to deliver, and

having colleagues who were firm Chris supporters, colleagues whose opinions

I really value and who I trust to make the right choice, there was also a

very small niggling doubt that I had backed the right person. Nick quashed

all these concerns in the first two minutes of his speech. He was

passionate, eloquent, humorous where appropriate and his commitment,

enthusiasm and drive to deliver for our country shone through every word of

his speech. A really engaging and motivating presentation, I have

absolutely no doubt that he's the person to lead our party from strength to

strength.

"All in all, a really great conference and well worth going. I learnt a lot

and have come back even more motivated to deliver!"

Best wishes,

Paul Zukowskyj, Parliamentary Candidate for Welwyn Hatfield