Yesterday I attended the launch of the Humber Bridge Toll Study at Westminster. The study was paid for by the four Councils in the Humber area and quite cleary shows that the region would benefit to the tune of £1.1 billion pound if the tolls were removed.

The launch event itself was a little taken over by the Labour MPs and Labour run North Lincs Council and the photos in the local press prove this. To actually get into the event you needed special permission from one of the Labour MPs which is a bit rich considering the fuss they created over David Cameron's visit to Brigg!

Anyway, cheap photo opportunities aside, the important thing is that the study shows quite clearly that the regions economy and workforce would benefit from the removal of the tolls. That's why the response of the Government to the study was a little disappointed as they basically said that it was not a matter for them but was a local matter!

We all need to keep pulling in the same direction on this issue although there will come a point if the Government keeps slamming the door in our faces when we may have to look at whether or not that approach is working. For now though we all have to keep pushing for action to remove or reduce the tolls significantly.

There will be further meetings between all the parties in the near future to try to agree our next line of attack. We need to all push in the same direction and speak with one voice and then just possibly the Department for Transport might listen to us.

Credit to the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce for all the work they did on this too, and also to the Humber Action Against Tolls campaign group who have been pushing on this for years now.

Photo: Me, Cllr Liz Redfern & Graham Stuart MP (Beverley)  at Westminster with the report.

Prospective MP Andrew Percy took the fight to protect local jobs to the Conservative Party Conference in recently where Andrew raised the issue of recent Government changes to the way businesses operating on the docks in Goole are taxed.

Andrew reports, "As a result of the Labour Government changing the way businesses operating on the docks are taxed, businesses have been left with massive tax bills backdated for three years. I have met with some of the affected businesses who told me that these changes could cause businesses to stop their plans for expansion or, even worse, put some of them out of business.

"This would mean local jobs would be lost and I therefore put my name down to speak at the Conservative Party Conference and was delighted to be called to speak. I explained what impact the changes could have locally and how important it was that local jobs were protected.

"I am therefore delighted that David Cameron has taken this issue up and we must all hope that the Government will see sense and change their minds. We need a Government that supports local jobs, not one that puts them at risk."

So there we are, after the long long long taxpayer funded MP's holiday, Parliament finally went back to work today!

Our MP was there, poised ready to ask a question on the burning issues of the day. Could it be a question about the credit crunch, perhaps a question about the local people losing their jobs or perhaps a question seeking help for those struggling to pay their mortgages locally?

Gordon Brown's Labour MP finally got to his feet, the near empty chamber waited with baited breath for our Labour MP to deliver a powerful message  on behalf of the people of Brigg and Goole. And then, our MP rose to ask a question in the Sport and Culture Question Period on the subject of football club ownership!

As important as I am sure these issues are to many, I would have thought that after weeks of financial meltdown, our MP could have found more pressing issues to address!

I have just finished watching Gordon Brown's speech which I have to say I found very hard to follow. He kept talking about building a fair society which was surely an admission that having been in power for 11 years they have built anything but a fair society. I also thought it was insulting to describe the NHS as Labour's NHS. It's not their NHS, it belongs to the people and for a failing Prime Minister to try to claim ownership of it is an insult to the nurses and doctors who work hard day in day out looking after the nation's health.

I tried to listen to him about education but once again he never managed to explain why under this Labour Government the gap between the best performing schools and the worst performing schools is widening, why social mobility is falling and why more and more kids are leaving school without basic literacy and numeracy skills. He should come and spend time in some of the tough inner city schools I have taught in and then he will see how in the last ten years his party have actually made it harder for kids from those schools to aspire to go to University or to do well in school. Some of their policies have actually made social mobility harder and have undermined school discipline to such an extent that in many schools teachers are little more than babysitters.

There was nothing about how he plans to bring bills down for families. This compares with Tory controlled East Riding Council who have promised that next years Council Tax increase will be below inflation and less than 4%. That is despite the Government providing East Riding residents with £96 less per person in funding than the national average. That amounts to £32 million pound in 'lost' grant.

Prospective Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy has played an instrumental role in stopping the abolition of the 120 year old Hull and Goole Port Health Authority which is charged with protecting public, animal and environmental health at the Humber Ports. The future of the Authority was under threat following a Best Value Review which considered abolishing the Authority altogether.

Prospective MP Andrew Percy, who is also Deputy Chairman of the Port Health Authority comments, "I was determined that this 120 year old institution should not simply be swept away because of a Government required review. The Port Health Authority has protected local people living near to the ports and wharves of Goole, Hull and North Lincolnshire for decades from the risks of disease and the environmental hazards which accompany international trade.

I was therefore delighted to be able to move against the proposal to abolish the body and I am especially pleased to have won the support of other parties represented on the board. Goole Labour Councillor Keith Moore deserves special mention for the way he spoke in defence of the Port Health Authority too and it was great to be able to work with Keith on this important issue.

There are other threats to the Port Health Authority's continued existence but I hope that these can also be resolved and that this 120 year old body will be allowed to continue working to protect the public health of those people who live near the Humber ports."

I always feel bad that I never seem to have the time to keep this blog updated as much as I should do. Although to be honest I do wonder whether or not those who do write daily blogs are really telling us that they don't actually have that much to do!   

Anyway, I have been away on my summer holiday over the weekend, on a canal boat with some friends in Warwickshire. The weather was great and I got a good break from politics and all that. The weather was great although I am not sure I did my fair share of the locks though and for some reason nobody seemed keen that I should steer the boat!

