Local MP presents English votes petition to Parliament

Local MP presents English votes petition to Parliament

Fiona Bruce MP, Patron of the Fair Votes for All campaign, this evening presented to Parliament a petition calling for English votes for English issues to be introduced in the House of Commons as soon as possible. Petitions have been raised in dozens of constituencies across England. There was a co-ordinated presentation of the petitions to the Speaker in the House of Commons Chamber, with MPs from across England taking part.

Fiona Bruce said: “I am delighted to be presenting this petition for English votes for English issues on behalf of my constituents. The people of the Congleton Constituency expect a fair settlement for all parts of the United Kingdom. We want to be able to decide our own priorities on issues such as health, education and local government, just as the people of Scotland are currently able to do. It is a basic unfairness that Scottish MPs can currently vote on English-only issues. English votes for English issues is a simple, but important change that will remove this injustice.

“With the threat of an SNP-Labour Coalition just a few weeks away, we cannot risk the possibility that Alex Salmond will decide how English hospitals and English schools are run. English votes for English issues is the best way of ensuring Scottish Nationalists do not determine English-only issues.”

Graham Stuart MP, Chairman of the Fair Votes for All campaign, said: “Fiona is a fantastic local campaigner. She has done a great job representing the views of her constituents. People in Congleton feel strongly that their voice in Parliament on English-only issues should not be diluted by Scottish MPs. I congratulate Fiona for raising her petition which calls for an end to this fundamental unfairness.” 

ENDS

1. Fair Votes for All is a cross-party campaign to introduce English Votes for English Issues as soon as possible in the House of Commons.

2. The wording of the petition is:

“Declares that the Petitioners believe that when Parliament makes decisions affecting only the people of England, or England and Wales then those decisions should be made only by the Members of Parliament elected to represent England, or England and Wales; and

The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons creates fairness in the devolution settlement by ensuring decisions having a separate and distinct effect on England, or England and Wales, are decided only by the Members of Parliament elected to represent England, or England and Wales. And the Petitioners remain, etc.”

FIONA BRUCE MP DELIVERS REPORT ON PROTECTING CHILDHOOD TO PRIME MINISTER

FIONA BRUCE MP DELIVERS REPORT ON PROTECTING CHILDHOOD TO PRIME MINISTER

Fiona Bruce MP has delivered the Mothers’ Union’s Bye Buy Childhood 2015 report to 10 Downing Street, asking the Prime Minister to consider the findings and recommendations of the report, which looks at the commercialisation and sexualisation of children.

Fiona Bruce MP said “As a member of the Middlewich branch of the Mothers’ Union, I was pleased to take this important report right to the heart of Government, and present it to 10 Downing Street. The focus of the report, which I completely agree with, is that we must protect childhood, to allow children to be children.”

Fiona Bruce MP continued “By exposing children to too much too soon, our society risks robbing children of the chance to learn, grow and play in an environment where they feel safe and valued – without being unduly commercialised or sexualised far too early. This report shines a spotlight on the ways in which the commercial world is encroaching of childhood, and teaching children to value themselves by what they own or by how they look”

Fiona concluded “The report contains many sensible and practical recommendations which could make a real difference to the lives of many children and their families. I have asked the Prime Minister to consider the report carefully, and I await his response on the recommendations.”

The full report can be found at: http://www.byebuychildhood.org/impact-report-2015

Cheshire East Citizens Advice Bureau Fundraising Dinner

Fiona Bruce MP attends Citizens Advice Bureau Dinner Dance Fundraiser

Cheshire East Citizens Advice Bureau held their Dinner Dance Fundraiser - their first such fundraiser - at Cranage Hall on 20th March.

Photo shows (l to r) Cllr George Hayes, CAB representative Liz Shaw, Cllr Dave Brown, CAB Chair of Trustees Gwen Hands, Fiona Bruce MP, CAB event organiser, Congleton Town Mayor Cllr Denis Murphy, Master of Ceremonies was Congleton Cllr Paul Bates .

Fiona Bruce MP congratulates Quinta Primary School on their national flag design success

Fiona Bruce MP congratulates Quinta Primary School on their national flag design success

 

.    Photograph shows Fiona Bruce MP flag designers Max Rigby and Kelly Bowyer and Headteacher Tracey Walklate.

After a suggestion by Fiona Bruce MP, Quinta Primary School entered Parliament’s Flag 2015 competition for 7-11 year old pupils to design a flag representing their local community that would be on display in Parliament Square, London, opposite the Houses of Parliament and at Runnymede, the location of the signing of the Magna Carta exactly 800 years ago.

