The mystery surrounding Jon Venables and the unprecedented steps by the Prime Minister downwards to justify a cloak of anonymity has taken the operation of the Human Rights Act to indefensible lengths. The Act was originally trumpeted as the new Bill of Rights. However, the resultant wave of human rights cases in the Courts has been dominated by an application of the Act to sections of society the least deserving of protection. We have seen in recent times the Courts set aside Control Orders imposed on suspected terrorists for so called infringement of their basic civil liberties and ‘lifers’ winning compensation for delays by the Parole Board. At the other end of the spectrum householders have faced prosecution for defending their homes whilst their assailant’s rights have prevailed even to the extent of compensation for injuries sustained whilst illegally gaining entry. The application of the Act has become a slogan for political correctness. The public is sickened today by a society which spends hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax payer’s money on protecting the likes of Venables & Thompson whilst vulnerable children like Baby P suffer, for it is claimed, lack of resources in Social Services. It strikes me that we are devoting too much time and attention today on spot fines for dropping cigarette butts and putting silicon chips into householder’s bins.  Perhaps the cynical exploitation by MPs of their expenses is but a symptom of a society badly in need of reformation, the restoration of family values and justice for the vulnerable? Before we go to the ballot boxes on May 6th we would do well to consider lighting a ‘Guy Fawkes bonfire’ under the whole concept of the political correctness, a disease of this age as pernicious as any affecting our physical bodies.

David Kirwan

Prospective Independent MP for Wirral West

Amidst all the media attention on Lord ‘nom-dom’ Ashcroft and his donations to the Tory Party speculation has now focussed on the outcome of his expenditure on the so called marginal seats which the Tories need to win if they hare to seize power from Labour. Perhaps we should give some thought to the electorate in these constituencies which will form the main battle ground between the parties on May 6th? In this day and age when the dust has still not yet settled on the MPs expense scandal and questions are being asked about the real policies or lack of them offered by the Conservatives, it is perhaps disingenuous if not short of actually offensive to really believe that any big hitting party donor can by distribution of such political largesse simply buy the voters? It strikes me that both the Conservatives and Labour have forgotten that the days of the ‘rotten boroughs’ of the Eighteenth Century when Parliamentary seats could be bought and sold are long gone.

David Kirwan

Prospective Independent MP for Wirral West
& Independent Wirral Borough Councillor

David Kirwan, who is standing in the marginal Wirral West constituency, believes that the news that Lord Ashcroft has not paid tax on his overseas fortune will damage the party’s prospects in marginal seats around the country.

Mr Kirwan said: “Despite all the revelations about sleaze among our politicians, it seems that the Conservatives still think that it is acceptable practice to allow a billionaire donor who refuses to pay tax on a huge part of his fortune to bankroll their desperate scramble for seats.

“Thankfully, the voters of this country are not bought so easily and the Tories will suffer a backlash as a result of the revelations of the last couple of days.

“David Cameron and his Notting Hill and Eton set may consider having someone like Lord Ashcroft bankrolling their campaign to be acceptable, but most voters in this constituency and elsewhere will see it as another example of the arrogant folly of our discredited mainstream parties.

“By standing in Wirral West, I am offering voters a genuine choice. They can either elect another five years of the same old tired politics or they can elect to Parliament a genuinely independent MP who is not beholden to any party political machines.”

The main political parties should not underestimate the burgeoning public distrust of politicians. The belated disclosure by Lord Ashcroft, Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party and financial bank roller of candidates in marginal seats, of his ‘nom-dom’ tax status ten years after he gave assurances of his intention to become a permanent resident and thus a UK taxpayer in exchange for a seat in the House of Lords is bound to reignite the controversy over the MP’s expenses scandal. It simply beggars belief that David Cameron and his Shadow Chancellor George Osborne can offer any election pledges relating to taxation and economic recovery when the highest within their own ranks professes that his ‘home’ is in sunny Belize and bank rolls in terms of his tax a foreign country. There could be no worse example of double standards when the taxpayers in this country will inevitably have to shoulder by increased taxation the burden of paying off the highest National Debt incurred in living memory.  This sordid affair simply demonstrates the new depths plumbed by political duplicity.  No amount of open necked shirts, cycling to work and pod casts of washing up in the kitchen will convince the voters that Cameron and his Notting Hill clique are one of us.

