Oh dear, our poor old Labour MP really should be more careful when jumping on a bandwagon. For sometime now Cllr Rob Waltham and I have been campaigning to try to win the return of the bus to Hilton Avenue in Gunness. In fairness Rob has worked like a trooper on the issue and so really deserves the credit.

Anyway, through the Burringham and Gunness Community Chest we agreed to fund a Friday shopper service ourselves to help pensioners get into town to do their shopping. The Council refused to help and in fact Labour Councillors actually criticised us for putting the service on! They would rather residents had no service at all.

Following huge pressure, the bus service will now return to the Hilton Avenue area, although we will continue to provide our shopper service too, which we have new plans for too.

Sadly, the local Labour MP thought he would try and jump on the bandwagon and claim credit for the service by putting a leaflet around the area. The leaflet was paid for by our taxes as it was funded by the communications allowance - another expense MPs claim and which you and I pay for.

Judging by the response we have received from local residents that was a very very bad idea. Many residents we spoke to today were furious with his claims which frankly do not hold up to scrutiny. Quite a few residents said that besides not knowing who he was they couldn't believe he was trying to claim credit for something which Rob has so visibly worked for. Rob was the one who organised the petitions when the service was cut, raised it at Council and who found a replacement Friday service for the pensioners.

I thought I would blog this incident because it does rather demonstrate what our MP is up to in various parts of the constituency. Just last week I had a phone conversation with somebody from Snaith who said they really felt our MP was making a bit of a fool of himself at the moment. I can't argue with that, the only problem is that he is using taxpayers money in the process.

We shall certainly be watching very closely to see just how much of your money our MP uses to promote himself in the coming months and years.

I attended the marathon 5 hour Fire Authority meeting last Friday at which the Fire Authority was to make a decision on the proposed cuts to the service. Needless to say, our local Labour MP who claims to be so interested in this issue never bothered to turn up!

Anyway, a decision of sorts was taken and that decision was that there should be a moritorium on the proposed closures for the next three months so that the Fire Service officers could go away and consider other options and, importantly, begin a dialogue with the Fire Brigades Union to find a more acceptable way forward.

That proposal came from one of our own Councillors, John Briggs, who highlighted the fact that the Fire Brigade had not provided a range of options for members and had failed to take into account such important issues as future development, the regional spacial strategy and the flood cathcment plans which are currently being drawn up.

Contrary to the impression given by my opponent in his increasingly bizarre ramblings - as commented upon by a number of residents to me - that proposal was agreed by Councillors of ALL parties.

That is rather embarrassing to Gordon Brown's Labour MP for Brigg and Goole who has been running around trying to give the impression that there is some sort of political split on this issue. That is not helpful and certainly proves that his interest in this matter is more about political points, than it is genuine concern for local residents.

I attended North Lincolnshire Council's Scrutiny Committee hearing on Monday which considered the issue of the Brigg Ambulance which the East Midlands Ambulance Trust are proposing to replace with fast response cars instead.

The Trust confirmed that -

• The Ambulance was being replaced because of changes introduced by Government .reviews
• The Trust has received a 'significant' cut in funding this year and so was being forced to consider its resources very carefully.
• They would review the situation in 12 months time to assess the impact.

The Ambulance will be replaced by 1 x 24 hour fast response vehicle and 1 x 8 hour fast response vehicle. They also claimed that the area will also be covered by another fast response vehicle bases, oddly, in Ashby. There was also confusion as to when the change will come into force but it looks likely that it will be the end of this month.

Whilst I appreciate that Trust is only implementing Government recommendations, I do remain deeply concerned that the changes will mean that if an Ambulance is needed in the Brigg and Wolds area it will now have to come from much further away.

Many thanks to all those residents who have signed our petition against the cuts, I am hoping to present it to the trust shortly.

We are continuing our campaign against the proposed fire cuts locally and I am delighted to report that every Conservative Councillor in the Brigg and Goole constituency, except the Fire Authority member who can say nothing at this stage, has now come out against the cuts. I also recently spoke at the Fire Brigade's Union rally against the cuts, as pictured! My first time speaking at a rally, it was a shame that none of the Labour MPs who claim to oppose the cuts turned up. Perhaps they were a little embarrassed that people have started to realise that the cuts are only happening because of the 2004 Fire and Rescue Services Act which our Labour MPs voted for!

Our campaign against the cuts continued on Wednesday at East Riding Full Council meeting when Cllr Caroline Fox and Cllr Gordon Megson, who represent Snaith, Airmyn, Rawcliffe and the Marshlands Ward, spoke out against the plans to downgrade one of the pumps at Goole. Sadly, other Councillors across the party divide decided to vote for a motion that broadly supported the Fire Authority proposals but did express some concerns about the Goole proposals and asked for some assurances before any changes go ahead.

Caroline, Gordon and other local Conservative Councillors voted against that and instead voted to ask the Fire Authority to look again at the issue. I have always said that I put local people, not party politics, first and that is why I quite openly condemn those Conservative Councillors from other areas who did not join Caroline and Gordon in voting for that re-think. Unlike our Labour MP, I actually bothered to turn up to the East Riding Council meeting to support the fire-fighters who were protesting outside. They do a great job and they deserve our support.

In any event, the East Riding Council vote means very little as the final decision will be taken next week by the Fire Authority. Here in Brigg and Goole, our conscience is clear, the local Conservatives are 100% opposed to these cuts and will continue to be so.

We will continue to do all we can to oppose these cuts.