Former New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally has ruled herself out to replace Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib in the Senate.

Mr Arbib announced his shock resignation from Cabinet and Federal Parliament after yesterday's leadership spill.

This morning Labor's NSW state secretary Sam Dastyari said the process of seeking a replacement has already begun.

He said former ALP president Warren Mundine's name is in the mix, and a bid by Ms Keneally would also be welcome.

"At the moment, to be honest, we have a process to go through," Mr Dastyari said.

"I'd love to see Kristina and people of her quality being prepared to stand up and say they want to put their name forward for the Australian Senate.

"I think we're going to get half a dozen good names."

But Ms Keneally used Twitter to quickly quash any speculation.

"I've said many times that I'm not going federal. I'm not a candidate," she tweeted.

Mr Mundine will not say whether he has been approached, but admits there are plenty of internal discussions going on.

"There's a lot of media interest going on. At this stage I have no comments to make," Mr Mundine said.

"Yes, I acknowledge that there have been no Aboriginals in the Parliament, Federal Parliament, for the Labor Party, but I can see a period where that won't be too far off when that will happen."

Here is the original post:
Arbib replacement: Keneally rules out Senate tilt

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille resigned on Friday after just four months in office, plunging the country into political paralysis in the midst of rebuilding efforts two years after a devastating earthquake.

Conille submitted his resignation in a letter to President Michel Martelly, according to a statement by the president's office. There was no immediate word on a possible replacement, though Martelly announced he would address the nation on Friday evening.

Conille's decision to step down came amid political infighting between the two leaders over earthquake reconstruction contracts, as well as a parliamentary investigation into dual citizenship of government ministers, which is illegal under Haitian law.

Conille, a 45-year-old medical doctor and U.N. development expert, was popular with foreign aid donors and many members of the international community involved in Haiti's reconstruction efforts after a January 2010 earthquake shattered the country, killing more than 200,000 people.

He previously served as chief of staff of the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy to Haiti, led by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti issued a statement calling for the "swift" appointment of a successor to ensure political stability, while expressing "regret" over Conille's departure.

Political tensions between Martelly and Conille recently erupted after Conille announced plans to audit $300 million in contracts awarded by his predecessor after the earthquake.

Conille and members of his Cabinet were also under pressure to cooperate with a parliamentary commission investigating the nationalities of members of the government.

Conille and some of his aides have held jobs and lived for extended periods outside Haiti.

Critics say Conille also alienated parliament and the president, including members of his own Cabinet, by some of his actions.

"It didn't work from Day One," said Alice Blanchet, a special adviser to five former prime ministers, including Conille's predecessor, Jean-Max Bellerive.

POLITICAL SHOWDOWN?

She described Conille's questioning of the earthquake reconstruction contracts as "petty and unpatriotic," noting that no irregularities had been identified by the international community. "That was offensive to parliament and to the president," she said.

The resignation could set the stage for another political showdown between Martelly, who took office in May 2011, and lawmakers in parliament, where he does not hold a majority.

Conille's appointment as prime minister in October only came after a five-month delay during which Martelly's first two nominees were rejected, impeding his ability to assemble a government to move ahead with reconstruction efforts.

"It's so frustrating. It reflects once again the willingness of political figures in Haiti to let policy differences reach the point of total polarization and stalemate," said Mark Schneider, vice president at the International Crisis Group, a Washington-based think tank that monitors Haiti closely.

"We are now embarked on another unknown journey of unknown length to try and find another prime minister," he added, noting how long it took Martelly last year to find a candidate acceptable to parliament.

"These things in Haiti are so destructive," he said. "For a country that is barely keeping it's head above water, this is like picking up another rock that pulls you further down to the bottom."

Two years after the quake, more than a half a million people are still living in tent camps in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and piles of concrete, steel and debris litter the streets.

During a recent visit to Haiti, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice publicly called on the country's political leaders to stop bickering.

"Haiti's executive and legislative branches," Rice said, "need to rise above their interests and work together in the spirit of compromise and overcome their common challenges."

Her words were echoed on Thursday by Mariano Fernandez, head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

Fernandez issued a statement expressing concern that "the political deadlock and institutional paralysis between the government, parliament and the president ... are not likely to create the necessary conditions for recovery of the economy and the consolidation of democracy."

