Westminster Week
Posted by Kitty Ussher, MP for Burnley, at 15:50, Fri 23 May 2008:
Dear Friend,
I am sorry that over the past pew months I've not kept you up to date with my work at Westminster. However I was on maternity leave due to the birth of my son. I am now back at work and will start to keep you up to date again.
Last Friday I remained in Westminster when everyone else was going back to their constituencies as it was my turn to be a “duty minister”, on-call if needed while the House of Commons was debating business proposed not by the government but by back bench MPs.
I was finally let out when parliament shut down at 2.30pm and raced back to the constituency just in time to chair the latest meeting of the Burnley and Pendle fair trade steering group, which we set up last year to achieve our ambition of making the borough a “fair trade town”.
We succeeded in this aim in February with formal accreditation by the Fairtrade Foundation and held a number of successful events such as the fair trade fashion show and having a speaker from the national organisation at May Day, so our meeting was a recap of what had been achieved and looking forward to what comes next. We’ve set ourselves a target of 1st October to get signs up when you enter the town to celebrate our fairtrade status – so watch out Lancashire and Burnley councils, you’ll be hearing from us!
On Saturday I held my usual surgery in the Methodist Church on Hargreaves Street and then it was off to hold a meeting with a great local social enterprise called “Cool UK”. Launched in Burnley around three years ago, this is a company that provides training for young people who don’t feel comfortable, for whatever reason, with the traditional school environment. There is a huge demand for organisations like this across the country and I hope “Cool UK” can become a Burnley success story - a successful national not-for-profit business that supports hundreds of young people. See www.cooluk.co.uk for more details.
After that it was back to the office to catch up on the paperwork, followed by hours plodding through the briefing material for this week’s Finance Bill. I am one of the ministers leading this annual piece of legislation through its committee stages of parliament. It implements the Budget decisions into law and some of the details are quite technical so it has all been good training for previously mothballed parts of my brain!
Then, after spending a happy few hours in Padiham on Sunday for the annual walking day, it was back down to London to prepare for the week ahead.
Aside from my own endeavours regarding the Finance Bill, the main business in parliament this week has been the debates on the Human Fertilisation and Embriology Bill, which seeks to put a framework and protection around areas of stem cell research, as well as new rules around access to fertilisation treatment for single and lesbian mothers. Some MPs also put down amendments to lower the abortion limit. These subjects all arouse strong passions and I have had numerous letters from constituents, some in favour and others against.
In matters like this it is important to be true to yourself and your personal beliefs. I can’t live with the idea that an abortion could be possible – for whatever reason – on a foetus that has a chance of survival outside the womb. Since some 23 week foetuses can survive (albeit not many, and often disabled) I therefore voted to reduce the abortion limit to 22 weeks. But in the end the mood of parliament was to keep the current limit of 24 weeks.
On the other provisions of the Bill it is my own view that it is acceptable to manufacture special cells that exist for a few days simply to create the stem cells that are so desperately needed to save lives around the world. And I have no problem with same-sex couples, or loving single mums desperate for children, having the same access to fertility treatment as everyone else. So I supported the other provisions of the Bill, which were duly passed. This is controversial stuff and everyone’s view is different. But I have thought hard, listened to the debate and examined my conscience which is ultimately, I hope, what people want from their MP.
Kind Regards
Kitty Ussher MP
6 ways to contact Kitty Ussher MP
Write to: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA or 2 Victoria Street, Burnley BB11 1DD
By phone: 01282 450840
By fax: 01282 839623
By email: ussherk@parliament.uk
On-line: www.kittyussher.com
In person: Kitty's office is situated opposite the main Post Office on Hargreaves Street in Burnley Town Centre and is open to constituents from 10am to 4pm from Monday to Friday or at one of my surgeries. Details can be found at www.kittyussher.com
Comments
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Posted by Darren Reynolds, 18:03, Fri 23 May 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #
Congratulations on your mature and sensible approach to the HFE Bill, Kitty. The Tories showed themselves still to have a patrician, knee-jerk and illogical approach to such matters. Cameron must have felt sick when he discovered how his party were voting. His voting pattern (first division only) makes it look like he scarpered when he realised what they were doing.
It is literally vital that we pursue every available research opportunity. I strongly suspect that I, and many people my age which includes you, are most likely to be affected by or killed by a neuro-degenerative disease. We are gradually getting the better of cancer, artherosclerosis and organ failures. Alzheimer's is proving hard to shift.
At the other end of the scale, fatal crimes and terrorism affect few real people.
Your government has this week shown itself to be progressive on this subject. Whilst I am aware that this particular Bill began life many years ago and was very much shaped by the Select Committee, I hope that it proves to be the beginning of the change we all exected to see when GB took over. Well done, and thank you.