They Blog For You

Douglas Hurd once said to me when he was Foreign Secretary that one of the  strongest reasons to support the British system of having one MP for each constituency (a lot of democracies use proportional systems with multi-member constituencies) is that it kept your feet on the ground. For him, [...]

  What’s the point?  One Millionaire David Cameron is married to a millionaire. He earns a good salary. What point is he making by ‘celebrating’ with a Ryanair no frills trip? The only things that make flying bearable are the frills. Why the self-flagellation? Who is he trying to impress? Most people would regard [...]

                    I visited a public library recently. It was not in my constituency. It was housed in a great new building, in a large and well appointed room. I was told it was not about to close. It was run by friendly Council staff. Money had been found to set [...]

  The Newport Chartists would have said ‘Yes’ to AV. It was in my constituency in 1839 that 20 Chartists were gunned down. They were marching for democracy. All the points of their Charter were achieved – except annual parliaments.  They were impassioned because of the gross injustices of the franchise of [...]

We like to think of Britain as a free market economy. But are we? In a little over a decade, state spending as a percentage of GDP has increased from around 35 percent to approximately 50 percent. That's higher than in certain former Soviet republics. It is not simply that so much economic [...]

Stoke Mandeville parish council has pointed out to me that maps 9 and 10 published by HS2 Ltd show different versions of the impact of HS2 on the village. I’ve written to Philip Hammond to ask which of these maps is the accurate one. I hope that he will give [...]

An email arrived from some constituents today drawing my attention to a website from a pro-HS2 organisation called Yes to HS2 or Campaign for High Speed Rail. It’s a free country so the supporters of HS2 are as entitled as its opponents to ount a campaign. But I was a bit [...]

It’s difficult to get excited about the AV referendum.   It will probably be won not because of the merits of the AV system, not even because most people necessarily understand what it means, but because by 5 May the Tories, who are campaigning hard for a ‘no’ vote, will be very unpopular.   However, [...]

Pupils from Claires Court Schools have interviewed Theresa as part of the BBC’s School Report challenge. The School Report takes place every year and gives children aged 11 to 14 the chance to make their own news reports on issues of concern to them. Theresa was interviewed by Year 9 [...]

Greengauge 21 is a company that has long supported High Speed Rail, and has weighed in behind the HS2 proposal. They’ve recently published a report in which they argue that it would be possible for the government to link HS2 to improvements to local rail services that would give people [...]

Apart from my regular constituency surgery to deal with problems brought to me by individual constituents, I had two important meetings this Friday. One was a further meeting with representatives from the local campaign groups and local authorities about HS2. You might recall that I convened a similar meeting earlier this [...]

Those of you who are already members of BBOWT (the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust) will already know of their concern about the impact of the HS2 plan on the natural environment. They’ve spelled out their concerns in detail on their web site which you can link to here. [...]

No, it’s not about HS2, but I was pleased to get a letter from Philip Hammond the other day which told me how much Buckinghamshire was going to get from George Osborne’s £200 million pot-hole repair fund that he announced as part of his Budget Statement last week.   Bucks will be [...]

Having come down from my Oldham constituency this morning, I joined the march in ‘Whitehall at at 1.15pm, about an hour and a half after the vanguard had begun the march to Hyde Park.   After hearing the speeches I returned along Piccadilly where people were still marching towards Hyde Park [...]

It really isn’t much fun to live in a place where access onto the main road is almost impossible. That’s what it’s like for the residents in Pine View Park in my constituency who face a constant stream of traffic right across the end entrance to the ... [...]

CARDIFF West MP, Kevin Brennan, has welcomed a major bank's decision to give grants to four local third sector organisations in the constituency.Pedal Power, Pen yr Enfys, Re-Create and the Cardiff and Vale Parents Federation will all receive grants of over £10,000 to help with their community work.The money will [...]

It was a bracing interview this morning with someone named Ian. A pal from campaigning days in the early 80s contacted me with the message ‘Just like old times’. In 1980 a small group of us met in Aberystwyth to establish the Welsh Anti-nuclear Alliance (WANA). This morning’s interviews on Radio [...]

I'm on the 29th floor of Milbank Tower for the launch of the People's Pledge, the new campaign for an EU referendum.What's so refreshing about today is the line up of those leading the call to let the people decide. Not a blazer or panama hat in sight. [...]

I’ve finally had a reply from the Ombudsman to the letter that I sent her back in January asking if she would in principle be able to investigate claims of maladministration by the panel making decisions about the Exceptional Hardship Scheme. She has said that she does have that power, [...]

My entire week has been dominated by meetings with both groups and individuals wishing to support/discuss my amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill. More on all of that next week. Tonight we have a dinner in the constituency at which David Da... [...]