Parliamentary Report - July 2004
Local Activity
- Opened the Beeston Mela
- Attended the Hunslet and Holbeck Galas
- Unveiled a plaque and met staff at the Foundation for Credit Counselling in Wade Lane
- Attended briefing update with David Hoult of Leeds College of Music
- Met Terry Hodgkinson (Chair of Yorkshire Forward)
- Met Gareth Bowen from Braim Wood Boys School regarding the school’s South African projects
- Guest speaker at the Leeds Irish Festival Official Dinner
- Opened the Round Foundry Media Centre, Holbeck
- Spoke and presented certificates for the Groundwork Motiv8 project at South Leeds Family Learning Centre
- Preliminary meeting with Adam and Mark concerning the General Election
- Regular advice surgeries
Local Issues
Alistair Darling has announced that there won’t be funding for the Leeds Supertram. As presently proposed, it is simply too expensive, with costs having shot up since it was first approved (he also said the same about the tram scheme in Hampshire and the proposed extension in Manchester). This is a great disappointment to the city which has worked so hard to make this happen. Cllr Mick Lyons says he will be looking at whether a revised scheme can be made to pay its way.
The South Leeds Police Community Forum have reported that the Division has enjoyed significant success in reducing domestic burglary across the Forum area. 208 offences were recorded in the third quarter last year compared to 111 this year, a reduction of nearly 50%. City and Holbeck continued to record the lowest burglary percentage per 1000 dwellings than any other Leeds Division. A number of operations were run with a particular emphasis on targeting known offenders and those wanted on warrant. In one operation, 70 Magistrate’s warrants were executed, during which a large number of criminals were arrested and stolen property recovered. Vehicle crime, however remained stubbornly high and a dedicated Vehicle Crime Team has been establishment to address the problem.
Political Developments
The 2004 Spending Review set out Labour’s spending plans for the next three years. Britain will continue with historically high increases in spending on hospitals, schools and public services and so combining the longest period of sustained growth for a generation with the longest sustained investment in public services for a generation.
The Chancellor announced more money to create 2500 new Children’s Centres across the country as we move towards our goal of a new Children’s Centre in every community. He also pledged to reduce crime with plans to recruit more police and 20,000 community support officers.
The 5 year plan to tackle crime was published last week. It includes a big increase in the number of Police and Community Support Officers, and a commitment to cut crime by 15%. The latest crime figures show that burglary, car crime and robbery figures have all fallen, although violent crime is up.
This week, Lord Butler published his review of the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. The report supported the conclusions of Lord Hutton’s inquiry about the good faith of the intelligence services and the government in compiling the September 2002 dossier. The Prime Minister accepted the review’s specific findings that the dossier and intelligence behind it should have been better presented with a greater number of caveats attached. The review also addressed the other key question regarding the whereabouts of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. He reminded the House that the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1441 on the shared belief that Iraq was a WMD threat. He said, “I have to accept, as the months have passed, it seems increasingly clear that at the time of invasion Saddam did not have stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons …[but] I cannot honestly say I believe getting rid of Saddam was a mistake at all. Iraq, the region and the wider world are better and safer places without Saddam.” We must remember that Saddam’s regime had used WMD.
This week, the government published its plans for a significant overhaul of animal welfare legislation. Labour’s draft Animal Welfare Bill will update over 20 pieces of legislation. The Bill will introduce a clear legal definition of cruelty against an animal and provide new powers to the courts, police and government law enforcement agencies to deal effectively with people who ill treat or neglect animals in their care.
Ministerial Activity
In the Spending Review, the Chancellor announced that DFID’s aid budget will rise to more than £5.3bn a year by 2007-08, up from £3.8bn today. This is the highest increase given to any government department. By 2007-08 Britain will be spending 0.47 percent of its national income on development – a huge increase from the 0.26 percent figure we inherited from the Tories in 1997, after 18 years in which Britain’s aid budget was cut.
Other ministerial activities have included:
- Giving oral evidence to the Science and Technology Committee
- Speech on Trade at Chatham House
- Launch of the Labour Standards and Poverty Elimination Paper
- Speech on the changing context of migration at St Anthony’s College, Oxford
- Launch of the UK’s HIV/AIDS Strategy
Political Activity
Last Sunday I was invited to speak at the annual Tolpuddle Martyr’s Rally in Dorset. My father was also a speaker – which made it a family as well as political day out ! A reminder, too, of the sacrifices involved in building the trade union movement.
