Richard Spring MP
Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

I have just been in the chamber of the House of Commons, speaking in support of my parliamentary colleague, John Gummer, MP for Suffolk Coastal, who secured a debate on the subject of the NHS in Suffolk.As all the Conservative MPs in Suffolk have recently signed a letter to the new Chief Executive of the Suffolk PCT, this was a good opportunity for us to restate the case to the Health Minister, Andy Burnham, that Suffolk is not getting a fair deal under the NHS funding formula. We have one of the oldest populations in England – one in five is over 65 - and yet the money we receive from the Government does not reflect this and instead is considerably below the national average.We had the opportunity to ask the Minister: Is it any wonder that every NHS organisation in Suffolk is suffering with millions of pounds of deficits because we don’t get the money we need, or indeed, the money we deserve.

We raised important points such as the long list of threatened community hospitals, the shortage of carers in Suffolk and the difficulty of signing up with an NHS dentist.

Regrettably, there appears to be a correlation between political representation and the closing of community hospitals. All the closures, barring a few in Liberal Democrat seats, have been in Conservative held seats. As with so much with this Government, money flows to areas, especially metropolitan urban areas in the North, where its political support is strongest.

I told the Minister that we have a genuine passion about this huge problem. I paid tribute to the staff in Suffolk. The collapse in the morale amongst our wonderful doctors, nurses, ancillary workers and carers is devastating and I wanted him to know this.

Hopefully, if we all keep the pressure up on the local NHS management and the Department of Health, we might just have a chance of redressing the unfortunate imbalance in health funding in Suffolk.

But I am not holding my breath…  

Bright and early tomorrow morning I shall be heading to the studios in Westminster to take part in a discussion panel television programme called “The Late Edition” which covers current political issues in the East Anglia region. One of the topics up for debate is the abolition of regional assemblies. 

I am particularly pleased that the Conservative Party has stated that it is resolutely committed to removing this tier of Government which is far removed from ordinary people and their daily lives. 

I know that people feel an affinity with their town or village, and indeed their county – however, very few people could be said to feel an attachment in any real sense to “the East of England” – especially if the East of England stretches as far as Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. 

You can be certain that I shall be firmly making this point tomorrow, but, as with so much in the modern media, there is an obsession with compiling lists. 

That is why I wanted to set out here the “Top 5” reasons for why we should abolish regional assemblies:

1. They are unelected and unaccountable

2. They are expensive and bureaucratic

3. They have taken powers away from local councils

4. They are unpopular and have no mandate (eg. defeated referendum in the north east)

5. They are part of a broader regional agenda which is failing (eg shelved police mergers)  

Shortly after I first became a Member of Parliament, I was approached by a local GP to discuss drugs abuse which he said was rife and on the increase. It led me to visit many drugs centres in the country, to find out about drugs, their impact on people’s lives and treatment and rehabilitation programmes. 

It is interesting that in an era when cigarette smoking is viewed so negatively because of its health impact, the health implications of cannabis have not been widely aired. 

Cannabis has carcinogenic properties far more potent than tobacco. Some studies suggest that habitual pot smokers begin to suffer mouth or lung cancer prematurely. We should also bear in mind that new variants of cannabis, like skunk, are far stronger than the cannabis of a generation ago.

I was told that taking cannabis for some was like pouring very hot water into a crystal tumbler which had a tiny flaw. One day the glass would disintegrate quite unexpectedly. In the same way those with an unknown predisposition to mental instability could be pushed into a really unstable condition. Yet, of course, we know that there is also some evidence that cannabis in its medicinal form – cannabinoids – may be helpful in softening the impact of certain diseases. 

After learning all of this, I set up a Drugs Task Force in Newmarket to help people affected by drugs, especially young people. Of course, the long term beneficial impact of the task force was very difficult to measure, but at least it brought key parts of the local community together to try to tackle the problem. 

Now evidence has been produced to suggest a very clear linkage indeed mental instability and heavy cannabis use. I am not remotely surprised. Cannabis smoking is not some cheerful recreational activity, free of risk. 

I suspect others are now taking on board what I discovered years ago from professionals in the field. We now need to look carefully at not only the question of the right drugs classification, but also whether the health issue needs to be properly aired.   

What do you think? Can we now escape from the did he/she or didn’t he/she stuff that trivialises this subject. 

If the old saying about lightning never striking twice is true, then someone forgot to tell John Reid and the rest of the Home Office. After the media storm last week regarding the escaped murderer from HMP Highpoint, in my constituency, I was interested to read today that two terror suspects, classed in the high-risk category, have also managed to escape from custody. 

That this breach could occur is even more unbelievable considering that they were on high restrictions including curfews, tagging and surveillance. 

It begs the question, “How widespread is the incompetence within the Home Office?” What hope is there for keeping lesser-risk prisoners safely behind bars, if more serious offenders can evade the security designed for detaining prisoners in connection with terrorism. 

Furthermore, and crucially, why was there a shabby cover-up which was only exposed when the family of one of the men expressed concerns for his welfare. 

John Reid, when he took on the role, said he would shake up the Home Office and rid it of its image as a Department where mismanagement and calamity reigned supreme. 

Now that the curtain has rudely been pulled up on this pantomime farce, it is clear for all to see that he still a very long way to go…   

On some estimates the number of people administering our NHS is greater than the number of beds; whatever the exact figures, there is virtually nobody who actually works in the NHS as a nurse or doctor who does not think that the NHS bureaucracy is unaccountable and out of control. 

Manning tables in my constituency, as part of a nationwide NHS Action Day on Saturday, asking people to sign a petition about NHS cuts, the enthusiasm to participate was extraordinary. In Suffolk, it is no wonder. Community beds are under threat, nurses are being sacked, services withdrawn and wards being closed – people are rightly disgusted by what is taking place, as I am. 

