Every now and then in politics something happens that just puts everything into perspective. I had one of those days last week when I joined David Davis MP in meeting with two veterans of the 1944 Normandy landings.

The reason for our meeting was because the Government has refused to fund the veteran's trip to Normandy next year to mark the 65th anniversary of the landings. The trip is to be the last official visit by the Normandy Veterans Association. The Association will be disbanded after that and so this is the last official opportunity for the veterans to visit their fallen comrades. The Government has said it wont pay for another trip until 2044!!! What an out and out insult to these remaining few men.

Fortunately, David Davis MP took up the fight on behalf of the veterans and wrote to the Minister demanding funding. The Minister's response was unbelievable, he suggested they apply to the Big Lottery for funding! Is that really the way Britain treats its veterans? I can't imagine our American cousins being so disrespectful.

David decided to launch an appeal along with one of the local veteran's branches and we have thus far raised nearly £10,000 of the £11,000 needed. I consider it a privilege to have been involved in helping David's campaign by writing to local businesses to ask for help. Considering how businesses and local people are struggling at the moment it was touching that so many have responded so generously to this campaign. Helping the veterans was especially important to me as my Granddad was one of those who entered France through Normandy in 1944. When he passed away I was handed his medals and I consider them some of the most important things I own.

I am photoed with veterans  John Ainsworth and Bill Feller. Bill was in an infantry regiment and John served with an artillery unit. They both shared their memories with us and it is clear that despite the passing of some 65 years, their experiences still stir up deep emotions.

If anyone would like to donate to the appeal, please get in touch.

Prospective Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy has this week welcomed a Government U-turn on proposed changes to the way doctors can dispense medicines to patients living over 1 mile from their doctor’s surgery. Many residents in North Lincs had expressed their concern over the way the changes would have impacted on their communities.

Andrew Percy recently welcomed Shadow Health Minister Mark Simmonds MP to Epworth to meet with local GPs who were concerned about the proposed changes.

Welcoming the climbdown Andrew Percy said: “I am pleased that the Government has seen sense and decided to agree with ourselves and a huge number of doctors and patients who all opposed the proposed changes. As a result, patients who live more than one mile away from their doctor’s surgery can now continue to have their doctor dispense their medicines should they so wish. The Government’s proposed changes would have stopped that practice and would have taken choice away from patients.

“The dispensing doctor service is a well used and much valued service in our rural communities. Many dispensing doctors use the profits made on dispensing medicines to provide additional health services from their practices which would also have been put under threat had the Government got its way.

“We must now hope that this will be the end of Government meddling in this much valued service.”

So I returned from a trip away to a mountain of post, one of which was a letter from the Standards Committee at North Lincs Council responding to a complaint I made about a Labour Councillor. The complaint related to the actions of Cllr Grant during David Cameron's recent visit to Brigg. On which subject I should add we have still not had a visit by Gordon Brown!

Anyway, the Committee is not able to rule on childishness and so can't take any action, they did however agree with me that the language used by Cllr Grant during this episode was unnecessary. You often find people who are not confident with their own abilities tend to resort to explosive and inappropriate language. Labour's behaviour during this whole episode sadly reminded me much of the behaviour of naughty children in a school playground. They couldn't get what they wanted so they resorted to childish name calling and foot stamping. What a shame they didn't feel able to engage in a mature, intelligent and reasoned debate.

The serious issue of course is the fact that at a time when the resources of the Council and taxpayers money should have been used to address the concerns of local residents, they instead decided to use their offices at the Council to trash the visit of David Cameron to the area. I am sure that local residents will be delighted to know that their money was used for partisan purposes.

Anyway, I wont allow the actions of a little known Labour Councillor to detract from the bigger issues of the day. I see that the Chancellor has admitted that the recession will be deeper in Britain than elsewhere. He of course does not admit that this is because of the policies Labour have pursued in the last 11 years. It fills me with sadness that so many more people are going to lose their jobs here because of the decisions made by Labour and yet all Labour seem interested in is getting a bit of cheap publicity in preparation for a presumed snap election.

Speaking at the Treasury Select Committee last week, Chancellor Alistair Darling confirmed that the Labour Government planned to press ahead with plans to collect ruinous business rates from port businesses operating in Goole and Hull.

Andrew Percy said, "Rather than scrapping the back dated taxes, the Government has simply said businesses can spread the payments over a longer term. They have totally failed to understand the issue.

Sadly,  my opponent Mr Cawsey has welcomed the Government's decision to press ahead with collecting the rates over an 8 year period. I however am continuing to demand that the back-dated taxes be scrapped altogether.

Labour's decision to back-date the taxes to 2005 with little or no warning to local businesses was not only unfair it also puts local jobs at risk. At this moment in time we need Government to support local business not make it harder for them to survive. We must continue the fight."

Prospective Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy is calling for urgent new measures to help families and pensioners across our area who are facing soaring energy bills and are struggling to make ends meet this winter. The average gas and electricity bill has now soared to £1263 a year.

One in five families is now estimated to live in fuel poverty. According to Age Concern, there are more winter deaths in Britain than in colder European countries‚ such as Finland‚ Denmark and Austria.

Conservatives have launched a series of proposals to tackle fuel poverty, which would:

Andrew Percy said: "All customers should have the right to be told what the cheapest tariff is – instead of paying more because they are baffled by the complexity of what energy companies offer.

