An interesting leak has just come my way informing me that one well known union has apparently committed a 'generous' donation to the local Labour Party. Apparently, a local Labour worthy has approached another union requesting cash too, as a matter of urgency!

You would think that with their workers suffering in the worst recession since the war, unions would have better things to spend their money on rather than funding the party of government which created much of this recession. We are after all the only major economy still in recession.

I cant verify the leak which was made to me but if it is true that the unions are trying to buy this constituency, it will certainly help my campaign in much of this constituency. We shall be looking very carefully to see whether any donations have been registered and certainly there is something in the information provided to me which may merit further investigation.

The saga of MPs' expenses seems never ending and with just cause. Today we have seen more claims released, those since the spotlight of public scrutiny was shone on them earlier this year.

I cant really figure out what goes through the brains of many of these MPs. Having claimed hundreds of thousands of pounds over the years on various expenses, many of them have all of a sudden stopped claiming a penny since the release of their past claims. Nothing says guilty more than to stop claiming for something you have spent years claiming for, just because the public can now see the claims.

Now, its a great thing that many of them have stopped claiming but they must think the public are stupid if they honestly believe that claiming nothing for the last few months before an election is going to someway curry favour with the public.

Here in Brigg and Goole our Labour MP has claimed tens and tens of thousands of pound in food and communication and other expenses over the years. We shall certainly be making sure the public know about all the claims for first class travel (good socialist), food and publicity that our MP has claimed.£15,000 on food is nothing to sniff at after all.

What fools these people are!

Myself and Cllr Liz Redfern were delighted to be guests of the Epworth Rural Day Centre last Wednesday for the group's Christmas Party. We had a great old time and were entertained with live music from local singer Carol Shipley as well as the Beltonians. Carol has a great voice and sang a good range of songs. The forties sing a long we enjoyed after lunch was also great fun. Credit must go to the dedicated volunteers who run this group, they provide an excellent local service.

As you can no doubt imagine, I've got lots of Christmas events on this year but the most stressful of all was our school Christmas play on Friday! My class were superb and they managed to remember all of their lines. We even had live donkeys!

Friday evening I was in Brigg for the Christmas lights turn on and the fair. It was a great event and I had a really warm welcome from people. Quite a few people stopped me to wish me luck. I think the work we have done locally is really paying off as wherever I go at the moment people seem to want to stop me and wish me luck. I even get stopped while doing my shopping in Tesco, Goole!

Andrew Percy joined Cllr Rob Waltham at the Environment Agency presentation in Gunness recently. The presentation set out the agency's proposed works as part of the Gunness flood defence improvement scheme which should improve protection for Gunness and western Scunthorpe.

Prospective MP Andrew Percy explains, "We were really keen that any residents with a view on this popped along to the presentation, which is why we leafletted the entire village before the event to let residents know.

Basically, the Environment Agency plan to strengthen the existing defences along the River Trent by driving vinyl sheet piles along the length of the defences from Grove Wharf to Gunness Wharf. This work is necessary because of the danger of slippage and failure of the banks in certain flood events.

The works are due to start in the new year and should last 6 months and will sadly mean the closure of the footpath along the riverbank until the works are completed.

Rob and I were keen to make known to the Environment Agency our view that they must ensure that disruption to local residents is kept to a minimum whilst the works are completed."

A really busy few days here. On Friday I judged the Christmas Card competition at Brigg Primary School which was sponsored by HITS Brigg. The other judges included the Town Mayor of Brigg and Councillor Carl Sherwood. I judged the Year 1/2 card and presented the prize at a full assembly of the school. Great kids and great fun.

Saturday was very busy with visits to Flixborough, Skippingdales and then to Brigg to hand over a cheque for £100 to the Climb4Heroes team who are a group of local lads looking to climb Mount Kilimanjaro next year to raise money for the Help for Heroes Charity. We had a Christmas Fair at the Angel Suite going on so I handed it over after the fair (see photo).

Monday was very busy with a visit to County Hall in Beverley with three of the Goole Mental Health Carers. We met with Cllr Ros Jump who is responsible for the health portfolio to discuss the mental health service in the town since the closure of Barts House earlier this year. Then it was back to Goole for a meeting with the Goole Development Trust before heading off to Drax Power Station for an Energy Forum!

Andrew Percy chaired a meeting at Drax Social Club last Thursday to discuss fears over a new waste incinerator.

The concerns relate to a proposal by Scottish and Southern Electricity to construct a multi-fuel combined heat and power incinerator at the Ferrbridge Power Station. Concerns have been raised about the pollution generated from this facility and the impact the emissions could have on the Goole, Snaith and Isle of Axholme areas. The facility would burn a variety of fuels including biomass and waste wood and would have the capacity to generate 90 megawatts of power.

Prospective MP Andrew Percy says, “I was contacted by the Chairman of a campaign group, A.I.R.E, who are fighting this proposal who asked me to Chair the meeting. The group are fighting the proposal on the basis of concerns about what will be burned at the facility and the impact these emissions could have on public health.

The meeting was addressed by Dr Dick Van Steenis MBBS who been involved in research into health damage resulting from industrial air pollution since January 1995. Dr Van Steenis has been involved in campaigns against incinerators in various parts of the country.

The main crux of the concerns raised at the meeting related to the emissions from these facilities and the impact they can have on the health of people living in the vicinity of them. Dr Van Steenis was very clear that in his view people in our area would be affected by the emissions.

I’m no expert on incineration but I would obviously be very concerned at anything which would impact negatively on our area. We really need to be assured that there will be no negative impact on local health. It is really important that anyone who is concerned about either of these proposals makes their views known as soon as possible.”