(Additional reporting by David Adams in Miami; Writing by Kevin Gray; Editing by Todd Eastham and Stacey Joyce)

Read the original post:
Haiti's prime minister resigns after four months

By Freeman Klopott - Wed Feb 22 21:03:01 GMT 2012

New York (STONY1) Governor Andrew Cuomo said a construction team may be chosen in the next six months to build a $5.2 billion replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge and that he’s considering turning the old span over the Hudson River into a pedestrian greenway.

The pathway for pedestrians and cyclists would be similar to the Walkway Over the Hudson, a state park built on the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge that has drawn almost 500,000 visitors a year. Tearing down the bridge would cost $150 million, Cuomo said today at a Cabinet meeting in Albany.

In the last decade, New York has spent $88 million on studies and held more than 430 public meetings where it presented 150 proposals to replace the Tappan Zee, he said.

“Ten years worth of talking, and now in a matter of months so much progress has been made,” Cuomo, a 54-year-old Democrat, said. “This is a phenomenally rapid process.”

In December, the state applied for a $2 billion federal loan, and earlier this month it announced that four construction teams, including companies such as Fluor Corp. (FLR), Bechtel Group Inc., Skanska AB (SKAB) and Grupo Dragados SA (DRC), were in the running to win the project. President Barack Obama in October named building a new Tappan Zee as one of 14 U.S. projects to be sped through the federal oversight process.

Job Creation

Final proposals for the project, which would create more than 45,000 jobs, will be submitted in June and the winning group will be announced this summer, Cuomo said today. The state is using the so-called design-build process to speed the construction timeline, he said. Approved by lawmakers in December, the process puts private companies in charge of designing and building the project, rather than having the state develop the plan and then put it out for bid.

The three-mile-long (4.8-kilometer) Tappan Zee, which connects Rockland and Westchester counties as part of the New York State Thruway system, carries 138,000 vehicles a day, 40 percent more than its original design intended, according to the application for the $2 billion Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan.

New York’s project is one of 26 seeking a total of $13 billion in Tifia loans, the U.S. Transportation Department said in a statement e-mailed Feb. 15. The program has about $1.1 billion available, and New York is asking that its $2 billion be spread out over several years.

Mass Transit

The Tappan Zee design plan will immediately allow for a rapid-bus transit line and light rail, Cuomo said. Those commuter systems haven’t been built yet, and doing so could cost about $5.2 billion for the buses and $5 billion for the rail, he said.

“We’re actually building a bridge that’s ahead of the existing system,” Cuomo said. “I think it’s a prudent investment because it’s a smart idea, and if we can’t afford it now, we can down the road.”

The state hired Jeffrey A. Parker & Associates in December to help develop the funding plans for the new bridge. The federal loan would be secured by revenue collected statewide by the Thruway Authority, which totaled $660 million in 2011, including $130 million from the Tappan Zee, the loan application said. Other options include selling bonds-backed by tolls, and pension funds or other private investment, Cuomo said today.

“The main funding stream will be tolls,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Freeman Klopott in Albany, New York, at fklopott@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: William Glasgall at wglasgall@bloomberg.net

See the original post here:
Cuomo Says Tappan Zee Replacement Plan Moving at ‘Phenomenally Rapid’ Pace

BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun will withhold Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas’ resignation until Parliament passes a controversial decree governing the transportation allowance into law Wednesday.

Nahhas opted Tuesday to resign his post rather than surrender to Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s demand he sign the decree.

“I have received Minister Nahhas’ resignation and it is up to the Cabinet, and not to me, to deal with it,” Aoun told reporters after chairing a weekly meeting of his parliamentary Change and Reform bloc at his residence in Rabieh, north of Beirut. “Eventually, we will send the resignation to the Cabinet. From now on, the labor law and the wage hike will be organized as Nahhas wanted.”

Aoun said he has not yet decided on whether to accept Nahhas’ resignation, adding that he will send it to the Cabinet whenever he wants.“The decision to endorse [Nahhas’] resignation is still in my hands and when the resignation is sent to the Cabinet, it means we [the Change and Reform bloc] have accepted it,” he said.

In the meantime, sources at the Grand Serail said Mikati has not yet received Nahhas’ resignation letter and that the premiership was not concerned with his stepping down.

The sources said Parliament’s approval of the draft law presented by FPM MP Ibrahim Kanaan, which would authorize the Cabinet to set the transportation allowance, was linked to sending Nahhas’ resignation to the prime minister.

