Eric Pickles

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Conservative Party MP Eric Pickles

Eric Jack Pickles (born 20 April 1952) is a Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar since 1992, and is the current Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

He was previously the Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2009 to 2010.

Early life

Born in Keighley, Yorkshire, Eric Pickles went to Greenhead Grammar School (which became Greenhead High School and is now University Academy Keighley) on Greenhead Road in Utley, north Keighley, then attended Leeds Polytechnic. He was born into a Labour Party supporting family – his great grandfather was one of the founders of the Independent Labour Party, and described himself as "massively inclined" towards communism as a boy[1] – but he joined the Conservative Party in 1968 after the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia.[2]

Pickles soon became the chairman of the local Young Conservatives association and later became chairman of the national organisation.

Bradford councillor

Pickles was first elected to Bradford Council in 1979. Between 1988 and 1990, he served as leader of the Conservative group on the council. In September 1988 the Conservative Party gained control by using the Conservative mayor's casting vote to become the only inner-city council to be controlled by the Conservatives.

When Bradford Council was hung, Pickles opted to break the agreement that the position of Lord Mayor is rotated between the parties, when he put a Conservative mayor in place again.[3] This effectively gave the Conservatives a majority due to the Lord Mayor's casting vote. To do this, they also broke the tradition that the Lord Mayor kept the status quo.

Whilst at Bradford, Pickles announced a five-year plan to cut the council's budget by £50m, reduce the workforce by a third, privatise services and undertake council departmental restructures, many of which proved controversial. "The Pickles Papers" by Tony Grogan, was written about this period in Pickles's life.[4]

Parliamentary career

Pickles has been Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar since 1992. He is currently the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in the coalition government headed by Prime Minister David Cameron, following his appointment to the role on 12 May 2010. Previously he has served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from January 2009 to May 2010 and Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, having held that post since June 2007. Prior to this he served as Shadow Minister for Local Government from June 2002. Before that Pickles was Shadow Minister for Transport (September 2001 – June 2002) and Shadow Minister for London.

At the 2001 general election, the independent candidate Martin Bell, who was the MP for Tatton, having run a campaign of "anti-sleeze", stood against Pickles due to accusations that the Peniel Pentecostal Church had infiltrated the local Conservative branch.[5] Pickles's majority was severely reduced, but he retained his seat by a margin of 2,821 votes (6.5%) becoming elected with only 38% of the votes against Martin Bell's 31.5%.

At the 2005 general election Pickles retained the seat with an increased majority of 11,612 (26.3%), nearly as many as the total votes cast for the second place candidate, and making this the second safest seat in Eastern England, and Pickles the MP with the third-highest share of the vote cast[6] in this region. Pickles polled a total of 23,609 votes (53.5%).

On 2 July 2007 David Cameron appointed Pickles to a reshuffled Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary. On 30 December 2008, according to reports in The Times, Pickles unveiled plans to "purge town hall 'fat cats'". The Times reported that under the plans "dozens of council chiefs who earn more than Cabinet ministers would lose their jobs as clusters of councils merged their frontline services and backroom operations to provide better value for money."[7] Of the eight highest earning chief executives listed in The Times' report, six are employed by councils run by the Conservative party, one by Labour and one by the Liberal Democrats.

Pickles was the campaign manager for the successful Crewe and Nantwich by-election in May 2008. Following this, Pickles was promoted to Chairman of the Conservative Party in January 2009.

In early 2010, Pickles defended the first-past-the-post voting system as resulting in stable government. He attacked Prime Minister Gordon Brown saying he "...- now wants to fiddle the electoral system" by wanting to look at a proportional voting system with a single transferable vote.[8]

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Pickles was appointed as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government as part of David Cameron's new coalition Government on 12 May 2010,[9] and sworn as a Privy Counsellor on 13 May 2010.[10]

In his role as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on 30 July 2010, Pickles announced plans to hand powers where ministers can cap unreasonable increases in council taxes to local people. A consultation begun in August 2010 and the powers, which will require legislation, should be in force by March 2012. Pickles said he was determined to reverse the presumption that Whitehall knows best by making local councils directly accountable to the local taxpayer. He said: "If councils want to increase council tax further, they will have to prove the case to the electorate. Let the people decide". Residents would be asked to choose between accepting the rise or rejecting it and instead accepting a below inflation rise, but with reduced council services. The average council tax on a Band D property increased from £688 a year in 1997/98 to £1,439 for 2010.[11]

Localism Act

Pickles was responsible for the Localism Act 2011 that changed the powers of local government in England. The measures affected by the Act include more directly elected mayors and referendums. The Localism Act opens with Part 1, Chapter 1(1), under the heading "Local authority’s general power of competence": everything which is not forbidden is allowed[12]

The bill was introduced by Pickles, and given its first reading on 13 December 2010. The Bill completed the third reading in the House of Lords on 31 October 2011.[13] The Bill received Royal Assent on 15 November 2011.

