MP speaks out for those not enjoying a Merry Christmas

21 December 2005

On Tuesday 20th December 2005, David Amess MP spoke out in the Christmas Adjournment Debate for those in his constituency for which Christmas will not be jolly this year.

Among those are the families of Jo Martinson and Phillip Collings, two youngsters killed in separate incidents more than four years ago, whose cases remain unresolved with no convictions due their miss-handling by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

David also spoke about the shortfalls in the financial settlements given to Southend Borough Council that continue to effect the 100s of residents across the Southend area that had their bus services cut after the subsidies to the operators had to be removed; the case of the single mother of three children, one of which is severely disabled, who has had their disability mobility allowance unjustly cut by the Department of Work and Pensions because they failed to carry out an accurate evaluation of the family’s needs and the pet shop owner that is watching her business slowly decline because of the way DEFRA failed to inform the public clearly about the actual threat of Bird Flu amidst fears of a pandemic.

But it is not all doom and gloom, looking ahead to 2006, David is, along with other Essex MPs from all parties, going to continue working to preserve a stand alone Essex Police force for the county in opposition to Government plans for regionalisation. This not only reflects the overwhelming majority of public opinion in Essex and in Southend West but supports the appointment of Essex’s new Chief Constable whom David is committed to retaining for the county.