Wednesday 25 April 2012

Abolition for the House of Lords


I am not in favour of the House of Lords and would vote for its abolition.  I believe in a ‘one chamber’ Parliament with power residing in the House of Commons which is, as you know, fully elected.  There is, however, one scenario where I do believe that there is an argument for a second chamber.

In the Federal Republic of Germany there is a two chamber system.  The Bundestag is the Lower House which is elected by a mixed system of ‘first past the post’ and ‘proportional representation’ and the Upper House, the Bundesrat, consists of members who are nominated by the different Lander in proportion to the size of the population in that particular state. 

Britain does not have a fully-fledged federal system of Government but there are Parliaments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland who have varying powers and if there were to be an English Parliament as well then I believe that there is a case for each of those four regional Parliaments to appoint representatives in an Upper House in order to, as is the case in Germany, protect the interests of those devolved Parliaments.  The Bundesrat in Germany has a clearly defined set of powers but the Lower House, Bundestag, is still the predominant chamber. 

As I have said were Britain to move towards a federal system with each of the four countries of the United Kingdom having their own Parliament then I can see an argument for having a similar system involving a second chamber but under the current system we have I can see no justification for having a second chamber.

Sunday 15 April 2012

St. George’s Day Greetings.

 
I extend greetings Christians in my constituency on St. George’s Day on the 23rd April.  St. George is the Patron Saint of England and among the most famous of Christian figures.  The banner of St. George – the red cross of a martyr on a white background – was adopted for the uniform of English soldiers as far back as the reign of Richard I and later became the flag of England and White Ensign of the Royal Navy.  Little is known about St. George himself but he is venerated in many countries of the world and I send my best wishes to all of my constituents who celebrate St. George’s Day.

Monday 2 April 2012

Further help for Syria from the UK Government


Birmingham MP, Roger Godsiff, has broadly welcomed the recent announcement by Foreign Secretary William Hague that he has agreed to provide half a million pounds of British support to Syria's political opposition. This support includes agreement in principle for practical non-lethal support to them inside Syria.

Mr Godsiff said: “This latest contribution builds on the British Government’s £450,000 of practical support to the Syrian opposition and civil society in the last 8 months, which has included strategic communications and media skills training to internal activists, conflict resolution and negotiation training to independent civil society and training and advice to Syrian human rights defenders from across the country.”

He went on to say: “ I am sure that all of this in its own way will help but estimates place the current death toll at over 8000 and with the number of children killed in the hundreds. What the Syrian opposition really needs is anti-tank artillery and rocket propelled grenades (RPG’s).

William Hague said: "It will help hard-pressed opposition groups and brave civil society organisations inside and outside the country to document the regime’s violations and gain the skills and resources they need to help build a democratic future for Syria.”