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5.12 pm
Mr. David Amess (Southend, West) (Con): I want to raise a number of points. The first concerns law and order. There is no doubt that the British Government are letting the British people down in that regard. In the present climate, the criminal has absolutely no fear—but the law-abiding citizen certainly has.
Only last week, my mother, who lives in a London borough and is in her 90s, answered the door in the morning to a water board attendant. Stupidly—she now says—she let him in. By the time he had left, she had discovered that he had stolen every brass penny she had. The police were magnificent; they took fingerprints. It seems that she was about the third in line.
That says it all. Criminals no longer wait until it is dark; they act morning, noon and night. Southend is no different from anywhere else in that respect. I had a useful exchange in Westminster Hall last week with the Minister responsible for policing, who kindly offered to consider a number of the points that I had raised. The Government will claim that things are getting better, but that is not how the public see it. They want a more visible police force.
There are certainly plenty of speed cameras. In answer to an oral question, the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Mr. Jamieson), challenged me to find examples of constituents who were just over the speed limit. I have now found an example, and I await the Minister's reaction with interest.
I am delighted that the local newspaper, the Yellow Advertiser, is launching a campaign this week called "More feet on the beat." It is to be led by the editor, Graeme Allen, and one of the reporters, Luke Walsh. The Home Secretary will get coupons telling him that the general public feel that he should provide sufficient funding for 10 extra police to patrol the streets in the Southend police division. I was recently on a Health Committee visit to Odense, where we saw at first hand the wonderful impact on law enforcement and the
reassurance to the general public that is provided by police officers getting on their bikes. I have a letter from the chief constable of Essex, who reassured me that he would look at the issue.I salute the owner of a large retail chain called Choice, who is issuing carrier bags that say, "We support Crimestoppers." When I told the Minister responsible for policing about it, she was encouraged; it is another matter for her to look at carefully. At the moment, Leigh police station is closed in the evenings and Eastwood station is open occasionally, but Westcliffe station is now closed. My constituency is No. 1 in the country for people aged between 100 and 110. They need reassurance through the greater visibility of our policemen and women.
Mr. Mark Francois (Rayleigh) (Con): My hon. Friend will be aware that the level of policing is a big issue across south Essex and was referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink). Does he agree that we need not only more regular police officers in Essex, but more special constables, who play a vital role in reinforcing the police, particularly at peak periods on Friday and Saturday nights?
Mr. Amess: I agree and I am advised that 90 special constables are in the process of being recruited.
I have mentioned on many occasions my constituent Maajid Nawaz, who was held in prison for two years. Last week, he went to court with two other detainees and was found guilty of belonging to the Islamic liberation movement that apparently wants to overthrow the Egyptian Government. They were sentenced to five years in prison. I went to see them in prison and there is no doubt that the charges are trumped up. I believe the family completely.
The families are upset about the way the matter has been dealt with. I am advised by the brother of Maajid Nawaz that following the announcement of the verdict, the Government said that they respected the decision and that Britain could not intervene in the course of justice or the courts of another country.
I am pleading with the Minister because we have only four weeks to act. He must speak to the Prime Minister to get him to intervene. Incidentally, all three detainees got the same sentence of five years, but they were not found guilty of the same crime. In Egypt, an appeal depends on the written explanation of the verdict, which has not been delivered by the judge. The Prime Minister must intervene immediately because, within four weeks, President Mubarak will be asked to ratify the sentence or approve the writing of the explanation. After that, we will all be wasting our time.
I hope that the Prime Minister will intervene because the families are distraught. He is always telling us that he is happy to see Members of Parliament, but he has not been happy to see me and the other Members involved. I would have thought that, under the circumstances, he could at the very least agree to see the Members of Parliament involved—alone if he insisted, or with the families. The Prime Minister intervened on behalf of two nurses who were convicted of murdering another nurse in Saudi Arabia, even though the evidence was overwhelmingly against them. It seems that he is able to intervene on some occasions. I ask the Minister to do what he can to persuade the Prime Minister to intervene quickly in that case.
My constituent, Simon Matthison, has been held in prison in France since 1 December. His mother, Mrs. Calderwood, has been to see me at one of my surgeries because she is concerned about her son's health while he is in prison in France. He suffers from Addison's disease and many other health problems, for all of which he takes medication. His consultant physician has contacted me and advised me that those are serious conditions and that doses of medication for them need careful monitoring.
Although Simon is apparently being seen by a general practitioner in France, he is not getting the specialist treatment that he needs. Will the Minister send a message to the British embassy in France? I am not asking him to judge whether Simon is being held in prison rightly. He was accused of trying to smuggle illegal drugs into the UK in a sealed trailer that he had driven from Spain. He claims that he had no idea that the drugs were in the trailer, but I am not asking the Minister to intervene on that point. I ask only that he talk to the Foreign Office to get our embassy to ensure that Simon Matthison receives the correct treatment for his health problems.
