Constituency Matters - comment from local MPs

Constituency Matters: Misery of Palestine seen first hand

As well as being a personal interest for many years, the Middle East peace process is the international issue about which I get most correspondence from constituents.Read

Constituency Matters: School places issue is a fine balance

Its education, education, education at my advice surgeries this week and there is a certain balance between the two main groups of people coming to see me.Read

Greg Hands. Conservative MP for Hammersmith & Fulham

Constituency Matters: Elections will make history

Whatever happens at the forthcoming General and Council Elections, history will be made when the people of Hammersmith & Fulham go and vote.Read

Constituency Matters: Reality show was insulting and depressing

A few weeks ago I was asked by Channel 4 whether I would live on a council estate for a week. Having seen the programme they made with the MPs who said yes, I am glad I said no. Read

Constituency Matters: A long and painful road to peace

Although I’ve accepted the gracious advice of the editor to give readers a flavour of Westminster in Ealing North it is surely right that occasionally I speak a little about Ealing North in Westminster. Although constituency casework demands a great deal of my time I have been a member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee for over 10 years and the past few weeks have seen an enormous amount of activity in this area.Read

Constituency Matters: Crime falls despite the recession

New figures show crime has fallen across Britain in the last year. This comes despite predictions over the last few months of a recession-linked crime wave.Read

Constituency Matters: River bus is an idea who's time has come

Last week I met up with Boris Johnson and Kit Malthouse to discuss two important issues affecting Hammersmith and Fulham. Read

Constituency Matters: Proper news please, not propaganda

Imagine the Government started to publish its own newspaper. It contained only good news about themselves and criticism of their opponents. Read

Constituency Matters: From Westminster panto to the real thing

Some would say that an MP gets quite enough experience of pantomime at Westminster but one of the uttermost joys of the Christmas season is the chance to see the finest thespian talent that Ealing North can offer in their Yuletide finery.Read

Constituency Matters: Tories are a change you can't afford

This week as people go back to work after the Christmas and New Year break they will receive a significant financial jolt when they board the bus or tube. Read

Constituency Matters: Protect children but don't abandon civil liberties

There was a general welcome for the recent review of the Vetting and Barring Scheme, which cut by two million the number of adults who will have to go through police checks before having contact with children.Read

Constituency Matters: Schools plan is a Pandora's box

Toby Young is an interesting character and he’s certainly stirred up a fair bit of controversy over his proposal to set up his own school in Acton.Read

Constituency Matters: Borrowing not the answer to Britain's debt crisis

Imagine you came home from work each day and told your family you had that day borrowed another £20, and that you had been doing it every day for the last year, and had yet to repay a single penny of it?Read

Constituency Matters: People first, not developers

A letter in the Gazette's sister paper the Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle last week gave a timely reminder to politicians that their accountability doesn’t start and end on election day.Read

Constituency Matters: Spend tax refund on the station

Like many Ealing residents I’ve been intrigued by the council’s intention to give about three-quarters of us £50 of our council tax money back early next month.Read

Constituency Matters: Relief at gasworks decision

Southall residents scored a partial victory this week when Ealing Council’s Planning Committee rejected the latest development proposals for the Southall Gasworks site. Read

Constituency Matters: Surgeries are strength of our democracy

Despite the MPs’ expenses scandal affecting almost every other part of the country except Hammersmith & Fulham, the number of people wanting to see their MP shows no sign of declining.Read

Andy Slaughter, Labour MP for Ealing Acton & Shepherds Bush

Constituency Matters: Question Time was boost for BNP

After 12 hours and 25 interviews outside TV Centre last Thursday, I think I had made my view well known that BNP leader Nick Griffin should not have been invited on Question Time. Read

Constituency Matters: Rickets return

Like most people I’d assumed that rickets were a disease of the Victorian past and I was horrified to hear about the rising number of children with this problem in our borough today.Read

Constituency Matters: Invest in rail, not a third runway

Over the summer the Transport Minister Lord Adonis announced a new 250 mph high-speed rail network initially linking London, Heathrow Airport and Birmingham followed by Manchester and Scotland. Read

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