News

 Luton Conservatives recently sent a survey to thousands of local residents which included a series of questions about the recent expenses scandal and what politicians should be doing to restore trust in politics. The survey was deliberately sent to a cross section of Luton society and was not targeted just at Conservative voters.

The response showed how angry and concerned local residents are about these issues because more than 700 local residents replied (351 from Luton South and 357 from Luton North). This makes it one of the most comprehensive surveys of local political opinion in years.

The survey also asked people about their top concerns and issues, and included a behavioural contract by PPC's Nigel Huddleston (Luton South) and Jeremy Brier (Luton North) in which they outlined their promises to be accessible and responsive to constituents, and open and transparent about expenses including a commitment that they would only ever claim expenses for what is necessary to perform their jobs as MPs.

Picture, of David Cameron (centre) in Luton earlier in Summer 09 with Nigel Huddleston (left) and Jeremy Brier (right) 

Key findings are summarised below: 

• David Cameron is viewed as having responded best to the expenses scandal and the most likely of all the political leaders to tell the truth about public finances
• 78% of Luton residents believe the MP's communication allowance should be scrapped
• 68% believe the public should be involved in selecting party candidates
• 88% do not believe MP's should be allowed to employ their own family members
• 83% believe that the number of MP's should be reduced
• 89% support the return of powers from the EU and a referendum on approval of such transfers of powers in the future
• 87% believe the Human Rights Act should be replaced with a British Bill of Rights
• 84% believe that local people should be able to recall their MP and force a by-election
• 82% believe parliament not just the government should approve plans to commit troops to combat
• 65% of respondents had greater confidence in the Tory candidate's likely behaviour in the light of commitments made by them in a letter accompanying the survey
• Fighting crime topped the list of issues facing local residents, followed by job creation, the NHS and caring for the elderly/ retired.

In response to the question ‘what can the candidates do to increase your trust in politics?', the most frequent comments were: ‘be honest', ‘tell the truth', ‘be responsive', ‘no spin' and ‘complete transparency'.

Nigel Huddleston said:
"I was particularly pleased to see that so many respondents said that my personal behaviour and expenses pledges did indeed give them greater confidence in my ability to serve them.

By giving people the opportunity to provide open comments and asking them about their top issues and concerns, I also received a very clear steer on what our national and my local priorities should be. We are listening, we are developing policies accordingly, and when elected - we will act.

I was also pleased to see that so many voters are in favour of recall powers to force a bad politician to face a by-election. This is a hot topic in Luton South where such a rule would have enabled us to oust Margaret Moran already."

Jeremy Brier said:
"The whole of Luton is sick of Labour's policies and is ready for a change. The country needs a different direction - and, as this survey shows, Conservative policies like scrapping the Human Rights Act and a giving voters a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty are popular with voters."

NOTE: Extracts from the open comments section of the survey will be made available in a separate release - once they have all been collated.

For more information contact
Nigel Huddleston on 07789 983 719 and nigel.huddleston@gmail.com or
Jeremy Brier on 07967362433 and jeremyforluton@hotmail.co.uk