seasons greetings!

may I take this opportunity to pay you all the compliments of the season! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday period and are fully refuelled and ready for the New Years festivities.

Parliament is now in recess which has given me a bit more time to spend in the constituency so do say hello if you see me around the town. Anyway, on to this month’s news:

ISRAELI BOMBING OF GAZA

As you will have seen over the past few days Israel has been bombing throughout the Gaza Strip.

I recognise Israel as an ally with a right to self defence but I believe their actions have been grossly disproportionate. There is no equality between the violent rockets attacks carried out by Palestinian militias and the near genocide response we have witnessed in recent days which has already claimed over 300 lives.

I have written to the Foreign Secretary urging stronger condemnation of the military action and also contacted the Attorney General asking that she look into the legality of the bombing raids which, to my mind, far exceed any remit of self defence permitted by international law.

There can be no military victory, the last 60 years are proof of that. I hope the violence can be swiftly brought to an end and the parties brought to a negotiating table in the near future.

HELP FOR HOMEOWNERS 

The Homeowners Mortgage Support Scheme will enable homeowners who hit hard financial times to defer interest payments for up to two years while they get their family finances back on track. The Government will guarantee the deferred interests payments in return for banks' participation in the scheme.

The scheme is designed to help people who suffer redundancy or a significant loss of income as a result of the global downturn.

These are tough times and I’m glad the Government have taken this step to protect hardworking people from the vagaries of market forces. In the 80s and early 90s, under the last Conservative Government, we saw the horrific damage done to families and communities when markets were left unchecked.

HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and I welcome the package of support set out in the Pre Budget Report to provide real help in the form of working capital, lending facilities and trade finance.

Locally this means encouraging consumer spending through the VAT cut, providing a credit guarantee for small business lending, deferring tax payments and exempting some commercial properties from business rates.

The full range of measures are:

        Encouraging consumer spending through a temporary reduction in VAT by 2.5% to 15%, from 1st Dec to 31st Dec 09.

        Deferring the planned increases in small companies corporation tax because this is not the right time to increase the tax burden on businesses.

        A £1bn Small Business Guarantee Facility to enable new Government supported lending by banks for sums between £1,000 and £1m, at cheaper rates and for longer periods.

        A 1bn Export Credit Guarantee scheme with the banks to support smaller exporters with short-term working capital and trade finance.

        More generous temporary tax relief for businesses suffering losses – with up to £50,000 of new losses set against taxable profits from the last three years.

        A new HMRC Business Payment Support service to help with temporary difficulty in paying bills. Paying VAT, corporation tax, income tax and NICs on a timetable you can afford.

        A transition fund, brokered by the North West Development Agency to secure private sector funding for viable businesses with short-term funding issues. In addition, a national £50m capital fund targeted on highly leveraged but viable small businesses.

        From 2009/10 – empty commercial properties with a rateable value below £15,000 will be exempt from business rate, covering 70% of all empty properties.

AFFORDABLE WARMTH FOR ALL THIS WINTER

I am backing the Warm Homes Campaign to raise awareness of how energy efficiency measures can make homes warmer, cheaper and healthier to live in; and what assistance is available from the government.

.This winter is going to be a difficult time for many households in the UK and high energy prices have driven up the number of fuel poor in the UK.

Improving energy efficiency is a powerful and sustainable way to bring people’s energy bills down and make homes healthier to live in. And there is help out there - I urge everyone to contact the Warm Front team on 0800 408 2095 to find out if they are eligible for funding.

£1.6 MILLION INVESTMENT TO FIGHT THE RECESSION

Hastings Council are right to invest £1.6million of extra cash received from the Labour Government to support local jobs during the global economic downturn.

The money, from the Working Neighbourhoods fund, will be used to implement a rescue package including a £300,000 campaign to attract more shoppers to Hastings and St Leonards.

The Government has recognised for some time the need to support towns such as Hastings in creating new jobs. But it is left to the Council to decide how to spend it.  In the current global downturn I believe extra spending to protect local jobs, funded from increased national borrowing, is exactly the right course of action.

If the local Tories followed the ‘do nothing’ approach of their Parliamentary leadership they would be sending a cheque back to the Treasury rather than investing in the local economy. The Tories at a National level seem unable to understand that we will be borrowing more whatever happens and the question is whether we borrow to keep people in work or to keep them unemployed. Thankfully it seems that the local Tories have split from their leadership on this. 

CHILD TRUST FUND

Nearly five thousand Child Trust Fund Accounts have been opened locally since the scheme was started. The Child Trust Fund gives all children born after September 2002 a £250 platform to start a savings account, with a further £250 when they are seven. This can give youngsters a great head start on saving money which they can access when they’re 18.

However, I want even more parents to sign up. In Hastings and Rye only 75% of parents are opening Child Trust Fund accounts. I want all parents who haven’t done so to open an account, to kick-start the saving habit for their children.

If you are receiving Child Benefit for your child then you should automatically have received a voucher. Accounts of all types are available, at most banks and building societies. Parents and relatives can then add to them over the years.

See further detail of this story and Child Trust Funds on my webpage http://www.michaelfoster.org.uk/news?PageId=4febdad2-ab89-ed54-85db-2326241d0e95

For information on the scheme visit www.childtrustfund.gov.uk

SAFETY FIRST FOR FIREMEN

Firemen perform an incredibly dangerous and important job for our communities and I for one am very grateful.

Although no deaths have been recorded this year 10 firemen have died nationwide in the past 5 years and earlier this month a group of local firemen came to Parliament to discuss how safety measures could be improved.

I am backing the Fire Brigade Union’s campaign for a national inspectorate that could enforce good practice across the country.

See some of the photos online http://www.michaelfoster.org.uk/news?PageId=ad995091-8536-dcc4-0d32-55b449bb9d90

New Year Whiskey Winner

This year I once again ran a little competition to get more people to sign up my MPFree. So to all of you who are receiving this bulletin welcome! I am also pleased to announce that the winner of the Gordon Brown signed bottle of Whisky is June Cox-Smith of Icklesham. So congratulations and I’ll drop the prize round on New Year’s Eve!

Well that just about wraps it up for December and for 2008 but remember you can always keep up to date with what I’m doing by logging website www.michaelfoster.org.uk or get in touch with me by emailing mp@1066.net or calling 01424 460070.

With best wishes

Michael Foster DL MP