Minister calls for “Congleton Day” in Parliament

Minister calls for “Congleton Day” in Parliament

In the House of Commons last week, James Duddridge MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, humourously called for the 5^th May to be renamed “Congleton Day” because of the number of times the Congleton Constituency MP was on the Order Paper (the name for the Parliamentary Agenda) for the day.

Speaking in a debate on Human Rights in Burundi called by Fiona Bruce he said

“Before starting on the substance of this very important debate, may I pay enormous tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce)? We should name today Congleton day. Looking at the Order Paper, I can see that my hon. Friend had questions for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and for the Church Commissioners. I cannot see on the Order Paper whether she raised anything in business questions—hopefully, at that point she had a short break before having debates on faith organisations and Burundi. It should be Congleton day from 5 May to celebrate this active and effective campaign. I look forward to receiving a copy of her local paper with that quote in next week.”

On 5^th May Fiona Bruce spoke 20 times in the Chamber of the House of Commons!

Fiona Bruce meets with PM about employment land in Congleton

Fiona Bruce MP meets with Prime Minister

Member of Parliament for Congleton, Fiona Bruce MP, has met with Prime Minister, David Cameron MP, to raise concerns raised with her by business people in Congleton about the lack of employment land in and around Congleton.

Fiona Bruce said “Congleton is a town with many thriving businesses which want to expand. However, the economic growth of Congleton will be restricted unless land is released to facilitate this expansion. Leading businesses in Congleton met with me to highlight their concerns that the economic growth of Congleton is being restricted by the shortage of employment land, with current sites either having restricted access or being landlocked. This provides limited opportunity for existing business growth or inward investment.

Local businesses inform me that hundreds of potential jobs are currently at risk and more could be jeopardised in future years. If sufficient land cannot be secured for local business expansion they will be lost not only to the area but also, to the country. I was sufficiently concerned about this both for current and future generations in Congleton to seek a meeting with the Prime Minister to highlight this issue.”

Fiona Bruce added

“Cheshire East Council Officers have had helpful meetings with myself and local business people to discuss this issue and I am pleased that the Council has recognised this problem and is doing what it can to address it, for example, by allocating more land for potential employment purposes in the draft Local Plan. However, more still needs to be done including at national level to ensure that land designated in this way can ultimately be brought forward for business use, and to ensure that there is not a disproportionate amount of land allocated and developed for housing.”

She continued

“I pointed out to the Prime Minister that one of the key reasons for National Government having agreed to allocate £46m towards the development of the Congleton Link Road was to open up employment opportunities for people in my constituency – this being one of the key reasons I argued for this funding in the House of Commons during the last Parliament. I informed the Prime Minister that it is critical that this objective is not defeated by a lack of land being brought forward for employment purposes.”

Human Rights in Burundi

Fiona Bruce MP raises concerns of deteriorating human rights in Burundi in the House of Commons

Fiona Bruce spoke yesterday in Parliament of the grave civil disturbances in Burundi, a country the MP led aid teams to in 2013 and 14 and with which she has an ongoing connection as Patron of an orphanage in the capital Bujumbura. Introducing the debate she said when she visited she “received a welcome from the Burundian people that could not have been warmer.” Pointing out that the country is one of the poorest on Earth she explained that disturbances had originated following the contentious announcement a year ago by the President to seek a third term in office, something not permitted under the constitution.

Speaking in the House Fiona Bruce said

“Weekly reports are coming in of new violence and killings and of the Government adopting a strategy of eliminating their opponents. Grounds for suspicion have been described as razor thin. A scared 15-year-old was killed while simply running away from the police. A cameraman and his family were killed, seemingly in the wrong place at the wrong time. Another victim was a teenage boy selling eggs (…) Alarmingly, there have been reports of hundreds of Burundians, perhaps more—they are often young Burundians; those between their mid-teens and mid-20s—having disappeared or been tortured, reportedly with gun butts, electric cables, bricks or metal rods, with some having even been required to sit in acid (…) Burundi has become a place of fear.”

“Perhaps the biggest fear of all is that this conflict, which has so far been fought on political lines, could divide Burundi on ethnic ones, between Hutus and Tutsis, and lead to new massacres. History has shown that such events can happen swiftly, as in Rwanda in 1994, with the outside world barely noticing until it was too late. To prevent that, above all, is surely why we in this place must sound an alarm and call on our Government to call on the UN and others in the international community to do all they can to step in to secure peace and stability for the people of Burundi.”

The MP expressed particular concern about the impact on children saying

“Children, who make up half of Burundians, suffer disproportionately as a result of violence, exploitation, and family separation. More than 230,000 people have fled in the past year alone, and that number is increasing. Most have gone as refugees to Rwanda and Tanzania, but some have gone to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.”

The Contribution of Faith Groups to the Voluntary Sector

Fiona Bruce MP leads debate in Parliament on the contribution of faith groups to local communities

Fiona Bruce led a debate yesterday in Parliament on the value of the contribution by faith organisations to local communities.

Citing the enormous variety of voluntary work undertaken by churches, Fiona Bruce spoke of the top ten activities undertaken by churches as involving:

“food distribution; parent and toddler groups; school assemblies and religious education work; festivals and fun days; children’s clubs for those aged up to 11; caring for the elderly; debt counselling; youth work for those aged 12 to 18; cafés that are open to the public; and marriage counselling courses. Every one of these activities takes place in my constituency, most multiple times. The tremendous work done by church members in my constituency is, I am sure, representative of that taking place across the country, often in the toughest and most challenging situations and areas. I am talking about street pastors helping the homeless at night; addiction support; job clubs, which are particularly successful in New Life church in my constituency; helping victims of human trafficking; supporting children with special needs; prison visiting; literacy projects; fostering and adoption support; and getting alongside those with mental health problems (…) the value of these activities to society is vast.”

