Reporting Back - July 2010
Annette Brook MP, Mid Dorset and North Poole Constituency
I certainly did not imagine that I would be part of a Coalition Government following the 2010 General Election. The feedback that I am getting from many people is that they like to see political parties working together and compromising. Tough decisions have had to be made in these first few months to tackle the record budget deficit and I am not always comfortable with the decisions being made. However, I do believe that we would have seen VAT increased and the cuts in the Building Schools For the Future programme whichever party(ies) had formed the Government. For my Party one of the most significant achievements so far is the proposed legislation for a referendum on our voting system. All being well the referendum will take place on the same day as the local elections next year. It will be a simple, yes/ no vote on a change from our current first past the post system to what is known as the alternative vote system. This just requires the voter to express a first preference amongst candidates and then go on to list second, third .... preferences if they so wish. It is not a proportional system but it would, for example, tackle the situation where some MPs are currently elected by a third or less of the electorate. This comes about by taking second preferences into account from the votes cast for the candidate who has the least votes in the first round and so on until one candidate reaches 50% plus 1 of the vote.
On a personal front, I now have a new job in Parliament. I have been asked to join the Speaker's Panel of Chairmen. This means that I will chair debates which are not held on the floor of the House. This includes debates in Westminster Hall and various debates on legislation. When I am not actually chairing I can make contributions to other debates and ask oral questions. I have been quite busy so far this session with two questions to the Prime Minister, an adjournment debate of my own on bullying, contibuting to a debate on the abolition of the regional spatial strategies, making a speech on health services for children and young people with autism, speaking up for Montacute School and its need for new premises and a number of other oral questions.
I am finding myself having to be available for every vote now I am a member of the Government which from a constituency point of view means it is harder to come back mid week to attend events. Even worse for me, I was kept up to 3am last week, as the opposition were determined to keep business operating as long as they could! I wouldn't have minded quite so much if the quality of the debate had been higher!
The articles of Annette Brooke are archived below:
2011 - January, February, February (updated), April, May, June
2010 - February, July, September, October, November, December
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