The results were:

• Richard Harrington (Conservative) – 19,291 votes (34.9%)
• Sal Brinton (Liberal Democrats) – 17,866 votes (32.4%)
• Claire Ward (Labour) – 14,750 votes (26.7%)
• Andrew Emerson (BNP ) – 1,217 votes (2.2%)
• Graham Eardley (UKIP) – 1,199 votes (2.2%)
• Ian Brandon (Green) – 885 votes (1.6%)

Thank you to everyone who voted for Conservative!

By contrast, a Conservative Government will stop the most damaging part of Labour’s tax on jobs by cutting government waste while protecting frontline services. The cost of Labour’s tax rise on employers will be reduced by more than half. And anyone earning between £7,100 and £45,400 – seven out of ten working people across the country – will be up to £150 a year better off than under Labour’s plans.

At least 31,500 working people across Watford will be better off as a result. A typical nurse, teacher, firefighter or police officer would save £150 a year. People on lower incomes will benefit the most as a proportion of their incomes. And an estimated 5,271 jobs across the East of England could be saved by making it less expensive for local firms to hire workers.

The Conservative plans have been backed by leading business figures who run firms such as Sainsbury’s, Watford-based Mothercare and Marks & Spencer, and who employ over half a million people between them in the UK.

Richard said:

“For the last 13 years, working people Watford have seen their taxes go up and up and their money wasted. Now Gordon Brown is planning a tax on jobs that will hit anyone earning over £20,000 a year and destroy 5,271 jobs across the East of England by taxing local firms more.

“Labour will kill the recovery with their tax on jobs. Conservatives will cut Labour waste to stop it. More than 31,500 working people across Watford will be better off with the Conservatives. And we’ll cut Labour’s debt to stop higher interest rates and your mortgage going up. We’re all in this together, and we need new energy and fresh ideas to get Watford working for everyone.”

On Monday 15^th March, Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, Caroline Spelman, came to Watford to launch the local election campaigns including the Watford Mayoral election.

Speaking to the audience of Watford Borough Council and Three Rivers District Council candidates, Mrs Spelman outlined Conservative plans to give greater democratic local control over planning decisions.

She said ““At the moment planning power is being taken away from local government and given to unelected regional bodies.

“You end up with regional housing targets and there’s very little that elected politicians can do about numbers being foisted on the community. That leaves people feeling seriously disempowered.”

Watford has faced its own problems over planning in recent years much to the frustration of local Conservative campaigners. Steve Johnson, Conservative candidate for Mayor of Watford, has led his own fight against developers trying to build blocks of flats in the back gardens of family homes.

Johnson said, “I have fought for years trying to stop inappropriate development. The local Council has stood by and left it up to residents to fight big developers. Our Council should be standing up for us.

“If David Cameron does form the next government and bring in these changes, it will make things that much easier to ensure our neighbourhoods don’t lose their character and we build the kind of houses the community wants rather than what developers want to sell.

“For too long, the Lib Dem Council has looked the other way. If I am elected Mayor of Watford, I will stand up to developers in the interest of local residents.”

Richard emerging from his exhausting night shift at Watford General Hospital

NHS staff ‘inspirational’

System ‘too target-focussed’

Richard Harrington, recently put in a gruelling 10 hour night shift at Watford General Hospital.

Richard had previously asked the hospital’s chief executive if he could shadow doctors and nursing staff in order to give himself a valuable and first hand insight into what really happens in the Accident & Emergency and Acute Admissions Units.

Emerging from his close hand experience he had nothing but praise for those who work for the NHS, from nurses and junior doctors to senior consultants.

Dedication

“I was really impressed by what I saw and the dedication of frontline staff was inspirational. They took immense pride in what they did.”

However, Harrington said that despite their positive outlook, their work has hampered by ‘target culture’ where management’s needs to meet targets proved a distraction.

Too Many Targets

“The message I got was that the current system is too target focused. Staff are always worried about moving people to beds in the four hour limit which leads to constant bed juggling to fit people in. It becomes frustrating for them, as they often have to move people from A and E, who have nothing wrong with them medically, to an acute bed, thereby diverting the beds from those who really need it.

But overall Harrington was still upbeat about the NHS: “I really believe that the NHS is the best thing about this country.

NHS Top Priority

“David Cameron will make the NHS his top spending priority if he becomes Prime Minister.  If elected, our local NHS services will also be at the top of my agenda.”

Richard Harrington has said:

“Watford has taken yet another blow from Gordon Brown’s recession. I was hoping that we would see a significant drop in unemployment but this Government has totally failed to create the jobs in Watford that people desperately want.

“The sad fact of the matter is that these figures barely scratch the surface. It is still the case that around one in ten adults in Watford are utterly dependent on state handouts. This is the sad legacy that Labour will leave Watford.”

Richard has vowed that if he is elected as Watford’s next MP, it will be one of his top priorities to bring business and jobs back to Watford.

Richard Harrington welcomes Shadow Business Sec. Ken Clarke

Ken Clarke MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, came to Watford recently to addressed an audience of local business leaders with prospective Conservative MP Richard Harrington.

Mr Clarke, who held the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1993 and 1997, spoke at a lunch meeting of the Watford and West Herts Chamber of Commerce at the Park Inn, St Albans Road.

The big-hitting Tory, MP for Rushcliffe, spoke on a range of subjects from public sector pensions to getting the credit markets working again.

When introducing Mr Clarke, Richard also spoke of his own desire to simplify the complex web of regulations that small businesses have found themselves entangled in over the last 13 years. Speaking from his own experience of running a business Richard said, “If we are to pay for things like our hospitals and schools, the government needs to help businesses generate the wealth that will allow investment to continue. If we continue to choke businesses, before long we won’t be able to afford to make improvements to healthcare and schools.”

Mr Clarke echoed Richard’s sentiments and made clear that any future Conservative government would place itself firmly on the side of small businesses, freeing them from some of the “well meaning but overbearing” regulations they are currently forced to adhere to.

He said: “We’ve got to be the most business friendly government since the war. We will get nowhere unless British business succeeds and we will do our best [to make this happen] if the responsibility is loaded upon us in a few weeks time.”

I really enjoyed meeting the students, taking part in lessons and answering the many questions of the Sixth Form students.

What I saw at Francis Combe is a perfect illustration of how schools can prosper and develop with a greater level of freedom for the Head to run the school with a great deal of involvement from parents and governors.

The Community Support and Education Trust is the charitable group working with Watford Football Club to deliver many projects within the community. The trust works with everyone from young footballers, school children and young people on community and education projects.

They are a wonderful organisation and I feel that Watford is very lucky to have such an organisation giving so much to the community. If I am elected as MP for Watford I will do all I can to promote and support the trust.