Press Release
Constituency Annual Review Addresed To Voters
Tom Clarke MP for Coatbridge Chryston and Bellshill has published an annual review of his activities during the past year and distributed a copy to the homes of 67,000 constituents.
Mr Clarke said: “It is important to communicate effectively with my constituents and that is what the publication and distribution of my annual review is seeking to achieve”
He cites as one of his proudest achievements of this Parliamentary Session the fact that he has managed to steer another Private Members’ Bill on the subject of International Poverty on the Statute Book.
Describing himself as the energy supplier’s biggest critic he has campaigned for a reduction in domestic energy bills. On the 7th February he challenged Tony Blair at Prime Ministers Question Time, to urge energy companies to stop offering excuses and to move on to ensure that there are real reductions for long-suffering consumers. Little did he know then, that by midnight, British Gas would announce a reduction in gas by 17% and for electricity by 15%.
The human cost of personal debt through plastic cards features largely in his report with some very interesting statistics of the human misery suffered by so many people. Half of the UK adult . population is affected by money worries as millions of days are lost from work. Relationship problems between couples can lead to people receiving treatment for stress, depression and anxiety from their GP. And unbelievably there are more credit and charge cards in the UK - than people.
Under the heading of work tax and benefits we discover that there are 38,000 jobs in his constituency and a graphic illustration of a range of statistics on the annual cost in benefits totalling £174.5 Million which is shared between 69,990 people and families. The MP has calculated that his constituency’s share of the Block Grant, given by HM Treasury to the Scottish Executive over the last 3 years, is equivalent to £15,000 per elector. Therefore demonstrating a total income of £500 million pounds of public money finding its way directly or indirectly to his constituency. On home ownership the comparison is drawn by owner occupied and rented accommodation which represents an almost 60/40 split respectively. Lone parents account for nearly 14% of the population while all pensioner households slightly exceeds 20%
The local MP led a panel of Parliamentarians from all parties that produced a Report containing a pioneering review of services for disabled children, which was presented to Government Ministers. Amongst the key findings was the aim that Working Tax Credit should be improved to take into account the additional costs of caring for a disabled child. And Winter Fuel Payments should be extended to include parents of disabled children, particularly children under five who are at home all day.
Tom Clarke who is renowned for his activities in the third world explains that he has written to churches of all denominations in his constituency requesting their assistance with the campaign to vaccinate children in the poorest parts of the world. Worldwide, nearly 29,000 children under the age of five, die every day. The tragedy is that 25% of these deaths – 2 to 3 million per year – are attributable to diseases that are, or soon will be, vaccine preventable.
The Annual Review concludes with details of surgeries which provide an opportunity for constituents to meet their MP. These are held on the first Saturday of every month