A day or two in the life…

 

Please note: This article was originally posted on the old website, and has been copied here for archive purposes.

A THUMBNAIL RECORD OF THE LAST SIX MONTHS’ WORK OF THE MP FOR THE WEST CORNWALL & ISLES OF SCILLY CONSTITUENCY OF ST IVES, ANDREW GEORGE

Below is a brief, thumbnail summary of some of the activities, campaigns and debates Mr George has been involved in over the last six months. For further information about any of these issues please contact the constituency office who can supply you with past press notices, letters, reports, etc, if requested.

• Health funding After years of campaigning, Mr George and his colleagues received assurance from Ministers that a revised NHS funding formula would be published this autumn. Since the Conservatives introduced the new formula, Cornwall has been amongst the lowest funded health authorities in the country.
• Dentistry He has called on Government Ministers to review the new dental contract introduced in April 2006. 8,000 fewer patients have been seen by an NHS dentist in Cornwall since the reforms were introduced.
• Cancer surgery He led the Parliamentary campaign to support patient safety and to retain cancer surgery in Cornwall.
• Ankylosing Spondylitis Mr George chairs a Cross-Party Parliamentary Group on Inflammatory Arthritis and presented a national petition to Parliament in July to support those sufferers of Ankylosing Spondylitis who would benefit from newly approved anti-TNF treatments. Mr George declared an interest as he is an AS sufferer himself, though he would not benefit from the new treatments.
• West Cornwall Hospital After organising and chairing a public meeting on the Future of West Cornwall Hospital in January, Mr George has kept up the pressure on the Trust and will be holding an update public meeting on 3rd October 2008 in the Acorn Theatre commencing at 7.30 pm.
• Polyclinics He cross-questioned Ministers about plans to use millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money, for example, creating a single private sector Polyclinic in Cornwall, rather than putting the money into frontline primary care services.
• Rural pharmacies He questioned Government Ministers about the Government White Paper to change the regulation of dispensing surgeries which could have a detrimental impact on patients in rural areas.
• Treatment for addicts Following years of support for their work, Mr George has been invited to become a Patron of Bosence Farm Community – a local Charitable Trust which has for more than a decade helped hundreds of people who have become dependent on alcohol or narcotics.
• Homes for locals He published a report in June showing that, while Cornwall has been one of the fastest growing places in the country, successive governments have failed to address the underlying housing shortage for local people. ‘Swamping Cornwall with thousands of expensive homes does not address Cornwall’s underlying need for affordable homes for locals’.
• Housing debates He has led a number of housing debates in the Commons and secured a further Parliamentary Debate planned for 8th October when he will question Housing Minister, Iain Wright MP. He also served on the Committee stage of the Housing and Regeneration Bill earlier this year.
• Prime Minister’s Questions Following questions to Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, Mr George led a delegation of local people to meet the Prime Minister on St Piran’s Day – 5th March – to press the case for urgent action to address the problems of high levels of second home ownership and lack of affordable housing.
• Housing survey Mr George’s third survey of local estate agents received a 60% response rate and demonstrated, amongst other things, that three times as many homes were sold to second home buyers as to first time buyers.
• Post Office closures He led the local campaign against proposals to close nine sub-Post Offices in the constituency. Consultation ended on 1st September 2008. Outcome expected around 23rd September.
• Bank charges He has made strong representations to Government Ministers and the Office of Fair Trading and raised questions in Parliament about what he considers are the extortionate charges by Banks of their poorest customers. The OFT is completing its Inquiry.
• Fairtrade Schools He has spoken to many local schools about Fairtrade, not just for plantation workers in developing countries, but fairtrade for UK farmers and producers as well.
• Supermarket Ombudsman Mr George chairs a UK-wide group with cross-Parliamentary membership (“The Cross-Cutting Group”) which has made strong representations and given evidence to the Competition Commission’s Inquiry into the power of supermarkets and the grocery sector. They proposed the establishment of a new Supermarket Watchdog to stop the largest supermarkets abusing the power they have over their smaller suppliers. The recommendation has been accepted by the Competition Commission.
