Andrew Bridgen MP: Could Labour shoot the Government's fox - or rather, its white elephant: HS2?

24th August 2013: We originally published this post by Andrew Bridgen on 8th July. We're republishing it today in light of reports – including in the Times (£) – that "Labour’s leadership has put the coalition on notice that it will withdraw support for the controversial High Speed 2 rail line if costs continue to spiral."

Andrew Bridgen is Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire.  Follow Andrew on Twitter.

To many fellow Conservatives who have taken the view that HS2 is a White Elephant, we find ourselves in a strange position today by being in agreement with an article written by Lord Mandelson in which he states HS2 could be an "expensive mistake” and damage the north of England's economy.

This intervention should act as a warning shot to the Conservatives that it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Labour could abandon the cross party consensus - and leave us high and dry supporting a project with spiralling costs which ploughs through dozens of Conservative constituencies.

During the High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill debate I asked the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport to ‘reassure the House that Her Majesty’s Opposition’s support for HS2 will continue up to and beyond the next general election? The support being given to the Government in this case is, I believe, rather like the support given by the rope to the hanged man. 

The response I received was ‘The honourable Gentleman is speaking in hope rather than expectation. I know his own personal concern about the scheme and I understand his point, but I can be clear with the House that Labour supports getting on with building this north-south line."

Andrew Bridgen MP: The people who were part of the Mid Staffs failure should not be running the NHS today

Andrew Bridgen is Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire.  Follow Andrew on Twitter.

In 2011 when I commented on this website on the reforms to the structure of the NHS, I wrote that the organisation had ‘Stalinist Protectionist Elements’. At the time I was subjected to criticism from those who thought the phrase was too strong.

However the recent facts that have come to light about the scale of cover up in the NHS have only served to vindicate the point I made. First there is the case of former United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust Chief Executive Gary Walker, paid half a million pounds in severance and issued with a gagging order after highlighting concerns about patient safety.

Secondly there is the response to my colleague Steve Barclay’s Parliamentary question which has found that In just three years there were 598 ‘special severance payments’, almost all of which carried confidentiality clauses, all at a cost of £14.7 million.

Had it not been for the public inquiry in the failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, much of this may not have come to light. An enquiry it is clear the previous government did not want to happen as  prior to 2010, Labour Health Secretaries, latterly the now shadow Secretary of State Andy Burnham rejected 81 requests for a full public enquiry.

Andrew Bridgen MP: Why Miliband and Balls should fear a Hollande victory

Andrew Bridgen is Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire.  Follow Andrew on Twitter.

The result of the election for the next French President will undoubtedly have an impact on the UK both politically and economically. With a socialist being the likely winner, first instincts are that this would be bad news for the Conservative Party. However, it is my belief those who face the biggest danger from the French Socialist is Ed Miliband and Ed Balls. 

So far Ed Milliband and Ed Balls have been able to get away with their borrow and spend economically illiterate message on the economy as no Government has chosen to follow its prescription - the prescription that to get out of a debt crisis, you should borrow more. It is after all easier to say something would work better if there is no evidence to prove otherwise.

Should Francois Hollande become the French President, Ed Balls' economic ideas and theories will be put to test. Hollande wants new spending of 20 billion euros to be funded through taxing the rich.

Andrew Bridgen MP: We can shoot UKIP's fox by guaranteeing a referendum on Britain's relationship with Europe

Andrew Bridgen is Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire. Follow Andrew on Twitter.

As we look back on the first two years of this Coalition Government, we should ask which issue or action caused the most significant sustained jump in the Conservative Party opinion poll ratings?  An action that gave our Party a share of the vote whereby it could actually win a majority at a General Election. It was when David Cameron was the first Prime Minister to use the British veto at an EU summit. Immediately following this according to YouGov, we were retaining over 90% of our 2010 vote and losing just 3% to UKIP. According to recent polling, that vote retention has slipped to under 80% with UKIP taking over 10% of the 2010 Conservative vote and overtaking the Liberal Democrats in the opinion polls.

In October last year I was one of 81 Conservative MPs to vote in favour of a Referendum on our EU membership. At the time I said in the House that I’d received dozens and dozens of letters, e-mails and telephone calls from constituents urging me to vote in favour of this, and the only correspondence I had received urging me to vote against was a telephone call from the government whips office.

