Letter from Parliament - Paul Rowen MP

12.00.00am GMT Thu 12th Jun 2008

On Monday, I spent a couple of hours helping deliver meals on wheels with the WRVS as part of National Carers week. The week recognises the work of the millions of people who look after a loved one or volunteer for one of our many charities. They save the state billions of pounds every year. Wendy Smith very kindly organised it and I went out with Chris around the Healey and Wardleworth areas. It was great to be able to chat with the people who are the recipients of an excellent service.

Following this I travelled to Manchester to meet up with my fellow Greater Manchester Liberal Democrat MPs - John Leech, Mark Hunter and Andrew Stunell as well as several local Councillors including Wera Hobhouse, Elwyn Watkins and Mark Alcock to launch our petition against Post Office closures.

The Post Office announced which Post Offices could close on Tuesday and there are four in Rochdale. I will be fighting these closures all the way and we have already distributed posters and petitions in the affected areas. My view is that we need to join together to send a clear message that we will not tolerate the Government dismantling our key services.

Following this, I went down to the Town Hall where Transport Minister Rosie Winterton was delivering the announcement on the £3 billion investment in public transport in our region - sums of money in my view more normally associated with London. Councillor Alan Taylor, Leader of Rochdale Council chaired the meeting and there was some very lively media questions afterwards. I have prepared a fact sheet on this and anyone who wants a copy can email me:

paul@paulrowen.co.uk

Back in Parliament we then started two full days of debate on the Counter Terrorism Bill, culminating in the very near defeat of the government on the 42-day detention without trial. As both ourselves and the Conservatives were working together, I was one of the tellers for the opposition - which was an exiting job with the closeness of the vote. Thirty-seven Labour rebels voted with us and only the support of the DUP from Northern Ireland saved the government. Rumours are that the Rev. Ian Paisley has done a deal to save the Government's neck costing the taxpayer £1.2 billion. This is a pretty tawdry deal horse trading our civil liberties and I am sure this will all come out!

Over the last week my office has had to deal with the effects of Travellers camping illegally on Cronkeyshaw Common and St Clements Football Club. I would like to pay tribute to the Police especially Inspectors Lynn Holdershaw and Julian Snowball and their teams and the Council enforcement officers who helped moved them on. It is nevertheless totally unacceptable that Rochdale Council taxpayers should have to foot the bill for the clean up. I've asked the Council for the cost and I intend raising it with Ministers. If I caused criminal damage to something I would be charged and forced to pay for the clean up so I do not see why Travellers should be treated any different. That said; I would like to thank Councillor Alan Taylor and Councillors William Hobhouse, Andrew Abbott and Jane Gartside for working so effectively with my office and the Council and Police.

Next week I am speaking at the National Pensioner's Convention in Newcastle and at a Pension's Seminar in London as part of my departmental responsibilities. I will be outlining Liberal Democrat policies on Pensions including the immediate restoration of the earnings link and proposals for a Citizens Pension without means testing and Pensioner Credits. I was pleased this week to win a case of Tax Credits with the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Inland Revenue had forced this lady to pay back over £2500 of Tax Credits but we were able to successfully prove it was due to wrong advice by a Civil Servant. It is yet another example of how important my role is as a constituency MP. Sadly there are too many cases where government departments threaten ordinary citizens and MP are very much on the front line.

Finally, a word on Sir Cyril's 80th Birthday - there are only a few tickets left so please get in touch if you would like to celebrate with Cyril at Rochdale Town Hall on 28 June. For information please contact Derek Wiggett.