James Duddridge, Member of Parliament for Rochford and Southend East, spoke yesterday in the Summer Recess Adjournment debate, where he pledged his support for the expansion of London Southend Airport and spoke about other local issues.
Recess adjournment debates are an opportunity for Members of Parliament to discuss anything they want, but are often used to discuss matters which do not usually come up in Parliament’s day to day business.
James believes that the proposed extension to London Southend Airport is one of the most important issues, that has engaged the local community. Airport expansion has been widely debated in the House of Commons over the last few months, particularly the third runway at Heathrow, but until yesterday, James has not had the opportunity to speak about the positive effects that the airport will have on Southend and the surrounding area.
In the debate, James stressed the benefit for the town of a functioning passenger airport, especially for the tourism and business sectors and the increased amounts of jobs that the expansion would bring.
James also highlighted the fact that the local business community is backing the airport, with 62% of respondents to his business survey saying that they thought the expansion would be good for business, with only 13% opposing it.
James then raised an issue, which affects many people in Rochford and Southend East, and several other families across the country – that of the slow response rate to queries from the Tax Credits Office.
James receives many letters and emails from constituents asking James to raise points about disputes that they are having with the Tax Credits Office, usually because they have been overpaid tax credits and are then required to re-pay sums of money, which are often considerable. In the debate, James slammed the responses from the Tax Credit Office as “poor, untimely and sometimes not especially comprehensive”.
James then turned to the issue of flowers and decision of Southend hospital to ban them, where he once again drew attention to his feelings that flowers do not present a real risk to patients.
James was also pleased that, Shailesh Vara MP, the Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons agree with him about this issue. He said that the hospital’s decision to ban flowers was ‘distressing news, both for the friends and relatives who want to bring them a little lightness at a time of serious ill health’.
Speaking after the debate, James said:
“There are of course a number of very important issues facing Rochford and Southend, and I chose to use the opportunity to speak in the Recess Adjournment about just a few of these. Unfortunately, with only seven minutes, it was difficult to choose but I felt it was important to use this time to discuss some of the things that affect local people.”
22 July 2009