Treatment has to be made fair
Shropshire girl Katie Morgan's mother has breast cancer and might benefit from Herceptin.
Unfortunately, Shropshire NHS Trust cannot afford to allow her to have it.
If she lived two miles further west, in Wales, she could get it.
But then every taxpayer in England is providing Wales with a subsidy.
Mrs Morgan's hopes lie with her MP, Owen Pater-son, who has taken up her coee.
Good man that he is, he will need help.
So can I suggest you write to your MP and/or the Secretary of State and demand fair and equitable treatment for all the United Kingdom's citizens.
Edward Higglnbottom
Shropshire Co-ordinator,
Campaign for an English
Parliament,
Shrewsbury
Friday, March 31, 2006
Letter: Shropshire Star (CEP Shropshire)
Letter from David Wright MP
Remember the email I sent to David Wright a week ago? He's normally very prompt so when I didn't see a yellow envelope on my doormat after a couple of days I thought he had decided not to reply to me. To my surprise, he has and here it is ...
Ah, where to begin? Waiting lists are down. That's great but there are people being turned away for treatment because there's no money to treat them. Shropshire NHS is £30m in debt and we're giving away £100m a year to our neighbours in involuntary subsidies. Put two and two together David!
I don't recall saying that an English Parliament would solve all our problems but I admit I am of the opinion that it would solve a large number of them. I respect his right to have his own opinion on the subject but an ITV poll showed 95% support for an English Parliament and a BBC poll showed 74% support. Going on the results of that poll, it's reasonable to assume that three quarters of his constituents support an English Parliament and he was elected to represent their views, not his own.
I will naturally be taking him up on his offer to meet up - probably in 2 weeks time so I'll let you know what he says.
DAVID WRIGHT MP
Telford Constituency
HOUSE OF COMMONS
LONDON SW1A OAA
30th March 2006
Mr Stuart Parr
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
TELFORD
TFXXXX
Dear Stuart
Thank you for your e-mail of the 25th March. I prefer to reply by letter to constituents.
As you point out, there are some significant challenges facing the health economy in Shropshire due to the deficit position. I would however point out that waiting lists have gone down significantly and there are many more staff working in our local hospitals. I fully expect that we will see no change to A & E services at the PRH, which seems to be the main area of concern locally.
I know your view is that we can resolve all of our problems by creating an English parliament, and we will have to disagree on this.
I would be more than happy to meet you to discuss these matters. We could meet before or after your work hours on a Friday, so perhaps you will let me know when you are available by telephoning my Telford office on the number below.
Yours sincerely
David WrightLondon (020) 7219 8331 Telford (01952) 507747
Ah, where to begin? Waiting lists are down. That's great but there are people being turned away for treatment because there's no money to treat them. Shropshire NHS is £30m in debt and we're giving away £100m a year to our neighbours in involuntary subsidies. Put two and two together David!
I don't recall saying that an English Parliament would solve all our problems but I admit I am of the opinion that it would solve a large number of them. I respect his right to have his own opinion on the subject but an ITV poll showed 95% support for an English Parliament and a BBC poll showed 74% support. Going on the results of that poll, it's reasonable to assume that three quarters of his constituents support an English Parliament and he was elected to represent their views, not his own.
I will naturally be taking him up on his offer to meet up - probably in 2 weeks time so I'll let you know what he says.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Letter: Shropshire Star (not one of mine)
Formula is storing up various problems
Stuart Parr (Letters, March 4) makes some interesting points regarding the Barnett Formula, which has the effect of transferring government money from England to the other British nations.
This happens not only with the NHS but with care for the elderly and in higher education.
There is also evidence to suggest that public transport in Scotland is being subsidised at the expense of that of the rest of the country.
Our Minister of Transport, needless to add, represents a Scottish constituency.
I can't help feeling that as with so many other policies, the present Government has never really thought through the implications of settingup semi-autonomous assemblies in Wales and Scotland.
Already we are seeing a drop in applications to English universities as more students seek to attend Scottish ones where top-up fees are not levied.
Old people likely to need residential care are moving away from England to take advantage of the better deals on offer elsewhere in Britain.
As long as the differential increases between the benefits offered in England and those in the rest of Great Britain, the greater the emigration will be from England to where the benefits are better.
Not only will this put extra pressure on the education, health and social services of Wales and Scotland but it will tend to push property prices and rents even higher than they would otherwise be, pricing local people out of the market.
David Burton
Telford
Letter: Shropshire Star
Not sure if I incorrectly quoted the date 1667 for the Act of Union (which was actually 1707) or if the Shropshire Star got it wrong.
No English parliament since 1667
I read John Cross's letter the other day [Country's rights go back to Saxons) with great interest.
I thought it was a very well thought out and insightful letter.
However, I would just like to point out to John that there has been no English parliament since 1667 (actually, it's 1707).
The parliament sitting in Westminster is the Parliament of the United Kingdom, not England. In fact, even though 80 per cent of parliamentary time is devoted to England, there is a disproportionately high number of Scottish and Welsh representatives sitting in the British government so it couldn't even be considered an English parliament by default.
I had the good fortune to pass by the Magna Carta memorial at Runnymede recently although I didn't have a chance to stop and see it up close.
It seems a shame that laws such as the Magna Carta (which is still in force today, although mostly repealed) and Bill of Rights can last for hundreds of years, protecting the rights and freedoms of the English people only to be walked all over by disrespectful career politicians.
The Legal and Legislative Reform Bill would allow these same career politicians, some of whom are so jut of touch with reality they don't even notice their £300,000 mortgage being paid off, to repeal and amend the laws giving us our fundamental rights almost on a whim.
This is democracy New Labour style,
Stuart Parr
Telford
Friday, March 24, 2006
Shropshire Hospitals get reprieve
Shropshire's hospitals have been given a repieve following months of threatened closures and downgrading of services to pay crippling debts and plug a growing deficit.
Shropshire NHS is over £30m in debt and has a budget deficit of £60m and mooted the idea of closing the smaller hospitals in the county to try and cut costs.
