Welcome back to my website which has been down for a couple of weeks. My website is devoted almost purely to local issues in the Brigg and Goole constituency and unlike other sites I could mention, I try to avoid self-indulgent ramblings and concentrate on the issues which are of importance to local residents.

River Trent Flood Catchment Plan

Despite the massive opposition to the above plan locally, the Environment Agency have decided to adopt the plan anywhere having altered the wording only slightly. It is still the aim of the Government Agency to reduce their activities on the Isle of Axholme in the hope of saving money. We will not know exactly what they are proposing until the more detailed strategies have been produced. The only glimmer of hope comes from the fact that the Agency have said that if the detailed strategies bring up new issues they may be willing to reconsider the policy approach adopted for the Isle. We must therefore wait to see what those detailed studies bring forth!

Brigg Ambulance

I attended the recent North Lincolnshire Scrutiny Panel hearing into the proposed changes which frankly did not really do this important issue justice. The Labour Chairman seemed determined to move the meeting on as quickly as possible and so there was little real question of the Ambulance Trust.

The Trust did however confirm that the Brigg Ambulance was being scrapped because of Government reviews and changes.  The Trust obviously have to do as they are told by the Labour Government but it is a shame that once again local people have no real say in these changes.

We have continued collecting signatures for our petition against the scrapping of the ambulance and have been on the streets of Brigg gaining more support. Everyone was so kind to us on the streets and i lost count of the number of people telling me they had had it with the current Government.

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.

Last night MPs had the choice of whether or not to vote for a motion in Parliament calling for a suspension of Post Office closures. 19 Labour MPs, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats went through the voting lobbies together to put an end to Post Office closures. Brigg and Goole's Labour MP did not! In his own words he said "Frankly, there would be no benefit to Brigg and Goole from the suspension {of Post Office closures} being proposed tonight." So keeping our Post Offices open is of no benefit to local people then?

Compare those words to the words of the Labour MP for Pendle who said, "If I did not vote for the Conservative motion now, I could not look my constituents in the eye; I simply could not, because I railed against the closure programme." So even by Mr Cawsey's own colleagues standards he is a hypocrite.

So now we know for all the bluster and fained concern locally, our MP does not think Post Office closures should be stopped. We now know that his local pronouncements are nothing more than cynical attempts to con local people into believing he has nothing to do with Labour's Post Office closures. Now we know that his local spin is just that, spin; designed to do nothing more than help him hang on to his marginal seat.

I have already been contacted by local residents who saw the story on the BBC website who have said how disgusted they were that our Labour MP didn't have the guts to vote to stop these closures.

Mr Cawsey is increasingly taking local people for fools. Just a couple of weeks ago he voted against a referendum on the EU Constitution, despite having been elected on such a pledge, and last night he once again decided loyalty to Labour was more important than loyalty to the people of Brigg, Goole and the Isle of Axholme.

I can assure residents that if I am elected to replace Mr Cawsey I will vote in Parliament in line with the interests of my constituents at all time, even if that brings me into conflict with my own party on occasion. My job now is to ensure that as many people as possible know how our Labour MP let us down last night.

I have just returned from Spring Forum up in Gateshead where I was able to raise a number of Brigg and Goole issues with our Shadow Ministers. David Cameron made a really good speech and the 16% lead in the polls today seem to suggest people are sick of the present bunch. However, I don't really pay much attention to polls as they can soon change.

Much of the talk at the forum was about Labour's tax rising budget. An average family in North Lincs and East Yorks is going to be hundreds of pounds per year worse off as a result of the budget and Labour's inflation busting Council Tax rise in North Lincolnshire - 11.7% over three years!

I went up to Gateshead with some of our Conservative Future members (pictured with me in Brigg). The CF group have provided a massive boost to my campaigning locally and I am surprised just how many young people have offered to help my campaign. It's probably because this Government has introduced tuition fees and made it almost impossible for young people to buy their own home.

Our efforts locally are certainly paying off. I have a great chat with a guy ion the Isle of Axholme the other day who told me he had never voted in any election but was going to support me next time because of the work we are doing locally. Comments like that make it all worthwhile.

Most amusing of all is that one of my pupils at school last week actually brought in one of my leaflets! For weeks now kids have been saying they keep getting my leaflets, I just didn't think they would bother to bring them in!

There are so many things going on at the moment I just have not had chance to update the website as much as I would have liked so here goes a quick update on various issues.

Wrawby Post Office

The decision to close the Post Office as part of Labour's Post Office closure programme has now, sadly, been confirmed. Over a quarter of the village wrote to me about this closure and told me they wanted it saving. It was not to be. However, the shop will be remaining open and my team and I have been doing our bit to drum up support for the shop by delivering some leaflets the shop produced to let residents know that they will be remaining open.

The Conservative Group on North Lincolnshire Council recently proposed putting Council terminals in every Post Office in North Lincs to help widen access to Council services and bring more people into our Post Offices. Labour Councillors from Scunthorpe blocked this move and instead decided to commit £15 million to the Baths Halls whilst raising Council Tax by nearly12% over three years!

