Adrian Sanders MP

News of the World Phone Hacking – Tories Nowhere, Labour Still Playing Catch Up (with some notable Select Committee colleague exceptions)

First MP to ignore threats – September 2010

http://www.channel4.com/news/exclusive-mps-backed-off-over-phone-hacking-probe

First MP to call for a judicial enquiry – September 2010

http://www.politicshome.com/uk/article/14153/lib_dem_mp_calls_for_hacking_inquiry.html

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/MP-calls-phone-tapping-inquiry/story-11706295-detail/story.html

First MP to allege collusion between News International and . . . → Read More: NoW Hacking – Tories Nowhere, Labour Still Playing Catch Up

As my constituency records the lowest household incomes and highest household debt in England, and is the joint bankruptcy capital of the UK alongside Plymouth, I was going to vote against the Government on Amendment 11 to the Finance Bill.

The amendment put forward by the Opposition basically asks for a review to . . . → Read More: Still Backing the Coalition Programme for Government

Three cheers for Eric Pickles recognising the Housing Benefit car crash that’s about to occur. Well, actually it wasn’t Eric, as he says he still supports the Government’s policy. It was someone else in his Local Government Department who wrote that the proposed HB cap could cause some “very serious practical issues” because thousands . . . → Read More: Wrong Question – Wrong Answer!

I didn’t think it mattered whether it was David Miliband, Ed Miliband or the Steve Miller band leading the Labour Party, until I read the draft speech David had prepared for being declared the winner of the Labour leadership contest.

Of course thanks to the odd electoral system the Labour Party uses the Trade Union’s . . . → Read More: Abracadabra?

In recent months we have seen the fall of Governments in Egypt and Tunisia and uprisings across the Middle East including against the regime of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya.  This has often seemed rather far removed from most of us in Torbay and the rest of the country, but is coming all the more . . . → Read More: Are we moving towards another war in the Middle East?

Parliament has now discussed for the first time the Government’s new health reforms; the wide ranging proposals that many fear will signal the creeping privatisation of the NHS.

It is difficult to envisage a majority Liberal Democrat government would go down this route and it’s clear that these reforms are the logical conclusion to . . . → Read More: NHS Reforms need a re-think

 The Times is running an interview today quoting Coalition Liberal Democrat Danny Alexander MP saying:  “They’re not Tory cuts, they’re our cuts too, says Treasury Lib Dem; Saturday interview”

Speak for yourself Danny, was my first thought, they’re not my cuts if they hurt the poorest unfairly.  But then I read the interview and . . . → Read More: Sign of The Times

Two coalition Liberal Democrat Cabinet members are in Devon & Cornwall today visiting constituencies held by Conservative MPs.  There have been numerous visits from Coalition Conservative Ministers, but I’m not aware of any to a constituency held by a Liberal Democrat MP in the region.  These things may be trivial to the powers that . . . → Read More: I Agree With Nick (and Matt)

People with long memories will recall that for the first three years after taking power in 1997 Labour stuck to the previous Governments spending proposals.

This exacerbated the run down in education, health and social care services that then required large increases in spending.

While we all supported the extra investment in schools . . . → Read More: Coalition Boost For Mental Health Care

While Labour is making all the noise over Rupert Murdoch’s bid to take full control of BSkyB there are many in other parties and none who fear the media monster the deal will create, and its implications for competition, plurality and influence across a range of media platforms.

One concern is over plurality of . . . → Read More: Can Hunt Stop The Fox