John Denham to lead debate on urgent investment for Port of Southampton

Labour’s MP for Southampton Itchen, John Denham, will be presenting the case for £150million of urgent investment to be unlocked for a major infrastructure project in Southampton.

In order for the Port of Southampton to remain competitive with European and UK rivals, it requires the redeveloping of two existing berths and dredging to allow access by the latest and largest container ships to the container port.

Work must begin in September in order for Southampton to be sure to remain competitive in the years ahead. Over 800 direct jobs and 1,200 indirect jobs will be safeguarded by the investment and over 200 new full time positions will be created. Unfortunately the entire project has faced a number of delays because of errors made by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), red tape at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and the threat of legal action from competitor ports.

Mr Denham has led the campaign in the last six months for this project to go ahead, in which the Business Secretary promised to take a personal interest. The Prime Minister has been made aware, but no reply has ever been received to Mr Denham’s letter to David Cameron dated 24th November 2011.

Over 11,000 children living in poverty in Southampton

A report confirms that over 11,000 meet the legal definition of a child in poverty, according to The Campaign to End Child Poverty.

John Denham’s Southampton Itchen constituency has been singled out as having the highest number of children living in poverty in Hampshire.

Mr Denham said; “There’s no magic answer, but the actions of this Tory-led Government won’t help. By making £6billion worth of cuts to child tax credits, child benefit, maternity allowance and the child trust fund, it’s families and children who are being hit the hardest. I want to see a fairer way but this Government are out of touch with what things are like on the ground.

“Everyone knows that difficult decisions have to be taken, but Southampton families will ask why so much of the cost of the Government’s economic mistakes are being out onto children and families.”

Since coming into power, the Tory-led Government has implemented huge cuts which impact families and children, and there are fears that child poverty will still be at levels of around 24% in ten years time, missing the target set by the last Labour Government before leaving office in 2010.

The facts:

* In the last Autumn Statement, George Osborne announced he’d be taking over £1.3 billion a year from families by failing to go ahead with the planned additional £110 rise in child tax credits and by freezing their working tax credits.

* 4 million families across the UK will feel the impact of this – in addition to rising energy bills and fuel costs.

Southampton GPs paid to implement Cameron’s damaging NHS changes

Labour has published figures confirming GPs in Southampton will be paid to attend meetings to implement Tory health reforms.

The Labour Party have submitted Freedom of Information requests across the NHS, and in Southampton we have discovered that GPs will be paid £250 to attend each session in their new roles as part of NHS commissioning boards. In addition, elected GP leaders will be paid £30,000 a year in their new roles.

The payments to GPs are just a small part of the nearly £16m set aside for the reckless and wasteful reorganisation of the NHS in Southampton.

John Denham, Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, said; “GPs are being put into an enormously difficult situation under these plans. They are under huge pressure to implement changes which will damage the NHS. Everyone waiting for treatment or denied the help they need will want to know why the Tories and Lib Dems are wasting money that could be helping patients.

“This is wrong and that’s why Labour is campaigning for the Tories and Lib Dems to Drop the Bill to change our NHS and start all over again.”

Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said: “When the NHS needs every penny it can get, patients will be appalled to hear that David Cameron is paying GPs twice.

“The Government are putting GPs in a difficult situation with their plans. It makes no sense at all to take GPs away from patient care to become part-time accountants. Patients and taxpayers lose hands down as the NHS foots the bill twice.

Local MP calls for Government action to slow the tide of pub closures in Southampton

After ten pubs closed in South Hampshire in 2011, John Denham, Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, is calling for Government action to slow the tide of pub closures by supporting a resolution to be debated on Thursday, 12 January.

The resolution calls on the Government to introduce a statutory code of practice and adjudicator for the industry. Mr Denham’s call for action comes following his support for a proper code of practice for pub companies whilst he was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Mr Denham made it clear that if the previous voluntary code of conduct failed, a Labour Government would back legislation to ease pressure on pub tenants and managers across the UK.

Studies suggest that 25 pubs are closing every week nationwide, with 29 closing in South Hampshire in the last three years. In Southampton, the closure of pubs has a clear impact on the identity of communities, particularly outside of the city centre. In September 2011, the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee stated that they saw “no other alternative” than legislative intervention to halt pub closures and tackle issues such as the Beer Tie and Restricted Covenants. However, in November, Ed Davey, Minister for Consumer Affairs, stated that there would be no such legislative action.

Southampton snubbed by Tory-led Government

…as plans for unprecedented new powers for ‘core cities’ are announced.

Following the announcement that Southampton is set to miss out on a series of new powers for ‘core’ cities, Labour MP John Denham has criticised the Government for snubbing Southampton residents. Powers that may be awarded to Bristol, Birmingham and six other cities include greater control and funding for public transport, development of local broadband and a consolidated pot of money to be divided up as local authorities decide.

Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, last week announced plans to strike deals with a number of cities in order to devolve unprecedented levels of planning, transport and labour powers to local authorities. Since then, Greg Clarke, Minister for Communities and Local Government, confirmed that these deals would be restricted to what he called the “core cities” of Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield.

“Prioritise electoral registration” says John Denham

Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, John Denham, is urging people to register to vote in Southampton.

