Disabled Rights campaigner selected for Eastleigh

Eastleigh Conservative Association has voted unanimously to elect Maria Hutchings as their candidate to fight the next general election.

Mrs Hutchings, 46, and mother of four, said "it is a huge honour and privilege that I should be selected to represent Eastleigh. We will start right now to build upon the hard work of local Conservatives to ensure a victory in the next general election. The Blair/Brown project has brought this country to its knees with stifling stealth taxes and now Brown is poised to submit even more power to the E.U. The people of Eastleigh and Great Britain deserve better and this lady is ready to deliver."

Maria Hutchings first came to our attention in February 2005 when she lambasted Tony Blair on national television for the closure of special schools and the lack of provision for disabled children.

Maria is a communications consultant and married to Stuart, 49, who is a marketing manager to a group of electronics companies.

We are absolutely thrilled to have Maria as our candidate. She is a passionate politician, full of conviction and a bundle of energy.

Eastleigh's Conservative Parliamentary Candidate

Eastleigh's Conservative Parliamentary Candidate will be announced this Saturday 29th September. Be one of the first to know his or her name. Find out here on the blog on Saturday evening.

Referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty

Last week residents of East Stoke, a Dorset village voted in a referendum about whether the nation should be surveyed on the new legislation for the European treaty

The vote was called when a local resident, John Barnes, used an obscure provision of the 1972 Local Government Act which states that if 10 members of a parish call for a vote on any subject then the council is obliged to carry out the request.

Mr Barnes said he hoped the result would lead to further polls being held across the country to put pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to call a referendum on whether to accept the treaty.

Imre Niedermayer, Hungarian-born landlord of the village pub, The Stokeford Inn, said he was happy to take the time to cast his vote as he believed the poll represented "democracy in action".

"What this is about is democracy. I was brought up under communism and unless we have a vote about this treaty and unless we are all allowed to make our contribution to politics then it is not healthy and we will end up with a police state."

If you would like to vote on this issue please select yes or no on the right. You may also post your comments below.

Britain's broken society

What are the causes of Britain's broken society? Are they

• High crime rates
• Drug abuse
• Alcoholism
• Gambling addiction
• Divorce
• Cohabitation
• One parent families
• Debt
• Television
• A lack of religious beliefs and teaching
• Poor education
• The yob culture
• Overcrowding
• Multiculturalism

What do you think? Please let me know.

A couple of statistics I came across recently are

"Half of unmarried couples separate by their child's fifth birthday. One in 12
married couples separate by their child's fifth birthday." David Cameron

Britian's broken society costs the country £102 b a year:
Family breakdown £24 b
Educational underachievement £18 b
Crime £60 b

Personal debt is now at a total of £1.38 trillion in the UK. The average debt of each family is £54, 452. 7 - 9 million people say that they have a serious problem with debt.

At least the Conservative party is trying to address these issues. Gordon Brown, like is predecessor Tony Blair, seems happy to send us further into debt.