Sources close to the FPM said Tuesday night that Aoun insists he will send Nahhas’ resignation letter to the Cabinet only after Parliament has ratified a draft law on the transportation allowance.

Grand Serail sources said that meetings were ongoing to reach an agreement whereby Nahhas’ resignation would be sent to the premiership or the presidency in order to ask the acting Labor Minister Nicolas Fattoush later to sign the Cabinet decree and legitimize the transportation allowance through the draft law presented by Kanaan. They pointed out that if this did not happen, then the Cabinet would withdraw the draft law.

The sources did not rule out the possibility of implementing this agreement, which would lead to the resumption of Cabinet sessions and naming a replacement for Nahhas. A source said Aoun will name Greek Catholic lawyer Walid Azar for this post.

Sources close to Nahhas said that he was surprised by Aoun’s demands and the paper relayed to him by Baabda MP Alain Aoun.

The sources said that Nahhas was not aware of the understanding which the FPM leader said was reached between him and each of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Mikati ahead of Parliament’s session Wednesday on the approval of Kanaan’s draft law.

Parliamentary sources in Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc said that Alain Aoun failed in more than three hours to convince Nahhas to sign the Cabinet’s decision on the transportation allowance, preferring to sign his resignation letter and putting it at the disposal of the FPM leader.

Answering reporters’ questions, Aoun said that if the bloc approved Nahhas’ decision to resign, then his replacement would have to be from the FPM. He did not name the potential successor to Nahhas.

Aoun rejected the argument that the FPM did not back Nahhas in his attempts to legalize the transportation allowance decree. “We are still supporting Minister Nahhas. Of course, the new minister [replacing Nahhas] will be from the Free Patriotic Movement. Otherwise, we will return to the same Cabinet crisis,” Aoun said.

Nahhas’ resignation came on the eve of a crucial Parliament meeting which is expected to vote Wednesday on two draft laws – one prepared by Kanaan and another by Future Bloc MP Nabil de Freij – which would authorize the Cabinet to set transportation and education allowances.

Media reports said the two draft laws would be combined into one proposal to allow MPs from the March 8 and March 14 camps to ratify it during Wednesday’s legislative session, a move which would open the way to a resumption of Cabinet sessions stalled since Feb. 1.

Aoun said he had sought to reach “a legal solution” for the problem of the transportation allowance decree, which has been at the root of the Cabinet crisis since Nahhas refused to sign it, arguing that it was illegal.

“We supported Minister Nahhas in his decision to refuse to sign the decree because the Shura Council will send back illegal draft laws,” Aoun said.

He added that Wednesday’s Parliament session was a chance to make the Cabinet decision on the transportation allowance legal. He said he had reached agreement on this subject during his meeting with Berri last Friday and that a similar understanding was reached with Mikati.

“We agreed to continue the legal course if the draft law was challenged. We spoke with Nahhas, whom we thank for his services and cooperation with high efficiency. But his circumstances might not allow him to cooperate with us,” Aoun said.

Aoun has accused Mikati of violating the Constitution with the suspension of Cabinet sessions following a dispute with ministers from the Change and Reform bloc over appointments of Christians to key posts in the public administration. Aoun’s ministers rejected names proposed by Mikati to head the High Disciplinary Committee, a position traditionally reserved for Greek Catholics.

For his part, Mikati has defended his decision to suspend Cabinet meetings, saying the move was designed to protect state institutions.

Nahhas has been at the center of a political storm since last month, when he refused to sign a Cabinet decree officially approving a transportation allowance, arguing that it should be ratified by Parliament first.

Read more here:
Aoun exploits Nahhas resignation

World

February 21, 2012

by Felice Friedson, The Media Line

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Jan. 29. Photo by REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Rumors circulating inside the Palestinian Authority regarding possible replacements for Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are being discredited by at least one of those being named. Sources have been reporting that Munib Al-Masri and Dr. Mohammad Mustafa are under consideration to replace Fayyad instead of PA President Mahmoud Abbas taking on the additional role that some Hamas members are arguing would be illegal to do. Both rumored candidates are renowned leaders in Palestinian financial circles and would arguably placate Western governments that have looked to the US-educated, former World Bank official Fayyad to provide a level of comfort relative to the handling of large aid contributions from donor states.

