Chris Whiteside's Blog

Conservatives won the first round today in the battle to hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership. James Wharton's private members bill which would provide for an EU referendum in 2017 passed its' first hurdle in the House of Commons today, when MPs voted to pass it to the next stage of the legislative process by 304 votes to nil. All but five Conservative MPs backed the bill. Those five abstained or were away, but should not be assumed to be against a referendum: one of them will be chairing the "committee stages" of the bill and has to be neutral at this point in the process, and two more are publicly on record as supporting a referendum. The policy of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties was to abstain and most of their MPs stayed away, although half a dozen Labour rebels did vote for the bill. Although it has passed its first parliamentary hurdle, the bill will face much stronger opposition later and its passage through Parliament is far fro...

I try very hard not to judge people by their name. I have met plenty of lovely people - children and adults - with unusual names, and if I had been so narrow minded as to try to prevent my offspring from associating with other children on the basis of their given names, both my kids would have lost out in a big way. So I'm certainly with those who disagreed with the comments Z-list celeb Katie Hopkins made on "This morning" the other day about how she would not let her children play with other children who had certain first names. I do however, in the privacy of my own mind, judge parents who give their children names which will be a burden to them. Whether we like it or not, our children will meet, submit job applications to, and be judged by people who, sometimes without consciously being aware of it, think the way Katie Hopkins is open about thinking. When my wife and I were discussing names for our children we thought long and hard about...

Today is the 65th birthday of the NHS which, although it is not perfect (what human system is?)  has helped millions of people and undoubtedly saved millions of lives. We should be grateful today for all the hard work done by doctors, nurses, dentists and all the other had working and caring people in the NHS. While the Conservatives are playing any part in government the NHS budget will be protected in real terms and the service will remain free at the point of delivery and funded mainly from general taxation.

The European Union's Common Fisheries Policy in its' present form is an extreme example of an area where it would have made sense to have a rational common policy but the one the EU has is an utter disaster. Fortunately it appears at very long last to be on the verge of genuine reform. As Britain's fisheries minister recently said, "Fish don't have passports." They swim from one country's territorial waters to another and back again. That's why a rational common fisheries policy would be a very good idea. Unfortunately the one in place at the moment is a very bad idea. On the European Commission's own figures, no less than an average of 23% -  - yes, 23%, and that's an average: the figure is higher in some fisheries - of the fish caught in EU waters are thrown back into the sea as "discards." That is an environmental and economic disaster. Fortunately, many years after it should have been done, the EU is at last propos...

When the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) was first applied to British Businesses I said that it was an over-rigid policy which would do far more harm than good and was likely to destroy jobs. At first the NHS had an exemption from the EWTD, as did other emergency services. But unfortunately that exemption was time limited. Against the advice of senior doctors and anyone who understands the NHS, the European parliament voted to apply the Working Time Directive to the NHS from 1st August 2009. Incidentally one of the Labour MEPs for the North West voted for this terrible decision, the other was absent. You can read what I wrote about this on the day the EWTD was applied to the NHS here . The impact on the NHS was as bad or worse as I feared at the time. It had dire effects on professional training, with some doctors calling the EWTD a "training disaster." Two years after the European Working Time Directive came into effect in the NHS, one ...

"You don't learn how to make Democracy work while Generals are running your country." (Said by a senior academic in the School of Economics at the University of East Anglia in 1985. The comment was made during a private conversation, which is why I have not given his name, with myself and a postgraduate student from Pakistan, where General Zia was President at the time. The remark has a very contemporary relevance to Egypt today.)

Under the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament has had the power of “co-decision” with the twenty-eight governments of EU member states in many policy areas.   The European  Parliament has a direct say in shaping laws concerning economic governance, immigration, energy, transport,  the environment and on many other issues. This means that the European Parliament has a real impact upon EU policies which directly affect British jobs and businesses, and some of those impacts have been very unhelpful. Sometimes the problem has been with the European regulations themseles, but we must not underestimate the ability of British regulators to "gold plate" EU regulations when drafting the instruments which implement them in Britain, and often make matters worse. I support the British Government’s review of the ‘balance of competences’ between our government and the EU and hope the review will recommend the repatriation of ...

