On Thursday I attended the debate on the sale of puppies and kittens, and told the House of support for the motion from many constituents in Wokingham who have written to me about the subject.
The House went on to approve the motion which calls for tighter controls over how puppies and kittens are bred and reared in their early lives.
Several constituents have written to me to say the King parents should not be locked up in a Spanish jail, but should be free to be with their sick son. I agree.
It is good news that the UK authorities have now removed the claim for a European Arrest warrant and said they wish child and parents to be re-united. The Prime Minister confirmed that was his view in a meeting Conservative MPs had with him yesterday, when this matter was of course raised.
I have been contacted by some constituents asking me to be present and to support the Ten Minute Rule Bill to ban wild animals in circuses.
I did attend. There was no opposition to the Bill, and it passed without a division because no-one wished to vote against it. This Bill is extremely unlikely to become law, as there will not be time made available for it.
The government has published a Bill of its own to do the same thing, following the passing of a vote in the Commons in favour of such legislation. I have urged Ministers to complete the legislation they promised the House. I voted for the original motion.
I would like to thank Barbara Houghton and the organisers of the lunch club, and the many members who attended. I spoke about the economic recovery, migration, the UK’s relationship with the EU and the Middle East and Ukrainian civil wars. As always I spoke without a text or notes, so those interested in what I said should read my recent blogs on these subjects on the main site which reflect the opinions I set out. A good range of questions mainly responded to the topics I raised, with additional interest in the Scottish referendum.
A number of constituents have sent me a copy of the latest email urging Parliament to ensure good standards of animal welfare. Like my correspondents I want to stop cruelty to animals. Next week Parliament will debate the topic, and we will hear from the government what more can be done.
On Wednesday I visited the Berkshire Lowland Search and Rescue team at Easthampstead Park. They showed me their facilities, talked about the good work the volunteers do, and discussed how to recruit more people and attract more financial support.
Lowland rescue specialises in helping find missing people on the request of the police. They also provide additional support in civil emergencies. Their two inflatable boats were most useful in winter floods. All the people involved give their time free. They train hard and provide important back up to families where a relative has gone missing.
They operate alongside RNLI and Mountain rescue for the kind of work they do. Anyone wishing to help by joining in as a volunteer of helping with fund raising should contact the Chairman, Kris Manning, at chairman@lowlandrescue.org. Over the last two years nationwide the organisation has responded to 1805 call outs.
There have been horrific scenes on our tv screens from Iraq as the IS forces make their advance. We have seen the impact of the violence in the Israeli/Hamas conflict. The damage done in the Ukrainian civil war has not figured so prominently in the media, as journalists do not seem so interested in the clash between the Russian sympathising rebels in the East and the government forces where tanks, planes and other serious weaponry have been deployed by the Kiev government.
I am concerned like many of my constituents about these difficult and dangerous civil wars and wars over borders and rights to self government. I wish the UK to do what it can to promote peace, offer humanitarian aid to those in need, and work with the international community through the UN to be a force for stability where possible. I do not think in any of these three tragic cases there is a role for the UK military to insert themselves into the conflict to act for one side or the other.
Some constituents write to me passionately on the side of the Palestinians over the attacks on Gaza, or on behalf of the Israelis and their right to self defence. Some write to me condemning Russian involvement in the Ukraine, others write to me saying the EU’s foreign policy has pushed too hard against the Russian influences in the Ukraine with unfortunate results. Some write to me condemning the Sunni forces in the Middle East, others are less supportive of the Shia governments.
This is as it should be and as I would expect in a liberal democracy with people from various backgrounds living peacefully together here. It is a further good argument why the UK government should not seek to side with one belligerent or another in these tense and dangerous situations. The UK government should be neither Shia nor Sunni, neither Palestinian nor Israeli, neither pro a united Ukraine nor pro a federal or multi state Ukraine. The UK’s views on each of these conflicts should be that they are for local people to resolve how they are governed and what pattern of states best helps them. It is best done by talking and by democratic processes. Wars break into the pattern of talking and seeking negotiated settlements, but they can only end when people do wish again to talk through their differences and come to a new agreed settlement. Wars are what happen when diplomacy and politics fails. Where atrocities are committed the UK should condemn these and seek an international solution.