However, she also strongly pressed the Government to drop proposals to require outside of school organisations teaching young people for more than six hours a week to register with the Government and potentially be Ofsted inspected saying of the Government’s proposals:

“It is proposed that if members of a Christian youth group engage in sport or games on one day a week, or meet on one evening a week and, perhaps, on Sundays to discuss their faith, Ofsted inspectors can visit them to establish whether their activities are compatible with a list of British values drawn up by the Government to find out whether they are extremist. Could any of the types of work that I have described today be described as extremist? Actually, perhaps they could, because of their love, care and concern for the most vulnerable and needy in our society. However, I submit that there is nothing less British than the Government restricting the expression of religious faith based on an arbitrary set of values drawn up in Whitehall. That is the very opposite of what I understand conservatism to be (...) there is grave concern on the part of many Christians across the country about these proposals, and rightly so (…) the proposals could deter volunteerism.”

She added:

“Whilst Christians wholeheartedly support reasonable measures to prevent terrorism and violent extremism, these proposals will lead to a loss of civil liberties and create a large bureaucracy that will divert resources away from restraining extremists who reject UK law.”

Speaking also in the debate, Stephen Timms MP agreed saying it is not for Ofsted to “be a state regulator of religion.”

Fiona Bruce MP raises Cheshire Farmers' concerns in Parliament

Fiona Bruce MP raises Cheshire Farmers’ concerns in Parliament

Fiona Bruce raised concerns yesterday about the spread of Bovine TB in the House of Commons with Ministers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

In a Parliamentary Question Fiona Bruce asked two questions and received the following responses:

 Q. What progress the Government are making on delivering their strategy to eradicate bovine TB?

The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (George Eustice)

The Government are determined to use all available measures necessary to eradicate this devastating disease as quickly as possible. We have continued to make improvements to cattle movement controls, most recently introducing a requirement for post-movement testing of cattle travelling from the high-risk to the low-risk area. At the end of last year, we launched a new project to promote better on-farm biosecurity in order to reduce cattle-to-badger contact. ​Finally, we also started a cautious roll-out of the badger cull to an additional area in Dorset last year, which was successful.

Fiona Bruce

Q. I thank the Minister for his reply, but I urge the Government to do all they can to ensure that bovine TB is checked in Cheshire so that it does not take further hold. It is the cause of extreme concern to farmers in my constituency.

George Eustice

My hon. Friend makes an important point. I recognise the specific challenges in parts of the edge area, notably in Cheshire, and we have therefore introduced much more frequent—six-monthly—testing in Cheshire to get on top of the disease, which has been a success. We have also increased the use of the more sensitive interferon gamma blood test as a supplement to the skin test to ensure that we can remove infected cattle from herds more quickly. 

Christians in Nigeria

Crushed but not defeated: Fiona Bruce MP raises awareness for Christians in Nigeria

Fiona Bruce MP hosted a meeting last week to launch a report written by the charity Open Doors, highlighting the violent persecution regularly faced by Christians in northern Nigeria. Over 50 Members of Parliament attended, including Desmond Swayne, the Minister of State for International Development.

Fiona Bruce MP opened the meeting by speaking about her own experiences of visiting Nigeria in February in her role on the International Development Select Committee.

The group then heard from two Nigerian pastors whose communities have suffered extreme attacks by Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen. Many churches have been destroyed and burnt and many Christians killed with knives or guns, or burnt alive. “Our constitution guarantees liberty, but we don’t have liberty” one pastor said.

Fiona Bruce MP said: “It was a privilege to visit Nigeria in February as a member of the International Development Select Committee, and to meet with communities who have suffered from horrendous persecution, including the Chibok community where 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped just over two years ago. This report is a tragic but necessary reminder that many Christians around the world are being violently persecuted for their faith.”

Fiona Bruce MP continued: “The freedom to practise your own religion or belief (including unbelief) is a key human right. While the Nigerian constitution officially recognises this right, it is not being upheld in many parts of Nigeria. I urge the Nigerian government to ensure that all citizens are protected, regardless of their ethnicity or religion.”

The full report can be found here: http://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/worldwatch/nigeria/documents/nigeria-report-12.pdf

Fiona Bruce MP congratulates local businesswoman Sally Coles-Robertson

Fiona Bruce MP congratulates local businesswoman Sally Coles-Robertson

Meeting in Middlewich recently, Fiona Bruce MP congratulated local businesswoman, Sally Coles-Robertson on her recent Women in Business award.

Sally Coles-Robertson a single mother of three and a managing director of two businesses who has authored a book (The Secret Tips to Success - You can take the girl out of Crewe) about her success in business, overcoming her dyslexia.

Fiona Bruce MP has encouraged Sally with her vision to inspire healthy living to clients of her Sandbach salon and beyond.

Ms Coles-Robertson’s team like to assist in off site events such as STEM, schools, colleges and networking events and support charities such as the organisations chosen charities this year; The Katie Piper Foundation & CHART, the Cancer Healing and Research Trust.

Fiona Bruce MP said “It was a pleasure to meet Sally again after I first talked with her when she was starting up her business and to be able to congratulate her on winning this award. Sally has put in a huge amount of hard work and enthusiasm and her success is well deserved.”