Beating off stiff competition, Quinta are one of around 80 successful schools across the county whose flag design is being sewn as one of the ‘Historic County Flags’ to represent Cheshire. It shows Congleton’s Beartown logo, a bear’s paw in a heart shape, representing the little town with a big heart, this is set within a stylised wheatsheaf representing Cheshire, against a backdrop in the shape of The Cloud, the hill behind Congleton.

After visiting the school to congratulate them, Fiona Bruce said “I am so pleased that Quinta’s design has been selected to represent Cheshire. This is such a historic commemoration and I am proud such a fine school in my Constituency has been chosen to represent the county as a whole.”

Tracey Walklate, Headteacher at Quinta said “The children designed a super flag that represented not only our home town of Congleton but by including the wheat sheaf encompassed the whole of Cheshire. As a school we are proud that our flag was chosen to represent Cheshire and offer our thanks to Fiona Bruce MP for asking to enter a design.”

ENDS

NOTE TO EDITOR

1

2.    A selection of the first phase of flags submitted for this project have been chosen to represent the Historic Counties of the UK. These flags will be sewn to fly at two special 2015 events; in Parliament Square this spring and again at Runnymede on 15 June 2015.

The Runnymede event celebrates another special 2015 anniversary, 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta, and is entitled Magna Carta Foundation of Liberty. The event is managed by 2015 project partners, the National Trust and Surrey County Council.

3.    More information about Flag 2015 can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/2015flaghub

Fiona Bruce MP praises 2nd Annual Drugs Awareness Day in Congleton High Schools

Fiona Bruce MP praises 2^nd Annual Drugs Awareness Day in Congleton High Schools

The 2nd Annual Drugs Awareness Days for young people in Congleton were held at Eaton Bank Academy on 27th February 2015 and Congleton High School on 6^th March 2015.

This was an initiative conceived and developed by the town Youth Committee in conjunction with Fiona Bruce MP to ensure that every young person in Congleton is informed about the dangers of drugs early in their high school life.

Over the years this will mean that every young person in Congleton will be equipped to withstand doing drugs.

This year’s event was presented by PC Jane Commins and her colleagues to Year 9 pupils and included a presentation on the risks of taking both illegal drugs and mainstream addictive substances such as alcohol and tobacco, as well as solvent abuse and legal highs, including rather sobering photographs of the effects of drug abuse.

The session concluded with an activity in which the students could make their own ‘brain hat’ showing the different areas of the brain, and were told how cannabis can affect the ‘pre-frontal cortex’ which is responsible for logic and reasoning.

Fiona Bruce MP said “I consider the Annual Drugs Awareness Day for young people in Congleton to be one of the most positive initiatives which has been achieved by and for young people in the town during my time as MP for Congleton. I pay tribute to the Youth Council and former Mayors Cllr Sally Ann Holland and Cllr George Hayes who worked prodigiously with me and the Youth Council to ensure this initiative was started and also to both High Schools who are now fully committed to it continuing year on year.”

Minister agrees to consider Call-In of Goostrey Planning Application

Minister agrees to consider Call-In of Goostrey Planning Application

Government Housing Minister, Brandon Lewis MP, yesterday agreed in the House of Commons, to give full considerations to a request by Fiona Bruce MP for the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to Call In a planning application for 119 houses in Goostrey close to Jodrell Bank.

Asking the Minister in the Chamber of the House of Commons today, Fiona Bruce said

Will Ministers give very serious consideration to a call-in request I have made relating to a planning application for 190 properties in Goostrey? It would generate detrimental interference to the radio telescopes and world-leading scientific work at Jodrell Bank, and is therefore a concern of national significance.

Responding, Brandon Lewis MP said

 My hon. Friend will appreciate that I cannot comment on a particular planning application, but any such request will be given full consideration. I know that she has campaigned very hard with local residents to protect what they perceive as an important piece of local infrastructure. I will obviously look at all the details that come in.

Yesterday was the third time Fiona Bruce has raised, with Ministers in the House of Commons, concerns about the potentially damaging effect such a large housing development near to Jodrell Bank could have on the sensitive radio telescopes there. (Previous debates of 14^th January and 5^th March are copied below)

Speaking after the Minister’s response, Fiona Bruce said “Government Ministers have got the message loud and clear that this development should not go ahead. The work at Jodrell Bank is world leading and Government had committed to investing over £100million in the Square Kilometre Array Project of which Jodrell Bank is a key part.