I did however buy the papers on Sunday to read an interesting marginal seats opinion poll which not only said that Brigg and Goole would easily turn blue if there was an election tomorrow but also that this area was presently seeing the biggest swing to the Conservatives of anywhere in the country and that on the current swing Scunthorpe would also turn Conservative!

Now, I never get excited about polls as they really mean nothing when you consider that we are 18 months from a probable General Election. This poll did however confirm our own polling and also confirm what we are finding on the doorstep at the moment. When you consider that at the 2007 local elections the Conservative share of the vote in Brigg and Goole (both in the East Riding and in the North Lincs parts) was higher than in 2003 and that we seem to be finding an awful lot of people on the doorstep saying they will never vote Labour again, then it does look as though local people are turning away from Labour.

I prefer not to think too much about polls as I prefer to just carry on working hard and let people make their own minds up. I was however surprised to read that it predicted a Conservative victory in Scunthorpe too. I guess only time will tell!

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending the Prostate Cancer Charity event held in the Sports hall in Snaith. The event was really well organised by Kevin Megson who has himself battled the disease.

I got a call from Kevin's mother Ann last night to tell me that the event had raised over £10,000 which is really fantastic. My Grandad, who was first class, sadly died from this disease and so I was delighted to be able to sponsor a table at the event which I hope will help strike a blow for this awful disease.

A really big well done has to go to Kevin and his brothers who I know worked flat out to make this event a success. Judging by the fun people had on Saturday and by the money raised, their efforts have really paid off. Well done lads!

Prospective Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy has welcomed the recent involvement of local Labour MPs in the campaign to force a re-think of Government changes to the way businesses operating on the docks in Goole are rated. The reassesments of the way in which non-domestic business rates are applied will leave businesses operating on port land with massive bills back-dated for three years! Local jobs will be put at risk.

Andrew Percy explains: "Both David Davis MP and I have been involved in this issue for some time and have been working closely with the Lib Dem Leader of Hull City Council where businesses operating on the ports have already been revalued, leaving many of them with back-dated bills running into millions. The bills for Goole will be sent out shortly and we are extremely concerned at the impact this could have on local jobs.

"On September 5^th I met with David Cameron MP whilst he was visiting the Brigg and Goole constituency and raised this matter with him too. I also arranged for David to meet with two representatives of the businesses affected and as a result they were able to question him on the matter. David agreed to take up this matter and to help apply as much pressure to the Government as possible in the hope that they will stop the retrospective collection of the rates.

"That is why I now welcome the involvement of local Labour MPs who have now agreed to get involved on this issue too. We all need to work together to encourage the Government to stop this harmful revaluation which could put local businesses and jobs at risk.

"It is really positive that Labour MPs have now woken up to this issue and joined the campaign against this unfairness. They are after all the ones who have a direct line to Government Ministers and so we expect them to deliver a u-turn from the Government."

David Davis MP added: "This announcement could not have come at a worse time for the affected local businesses. Many businesses are already struggling to cope with the economic downturn, increased energy and business costs and they will now be hit with a massive tax bill, back dated for three years. If the Government is so determined to bring these changes in they should have made their intentions clear to businesses well in advance so that they could include them in their future business planning."

Photo: Andrew on a previous visit to the Goole Docks with the Shadow Environment Secretary.

I have just been highlighted by a local resident to the comments on my opponents blog regarding the issues raised at the Cameron Direct event in Brigg last Firday.

Apart from some bare faced lies about the event itself, Mr Cawsey describes the event as been 'bland and of little local interest.'  Well, I am sure that the pensioners who attended to ask about cancelled operations and the parents of serving troops in Afghanistan who wanted to know how a Conservative Government would better care for their sons and daughters, might think those issues are of interest. Apparently, the fact that the Government is proposing to back tax businesses on the docks in Goole millions of pounds putting local jobs at risk, is of 'no local interest' to our Labour MP! 

So now it's official, our MP, the man who is paid thousands of pounds in public money to represent us, thinks that the welfare of our troops, the NHS, Council Tax and farming issues are all of little concern!

If ever you wanted proof that Labour have lost it locally, their reaction in the run up to, and since David Cameron's visit to Brigg, proves it!.

I shall look forward to making sure residents know that our MP does not think these issues are of any local interest!

Last Saturday I has the privilege of attending the unveiling of the new war memorial in Epworth. Credit must go to those members of the Royal British Legion who have worked so hard on this project. As anyone who has ever sat through one of my lessons on World War One or World War Two will attest, remembering those who have served our nation in conflict is something I am passionate about.

Following the ceremony I was able to speak to a number of veterans including one who had served in the Polish Brigade in World War Two. Although we only had a brief chat, I was fascinated to hear about his time serving in Italy. We really do owe people like him a great amount of gratitude and I am pleased that there seems to be renewed interest in remembering those who served not only in the two major conflicts of the 20th century, but also in the countless other conflicts Britons have fought in the world over.

This renewed interest is something I have noticed in the classroom where young people seem genuinely interested in learning more about the conflicts of the past and in remembering those who served our nation. Although I do not get as much free time as I would like, when I do I often spend it working on my research into my family who served in World War One. I recently found the full service record of one of my Great Grandfathers and am now busy piecing together his war story. He did serve 4 years and 252 days on the Western Front and so he certainly has quite a story! Needless to say he came back from war with a medal for gallantry which nobody knew about and simply slipped back into ordinary life as a postman.

Less inspiringly, I also recently attended the East Riding Council's 'On the Road' event in Snaith which was held at the Sports Hall in Snaith. The concept of empowering local residents to come and raise issues of concern with the leaders of East Riding Council is a good one. However, I did find the way in which these events are structured a little stale. Still, at least the Council bothered to make the effort to get out into the community and meet with local people.