John Cameron

Withington MP, John Leech, has today slammed Manchester’s Labour MPs after all four of them failed to vote in support of offering equal settlement rights to all Gurkha soldiers who have fought for the British Army.

In a historic vote in the House of Commons, a Liberal Democrat motion calling for full settlement rights for all Gurkhas who have served in the British Army was won by 267 votes to 246. This represented a crushing blow for the Labour government who had issued new guidelines on the Gurkhas’ settlement rights based on them meeting certain criteria relating to length of service, bravery medals and medical conditions brought on by service in the British Army.

Yet despite the strength of public feeling in favour of the Gurkhas’ cause, not one Labour Manchester MP backed the Lib Dem motion. One, Graham Stringer, MP for Manchester Blackley, even failed to vote in favour of equal settlement rights despite having signed a Commons motion to that effect in the same week.

John Leech said:

“The way in which this Labour government has treated the Gurkhas is shameful. These are men who have laid down their lives so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we take for granted today.”

“Labour’s Manchester MPs ought to be ashamed of themselves. Their party was only too quick to rush into war in Iraq, but it refuses to give loyal, brave soldiers the settlement rights that they deserve. I hope that this defeat in the Commons will be the wake up call that Gordon Brown needs on this issue, but I fear it will not be.”

Speaking in a debate on transport in the North West, Mr Leech, MP for Manchester Withington, argued that the money could be used to kick-start the local economy and provide a much-needed boost to Greater Manchester’s transport system.

John Leech said,

“There are schemes in Greater Manchester that are ready to go now if the government would just free up the cash that they were willing to offer before the collapse of the congestion charge bid. Unfortunately, though, it seems more likely that the money will be unspent and will find its way back into the Treasury coffers.”

“This money could provide a welcome boost to the region. It would create jobs and could go some way to promoting a greener, more sustainable transport infrastructure. The problem is that following the ‘no’ vote, no-one is prepared to put in a bid that includes congestion charging, which is understandable in the current economic climate. The government should therefore do the decent thing and release the money that it had earmarked for Manchester in the first place.”

Manchester Withington MP John Leech has moved to block government proposals that would strip elderly and disabled people of the right use their free bus passes on hundreds of services.

At present, any bus or coach service that charges separate fares and has stops less than 15 miles apart is classified as a local service, meaning that drivers have to accept bus passes. However, as of Wednesday – April Fool’s Day – the rules will change so that bus companies will be able to refuse the right of passengers to use their passes on any service on which the majority of seats can be pre-booked. This will account for some 22,500 journeys this year according to Department for Transport estimates. It will then be up to local authorities to fund these services if they choose to.

John Leech, the Liberal Democrats’ transport spokesman, said:

“This time last year the government was talking up the free bus pass scheme to great fanfare. Now it seems that they are trying to cut down the use of the passes by the back door without any parliamentary scrutiny.”

The new changes will also impact upon Park and Ride schemes, which may also become ineligible.

John Leech added:

“If the changes go ahead as planned it will represent yet another broken promise by this Labour government, who were patting themselves on the back when they introduced the scheme last year. Now they want to transfer the financial burden onto already stretched local authorities, who would then be expected to cover the cost of operating the services.”

“No-one is questioning the need for the rules governing eligible services to be clarified. However, what need is a clear, open parliamentary debate on them with the option to vote against the proposals if it appears that pensioners and disabled passengers are going to be losing out. Introducing the changes via the back door is not the way to go about it.”

John Leech, MP for Withington, has expressed fury at the government moves to block a bill that could have helped alleviate fuel poverty.

The Fuel Poverty Bill was designed to offer assistance to those who have fallen into fuel poverty by providing help to improve household insulation and giving cheaper energy prices to the most in-need. However, Labour MPs deliberately prevented the bill from being passed in the in the House of Commons by prolonging the debate beyond its specified timeslot, thereby effectively killing off the bill.

John Leech said:

“I am deeply angered by the collapse of this bill. In my constituency almost 1 in 5 people are in fuel poverty. This bill could have helped these people to climb out of fuel poverty and would have made a real difference to their lives.”

“Unfortunately, the government saw fit to delay the bill and have now effectively left it dead in the water. Yet the worst thing is that not a single Manchester Labour MP even bothered to turn up and support the bill”.

The petition can be found here:  http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/EmptyPromise/

Council plans to integrate pupils from Ewing school into the Grange school are fundamentally flawed, according to Liberal Democrat MP, John Leech.

With Ewing threatened with closure, Mr Leech has hit out at the proposals which would see the two sets of pupils relocated and schooled together.

John Leech said:

“These plans are entirely inadequate and I know that the schools’ headteachers are as opposed to them as I am. The pupils at Ewing and the Grange are at completely different points of the autistic spectrum and have vastly different needs. It’s just not feasible to relocate them onto one site.”

“Manchester City Council really must rethink these plans. Just last week I visited Ewing at the request of the pupils and heard their experiences of being bullied in mainstream schools. They were asking me why the council wanted to close their school but I couldn’t give them a good reason. I just hope that we can get this decision overturned when it comes to the public consultation.”

John Leech has taken the issue to House of Commons, where he submited the 1,300-signature strong petition in opposition to the BBC’s decision.

John Leech said:

“Regardless of the politics of the situation, there is an on-going humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the people there need our support. Broadcasting this appeal would in no way jeopardise the BBC’s political impartiality – they’ve broadcast appeals for Sudan and DR Congo, so why not Gaza?”

“This isn’t a question of taking sides, it’s a question of recognising the suffering of ordinary Gazans and acting accordingly.”

John Leech said:

“These new estimates are truly shocking and it’s not hard to see the culprit. Over the last five years average gas and electricity bills have more than doubled. The prices being paid by energy companies for fuel on the wholesale markets are coming down, but the companies aren’t passing on the cuts to their customers. This is totally unacceptable and the government must take urgent action to help people struggling with high fuel bills.”

Mr Leech is also calling on MPs of all parties to back the Fuel Poverty Bill that is being introduced to the Commons by Liberal Democrat MP David Heath.

“The Fuel Poverty Bill would deliver a massive home insulation programme which would halve the energy needed to heat the average home. And it would end the scandal of those who use pre-pay meters – generally the least well-off – paying higher rates for their gas and electricity.

“The Government must give it their support.”

Find out more about the Fuel Poverty Bill at http://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk.