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8 Feb 2012
As the Health and Social Care Bill is debated again in the House of Lords, Dave has responded to constituents who continue to express concern about the changes.
He has had a huge number of contacts from constituents expressing their concerns and has pledged to keep on pressing the government to recognise the concerns which many constituents have about this the changes which will come about from the Health and Social Care Bill.
To further this Dave has signed the e-petition on direct-gov. You can sign the e-petition here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22670
6 Feb 2012
Dave says a coalition U-turn shows that backbench MPs and public pressure can sometimes work.
Justine Greening, the Transport Secretary, has made a government U-turn on the frequency of MOT tests.
Dave said,
"Pressure from MPs and the public can work as we have seen in the U-turn on MOTs executed by the Transport Secretary. She wanted to drop annual MOTs but was forced to do a three-point turn by a wide range of organisations which said that it would be dangerous, expensive and unwanted. Back-seat drivers are not always popular but backbench MPs and others have this time been helpful in telling the driver she had lost her way."
The government wanted to first test cars at four years old and then only every two years after that. But road safety and motoring groups argued that road safety could be compromised after it was found that more than a quarter of MOT tests carried out in 2011-11 missed routine defects and also wrongly passed thousands of cars as being roadworthy when they were not.
2 Feb 2012
Dave has voiced his concern about funding threats to the charity, "Show Racism the Red Card".
As the government cuts support to the voluntary sector, charities such as this face a very uncertain future.
Dave said,
"Any risk to the campaign being unable to carry on the work they do is something we should take very seriously. There's a general feeling that we've come a long way but there's a few things happening of late that are worrying signs."
"There's a general feeling that we've come a long way, but there are a few worrying signs of late - FIFA chief Sepp Blatter's comments, stuff that's happened on the pitch, intolerance towards immigrants and a rise in xenophobia."
"Ultimately it's the young people that can make a real difference. The more we can get young people to understand the issues around racism the more likely it is to become a way of life."
You can learn more about the charity at http://www.srtrc.org/
31 Jan 2012
Dave has attacked pension proposals for firefighters.
They are facing a pension contribution increase from 11% to 16% for no extra pension and it is argued is in effect a 5% pay cut.
Dave said,
"These proposals are a disgraceful attack on some of the bravest public servants in this country. They are being forced to pay the price for the failure of the global financial system and the attack on public servants being waged by the Government."
Dave is a member of the Fire Brigades Union Parliamentary group and has been closely involved with the negotiations. The FBU is considering strike action, their first in ten years.
15 Jan 2012
Dave is backing calls by a committee of MPs for fairer rents for pub tenants.
The Commons Backbench Business Committee is calling for a statutory code of practice to govern the relationship between the companies that own pubs and the landlords that run them.
Dave hopes this will lead to a halt in the spate of pub closures and said it was time for the government to change the rules on pub ownership, adding,
"I'm hoping this will finally mean we are going to see the start of a movement where publicans are treated with respect, rather than being exploited by big companies. My sister and at least three friends have had to leave the pub trade in the last 10 years because of the actions of pubcos - they just keep moving the goalposts.
"Some of my close friends had a pub in Teesdale and worked their socks off, but even they lost £45,000 of their own money and had to walk away after three years."
Landlords should have more freedom to choose which beers to sell and there should be an independent adjudicator to resolve disputes between tenants and the pubcos.
Dave says that those suffering from pleural plaques, for whom he has campaigned vigorously, have not been forgotten.
Despite the fact that there has been little progress recently and that the government now says the evidence does not support compensation.
Dave said,
"What we are being told by this government is that the medical evidence does not support them being able to make payments. It is a disgrace these people have suffered without compensation because truth is they were exposed to poisonous materials at work.
"The people laughing all the way to the bank are the employers and insurers. When this first was challenged in the Lords and compensation was stopped it was said insurers saved £4bn. But these people are suffering from a disease which may or may not get worse. If I had a scar on my finger because of work I would expect to get compensation."
13 Jan 2012
Dave is backing the government's plan for high speed rail.
But he also condemned comments by Conservative Peer Lord Astor who said northern Labour MPs were backing the line because they relished the idea of despoiling the Chiltern Hills, a mainly Tory area.
In the Spectator, Lord Astor wrote,
"It is supported by Northern Labour MPs who relish the thought of the beauty of the Chilterns being destroyed, particularly in Conservative-held seats."
Dave said,
"It's total tosh. I like the countryside and I certainly don't want the Chilterns dug up, but it's the only way."
13 Jan 2012
Dave has defended spending money on cleaning the windows of his office in Blaydon.
He says that the building is now 100 years old and part of the town's heritage and as such need to be cared for. He explains the £150 cost over six months by pointing out the difficult access and the need for specialists.
Dave said,
"It's an old church hall and the windows are behind 4ft high railings with an 8ft gap and a 10ft drop in between, so you have to use specialist industrial machinery to clean them. If you tried to do it yourself you'd end up impaled.
"The building is 100-years-old this year and I feel I have a responsibility to keep it in as good a condition as I can."
9 Jan 2012
As rail fares soar above inflation, Dave has called for a return to British Rail.
The taxpayer pays for about 40% of the cots of the railways but the profits go to the shareholders of the privatised rail companies.
Calling for the 'botched' privatisation to be reversed, Dave said,
"We now have a system that doesn't work in an integrated way and we still see taxpayers funding a railway system over which they have no say.
"Public money is subsidising shareholder profit when it should be being reinvested into improvements in rolling stock, new lines - or redeveloping closed ones - and in promoting an integrated transport system."
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