But while a source close to Abbas told The Media Line that serious consideration of Al-Masri and Mustafa is underway, Mustafa himself denied there is room for anyone but Abbas. “Hamas and Fatah agreed in signing the Doha agreement that Abbas would take on the role of prime minister in addition to the presidency,” Mustafa said. “The parties have agreed that President Abbas will be the leader of the government. So no more candidates. The president is the person nominated to do the job. He has to be the president. There is no way for anyone else to do so under terms of the agreement.”

Mustafa said the focus now is not on selecting an alternative to Abbas as prime minister but on completing the process and getting the elections set as soon as possible.

The conflicting versions of events-to-be both exude reasonableness. With governments including the United States not comfortable about funding a unity government that includes Hamas, which is listed on the US State Department’s terror list, there is heightened sensitivity about caving in to Hamas’ demand that Fayyad be removed from the roster of ministers in the pending interim cabinet that is supposed to govern until elections can be held. One theory is that replacing Fayyad with men whose bona fides in Palestinian commerce are established will go far in preventing the replacement from being an issue. Underscoring that point, Al-Masri and Mustafa each have points of confluence with Prime Minister Fayyad in their educational and professional resumes.

A well-placed source speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to speak on the record told The Media Line that above all, “the requisite is being someone who can handle money and is a technocrat.” Al-Masri and Mustafa both fill the bill. Al-Masri, an octogenarian who created much of the Palestinian financial infrastructure including its stock exchange, leading holding company and largest telecommunications company, was twice asked by Yassir Arafat to be his replacement as president, a role he reportedly turned down a total of three times.

Al-Masri remains active and as a measure of the respect afforded to him, played a key role in early reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas. And like Fayyad, his American alma mater is the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Mustafa serves as Chairman and CEO of the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF) and is President Abbas’ economic adviser.  Like Fayyad, he spent more than a decade at the World Bank following his education in the United States. Mustafa’s Master’s degree and Ph.D. were awarded by George Washington University.

Asked about Israeli objections to the unity government, Mustafa told The Media Line that “the Israelis need to negotiate with their counterpart. And their counterpart as negotiators for the Palestinians is the PLO.” When asked whether he believes Congress will cut off aid, Mustafa replied that “some voices in Congress” are making that threat, but he doesn’t expect that line of thought to carry the day.

Sources inside the Palestinian Authority are characterizing the initiation of the interim body as “imminent.” Eyes are on Cairo where on Wednesday Abbas joins the Reconciliation Committee as it seeks to tidy up remaining details and perhaps establish a firm timetable for events. If that happens, Abbas’ appearance at an Arab League event in Doha on Thursday will take on the air of a victory lap by a man who insisted all he seeks is retirement.

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The rest is here:
Replacement rumors for Abbas as Prime Minister denied by ‘candidate’ Mustafa

February 15, 2012, 9:59 AM EST

By Freeman Klopott

(Updates with revised loan size in first paragraph.)

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- New York state has applied for a $2 billion federal loan for construction of a $5.2 billion replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River, state officials said.

Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald said the state sent a letter of interest to the Federal Highway Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation, which administers a program that provides credit assistance for “regionally significant” infrastructure projects.

“They’re reviewing it now,” McDonald said in an interview today after leaving a Cabinet meeting with Governor Andrew Cuomo in Albany.

McDonald said during the interview that the loan request was for $3 billion, a figure later revised to $2 billion by her spokesman, Bill Reynolds.

“The commissioner misspoke,” he said in telephone interview.

Bloomberg News had asked Reynolds for a copy of the letter in a Feb. 6 e-mail. It wasn’t provided.

Replacing the 56-year-old bridge, which carries 138,000 vehicles a day between Rockland and Westchester counties as part of the New York State Thruway system, is a priority for Cuomo. In his $132.5 billion budget, the governor didn’t identify a specific funding source, though said the new bridge would be financed with public money. The 54-year-old Democrat has compared building a new Tappan Zee to the construction of the Erie Canal in the 19th century.

The three-mile-long (4.8-kilometer) bridge is estimated to cost $5.2 billion, with the price tag rising as high as $16 billion if public transportation projects are included. Loans through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, which McDonald said the state applied for in December, can be used only to pay for one-third of a project’s total estimated cost under current law. If New York is applying for the full amount, that would make the value of the project $6 billion.