There have been many accusations recently that the Government is looking out of touch. Whilst I do not subscribe to this view; there is one Conservative Party policy decision that would put the party in touch with both the membership and the public at large. That is a Cast Iron guarantee that should a Conservative Government be elected at the next election, it will guarantee a referendum on our membership of and future relationship with the European Union.

Andrew Bridgen MP: A concrete plan to deal with EU health and safety regulations

Andrew Bridgen is Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire.

Successive Government’s have argued that the UK needs to be part of the European Union so it can influence its direction and its directives. The Government has the perfect opportunity to put this to the test following recommendations put forward by the Lofstedt review on Health and Safety, a review on which I sat on the advisory panel.

During the review it emerged that according to figures obtained from the think tank, Open Europe, 41 of the 65 new health and safety regulations introduced between 1997 and 2009 originated in the EU. As well as this EU directives accounted for 94% of the cumulative cost of UK health and safety regulation introduced between 1998 and 2009.

I would not for one moment argue that all this legislation is bad, and I have no doubt that much of it would have been put in place in any case. There is one interesting statistic however. A review of impact assessments for all regulations found that an overall benefit/cost ratio of £1.58p for every £1 spent, i.e it demonstrates a positive net outcome from regulation. However looking deeper, it has been found that the ratio for EU regulations was just 1.02 compared to 2.35 for just UK regulations. Put simply, EU regulations barely provide any benefits compared to costs.

For our economy to remain competitive globally, this has to be addressed. The report has highlighted specific examples of where EU directives are harming British business, such as one being considered at present to extend eligibility to eye tests to those who work in the UK retail sector. This would be a further burden on business at a time when they can least afford it. Another regulation brought in just last year; the Control of Artificial Optical Radiation at Work Regulations is another example of Brussels introducing regulations which according to the Health and Safety Executive ‘have no Health and Safety benefits in Great Britain’.

Andrew Bridgen MP: The Government should introduce a harsher sentencing policy for those who steal and damage war memorials

Andrew Bridgen is Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire.

This weekend, like all of my Parliamentary colleagues, I will be attending Remembrance services in my constituency. It is a weekend when I feel honoured to be in a position to lead tributes in towns and villages in North West Leicestershire and remember those who gave their lives for our freedom.

War Memorials are a special part of our social fabric and through the length and breathe of our Country at this time of year, millions of people gather around them. Parents and grandparents explain to the next generation what they mean and point out the names of their forefathers who served and gave their lives for our freedom. However some people in our society choose to deprive communities of this opportunity by stealing War memorials and selling them for scrap metal. The War Memorial Trust estimates that every week one war memorial is being plundered for scrap. Not only are these people targeting war memorials but also places of worship. Ecclesiastical Insurance, the UK’s leading church insurer, has received more than 300 claims for theft of external metals from churches over the past 12 months.

It is not just the cost of replacing the materials that is the problem, thieves have also torn holes in roofs causing them to leak, and ripped stonework away from pinnacles and towers. The money thieves receive, is only a fraction of the cost of the damage they cause for the metal they steal.

Andrew Bridgen MP: Clegg and Cable should show they are serious about growth - by dumping the 50p tax rate

Andrew Bridgen is the Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire.

Last week the Deputy Prime Minister made a speech on growth. I applaud the sentiments and actions from this speech but I have to ask the question: if Nick Clegg and Vince Cable are serious about growth, why are headlines appearing suggesting Nick Clegg will veto George Osborne cutting the economically damaging 50p top rate of tax and Business Secretary Vince Cable describing its removal as a childish fantasy?

Last week, I received an answer to a written question to the Treasury asking if the full economic impact of the 50p rate will be taken into account in the review of its effectiveness, and I was pleased to learn that "HMRC will consider all available evidence around the impact of the 50% rate including data from the 2010-11 self-assessment returns which will become available next year." As I have written before, I believe the rate is costing the economy untold damage with the super rich able to move their money and assets so quickly. 

Andrew Bridgen MP: Ed Balls' holidays

Andrew Bridgen is Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire.

As we enter recess and in the spirit of helpfulness, I am prepared to offer myself in the role of travel agent for the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls where he may soak up the culture and perhaps find time to speak to some of George Osborne’s opposite numbers. 

