Foot and Mouth Disease Four Years On
Photo courtesy of Ian Nicholson of the Press Association |
Press Release on pig swill-feeding
Boris Johnson MP backs calls for Swill-feeder compensation
Boris Johnson MP, co-hosting a Country Land and Business Association sponsored video screening and discussion with George Howarth MP, last week denounced the Government’s handling of the 2001 Foot and Mouth crisis and the subsequent ban on swill-feeding. Mr Johnson branded this ban a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction designed to divert and distract attention away from the Government.
“The whole of a British industry was destroyed at the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen. These people had their livelihoods snatched from them by a Government which had, up until a few months before the outbreak, been actively encouraging them to invest in MAFF approved swill processing equipment.
“This ban was the result of one farmer’s illegal swill-feeding practices, practices which the Government well knew about. Had the Government acted as it was obliged to under existing legislation, as set out by the Animal By Products Order 1999, then this horrendous episode would never have happened. Instead, our landfill sites pile ever ominously higher, our sewers clog ever thicker and ex swill-feeders such as my constituent Mick Eadle, victimized by a Government desperate to tar anyone and everyone but itself, have lost everything. At the very least I strongly believe the Government has a moral duty to compensate these people”.
Prevention of Terrorism Bill
24 February 2005
Press Release
Boris Johnson MP denounces Government’s latest Anti-Terror plans
Speaking in the Chamber, Boris Johnson MP yesterday lambasted the Government’s proposed Prevention of Terrorism Bill as an attack on the fundamental principles of Habeas Corpus:
Sue Ryder Care Campaign – photo
Boris Johnson hosted the “We Care: who Pays?” campaign launch for Sue Ryder Care on 15th December in the House of Commons. A number of people gave moving testimonies of how helpful Sue Ryder Care had been in looking after their loved ones who had suffered terrible disease. A few people were moved to tears, including the heroic Olympic rower herself.
This charity really does deserve every possible support.
Boris with Olympic rower Sarah Winckless, Phil Dalton and Barry Stuart – both affiliated with care Centres.
Press Release:
Boris Johnson MP this week sponsored the launch of the Sue Ryder Care “We Care: Who Pays?” campaign in Parliament. The campaign is aiming to promote awareness amongst MPs of the true cost of the care provided by Sue Ryder Care. It is believed that in the past four years alone, Sue Ryder Care has effectively subsidised state care by over £50million.
Henley-Twyford railway line
Well done to my House of Commons office staff. Did you know:
- all the mail from far and wide has been replied to (email and land mail)
- the next batch of letters will also receive individual responses – every single one
That is about 500 extra letters over and above my heavy mail bag. Olly, Maggie, Fiona and Melissa will need a good Christmas and New Year break soon, when I hope the mail bag will shrivel up in size. Ann, on the diary front, and Wayne, in the constituency, have also been working overtime.
Here is my latest press release:
PRESS RELEASE
Following the recent publication of the Future of Rail White Paper, Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Transport, has today announced the launch of the Government’s Community Rail Development Strategy. Fifty six lines have been proposed for Community Rail designation by the Strategic Rail Authority, the aim being to involve local authorities, users and community groups more and to double originating fare income from Community Rail services over a five-year period and to reduce subsidy per passenger by a half.
Commenting on this, Boris Johnson MP said:
“To designate the Henley-Twyford line a community railway is utter lunacy. I fully support involving local communities in the management of local railways and I believe that we must place these railways on a sustainable basis for the future. However, I fail to see how the Government can possibly relate the rhetoric of sustainability to the reality of funding cuts. This is an excuse to marginalise, downgrade and under-invest in important parts of the network.
Time to scrap South East England’s Regional Assembly
North East referendum delivers fatal blow to regional agenda
Government plans for an elected regional assembly in the South East of England should be abolished, and the existing unelected assembly should be scrapped, Boris Johnson MP today said. This follows the people of the North East voting ‘no’ in the referendum for a regional assembly by a margin of almost 500,000; 78 per cent voted ‘no’, while only 22 per cent voted ‘yes’.
The present regional chamber for the South East of England is not directly elected but made up of officials, councillors, ‘community stakeholders’, and numerous committees. It covers an amorphous area from Oxford to Portsmouth to Canterbury and is based in Guildford.
Boris Johnson MP explained,
“People want action to deliver cleaner hospitals, lower taxes, school discipline, more police and greater accountability. The North East referendum result shows people think that a regional assembly means just one thing – more talk and higher taxes.
“This vote shows that people do not want an expensive extra layer of regional government. Regional assemblies take powers from existing local councils and local people, such as over housing, planning and local transport. They are less democratic and more remote. The existing, unelected regional assembly is an expensive talking shop which should be shut down, and the money saved should be spent on frontline services.
“The next Conservative Government will scrap the existing regional chambers, abolish regional planning, and implement real decentralisation, restoring power to people away from Whitehall and its regional quangos. We will give more control to local people who really know what is best for themselves, their families and their local communities.”
Constituency Press Releases – *Libraries* *Housing*
1. Press Release
Library Standards and the decline in book borrowing
Boris Johnson MP said:
“Too many libraries are getting rid of their stocks – particularly classic works – because they think there is no market for them anymore.
“There is no substitute for picking up a book and reading it from cover to cover. Libraries have always provided opportunities for millions of people who cannot afford expensive books and it is very sad to see the decline of a vital national service.
“We must hope that this change in standards does nothing to speed the tragic decline in book lending which has fallen by an average of around 20% in Britain in the last five years.”
2. Press Release
Boris Johnson MP; Give Oxfordshire’s tenants a foot up the housing ladder
Action on housing pledged by Conservatives
Boris Johnson MP today backed new plans to extend home ownership in Oxfordshire. New Conservative policies would mean extra support for ‘shared ownership’ schemes, allow social tenants to buy a stake in their home, and make it easier for housing associations to build more affordable housing. This will help those who currently cannot afford to get on the housing ladder.
Boris Johnson explained,
“Particularly in Oxfordshire it is now increasingly difficult for residents on modest incomes to buy their own home. Labour once promised they had ‘no plans to raise tax at all’; but their property taxes – such as council tax and stamp duty – have hit first time buyers. The average first time buyer in Oxfordshire now pays an extra £1546 in stamp duty compared with 1997.
“Social tenants have also lost out, with Right to Buy discounts being cut back. Where council housing has been transferred to housing associations, tenants lose the same Right to Buy. We desperately need to address this lack of affordable housing in Oxfordshire yet it seems the Government’s only policy has been to be to concrete over our green fields. Were planning decisions to be further removed from local people under Government plans for a South East Regional Assembly, I can only see this situation worsening”.
Under the Conservative plans for Action on Housing:
- Conservatives will promote and extend support for shared ownership schemes. Shared equity helps people buy their home of choice without having to fund 100 per cent of the value.
- We will extend the Right to Buy to over a million housing association tenants, and reinvest the receipts from sales in new social housing (while recognising the need for some exemptions in small rural areas).
- We will help social housing tenants purchase a home, not just their present property, via transferable discounts and also allowing them to build up a stake in their equity of their home.
- We will reduce Labour’s disproportionate and excessive regulation and inspection of housing associations, and make it easier for them to work with private sector developers to build more affordable housing to buy and rent.
Boris Johnson MP concluded:
“Conservatives want the dream of home ownership to come true for more and more people, so that they can benefit from the security and independence which home ownership conveys.”