• Objective 1 He is closely monitoring plans to transform the work of the European Objective 1 programme in Cornwall to its new ‘Convergence’ programme.
• Tax Office He led the local campaign to oppose Government plans to close the Penzance HM Revenue & Customs office at Penlowarth with the loss of 70 jobs. An announcement is expected soon.
• Select Committee Mr George is a member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee which has recently published reports on community cohesion, planning and the rented sector.
• Coastal access He made strong representations warning the Government about the possible unintended consequences of plans contained in the Marine White Paper to open up a wide corridor along the coast.
• Marine and Coastguard Agency He has given support to MCA staff in wages and grade negotiations.
• Nitrate Vulnerable Zones He campaigned in Parliament to ensure that the Government takes a proportionate approach in managing the regulatory burden on farmers in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones.
• Dolphin bycatch He has debated with the Fisheries Minister the next stage of action to reduce Cetacean (Dolphin and Porpoise) deaths as a result of fishing activity.
• Bovine TB He will meet the Environment Minister later this autumn to discuss his proposals to control Bovine TB without (as some believe necessary) the extermination of the badger.
• Packaging Waste He has made representations to Environment Minister Joan Ruddock MP over the UK’s recycling record. He has urged the Government to examine the German ‘Green Dot’ system which has led to high rates of recovery and recycling for consumer packaging meaning that much less waste gets sent to landfill.
• All Party Water Group As an officer of the All Party Water Industry Group Mr George and his colleagues have completed an Inquiry into the water industry.
• Water rates He put pressure on Ofwat to toughen its regulation of South West Water, particularly for vulnerable customers who pay over the odds for their water services. He is also calling on Ministers to put right what he describes as the ‘risk free, money extortion system’ created since the Conservatives privatised water services.
• Energy Inquiry He called upon Ofgem to conduct an Inquiry into energy pricing – particularly in the wake of British Gas’ announcement that its profits had increased a massive 500%, while poor customers are forced to pay a ‘poverty premium’ for their key meters while being unable to take advantage of direct debit payment schemes.
• Wind Fall Tax He highlighted the fact that Shell and BP have posted the highest profits in company history as petrol prices have crippled ordinary people. He has supported calls for a Wind Fall Tax.
• Warm Front scheme He called for an Inquiry into the Warm Front scheme where – it is alleged – contractors are pocketing much of the benefit of the taxpayers’ subsidy for poor householders.
• Fuel protest He joined fishermen in London when they protested at the unequal treatment of fishermen in Europe in respect of fuel costs.
• Under 10 Metre sector He is consulting with the inshore fishing industry over Government plans for future regulation and decommissioning of Under 10 Metre vessels.
• Gear conflict He called on Ministers to intervene to protect inshore fishermen – especially potters – who have had their gear damaged or trawled away by foreign vessels operating illegally within the six mile limit.
• Euro Referendum He stood by his General Election pledge to support a referendum on the European Constitution. Mr George defied his own Party Whips who were asking him to abstain.
• Sri Lanka He  produced a report on behalf of a Cross-Party delegation of MPs who visited the war torn north and east regions of Sri Lanka on a five day visit to the country which looked at the conflict situation there.
• Diego Garcia He challenged Foreign Office Ministers about alleged use of British Overseas Territory, Diego Garcia, by the US for extraordinary rendition only a few days before the Foreign Secretary had to admit that Mr George was correct in his claim. The residents of the Chagos Islands (including Diego Garcia) were unlawfully deported in the ’60s and ’70s. Mr George has been campaigning for their right to return.
• Armenia He made representations to Foreign Minister Jim Murphy MP calling on the Government to recognise the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923.
• Tribal Peoples Mr George is an officer of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal Peoples (supported by Survival International). Mr George has made representations to the Foreign Secretary, Rt. Hon. David Miliband MP, urging the ratification of ILO 169 which recognises the rights of tribal peoples to own land and be consulted about projects which affect their way of life.
