Prospective Conservative MP for Brigg and local Councillors Carl Sherwood and Nigel Sherwood have slammed proposals by the East Midlands Ambulance Trust to axe the Ambulance in Brigg and replace it with fast response cars instead. The proposals are also being opposed by Brigg Town Council and have been criticised by local doctors.

Councillor Nigel Sherwood explains, “We became aware of rumours regarding the future of the ambulance recently and immediately wrote to the Ambulance Trust seeking assurances about the future of the ambulance.

We are therefore totally shocked to discover that those rumours have turned out to be correct and that Brigg will now lose its only ambulance. Residents will recall that up until a few years Brigg had its own Ambulance Station, and we are now seeing a further reduction in the cover offered to local residents.

If these changes go ahead there will be no vehicle based in Brigg with a stretcher on board and my concern, which is shared by local doctors, is that this change is being driven more by Government targets on response times that it is patient care.”

Prospective Brigg MP Andrew Percy adds, “The Ambulance Trust have explained that these changes are being proposed as a result of Government reviews. Residents quite rightly want to know that when they ring for an ambulance, there will be one available locally.

"I also agree very strongly with the comments of Brigg Town Council who have criticised the lack of consultation over these proposals. The East Midlands Ambulance Trust do not even mention the changes on their own website.”

Cllr Carl Sherwood adds, “Nobody would object to the use of the fast response vehicles so long as the local Ambulance was retained too. Sadly, this is not the case and that is why it is important we do all we can to fight to keep our local Ambulance here in Brigg.”

Click here to sign Andrew's petition against the cuts.

Prospective Brigg & Goole MP Andrew Percy this week expressed concern about official figures which have revealed not only a growing number of under-age drinkers are being admitted to hospital, but also that the laws against under-age drinking are not being properly enforced. This disturbing news coincides with the report from Crime Concern which has found that “drinking to get drunk is starting younger with serious consequences to health and crime”. Almost four in ten young people now start drinking at the age of 13, and half of their parents turning a blind eye.

• Figures – unearthed by the Conservatives in Parliament – reveal that under-age children who break the law by buying alcohol illegally are not being held to account. Fewer than a hundred individuals a year are punished for trying to buy alcohol illegally.

• In the Humberside Polce area just two under 18s were proceeded against in the magistrates courts for purchasing alcohol illegally between 2004-06 (most recent figures available). Worse still not a single teenager under 18 was cautioned for buying alcohol illegally during that time. In 2006 just 2 penalty notices for disorder were issued to young people in Humberside for the illegal purchasing of alcohol. 
   
• What is more, a growing number of children are now being hospitalised after being admitted to A&E due to alcohol misuse, with 860 incidents across the Yorkshire and the Humber Strategic Health Authority last year. Across the country a whole, there has been an increase of 40 per cent since 2000.

Prospective MP Andrew Percy says: “Far from making it more difficult for young people to get hold of alcohol, this Government has made it easier by introducing 24 hour off-licences. Labour’s new legislation, which was introduced in 2003 and supported by our current Labour MP, makes it possible for off-licences to apply to sell alcohol round the clock and actually excludes all but a handful of residents who live within a couple of hundred yards of a premise from objecting to the licence for a late bar or off-licence.

Young people getting hold of alcohol is a really serous issue and one which as a school teacher I know is getting worse. Most of our young people are responsible individuals but we need to accept that we have a growing minority of teenagers for whom getting drunk on the street is all part of a normal Friday or Saturday night. I find that incredibly sad as it not only causes problems for local residents it also means that we have a number of young people who are condemned to failure well before their lives have really started.”

My day today can best be summarised as frost and snakes. I was delighted today to have been invited to the one year anniversary of the Swinefleet Play Group which is held in the Community Hall in the village. Little did I know that the invitation also included a number of animals and reptiles provided by a group who demonstrate animals to children. I held the snake but was more than happy to hand it back very quickly. The Play Group are doing a great job and the mums and kids present seemed to really enjoy themselves. Lets hope the group goes from strength to strength.

The frost I referred to earlier can be seen in the photo to the left which I took on my way back to Airmyn for lunch. I'm no David Bailey but I'm not too unhappy about this effort, the fog was really eerie!

We have received hundreds of responses to our petitions against the Environment Agency's River Trent Flood Plan which proposes increasing flood risk in the Isle of Axholme, Burringham and Gunness areas. Hundreds of local people have returned our petitions and many of them have thanked us for informing them about this plan.

The plan would reduce flood risk management locally by ruling out any improvements to the River Trent bank (such as at Owston Ferry where I am pictured) or maintenance of the local pumping stations. I recently attended the Axholme Drainage Board meeting who have made a very strong objection to these proposals.

Sadly, Labour locally have tried to politicise this issue by launching a series of very nasty attacks on those who are opposing plan. We have come to expect this sort of behaviour which in this case is a bit odd as these plans are being drawn up at the behest of the Labour Government.

This is an issue we all need to work together on; that's why we will ignore Labour's negative tactics which local people have come to expect. We must all work together for the interests of our area and that is what we will continue to do.

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has signed the petition and showed their support for our local area. Anyone who wants to add their name to the petition can do so by e-mailing me on brigg.goole@gmail.com or by calling our local office.

Just read an amusing story on our current Labour MP's website which tries to cleverly spin his way out of his support for the Government's Post Office policies which have closed thousands of Post Offices, including many locally. We must remember that our MP is Vice Chairman of the Labour Party in London and was paid public money as a whip to force the Government's policies through Parliament! He must think local people are thoroughly stupid if he believes local people are going to think he had nothing to do with these policies.

It reminded me of one of my pupils at school, "Sir, it wasn't me, honest." I'm not sure if he was too busy filling in an expense claim to notice, but under the Government he has loyally supported since 1997, almost unquestioningly,  a quarter of the Post Office network has been closed and a further 2,500 are set to be closed. No wonder he had to get his staff to write to the paper to try and dig him out of the Post Office closure hole. You couldn't make it up!

With action like this its no wonder so many former Labour voters (and some former Labour members) locally keep writing and e-mailing me to say they will be supporting me at the next election.

It just proves we need a local MP who will stand up for the area no matter who is in power, not one who will loyally support unpopular policies at Westminster while hoping local people wont notice.