The work at Jodrell Bank is of strategic importance to the future of radio astronomy and I am very pleased that Ministers have today confirmed that they will carefully consider the detailed submissions which I have made on behalf of residents and Jodrell Bank itself.

The Call In of an application refers to the power of the Secretary of State to take the decision on a particular planning application out of the hands of the local planning authority for his own determination and one of the key grounds is because there are matters of national significance involved. Surely there can be fewer better arguments for a Call In of a planning proposal than detrimental impact on Jodrell Bank.”

Bovine TB

Fiona Bruce MP questions Government on strategy for tackling Bovine TB

Fiona Bruce highlighted the importance of tackling Bovine TB in the House of Commons yesterday at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Question Time. The full text of her questions and responses by Environment Minister George Eustice MP is below.

Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con): What assessment she has made of the lessons that can be learned from the experiences of other countries in dealing with bovine tuberculosis. [908027]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (George Eustice): The success of the bovine TB eradication policies pursued in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the Republic of Ireland demonstrates the need to bear down on the disease effectively in both cattle and wildlife.

Fiona Bruce: I thank the Minister for his answer. Does he agree that lessons from Ireland, in particular, show that where there is TB in wildlife it must be tackled through culling as part of any comprehensive strategy to tackle TB? If that had happened years ago when TB was known to be moving towards Cheshire at the rate of 1 mile a year, Cheshire’s farmers would not be suffering the difficulties they are today. Does he also agree that this should not be such a political issue? It is about supporting our farmers and eradicating TB.

George Eustice: My hon. Friend makes an important point: it is not possible to eradicate this disease without tackling the reservoir of the disease in the wildlife population. She rightly says that the previous Government put their head in the sands and did nothing. This is a slow-moving, difficult disease and it has to be hit hard and early, which the previous Government failed to do. At a recent NFU conference Labour confirmed again that, irrespective of the evidence and the advice of the chief veterinary officer, it would abandon the culls.

Speaking after the debate Fiona Bruce said “I meet regularly with farmers from my constituency and am deeply concerned about the stress and worry they suffer about Bovine TB. Doing nothing is not an option. Bovine TB is a terrible disease which is devastating our cattle and dairy industries and causing misery in rural communities. We need to do everything we can to make England TB free.”

English Votes for English Laws

Fiona Bruce MP campaigns for English Votes for English Laws

Fiona Bruce, Member of Parliament for Congleton, a Patron of the Fair Votes for All campaign is calling for English votes for English issues to be introduced into the House of Commons as soon as possible.

Campaigning in Congleton this week with local Councillors, Fiona has secured signatures of a number of Congleton residents to a petition calling for these reforms which will be presented to Government.

Fiona commented, “This is a hugely important constitutional issue and I was delighted at the reaction of local people and their support for this campaign.

With the Scottish Parliament having considerable powers over matter such as health, education,  and with more  being passed over following the independence referendum last year, it is completely wrong that Scottish MPs can vote in the House of Commons on such matters relating solely to England. English MPs should have the sole ability to determine English only laws – mirroring the powers of the Scottish Parliament to determine Scottish only laws.

The petition people signed here and across the country will be presented in the House of Commons next week.” 

Cllr Gordon Baxendale said “This is an important campaign – it is about fairness – English MPs cannot vote on devolved matters affecting Scotland – Scottish MPs should not be able to vote on matters which affect only English people. We were very pleased at the strong support the petition gathered in Congleton as part of this national campaign – especially as it was pouring down!”

*This petition was presented in Parliament on 24th March 2015  - http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm150324/debtext/150324-0004.htm#15032473001924 

Women's World Day of Prayer 2015 - Alsager

Fiona Bruce MP attends Alsager Women’s World Day of Prayer Event

Fiona Bruce MP attended the Women’s World Day of Prayer Event in Alsager which is attended by women from many different churches across the area and hosted each year by a different church – this year it was St Mary Magdalene Church, Crewe Road, Alsager.

The form of service used is devised each year by Christian women from a different country and this year it was from the Bahamas. The same form of service is used in churches across the world on the same day so that from before dawn in the UK until dark, somewhere in the world, this service is being conducted. In Alsager, women from many different churches led different parts of the service and the photograph shows Fiona Bruce MP with some of the women involved in organising and leading the event, at St Mary’s in Alsager