Short List

Legislators in Washington are currently considering whether to increase the participation limit to about 49 percent of the total cost.

“We’re following what happens in Congress very closely,” McDonald said.

Fluor Corp., Bechtel Group Inc., Skanska AB and Grupo Dragados SA are part of four teams selected to bid on the project, the state said in a Feb. 7 statement.

State officials have mostly been mum on financing plans. At today’s cabinet meeting, Cuomo said only, “We’re working on a financial plan.”

New York’s Transportation Department hired Jeffrey A. Parker & Associates to develop a funding plan, according to a December announcement. The Philadelphia-based financing consultant specializes in public infrastructure projects and will help secure a federal loan, according to the firm’s website.

Tifia loans are generally used for projects costing more than $500 million, last about 35 years and have an interest rate tied to U.S. Treasuries. As of Feb. 10, Tifia’s interest rate was 3.14 percent.

Nancy Singer, a U.S. transportation department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail she couldn’t immediately comment.

--With assistance from Martin Z. Braun in New York and Carol Wolf in Washington. Editors: Mark Schoifet, William Glasgall

To contact the reporter on this story: Freeman Klopott in Albany, New York, at fklopott@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net

See the original post:
New York Seeks $2 Billion Federal Loan for Tappan Zee Bridge

Enlarge image New York Seeks $3 Billion Federal Loan for New Tappan Zee

An aerial view of the Tappan Zee bridge is seen leading from Tarrytown, New York.

An aerial view of the Tappan Zee bridge is seen leading from Tarrytown, New York. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

New York (STONY1)state has applied for a $3 billion federal loan for construction of a $5.2 billion replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River, Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald said.

McDonald said state officials sent a letter of interest to the Federal Highway Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation, which administers a program that provides credit assistance for “regionally significant” infrastructure projects.

“They’re reviewing it now,” McDonald said in an interview today after leaving a Cabinet meeting with Governor Andrew Cuomo in Albany. “The application was for $3 billion, and everything is fluid right now.”

Replacing the 56-year-old bridge, which carries 138,000 vehicles a day between Rockland and Westchester counties as part of the New York State Thruway system, is a top priority for Cuomo. In his $132.5 billion budget, the governor didn’t identify a specific funding source, though said the new bridge would be financed with public money. The 54-year-old Democrat has compared building a new Tappan Zee to the construction of the Erie Canal in the 19th century.

The three-mile-long (4.8-kilometer) bridge is estimated to cost $5.2 billion, with the price tag rising as high as $16 billion if public transportation projects are included. Loans through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, which McDonald said the state applied for in December, can be used only to pay for one-third of a project’s total estimated cost under current law. If New York is applying for the full amount, that would make the value of the project $9 billion.

Legislators in Washington are currently considering whether to increase the participation limit to about 49 percent of the total cost.

“We’re following what happens in Congress very closely,” McDonald said.

Fluor Corp. (FLR), Bechtel Group Inc., Skanska AB (SKAB) and Grupo Dragados SA (DRC) are part of four teams selected to bid on the project, the state said in a Feb. 7 statement.

State officials have mostly been mum on financing plans. At today’s cabinet meeting, Cuomo said only, “We’re working on a financial plan.”

New York’s Transportation Department hired Jeffrey A. Parker & Associates to develop a funding plan, according to a December announcement. The Philadelphia-based financing consultant specializes in public infrastructure projects and will help secure a federal loan, according to the firm’s website.

Tifia loans are generally used for projects costing more than $500 million, last about 35 years and have an interest rate tied to U.S. Treasuries. As of Feb. 10, Tifia’s interest rate was 3.14 percent.

Nancy Singer, a U.S. transportation department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail she couldn’t immediately comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Freeman Klopott in Albany, New York at fklopott@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net

Read the rest here:
New York Seeks $3 Billion Federal Loan to Construct New Tappan Zee Bridge

February 14, 2012, 3:39 PM EST

By Freeman Klopott

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- New York state has applied for a $3 billion federal loan for construction of a $5.2 billion replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River, Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald said.

McDonald said state officials sent a letter of interest to the Federal Highway Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation, which administers a program that provides credit assistance for “regionally significant” infrastructure projects.

“They’re reviewing it now,” McDonald said in an interview today after leaving a Cabinet meeting with Governor Andrew Cuomo in Albany. “The application was for $3 billion, and everything is fluid right now.”