• Parthenon Marbles Mr George chairs ‘Marbles Reunited’; the British campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. He has been in discussion with Government Ministers and the British Museum (which holds a large proportion of the ‘Elgin’ Marbles).
• Global TB Mr George is Joint Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global TB and has put pressure on the World Bank, Government Ministers and the Global Fund to promote more concerted action on what is becoming a global pandemic.
• Millennium Development Goals Mr George is calling on world leaders to redouble their efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 when they discuss the way forward at a meeting of the United Nations in New York later this month.
• Trains The Government Minister agreed with Mr George that First Great Western should be given a ‘final warning’ after continually falling standards. Things have picked up in recent months.
• High Speed Rail Mr George questioned Transport Secretary Rt. Hon. Ruth Kelly MP over the future of the London to Penzance line which is vulnerable in parts to rising sea levels. He has called on Network Rail to make the line a priority for future high speed track improvement work.
• Bus regulation He has called on Government Ministers to review some of the unintended consequences of bus regulation.??Scillies link Mr George is monitoring the progress of the ‘Route Partnership’ and its plans to upgrade and modernise the maritime link between the mainland and the Isles of Scilly.
• Aviation Duty He held meeting with Aviation Minister Jim Fitzpatrick MP to discuss consequences of reforms to aviation duty on lifeline air links to the Isles of Scilly. Has advocated an exemption from the new duty as is the case for similar air links to the Scottish highlands and islands.
• Cornish Assembly He has led the Parliamentary campaign for greater devolution of power to Cornwall especially in areas of economic development, planning, housing, health, community services and policing.
• Unitary Authority I In spite of inaccurate reports in the local media circulated by Conservatives and their Independent ‘friends’, Mr George followed through with his prior commitment and voted against plans for the creation of a Single Unitary Authority in Cornwall (something which Conservative and Independent councillors on Kerrier and Penwith Councils voted for!). Throughout 2007 he had voted against the Government’s legislation which paved the way for local government reorganisation.
• Unitary Authority II As the Unitary Authority is going to happen, Mr George is working with those planning for its creation to help ensure that it becomes a powerful and strategic body, but with strong local decision-making and service delivery.
• Residents’ Survey He has received over a 10% response to his survey of 30,000 local residents. His report is to be published in the coming weeks.
• Village Visits He has organised visits to 50 local communities throughout his West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly constituency of St Ives during the month of September.
• Racist graffiti Mr George has issued repeated strong words of condemnation against those who have defaced a building intended as an Islamic centre with racist graffiti. Mr George is the President of the Council for Racial Equality in Cornwall.
• Victims of Violence He continues to press for greater protections and rights for victims and protection for those threatened with violence. He has raised a number of very specific issues with Ministers in the Ministry of Justice and will hold further meetings with Ministers on specific cases later this year.
• Public Service Broadcasting He led the local Parliamentary campaign to maintain the highest standards of public service broadcasting in spite of what he describes as the ‘race to the bottom’ in the coming multi-channel digital age. Mr George is fighting to retain genuine local news gathering and documentary reporting – something which the Chief of ITV wants to reduce.
• Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme He is linked with the Royal Navy as a member of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme and has attended briefings on strategy and met many personnel. He will be visiting the Helmond Province in Afghanistan for a week later in the year.
• British cycling Mr George is a keen cyclist and the Parliamentary sponsor for British Cycling in the Sports Parliamentary Fellowship Scheme. He met the Olympic planning team in the Manchester Velodrome shortly before they departed for Beijing. Mr George makes no extravagant claims that he inspired the Team to victory in the Olympics!
• What a sport Mr George continues to turn out for the Parliamentary football team, for the cricket team (occasionally as Captain) and was one of the victorious eight who won the Parliamentary Tug of War against the Lords in June!