There are two main hospitals in Shropshire - the Princess Royal in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury in (believe it or not) Shrewsbury - and a number of smaller hospitals in outlying areas. As the most rural county in England, the rural hospitals provide a valuable service. Without them, patients in South Shropshire would face an hours drive to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for some things as the Princess Royal doesn't offer the same services.
A large protest took place recently in Bridgnorth, the home of one of the threatened hospitals, in which thousands of people turned up to protest.
Shropshire Primary Care Ttust has now said that it will have to cut some services to save money but it has ruled out closing the four smaller hospitals.
Once question remains unanswered though, by local MP's, the British government, Shropshire NHS and the press. That question is why, when the county NHS service is £30m in debt and has a budget deficit of £60m, are we still expected to contribute nearly £65m to the Scottish subsidy alone every year and over £100m in total to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? I don't have a problem helping out our neighbours if they're short of cash but not at the expense of services here and certainly not to provide them with a superior health service (Herceptin, for example) to our own.
Breakdown of the figures: html | xls
Shropshire NHS is over £30m in debt and has a budget deficit of £60m and mooted the idea of closing the smaller hospitals in the county to try and cut costs.
There are two main hospitals in Shropshire - the Princess Royal in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury in (believe it or not) Shrewsbury - and a number of smaller hospitals in outlying areas. As the most rural county in England, the rural hospitals provide a valuable service. Without them, patients in South Shropshire would face an hours drive to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for some things as the Princess Royal doesn't offer the same services.
A large protest took place recently in Bridgnorth, the home of one of the threatened hospitals, in which thousands of people turned up to protest.
Shropshire Primary Care Ttust has now said that it will have to cut some services to save money but it has ruled out closing the four smaller hospitals.
Once question remains unanswered though, by local MP's, the British government, Shropshire NHS and the press. That question is why, when the county NHS service is £30m in debt and has a budget deficit of £60m, are we still expected to contribute nearly £65m to the Scottish subsidy alone every year and over £100m in total to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? I don't have a problem helping out our neighbours if they're short of cash but not at the expense of services here and certainly not to provide them with a superior health service (Herceptin, for example) to our own.
Breakdown of the figures: html | xls
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Letter: Shropshire Star (CEP Shropshire)
Bill would undo our history of democracy
The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill No 111.
As I understand the provisions of this proposed piece of pernicious legislation, it is effectively an "Enabling Bill" which, if passed, will have far reaching constitutional consequences.
It appears to be a way of allowing laws to be amended and/or created by ministers, not Parliament, making MPs effectively redundant.
The most prominent user of such legislation in the past was Adolf Hitler.
The current New Labour Government has already destroyed much of our democracy, which took a thousand years to carefully construct. They must not be allowed to complete their apparent plan to create an anti-democracy state.
I urge everyone to write to their MP urging them to resist the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill No 111. If they do not, every elector will effectively be disenfranchised by inaction.
Edward Higglnbottom
Co-ordinator, Shropshire
Branch of Campaign for an
English Parliament
Letter: Express & Star (CEP Shropshire)
Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor (who incidentally is the head of the judiciary in England) made a speech on Friday March 10 about constitutional reform in which he extolled the virtues of devolution to his native Scotland.
Evidently the greatest benefit from this has been that it has stopped the drift of votes from Labour to the Scottish National Party.
He denounced the very idea of an English Parliament because he reckoned it would lead to a break up of the United Kingdom which, though he did not say it, would of course mean an end to the English taxpayers subsidising Scotland to the tune of £8 billion a year, and rising.
So, basically, he and his colleagues are happy to continue to practice apartheid against the people of England who they treat as third class citizens within what is supposedly the United Kingdom.
This situation will of course only change if the people of England stand up for themselves, no-one else will.
Edward Higginbottom, Co-ordinator, Shropshire Branch of the Campaign for an English Parliament, Hanwood, Shrewsbury.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Letter: Shropshire Star (CEP Shropshire)
Drug must be given to all of UK
Further to the letter by Stuart Parr concerning the cancer drug Herceptin.
The Welsh Assembly has recently announced that all women in Wales will be prescribed the drug, where needed, on the NHS, but the British government still refuses to fund the drug for women in England.
Instead, the decision will be left to the relevant PCTs, all of whom are millions of pounds in debt and simply cannot afford it on the meagre funding allocated to England. The English tax payer is now funding this life-saving drug for women in Scotland and Wales, while their own wives, sisters, daughters and mothers are considered not worthy of the cost by Gordon Brown the Scottish Chancellor.
Della Petch
East Yorkshire
Letter: Shropshire Star (not one of mine)
Councils not really for people
The publication of the tenth year of rises in council tax, up and above the annual rate of inflation, is classed as "social justice" by egalitarian Labour politicians, but to the ever-suffering council tax payers it is a continuing stealth tax to fund local pet projects or to employ co-religionists on an epic scale.
Further still, this 84 per cent rise since 1997 is purely an English phenomenon, as the equivalent Scottish bills have risen by a mere 40 per cent. This blatant and deeply undemocratic transfer of funds from England to Scotland is another example of dogmatic socialist re-distribution of wealth.
There appears to be ever increasing numbers of nonproductive council employees with gold-plated pensions, holiday entitlements and guaranteed sickies. The only way to make serious in-roads into this excessive council spending is to sack people.
A simple internal audit of what services councils provide and what actually is needed to provide them, would surely supply a certain cut in council taxes.
How many so-called local councillors have been floated in from other areas for political purposes? Unfortunately, councils now appear to exist solely for the benefit of the people they employ, rather than for that of the people they serve.
CO Jones
Telford
Letter: Shropshire Star (not one of mine)
Parliament could sit in derelict factory
I, like your correspondents Messrs Parr and Higginbottom, object to English matters being determined by Scottish and Welsh MPs and also English departments being presided over by Scots.
Lord Baker is attempting to introduce a Bill through Parliament to prevent Scottish and Welsh members from voting on English-only affairs. It will probably not run far because this Government could not exist without Scottish and Welsh support.