David Kirwan

Prospective Independent MP for Wirral West
& Independent Wirral Borough Councillor

On the first of March and in the last days of this Government the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) came into existence. The IPC will have sweeping powers to approve vital projects such as power stations and wind farms which have the capacity to so blight our lives. At a stroke we have lost the right to protest such issues as the extension of airport runways and our future environment is now in the hands of faceless bureaucrats. We have lost our sovereignty to Europe and the right to protect our homes and environment to unelected quangos. All that we have remaining is the power of the vote. When we go to the ballot box in a few weeks time we would do well to consider the damage that the politicians in successive governments have done to this country, its infrastructure and traditions.

David Kirwan

Prospective Independent MP for Wirral West
& Independent Wirral Borough Councillor

Granting a religious platform to the self confessed leader of Sinn Fein throughout the troubles that tore Northern Ireland apart and resulted in the deaths of so many on both sides of the sectarian divide will outrage and shock most decent law abiding people in the Province as well as on the Mainland and none more so than the relatives of the twenty nine innocent victims of the Omagh Bomb outrage of 1998.

Many will be reminded of the chilling photograph taken only minutes before the blast of a smiling father posing with his child on his shoulders next to the red car full of explosives which the terrorists had left parked in the High Street. Hours later his camera was found in the bomb blast wreckage of what was left of that street. Then when we listen to Gerry Adams jokingly reminding the Archaeologist guiding him down into a narrow tomb below ground on a hill above Jerusalem and likened to that in which Jesus was probably buried, that he (Adams) was also a member of an ‘underground organisation’ (viz Sinn Fein) we might be forgiven for considering such an analogy a sickening if not blasphemous hypocrisy.

No one would advocate for one moment that any obstacle should be placed in the path of reconciliation in terms of the bitter feud that has divided the communities in Northern Ireland but there must be some limitation placed on the zeal that the BBC appears to display in its capacity to outrage common decency. Christ’s message was peace. That message should be transmitted only by hands free from the stain of the blood of innocent victims.

Meanwhile, four fifths of small traders report that they have been unable to obtain credit from their Banks and many owners are now resorting to credit card borrowing in order to finance their businesses.

Sensing no doubt an opportunity the credit card companies, like sharks circling a victim, have now increased their interest rates by eye watering amounts unequalled since Labour assumed power in 1997. It is hard to explain these increases against the backdrop of a current 0.5% Bank Rate. Corporate liquidations have increased fourfold and most city centres now have the highest proportion of empty shops and stores since 1991 and the rate peaked at 15% under the Tories. The Government has bailed out the Banks with two massive cash injections of trillions producing the greatest deficit in living memory. No surprise that recent economic figures indicate a last quarter’s growth of a meagre 0.2%.

The World economy relies on the availability of credit. It is the life blood of commerce. Yet the Government appears powerless to break the Banks self imposed log jam. The idle boasts of Gordon Brown and his Chancellor, Alistair Darling are exposed as a meaningless sham. The Conservative Party with its Cameronite Notting Hill core is ambivalent in its policy towards the financial institutions and voters will be disappointed if they believe that a future Tory Government will break ranks with its traditional City supporters in the Golden Mile. We need a popularly elected Parliament to break down those barriers which the mainstream parties are unable or unwilling to tackle. Only then will the economy be restored. The alternative is the boom & bust scenario that we have experienced as the Tories and Labour have swapped places since the 1960s. It is time that the annual farce of the Budget is confined to the bin of history and plain homespun economics prevail

David Kirwan

THE first Independent candidate to declare he was standing at the height of the Expenses Scandal has welcomed the decision to prosecute three Labour MPs and a Tory Peer.

Leading lawyer David Kirwan, who is the Prospective Independent MP for Wirral West, said he believed the criminal prosecution would ensure that the scandal remained a major issue up until polling day.

The Wirral West constituency is one of the Tories’ must-win seats with Labour’s Stephen Hesford - who recently announced he was standing down at the General Election - holding a majority of just 1164.

