Parliament rose for the Recess earlier than usual on 21 July with many MPs expressing relief in getting away from the place.  The last six months have been full of relentless criticism of MPs and the way the system works. The expenses scandal affected all parties but, as the Party in Government, we took the biggest hit. My own view is that trust will only be restored with a General Election. 

The Party has taken a terrible hammering and the by-election in Norwich North was, perhaps, a taste of things to come.  Ian Gibson’s seat was regarded as fairly safe for Labour and was number 162 on the Conservative target list.  To lose such a seat – after the terrible drubbing in the European and Local Elections in June – underlines the challenge we face. 

However, all is not lost.  It is easy to forget how deeply unpopular John Major’s Government was and he lost a string of by-elections - eight I think - before unexpectedly winning the 1992 Election.  He threatened his Party to back him or sack him and even referred to members of his own Cabinet as bastards!

At Westminster there have been some highs and lows. I was hugely relieved to get my amendments supported by the Government to outlaw multi-millionaire tax exiles from bank-rolling political parties.  The down side is that the Government did not act on this a long time ago and the new measures, which have to be consulted upon by the Electoral Commission, will not be in place for the General Election.  It is astonishing that the Government frittered away the opportunity to tighten up the law on this and that it had to be left to me! 

NO WAY TO RUN A RAILWAY

We have also seen the collapse of the East Coast Main Line franchise with National Express likely to default on their franchise payments to the Treasury when the next payment becomes due. This would be the second time in three years that a private sector train operator has defaulted. (GNER was the first.) The Government has indicated that the franchise will be taken back into public ownership and then, in 12 months time, a new private sector operator would be sought.  This, as the Transport Select Committee says, would be a huge mistake.  The ECML should be retained in public ownership for, say, 15 years as a public sector comparator, against which private train operating companies can be judged.

In mid month, the Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham, made an important statement on the future of care and support.  The proposals which are set out in a new Green Paper “Shaping the Future of Care Together” are out for consultation until, I think, October.  Following this announcement, I had a useful meeting with Tony Pounder, Head of Commissioning, who is responsible for the provision of care services in East Lancashire.  The idea is to make it easier for people to access the type of care that they feel best suits their condition.

AFGHANISTAN

The death and terrible maiming of so many British soldiers in Afghanistan have cast a long shadow.  Operation Panther’s Claw is, we are told, a success, but it was bought at a very high price. How we can bring a country steeped in corruption and warlordism into the 21^st century?

That is the $64,000 question.  There are elections coming up on 20 August, but many people must wonder what difference the election will make in a society which, in so many respects, is medieval. 

The key, surely, must lie in education.  And not just in Afghanistan but next door in Pakistan.  David Miliband told me last week that despite recent economic growth, Pakistan lags far behind the rest of South Asia on all education indicators.  Only 56% of children go to primary school and half the adult population is illiterate, including two thirds of women.

After a huge kerfuffle the Iraq Inquiry gets underway. It was badly mishandled right from the word go.  For his own reasons, the PM wanted it to be held in secret and that was never going to be a runner. There was no serious consultation on the composition and terms of reference of the Inquiry and he was forced to backtrack. Why on earth can't he listen to people and take good advice?

Two short footnotes on Westminster .  First, there has been no Government response to my Select Committee’s report on Lobbying, which we published on 5 January.  Why is the Government dragging its feet on this?  We are calling for a mandatory register of lobbyists which could be part of the new agenda on openness and transparency.   It should cover the lobbyists and, crucially, the lobbied. Then we have the Constitutional Reform Bill which ties up a few loose ends such as getting rid of hereditaries.  Earlier legislation establishes a new Supreme Court which will be up and running in October.  This is a very significant change in our constitutional set-up.  The House of Lords will no longer be the highest Court in the land.

HEALTH MATTERS

Locally, big news on the health front has been the new Chief Executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.  Marie Burnham has gone off to be in charge of the Swine Flue Pandemic in the North West .  The new, interim, Chief Executive, Diane Whittingham, will continue to run Calderdale and Huddersfield Hospitals, juggling both jobs no doubt as best she can.  As usual, the Lancashire LINk, supposedly the patients’ watchdog, was silent.  We need a system which gives patients a voice.

The Primary Care Trust is also in the news, given its decision to put back firm decisions on the proposed new Health Centre in Colne.  I have also asked the PCT to respond publicly to stories in the press about the inadequacies of NHS dentistry in East Lancashire.  In fact, we have 53NHS dentists per 100,000 population in East Lancashire compared with 43 in the North West Region and 41 in England as a whole.

ROLLS-ROYCE

On the manufacturing front.  Rolls-Royce confirmed it would start manufacturing wide core fan blades in Singapore.  This is a terrible decision so far as I am concerned, but has, in some measure, been offset by additional investment here in the UK .  I also learned today that the RAF is to get 160 Euro Fighter Typhoons rather than 232 and that the future of the Joint Strike Fighter is still undecided.  This will obviously have implications for RR.

It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of our old comrade Ken Spence.  Everyone liked Ken, as became abundantly clear to those of us listening to the tribute from the Rev. Andrew Turner speaking to a packed congregation at Christ Church here in Carr Road .  Ken lived life to the full.  It was a life to celebrate.

31.7.09