The 10p rate of tax

From this April the 10p rate (the starting rate) of income tax was abolished. This was announced in last year's budget. At the time it was hardly reported at all - with many media stories talking up the tax-cut from 22p to 20p for the basic rate, leaving many low-income earners out in the cold.

Labour introduced the 10p rate (the lowest level income tax in over three decades) and lowered the basic rate to 22p from 23p in 1999. This along with the minimum wage helped things on the ground a lot.

Why Gordon Brown carried this out in the last budget escapes me, at the time I thought it was simply a matter of scrapping the 10p rate to fund his 2p tax cut for the basic rate, and get all the praise from the media before he entered number 10, perhaps that should still be considered the leading hypothesis.

There have been a number of motions put forward expressing concerns over scrapping the 10p rate, as of writing 73 Labour MPs have so far signed them. Hope isn't lost yet for reversing this change, a number of Labour MPs have said they will try and fight the government over this issue, parliament returns on the 21st, so we'll see what happens.

The Tories are of course using this to their advantage, of course they have no alternative and if they were in power they would never of introduced anything this radical in the first place. I've yet to see any Tory MPs joining the rebel Labour MPs in support for reintroducing the 10p rate - don't hold your breath on that one, they're more interested in getting out of inheritance tax on their £1 million homes.

Where do I stand on this issue? Short term, the 10p rate should be reintroduced. If that means putting an extra couple of pence on the higher rate (over £36,000 per year) of income tax to fund it, so be it.

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting

Yeovil Constituency Labour Party
Unity Hall, Central Road, Yeovil, Somerset BA20 1JL


Annual General Meeting, meeting held 27/03/08, commencing at 7:30pm

Members Present at meeting:

Jill Bishop
Chris Chant
Colin Counter
Les Deacon
Andy Dowland
Liz George, Chair
Charlie George
Gordon Harcourt
Marjorie Harcourt
Alf Hill
Pauline Hill
David Kingdon
Tom McGee
Brian Knight
Lee Skevington, Secretary
Paul Smith
Brian Wadsworth
Helen Weeks



The Chair asked for a minute silence for members who have passed away in the past year. Yeovil CLP remembers Shaun Gillman and his work for the CLP.


1. Apologies for absence:

Joe Conway
Norman Campbell
Peter Joyce

2. Nominations

The Chair read the nominations received from branches and the unions.

There were no nominations for Women’s Officer, Political Education Officer or Youth and Student Officer.

Lee Skevington declined to serve again as Youth and Student Officer.

David Kingdon declined an invitation to serve as Trade Union Liaison.

The room agreed that two spaces should remain open for two more branch delegates to the EC in case anyone else became active later on.

3. Party Officer Selection

The composition of the CLP Executive Committee and General Committee is now as follows.


Chair: Joe Conway.
Vice Chair: Liz George
Vice Chair Membership: Helen Weeks
Secretary: Lee Skevington
Treasurer: Alf Hill

Youth and Student Officer: open
Women’s Officer: open
Political Education Officer: open
I.T Officer: Paul Smith
Campaign Coordinator: Colin Counter
Trade Union Liason: Andy Dowland
Printing and Publications: Colin Counter
Press Officer: Colin Counter

Auditor 1: Les Deacon
Auditor 2: Tom McGee

CLP Executive Committee Branch Delegates:

Pauline Hill
Colin Counter
Helen Weeks
David Kingdon
Andy Dowland
Paul Smith
Jill Bishop
Chris Chant

CLP EC Co-op Party Delegate: Tom McGee

CLP Annual Conference Delegate: Helen Weeks


4. Treasurer’s Report

Andy Dowland raised a dispute regarding the treasurer’s report, claiming it was innumerate.

As time was running out, the Secretary that this will be dealt with at the next meeting. The treasurer’s report was therefore passed by the members present.



CLP Meeting Minutes, meeting held 27/03/08, after the A.G.M.


1.Correspondence

The Secretary circulated copies of an update report from the NEC, copies of a postcard objecting to the House of Lords decision regarding Pleural Plaques and Asbestos related diseases as well as literature from party members seeking election to the NEC.

2.Officer Reports

The Information & Technology Officer, Paul Smith, gave verbal feedback on the popularity of the website, claiming that we have had over 1000 visitors since the website went live a few months ago.

No other officers had anything to report.