However, it may highlight the plight that English voters are in.
The Westminster Parliament is originally an English institution which the Scottish Parliament, after several months debate voted to join, by the Act of Union, mainly because their own country was bankrupt.
So why should we give up pur Parliament for them? It is ours and we should keep it for England. Then if, as Edward Higginbottom suggests, we have a separate parliament for matters concerning the whole of the UK, it could be located in a much more central position, such as Doncaster where there are a lot of empty factory units that could be converted.
Those key departments and ministers could then move north, benefit from cheaper housing and spread a little prosperity.
My desire to see England self governing in no way detracts from the immense contribution made by Scots, Welsh and Irish. I only wish we hnd the same control over our affairs and can see no benefit in the break-up of the English kingdom into the regions being attempted by this Government.
John T Thornicroft
Market Drayton
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Letter to Mp re English Parliament
Many thanks for your letter dated 15th March 2006. I apologise for the length of this letter in advance. Please do not think I am solely picking on you, I intend to hound the Conservative Party until someone in it grasps the reality of what is now the 21st Century.
Legislative Reform Bill No. 111
This needs fighting tooth and nail. We do not want any Dave ‘consensus’ Cameron nonsense on this issue. If it becomes law it could well make you superfluous as the Government will be able to change laws without reference to Parliament. In fact they will be able to abolish even the holding of General Elections. ‘Bandit’ Blair wants stopping on this one.
English Votes on English Matters
This proposal would be better than the current state of affairs but is in reality nearly unworkable.
Let us assume that Labour has a prick of conscience and they support this idea and it becomes law. Bear the following in mind:
St. Matthew ch.6; v.24 – NO MAN CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS.
About 85% of Westminster’s time is now spent on English only Matters (EOM).
The proposal is for the Speaker to declare an item an EOM.
Currently the Speaker is a Scottish MP – let us assume he is impartial – if he declares an EOM presumably he will have to leave the Chamber and hand over to an English Deputy.
On that basis the current Speaker will be missing for about 85% of the Common’s business. So will he still get paid for NOT doing his job?
Let us say that an EOM is to do with English transport. The current Secretary of State is a Scottish MP. Does that mean he would be unable to introduce or speak about his own Bill?
If he cannot speak about his proposed legislation what use will he be as Secretary of State?
What about a Scottish person who represents an English Constituency – might he/she not end up being accused of being biased?
My objection to Gordon ‘I’m British now’ Brown becoming Prime Minister is that he will have no mandate from any electors to speak about Health, Education, Law & Order etc but the PM’s job is primarily to administer England. Presumably under EOM he would be excluded from the Commons on such occasions.
English Parliament.
Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, with the greatest respect, you, like the vast majority of the Conservative MPs seem to have acquired a set of blue-tinted nostalgia-inducing blinkers. The Conservatives appear to be obsessed with the Union – something that Labour effectively destroyed in 1999 when it set up the Scottish Parliament and Welsh National Assembly (soon to be up-graded).
You cannot have a UNION if members are treated in completely different ways and some have special privileges and the majority do not.
It is clear from Lord Falconer’s speech of 10th March that Devolution was created simply:
To stop Celtic votes drifting away from Labour to nationalistic parties.
To protect the Scots from ever having to suffer a Conservative Government.
To give Labour somewhere to govern if the Conservatives ever win a General Election.
The Conservative Party’s only hope of gaining power is with the overwhelming support of the people of England. At the last Election you gained – 16% of the vote in Scotland and 21% in Wales, as compared to 36% in England.
You have a long way to go to get your vote in the Celtic regions up to anywhere near that achieved in England. In Scotland you may well have to wait 70 years before the rabid anti-Thatcher electorate die out. Even if the Conservatives could get back to merely the 1992 position in Scotland it would need to increase its percentage of votes cast by 66% above the 2005 outcome. If that was achieved you would still only have 8 seats in Scotland (pro rata 1992 result) and 6 seats in Wales.
In order to form a UK Government under the present structure you need 324 MPs – giving the minimum possible majority of 2. That means you need 310 English MPs, making you fundamentally an English government/party. Should this glorious day ever happen however you will still NOT be governing Scotland or Wales as they have already been ‘hived-off’ by Labour just to cover such eventuality.
The Conservative Party has already said in the past it has no intentions of undoing Devolution. I have no doubt that the vacuous Dave ‘consensus’ Cameron, who wants to be great mates with everybody, is not going to go down the road to scrapping Devolution.
The recent antics of ‘Bandit’ Blair and his ‘scumbag’ party have confirmed to a huge slice of the electorate that all politicians are crooks, rogues and mountebanks. The threat to the Conservative Party’s hopes, as I see it, is therefore voter apathy or a switch to smaller parties like UKIP, BNP, or the Greens. Your best hope of Government is to get an English Parliament where you are more than likely to get a majority.
Legislative Reform Bill No. 111
This needs fighting tooth and nail. We do not want any Dave ‘consensus’ Cameron nonsense on this issue. If it becomes law it could well make you superfluous as the Government will be able to change laws without reference to Parliament. In fact they will be able to abolish even the holding of General Elections. ‘Bandit’ Blair wants stopping on this one.
English Votes on English Matters
This proposal would be better than the current state of affairs but is in reality nearly unworkable.
Let us assume that Labour has a prick of conscience and they support this idea and it becomes law. Bear the following in mind:
St. Matthew ch.6; v.24 – NO MAN CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS.
About 85% of Westminster’s time is now spent on English only Matters (EOM).
The proposal is for the Speaker to declare an item an EOM.
Currently the Speaker is a Scottish MP – let us assume he is impartial – if he declares an EOM presumably he will have to leave the Chamber and hand over to an English Deputy.
On that basis the current Speaker will be missing for about 85% of the Common’s business. So will he still get paid for NOT doing his job?
Let us say that an EOM is to do with English transport. The current Secretary of State is a Scottish MP. Does that mean he would be unable to introduce or speak about his own Bill?