One constituent told me that the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, was like the last Tsarina visiting Potemkin villages in pre-revolutionary Russia – with no idea or sense of reality of what is happening in the NHS at grassroots level. 

The destruction of NHS services has happened not because of more money but because of a culture of interference, target setting and sheer incompetence starting in Whitehall and spreading like a bureaucratic virus through to the regions and health trusts. 

Next month, along with other Suffolk MPs and councillor leaders, I shall be meeting the head of the new (again!) Suffolk Primary Care Trust, Carole Taylor-Brown, to discuss how the £64.5 million NHS deficit in the county can be reduced without drastically cutting services further. My parliamentary neighbour, Tim Yeo, and I will also be seeing Patricia Hewitt soon to explain to her personally the extent of the crisis we are experiencing in Suffolk. 

We will continue to fight this terrible attack on our NHS services, which is entirely being driven by a financial shambles unprecedented in the history of the NHS. 

People deserve better and they now really, really feel this.   

When Highpoint Prison in my constituency was an open prison, the word “open” was famously appropriate When it began to house more serious criminals, that changed. One of its more infamous residents was Myra Hindley. 

Mark Ryder, serving a 15 year sentence, was allowed to visit Cambridge on Thursday with two escorts, but was not handcuffed. He escaped, serving only to prove that history has a tendency to repeat itself. In 1991, he escaped from guards – being recaptured only in 1993 – and whilst on the run committed a murder. Ironically, it was for this murder that he was serving a life sentence at Highpoint. 

Guess what the Prison Service said – “This is not an escape or an abscond, it is deemed a licence failure”. 

What do you think? Would you have another description? 

What really worries me is that with our Prison Service under such pressure because of the Government’s unwillingness to build new prisons and with the increased future use of open prisons, we may get even more misjudgements. 

The Home Secretary talks of his department not being “fit for purpose”! I think shambles would be a better way of describing his empire. Do you agree?   

Before becoming the Member of Parliament for Newmarket, I part owned two racehorses. It gives you a flavour of their success that on its first outing on the July Course at Newmarket, one of the horses parted company with the jockey……..before the race! 

The Dubai ruling family, the Maktoums, own substantial chunks of land in and around my constituency. They have massively contributed to the revived success of British horseracing. Over the decades, it has been South African mining magnates to Greek shipowners who have been attracted to owning racehorses trained in Newmarket, which is the world headquarters of racing. 

On Friday, the most expensive horse ever run in England, owned by the Maktoums, ran in the first race. Despite being the favourite, it came fourth. Oh dear…and the colt cost over £5 million! 

Owning a racehorse can be the most frustrating and most exhilarating experience. 

On Friday it was the bookies who were the winners, But that’s racing for you!   

There is a lively argument about how we, in liberal and tolerant Western societies, interact with more conservative Islamic societies. However, what perhaps many people do not realise is that there are big differences between Islamic countries themselves. 

In the summer, I went to Kazakhstan, a Central Asian, former Soviet republic, which is the size of Europe, with a population of only 18 million. It is a constitutionally secular Islamic society with a substantial Russian minority. The population as a whole, both Russians and Kazakhs, wear their religions lightly. 

Kazakhstan is now becoming hugely rich because of its enormous energy assets. It is very keen to make its mark on the world. Next month, the President, Mr Nazarbaev, will be visiting London. Important Kazakh companies have listed on the London Stock Exchange and are keen to be friendly with us. 

Many people feel that if secular Islamic societies can succeed with full human and democratic rights, they could be a role model in the region. 

Today, the lively Kazakhstan Ambassador in London, Mr Erlan Idrissov, is visiting my constituency. He will be meeting school pupils in Haverhill and seeing something of the racing industry in Newmarket – there is a long tradition of horsemanship in Kazakhstan. 

He can be assured of a very warm welcome in Suffolk.   

Alzheimer’s is one of the great problems of our age. Endless articles advise on eating certain types of food and taking various supplements to keep it at bay. It is certainly a very mysterious disease.

My mother had three siblings and all four lived to a ripe old age. One, however, was stricken with Alzheimer’s from about the age of 70. Having seen at first hand the consequences of this disease, I always support any campaign to raise awareness of this disease and its effects.

That is why I was happy to take on the role of Patron of the West Suffolk Alzheimer’s Society in my constituency.

It would be interesting to know the real reason why the Government decided against a drug which could be helpful in treating the disease in its early stages. Those who have taken it certainly believe this. 

Is it really because it is clinically without value? This is not the view of sufferers and their families. Perhaps it is due to the massive funding crisis within the NHS at present. The difficulty is, knowing the way this Government operates, we will probably never know the real truth. 

Whatever the reason, we are going to have to face the fact that with increased longetivity of life, this disease will come more and more to the forefront of public attention.   

One of the wisest pronouncements made on political life was that “all political careers end in failure”. Yesterday, at Prime Minister’s Questions we witnessed this being played out before us as Tony Blair struggled to save the remaining shreds of his ebbing leadership.

There was a genuine feeling, across all sides of the House, that here was a Prime Minister who had lost respect and credibility as the leader of the country stumbling his way through the first big event of the new Parliament.

At one point, I thought someone would have to call the RSPCA as the humiliation and torture for Tony was more like “bear baiting”.  Bearing in mind that Blair has said he will not be Prime Minister in a year’s time, why prolong the agony for himself and the embarrassment for the rest of the Labour party.

Throughout Parliament, after that performance, there was a feeling that Blair should go now.

Will Tony finally take the hint, or do we have to endure the sight of more such performances? Even Gordon yesterday must have had mixed feelings!