Surbiton Hill Conservatives last night chose former councillor Nick Kilby to be their standard bearer in the bye-election on 15th September.

Ward chair, Mavis Cracknell, commented, ‘ We were very lucky in that we had a choice between two very able former councillors for the ward. It’s a great pity we couldn’t select both of them as they have been such an excellent team together.’ The selection was made by secret ballot at a very well attended meeting addressed by both former councillors.

Paul Johnston said, ‘I congratulate Nick on his selection and wish him equal success in the election. I hope that the many local residents who have sent in messages of support in the last week will rally round and help him send the Lib Dem administration a message it can’t ignore.’

Visit our Surbiton Hill campaign website >

Nick believes that senior officers’ pay at Kingston Council has got out of hand. Too many senior officers in Kingston Council earn over £100,000 a year and the management team is top heavy. According to the Taxpayer’s Alliance Kingston’s top officer now earns well over £220k in pay, pensions and perks. This is a bigger salary than the CEO of Richmond and Sutton and yet Kingston is the smallest Borough in London.

Nick said “Far too many of the current redundancies are in the lower paid roles. Not only does this not save enough money, but it also means that front-line services are being unnecessarily cut.

“The Lib Dems have been in control of Kingston Council for over nine years and the pay of senior officers has got out of hand. It’s no wonder local residents have to pay the highest Council Tax in London.”

To see the full list of pay of senior officers in Kingston Council then click here. Source: Taxpayer’s Alliance 

Nick Kilby has called on the Lib Dem-run Kingston Council to cut the wasted spending and concentrate on preserving important frontline services, such as Elderly and Disability Services. Nick has organised several campaigns and petitions to try and save local elderly and disability services against unnecessary cuts.

Nick explained why the cuts were unnecessary:

“The Lib Dems have already admitted that there is plenty of waste within the Council and they are starting to make changes that will save money, such as sharing services with neighbouring Councils. But they should have done this nine years ago. The amount the Council are spending on interest for the Lib Dem loans could have been used to prevent the Lib Dem care cuts.”

Kingston Council has elected Councillor Pat Codd to be the Mayor of the Royal Borough for the muncipal year 2011/12.

Councillor Codd is one of the best loved and most respect member of the Conservative Group on Kingston Council.

A passionate local activist, has been a councillor for Coombe since 1994.

He has been Chairman of Maldens and Coombe Neighbourhood Committe,  Deputy Leader of the Council, chairman of Planning and Development. Chairman of Development and Royal Park Neighbourhood Committees.

Churchwarden at St Luke’s Kingston, he has been a governor of Robin Hood Primary School since 1992.

His Deputy Mayor will be Councillor Geoff Austin. He was elected as one of Canbury Ward’s Conservative Councillors in 2006.

Geoff and his wife Sheila have lived in Clifton Road for almost twenty years, and they have one son and two grandchildren. Not surprisingly after a career working in Social Services, Geoff’s particular interests are Child Protection and the welfare of the elderly and people with disabilities.

A familiar voice on the Kingston Talking Newspaper for the Blind, and Kingston Hospital Radio, Geoff’s other passion is sport, and after a long playing career he is now an active Rugby Union referee. He also enjoys watching football, and is a Patron of our local football club Kingstonian F.C.

Kingston’s overwhelming rejection of the alternative vote showed Edward Davey’s parliamentary seat could be at risk, an expert said.

Kingston voters rejected changing the parliamentary electoral system by 60.5 per cent to 39.5 per cent on Thursday, May 5.

27,945 people in Kingston voted ‘no’, compared to 18,230 who voted ‘yes’, and the 42.9 per cent turnout was the second highest in London, just above the national average of 42 per cent.

The referendum was a key Conservative concession to the Liberal Democrats when they formed the coalition Government last year, and Kingston and Surbiton’s Lib Dem MP Edward Davey strongly supported the yes campaign.

Dr Elizabeth Evans, politics lecturer at Kingston University, said: “Particularly in Kingston, where a lot of Liberal Democrat voters felt let down by the tuition fees decision and felt quite angry with Edward Davey, it was a way of punishing him personally.

“I think that on the back of winning Richmond back, the Conservatives will put a lot of effort into winning Kingston back. It’s the type of seat they need to win to win a majority next time.

“The Lib Dems can’t rely on the student vote in Kingston again.”

She said she expected Kingston Conservatives to do well in next year’s London Assembly elections, confirming the tightening of politics in Kingston.

Written by Martin George of the Surrey Comet.

The Alternative Vote is a complicated, expensive and unfair system that gives some people more votes than others. It might sound like a small change but the danger is in the detail — it’s a politicians’ fix.

Governments would be selected through backroom deals and people would have no control over where their vote goes. It should be voters that decide who the best candidate is, not the voting system. Defend one person, one vote. Vote NO to AV on 5 May.

AV is an unfair system, where the person who finishes third can end up winning. This film looks at what would happen if a school sports day was run under AV – and highlights why you need to vote ‘No’ on May 5th.

“I talk sport every single day, four till seven, so I know a level playing field when I see it. In cricket, you’re either in or out. So when I played cricket for England, when I was given out, I had to walk, I had to go. You didn’t get a second chance, so why should it be any different in politics?

“In cricket, we have what they call the corridor of uncertainty, and if you vote yes to AV, that’s exactly what you’re getting, but in politics. That’s why you’ve got to vote ‘no’ to AV on 5 May.”

“I’m used to a system in sport, in cricket specifically, where if you win, you win; it’s as simple as that. If you’re first, if you’ve got more runs, you win the game. I can’t see why politics should be any different. You want the best to be at the top, and if they are the best, they will win.

“This whole proposed system of AV is, I think, the equivalent of what we would say in cricket or what we would call in cricket the ‘googley’ – a ball designed to deceive, designed to confuse a batsman. If you don’t read it, you don’t understand it, you can’t play it.”

Many of us on the ground do our bit to serve the community, supporting Labour councillors and MPs in their work and making sure services are delivered to the people who need them. We want to see Labour back in government. People should have a clear choice when it comes to elections, and nobody should get more than one vote. That’s why we should have no truck with AV. Let government be decided by the people on polling day, not politicians doing backroom deals after elections.

Vote NO2AV on 5th May – http://www.no2av.org/

Not only is a ‘no’ vote about the huge cost of AV, and the political consequences of changing our voting system, it is also about the fundamental right of every citizen to cast an equal vote.

Vote NO2AV on 5th May – http://www.no2av.org/

Democracy is one person, one vote. Vote NO to AV.

Our current tried and tested voting system gives everyone one vote and delivers clear outcomes. The Alternative Vote is a complicated, expensive and unfair system that gives some people more votes than others. It might sound like a small change but the danger is in the detail – it’s a politicians’ fix.

Governments would be selected through backroom deals and people would have no control over where their vote goes. It should be voters that decide who the best candidate is, not the voting system. Defend one person, one vote. Vote NO to AV on 5 May.

Vote NO2AV on 5th May – http://www.no2av.org/

Don’t believe me? Look at the evidence. In over 30 constituencies at the last election, BNP voters could have decided which candidate won the seat.

It isn’t right.

It’s not the way we do it in Britain.

Vote NO to AV on the 5th of May.

Vote No to AV on May 5th.

The Labour leadership election showed that AV doesn’t work. David Miliband won the support of most Labour MPs and Party Members, and was ahead in the first three rounds of voting – and yet Ed Miliband became the shock new Labour leader after sneaking the fourth round by just 1%.

To find out more about AV, visit: www.conservatives.com/notoav