They collected over 1,000 signatures from concerned members of the Rugby community in just three hours, indicating the strength of feeling in the town about this cut to local services.

The signatures will be delivered to Andy Hardy, Chief Executive of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

Local Rugby Labour Party member John Slinger said:

“Rugby Labour members today stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of Rugby against the closure of Birch Ward

at the Hospital of St Cross. That we collected over 1,000 signatures in just three hours shows that the community is deeply

concerned about the closure of Birch Ward and wishes to see a long-term future for St Cross Hospital.”

For more information, please contact John Slinger on 07970 847231 or johnslinger1@gmail.com.

If you missed us and want to show your support, please sign the online version: Protect St Cross Hospital at Petition Online

UPDATE: John Slinger, the local member who organised the petition, has blogged about the media reaction to the start of our campaign.

Birch Ward may now have been shut this week, but we promise that we will keep the pressure up on the Hospital Trust to protect and restore important services to St Cross for the people of Rugby and surrounds.

• Rugby Labour Party calls on University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust to reverse its planned closure of Birch Ward at the Hospital of St Cross from 30 November.
• The closure of this ward and the way its services will be provided in the future will have a detrimental impact on the local community and those users of the services provided by Birch Ward, particularly the elderly and those reliant on social care.
• The closure may well comprise the future viability of the St Cross hospital and ultimately lead to its closure. Rugby’s Labour councillors have taken the lead by demanding that the Chief Executive of UHCW carries out a full consultation on any changes to services in Rugby and also have called for a special meeting of Rugby Borough Council.

He was joined by local Councillor Ish Mistry and Chuka Umunna, the Shadow Business Secretary, at a Question and Answer session with students at the Power Academy, part of South Warwickshire College. The new college building and links with local industry are a great example of how Labour in government was acting to renew industry and encourage training and education.

Ed and Chuka faced tough questions from the audience, showing that young people are able to engage with politics. For local press reports, please see:

Coventry and Warwickshire Telegraph report

Rugby Advertiser stub

Rugby Observer article

Chuka Umunna (left), Ish Mistry (center) and Ed Milliband (right) at Rugby's Power Academy

The document will be introduced by James Plaskitt, former MP for Warwick and Leamington, followed by workshops when members will be able to have their say and help formulate the response. A copy of ‘Refounding Labour’ can be found at www.refoundinglabour.org

The meeting will be held at the West Indian Centre, St Peter’s Road, Rugby and will start at 1.30pm.

I hope to see you there.

Best wishes,
Chris Mavrakis CLP Secretary

Labour Launches its Campaign for May 5^th Local Elections.

Experience, Local knowledge and Innovation are the foundation of your Labour Rugby Borough Council candidates. They are all committed to our pledges to:

Fight to retain Front-Line Services;

Fight to protect our Young and Older people, and

Listen to your concerns and ensure that they are are fully represented to Rugby Borough Council.

To find out more at www.labourservingrugby.org.uk or www.rugbylabour.org or telephone us on 07876 314741

Why we  support the TUC campaign

The Tory-led coalition government is not simply making cuts to reduce the deficit, they are pushing too hard and too fast. Not only is this likely to slow down the recovery from recession, it is already starting to have effects on local services.

Nearby hospitals have already announced reductions in nursing staff, and we are trying to find out what will happen at St Cross and at Coventry University hospitals.

The local trust that deals with mental Health, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, has announced that it will lose nearly a fifth of its workforce, including 300 clinical staff.

Warwickshire Police have announced job losses of 450 jobs, which is a quarter of their total workforce. The number of officers affected is not yet known, but the funding cut is above the level that the Police Federation said “will affect frontline policing to protect the public” (Coventry Telegraph, Nov 19 2010).

The County Council announced that 1,800 jobs are at risk before December’s announcement of deeper reductions in funding than expected. Already this year, care homes are being privatised and charges for services to the vulnerable have been increased massively. Fire stations will be closing across the county, including Brinklow.

Rugby Borough Council has yet to release details of how it will deal with a 15% real terms cut in next year’s budget. Tenants are already facing a large increase in rents.

The local Liberal Democrats have been claiming that they will fight against cuts, but at the same time are not criticising their party’s MPs who have backed them in Parliament and in the Cabinet. They will probably join Eric Pickles in trying to blame the council alone for reducing services, when it is clear that the Coalition Government they  is forcing local authorities to make cuts so as to avoid taking responsibility themselves.

As well as the Labour Party, there are other groups who are organising against these ideologically inspired reductions in vital public services. The False Economy site has a lot of information about how services are being affected across the country, down to local level, as well as articles outlining the economic case against the Cuts. Events are being publicised there on a regular basis.

Locally, Rugby Against the Cuts has been actively opposing reductions to services, and this is a broad group involving people from several political parties as well as independents.

DATE: Thursday 18th September
TIME: 7:30 pm
PLACE: Friends Meeting House, 28 Regent Place, Rugby, CV21 2PN

All are welcome.

Estelle Morris worked as a secondary school teacher in Coventry for 18 years before becoming Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley in 1992. She was Education Secretary from 2001 to 2002 – the first former comprehensive school teacher to hold that position. She stood down from Parliament in 2005, and she now sits as Baroness Morris of Yardley in the House of Lords.

The Petition will be circulating in areas around the town over the next couple of weeks, but to ensure that your support is registered, please come and join us.

DATE: Saturday 11th September
TIME: 11:00 am
PLACE: Meet at Asda front car park (Chapel St, off Corporation Road)

DATE: Saturday 4th September
TIME: 2:00 pm
PLACE: West Indian Club, St. Peters Road, Rugby, CV21 3QP

Leadership candidate and former Health Secretary Andy Burnham MP will be coming to Rugby for the launch. So if you are interested in a new forum for centre-left political debate and want to hear what one of the contenders has to say, the details are below:

DATE: Friday 27 August
TIME: 7:30 pm
PLACE: Friends’ Meeting House, 28 Regent Place, Rugby, CV21 2PN.