A report from the Electoral Commission has predicted that over 6 million eligible people are missing from the voter register. The Government are currently proposing to speed up the timetable of registering voters in addition to removing the safeguards to monitor the impact of the overall registration. This could lead to many more people being left of the register and unable to vote.
The report finds that on the whole urban areas, such as Southampton, have lower levels of registration. There are particularly low levels of registration:

* among the BME community;

* by young people aged 17-24 years;

* those living in a property under two years, and;

* by those who live in properties owned by a private landlord.

Southampton has a large number of people living in privately-rented properties, which in 2001 accounted for approximately 19%. This figure is thought to have grown significantly in the last decade.

At a time when the Tory-led Government are storming ahead with equalising constituency sizes, now is not the time to blocking more people from voting and deteriorating the accuracy of the electoral register.

Mr Denham has written to Southampton’s Electoral Registration Officer to clarify a number of issues on the way in which electoral registration is carried out in our city.

MP backs call for more protection for people with dementia in Southampton

The Alzheimer’s Society has confirmed that people with dementia in Hampshire are being short changed out of £2,293,300 and must be better protected.

The charity estimates that up to 2,698 (15 per cent) of people with dementia in Hampshire have been victims of financial abuse such as cold calling, scam mail, or mis-selling. Its new report ‘Short changed: Protecting people with dementia from financial abuse’, today calls for people with the condition to be better protected.

The report has been supported by financial expert Martin Lewis, and calls on Trading Standards and banks to help put a stop to this by appointing ‘dementia champions’. These champions would help increase awareness about the condition, and spearhead better working with other local organisations. The charity also wants local authorities to safeguard funding for Trading Standards in a climate of cuts.

John Denham supports the report’s recommendations for creating greater awareness of this problem in Southampton.

Mr Denham said: “We know there’s a problem with illegal and legal loan sharks in Southampton, especially in the Thornhill, Harefield and Townhill estates in my constituency. If banks and Trading Standards can take on a more pro-active role in protecting people with dementia, that can only be a good thing.”

Southampton MP speaks out against worrying trends in unemployment

John Denham, Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, has responded to today’s worrying unemployment figures.

Youth unemployment is now at its highest point since records began and continues to rise, the number of job vacancies is falling and the private sector is not picking up where the public sector is suffering.

In Mr Denham’s Southampton Itchen constituency:
* The number of unemployed claimants in Southampton, Itchen constituency in November 2011 was 2,575.

* This represents a rate of 5.0% of the economically active population aged 16 to 64, the 316th highest of the 650 UK constituencies.

* The number of claimants is 400 higher than in November 2010 and the same as in October 2011.

In the South East region as a whole:
* Employment has fallen by 4,000 on the previous quarter.

* Unemployment has increased by 16,000 on the previous quarter and currently stands at 272,000.

* The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance has fallen on the previous month.

The benefits bill is now forecast to increase by an incredible £29 billion compared to what the Tory-led Government was expecting this time last year, at a cost of over £1,000 per household.

In the last quarter for every 13 jobs lost in the public sector, just one was created in the private sector. During PMQs today, the Prime Minister failed to apologise for his failure to create more jobs in the private sector over the last 12 months, which he had previously promised to do.

John Denham to discuss Cunard liners’ name change

Southampton Labour MP, John Denham, is to meet the President of Cunard to clarify why the registered home of cruise liners have been changed from Southampton to Hamilton in Bermuda.

Cunard have changed the registered home of their cruise liners to Hamilton, Bermuda in order to, they say, perform marriages on board. UK law does not allow marriages to take place.

John Denham welcomes the opportunity for a face-to-face meeting; to discuss the concerns of Southampton residents that our city’s name has disappeared from Cunards liners, the Queen Mary II, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria.

John Denham is open to discussing a change in UK law and whether the liners could be ‘reflagged’.

John Denham said: “Southampton has a proud history with cruise liners and, I can speak on behalf of Southamton residents when I say this, it is an enormous shame our city’s name has been taken off the hull of these cruise liners. I’m looking forward to the meeting and I will be keeping residents informed of the discussions I have.

“I hope, surely, it is still possible for a successful lobbying effort to bring about an apparently simple change in the current laws.”

Better debt advice could stop 7,000 evictions every year, says new report

This week Alan Whitehead MP teamed up with Hyde Housing and the Financial Inclusion Centre to make a powerful business case for increasing early access to debt advice services.

The report, titled “Does Debt Advice Pay? A Business Case for Social Landlords” looked at how a number of housing associations provided debt advice to their tenants; and found that where good quality debt advice services were provided, they made a significant difference to tenants’ rent arrears and saved both the tenant and the housing association substantial sums.

Proper provision of debt advice services could keep 7000 people from ending up on the street and save social landlords enough money to build 2000 more homes every year, the report found.

Alan Whitehead, Labour MP for Southampton Test, was asked to help launch the report due to his previous work on this issue with the National Housing Federation in their Debt on the Doorstep campaign and specialist debt advice teams assigned to Southampton.

The report found:

* For every tenant who receives debt advice there is on average a rent arrears reduction of £360.

* After debt advice was given, rent arrears reduced for 71 percent of residents.

* Debt advice, when given in the early stages of the debt build up, could potentially prevent over 7,000 evictions due to rent arrears every year.