Elections

I have just received a letter from the single parents' charity Gingerbread. As before, I'm posting both the letter and my response. I can't have readers thinking I tell everyone exactly what they want to hear when I'm telling people what I think.

Dear Mr Hilton,

Single parents' manifesto

With the election date now set, I am pleased to attach a copy of Gingerbread's Manifesto for single parents, setting out their priorities for a new Government.

Single parents are often talked about in political debates, but too seldom have their voices heard. Single parent members of Gingerbread and single parents who use NetMums forums told us that they want to see:

• Longer repayment periods for overpaid benefits and tax credits: the current tax credit system has overpayments built in. One way to achieve this would be a return to fixed tax credit payments, so that parents don't get into debt.


• More financial help with childcare: Government should increase the amount of childcare costs met through the Working Tax Credit from 80 to 100%.


• Government to encourage more employers to offer jobs at school hours. Nearly sixty per cent of single parents are now in work. But the biggest barrier to combining work and family is finding jobs to fit in with school. Government needs to do more to ensure public sector jobs are flexible, and encourage the private sector to do the same.


• Services that give practical advice to parents on money, housing and legal rights. Government needs to fund independent advice services as a key part of helping families.


• More support for parents when their relationship is breaking down. Parents going through separation need more help to avoid conflict, and maintain their parenting relationship.


• More support to children at school to help if their parents separate. Children can't always talk to their parents about what is going on at home. They need confidential support at school to help them cope with family change.

As debate heats up during the election campaign, there is a danger that single parenthood will once again become a political football. We are urging all prospective MPs to sign up to our 'Lets lose the labels' campaign to challenge prejudice against single parents. We hope you will sign up - you can do so at www.gingerbread.org.uk or by sending an email to campaign@gingerbread.org.uk to let us know that you support the campaign.

Please do get in touch with us if you would like to know more about single parents views, or need any information on the latest research on single parent families,

Yours sincerely,

Kate Bell
Director of Policy
Gingerbread

http://www.gingerbread.org.uk

Ms Bell,

My mother met my step-father through Gingerbread when I was a baby so I have a very positive view of your organisation.

On your manifesto, everything within it seems entirely supportable, though it's not black and white. In most of those arenas, despite the fact that we could do more, we have improved the situation immeasurably. Even worse, the Conservatives are committed to retrograde steps; marriage tax breaks, erosion of tax credits and a distinct lack of clarity on the future of Surestart.

The sad truth is that when they talk about broken Britain, the Conservatives are demonising single parents as though it is better for society if a woman stays with an abusive or neglectful husband. So it doesn't matter whether you send every Conservative MP and candidate in the country a thousand emails, they simply do not wish to represent single parents.

That said, my own party's rhetoric has shocked me from time to time. The teenage mum homes announced at Labour conference last year made me cringe, as I have with every mention of "hard working families" from ministers over the past decade. But the proof is there, this government has done more to change the perception of single parents and the opportunities open to them than any that went before.

Your email makes an excellent point and if that is your aim then you have achieved that. But there's an election coming and points don't count, only votes. So I hope you will give some thought to how you can ensure that a party is returned to government that will continue delivering for single parents, regardless of its other flaws.

Yours,

Alex Hilton
Labour candidate for Chelsea & Fulham
07794 771 113
alexhilton@gmail.com
www.alexhilton.org

I received this email today about Lobbying and MPs and I am publishing both the enquiry and my response. Please have a read and let me know if you think I'm wrong (or right even!)

Dear Sir,

I am writing to ask you to pledge your support for total transparency in lobbying. Unless something is done to clean up politics, the next generation of MPs will be as unpopular with a disillusioned electorate as those who are currently in power.

As a constituent, I would like you to be aware of my feelings on this matter. I trust that you are committed to greater transparency in politics and accountable decision-making. One simple, but concrete way to open up politics to public scrutiny would be through a compulsory register of lobbyists.

A recent Parliamentary inquiry found the current system of self-regulation in lobbying to be a failure. Recent newspaper articles and television programmes have shown how some politicians are exploiting their contacts for personal gain. I urge you to pledge your support for a compulsory register of lobbyists to help make politicians more accountable to ordinary people, rather than private interests that lobby politicians in secret.

