In My View
Posted by Robert Walter, MP for North Dorset, at 09:44, Mon 19 November 2007:
Parents of children in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea have reason to be pleased this week. The council tax payers in what must be one of the richest parts of London can also thank a Labour government for their good fortune. They, along with their wealthy counterparts in the City of London and the City of Westminster have the Department for Children Schools and families to bless for another three years of generous education funding.
Not so here in Dorset. By 2010 the government plans to give the County council just over £4,000 for each child in school here in Dorset. In Chelsea they will get over £6,000 pounds for each child and in the City of London nearly £8,000. It’s called “fair funding”!
In Dorset we have rural sparcity which means lots of small primary schools in our villages. And when we do have to send our children to larger secondary schools the bill for school transport rockets. Most children in these rich inner city areas attend large economic primary schools and can walk to school or use plentiful public transport.
So why do we do so badly? What is it about Chelsea that means that the Government gives their local council half as much again to educate their children? The answer all lies in some mysterious formula which is of course not about these specific areas, but a general bias towards our large metropolitan centres. Needless to say it is those same metropolitan areas where the present government gets its support.
As with so much government policy the rural areas of Britain lose out. It must surely be time to end this unfair bias and once again back the campaign for a “fair deal for Dorset”.
Last weekend we commemorated the immortal words "lest we forget" and the powerful image of the Flanders poppy, all that would grow in the battlefields of the "war to end all wars". I have written in this column about the military covenant. The unique compact between the people and those who risk or give their lives for this country. The campaign by the Royal British Legion to get the government to recognise that deal has been a success, but there is still more to be done.
As our young men and women do their duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere there must be recognition of their special duty. A recognition by us as the people in whose name they serve that they deserve more than just a pay packet and normal industrial terms and conditions.
Sadly war is still with us and we must never forget. Last Sunday we remembered not just those young men and women who gave their lives for their country in the 1914-18 war, but the later wars, big and small, that have followed. I have visited our soldiers in Afghanistan and this summer I spent some time with helicopter crews who serve us in Iraq.
Whatever we think about these wars, these men and women serve their country, serve us all and are prepared to lay down there lives for our freedom. Let's go on wearing our poppies with pride and remember them all for years to come. But more than that lets never forget that those who are prepared to die for their country deserve better than we currently give them.
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