The bill was quickly undermined however, published on 13 December, one of the claims made for it is that it would "give local communities real control over housing and planning decisions". On the same day, Eric Pickles issued a decision in a planning appeal. National Grid had applied to Tewkesbury Borough Council to build a gas plant just outside Tirley in Gloucestershire. The installation would occupy more than 16 acres and was unlikely to be beautiful. The application had been opposed by more than 1,000 residents (and this in a sparsely populated rural area); by 12 parish councils and, indeed, by every single member of the planning committee of the local planning authority. Mr Pickles chose to grant permission to build the gas plant.[14]

Council prayers

On 10 February 2012, the National Secular Society obtained a High Court judicial review of the Christian prayers held during meetings in council chambers, that non-Christian councillors were forced to attend as prayers formed part of the formal agenda. Councillors are obliged to attend for the duration of the formal agenda. Mr Justice Ouseley ruled: "The saying of prayers as part of the formal meeting of a Council is not lawful under section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972, and there is no statutory power permitting the practice to continue. I do not think the 1972 Act should be interpreted as permitting the religious views of one group of councillors, however sincere or large in number, to exclude, or even to a modest extent, to impose burdens on or even to mark out those who do not share their views and do not wish to participate in their expression of them. They are all equally elected councillors".[15]

Although Mr Justice Ouseley said prayers were permitted to be held before the start of the formal agenda, Eric Pickles vowed to reverse the High Court decision, despite a recent Yougov poll showing 55% were against councils holding prayers with just 26% in favour.[16] Eric Pickles brought forward his Localism Act, due to become law in April 2012, and made it law on 17 February 2012 claiming he is 'effectively reversing' the High Court decision.[17]

Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society, commented "A number of senior lawyers have expressed doubt whether the Localism Act will, as Mr Pickles hopes, make prayers lawful, and the Act was clearly not passed with that express intention. His powers to pass legislation are not, as he implies, untrammelled. Council prayers increasingly look set to become a battle between the Government and the courts at ever higher levels".[18]

The Localism Act permits local government councils to do anything that is not forbidden. Eric Pickles has written to all local government councils encouraging them continue with prayers in council meetings.[19]

Flags

Pickles is a self-proclaimed flag enthusiast,[20] and has taken a personal interest in ensuring that English County flags are regularly flown from the Department for Communities and Local Government.[21][22] He has urged people to fly the St George Cross of England more widely for St George’s Day and encouraged public bodies to adopt a common sense approach to flying the flag.[23] On 14 May 2011, at the Flag Institute Spring Meeting, Pickles announced a consultation aimed at "Making it easier for people to celebrate an identity or an organisation that means something to them."[24]

Second home

On 26 March 2009, Pickles appeared on the political debate programme BBC Question Time in Newcastle upon Tyne. While discussing the controversy over Tony McNulty (who had recently admitted claiming expenses on a second home, occupied by his parents, only 8 miles away from his primary residence), Pickles admitted he claimed a second home allowance because he lived 37 miles from Westminster and needed to leave his constituency house in Brentwood at 5:30am in order to get to Westminster for 9:30am,[25][26] given that he tended to get home at midnight or 1:00am, although the standard time for commuters from this region is usually ninety minutes.[27] He went on to say that it was "no fun" commuting into London from where he lived. In response to Pickles's comments that he "had to be there the House of Commons on time", Question Time host David Dimbleby, replied "Like a job, in other words?" prompting amusement amongst the audience.

There were also remarks from the audience about nurses and firemen etc. having to commute across London and get to their jobs on time and having to do without a second home.

Pickles was asked to pay back £300 following the MP's expenses scandal, which he had claimed for cleaning.[28]

Radio show

Eric Pickles also appeared as a radio presenter on local community radio station Phoenix FM together with the then Leader of Brentwood Council (and fellow Conservative) Brandon Lewis in a show titled The Eric and Brandon Show. The show was billed as non-party political, and involved the two politicians interviewing local personalities interspersed with music.

Personal life

Pickles married Irene Coates in 1976 in Staincliffe, a district of Batley in West Yorkshire.

References

  1. ↑ "Eric Pickles tells of communist past as Eric the Red"
  2. ↑ "Bluff diamond"
  3. ↑ "Eric Pickles: The Tory heavyweight"
  4. ↑ "The Pickles Papers" by Tony Grogan, 1989, ISBN 0-948994-04-5
  5. ↑ "Martin Bell to run for MP again"
  6. ↑ House of Commons Research Paper 05/33 – The General Election 2005
  7. ↑ "Tories plan purge of town hall ‘fat cats’"
  8. ↑ "Gordon Brown outlines plans to reform UK voting system"
  9. ↑ he "Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP"
  10. ↑ "Privy Council appointments, 13 May 2010"
  11. ↑ "Local people to get powers to veto excessive council tax rises, Eric Pickles to say today"
  12. ↑ "Localism Act 2011"
  13. ↑ "Localism Bill 2010–11"
  14. ↑ "Tirley, PRI Secretaries of State decision letter"
  15. ↑ [http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2012/02/council-prayers-unlawful-rules-high-court "High Court Ruling on Council Prayers"
  16. ↑ "Yougov poll on Council Prayers"
  17. ↑ "BBC News on Council Prayers"
  18. ↑ "Keith Porteous Wood"
  19. ↑ "Prayer Advice"
  20. ↑ "Eric Pickles’ speech to the Flag Institute Spring Meeting" 14 May 2011
  21. ↑ "Flying the flag for Middlesex" Hillingdon & Uxbridge Times
  22. ↑ "Eric Pickles raises Essex flag above CLG"
  23. ↑ "Eric Pickles urges England to fly the flag for St George’s Day"
  24. ↑ "Flag consultation announcement"
  25. ↑ "MP: Long hours justify second home claim"
  26. ↑ "Tories should put Eric Pickles under house arrest"
  27. ↑ "Eric Pickles on Question Time, 1:35 on the video, 21 March 2009"
  28. ↑ "MPs' expenses: Who is in the clear, and who owes what"

External links

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