Professional Documents
Culture Documents
News Bulletin From Aidan Burley MP #63
News Bulletin From Aidan Burley MP #63
12 Attachments, 273 KB
In this edition:
Aidan Burley MPs Diary Website of the week: Silvertrees Holiday Park Still time to pledge your support for Cannock Hospital Aidan thanks local people for attending London Midland meeting Burley pays tribute to family-run Cannock Chase business Burley gives backing to EU Referendum Bill A tax cut for 24 million hardworking people Council Watch: Council Cabinet Member was asleep on the job over Biffa plant Aidan in the papers: Tory MPs demand EU referendum Aidan in the papers: Burley joins call to leave the EU How to contact Aidan Burley MP
www.silvertreescaravanpark.co.uk
The website of Silvertrees Holiday Park in Cannock, which Aidan visited recently.
Aidan Burley MP posting the first tranche of signatures supporting Cannock Hospital to the Trust Special Administrator. Over the past fortnight Aidans campaign to support Cannock Hospital has attracted hundreds of local signatures both online and in person at the MP Help Zone. Local people have signed the pledge: I pledge to support Cannock Hospital to ensure that it becomes a centre of excellence for elective surgery, fully used, and with a secure and professionally managed future, within the NHS. The more signatures the pledge gets, the stronger the campaign will be. Please click here to sign the pledge to support Cannock Hospital. You can also drop into the MP Help Zone in Cannock to pick up a campaign ribbon, to wear around Cannock Chase and Staffordshire.
Aidan discussing concerns with London Midland Managing Director Patrick Verwer and Keith Fitch, Chairman of the Cannock Chase Rail Promotion Group. Chase MP Aidan Burley has thanked local people for making the London Midland drop in meeting such a success on 13th May. Users of the Chase Line got the chance to grill train bosses over problems affecting services through Cannock Chase. Aidan had pushed for the meeting during recent talks with Transport Minister Norman Baker MP and London Midland MD Patrick Verwer, held to discuss the recent problems with the Chase Line rail service. Speaking after yesterdays meeting Aidan said: It was fantastic to see so many residents and commuters come to Cannock Fire Station to tell London Midland bosses face to face their own experiences of problems on the line. I know from speaking to those who attended that they found this far more useful than the faceless and drawn out complaints procedure. Aidan welcomed the fact that London Midland sent five bosses to the meeting, organised by the MP, as well as a representative from Network Rail, all of whom stayed for two hours enabling local people to have one-to-one discussions with bosses for over half an hour a time. He added: I would like to thank Patrick and London Midland for accepting my invitation to attend this meeting, and particularly for sending so many representatives to listen and respond to local peoples concerns.
Aidan with Trevor Barber during his visit to local family run business Silvertrees Holiday Park. Chase MP Aidan Burley has paid tribute to a successful family-run business in Cannock Chase after visiting the Silver Trees Holiday Park in Rugeley last week. Aidan visited Silver Trees on Friday 10th May after a previous visit scheduled for March had to be rearranged due to heavy snow. Silver Trees is a quiet, quality holiday park located in the beautiful settings of the Cannock Chase AONB, with a fleet of static caravans to own or hire for a holiday. During the visit Aidan met with Trevor Barber, who owns and runs the site along with his wife, daughter and son-in-law. The four members of the family are partners in the business and do most of the work on the site, which is kept to a very high standard and has won many national awards. Aidan was given a tour of the site and spoke with the family about how they have grown their business over the last 15 years. He was particularly impressed with the range of awards they had won, including Gold medals in the David Bellamy Conservation Awards for the last five years and five stars from Visit England. Its fantastic to see such a high-quality, well-run local family business commented Aidan, They all work very hard and provide an excellent visitor experience, really making the most of Cannock Chase. It is no surprise that tourists flock to Cannock Chase every year, and it is great to hear such a success story of hard work and effort growing this business into what it is today. The efforts they have taken with wildlife conservation, and to keep the park itself to the highest standards, make this a really special place to visit. Site owner Trevor Barber said after the visit "It was good to see our local MP taking an interest and the time to visit Silver Trees Holiday Park; our family has been in this type of leisure business for over 30 years this was the first time a local MP has been this approachable and he conveyed a real interest during his visit and our discussions. This business has been established since the late 1940s and in that time has provided a refuge from the hustle and bustle of life in the Midland towns and cities for several generations, we have had 3 generations of some families all enjoying the tranquillity of Silver Trees at the same time. In these tough economic times local shops, pubs and other businesses all benefit from our visitors and their spending power. I have realized over the 12 years of owning the park the attraction and value of Cannock Chase, so it is great to see that being appreciated worldwide and in Westminster!"
