Richard Spring MP
Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

One of the pleasures of a weekend in Suffolk is 34 years old – a 1973 Rover 3.5 litre coupe, zircon blue, with buckskin leather upholstery. Incredibly the car has only done just over 58,000 miles. It was the last year of its manufacture, had a modified General Motors V8 engine; the model was used by Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher. It is indeed a great, if not expensive, pleasure to drive.

Driving back from Newmarket towards Bury St Edmunds on Saturday morning, the water decided to part company with the radiator. I pulled over on to the verge of the A14, and rang the AA. It was all very efficient. I was told it would be a priority call out. There wasn’t an easy place to sit on the motorway embankment, not least because of all the nettles. However, it was over an hour before assistance arrived, not in the form of a yellow AA van, but a sub-contractor. He was very cheery and helpful but told me that the numbers of AA and RAC personnel had been dramatically reduced in favour of businesses like his. There was no inspection of the Rover; it was unceremoniously hauled on to the top of his vehicle, and we drove to a local garage. We had a nice chat about politics en route.

Watching the A14 traffic was about all I could do that morning. Two Volvo Suffolk Constabulary estate cars sped by on the opposite side, there was a group of leather clad bikers, container lorries heading towards Felixstowe, a small convoy of 1960s Volkswagen Kombis and the occasional ambulance. The sheer volume of traffic was extraordinary.

I now wait to hear from the garage. Things do go wrong with the car from time to time, and the dashboard instruments are very erratic. But when, as often happens, people at filling stations ask if they can buy the car from me, I am afraid the answer is Not for Sale, even at £1 per each very rapidly consumed litre of petrol. In the absence of owning a stately home myself, it really is my own stately home on wheels.

Being a regular blogger myself, I often read many other blogs on a range of different subjects. Many of the political sites such as Conservative Home and Iain Dale’s Diary (congratulations to Iain on winning Best Conservative Blog at the Conservative Home Blog awards yesterday) are worth reading for political news and developments, often tackling issues in a humorous yet incisive fashion.

As a local Suffolk MP, however, I am also pleased to see so many blogs written by people living in Suffolk, sharing their thoughts, views, and opinions. For example, the “Running in Suffolk” blog charts the travels of a long distance runner in Suffolk who photographs the scenic countryside in the county, or “The All Saints Gazette” which covers local political developments affecting people living in Forest Heath and Newmarket.

I really believe that blogging has built on the technological revolution begun by the internet. Anyone can now set up their own blog page for no cost and begin sharing their views on any topic of their choosing. It gives local communities the opportunity to highlight the issues that matter to them.

As Parliament is in recess from today for a week, I shall not be posting any blog entries. However, during that period, I would encourage you to look at some of national and local blogs, set out below. They really do make for interesting reading:

Running in Suffolk
A blog dedicated to running in Suffolk whilst taking photographs of some of our beautiful countryside.
http://runningburyblue.blogspot.com/ 

The All Saints’ Gazette
An excellent blog focusing on news and developments in Newmarket, Forest Heath and Westminster
http://allsaintsgazette.wordpress.com/tag/west-suffolk/ 

Iain Dale’s Diary
Award winning blog covering Conservative politics with a sense of wit, humour and insight.
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/

On Saturday, all over the country the Conservative Party had an NHS Action Day, with leaflets and petitions.

90% of people who passed our stall signed the petition. It was extraordinary – their enthusiasm to do so. The night before on the local TV news, we heard that one of the region’s hospitals is so short of secretarial help, because of cuts, that the surgeons were sending handwritten letters to their patients. Community nurses on Saturday told me that they were barred from ordering even basic equipment like disposable gloves ahead of the financial year end, of people discharged prematurely from hospital, of incredible pressures put on them to prevent people from going to hospital at all, and of the total collapse of morale. In Suffolk, we have a financial crisis of gargantuan proportions, with NHS trusts finding it impossible to pay off accumulated debts. This is from a government which said “24 hours to save the NHS”.

Much of the rejection of Labour arises out of what has happened to our health service. People are no longer angry or even disgusted, they just want to get rid of them. It is difficult to believe that they will be changing their minds over the next two years.

Well this has been a week rightly dominated by the Budget, but soon we shall be in local elections territory.

Yesterday evening Suffolk County Councillors voted to reverse a three tier schools system introduced in 1974, in favour of a two-tier structure. Many people are very upset about this. The vote was based on a recommendation of a cross party Liberal-Labour-Conservative group of councillors. However, last night, Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors voted against it. Two days ago a letter appeared in the East Anglian Daily Times from the Labour Group leader in the Council, criticising the silence of the county’s Conservative MPs. What I can unhesitatingly say is that the MPs have worked extremely hard on this issue both in public and in private – the assertion truly is rubbish.

However, political advantage is sensed, ahead of those elections. Whatever the merits of the three versus two tier system, the entirely predictable manoeuvrings of Labour and Liberal councillors in Suffolk tell us just how nervous they are about 3^rd May.

Anger over middle schools or not, I do not think they will be enjoying the day.

On Friday, I sat in on a meeting between a GP, a specialist police officer and a young man with significant problems. He came from a local wholly dysfunctional family, immersed in substantial abuse and criminality. He had been a prolific offender to feed a heroin addiction costing about £65 per day. It ruined his life. He is on methadone and diazepan but still buys a limited quantity of heroin from time to time. He has been warned that this is life threatening. He is struggling to cope with household bills. Mercifully, he is off crime.

Incredibly he was encouraged by a bank to open an account and was given a credit card. That pushed him into overspending. The GP and the police officer were helping him on every level. It was moving and yet very depressing; it was part of a focused crime relief effort.

