"Mark Reckless: The Right Kind Of MP" by Daniel Hannan MEP

Many congratulations to the Conservatives of Rochester and Strood, who have wisely readopted Mark Reckless as their candidate. I ought to declare an interest: Mark is one of my oldest friends, and was my best man. (He insisted on organising my stag night in Reykjavik, determined that we should celebrate Iceland's status outside the EU.)

In an age when many politicians see preferment as an end in itself, Mark is refreshingly independent: an unapologetic tax-cutter (he was once one of Britain's top-rated economists), a radical libertarian, a localist and an opponent of EU membership. Unsurprisingly, not everyone in the party hierarchy was keen on his candidature.

He is now in the happy position of having secured the Tory nomination with no help - indeed, considerable opposition - from the Conservative machine. The Whips would doubtless have preferred someone more malleable; but the Medway Tories couldn't have done better. During the final round, Mark made a point of telling activists that, before they voted, they should be aware that he disagreed with the party line on several issues; they elected him outright on the first ballot.

Originally posted 28th July 2008 on Daniel Hannan's Telegraph blog - Click Here to view the original

"Mark Reckless: The Right Kind Of MP" by Daniel Hannan MEP

Fair's Not Fare For Medway

Don't Miss Out - Claim Your Compensation

Thanks to pressure from the local Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Rochester and Strood Mark Reckless in association with the independent Fair's Fare for Medway campaign we are happy to tell you that Southeastern are offering compensation to Medway commuters holding monthly or longer season tickets who were affected by the shutdown of Southeastern's commuter services to and from London on 2nd February

How To Claim

To help you make sure you claim your compensation in time, Click Here to download Southeastern's claim form (external link*).

Fill in the form with your details and return it to;

Southeastern Customer Services,
PO Box 63428,
London SE1P 5FD.

Important - You will also need to enclose an original expired ticket or photocopy of your current ticket, and a photocopy of your photocard. Don't forget to include these with your form!

All claims must be submitted by Tuesday 31st March 2009 so don't put it off. It's your money, make sure you don't miss out!

*If you cannot view the form you may need to download and install Adobe reader onto your computer, and you can download it here for free

On Your Side

Mark Reckless believes that with the recession there is a good chance we can now persuade Southeastern to set CTRL fast service fares below the 35% premium proposed by Labour. Otherwise the service will fail because it will be unaffordable to Medway residents.

If elected as our Conservative MP Mark will also work to get the inflation plus 3% rises on standard fares cut back.

Angry commuter and http://www.medwayfaredeal.com/ founder Chris Irvine (pictured with Mark) responded:

"We are grateful for Mark's support. People are already worried about staying in work and shouldn't have to worry about getting to work.

We have all heard of Highway Robbery but this is Railway Robbery."

You can help by taking a few minutes to complete our online Passenger Survey and registering your support to ensure we all get a Fair Fare Deal for Medway. Click Here to take the survey.

Fair's Not Fare For Medway

Protecting Medway As The Recession Bites

Councillor Mark Reckless, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Rochester and Strood, has worked as an economist and in business. His priority is to support economic growth and job creation

Mark believes "Labour plans for more and more borrowing will not get us out of this recession because that is how they got us into this mess in the first place. We need to encourage investment and support savers with lower taxes to restore a culture of thrift."

On both Medway Council and the Kent Police Authority Mark has worked to ensure that we set virtually the lowest council tax in the country. If elected to Parliament, Mark wants to do the same by cutting the huge amount of government waste. People in Medway just do not have the money to carry on paying for Labour's spending binge.

Locally, we have to work harder to make Medway attractive for business to invest, e.g. by keeping fares on the CTRL fast link to London down.

Mark believes that sites such as the old Fintrade site in Strood (pictured) should be brought back into use for employment purposes, not housing. Medway Council must ensure that appropriate land is made available for business needs, as we have done with the Innovation Centre in Rochester.

Mark says "Nationally, the government needs to guarantee bank loans to business directly to get the economy moving again. Just as importantly, it needs to stop sucking all available credit out of British banks by borrowing so much itself. It should also borrow some of what it will still need from foreigners in their currencies, which are less pressured by government over-borrowing, so as to take pressure off sterling and help restore confidence.

"Conservative action is needed to get us out of a recession caused by too much borrowing under Labour."

Protecting Medway As The Recession Bites