I would also like to see your Party publicly commit to introducing a compulsory register of lobbyists straight away if they become the next government.

Dear Sir,

I have enormous sympathy with your frustration and entirely understand where you come from on this matter. I should tell you right now that I am a political communications adviser for a living and that includes some lobbying from time to time.

It is absolutely essential that lobbying is clean and there is nothing more corrupt than paying legislators to advocate for you. I certainly will not take a penny from interest groups if I am elected.

However, I oppose a mandatory register of lobbyists and I have a column in a magazine where I explained last week why I have that position. The link is here. http://prweek.com/uk/news/opinion/993642/Alex-Hilton-Lobbyists-not-carry/

I'm afraid they only give me 350 words once a fortnight to express my views on political communications, but mostly the piece covers my view. In short, the recent lobbying scandal highlighted not one single instance of misbehaviour by lobbyists. The misbehaviour is by greedy politicians. The cross party demands for a register of lobbyists are a distraction exercise so that you can demonise people like me rather than MPs.

Lobbying is the means by which a largely stupid, corrupt, self interested or lazy parliament gets exposed to some actual expertise in the course of legislating. If they are making laws on the construction industry for example, lobbyists from companies, trade associations, supplier firms, unions, workplace accident charities and all sorts of other people all seek to explain to the politicians what their positions are and why their position should be law. At that point, the politician has to use their judgement to decide who is right and what compromises can be made.

All of those lobbying organisations ultimately represent voters and none of them should be paying money to MPs or Peers. But if you heavily regulated the lobbying industry, you would simply make it more expensive. If it is more expensive, the richest companies will pay extra without blinking, but the smaller organisations, the small trade associations and charities, would no longer be able to afford expert support. The effect would be to concentrate influence among the already-influential larger organisations.

The alternative solution is to regulate MPs' diaries. If they had to publish their diaries - live online - to the public, then there would be absolute clarity as to who they were meeting an how often. They could simply block out their diary with "private" or "constituents" if necessary, but such an innovation would provide for excellent transparency.

But they won't do this because they have chosen professional lobbyists to be their scapegoats instead.

In truth, There are more important things than a lobbying register for me to campaign for or against, so if it were implemented then I would accept it. However, If I am elected, I will push extremely hard for further measures that effectively combat greediness, laziness and mediocrity among MPs. The corrupt state of politics truly sickens me and fixing it is a massive priority for me.

Sorry you had to wade through such an extensive response from me but I think it's important I tell you what I believe to be true, not what I think you want to hear. I hope, if elected, you would trust me to have the same attitude in parliament.

Yours,

Alex Hilton
Labour Candidate for Chelsea & Fulham
07794 771 113
alexhilton@gmail.com
www.alexhilton.org

It's just a little embarrassing being a parliamentary candidate. I'm supposed to spend the next few weeks telling seventy thousand people in Chelsea & Fulham (plus any innocent bystanders from elsewhere) that I'm wonderful and very possibly the saviour of the human race.

Neither of which are true by the way.

Nevertheless, the Chronicle has perhaps unwisely given me and a number of other parliamentary hopefuls access to their website. I'm quite keen to see whether this will go live as soon as I press save or whether my meanderings will have to wait to be checked by the sub-editors first. Subs aren't bad people; they often protect me from looking foolish by correcting my spelling or grammar, and nearly never change the meaning of a sentence or complain when I make up a word.

So I'm having a go a writing here because, if successful, this could be an fascinating innovation - a kind of 6 week online hustings debate where candidates can grill each other and be grilled in return by the voters. Alternatively I may be the only person reading or writing in this space.

Anyway, I'll have a go at making a success of this opportunity and I'm open to take questions from anyone. You can also take a look at my website, email me or phone me if you want to raise something. In any case, I'll look forward to hearing from you.

All the best,

Alex Hilton
alexhilton@gmail.com
www.alexhilton.org
07794 771 113

I was born in the old King George Hospital in Ilford in January 1976, which makes me too young to remember Wilson and Callaghan in government.

Although I am half Indian - the son of a refugee from Uganda - my step-father, a printer on the Mirror Group at the time, took me on before I was two years old. The Brady-bunch maths meant I grew up with six brothers and two sisters.