They Blog For You

I’ve been testing the limits of the coalition government’s commitment to transparency again this week. My trusty team has helped compile a list of costs for each minister’s private office. I published the cost of Cabinet ministers earlier today. I’ve been busy on family stuff today and have just picked [...]

Did you see this morning's publication of the country's unemployment figures? There was a fall. This just proves that the action the Labour Government took to reduce unemployment was working.I've said it before and I'll say it again: now is absolutely the worst time to withdraw support for [...]

Yesterday I received a letter in the post from Education Minister Michael Gove. The wording was very flowery, but essentially the message was that the funding that had been allocated to Turin Grove and Gladys Aylward schools in Edmonton as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme is [...]

According to reports in the Daily Telegraph, the Ministry of Defence made arrangements whereby $500,000 of British taxpayers' money has been paid to a Washington-based lobbyist over the past four years. A little odd?   [...]

I WAS invited onto Newsnight last Friday to discuss the problems facing newly-appointed ministers in mastering their briefs. The hook for the item was Dave’s oddly uninformed comments on Iran. I was joined by former Cabinet minister Peter Lilley MP. www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6DCmgpBF34 [...]

Who'd have guessed it, eh? Government prints off vast quantities of new money and gives it to the big banks. Banks then start [...]

Listening to parts of the public sector, it’s as if they want things to go wrong. Yesterday we had to be treated to a leaked letter from the Department of Justice, enabling the [...]

Chloe Smith MP has today joined calls for a meeting with the Chief Executive of the Financial Services Authority on that authority's role throughout the Keydata collapse. Chloe has said: "Many people in Norwich are extremely concerned about their savings through Keydata. "On a practical basis, I and [...]

I WAS invited onto Newsnight last Friday to discuss the problems facing newly-appointed ministers in mastering their briefs. The hook for the item was Dave’s oddly uninformed comments on Iran. I was joined by former Cabinet minister Peter Lilley MP. [...]

Dr Margaret Chan, director general of WHO, said today that the 2009 H1N1 virus had "largely run its course". Six weeks ago she told me that she could not publish the names of those who were responsible for the scare-mongering because 'the pandemic was not over'.   As chair of the [...]

Visited the Anglesey show today, which was so well attended that we had to wait in a queue for forty minutes before entering the showground.  When we finally got in, it was well worth the wait.  The weather was perfect, with the large crowds clearly enjoying themselves.   I was pleased to [...]

On Friday 30th July, I visited the Lymphoma Association to talk about their new report, Supporting People Living with Lymphoma. David with Chief Executive, Sally Penrose. Lymphoma Association [...]

The whole of Hampshire is now covered by the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme which offers screening to men and women aged between 60 and 69 years - the highest risk age group. If you are a man or women in this age group and you are registered with a [...]

Maria would like to let all constituents know that the first online Water Energy Calculator has been launched by the Energy Saving Trust. Nearly a quarter of domestic CO2 emissions are as result of our water use – and 89 percent of all UK emissions from water come from activities [...]

Maria Miller MP for Basingstoke visited local Shopmobility service to meet with staff and volunteers.   Shopmobility Basingstoke has been operating for almost thirteen years and is part of the national Shopmobility scheme for people with restricted mobility, whether temporary or otherwise.   The charity has helped over six thousand customers to [...]

Basingstoke’s MP Maria Miller met with Borough Council Officer Tony Manners and a police officer Geoff Scrutton to visit local traveller and ex traveller’s sites in the constituency.   During the visit Maria discussed how the unauthorised traveller encampments can impact the local community and whether transit sites could help to [...]

Local MP for Basingstoke, Maria Miller visited St. Michaels Hospice following confirmation that important funding will be available for planned improvements. Maria was given a guided tour of the Hospice and was shown where improvements will take place. St Michaels Hospice is a registered charity which offers specialised skills and [...]

Like me, perhaps you have this feeling that somehow none of the experts have quite managed to explain what caused the credit crunch.    Or why we apparently had to spend £billions bailing out rich bankers.  Or [...]

IT’S ONLY a matter of time before someone from the Left responds to the government’s benefit fraud crack-down by pointing out that tax evasion costs the tax-payer far more. It was the standard response of some in the Labour Party under the last term of Tory government, and it completely misses [...]

Whilst many of you have written in support of withdrawing our army from Germany, some have expressed the conventional objections that we need to use the housing in Germany, and we need the tank training that the German facilities permit. These [...]