They Blog For You

               Readers will know I am against the UK lending any money to Euro member states in trouble. We kept out of the Euro thanks to some of us arguing that case. Some of us  forecast the likely problems and do not see why the UK should pick up any of [...]

From today – 1 April – the NHS in Norfolk will enjoy an extra £54 million, to support key Government priorities such as the Cancer Drugs Fund, investment in talking therapies for those with mental health conditions, 4,200 extra health visitors, and support for carers' breaks. Spending on healthcare in our [...]

When 250,000 people march in Central London to complain about cuts the government should listen, and should engage with their leaders in a sensible dialogue. There are many things I felt I wanted to say had I been invited to talk to them as Mr Miliband was able to do. I would [...]

Today Danny Alexander, along with Christine Jardine the Liberal Democrat Candidate for Inverness & Nairn, met with Adrian Gray the Managing Director of AJG Parcels in Inverness to discuss the impact of the coalition government's action to cut fuel duty. The government announced in the budget its decision to cut fuel [...]

KEVIN Brennan MP has accused George Osbourne of giving with one hand but taking it away with the other over his plans to cut 1p off fuel duty - weeks after his VAT rise added 3p.The coalition Government increased VAT by 2.5% in January which pushed petrol prices up by [...]

Delyn MP David Hanson has met with Flint Councillors and Sandy Mewies AMat Flint Court House to...

Delyn MP David Hanson has met with Flint Councillors and Sandy Mewies AMat Flint Court House to mark the end of the Court’s service to the town.   Despite a strong campaign the Tory-led coalition in Westminster has decided to close the historic court as part of a wider programme which will [...]

                 As an MP I have always thought I should be loyal to my constituents, to my country and to my party – in that order. I have always taken seriously what I promised electors at the last Election and done my best to further those aims. When the Conservative [...]

  Wales has a 'parliament' with direct powers to enact its own laws for the first time for centuries. This is the fulfilment of a long held ambition I have had since first reading Welsh history as a child. In 1953 I joined a demonstration in Cardiff calling for a Welsh Parliament [...]

              The Coalition government has been hit by a blizzard of difficult court judgements from the European Court of Human Rights (Convention) and from the European Court of Justice (EU).  They have served to underline just how constrained Ministers and Parliament now are, given the UK’s acceptance of both these jurisdictions. [...]

                Every year that Labour was in power they announced a clampdown on avoidance and evasion of tax. Every year more complicated provisions were put into Finance Acts to make it more difficult for people to evade tax (illegal), and to make more avoidance schemes (legal) into illegal devices. You [...]

Labour has launched a new campaign to ensure that the Coalition government keeps its promise to lift UK overseas aid to 0.7% of GDP by 2013. Click here for more details. [...]

                    A government needs both strategy and tactics. A sensible government, if it makes a tactical error, will quickly apologise, adjust and move on. If a government makes a serious strategic error – like John Major’s ERM decision or Gordon Brown’s boom and bust policy-  it is likely to be [...]

KEVIN Brennan MP has warned members of the House that the UK Government’s Education Bill will take away local democratic power from communities, teachers and parents, and put the power into the hands of Michael Gove.In a speech, during the second reading of the Education Bill, Mr Brennan urged members [...]

I had a big postbag (almost 200 emails!) on the vote last Wednesday in the House of Commons on the Coalition government's proposals to allow it to sell off as much as it wants of the Forestry Commission forests in England. Worthwhile mentioning this is not just an 'English' issue [...]

The Coalition Government has launched a ground-breaking website, www.police.uk, which provides data maps that show crime statistics at a street-by-street level.  This means that everyone can see exactly what crime is happening and where it is going on in the local area. The interactive map breaks down incidences of crime into six categories: [...]

                 Roughly half of all the money spent is in the public sector, and half in the private sector.  Around one fifth of all the public money spent is borrowed.  The other fourth fifths comes from taxing the private sector.                 Most people now agree we cannot carry on borrowing at [...]

It appears than when it comes to privatisation and public opinion, the coalition government cannot see the forest for the trees. In a Tory-led bid to push through plans to privatise substantial amounts of English woodland the current government has managed to propose a plan as widely unpopular as the privatisation [...]

              One of the interesting features of the poor GDP figures for the last three months of 2010 was they occurred at a time of rapid increases in overall public spending. Total current spending is up around 7% on the previous year, and in November was up by a double [...]

TIGA, the trade association for the video games industry has released an updated second edition to their previous publication in relation to proposals for tax relief on the industry following on from their original submission to the Labour government in 2009. I campaigned hard within the last government for the introduction [...]

   What a surprise. I have been hard on Chris Huhne* (see below)  because of his apparent about-turn on nuclear power. His actions have surpassed his words. The Labour government which agreed to provide insurance to the nuclear power industry at the tax payers' expense. I had an adjournment debate to drag Labour [...]