David Kirwan said today: “The Expenses Scandal is still very much alive as an issue on the doorsteps of the Wirral West constituency.

“It would be the height of arrogance for anyone to think that the biggest scandal in British political history could be so quickly swept under the carpet. The voters in my constituency and elsewhere will not forgive and forget that easily.

“The decision to prosecute the three Labour MPs and Tory Peer reinforces more than ever that the time has come to shake up our political system.

“Our so called major political parties have abused the system and the trust of the electorate. The time has come for a new era in British politics with the election of genuinely independent candidates who bring with them experience, trustworthiness and a desire to do the best for their constituents rather than themselves.”

Mr Kirwan said that the issue of sleaze continued to dominate conversations he was having on the doorsteps of Wirral West.

He added: “I took the decision to stand in Wirral West after being appalled like many millions of others by the greed, hypocrisy and utter recklessness of many of our politicians.

“Far from disappearing from the political agenda, the fallout from the Expenses Scandal will continue to haunt Gordon Brown and David Cameron now and throughout the General Election campaign. I firmly believe the voters of this country will bring about a seismic change in the way we are governed.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

·        For further information or interviews with David Kirwan please contact either Nick Mason or Rachel Mealing at Mason Media on 0151 239 5050 or 07903 237008.

Prospective Independent MP for Wirral West David Kirwan has launched a campaign to stop Moreton turning into a “jungle of takeaways and a desert of shops”.

The local businessman is behind a petition to block planning permission for a number of new fast food outlets in the town.

And tomorrow night (THUR) Mr. Kirwan will temporarily stand down from the local planning committee to leave himself free to campaign on the issue.

There are currently seven takeaways in the space of a few hundred yards of each other on Hoylake Road, with two more recently awarded planning permission and two more applications awaiting the decision of the planning committee.

The leading lawyer and independent Wirral councillor is urging people to sign his petition and attend the public meeting of the planning committee at Wallasey Town Hall.

Mr. Kirwan said: “This situation has got totally out of control and it needs to be addressed before it is too late for the people of Moreton.

“I am temporarily stepping down from the local planning committee for the evening as I want to be able to fight this crazy decision to continue granting planning permission to takeaways.

“In the space of a few hundred yards we already have seven hot food takeaways, with two more recently given the green light to start trading, while another two are currently awaiting planning permission.

“That would make a total of 11 takeaways in a very small area. There is a real danger that Moreton will become a jungle of takeaways and a desert of shops.

“Very few takeaways open before five in the afternoon, so there is little incentive for people to come and shop in the town centre.

“Moreton needs more greengrocers and a post office, not more chip shops.”

Mr. Kirwan arranged for the two pending planning applications to be taken out of delegation, forcing a full hearing before the planning committee.

He added: “This issue is a growing concern for shopkeepers and shoppers alike and now is the time to let our voices be heard.

“We do not want any more takeaways, it is as simple as that. I would urge everyone to sign our petition and come along to tomorrow night’s planning committee meeting and voice their concerns.

“We have to put a stop to the proliferation of these establishments.”

• You can sign the petition at the offices of Kirwans Solicitors, 236 Hoylake Road, Moreton, Wirral CH46 6AD

David, who was the first Independent candidate to announce he was standing at the General Election, said the debate needed to also address the withdrawal of treatment from patients in a persistent vegetative state (PSV).

David said: “A poll now suggests that more than 50 per cent of the public approve the concept of assisted suicide and the prominence of this subject grows with the entry into the public debate by well known personalities such as Sir Terry Pratchett who has suggested setting up Coroner Tribunals presumably to provide rulings on this emotive subject.

“We should not, however, forget the case of Rom Houben who was diagnosed as being in PVS and treated for 23 years until advances in medical techniques by chance discovered that he was found to have brain activity and to be suffering from “locked-in” syndrome.

“This case has huge implications for the legality of withdrawing treatment from PVS patients. Our traditional reliance upon and acceptance of medical opinion must now be seriously questioned in terms of the need for a wider public debate.

“Is it fair to criticise MPs for their reluctance to legislate in the face of growing public support for assisted suicide? But then who is to sit in judgement on these life or death issues? In the meantime in the absence of a conclusion the more we talk the better.”