THANK YOU

ELECTION FEVER

Most of you will know by now that I was not re elected last Thursday and I would be lying if I said that I was not really upset about it, however, I noticed from the results that we VERY close to getting two Labour members elected and this will be our goal the next time round whether or not I am the other candidate time will tell!

I wanted to take this time to thank all of you have sent messages of good luck and best wishes including some of my opposition who have been extremely kind. I have been honoured to be the last Councillor for the Seedhill ward on the Council and I hope that I have made a difference to the people that matter, my ex constituents, don't worry though I will be keeping in touch and I hope that you will all too.

Thanks must also go to my Labour colleagues who have been fantastic, Cllr Tommy Williams, Wendy Alexander MSP and Irene Adams to name but a few have been very supportive and I am honoured to call them my colleagues and friends.

ALEX SALMOND SENT HOME

SNP DODGE INDEPENDENCE

This just in Salmond dodges the question, when asked if the SNP lost the referendum on independence would they continue to ask until the Scottish people were sick of listening to it? He ruled it out by saying that the constitutional question was a once in a generation thing, then said well you know I can't commit the SNP to a long term strategy? Is he thinking he won't be here after Thursday anyway? Is he thinking he will be sent back to Westminster to think again? I do!

The problem is that he can't answer this question honestly because he knows that the people of Scotland by a majority want to stay a part of the UK.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

THE UNION

Today is the official birthday of the Union with England and Blair's 10th Anniversary as the PM. Today is the day when Blair announced that he would within the next week announce his date of departure, and hinted at support for Brown to become the next Labour Prime Minister.

So Happy Birthday to the union, let Scotland make it a happy one with a vote for a positive and healthy future within the UK. Lets make Scotland within the UK a stronger and more vibrant place by working together instead of trying to break it apart. I am sick of the SNP telling me that because I think Scotland is stronger in the Union I am somehow talking Scotland down, this is absolute nonsense, just because I believe that we are stronger together than we are apart does not mean that I am unpatriotic otherwise every union member in Scotland would be unpatriotic the motto of the Trade Union movement is 'together we stand divided we fall'.

I urge the Scottish people to prove this to the SNP on Thursday by ...

VOTING LABOUR,

VOTING KELLY, VOTING SHARKEY

ON THURSDAY

SUCCESS

GRAFFITI NO MORE

You will see from the photos below that the Scottish Power people have been out and repainted the Sub Station at the East End Park, they had advised me (as you will see from previous posts) that it can take up to three weeks for the work to be carried out but I am delighted to advise that the work is now finished.

A huge thanks to the gentleman at Scottish Power who helped do this and I have sent photos of the graffiti free sub station to the local community police to ask that they log this.

I have been informed that there have been two people charged with vandalism for graffiti offenses in the last couple of months in Seedhill so we are winning.

ELECTION FEVER

HOW TO VOTE

The BBC website has a really good explanation of how to vote in the elections on Thursday, if you are still even slightly confused go and check it out, just click on the title 'ELECTION FEVER' above and it will take you straight to the article.

CAMPAIGNING

THE FINAL PUSH

This weekend was the final Saturday street stall of the campaign and the parties were out in force, there were a few well kept faces including some of the normal pathetic gimmicks, however the majority of campaigners were working hard to convince the electorate to vote for them. Both of our Labour MSPs candidates were present and Wendy and Hugh received an extremely positive reception, and there was an excellent turn out including a visit from Catherine Stihler MEP for the area.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

FINAL MEETING

The last meeting of Renfrewshire Council for the term 2003 to 2007 has just finished, the meeting was actually very well behaved and the tributes to those members who are leaving were obviously from the heart. Cllr McDowell reminded the members of previous elections where apparently Cllr Mitchell of the SNP walked up and down the town centre with a TV above his head, don't ask because I have no idea why.

The main item on the agenda was the motion from Cllr Mark McMillan regarding the custody centre proposed for the Castle Gardens area in Renfrewshire, two other Labour Councillors Cllr Terry Kelly and Cllr Tommy Williams amended the motion to include a condemnation of the Police Board for not recognising the concerns of the local representatives on the board over the lack of consultation.