The South East Essex Advocacy for Older People was founded in 1994 with originally just one member of staff. It has now expanded to include six paid members of staff and 14 volunteers. It does an absolutely wonderful job supporting people aged over 60 who suffer from Alzheimer's or other problems, and making representations on their behalf. That advocacy organisation would not survive were it not for its success with its community fund application. During the past year, it has received more than 600 inquiries, resulting in 400 case loads. I salute it; it does a magnificent job. Will the Minister ensure that it has more certainty over its funding?
A constituent of mine, Peter Little, is involved in a dispute with Lloyds TSB. He and his wife were mis-sold a critical illness insurance policy in October 1999, which stated that it was regulated by the Personal Investment Authority. When Mr. Little tried to claim, owing to his wife's failing health—they have small children—he was unable to do so. When he read the policy's small print, he found to his horror that he was not insured, and on investigating further, he found that the policy was not regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Mr. and Mrs. Little felt that they were banging their heads against a brick wall when they contacted the FSA and the ombudsman. Will the Minister ask the appropriate Department to examine that case? Mr. Little has proved through his bank statements that his policy should have covered his present circumstances. I would have expected Lloyds TSB to have behaved better than it appears to have done on that matter. Will the Minister find out why that bank is selling insurance policies that are not regulated by the FSA?
I am happy to keep spending my £5 each week on the national lottery, and I am not totally embittered that I have not won too much money, but it is an absolute disgrace that my Southend, West constituency continues to be third from the bottom in the list of the 659 constituencies for receiving lottery funds. Why is it right that Southend receives £1 million while Greenwich
and Woolwich receives £689,209,982? In other words, Southend, West receives 0.002 per cent. of that received by Greenwich and Woolwich. I ask the Deputy Leader of the House to have a word with the appropriate authorities to ensure that Southend, West gets a far better share of national lottery funding.Finally, I hope that the House, given its jolly atmosphere as we approach the Easter recess, will join me in congratulating Southend United—the Shrimpers—on reaching the final of the LDV Vans trophy. I was delighted to travel by car, with my family, to the venue for last Sunday's final. It was a 430-mile round trip. Thousands of people from Southend went. We lost the match 2–0. The first goal was definitely offside, and I shall not go into too much detail about the second, but I congratulate the team—including the manager, Steve Tilson, and the chairman, Ron Martin—on an absolutely magnificent job and on representing our town so well.
5.26 pm
Mr. Michael Jabez Foster (Hastings and Rye) (Lab): At the end of term, one has a dilemma: whether to rush back to the delights of one's constituency, or to remain here to the end in the hope of making a telling contribution in the interest of one's constituents. If my colleagues in government are moved to respond to my plea today, the self-denial involved in not rushing back will have been worth while.
My concern is similar to that of other Members: transport. Although my constituency is only 60 miles from London and 40 miles from the channel tunnel, Hastings is the 28th poorest town in Britain, and the reason is transport. As a result of the Government's commitment to regeneration, we are doing much better than we were, but Hastings remains the 28th poorest town in Britain. We have received £50 million in regeneration money, which equates to £1,000 per household. Compared with the £18.50 shortfall in council tax contribution per household, that constitutes a pretty good profit. Under the leadership of councillor Jeremy Birch, the brilliant Hastings borough council is making a difference.
Transport remains an encumbrance. The rail links are awful and despite the nice new trains, it takes two hours to get to London. Two hours is a long time to travel 60 miles. The line linking us to Europe consists of a single track, so if a breakdown occurs, Europe is closed.
I want to concentrate, though, on the A21. It is known locally as the "snail trail", but it is worse than that, because snails do not travel that slowly. A21 users cannot travel fast, and when they try to do so lots of accidents occur. It is a very dangerous road—perhaps one of the most dangerous in Britain. Indeed, it is credited with changing British history. It is said that King Harold was held up on the A21 on his way to the battle of Hastings, and that as a result William was well ensconced before the battle commenced. It is certainly true that using the A21 to travel back to one's constituency is an exhausting experience.
We have been promised improvements and I am pleased to say that one such—the Lamberhurst bypass—is under way. But my first plea is that we need
more. I ask the Government to announce very soon the other planned improvements to the A21 south of Lamberhurst.My final point—it is the real reason that I asked to speak today—relates to a particular decision of the Highways Agency and the way in which such decisions are taken, of which I learned only this morning. The agency has decided to de-dual the only stretch of dual carriageway road between my constituency and Pembury. Some 1.7 km of dual carriageway—the only stretch of that road on which one can overtake—will be turned into a single carriageway. That is a crazy decision. It was taken because many accidents occur there, but I wish that the agency would consult local Members before taking such decisions. Indeed, perhaps it should have consulted Ministers on this decision, given that it was a wholly administrative one.
Of course, if de-dualling takes place the accidents will simply be displaced. If the road consists of 15 miles of single carriageway and people have to wait for an opportunity to overtake that does not come, they will take even more dangerous decisions. It is a bit like crime. Although I am happy that it is falling overall, some of it gets displaced, and the same applies to accidents.
My final plea is for the Minister to pass on my concerns to his colleagues in the Department for Transport. First, let us soon hear departmental announcements about improvements to the A21. Secondly, please do not de-dual the only piece of dual carriageway on the road. While we are waiting for the main announcements, let us find other methods of ensuring better safety on that very dangerous road.
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