Bucks residents encouraged to vote

Thursday 21st May

Your vote counts, that's the message to Aylesbury residents as Bucks gets ready for the County Council elections on Thursday 4th June. Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) today urged taxpayers to have their say on how council money is spent.

BCC provides over 350 different local services, ranging from schools to supporting children and young people, care for older people, roads and transport, libraries and trading standards. The Councils annual gross budget is over £700 million.

Chris Williams, Chief Executive said: “I am aware that the election is coming at a time when people are very concerned about the national issues regarding MPs expenses but our local councillors all do an extremely important job in representing their local communities and care passionately about delivering the very best.”

As we stand in the midst of a recession and with so much publicity surrounding the goings on in Parliament, it seems the people of Aylesbury are eager to have a decisive say on the future both locally and on a wider, national scale.

Emma Lucas, a hairdresser from Aylesbury, said: “I’m not usually interested in politics or voting but all the stuff in the papers recently has made me really angry and I actually want to take my chance to change things.”

Similarly Simon LeBonte, an A-Level student at Aylesbury Grammar School, said: “I’ve just turned 18 and I’m definitely going to vote, it’s important people take an interest in what councillors are doing with our money.”

The County Council has 57 councillors representing 47 different areas of the county. All seats will be contested on 4 June. European elections are also taking place on the same day, providing a voice at a European level too.

Aylesbury has five electoral divisions, Aylesbury East, Aylesbury North, Aylesbury South, Aylesbury South East and Aylesbury West. To see the candidates for your area visit www.buckscc.gov.uk and go to "Who is standing for election on 4 June".

Aylesbury MP stands for Speaker’s role

Thursday 21st May

Aylesbury MP John Bercow has announced he will run for the role of Speaker in the House of Commons. Mr Bercow, who represents the north of Aylesbury Vale, has pledged to champion reforms to Britain’s “broken” parliament.

Following this decision bookmakers Ladbrokes said MP Bercow's odds are 15/8.

The Speaker presides over debates in the House of Commons and says who may speak. They are responsible for keeping order in the House and can punish those who break the rules of the House.

In a letter to Martin Salter, Labour MP for Reading West, Mr Bercow said: “It is high time the House was run by professionals on a transparent basis, ensuring that we are accountable to the people who put us here."

Mr Bercow has gained support from more than 100 MP’s and is currently favourite at the bookies.His lengthy manifesto includes a promise to become a "forthright advocate for parliamentary democracy". This would see him break with tradition as Speaker by making regular appearances on television to speak up for MPs.

Since the Daily Telegraph began exposing MP’s claims, Michael Martin, the current Speaker, came under fire for trying to help his members of parliament during the expenses controversy and announced he would stand down on 21 June.

He is the first in 300 years to be forced out and his own embarrassing claims were revealed such as the £1,400 spent on chauffeurs in his Glasgow constituency. Calls for details of Mr Bercow’s expenses are now being made as politicians and voters alike choose who they want as the next Speaker.

Simon Clay, a businessman from Aylesbury, said: “The only MPs who should be considered for the Speaker vacancy, should be those who can demonstrate an absolutely clean record on their expense claims over the years they have been an MP.”

Whilst Ann Icke, a teacher from Buckingham, Mr Bercow’s constituency, said: “The new Speaker must have the utmost integrity and command the full respect from all fellow MPs in the House whatever their politics.”

Mr Bercow, a conservative MP and once ardent Thatcherite married his Labour-supporting wife Sally Illman in 2002 and is said to have moderated his views since then making him a better candidate for the neutral role of Speaker. In his letter to MP Martin Salter he claimed: “I have been on a political journey of enlightenment from the Thatcherite right to the political centre ground."

For details on MP John Bercow’s voting record and contact details visit They Work For You.