3 FEBRUARY 2005

“MPs step backwards” was the headline in one paper last week after the vote in the House of Commons to return to the old working hours for Tuesdays! It was implied that MPs are lazy and only interested in reducing their hours of work. Although as in any profession there must be some lazy MPs I believe Members of all Parties with whom I have regular contact work very hard.

The days in London account for only part of our working week. Constituency duties including surgeries, meetings, visits and social events that are virtually obligatory, and the paper work involved can take up many hours.

I voted for a return to the old hours on Tuesdays because when debates finish and divisions are held at 10.00pm, there is time after 7pm when other meetings have finished and secretaries have left, to catch up with the issue under debate before voting takes place. 
For an Independent without a whip this is crucial as before I vote I attempt to know the arguments on both sides of the question. Another reason is that it is easier to attend extra meetings, for example All-Party Group meetings, if these are completed before the concluding speeches in a debate and if they are not interrupted by votes. One of the most important meetings of the All-Party Local Hospital Group attended by the President and Vice-President of the Royal College of Physicians was made extremely difficult, and embarrassing for me as the organiser, by frequent divisions calling Members away for at least 15 minutes each time.

The Holocaust 60th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony last Sunday was very well attended and I was struck by the number of young people there so the message from the unutterable suffering of the victims and survivors is being heard and remembered by those born after the Second World War. 
In my short address I asked if we as individuals would be strong enough to resist orders if in the future we were put in the position of the guards at Auschwitz or in the military prisons in Iraq.

I was only able to attend part of a meeting to celebrate the progress of Opportunity Bewdley but I was pleased to hear about the success of the Business Premises Grant and Business Development Project and the opening of the Community ICT Centre.

I am awaiting replies to letters I have written to the County Director of Education and the Bishop about St Barnabas C of E, Stone C of E and Lea Street First Schools. 
I have asked for the evidence that closing these three highly valued local community schools will lead to better education for children and facts to disprove the suspicion that it is purely a cost saving exercise. 

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