I hope you have had a very merry Christmas and are now looking forward to a happy and prosperous New Year. 

We certainly had a tumultuous 2009. We are still feeling the aftershock of the near collapse of the financial sector. Unemployment is rising though not as fast nor as sharply as many predicted. Indeed, unemployment is much lower here than in other major Western industrialised countries. 

Despite this, our political opponents are crowing that “Britain is the last major economy still in recession” forgetting to point out that the sheer size of the UK financial sector in relation to the rest of the economy always made it more likely that we would take longer to recover. 

I have little doubt the UK economy will soon start growing again – thanks to the initiatives taken by the Government. A policy of deep and immediate cuts, favoured by the Conservatives, would hold the economy back and keep us in recession even longer. 

I got a terrible shock a few days ago when I learned that my good friend David Taylor died of a heart attack on Boxing Day while out walking with his wife, Pam, and daughters. The news was difficult to take in. 

David had been MP for North West Leicestershire since 1997 and was a tireless campaigner on a whole variety of issues from anti-smoking to animal welfare. More than a decade ago, I worked with him on countryside access and the right to roam. On this, as on so many other matters, we were kindred spirits.

He was effervescent, irrepressible and always smiling. Everyone enjoyed his company. David was one of a group of us who regularly dined together in the Commons. Even now, I find it difficult to believe he will not be there on the green benches when we return on 4 January. 

The New Year will be a challenging one for all of us. The Conservatives, bankrolled by Ashcroft’s millions, will outspend us in all the key marginals, including Pendle. By law (crafted, astonishingly, by the Labour Government) political parties will be allowed to spend around £28,000 in each constituency from January 1 until polling day.

We in Pendle will not be spending a fraction of that. We simply don’t have the money. Instead, we shall have to rely on friends and supporters to do their bit. Everyone can do something – knocking on doors, delivering leaflets or canvassing by phone. 

We have a good story to tell. We have seen a decade and more of high public spending in Pendle and elsewhere in East Lancashire. The evidence is all around to see. There are new schools and health facilities. New Sure Start centres. Housing that is, at long last, being renovated. Would all this have happened under a Conservative Government? Dream on! 

Even so, we start this General Election year as the clear underdog. The polls predict we shall see a change in Government. Perhaps a majority Conservative Government. Perhaps a hung Parliament. Here in Pendle, I see myself not as the incumbent but as the challenger!

For the past three years we have seen a tsunami of Ashcroft money swamp the area. Edition after edition of “Pendle Matters” highlighting the Conservative candidate, Andrew Stephenson, posing with everything that moves but, generally, saying nothing of any import on the things that really matter. 

For their part, the Liberal Democrats have chosen a candidate who is as silent as he is invisible. Afzal Anwar. Visit his website to find out more about him. There is not a lot there. 

Earlier this month, I met a group of people from the Clitheroe Road Residents Association who presented me with a 1,000 name petition protesting against any plans to turn the former medical fabrics plant at Brierfield Mills into a giant 5,000 place boarding school for Muslim girls. The charity which wants to buy the seven acre site, Islamic Help, has, apparently, until 10 January to come up with the money. If not, we are led to believe the local council will step in.  

I am dead against the proposal and have said so publicly. I want young people to mix together and learn from each other. 

Health continues to be a major concern. The downgrading of A&E at Burnley General is the issue that won’t go away. I shall have more to say on this in early January. 

In early December I visited the North West Ambulance Service control room in Garstang and had a briefing from the Chief Executive and Chair. It is astonishing that the whole of the North West, from Manchester to Carlisle, is covered by just three control centres. And if one goes down, the other two take over all calls for the region. Seamlessly. There are outstanding issues on response times and paramedics which I am following up.

On cancer services, I had the opportunity to meet the Chief Executive and Chair of the Strategic Health Authority for the NHS Yorkshire and Humberside. I told them of my concerns for the future of oncology at Airedale Hospital which serves the West Craven part of Pendle. There are real fears that cancer services are being progressively relocated to Bradford – against the wishes of local people. 

This is a recurrent theme. How do we make the NHS truly responsive to what local people want?  

I also had a very useful visit to the Domestic Violence Court in Reedley and heard from Court personnel and from the police how this terrible scourge is being tackled. 

At Westminster, the Public Administration Select Committee has been active, as always. We have produced a report on Executive Pay in the Public Sector (our remit does not extend to the private sector) recommending the setting up of a Top Pay Commission and the publication of the names of people on £100,000 and above. There’s more to be done on this but it is a start. 

We have also been looking at the consequences of the fiscal squeeze on the public sector. On 7 January we shall be having a debate on our report on lobbying in an attempt to get the Government to act. We called for a mandatory register of lobbyists, making it crystal clear who is lobbying whom and for what purpose. The Government prefers a voluntary approach but that, in our view, simply won’t work. 

Just before Parliament broke for the Christmas Recess I had an adjournment debate to protest at the disgraceful way freedom of information requests were being handled by the Information Commissioner – the person charged with policing the FoI Act. 

I have been trying to find out for over two years if Michael (Lord) Ashroft is a UK resident for tax purposes and has been in every tax year since 2000 when he was elevated to the peerage on the recommendation of the then leader of the Conservative Party, William Hague.  

When he was being considered for a peerage he promised he would “bring his tax affairs onshore”. We still do not know if he has done so. And, scandalously, he refuses to say. 

In my view, there is an over-riding public interest in knowing if all Members of Parliament – whether unelected peers or elected MPs – are paying tax in the UK. This trumps all other considerations. 

The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, has as good as promised a reply to my FoI request by the end of January. Before then, on 4 January, he will be giving evidence to the Justice Select Committee chaired by the veteran Lib Dem Sir Alan Beith.  I hope he is given a good grilling. 

Gordon Prentice MP Wednesday 30 December 2009