If he cannot speak about his proposed legislation what use will he be as Secretary of State?
What about a Scottish person who represents an English Constituency – might he/she not end up being accused of being biased?
My objection to Gordon ‘I’m British now’ Brown becoming Prime Minister is that he will have no mandate from any electors to speak about Health, Education, Law & Order etc but the PM’s job is primarily to administer England. Presumably under EOM he would be excluded from the Commons on such occasions.
English Parliament.
Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, with the greatest respect, you, like the vast majority of the Conservative MPs seem to have acquired a set of blue-tinted nostalgia-inducing blinkers. The Conservatives appear to be obsessed with the Union – something that Labour effectively destroyed in 1999 when it set up the Scottish Parliament and Welsh National Assembly (soon to be up-graded).
You cannot have a UNION if members are treated in completely different ways and some have special privileges and the majority do not.
It is clear from Lord Falconer’s speech of 10th March that Devolution was created simply:
To stop Celtic votes drifting away from Labour to nationalistic parties.
To protect the Scots from ever having to suffer a Conservative Government.
To give Labour somewhere to govern if the Conservatives ever win a General Election.
The Conservative Party’s only hope of gaining power is with the overwhelming support of the people of England. At the last Election you gained – 16% of the vote in Scotland and 21% in Wales, as compared to 36% in England.
You have a long way to go to get your vote in the Celtic regions up to anywhere near that achieved in England. In Scotland you may well have to wait 70 years before the rabid anti-Thatcher electorate die out. Even if the Conservatives could get back to merely the 1992 position in Scotland it would need to increase its percentage of votes cast by 66% above the 2005 outcome. If that was achieved you would still only have 8 seats in Scotland (pro rata 1992 result) and 6 seats in Wales.
In order to form a UK Government under the present structure you need 324 MPs – giving the minimum possible majority of 2. That means you need 310 English MPs, making you fundamentally an English government/party. Should this glorious day ever happen however you will still NOT be governing Scotland or Wales as they have already been ‘hived-off’ by Labour just to cover such eventuality.
The Conservative Party has already said in the past it has no intentions of undoing Devolution. I have no doubt that the vacuous Dave ‘consensus’ Cameron, who wants to be great mates with everybody, is not going to go down the road to scrapping Devolution.
The recent antics of ‘Bandit’ Blair and his ‘scumbag’ party have confirmed to a huge slice of the electorate that all politicians are crooks, rogues and mountebanks. The threat to the Conservative Party’s hopes, as I see it, is therefore voter apathy or a switch to smaller parties like UKIP, BNP, or the Greens. Your best hope of Government is to get an English Parliament where you are more than likely to get a majority.
Letter to Mp re English Parliament
Many thanks for your letter dated 15th March 2006. I apologise for the length of this letter in advance. Please do not think I am solely picking on you, I intend to hound the Conservative Party until someone in it grasps the reality of what is now the 21st Century.
Legislative Reform Bill No. 111
This needs fighting tooth and nail. We do not want any Dave ‘consensus’ Cameron nonsense on this issue. If it becomes law it could well make you superfluous as the Government will be able to change laws without reference to Parliament. In fact they will be able to abolish even the holding of General Elections. ‘Bandit’ Blair wants stopping on this one.
English Votes on English Matters
This proposal would be better than the current state of affairs but is in reality nearly unworkable.
Let us assume that Labour has a prick of conscience and they support this idea and it becomes law. Bear the following in mind:
St. Matthew ch.6; v.24 – NO MAN CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS.
About 85% of Westminster’s time is now spent on English only Matters (EOM).
The proposal is for the Speaker to declare an item an EOM.
Currently the Speaker is a Scottish MP – let us assume he is impartial – if he declares an EOM presumably he will have to leave the Chamber and hand over to an English Deputy.
On that basis the current Speaker will be missing for about 85% of the Common’s business. So will he still get paid for NOT doing his job?
Let us say that an EOM is to do with English transport. The current Secretary of State is a Scottish MP. Does that mean he would be unable to introduce or speak about his own Bill?
If he cannot speak about his proposed legislation what use will he be as Secretary of State?
What about a Scottish person who represents an English Constituency – might he/she not end up being accused of being biased?
My objection to Gordon ‘I’m British now’ Brown becoming Prime Minister is that he will have no mandate from any electors to speak about Health, Education, Law & Order etc but the PM’s job is primarily to administer England. Presumably under EOM he would be excluded from the Commons on such occasions.
English Parliament.
Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, with the greatest respect, you, like the vast majority of the Conservative MPs seem to have acquired a set of blue-tinted nostalgia-inducing blinkers. The Conservatives appear to be obsessed with the Union – something that Labour effectively destroyed in 1999 when it set up the Scottish Parliament and Welsh National Assembly (soon to be up-graded).
You cannot have a UNION if members are treated in completely different ways and some have special privileges and the majority do not.
It is clear from Lord Falconer’s speech of 10th March that Devolution was created simply:
To stop Celtic votes drifting away from Labour to nationalistic parties.
To protect the Scots from ever having to suffer a Conservative Government.
To give Labour somewhere to govern if the Conservatives ever win a General Election.
The Conservative Party’s only hope of gaining power is with the overwhelming support of the people of England. At the last Election you gained – 16% of the vote in Scotland and 21% in Wales, as compared to 36% in England.
You have a long way to go to get your vote in the Celtic regions up to anywhere near that achieved in England. In Scotland you may well have to wait 70 years before the rabid anti-Thatcher electorate die out. Even if the Conservatives could get back to merely the 1992 position in Scotland it would need to increase its percentage of votes cast by 66% above the 2005 outcome. If that was achieved you would still only have 8 seats in Scotland (pro rata 1992 result) and 6 seats in Wales.
In order to form a UK Government under the present structure you need 324 MPs – giving the minimum possible majority of 2. That means you need 310 English MPs, making you fundamentally an English government/party. Should this glorious day ever happen however you will still NOT be governing Scotland or Wales as they have already been ‘hived-off’ by Labour just to cover such eventuality.