A good start perhaps would be Greece. As Mr Balls travels from Athens airport, he could soak up the sight of half-completed buildings and reflect on the 16% unemployment rate, 16%+ interest rate on 10 year Government bonds and riots in the street as banks and investors remain unconfident about the country’s outlook. 

Perhaps Ireland and Portugal, where Ed Balls would meet a similar outlook with 15% and 13% unemployment rates, and double digit government bond interest rates. Perhaps he would like to visit Italy or Spain and talk about the yield on their 10-year debt, a key indicator of market confidence hovering around the 6% mark as markets become more concerned about their deficits and economies. 

Andrew Bridgen MP: Failure to introduce the NHS reforms would be tantamount to caving in to innovation-stifling Stalinists whose views have perpetuated poor health outcomes for too long

Andrew Bridgen is Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire.

When I look up a definition for the National Health Service, the most common definition is ‘the system of national medical services since 1948, financed mainly by taxation’. This seems a fair enough explanation. Medical services, free at the point of need, financed by taxation. Nowhere do I read ‘a system where these services have to be provided by the service itself’.

I recently asked a question in the House about the Green Investment Bank and drew attention to the fact that ‘Historically, whatever services the Government decide to offer, the private sector tends to withdraw from, so what steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that the Green Investment Bank complements private sector investment in green technologies and does not merely replace it?’

One of the examples I could draw upon for this historical comparison is the National Health Service. As the NHS has provided for medical needs, many voluntary or charity run organisations have been edged out. This has stored up problems which are only now beginning to surface, for example, the NHS finds end of life and social care provision challenging, to the point that I have charitable organisations around my constituency that campaign for, and help to provide, hospice and palliative care provision as the NHS struggles to cope.

Andrew Bridgen MP: Bailing out Portugal would be throwing good money after bad and urgently needs to be debated in Parliament

Andrew Bridgen is Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire.

In 1999 I was actively involved in the Business for Sterling and NO campaigns, working and campaigning against Britain’s adoption of the Euro. Like many businessmen and women and who understood economics, I could see that the Euro was a political project that was destined to fail as so many divergent economies fail to converge.

Indeed we could see that the “one size fits all” interest rate for the Eurozone, which could also be described as a “one size fits no one” interest rate, would actually drive the economies of the Eurozone countries apart rather than converging them. Unless that is, huge sums of money were transferred from countries doing well in the Eurozone to those performing poorly. The latter condition was essential for the Euro project to work in the medium term but would have been politically unacceptable (and probably still is) to the majority of citizens and therefore taxpayers in the countries required to act so altruistically to their neighbours, but the project went ahead anyway.

The Euro project was always doomed to failure, but the global economic crisis has accelerated this and brought into sharp focus the fundamental flaws in the Euro currency model. Instead of the drip feeding of large sums of cash to the underperforming economies of the Eurozone, they now need it in a lump sum, which is being called a bailout.

Andrew Bridgen MP: We need to push at every opportunity the fact that the cuts are Labour's cuts

Andrew Bridgen is Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire.

For those of you who have watched the classic Blackadder goes Forth series, you may remember a scene where Blackadder refers to the lawyer Bob Massingbird, who, he claims, is the finest legal mind in British history and, in the case of the ‘Bloody Knife’, a man was found next to a murdered body. He had the knife in his hand. Thirteen witnesses had seen him stab the victim. And when the police arrived, he said  "I'm glad I killed him." Massingbird not only got him off; he got him knighted in the New Year's Honours List. And the relatives of the victim had to pay to wash the blood out of his jacket!

Where am I going with this? Well, if we fail to communicate who it was who left the biggest deficit in the developed world, who left a huge structural deficit, who presided over the severest recession since the 1920s, who left two and a half million unemployed, who left us with an unbalanced economy where the 52% of the economy that is the private sector has to support the whole country as well as itself, then Ed Milliband and Ed Balls might just pull off an even bigger coup than Bob Massingbird.

According to the latest polls, although the Conservatives still lead when people are asked "Which party is most trusted to run the economy?", the number of people who blame the spending cuts on the Government has reached its highest level (26%) since the election, while 40% blame Labour.