Fire Cuts

I attended last Monday's Goole Town Council meeting which discussed the closures. The meeting was opened up to the public and so I spoke to express my concerns about the proposal and about the difficulty there would be in recruiting retained firefighters should they go ahead with plans to reduce one of the pumps from whole-time to retained. Judging by the round of applause my comments got, it is local residents are vehemently opposed to the meeting.

Swinefleet Flood Meeting

I chaired a village flood meeting in the Village Hall last Tuesday night which was well attended by local residents and organised by our hard working Councillor, Caroline Fox. Many serious issues were brought up and the various agencies present have agreed to pursue them. We will be chasing them up and keeping local residents informed.

Humber Estuary Flood Strategy

I attended the launch of the Environment Agency's (i.e the Government's) Humber Estuary Strategy on Friday in Hull. Our area will be affected by proposals which seek to increase flood storage locally, in other words increase flooding, and by proposals to possibly not improve the defences on the Humber at Winteringham and Whitton to match rising sea levels which could rise by a foot in 50 years. The only MP from North Lincs to attend was Elliot Morely who also made a speech supporting the strategy. In fairness the strategy looks well into the future and so many of the proposals in it will not come to fruition until 10-20 years hence. We must however be vigilant.

Ian Cawsey, Gordon Brown's Labour MP for Brigg and Goole last night voted to prevent local residents from having a say on the new EU Constitution despite having been elected on a pledge to offer a referendum.

We should perhaps not be so surprised that a Labour MP has broken another promise but this one is different as it goes to the root of how we are governed. Under the new Constitution, many powers will be given up to Brussels, an EU President wil be created and an EU Foreign Minister and diplimatic corps will come into being. In other words the independence of our country will be diluted.

The 2005 election manifesto of Labour stated clearly that they would offer a vote on the constitution. Mr Cawsey was elected on that pledge but last night decided to put blind loyalty (he is Vice Chairman of the Labour Party after all) to Gordon Brown and Labour ahead of local people. Shame on you!

There were some Labour MPs who did decide to put the people first and stick by the pledge they had been elected on. 29 Labour MPs supported the Conservative amendment calling for a referendum including Austin Mitchell, Kate Hoey and Frank Field. I think the quality of the Labour MPs who supported the referendum speaks for itself.  Hard working independently minded MPs, as opposed to careerist yes men and women.

Last Friday I attended a specially convened meeting of the Axholme Internal Drainage Board(IDB) which was once again considering the proposals in the Environment Agency's River Trent Flood Catchment Plan to reduce flood risk management on the Isle of Axholme and North West lincs (Gunnness, Burringham etc). the meeting was attended by representatives of the Environment Agency (EA) who came armed with hard hats!

The EA confirmed that it was their intention to reduce the expenditure on flood risk management in the area and that Government rules meant they had to concentrate their expenditure on where the population was. In other words, the Government expects urban areas to be protected at the expense of rural areas such as ours. The EA would not however say how this reduction in expenditure would be achieved and confirmed that there were no detailed plans available yet. Many IDB members criticised the lack of consultation over these proposals which only appeared last November.

Despite some clever local spin by Labour, it was confirmed that the Flood Catchment Plan was only published last November. Labour's cheap spin on an issue we should all be working together on is clearly aimed at deflecting attention from the fact that these proposals are only being drawn up because of their Government's policies!

The EA did say they felt they had learned the lessons about the lack of consultation. I found this laughable as they said exactly the same thing last year when the River Aire Flood Catchment Planwas published which went even further in proposing increasing flooding in the Snaith, Arimyn and Rawcliffe areas to protect Leeds. We are still awaiting the final proposals for the River Aire and I remain Vice Chairman of the action group which was formed to fight those plans.

The EA reps confirmed that the Government had left them millions of pounds short in what they needed to complete the flood works required nationally and that as a result tough decision had to be taken. Many IDB members expressed their concern that they felt our area was been sacrificed for the benefit of urban areas where there are more voters! They also pointed at that as food security was such an important issue at the moment, the Isle should be given extra protection because of the fertile farmland locally.

The EA confirmed that the next stages would be as followed -

• The Flood Catchment Plan will go forward for adoption in April
• Work will then begin on detailed strategies for each area, subject to money being made available
• The strategies will take up to 18 months to prepare and will then be presented to the IDB's, Council and public in general.

They also confirmed that the detailed strategies could force the EA to adopt a different policy for the Isle which may be more acceptable locally. I have to say this was an incredible statement and one which many members of the IDB picked up on. Why ask residents to agree to a policy proposal, with liteel real detail, if the EA are then going to produce detailed plans which could alter everything? Surely it would be far more sensible to do the detailed work first!

It was clear from the meeting that we need to continue our fight to protect the Isle and North West Lincs by opposing these proposals.