Replacing the 56-year-old bridge, which carries 138,000 vehicles a day between Rockland and Westchester counties as part of the New York State Thruway system, is a top priority for Cuomo. In his $132.5 billion budget, the governor didn’t identify a specific funding source, though said the new bridge would be financed with public money. The 54-year-old Democrat has compared building a new Tappan Zee to the construction of the Erie Canal in the 19th century.

The three-mile-long (4.8-kilometer) bridge is estimated to cost $5.2 billion, with the price tag rising as high as $16 billion if public transportation projects are included. Loans through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, which McDonald said the state applied for in December, can be used only to pay for one-third of a project’s total estimated cost under current law. If New York is applying for the full amount, that would make the value of the project $9 billion.

Short List

Legislators in Washington are currently considering whether to increase the participation limit to about 49 percent of the total cost.

“We’re following what happens in Congress very closely,” McDonald said.

Fluor Corp., Bechtel Group Inc., Skanska AB and Grupo Dragados SA are part of four teams selected to bid on the project, the state said in a Feb. 7 statement.

State officials have mostly been mum on financing plans. At today’s cabinet meeting, Cuomo said only, “We’re working on a financial plan.”

New York’s Transportation Department hired Jeffrey A. Parker & Associates to develop a funding plan, according to a December announcement. The Philadelphia-based financing consultant specializes in public infrastructure projects and will help secure a federal loan, according to the firm’s website.

Tifia loans are generally used for projects costing more than $500 million, last about 35 years and have an interest rate tied to U.S. Treasuries. As of Feb. 10, Tifia’s interest rate was 3.14 percent.

Nancy Singer, a U.S. transportation department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail she couldn’t immediately comment.

--With assistance from Martin Z. Braun in New York and Carol Wolf in Washington. Editors: Mark Schoifet, William Glasgall

To contact the reporter on this story: Freeman Klopott in Albany, New York at fklopott@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net

Go here to see the original:
New York Seeks $3 Billion Federal Loan for New Tappan Zee Bridge

Swansea residents could have their Council Tax bills frozen as part of the Council's budget proposals.

Swansea Council's Cabinet will be discussing its Draft Revenue Budget for 2012/13 which includes holding Council Tax bills at this year's level of £990 for a Band D property.

The Draft Budget includes proposals to increase school funding by more than £2.4 million and to invest an extra £2 million in Social Services.

Also included in the proposals is extra funding for:

• Investment in the city centre;

• Tackling child poverty by improving literacy;

• Free bus travel for under-16s during Easter;

• Growing demand for free school meals; and,

• Boosting waste disposal and recycling.

The Draft Budget proposes £6.6 million in savings and efficiencies, including reduced staffing costs of £2.6 million.

According to the report to Special Cabinet next Monday, schools in Swansea are also set for a further boost of £2.8 million being funded by the Welsh Government under a new Pupil Deprivation Grant.

Stuart Rice, the Council's Cabinet Member for Finance, said: "The Draft Revenue Budget provides for millions of pounds in extra investment for key services such as Education and Social Services.

"On top of that, there's new investment in other services that affect families every day, such as recycling and waste disposal. There's also free bus travel for under-16s and extra funding to meet the growing demand for free school meals.

"The proposal to freeze Council Tax bills will help families at a time when household bills are increasing and their income may be reducing.

"Despite the squeeze on public spending, the Council is continuing to improve its services whilst reducing its costs and becoming more efficient. This means families across Swansea are getting better value for money from their council."

The Draft Capital Budget proposes to spend more than £40 million on a range of projects including:

• Refurbishing Castle Square as a focal point for the Olympics in Swansea;

• Restoring Cwmdonkin Park for the centenary of Dylan Thomas' birth in 2014;

• Refurbishing Cefn Hengoed and Morriston Comprehensive Schools;

• Investing more than £3 million to upgrade highways and other infrastructure; and,

• Further works to refurbish the historic Guildhall and to progress the Boulevard scheme.

Following the Welsh Government's recent announcement on 21st Century Schools it is expected that approximately £18 million will be invested in an initial programme to include a replacement for Manselton and Cwmbwrla Primary Schools, remodelling YGG Lon Las and replacing Gowerton Primary.