David Cameron writes: Tomorrow, the Conservative Party will vote to give the British people their say on Europe. As I made clear in my speech on Europe earlier this year, we want an In-Out referendum by the end of 2017. And tomorrow Conservative MP James Wharton will propose a Bill that would write this commitment into law. The Bill has my full support – and it has support from across the Parliamentary Party: Ministers and backbenchers; Conservatives of all views. We are united behind it and together we will vote for it. The political picture here is a simple one. Conservatives want to give people a choice on Europe. Labour don’t – they’re refusing to back our Bill. For decades, politicians have denied the British people a voice on Europe. Tomorrow the Conservative Party will fight to give them one. And let us all be proud of that . David Cameron

Many people in Whitehaven have been shocked to learn that Sue Palmer, manager of the Beacon museum at the harbour, has died suddenly at the age of 44. She was a popular and effective manager who was widely known and liked around the town. My thoughts are with her family and friends. Rest In Peace. Postscript: Following Sue Palmer's death, the Beacon has been temporarily closed. It will remain closed until Saturday, July 13, while preparations are made for the summer holiday exhibitions, "Ice Age – Life After Dinosaurs" and "Shark – Myths and Reality."

UPDATE DECEMBER 2017 Below you will find my original 2013 post supporting the call for a referendum on EU membership,  an update which I wrote in 2016, the month before that referendum took place, and here is a further update written in December 2017, an extremely turbulent year and a half after Britain voted to leave. David Cameron persuaded me when he first announced his intention to call for a referendum if he was re-elected in 2015 that this was the right thing to do, and I still think that it was. It was an extremely important issue on which the British people had not been properly consulted for forty years, during which the nature of what was originally called the "European Economic Community" and had been sold to them as a "Common Market" had changed. Worse, a promise to give the British people a say on the most recent set of major changes - the EU constitutional treaty of which more than 90% was eventually enacted as the "Lisbon Treaty" - h...

"If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law." (Sir Winston Churchill)

Do you like the idea of watching Ed Miliband and Ed Balls strolling up Downing Street after the next election? Could you live with their hands back on our nation’s finances - borrowing, spending and saddling you and the children with more debt for years to come? If not – would you like to do something about it? If so, the Conservatives are giving you the opportunity to do so by signing up for Team2015 to help secure a Conservative majority in 2015. Team2015 is a volunteer network which deploys our best people to where they are most needed in our 40:40 target seats. Your skills will be channelled directly to the campaigns that need them most - and you'll be joining over a thousand other volunteers on the ground in a target seat near you. Help us reach that all important majority in 2015 so we can: Stand up for those who want to work hard and get on in life Finish off the job we’ve begun by getting our deficit under control Make sure work pays by continuing our ...

"There is no such thing as a good tax." (Sir Winston Churchill)

"Look, I'm very much in favor of tax cuts, but not with borrowed money. And the problem that we've gotten into in recent years is spending programs with borrowed money, tax cuts with borrowed money, and at the end of the day that proves disastrous. And my view is I don't think we can play subtle policy here." ( Alan Greenspan )

"No doubt the Met will be having an inquiry into why a Constable was attacked?" (Anonymous poster on the web following an attack on John Constable's painting "The Hay Wain" at the National Gallery by a "Fathers4Justice" protester.)

While on a visit to British troops in Afghanistan this weekend, David Cameron paid tribute to the British personnel - and sadly the count is now running at 440 - who have given their lives in that country. We should never forget their sacrifice. He also said that peace in Afghanistan requires a political solution and not just a military one: and Mohammed Karzai, the Afghan president, agreed with him. President Karzai also referred to the recent attack by Taleban extremists on his Presidental Palace as "Peanuts" in comparison to the losses which have sometimes been caused in other attacks. We do need a diplomatic resolution to be part of the solution. Let's hope one can be found. Of course, most of the military challenge is not coming from Afghans, but from the Pakistani Taleban. There are massive troubles in Pakistan, but I take some comfort from the fact that the recent election there represented one of the first occasions, if not the first, in Pakistan'...

"I like people who refuse to speak until they are ready to speak." (Lillian Hellman)

If anyone reading this was on the A62 near Oldham on Wednesday evening and saw anything unusual, you might like to know that a reward of up to £1,000 has been offered for information leading to arrests and convictions following a major cable theft in the area that evening.  Several underground cables – a mix of fibre and copper - were damaged in a criminal act in the Oldham area by the A62 just before midnight on Wednesday, causing severe disruption to customers. Kevin Brown, general manager, BT metal theft task force, said: "I would urge anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area to contact the police or Crimestoppers. Metal theft generates thousands of faults on BT's network every year and remains a priority for BT." Engineers worked through the night repairing and replacing damaged cables. Some service providers continued to experience problems with other communications services for several days as a result of the cable damage, and a numb...

"We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be, detested in France." (Attributed to the first Duke of Wellington in  Wellington and His Friends (1965) by his descendant  Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington , p. 138, and in The Economist (16 June 2005) . The Duke had, of course, spent most of his adult life at war with France, and the statement is quoted to show that disagreements with our neighbours on the other side of the channel have a long history, not to suggest that this is a good thing.) "I should have given more praise." (As quoted in A History of Warfare (1968) by Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein : "Sir Winston Churchill once told me of a reply made by the Duke of Wellington, in his last years, when a friend asked him: "If you had your life over again, is there any way in which you could have done better?" The old Duke replied: "Yes, I should have given more praise.")