That’s six out of ten people who do not blame Labour for the spending cuts. That is in spite of the deficit and debt being run up on their watch and the fact that Alastair Darling, the then Chancellor, had already announced that, if the Labour Government were re-elected, the country faced the biggest cuts in public expenditure in its history.

Andrew Bridgen MP: Retaining the 50p tax band amounts to slow motion economic suicide

Andrew Bridgen MP is Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire.

I’ve always been a great believer in the quote that “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. So when Alistair Darling brought in the 50p tax rate, I naturally assumed that he did not take on board the sentiments of George Santayana’s quote as history has told us time and time again that, "for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity, is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”

In the 1970s we suffered the brain drain, when the country’s biggest export was tax exiles and George Harrison was previously moved to write the song Taxman when he learned that his taxation rate would be 98%. One might argue that the 50p tax rate (although with National Insurance, this should actually be known as the 51p tax rate) is nowhere near as draconian as the tax rates of the 1970s or indeed the rates until 1988. However, what is different now is the options that are available to high earners to live elsewhere, without inconvenience, using the internet and much improved air travel.

This was brought home to me when at an event I attended in the City of London, I was told of a former London resident and UK taxpayer who earns £36 million a year, and who has decided to skip the 50p tax rate by taking up residency in Switzerland, thus denying us the £18 million tax take and an injection of up to £18 million of his after tax income into the economy.

And what of the economic case? We all know about the economic laws of diminishing returns and of demand and supply. It is my belief that these economic laws apply to the 50p tax rate.

Andrew Bridgen MP: Communities need to be protected from the effects of inappropriate opencast mining - as is already the case in Scotland and Wales

Andrew Bridgen is MP for North West Leicestershire and explains here the background to the Private Member's Bill he will be introducing later in this parliamentary session.

Normally being drawn twelfth in the Private Member's Bills ballot would not be considered that hopeful, but this is an eighteen-month Parliament so there should be more time than normal to get Private Member's Bills through. Immediately after I was drawn in the ballot, I was approached by many groups wishing to put forward legislation. I had in my mind, though, one particular unfairness that I had become aware of during the election campaign, which I now had a chance to try and remedy. 

In February, along with the other Parliamentary candidates, I was asked to speak and debate at a hustings meeting organised by the Minorca Opencast Protest Group. Whilst researching the subject, the issue of a buffer zone arose - very simply, a gap legally enforced between an opencast mine and a residential settlement. I found that in the late 1990s, East Ayrshire District Council in Scotland became the first UK Local Authority to formally introduce a 500-metre zone between opencast/surface mine sites and areas of settlement. After much protest this eventually led to the present situation where the Scottish Planning Policy that was published in February 2010 incorporates 500-metre buffer zone guidance.

I also discovered that, with regard to opencast mining, the most consistent public request over the last two years was for the Mineral Technical Advice to include 500-metre buffer zones and that the Welsh Assembly Government has also formally adopted the policy of introducing 500-metre buffer zones between areas of settlement and opencast mines.

However, when my Parliamentary colleague Mark Pritchard questioned the previous government's minister, John Healey, in September 2009 about the introduction of such zones in England, he was told:

"There is no current intention to review existing planning policy on opencast mining and introduce buffer zones in England."

So why do we need a 500-metre buffer zone in England?

Andrew Bridgen: Businesses desperately need Redwood's policies

Andrew Bridgen is the candidate for NW Leics, founding chairman and managing director of AB Produce PLC, and a consultee to the Bank of England. Speaking from his experience he urges you to vote for business derregulation on Stand Up, Speak Up.

If John Redwood's recommendations for reducing the regulatory burden on British business are adopted as Conservative policy and enacted in Government, we could expect to hear a collective sigh of relief from the business community. Many politicians have talked about reducing regulation and cutting red tape, and here for the first time we have well thought out, researched measures to actually deliver it. Over the last ten years of this Labour Government, the increase of the regulatory burden has seen the UK falling from 4th to 13^th in world competitiveness rankings.

This continued decline is unsustainable. As anyone who runs their own business would be able to tell you, they’re having to spend ever increasing amounts of their time ensuring that their business complies with all the latest rules and regulations emanating from an ever increasing number of various Government agencies and quangos both at home and from Europe. This is an unwelcome diversion from working and developing their business. Time always costs money in the business world.