Helping Graduates Together

Yesterday marked the closure of Conservative Future’s first ever dedicated careers week, containing a series of new events and seminars to help drive membership numbers and generate fresh interest in our movement. The week’s achievements were only made possible by the tremendous hard work, preparation and organisation from the national executive, plus an army of other volunteers who helped deliver a spectacular week of exciting events.

The first event was a panel discussion on Graduate Recruitment in conjunction with the Conservative Women’s Organisation. Over fifty members attended to hear unemployed graduates explain their difficulties of getting onto graduate schemes. Amongst the panel members Andy Stephenson MP, Managing Directors of top recruitment firms and top employers voiced their concerns over the unemployed graduates experiences and hoped that the Coalition Government’s current proposals mark the beginning of the end to these problems.

On Wednesday it was our second evening in Parliament where Tory Reform Group members advised students and graduates of parliamentary job opportunities and how to access them.

Our week culminated on Thursday at the Daily Telegraph where we launched the Young Professionals network for Conservative Future activists. Various MPs attended and we were lucky to be addressed by the Minister for Children, Tim Loughton MP, Senior Government Whip Brooks Newmark MP and ex-Conservative Future member Chris Kelly MP. All of them provided interesting, differing accounts of how they managed to climb up the career ladder- before and after parliament. The event included networking drinks sessions, providing an opportunity for attendees to mix and mingle over a glass of wine. I was impressed not only by the numbers that turned up for the event, but also the broad range of attendees from across the UK and would like to thank members who travelled from as far afield as event Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle.

These events were organised to drive membership and show existing members that Conservative Future is still a great organisation to be involved with. By working together to deliver these kinds of events, we can show the party and the country that our organisation is a truly passionate and impressive political movement. This is just the beginning.

Conservative Future Young Professionals Launch Drinks Reception

This Thursday we are proud to launch, ‘Conservative Future Young Professionals’. This event is targeted at Young Professional members of Conservative Future, in or out of work, providing insight and advice on getting into the Career world. 

There will be a Q&A with Minister for Education Tim Loughton MP on how to get more young people and graduates into work. (Guests include Chris Kelly MP, Brooks Newmark MP, Sajid Jarvie MP, Telegraph Media Group Directors and others to be announced). 

Time: 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Location: Telegraph Media Group, 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London

TICKETS: £5 - click here



NB: YOU MUST BUY ONLINE BEFORE ATTENDING FOR SECURITY REASONS.

LondonSpin's viewpoint on marriage

Today LondonSpin gave their opinion of Iain Duncan Smith's speech yesterday when he launched Marriage Week in the Commons, who stated, "family breakdown is not only damaging for individuals, it also imposes "incredibly high" financial and social costs on society as a whole." 


I support marriage and believe that couples who choose to marry should not be penalised.


LondonSpin's opinion:


"You have to wonder what kind of society we live in when people actually attack a policy that aims to help people stay together. Those on the Looney Left cry out about single mothers, decent parents that split for the right reasons and the ‘stigmatisation’ of single parents. But since was being together such a bad, evil thing?

Let’s look first at the statistics – the cold hard facts. Young people struggle to marry due to the costs, they are actually financially worse off when they are together. A child from a broken home is far more likely to fail in school and fall into crime than a child from a stable family.

It has to be said that under Labour married couples have become stigmatised themselves. Indeed, being divorced five times seems to be actively encouraged in the modern media. In a short space of time, Labour managed to create a society, which told people to do what they want, when they want it, whatever the consequences for those around them. This inherent selfishness and lack of tolerance has undoubtedly assisted the huge rise in divorces over the last few years.

Nobody knows what the future holds, but as a society, we should recognise those who choose to be together in Civil Partnerships or Marriage. Undoubtedly, the vast majority of single parents do a damn good job raising their kids. Nobody is saying otherwise, but we know that kids tend to do better when they have a stable family background.

Only minutes after the news broke a barrage of bile has been flung at Mr Duncan-Smith. “He’s stigmatising single mothers and fathers”– they say.

This reaction itself demonstrates a fundamental selfishness so rife in Britain today many people cannot even see it. This policy isn’t about the parents – it’s about the child."

Come to our Career's Week

When I graduated in 2005 I now realise how lucky I was to get accepted onto a graduate scheme. I applied throughout my last year at Lancaster to companies across the UK and was accepted onto a management graduate scheme at. Now five years later graduates are not so lucky as companies have either scrapped or cut the number of places available on their graduate schemes. 

Most students who have just graduated (like my brother) are going straight back to uni to do postgraduate courses in the vain hope of boosting up their CV so that they can earn one of the highly prized places on one of these ever increasing elusive graduate schemes. 

With my Conservative Future hat on I have organised a Career's Week with excellent speakers and companies for students currently at uni, recent graduates and postgraduates who find themselves back at uni studying again.

If you are struggling to get a job at the moment or would just like to talk to someone about your employment opportunities then please come along!

To read more click here

Programme

Tuesday 15th February:

Conservative Women’s Organisation and Conservative Future hostCWO Forum- Panel Discussion on ‘Graduate Recruitment’

Come and meet top employers to find out what they’re looking for when recruiting graduates.