Official economic figures going back six years were revised yesterday. Most of the changes were not that dramatic, but the one of the headlines on every news bulletin I heard was that the "double dip" recession apparently didn't happen after all. Hence today's "quote of the day" from Stephanie Flanders, economics editor of BBC Radio 4, who also referred, half seriously, to the second dip as the "recession that never was." According to the new figures the recession which took place towards the end of the term in office of the last Labour government was even more severe than was thought at the time. The figures for the first quarter of 2012 have also been revised from a drop of 0.1% to being flat, e.g. neither growing or shrinking. As the official definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth, this means that what had been the second quarter of the supposed "double dip" is now offically flat rather than pret...

"Well I guess if we made news of the non-event originally, then we do have to now make news of the non-event turning out to really have been a non-event." (Stephanie Flanders, Economics Editor, Radio 4's "PM" programme, 27th June 2013, referring to the published changes to Britain's economic growth statistics which revised away the second dip of the previously reported "double dip" recession.) Confused? You can hear the full article on BBC iPlayer about 19 minutes into the programme here . Or see next post.

"To most men duty means something unpleasant which the other fellow ought to do" (George Horace Lorimer)

Today I have published the Spending Round, which sets out our spending priorities and choices for 2015/16. Labour left us with the largest deficit since the Second World War. We borrowed £1 in every £4 that we spent. We had to take tough decisions to bring our economy back from the brink of bankruptcy. While recovery from such a deep recession is never straightforward, Britain is moving out of intensive care - from rescue to recovery. The Spending Round sets out how we will secure that recovery. Of course the choices are difficult, and there is no easy route out of a mess as big as the one Labour created. The departmental settlements I have announced today will reduce current spending by £11.5 billion in 2015-16. But every decision we have taken is based on three principles: delivering reform, prioritising growth and ensuring fairness. Through reform, we are determined to get more from every pound we spend. We are clamping down on waste across Whitehall - £5 billion of the savings tod...

The Care Quality Commission has released a critical report into the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, known locally as WCH, following an unannounced inspection of the hospital held in May. The report highlights staffing levels, patient welfare and care and record keeping as areas of concern. More details on my hospitals blog here .

Like almost every other country, Britain is going through tough times and whoever was in government now would be having to make tough decisions. The coalition government today announced a new round of spending decisions. The country does not have enough money to be able to afford everything we would like and I don't think there will be anyone who isn't unhappy at some of the cuts which have been announced. But the same would be true of what any other government would have to do. I am pleased that education and health have been protected. We came into Government to address one of the biggest economic crises since the Second World War. While recovery from such a deep recession is never straightforward, Britain is moving out of intensive care - from rescue to recovery.   The Spending Round sets out how we will secure that recovery. The choices are difficult, and there is no easy route out of a mess as big as the one Labour created. There will be over £300 billio...

"Taking advice from the Shadow Chancellor on balancing the books is like taking advice from Dracula on how to run a blood bank." (George Osborne responding yesterday in the House of Commons to an attack by Ed Balls.)

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has admitted he made "a mistake" by setting up a trust fund in an off-shore tax haven. Mr Farage, who has previously spoken out against those who evade tax in a speech to the European Parliament, admitted that he paid a tax adviser to set up the Farage Family Educational Trust 1654 on the Isle of Man, according to the Daily Mirror. The newspaper said Mr Farage insisted he had not personally benefited from the account, and that he claimed he had ended up out of pocket. The MEP told the Mirror: "My financial advisers recommended I did it, to have a trust really for inheritance purposes and I took the advice and I set it up. It was a mistake. I was a completely unsuitable person for it. I am not blaming them, it was my fault."

"When one comes down to particular instances, everything becomes more complicated." (Albert Camus)

One of the reasons metal theft so annoys me is that it can endanger the lives of innocent people. I make no apology for returning to this subject and pointing out - because the knowledge might make potential thieves realise that they would be better off adopting an honest profession - that metal theft gangs often also endanger their own. This is what appears to have happened recently in Yorkshire when what seems to have been an attempted cable theft ended with a suspected intruder falling from a roof and breaking both legs. ​The incident happened during a break-in at BT’s Sheffield Computer Centre in Tinsley Park, Sheffield, South Yorkshire. A vigilant site security guard was monitoring CCTV screens when he spotted movement in the yard and then saw two people climbing the perimeter wall. He immediately called Yorkshire police, who responded promptly, with officers, including a dog handler, arriving within ten minutes to carry out a search of the site. At this point the in...

"Whom the Gods would make bigots, they first deprive of humour." (James M Gillis)