The UK can help with advice, diplomacy and by showing by example how differences about how we should be governed are best resolved by peaceful means. The Scottish referendum should be an example to all countries facing independence movements in part of their territory. There may be times when we need to help the international community rescue people in special distress or supply military support and force to a UN mission. This is not the time to plunge into another Middle Eastern war, where intervening on one side may have unwished for consequences. I was one of those MPs who opposed the idea of military intervention in Syria. I now see that some of the opponents of the Assad regime have turned up in IS, showing how difficult it is to find the right allies in a just cause in that troubled part of the world. My job is to help keep a peaceful and successful community here at home. We can best do that with moderate language about these international matters, and a suitable sense of humility about how much UK power could achieve.
I am impressed by the Poppies at the Tower art work. For £25 plus postage and packing you can contribute a poppy, with the net proceeds going to service charities. You will receive your poppy when the art work is taken down. Volunteers are also needed to plant the poppies.
I have made my contribution and recommend constituents who are interested go onto the website to see for themselves.
www.poppies.hrp.org.uk
Following my article on the Great War, I have been contacted by Wokingham Remembers, a research group who have been building some knowledge of our area’s involvement in this event. They have a website here: www.wokinghamremembers.com.
Amongst other things, the group has posted the biographies of the 217 men on the Town Hall War Memorial, which includes our first loss in the war, Arthur Turner of Langborough Road who was killed during the Mons battle (28th August 1914).
A number of constituents have contacted me about possible closure of the Maiden Over pub. I have been talking to councillors about what can be done in this situation:
“I have taken an interest in the closure of pubs and the decline of the pub trade along with other MPs. Part of the problem is a change in drinking habits. Many more people now wish to drink at home or with friends, buying alcohol from supermarkets to do this. This has led to a long term decline in alcoholic beverage sales on licensed premises.
The government has responded to worries expressed by some publicans in tied houses about the terms of their contracts and the behaviour of the owning companies that lease the premises to them, as some have claimed the terms or enforcement of their leases impedes running a profitable business.
As a result the government has decided to set up a Statutory Code of Conduct regulating the tied trade, with an Adjudicator to deal with disputes between publicans and pub owners. This was announced following consultation on 3 June 2014, and the necessary clauses included in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill (Section 4) presented to the House on June 25th. This does not of course help with disputes between landlords and pub owners prior to the new law, which will continue to be covered by the existing laws of contract and fair trading.
The more relevant national legislation for the Maiden Over case is the 1995 Town and Country Planning General Permitted Development Order 1995. The then Conservative government wished to increase the flexibility for High Streets and other locations for people to switch a property from one use to another. The idea behind the Order is you can switch uses within one of the General Uses classes in the Order without needing a fresh planning permission.
Class A includes both pubs and shops, so it is usually possible to convert a pub into a shop or restaurant without needing planning permission. This is a generally desirable freedom, especially given the decline of some High Streets and the need for innovation to keep them alive. However, we recognised at the time that issues like pub closures could create special hard cases. We therefore included in the Order the provision allowing a Council to make an Article 4 Direction where there is a need to “protect local amenity or the wellbeing of an area”. Labour left this legislation unamended during its period in office.
On 7 January 2013 when the issue of pub closures was raised in the Commons Mr Boles as Planning Minister said that Article 4 Directions could be used by Councils to require a planning application and a Council decision where someone wants to convert a pub to a shop. He also drew attention to the fact that the pub needs to be a potentially viable business.
I am happy with the cross party decision to leave these local matters to the local Council Planning Authority. CAMRA have run campaigns around the country to save particular pubs and to invoke Article 4. Wokingham Council should examine the position of the Maiden Over carefully.
If they conclude someone could run a profitable pub business there because there is enough potential trade, and conclude that the pub is an important part of the local amenity, then they can use Article 4 if they wish. It is always wise for a public body to consult its lawyers when thinking of doing so. My email is by way of general guidance but I am not a qualified lawyer offering legal advice.”