3.Branch Restructuring

As requested by the Chair of Yeovil CLP (Joe Conway) the CLP discussed potentially disbanding the branches in favor of an alternate model for CLP governance. The Secretary stated that the branches had been inactive for the past two years and were not effective.

Andy Dowland suggested it would be an admission of failure to disband them. He claimed that transport would be an issue for people in the more rural communities which are a part of the CLP. He suggested that instead of disbanding the branches we instead need to engage more effectively with the grassroots in smaller areas in order to build up our membership.

Mr Dowand went on to explain that disbanding the branch structure would not allow for the CLP to more effectively address local concerns for local people. It was suggested that it would be a better idea to reinvigorate our branch structure.

Mr Dowland suggested the CLP move away from the more organized branch structure in favor of just a group of people effectively campaigning in a local area with transferable membership between one branch and another.

Helen Weeks suggested that perhaps the Yeovil branches could be amalgamated into one branch.

Brian Wadsworth spoke in support of disbanding the branches as they are dead. Mr Wadsworth suggested that the CLP needs to find another way to move ahead and to engage with local people.

David Kingdon suggested that the motivation of the CLP was to simply get its hands of the money of the branches.


The room decided that the decision will be deferred till the next AGM.


3. Financing and fundraising

Alf Hill suggested a later meeting be held so that the CLP may get more ideas and input from members.

Andy Dowland commended Les Deacon’s dedication to running the tote.

Helen Weeks suggested having more social activities in order to raise money, she suggested having an annual dinner and quiz nights.

Gordon Harcourt mentioned that Yeovil Rural Branch had made money from the sale of Labour Party scratch-off lottery tickets. The room agreed that this was a good idea and would be a potential means of raising funds for the CLP.

The Secretary will obtain further details following the meeting.


4. Formation of a campaign committee

The Secretary suggested the formation of a campaign committee, as mentioned under Clause VI.5 of the Labour Party Rule Book.

The room agreed, therefore the Yeovil Constituency Labour Party will hereby form a campaign committee with the Campaign Coordinator as its Chair.

Colin counter stated that the CLP needs to get more people involved and to raise our profile. Colin Counter will be the chair of the campaign committee as the new Campaign Coordinator.

5. Any Other Business

Alf spoke about a recent council consultation; Les Deacon suggested forming a Labour committee to draft a response. Andy Dowland urged members to file a response to the consultation before the end date.

Paul Smith raised the issue of the local post-office closures. Alf Hill objected, stating that no resolution may be passed at the present meeting as it would need to be placed on the agenda as a resolution and circulated to all members prior to the meeting. Lee Skevington suggested that as the E.C. and G.C. were convened and a quorum was present a vote was possible. Les Deacon claimed such a vote was unconstitutional and would need to wait. Paul Smith was concerned that by the time another meeting was convened it would be too late. Action regarding post-office closures will be taken at a future meeting.




Meeting closed at 9pm.

Letter to Post Office National Consultation Team

Below is a copy of a letter I sent to the National Consultation Team overseeing the closure of between 2500 and 3000 Post Office branches nationally. I encourage anybody looking for more information on the proposals and how to contact the Post Office on these matters to see their website.

Dear Sir or Madam.

I am writing to you to put forward both the concerns of my fellow residents and myself over the five proposed Post Office closures that are happening within the Yeovil constituency. These are Mudford, East Coker, Barwick and Haselbury Plucknett and Goldcroft in Yeovil.

Four of these Post Offices are located in rural areas and are very much the life blood of these communities, of these four the closest alternative Post Office is at least a mile and a half away. In many cases the alternative post offices specified would involve walking over significant stretches of road, often with no pavement making them extremely dangerous, especially in the winter months with little illumination.

The branch located upon Goldcroft in Yeovil itself is not a quiet branch by any stretch of the imagination. With between 1000-1499 customer sessions per week according to your data, not only that but a significant number of new houses and flats are being built in the area which will only make the Post Office important to a growing number of residents over the coming few years. Closure of this branch would constituent an extreme inconvenience to many of the residents in this area, wasting a considerable amount of their time and money.

I therefore ask you on behalf of the people who have contacted me, and expressed their dismay at these proposals to not close the above mentioned branches so they can continue to support and provide a focal point for the communities they're seated within.

Yours faithfully,
Paul Smith,
Labour parliamentary candidate for Yeovil.

The Consultation Team are still accepting feedback from residents in Bristol and Somerset until the 9th of April so there is still time to send them your thoughts on these closures.

Copies of the letter are available for download:

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