The Council also plans to invest £25 million, an increase of £5 million, in upgrading council housing across the city and county. The improvement works set out in the Housing Revenue Account include kitchen and bathroom renewals, boiler replacements, heating upgrades, improved roofing and chimneys and energy efficiency measures.

Following Cabinet today, February 13 the full council will meet to discuss the Draft Budget on February 20.

View original post here:
Swansea residents could see Council Tax frozen

Prime Minister pledges his '100 per cent' support for Health Secretary
Tory MP Nadine Dorries says No 10 encouraged ministers to 'smear' Lansley Escalation comes after three unnamed Ministers call for Bill to be scrapped

By Simon Walters

Last updated at 11:40 AM on 12th February 2012

Rattled David Cameron has been forced to come out fighting to save his NHS reforms and prevent Health Secretary Andrew Lansley falling victim to a dirty tricks plot by Cabinet Ministers.

In an angry meeting at No?10, he thumped the table as he vowed to press ahead with the changes, saying: ‘We’ve not shed blood on these proposals not to go through with them.’

Last night he stepped up his offensive, reading the riot act to rebel Ministers, pledging his ‘100 per cent’ support for embattled Mr Lansley, and declaring he is ‘absolutely determined’ not to do a U-turn on the health shake-up. 

Coming out fighting: David Cameron, the Prime Minister, left, last night stepped up his offensive as he tries to save his controversial NHS reforms and the career of his Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, right

But Mr Cameron faced a fierce counter-attack by Tory MP and  ex-nurse Nadine Dorries, who supports the reforms and claims No?10 had encouraged Ministers to ‘smear’ Mr Lansley.

‘Lansley is toast. It is clear that Cameron wants to kill his own NHS Bill – and Andrew Lansley’s career with it,’ she writes in today’s Mail on Sunday.

She says that instead of pillorying Mr Lansley, No?10 should have advised him on how to explain his reforms to patients.

 

Counter-attack: Tory MP Nadine Dorries has laid into Mr Cameron, claiming No 10 had encouraged Ministers to 'smear' Mr Lansley

The escalation in the NHS row came after three unnamed Cabinet Ministers used a Tory website to call for the Bill to be scrapped.

Mr Cameron said yesterday: ‘Andrew Lansley has my 100 per cent support. He is a very strong Health Secretary and is staying  in his job.’

And in a warning shot to Mr Lansley’s Cabinet enemies, a Downing Street spokesman added: ‘The Prime Minister is quite clear – the collective responsibility of the Cabinet means that Mr Lansley has its full support.’

Mr Cameron called the rebel Ministers’ bluff by challenging them to repeat their private criticism of Mr Lansley to him.

The spokesman said: ‘No one has raised this issue with him either before or after these reports appeared.’

In a further sign of his concern, Mr Cameron referred to the way the NHS helped him and wife Samantha cope with their disabled son Ivan, who died in 2009, as proof of his personal faith in the health service.

He said: ‘The reforms are necessary; I am totally committed to the NHS; I and my family have personal experience  of it and I want it to remain free at the point of use.’

He plans to take personal charge of the NHS changes following a loss of confidence in Mr Lansley among voters and Ministers alike.

Mr Cameron will visit a hospital this week in a public display of his commitment to the NHS and plans a series of interviews spelling out why the changes are needed.

Ivan, Mr Cameron's late son: The PM referred to the way the NHS helped him and wife Samantha cope with the disabled son boy, who died in 2009, as proof of his personal faith in the health service

Ministers are increasingly alarmed at the way the NHS Bill, designed to slash bureaucracy and boost efficiency by switching power and money to GPs and patients, has come under attack from Labour, the Lib Dems – and now the Tory Cabinet.

Many Tory MPs think it is too late to save Mr Lansley. Claims that the legislation could be a repeat of the ill-fated Poll Tax that helped bring down Margaret Thatcher have set alarm bells ringing.

Tim Montgomerie, of grassroots website ConservativeHome, said three Cabinet Ministers had urged him to call for the reforms to be dropped – and Mr Lansley sacked.

Opponents? Chancellor George Osborne has publicly supported the reforms, but some MPs say he has privately expressed doubts. Michael Gove, the Education Secretary is also said to be worried about the plan

His statement led to intense speculation as to their identity.

Publicly, Chancellor George Osborne says he supports the  Bill – but some MPs say he has grave private doubts.