The Conservative Party has already said in the past it has no intentions of undoing Devolution. I have no doubt that the vacuous Dave ‘consensus’ Cameron, who wants to be great mates with everybody, is not going to go down the road to scrapping Devolution.
The recent antics of ‘Bandit’ Blair and his ‘scumbag’ party have confirmed to a huge slice of the electorate that all politicians are crooks, rogues and mountebanks. The threat to the Conservative Party’s hopes, as I see it, is therefore voter apathy or a switch to smaller parties like UKIP, BNP, or the Greens. Your best hope of Government is to get an English Parliament where you are more than likely to get a majority.
Legislative Reform Bill No. 111
This needs fighting tooth and nail. We do not want any Dave ‘consensus’ Cameron nonsense on this issue. If it becomes law it could well make you superfluous as the Government will be able to change laws without reference to Parliament. In fact they will be able to abolish even the holding of General Elections. ‘Bandit’ Blair wants stopping on this one.
English Votes on English Matters
This proposal would be better than the current state of affairs but is in reality nearly unworkable.
Let us assume that Labour has a prick of conscience and they support this idea and it becomes law. Bear the following in mind:
St. Matthew ch.6; v.24 – NO MAN CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS.
About 85% of Westminster’s time is now spent on English only Matters (EOM).
The proposal is for the Speaker to declare an item an EOM.
Currently the Speaker is a Scottish MP – let us assume he is impartial – if he declares an EOM presumably he will have to leave the Chamber and hand over to an English Deputy.
On that basis the current Speaker will be missing for about 85% of the Common’s business. So will he still get paid for NOT doing his job?
Let us say that an EOM is to do with English transport. The current Secretary of State is a Scottish MP. Does that mean he would be unable to introduce or speak about his own Bill?
If he cannot speak about his proposed legislation what use will he be as Secretary of State?
What about a Scottish person who represents an English Constituency – might he/she not end up being accused of being biased?
My objection to Gordon ‘I’m British now’ Brown becoming Prime Minister is that he will have no mandate from any electors to speak about Health, Education, Law & Order etc but the PM’s job is primarily to administer England. Presumably under EOM he would be excluded from the Commons on such occasions.
English Parliament.
Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, with the greatest respect, you, like the vast majority of the Conservative MPs seem to have acquired a set of blue-tinted nostalgia-inducing blinkers. The Conservatives appear to be obsessed with the Union – something that Labour effectively destroyed in 1999 when it set up the Scottish Parliament and Welsh National Assembly (soon to be up-graded).
You cannot have a UNION if members are treated in completely different ways and some have special privileges and the majority do not.
It is clear from Lord Falconer’s speech of 10th March that Devolution was created simply:
To stop Celtic votes drifting away from Labour to nationalistic parties.
To protect the Scots from ever having to suffer a Conservative Government.
To give Labour somewhere to govern if the Conservatives ever win a General Election.
The Conservative Party’s only hope of gaining power is with the overwhelming support of the people of England. At the last Election you gained – 16% of the vote in Scotland and 21% in Wales, as compared to 36% in England.
You have a long way to go to get your vote in the Celtic regions up to anywhere near that achieved in England. In Scotland you may well have to wait 70 years before the rabid anti-Thatcher electorate die out. Even if the Conservatives could get back to merely the 1992 position in Scotland it would need to increase its percentage of votes cast by 66% above the 2005 outcome. If that was achieved you would still only have 8 seats in Scotland (pro rata 1992 result) and 6 seats in Wales.
In order to form a UK Government under the present structure you need 324 MPs – giving the minimum possible majority of 2. That means you need 310 English MPs, making you fundamentally an English government/party. Should this glorious day ever happen however you will still NOT be governing Scotland or Wales as they have already been ‘hived-off’ by Labour just to cover such eventuality.
The Conservative Party has already said in the past it has no intentions of undoing Devolution. I have no doubt that the vacuous Dave ‘consensus’ Cameron, who wants to be great mates with everybody, is not going to go down the road to scrapping Devolution.
The recent antics of ‘Bandit’ Blair and his ‘scumbag’ party have confirmed to a huge slice of the electorate that all politicians are crooks, rogues and mountebanks. The threat to the Conservative Party’s hopes, as I see it, is therefore voter apathy or a switch to smaller parties like UKIP, BNP, or the Greens. Your best hope of Government is to get an English Parliament where you are more than likely to get a majority.
MP's letter re English Parliament
Dear Mr. Higginbottom,
Thank you very much for your letter dated 25 February regarding the Legislative Reform Bill No. 111 and the possibility of the adoption of an English Parliament. I am sorry it has taken so long to respond.
While 1 certainly agree with you that there is currently a constitutional unfairness to England that must be addressed, I'm afraid that I do not support your solution to the problem.
I don't think it is true to say that the policy of 'English votes on English laws' is a 'dead duck'. Indeed, I would argue that your preferred policy of a separate English Parliament would cause far more practical difficulties and, I fear, actually undermine the Union.
The tone of your letter suggests that you see no future for the United Kingdom. I think the Union - which celebrates its 300th anniversary next year - has served us all well and can continue to do so. I am also confident about our electoral prospects; we gained seats in both Scotland and Wales at the last election and came within an ace of winning more.
We shall have to agree to disagree to the solution to this constitutional problem, but I am sure that you would agree that the Conservative Party is the only main political party to offer an answer to the West Lothian Question.
Daniel Kawczynski MP Shrewsbury & Atcham
Thank you very much for your letter dated 25 February regarding the Legislative Reform Bill No. 111 and the possibility of the adoption of an English Parliament. I am sorry it has taken so long to respond.
While 1 certainly agree with you that there is currently a constitutional unfairness to England that must be addressed, I'm afraid that I do not support your solution to the problem.
I don't think it is true to say that the policy of 'English votes on English laws' is a 'dead duck'. Indeed, I would argue that your preferred policy of a separate English Parliament would cause far more practical difficulties and, I fear, actually undermine the Union.
