Richard Spring MP
Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

The European Union is hitting some major problems. Despite the rejection of the EU constitution by the French and the Dutch, there are those who believe that it has to be revived. A number of member states have approved the constitution. Putting aside whether a constitutional treaty is a good or bad thing (I think it is the latter) what we have to accept is that the passion for closer political integration still exists strongly within parts of the EU.

Ironically there is something of an inverse relationship between those who are most committed to a European political entity and their being the least willing to spend money on defence. It makes a nonsense of a common European foreign and defence policy.

However, we are now at risk of turning away Turkey from the reform process which EU accession has stimulated.

This would be a mistake of horrific geopolitical proportions, unrecognised by some European politicians looking selfishly at their domestic electorates.

At least the dangers are recognised in this country. We had a debate about European affairs in the Commons yesterday, where I made a short speech. Additionally we  have to deal constructively with the countries that border Europe, but are not in the accession process. Of these, Ukraine is the most important.

You can read the full text of my speech on my parliamentary website by clicking on the link below:

http://www.richardspringmp.com/ 

Only an urban obsessed and centred Government could actually be orchestrating the wholesale closure of A&E units, whilst saying it will enhance patient care.  Yes, it is true, that there are too many visits currently to these units, when treatment could be done by GPs or at home.

However, in a rural area, ambulances have long distances to travel anyway.  If there are further closures, those distances will be even greater.

The NHS is increasingly run by people who are disconnected from the reality of people’s needs and wishes.  Cutting services to save lives is really a fatuous proposition – it is all about money, and how this Government has squandered it on a bureaucracy run wild, and a debilitating and intrusive culture of target setting in our health service.

David Cameron got a bit of flak for going to Iraq instead of addressing the CBI, although it was the only two days made available to him to make the visit. The one thing for sure in politics is that you will be criticised…….

However last night David came to address the Conservative City Circle, which I co-chair with Michael Spencer. We had over 1000 guests, and had to turn away many others. We also announced the establishment of City Future which is a group of young City professionals who will have a formal launch early in the New Year.

The real point is the way David captured his audience and was at times almost mobbed afterwards. What a contrast from years gone by. Afterwards he addressed another City dinner, and took a whole range of questions, with good humour and aplomb.

George Osborne will be speaking to a group of corporate finance executives in the City today; he and his team have been assiduously working the patch.

I’m afraid that sending Ed Balls into the fray, when the financial services industry has been ignored for nine years, is too little too late.

The success of the event last night was one clear way of celebrating David’s first year as leader. Eat your heart out, Gordon. 

It really is a terrible statistic that one person per week is murdered by somebody with mental problems. Of course, we are well beyond the days of incarcerating people in asylums who should never be there. But there is a real cross-over between effective care in the community and public security. Clearly the system is breaking down and Government proposals in the pipeline need to address this.

Statistics may suggest that some criminal activity is diminishing, but violent crime, so often linked to drugs or psychotic behaviour, is a very unwelcome feature of our national life.

Do you remember, in amongst banalities like Cool Britannia, a young country, and for the many not the few, was the launch in 1997 of Labour’s co-called ethical foreign policy? The inference was that Foreign Secretaries like Douglas Hurd, Malcolm Rifkind and others had somehow pursued an un-ethical foreign policy. This was to be a new beginning. Well, please make your own judgment………

Truly one of the most disgraceful acts of betrayal was this Government trying to smuggle in joint sovereignty (with Spain) of the 30,000 residents of Gibraltar. This was done entirely to gain the approval of the then Spanish Government, to enable Britain to exert greater influence in the EU. It was truly a monstrously unethical exercise, which happily failed miserably.

Relations between Gibraltar and Spain have improved considerably since then. The Gibraltarians have just voted to give the colony greater autonomy, including an independent judiciary. Had Robin Cook and Jack Straw had their way, the story would shamefully have been quite different.