Prospective Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy has been out and about informing local residents about proposals to close several village phone boxes across North Lincolnshire.

Andrew explains, "There are currently proposals to shut down phone boxes in the following villages -  South Ferriby, Horkstow (see picture), Bonby, Elsham, Melton Ross, Belton, Gunness, Dragonby, Wressle, Roxby, Coleby, Whitton, West Halton & Low Burnham.

We have been out and informed residents in many of the affected areas about how they can take part in the consultation process on these proposed closures. Whilst I know many of us now rely on our mobiles, there are good reasons for saving village phone boxes. Indeed, they are an important part of the village street scene.

It is important that anyone with a strong opinion on the proposals makes their views known by July 9th. Please get in contact if you would like to know how you can make your views known."

It was my privilege to open the Burringham Fun Day yesterday which, despite a pour down later on, seemed to be a success. As usual I lucked out on the raffle (see photo) but did manage to come away with a nice bottle from the Committee for opening the event.

The Village Hall Committee do a great job in keeping the Village Hall running and deserve full marks for the effort they go to in organising the Fun Day. Last year I was there with a petition calling for action to improve road safety in the village which eventually led to action.

We will be back in the Village Hall on Friday night as we are organising a quiz night for local party members and supporters.

According to research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research the average family this year is £400 worse off thanks to Gordon Brown and the Labour Government. The doubling of the ten pence tax rate, the increases in car taxes and hikes in Council Tax have all hit hard working families and individuals hard.

I accept that the Government cannot control everything that happens in the world economy but there are things it can do to lessen the impact. Sadly, instead of helping hard-working families out, Gordon Brown and Labour have decided to burden them with even more tax rises.

Worst of all, they have decided to hammer the poorest families and workers the hardest.

I am delighted to have been able to support the 'Goole Gift Campaign for Heroes' who are doing a fantastic job in sending parcels to our brave troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kerry and Darren Smith who run the campaign from their home in Swinefleet are doing a great job and deserve our support.

I wanted to do a little something so I decided to put a request for support in my most recent newspaper which was delivered across Brigg and Goole. We have had residents dropping in items for the parcels to the office and even got an offer of 60 boxes of Haribo sweets from Haribo! We are storing the rest in our office in Normanby until the first few boxes are dispatched!

The photo above shows me delivering some of the boxes to Kerry and Darren. Haribo deserve our thanks in supporting this non-political campaign. Well done to Haribo and well done to Kerry and Darren.

Anyone wanting to contribute items to the parcels can either drop them into our office at 32 Main Street in Normanby or to the office of the Goole Times or Goole Courier in Goole. Items needed incled, talc, deodorants, soups, sachet food, pot noodle type foods, cotton socks, energy bars etc.

Prospective Brigg MP Andrew Percy and Brigg Councillor Nigel Sherwood met with representatives of the East Midlands Ambulance Trust to discuss local residents’ concerns over the recent changes to the Brigg Ambulance and to present their petition which has attracted over 1000 signatures locally.

Prospective MP Andrew Percy says, “Nigel and I were very pleased to be able to meet with the Trust and to hold what we felt was a very constructive meeting. We explained to the Trust that the concern of local people was not so much the introduction of the fast response vehicles, but rather the replacement of the Ambulance at Health Place which has resulted from those changes. In particular, we explained that local residents were concerned that they could now be waiting much longer for an ambulance to attend.

"The Trust assured us that the changes were happening as a result of national changes and that they very much wanted to work with local residents in bringing forward these changes. They were therefore able to assure us that the changes will be monitored closely for the next year and then reviewed next April.

"I explained to the Trust that one of the biggest concerns locally was that patients needing an ambulance may have to wait for one of the fast response vehicles to attend before an ambulance was dispatched. The Trust explained that the likelihood of that happening was very slim as in specific cases an ambulance will automatically be dispatched along with one of the fast response vehicles.

"Nigel and I are grateful to the Trust for allowing us to meet with them to explain the concerns of local residents. We found them very open to our concerns and we welcome their pledge to monitor the impact these changes have locally.

"Our ambulance crews do a first class job and deserve our support. The decision has now been taken and so all we can do is monitor the changes. That is certainly what we shall be doing and if we feel that local people are receiving a substandard service we shall be the first to speak out."

The above are all headlines in the news today and sum up just what a mess Labour have got Britain in to. Everyone I speak to at the moment just seems to be crying out for a change of Government and for Labour to be booted out.

It comes to something when a Government can manage in the same year to increase pensioner poverty, increase child poverty, undermine the housing market and still manage to raise taxes on hard working people. In fact, Labour's most recent tax changes, to scrap the 10p tax rate and raise taxes on older cars, actually hit some of our poorest people the hardest.

Who knows what people will think come the election. I am certainly not going to get excited by all these massive opinion polls leads we seem to have at the moment. Polls this far from an election mean nothing.

All I know is that local people are finding life harder and more expensive by the day. Our local Labour MP, who as the Vice Chairman of the Labour Party is at the heart of this Labour Government, seems to have little to say about any of these huge issues. Just the usual cheap photo opportunities and self-promotion in the local press. Not much use to local people facing higher taxes or negative equity! No wonder so many ex-Labour voters are contacting me to offer support.