The tone of your letter suggests that you see no future for the United Kingdom. I think the Union - which celebrates its 300th anniversary next year - has served us all well and can continue to do so. I am also confident about our electoral prospects; we gained seats in both Scotland and Wales at the last election and came within an ace of winning more.
We shall have to agree to disagree to the solution to this constitutional problem, but I am sure that you would agree that the Conservative Party is the only main political party to offer an answer to the West Lothian Question.
Daniel Kawczynski MP Shrewsbury & Atcham
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Letter: Shropshire Star
Clarke not taking any notice of public view
Carolyn McDonald says that I am wrong to say that Charles Clarke is ignoring the views of the public over the merger of police forces.
She goes on to say that "Most people don't care whether their police force is run from Worcester or from Birmingham".
Given that 92 per cent of people who took part in West Mercia's polls were opposed to the merger, I rather think that they do care.
Charles Clarke also plans to merge the four Welsh forces into one large force despite massive public opposition and the opposition of all four forces.
Despite this he has said that he will force through the merger of the Welsh forces and the merger of West Midlands and Went Mercia. How exactly is that taking notice of the wishes of the public? Regional police forces are nothing to do with fighting crime, they are part of Labour's regional agenda.
The EC dictated years ago that England would be divided into nine regions and that each of those regions would have regional government.
Planning, transport, environment, health and many other aspects of our lives are already controlled by the unelected and unaccountable West Midlands Regional Assembly (WMRA),
The ambulance and fire services are now regionally controlled and soon Charles Clarke will force a regional police force on to us.
How long do you think it will be before WMRA controls the emergency services from Birmingham as well?
If the other three forces in the West Midlands want to merge then let them.
West Mercia has the best performing force in the UK, let's keep it that way.
Stuart Parr
Telford
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Letter to Shropshire Newspapers about Apartheid
Apartheid is alive and well, flourishing in the United Kingdom under the Labour government.
Separate development, the core of Apartheid, ensured that a minority took a disproportionate amount of the national wealth to have a much better lifestyle than the majority who were therefore deprived and oppressed.
Here in the UK the Celtic regions take from the derided and persecuted peoples of England under an unfair and unjust Devolution system merely created by Labour to stop them losing votes to the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
It is time for the people of England to have a full say in the running of their country.
Separate development, the core of Apartheid, ensured that a minority took a disproportionate amount of the national wealth to have a much better lifestyle than the majority who were therefore deprived and oppressed.
Here in the UK the Celtic regions take from the derided and persecuted peoples of England under an unfair and unjust Devolution system merely created by Labour to stop them losing votes to the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
It is time for the people of England to have a full say in the running of their country.
Letter to Lord Chancellor
Your speech of the 10th March, as reported, is a travesty that is riddled with support for injustice.
Apartheid is alive and well, flourishing here in the United Kingdom under the Labour government.
Separate development, the core of Apartheid, ensured that a minority took a disproportionate amount of the national wealth to have a much better lifestyle than the majority who were therefore deprived and oppressed.
Here in the UK the Celtic regions take from the derided and persecuted peoples of England under an unfair and unjust Devolution system merely created by Labour to stop them losing votes to the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
As a member of what is increasingly seen, by the people of England, as a predominately foreign government, it is time you encouraged your Cabinet colleagues to emancipate England not continue to peddle the continuance of the repressive colonial regime that Labour has imposed.
Apartheid is alive and well, flourishing here in the United Kingdom under the Labour government.
Separate development, the core of Apartheid, ensured that a minority took a disproportionate amount of the national wealth to have a much better lifestyle than the majority who were therefore deprived and oppressed.
Here in the UK the Celtic regions take from the derided and persecuted peoples of England under an unfair and unjust Devolution system merely created by Labour to stop them losing votes to the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
As a member of what is increasingly seen, by the people of England, as a predominately foreign government, it is time you encouraged your Cabinet colleagues to emancipate England not continue to peddle the continuance of the repressive colonial regime that Labour has imposed.
Letter to Shropshire MPs re Herceptin
The Daily Mail article on the 9th March concerning the tragic case of Mrs Susan Morgan and the Shropshire NHS Trust’s refusal to finance Herceptin for her is a further illustration of the unfairness of Devolution.
There is now a three tier system now operating in the NHS post Devolution. Scotland of course gets first class treatment, Wales second class and England third, although it is English taxpayers who are providing the extra moneys for the Celtic peripheries.
This particular case is not just an issue for Owen Paterson and his constituent but potentially a problem for all women in Shropshire. I urge you to provide Owen with your full support and to fight for fairness of treatment for everyone within the UK.
There is now a three tier system now operating in the NHS post Devolution. Scotland of course gets first class treatment, Wales second class and England third, although it is English taxpayers who are providing the extra moneys for the Celtic peripheries.
This particular case is not just an issue for Owen Paterson and his constituent but potentially a problem for all women in Shropshire. I urge you to provide Owen with your full support and to fight for fairness of treatment for everyone within the UK.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Falconer opposes fairness
Letters to Shropshire newspapers.
Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor (who incidentally is the head of the Judiciary in England) made a speech on Friday 10th March about constitutional reform in which he extolled the virtues of Devolution to his native Scotland.
Evidently the greatest benefit from this has been that it has stopped the drift of votes from Labour to the Scottish National Party.
He denounced the very idea of an English Parliament because he reckoned it would lead to a break up of the United Kingdom – which, though he did not say it – would of course mean an end to the English taxpayers subsidising Scotland to the tune of £8 billion a year, and rising.
So, basically, he and his colleagues are happy to continue to practice apartheid against the people of England who they treat as third class citizen within what is supposedly the United Kingdom. This situation will of course only change if the people of England stand up for themselves, no one else will.
Edward Higginbottom
Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor (who incidentally is the head of the Judiciary in England) made a speech on Friday 10th March about constitutional reform in which he extolled the virtues of Devolution to his native Scotland.
Evidently the greatest benefit from this has been that it has stopped the drift of votes from Labour to the Scottish National Party.