Aidan has kept up his commitment to ensure that the people of Cannock Chase are given the opportunity to vote on Britain's future role in the European Union. Just 24 hours after he joined over 110 of his Conservative colleagues in expressing regret over the absence of an EU referendum Bill from the government's legislative programme, he has given his backing to a Private Members Bill that is being brought forward by fellow Conservative MP James Wharton. The EU Referendum Bill, which is expected to have its first reading on the Friday 5 July, will put in statute a requirement for a referendum to take place by the end of 2017 on the question "Do you think that the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union?" Commenting Aidan said: "The Common Market, for which my parents and grandparents voted in 1975, has grown out of all proportion to what was envisaged then and I know that some are concerned it is on the road to becoming something that closely resembles a European Super State. "It is clear from my conversations with constituents that most people, of whichever party and whether they are for or against the EU, want to be able to have another vote. "That said, I am not hopeful that this Bill will become law, as both Labour and the LibDems are resolutely opposed to allowing the people their say. If the Bill is voted down, the only chance that we will then have for a referendum is if the Conservatives are able to form a majority government in 2015 in order to overcome that opposition."
The deficit is the difference between what the government gains through taxes and what it spends. We inherited the biggest deficit in the developed world. Conservatives believe that reducing the deficit is the biggest priority for our country so that we can pay our way in the world. Our credible plan for the economy has kept interest rates for homeowners and businesses at record lows. It is important to deal with the deficit now so that we don't leave it to our children. We owe it to them to cut the deficit and live within our means. The difficult decisions the Conservatives have taken have reduced Britain's deficit by a third. Capping benefits so they are in line with earnings
We are also making major changes to Britain's benefits system to ensure that it continues to support those who need it but is also fairer to taxpayers. Benefits will be capped at 26k per year. In the past some people have been able to claim unlimited benefits - more than the average household earns from work. The benefits cap, being rolled out from mid April, will change this. With benefits capped, people will no longer be able to claim more than the average family earns in work. Certain groups will be exempt from the cap, including those who qualify for working tax credit or who are on Disability Living Allowance. We will start to roll out the Universal Credit, which will replace the main out-of-work benefits with one simple payment. This will simplify the benefits system and make sure that it always pays to work. Benefit rises will be capped at 1%. We have taken the difficult decision to cap public sector pay rises at 1% for the next three years. At the same time, we are limiting the increase in most benefits to 1%. This means benefits will not increase by more than 1% each year. For the last few years, benefits have increased at double the rate of wages. As it is hardworking people's taxes that pay for benefits, this is not fair.
Council Cabinet Member was asleep on the job over Biffa plant
The Conservatives new environment spokesman on Cannock Chase District Council has welcomed news that Councillor Janos Toth is standing down from his Environment Portfolio and has suggested that he may have jumped before he was pushed due to his inaction over the problems at the Biffa site. Councillor Mike Sutherland, who took over the shadow role last week, made the comment after it was revealed that Cllr Toth failed to attend the Poplars Landfill Site Liaison Committee held last year at the height of the problems with the site. Commenting on the failings of the former Environment Portfolio holder Cllr Sutherland said: This is the most important environmental issue in the district at the moment and it seems strange that, as the cabinet member responsible, he didnt find the time to be at a key meeting with the company. However, it goes deeper than just this one meeting. he has made numerous public comments, including calling for a stronger approach from the Environment Agency, but did not follow this up with any meaningful action himself. He seems to be able to talk the talk but when it came to using his position to actually do something he appeared to be asleep on the job. This is far too important an issue for the Council to be taking a back seat and hopefully Cllr Adamson will now replace Councillor Toth with someone who will really get their teeth into this matter.
Tory MPs from the Black Country and Staffordshire are among a group of rebels today backing demands for a referendum on the European Union. Cannock Chase MP Aidan Burley and Dudley South MP Chris Kelly have joined Eurosceptic Stone MP Bill Cash in signing an amendment to the Queens Speech expressing regret that a law will not be drawn up for David Camerons promised referendum. Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard has also signed it. So far 53 MPs, including Conservatives and some Labour MPs like Kate Hoey, have signed the amendment stating that the House of Commons should respectfully regret that an EU referendum bill was not included in the Gracious Speech. The Prime Minister wants to hold a referendum in 2017 but first wants to try to renegotiate Britains membership of the union. Downing Street had told ministers to abstain in this afternoons vote.
Aidan Burley said he did not believe the Prime Ministers negotiations with the EU would result in anything more for Britain than crumbs from the table. The Cannock Chase MP, who was elected in 2010, said he would eb voting to leave the EU if a referendum were held today. Long serving Conservatives Bill Cash, who represents Stone, and Sir Richard Shepherd, who represents Aldridge-Brownhills, are wellknown for their Eurosceptic views. Mr Burley had to watch as the Tories lost all but one of their county council seats in his constituency to Labour and as the UK Independence Party won a large share of the vote. The Prime Minister pledged in January to hold a referendum if the Tories win a majority in 2015 but first wanted four years to try to reform the EU. But Mr Burleys comments suggest he is not confident that the Prime Minister will succeed. He said: We need to learn the lessons of the county council vote on May 2 and the large surge in support for UKIP across the country. I do not believe it is in the nature of the EU to allow the significant repatriation of powers. I dont think anything but crumbs will be on the table so I will be supporting us leaving in a referendum.
www.aidanburleymp.org
More news from Aidan Burley MP, coming soon Please forward this email on to anyone you think may be interested. If you have had this email forwarded to you and would like to be added to the mailing list, please send an email to: news@aidanburleymp.org with JOIN in the subject heading. To unsubscribe from this list, please return an e-mail to news@aidanburleymp.org with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject heading.