Education Secretary Michael Gove, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson and Leader of the Commons Sir George Young are also said to be worried about the reform plan.

By NADINE DORRIES

Last updated at 11:40 AM on 12th February 2012

Last week a prominent political journalist wrote that a No?10 aide had said: ‘Lansley should be taken out and shot.’

Let’s get one thing straight: if you work in No?10 and you say something like that to a newspaper, you absolutely know it is going to be reported and you would only say it if you had been told to say it – or you wanted to lose your job.

No?10 aides aren’t known for their professional kamikaze tendencies so it has to be assumed that whoever said it was acting under orders.

'Machiavellian tendencies': Ms Dorries, right, says the order to smear Mr Lansley was 'most likely' given by Chancellor Osborne, left, as part of an orchestrated campaign against the Health Secretary

In my view, those orders are most likely to have been issued by George Osborne, who knocks the Machiavellian tendencies of Gordon Brown into the shadows.

Such a briefing sends a clear message to Ministers: it was code for the Prime Minister’s general direction of travel. It said: ‘Feel free to start smearing Lansley.’

David Cameron’s endorsement of Lansley in the Commons on Wednesday, when he told Ed  Miliband that Lansley’s chance of holding on to his job was ‘safer than yours’, was conspicuously tepid, bearing in mind Miliband’s dismal ratings. There is only one conclusion: Lansley is toast.

The same No?10 aide also mooted the possibility of former Labour Minister Alan Milburn being appointed to the Lords and put in charge of overseeing the NHS reforms. Again, it is my view that this was a carefully calculated, deliberate leak.

There was never a more vexatious piece of legislation than the NHS Bill, which Lansley has been immersed in for seven years.

His reforms run through every vein and artery of the NHS and are exactly the kind of changes a blue-sky-thinking Conservative Government should be implementing. These are reforms, I might add, that Cameron supported, before the Liberal Democrats mutilated the Bill with hundreds of amendments.

It should have been a winner: Unfortunately, Mr Lansley's attention to detail made it almost impossible for him to speak about the reforms in terms people could understand, Ms Dorries says

The NHS reforms were being worked out long before we were in a coalition and the initial Bill was Conservative to its core, as far from a Liberal Democrat top-heavy view of the NHS as you could possibly get.

The irony is that, originally, it wasn’t that difficult to sell. Messages which articulated the fact that GPs became holders of budgets which empowered patients and put them in the driving seat were clear and simple to get over.

All patients needed to be told was that they would be able to sit in front of a GP and ask: ‘You hold the purse strings now, why can’t I have that drug?’

It should have been a winner with the public. Unfortunately, Lansley’s attention to detail made it almost impossible for him to speak about the reforms in terms people could understand.

He is a man of exceptional intelligence but speaks in the jargon of integrated care pathways, learning networks and triggers for intervention.

The reforms are highly complex and No?10 should have helped Lansley to explain them. Instead they have left him to his fate.

Then Nick Clegg’s chippy Lib Dems got their teeth into the Bill.

They have caused so much mischief, you could be forgiven for forgetting we are in a coalition.

They may have only 52 MPs, but they display the arrogance of a party that knows it holds the balance of power – even though they face annihilation at the next General Election. 

Machinations: Mr Cameron, center, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, background left, and Mr Lansley, on a visit to a patient ward at Frimley Park hospital in April last year

It is clear that Cameron wants  to kill his own NHS Bill – and Lansley’s career with it. Now that Downing Street has started to smear one of its own Secretaries of State, confidence in the Bill and Lansley – a dedicated and loyal public servant, whose only crime has been to apply his immense intelligence and Conservative principles with absolute dedication – will collapse.

A new Secretary of State will be appointed to carry the changes through to a natural conclusion. Many have already been put in place. Primary Health Care Trusts have all but gone; GPs have organised themselves into consortiums; hospitals have adapted.

What is left of Lansley’s reforms will be jettisoned. No doubt it will placate Clegg, but at the expense of a better health service.

I fear the malicious briefings will continue and Lansley will be replaced as soon as Cameron and Clegg can agree upon a replacement ready to please the Lib Dems.

Sadly, it merely goes to show just how far Cameron has removed himself from core Conservative principles.

 

Read more here:
We shed blood on our NHS reforms: Table-thumping Cameron lashes out at Cabinet back-stabbers and vows there won't be a ...