SCOTTISH LABOUR PARTY BROADCAST

PARTY POLITICAL BROADCAST

As they say on TV there now follows a party political broadcast from the Scottish Labour Party....

PLEASE NOTE NO COMMENTS WILL BE PUBLISHED ON THIS POST

JUST SIT BACK AND ENJOY!

CREDIT UNION POLL

RESULTS

OK so I left this poll up a bit longer than a week, I think I will rename the section this months poll as it is more accurate. Anyway of those that answered over 50% of respondents said they would definitely use a credit union if it was situated close to them. Although there was a sizable number of respondents who advised they would not use the service (around 40% between definitely not and probably not) the majority have voiced a positive opinion, so get yourselves along to the Renfrewshire Wide Credit Union on Paisley High Street and join up!

Check out the latest poll on the right hand side of the page, to what extent do you agree with the following statement... 'I know who I will vote for in the elections on May 3rd'

WE ARE TAKING OVER

ANOTHER MILESTONE

(Photo from BBC Five Live website)

My sister alerted me to this at the weekend and I must admit I was sceptical, and by this I mean I was thinking it is 2007, SURELY Ms Oatley is not the first woman to commentate on Match of the day? or TV as a whole on a football game? However it seems I was wrong and although there are some dinosaurs out there saying they will never watch the BBC football programme ever again because she is commentating most of the comments I have read/heard have been positive, so good on you Jacqui Oatley I will certainly be more likely to listen now, just to make up for the idiots who say that women can't possibly know as much as men when it comes to football!

PRO SCOTLAND, PRO UNION

SCOTLAND THE BRAVE

The SNP would have us all believe that the Labour Party only want to talk Scotland down, that there is something wrong with you if you are pro Scotland and pro Union, but don't worry this is clearly not the case.

You can't get more pro Scotland than the Scottish Football Manager and he has recently (along with other top managers and ex players) signed an advert advising the Scottish public to vote for the Union in the elections on May 3rd.

The SNP's assertion that you have to be pro independence to be patriotic is laughable, I am proud to be from Paisley, proud to be Scottish and proud to part of the Union,

ON MAY 3RD

A VOTE FOR SCOTLAND

IS A VOTE FOR LABOUR

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

NICE SURPRISE

Tonight was the last surgery held for the Seedhill ward in Renfrewshire Council, you can't help but be struck by the enormity of the changes coming into effect on the 3rd of May. The surgery was quiet, it is normally but, it gives you a chance to catch up on correspondence and papers that you should read etc. Tonight only two visitors, the first to say thank you for helping with an issue which is always lovely and I thank the individual in person for their kind sentiments, the second was an ongoing issue which I was able to get sorted this afternoon.

So to those who have been at my surgeries over the last four years I wanted to say thank you, no doubt the surgery arrangements will change post May but if re-elected I hope to improve on them, many ideas and more are welcome.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

CAPABILITY SCOTLAND

Capability Scotland have launched a pretty good website explaining the voting system for the Local Government elections in May, I saw an article in the local Paisley Daily Express and thought that I would check it out. It is an excellent resource for information for disabled voters to see what help they are entitled to, and there is a section on the single transferable vote system explaining that instead of using an X you should use the numbers 1, 2, 3 etc instead.

Check out the website by clicking on the title 'Councillor Rayleen Kelly' above and it will take you straight to the Vote 2007 webpage.

SSP CAN'T COUNT

HOW MANY CANDIDATES?

It turns out that the SSP either can't count or don't mind misleading the electorate online, if you click on the title above 'SSP CAN'T COUNT' You will see proof that they are suggesting that they are standing a candidate in EVERY Council ward in among other places our very own Renfrewshire. Now there are 11 wards in the new make up of Renfrewshire Council but, it seems that the SSP think that 8 is the same as 11 as the former is the number of Council candidates they are standing, exactly the same number of candidates Solidarity are standing locally as well!

Also on a similar note it is worth pointing out that although the Liberals are suggesting they want to change the Council they should be pointing out that they are only standing one more candidate than the Conservatives, with them standing 12 and the Conservatives are standing 11, maybe they should be more honest and tell their electorate what they intend to do with the members they get in? Who exactly would they go into coalition with? Or are they just saying what they like because they have no intention on implementing it.