Drugs are the root cause of so much youth crime. Throwing people into jail will achieve little if not complemented by specific educational, health, crime reduction and rehabilitation objectives. We fail to get a grip on this at our peril. 

One of the aspects of our national life which bemuses foreign visitors is the inability of our transport system to cope with snowfalls. Yesterday we had headlines forecasting the travel chaos which inevitably attends a snow fall.

Four years ago, one Thursday evening I set off as per normal to my constituency. I heard that there were some snow showers about, but thought nothing of it. Suddenly, half way there, near to Stansted Airport I found myself in a gridlock traffic jam, unable to move, as the snow fell. I was stuck for thirteen hours. Fortunately I had had a big lunch and so had some food in the car, some water, and in the boot, a couple of blankets and some gumboots. Others around me were less fortunate. The condition of the M11 was so glacial that anybody with leather soles slipped badly and quickly. It was like a scene from a horror movie – children trapped in cars, elderly people the same, and commuters only wearing their office clothes. You can read the full story by following this link: http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003050857,00.html

Next morning, bright and sunny, police helicopters irritatingly hovered overhead.

Firstly there were no warning signs about the gridlock, no radio messages, no effort by the emergency services to drive down the closed but traffic-free other side of the motorway, to see if anybody needed emergency help. What had happened is that the Highways Agency had neglected to grit the road surface, despite the earlier warnings: allegedly because of windy conditions. You couldn’t make it up.

I look forward to tonight’s journey to Suffolk with some trepidation.

The County Council in Suffolk has decided to recommend that the three tier school system should merge into two, the same arrangement as with most of the rest of the country.

Parents are very anguished because they do not like change: they are committed to the existing schools and the staff who teach there. The County Council has produced evidence to suggest that a two tier system enhances educational achievement.

All of us will remember being somewhat disoriented when we ourselves moved from primary to secondary schooling – some head teachers feel concerned that this happens twice in Suffolk.

At the heart of many peoples’ concerns is the range and scale of reorganisation which has afflicted our public services. In my Parliamentary lifetime, we have gone from a West Suffolk Health Authority to a pan Suffolk Health Authority, then five primary Care Trusts, then three, then back to one. The administration of the NHS really has deteriorated. Similarly we have seen reorganisation in local government and local criminal justice – has performance improved?

The key question is – even if there is educational improvement, is it enough to offset all the inevitable cost, financial and human, that this change would bring about. This is not, of course, a party political issue but already the Liberal Democrats are sniffing the wind, and no doubt Labour too, to see how the debate and consultation plays out. Regrettably, you can be sure that on their local track record their judgment will not exclude any possible party political advantage. We wait to see!

In Suffolk, the County Council is proposing to move away from the present three tier school system where pupils have an interim stage, from 8 to 13, between primary and secondary schools to simply a two tier system with no middle schools.

The whole process has had considerable interest from head teachers, councillors and parents. As the local MP, my main concern is what is in the best interests of the children and their future education. That is why I am keen to consult as widely as possible and listen to the views of all interested parties.

I have set up a special email address middleschools@richardspring.com for people to contact me with their views on the issue.

I have also made a short video about the changes which can be viewed on my website www.richardspringmp.com 

I hugely enjoy my constituency and the events that take place there. One of those is Remembrance Sunday. Enjoyment is not the right word, but I greatly look forward to it. Of course the nation’s concentration tends to be on the service in Whitehall, but up and down the country in our cities, towns and villages there are services of commemoration too. Yesterday there were record crowds at the wreath-laying ceremonies. The Suffolk Regiment had a particularly terrible tour of duty in the Far East in the Second World War. The same local surnames read out from the roll of honour indicate the appalling tragedy of so many being killed from the same family in the First World War especially. It is incredible to think that my children’s great grandfather was the ninth son and thirteenth child, but inherited the family’s farm in Suffolk.

Today our troops are engaged in extremely harsh conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan. We think of them. We also remember with pride and humility those who went before them, to give us the extraordinarily open, free and tolerant country we live in. In 2006 we do not face an enemy as previous generations did, but disaffected fellow citizens who despise the very open, free and tolerant country we inhabit and the way of life we have chosen to lead.

In the end, it is imperative that these characteristics which so many fought and died for, are never ultimately compromised, whatever the pressures to do so may be. 

Our supermarkets must surely be the best in the world, offering an astonishing range of products, and usually with convenient car parking – they are central to most people’s way of life.

There are downsides to this. Farm gate prices bear little comparison with check out prices, to the chagrin of farmers, or indeed other suppliers.   The supermarkets are very tough business partners indeed.

The biggest town in my constituency, Haverhill, has been transformed in the past decade.   It is more prosperous, confident, and outward looking.   Tesco wants to build a store very close to the town centre, which is in itself in need of a more diversified retail base, and needs to be more modern and user friendly.   I, like almost everybody else, welcome Tesco’s likely arrival.  They certainly will do well in a town which is growing so fast.   However, there are concerns about their wanting to have 20% of the store’s floor space devoted to non-food items.   This may well adversely impact the smaller town centre retailers.  Also, there are question marks about how the store will be physically linked to the town centre.  In other parts of my constituency, town centre supermarkets are not allowed to sell non-food items for fear of negatively impacting local smaller retailers.

So I have convened a meeting today between the local district and town councils, the Haverhill Chamber of Commerce, retailers and of course Tesco representatives, to see how we can take this matter forward.  Naturally, Tesco must feel its investment will be rewarded, but smaller retailers must not be put out of business.

It is a question of the right balance being struck.  This may not exactly make national headlines, but it really matters in the real life of one of England’s market towns, and very important to the people who live and work there.