He denounced the very idea of an English Parliament because he reckoned it would lead to a break up of the United Kingdom – which, though he did not say it – would of course mean an end to the English taxpayers subsidising Scotland to the tune of £8 billion a year, and rising.
So, basically, he and his colleagues are happy to continue to practice apartheid against the people of England who they treat as third class citizen within what is supposedly the United Kingdom. This situation will of course only change if the people of England stand up for themselves, no one else will.
Edward Higginbottom
Breast Cancer Care
The Editor
Shropshire Star
Shropshire girl Katie Morgan made the national newspapers on Thursday 9th March.
Her mother has tragically had breast cancer and might benefit from being treated with Herceptin (the so-called wonder drug). Unfortunately, Shropshire NHS Trust cannot afford to allow her to have it. It is not their fault for they just do not get enough funding. Ironically, if she lived two miles further west, in Wales, they can afford to supply it. But then of course every taxpayer in England is providing Wales with a hefty additional subsidy.
Mrs Morgan’s hopes lie with her M.P., Owen Paterson, who has taken up her case. Good man that he is, he will need all the help he can get. So can I suggest you write to your M.P. and/or the Secretary of State and demand fair and equitable treatment for all the United Kingdom’s citizens.
Shropshire Star
Shropshire girl Katie Morgan made the national newspapers on Thursday 9th March.
Her mother has tragically had breast cancer and might benefit from being treated with Herceptin (the so-called wonder drug). Unfortunately, Shropshire NHS Trust cannot afford to allow her to have it. It is not their fault for they just do not get enough funding. Ironically, if she lived two miles further west, in Wales, they can afford to supply it. But then of course every taxpayer in England is providing Wales with a hefty additional subsidy.
Mrs Morgan’s hopes lie with her M.P., Owen Paterson, who has taken up her case. Good man that he is, he will need all the help he can get. So can I suggest you write to your M.P. and/or the Secretary of State and demand fair and equitable treatment for all the United Kingdom’s citizens.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Telford to be included in West Midlands City Region
The Shropshire Star certainly seem to have bought into this whole City Regions crap. Nobody has asked me or anyone else that I know of if they want Telford to be included in a West Midlands City Region governed from Birmingham. Nobody asked me if I wanted yet another unelected, unaccountable and undemocratic regional government interfering in my life.
Why is nobody questioning why "Mr Miliband has made it clear that city regions will be the main focus for growth and government spending in the future" because even the British government admit that nobody in England actually wants regional government except those like Frater, Milliband and Prescott who that stand to gain from it financially and politically.
I like living in Shropshire, I don't want to live in the West Midlands. The West Midlands is an artificial euro-region and I have no affinity with it and nor will I until the day I die.
This is another part of Labour's regionalistation plan. Telford & Wrekin Council is, after all, a Labour controlled council and a collaborator like Frater is bound to go far toeing the party line.
Why is nobody questioning why "Mr Miliband has made it clear that city regions will be the main focus for growth and government spending in the future" because even the British government admit that nobody in England actually wants regional government except those like Frater, Milliband and Prescott who that stand to gain from it financially and politically.
I like living in Shropshire, I don't want to live in the West Midlands. The West Midlands is an artificial euro-region and I have no affinity with it and nor will I until the day I die.
This is another part of Labour's regionalistation plan. Telford & Wrekin Council is, after all, a Labour controlled council and a collaborator like Frater is bound to go far toeing the party line.
Telford poised to reap huge benefits from West Midlands alliance
TOWN SEEKING
SUPERCITY LINK
By Peter Johnson
TELFORD IS poised to become part of the "metropolitan city" of the West Midlands - a move which could bring hundreds of jobs and millions of pounds of investment to the borough.
Borough council bosses say they are not turning their backs on the rest of Shropshire as the shake-up will mean a huge economic boost benefiting the whole county.
But today's announcement will help bring to fruition the borough's ambition to become the jobs, leisure and cultural capital of the region.
The seven West Midlands Metropolitan Council lead-era have agreed to include Telford in the Metropolitan City Region in the West Midlands.
A proposal is being sent to David Miliband, the minister for communities and local government, later this month to create a city region.
It will be a focus for millions of pounds to he spent on job creation, new homes, better transport links and shopping developments.
Impact
Telford is now set to win a share of this investment by joining forces with Birmingham and the metropolitan boroughs of Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and Coventry.
The impact will not be felt immediately but the long-term benefits for Telford are potentially huge. And it will mitigate the potential harm of the Government's threat to axe more than 1,000 defence jobs in the borough.
Michael Frater, chief executive of the Borough of Telford & Wrekin, said today; "This is the most important decision in the long-term future success of Telford.
"It's a win, win situation for our urban areas and rural areas, and puts Telford in a much stronger position to negotiate with the Government."
Councillor Keith Austin, leader of the council, said Telford was the economic powerhouse of Shropshire and today's announcement would bring valuable spin-off benefits for all the county.
"We have not turned our backs on the rest of Shropshire and will remain as an independent borough with the metropolitan city of the West Midlands," he said.
Mr Miliband has made it clear that city regions will be the main focus for growth and government spending in the future, helping to halt the drift of population from cities to rural areas.
Letter: Shropshire Star (CEP Shropshire)
Parliament for English Neccessary
We are now in the council tax setting season and we will be lucky if the national average rise is about four per cent. This will mean the rise will be above inflation for the tenth successive year.
Since Tony Blair came to power in 1997 hills have gone up for English Band D properties by an average of 84 per cent whereas those in Scotland by a mere 40 per cent. This is one of Gordon Brown's stealth taxes. It is money taken from England and used to provide a massive subsidy to Scotland.
This tax hits those on fixed incomes hardest. It is true Gordon Brown gave pensioners an extra £200 last year to help with council tax - it was election year -but there is no commitment to pay it again.
England needs its own parliament to ensure taxes paid in England are used to fund services in England.
