Wiltshire Lib Dems go to Bournemouth for Party Conference

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 12th Sep 2008

Duncan Hames speaks from the platform at party conference 2008

Prospective local MP Duncan Hames, and Liberal Democrats from across Wiltshire, are preparing to head to Bournemouth for the party's annual autumn conference.

The party will be voting on important policies on taxation, transport and health and will be giving a warm welcome to Nick Clegg at his first autumn conference as party leader.

Commenting before the conference Duncan Hames said:

"I hope to speak about the scandalous real cost of Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs) in a debate on Sunday morning. The schemes often leave taxpayers shouldering large amounts of risk despite the charges to private contractors.

"There is also a huge range of the costs associated with these schemes, charges for installing a plug socket, for example, can vary from £30 to £300.

Duncan is a governor at George Ward School in Melksham, which was recently granted £25m in funding for a new school site, which will be built without resorting to PFI.

Duncan Hames has also been shortlisted for the party's award for 'Best use of blogging or social networking by a Liberal Democrat'.

The nomination is for Duncan's 'Twitter' feed (www.twitter.com/duncanhames) which he uses to keep in touch with local people and allow his constituents to keep track of what he is doing. The winner of the award will be announced on Saturday.