Location – House of Commons, 6-8pm
RSVP – clare.hilley@conservativefuture.com

Wednesday 16th February:

Tory Reform Group Student Spring Reception
Hosted by Richard Fuller MP

This reception will be attended by MPs, Ministers, Cabinet Ministers and staff from the Parliamentary Resources Unit who will be able to advise Conservative Future students and graduates of the Parliamentary job opportunities.

Location – Jubilee Room, House of Commons, 7-9pm
RSVP – via facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=186336444718065

Thursday 17th February:

Conservative Future Young Professionals Launch

Conservative Future are proud to launch, ‘Conservative Future Young Professionals’. This event is targeted at Young Professional members of Conservative Future, in or out of work, providing insight and advice on getting into the Career world.

There will also be a Q&A with Education Minister Tim Loughton MP on how to get more young people and graduates into work. (Note: Guest list inc. Ministers, MP’s, HR Specialists)

Time – 18:30 – 21:00
Location – Telegraph Media Group, 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0DT
RSVP – louise.powell@conservativefuture.com
Ticket – £5

Booking Deadline – February 14th (subject to availability)

Buy HERE

Only 94 days to go......

If you haven’t joined the NO to AV campaign then I suggest that you sign up here now

With only 94 days to go until the country votes we have to go out, campaign and spread the message NO to AV!!

Here are the five top ways that you can help in the campaign

Why we are encouraging others to vote no:

AV makes elections unfair

AV breaks the principle of one person one vote, because supporters of fringe parties end up having their vote counted several times while supporters of mainstream parties only have their vote counted once. Under AV the candidate that comes in third place can end up winning. People have a right to know where their vote goes. Voters themselves should decide who the best candidate is, not the voting system.

AV is a politician's fix

AV is a politician's fix, taking power away from voters and allowing the Liberal Democrats to choose the government after each election. The only vote that really counts under AV is Nick Clegg's. Our current tried and tested voting system delivers clear outcomes and everyone's vote is equal. One person, one vote is the fairest way to elect an MP and the most democratic way to choose a government.

AV is complicated and expensive

Only three countries use the complicated system - Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea - and Australia has compulsory voting to make sure people turn up. AV would also be expensive, requiring councils to spend more time and money on vote counting, which would increase your council tax. AV is a big change, so you need to make sure that you have read the small print before voting on 5 May.

For more information on the campaign and to sign up click here

Latest Poll

Well after a busy weekend of delivering new year calenders and letter to local residents in Waddon I can now do a quick write up on yesterdays poll….

Yesterday YouGov published the latest poll for the Sunday Times and it is pleasing to see that we have gone by 3% since the last poll on 20^th January (YouGov/Sun) but interesting to see that Labour have stayed the same on 43% since Alan Johnson’s resignation and replacement by Ed Balls.

Currently:

CON 39%

LAB 43%

LDEM 9%

Labour’s lead over the Conservatives has narrowed to 4% but I predict that over the next year there will be at least a 10% margin between us and Labour as the cuts across local and national Government really start to bite.

Read more at: http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/ 

Happy New Year

Since I have been involved in Conservative Future this is the first time that we enter a new year with our party in government and we should all give ourselves a pat on the back for helping to make this happen.

Last year was a frantic year for me personally, professionally and politically. With my own election to run as well as providing support to PPC’s in London and other areas in the UK I was kept very fit!

Since our election last September as a new CF National Executive Committee we have achieved a great deal but there is more to be done. My proudest achievement so far was organising and hosting the CF Training Day and Christmas Party where instead of making a loss we made a profit of £1,000. Behind the scenes we work closely with CCHQ to make sure that we achieve our objectives.

As well as helping the Regional Chairman host campaign days every month in their respective regions we are also planning to host a Careers Week which will be before Spring Forum. At Spring Forum CF will have a presence like never before and we are excited at how much we can offer in the way of campaigning to both the Scottish & Welsh Assembly Conservative Action Teams.

My pledge was to provide a Forum to members where ideas and plans can be submitted and debated. I am currently liasing with CCHQ about this and we are hoping that this will be up and running before Spring Forum. Co-Chairman Andrew Feldman of the Conservative Party has taken a keen interest in CF’s membership and we will shortly be making announcements on this when details are finalised.

Our Chairman Ben Howlett has written an excellent article on ConservativeHome about our first 100 days, what we’ve achieved and what the future holds.

To summarise in Ben’s words:

“We have had a remarkable turnaround of fortunes in just 100 days and this is thanks to the support of local members, associations and CCHQ. It is now time to implement further our hard work, by supporting local associations in their campaigning efforts, social action, fundraising, Boris2012, NO2AV, Welsh Assembly elections and creating a professional membership that reflects the 21st Century. On behalf of the National Executive we look forward to working with many of you in 2011 and if you want any support do not hesitate to contact me via email or visit conservativefuture.com for more information.”

You can read his article here

I look forward to seeing you all help to turn Oldham East & Saddleworth blue. Click here to attend!