Edward Higginbottom
Co-ordinator for the Shropshire Branch of the Campaign for an English Parliament
Monday, March 06, 2006
Shropshire Star Editorial
I nearly missed this one in the Shropshire Star. Believe it or not, Eric Smith, the person who worte this editorial piece, works for BBC Radio Shropshire. The Beeb going against the Scottish Raj - a refreshing change.
Change part of regional blueprint
Shrewsbury's new ambulance headquarters, planned for Emstrey, has been put on the back burner.
It had long been the plan to take the service out of their cramped Abbey Foregate site to a more strategic, purpose built location on the town's ring road.
Apparently this stay-put order is just a temporary set-back - but am I surprised? Not in the slightest. You see the Shropshire Ambulance Service is no longer controlled in Shropshire. It is part of the Birmingham and Black Country Strategic Health Authority, and so the decisions are now made out of county, some 50 miles away.
Much has been said and written about the proposals to amalgamate police forces in the region, but isn't it an interesting co-incidence that the new "super" police force will cover an area which is exactly the same as the "super" ambulance service i.e. Shropshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
Is this set-back for the ambulance service the first example of Shropshire losing out in this creeping regionalisation? I seem to recall that there were plans to relocate the Fire & Rescue Service HQ to the same site, but that has changed too. The operational centre will remain in St Michael's Street in Shrewsbury, but the call centre will relocate to around Junction 2 of the M54.
Coincidentally this will then cover the same area as the police and ambulance service. Government ministers are keen to point out that this is not regionalisation. Pull the other one.
Letter: Shropshire Star
No money for NHS as it is being diverted
A woman has lost her legal battle to be awarded the potentially life-saving drug Herceptin.
She now faces the very real prospect of an untimely death through the return of her breast cancer.
A group of Shropshire women are awaiting their day in court to try and secure the right to a life-saving course of Herceptin where they will, no doubt, receive exactly the same answer.
Today I read Herceptin is being routinely prescribed to women with breast cancer in the UK - but only if they live in Scotland.
The Barnett Formula diverts enough tax away from England to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for them to be able to offer expensive drugs such as Herceptin ana leave the English NHS on the verge of bankruptcy.
A Scottish woman is allowed Herceptin, regardless of the cost, because the English taxpayer is paying for it.
An English woman is denied the drug because there isn't enough money left in England to pay for it after the rest of the UK have taken what they want.
The true cost to England of Gordon Brown's vision of Britain can be measured not only in billions of pounds but in the needless loss of English lives just to keep the fifth of the population who don't live in England healthy and happy.
Shropshire's contribution to the annual subsidy paid to Scotland alone would pay Shropshire NHS's £30m debt twice over in one year.
Stuart Parr
Telford
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Charles Clarke confirms West Midlands regional force
The Right Dishonourable Charles Clarke, Home Secretary and Sweaty Baboon, announced yesterday that he was satisfied that the creation of a West Midlands Regional police force would go ahead because it would be "in the interests of efficiency and effectiveness of policing".
Telford & Wrekin Council have teamed up with West Mercia Police Authority to fight the merger which was opposed by over 90% of respondents in West Mercia Police and independent polls.
The Sweaty Baboon said that he would "carefully consider any objections received" but that he would be unlikely to have a last minute change of heart. So basically, 90% of the people in West Mercia can object if they want but he will do what he wants anyway.
Shamocracy in action.
Telford & Wrekin Council have teamed up with West Mercia Police Authority to fight the merger which was opposed by over 90% of respondents in West Mercia Police and independent polls.
The Sweaty Baboon said that he would "carefully consider any objections received" but that he would be unlikely to have a last minute change of heart. So basically, 90% of the people in West Mercia can object if they want but he will do what he wants anyway.
Shamocracy in action.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Shropshire Woman Denied Herceptin
I read this in last night's Shropshire Star ...
When Mrs Cook says that "certain other countries are funding it" I don't know if she was referring to North Britain and West Britain or not.
The sad fact is that if Mrs Cook lived literally 5 miles to the west she wouldn't have had to beg for her life and be turned down. Oswestry town centre is about 5 miles from the Welsh border.
Herceptin is available to Welsh and Scottish breast cancer sufferers without them having to beg for it thanks to the Scottish Chancellor's generosity with English taxes.
NHS says it will not give drug
By Vickie Woodward
A second Oswestry woman is being forced to raise thousands of pounds "or potentially life-saving cancer treatment after health officials refused to pay for it.
Ann Cook works at the same hospital as fellow breast cancer patient and fundraiser Margaret Bradford. Both were refused the potentially ife-saving Herceptin on the NHS by Shropshire Primary Care Trust.
They are facing bills of between £40,000 and £47,000 to fund the treatment.
Today Mrs Cook, a nursing auxiliary at Oswestry's orthopaedic hospital, said she was "extremely disappointed" to get a letter nforming her that her circumstances were not deemed exceptional.
"I heard that certain other counties are funding it. Surely we should all be on a level playing field," she said.
"To have a postcode lottery is deplorable. We have only just started fundraising
I was hoping that they would change their minds and fund it.
Helpful
The PCT has said the drug can only be given to patients diagnosed before October 2005 in exceptional circumstances.
Mrs Cook was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2005. She had surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.
The aggressive tumour was tested and found to be HER2 positive, and she was told by her oncologist at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital that Herceptin would be of substantial benefit.
Mrs Cook, a mother-of-two, wrote to the PCT to ask for the controversial treatment, but received a letter at the same time as Mrs Bradford informing her they would not be funding the drug.
Catering administrator Mrs Bradford, 54, travelled to Christie's Hospital in Manchester for her first course of treatment last week. To help call (01691) 662450.
When Mrs Cook says that "certain other countries are funding it" I don't know if she was referring to North Britain and West Britain or not.
The sad fact is that if Mrs Cook lived literally 5 miles to the west she wouldn't have had to beg for her life and be turned down. Oswestry town centre is about 5 miles from the Welsh border.
Herceptin is available to Welsh and Scottish breast cancer sufferers without them having to beg for it thanks to the Scottish Chancellor's generosity with English taxes.
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