"We need immediate action to save the poorest from spending this winter worrying whether they can afford to keep warm."

So now we know, Labour plan to mortgage all of our futures for the hope of a few cheap headlines in the run up to the next general election. I've never seen a more cynical, more deceitful or more disgraceful piece of political spin than what we have seen from the Government.

A tax con dressed up as a tax cut that will actually raise fuel duty, beer duty, national insurance rates and even income tax. Borrowing levels will rise to a level never seen in the long long history of Great Britain. These are the tax rises Labour MPs have just cheered -

These increases amount to nearly £1,500 for every family over the next Parliament - and by 2012/13, anyone earning more than £20,000 will be paying more tax.

Our national debt will reach £1 trillion and families will be hit by the tax timebomb for years to come. This announcement was more about the survival of this worn out Government than it was about our country's economic fortunes. Disgraceful!

Photo: Andrew at home with his CO alarm

Prospective MP Andrew Percy is supporting Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week which runs from November 17^th to November 21^st. The week aims to alert people to the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Prospective MP Andrew Percy says: "Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a silent killer which is why I am supporting Carbon Monoxide Awareness week and am urging local residents to take a few minutes out to consider whether or not they may be at risk from this killer. Carbon monoxide is odourless and tasteless and in large quantities can kill very quickly.

"One of the best ways to guard against carbon monoxide poisoning is to buy a carbon monoxide alarm which can detect low levels of the gas and alert residents. If people already have an alarm then now would be a good time to test it and check the batteries are working. It’s also really important to get gas and fuel-burning appliances checked regularly by a qualified engineer.

"I chose to buy a carbon monoxide alarm last year for my home following stories I had read in the paper about deaths caused by the gas. The cost of the alarms is easily offset by the security I now feel knowing that I go to sleep protected by this alarm.”

Anyone wanting more information on carbon monoxide poisoning and how to avoid it can visit http://www.co-awareness.org/

Prospective Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy has welcomed the Government’s decision to renew the Post Office contract to handle pension and benefit payment card accounts until 2015.

The Post Office Card Account (POCA) was introduced in 2003 as part of the Government’s aim to phase out all cash payments via order books and giro cheques in favour of direct payment.

The POCA is used by more than 4 million people across the country. It had faced competition for running the Post Office Card Account from a private firm, but ministers have decided to close the bidding process.

Andrew Percy said:

"I am relieved and congratulate the Government on making the right decision. We have repeatedly called on the Government to maintain this account. The loss of POCA would have dealt a further blow to the Post Office network and would have caused another round of Post office closures.

"Many of us have campaigned long and hard for our local post offices and in particular those which serve rural communities. Labour has closed 4,875 post offices since 1997, nearly ten a week. The Government needs to do much more to put them on a healthy financial footing and this decision is a good start."

I never fail to be surprised by the depth of Labour's hypocrisy both locally and nationally. In the last few weeks we have had Labour running around telling us that they oppose the creation of salaries for Local Action Team Chairman in the East Riding.

You would think then that given the fact that they are so against these extra allowances they would also be against the creation of salaries of £12,000 for the Chairman of the new Parliamentary Regional Select Committees! Well apparently not, because last night Brigg and Goole Labour MP Ian Cawsey voted against an amendment to stop these Chairman been paid £12,000 extra at a total cost of £150,000!

Fortunately, thanks to the votes of Conservative MPs and 17 rebel Labour MPs the amendment was passed meaning that these MPs will not now get an extra £12,000 of public money.

Once again, we see an example of Labour saying one thing locally but then doing another at Westminster!

Prospective MP Andrew Percy has given his backing to a national campaign promoting warmer, better insulated homes. The Warm Homes Campaign is a national campaign that aims to cut the number of excess winter deaths and reduce cold-related illnesses by raising awareness of the help available to people who cannot afford to heat their homes in winter.

Andrew says, “I am delighted to be supporting this campaign as cold, damp homes affect the most vulnerable members of our community such as the elderly and people with disabilities. This is a really valuable campaign which highlights both the issue of fuel poverty whilst at the same time offering practical advice to residents who are struggling.

There is help available out there and I would encourage anyone who thinks they may qualify for assistance to get in touch with the various bodies. There is also a great deal of practical help out there on how people can cut their energy bills. One of the ways suggested is by turning our thermostats down by just one degree which could save up to £65 on our heating bills.

I am also encouraging residents to take up energy saving advice. One bit of advice I have been taking is to turn the heating down by just 1 degree (as modelled in the photo!!!) which can apparently save £65 on our energy bills.”

Further info is available at http://www.nea.org.uk/warm-homes-campaign-200/

What support is available?

Pension Credit – This scheme provides extra financial help for older people on low incomes. To check your entitlement to Pension Credit, telephone (freephone) 0800 99 1234

Warm Front – This scheme offers grants of up to £2,700 (£4,000 where oil-fired heating is installed) for a range of improvements including, loft and cavity wall insulation, heating improvements, draughtproofing and energy advice. For more info contact the Warm Front Team on 0800 316 2805

Winter Fuel Payments – More than 11 million people benefit from this payment and this year the payment is £250 for households aged 60-79 and £400 for households aged 80 or over. To find out if you qualify contact 0800 99 1234