Fisher: Stoke Needs More Affordable Housing.
Wat Tyler Sun Jan 20, 2008 at 03:19:54 PM GMT 
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In his first parliamentary report of the year Stoke Central MP Mark Fisher has criticised the government’s handling of the dispute over police pay, the decision to back a new generation of nuclear power stations and highlighted the housing shortage in his constituency.
January, Mr Fisher told delegates at a meeting held at Stoke Town Hall last Friday had not been a good month for Labour saying that ‘Peter Hain’s inefficiency has given the public and press the impression that we are less than honest and straightforward and, as a result, we are not even beginning to recover the position we had last September.’
The government’s handling of the dispute over a pay rise for police offers had, he said, been ‘extraordinary and inept’ and that the sums involved in delaying their pay rise were ‘miniscule in government terms’, the government had, by its actions ‘unnecessarily alienated the whole Police Force.’
Speaking on the subject of the proposed rise in MP’s salaries Mr Fisher supported the line taken by Gordon Brown saying, ‘ the Prime Minister is right, in my view, about MP’s pay- with the economy certain to have a very difficult year this is not the moment for MP’s pay to increase by 2.56%. I will vote against this increase even though the case for it is logical.’
It was, he told delegates ‘extremely disappointing that the government has backed nuclear power as the central element in our future energy policy.’ Little thought, he said, had been given to issues relating to security and waste disposal and the government’s enthusiasm for nuclear power was ‘baffling’ considering that Britain ‘sits on a mountain of coal (at a time when clean coal technology is making great strides) and is surrounded by wind and wave power.
On the subject of the city’s housing shortage Mr Fisher said the number of people waiting for council housing stood at 8000 with the vast majority of the people on the list having ‘ no chance whatsoever of being housed by the council.’
The solution was, he said, was for ‘councils once again to be able to build social housing to let at affordable rents. Unless we do so we are going to create horrendous social problems, and disillusion with government, both local and national.’
He had, he said, raised the issue of affordable housing with the council and, in partnership with parliamentary colleague Joan Walley during Housing Questions in the commons, receiving in return ‘soft and sympathetic replies, but no sign of action.’
Fisher: Stoke Needs More Affordable Housing. | 3 comments (3 topical)
Fisher: Stoke Needs More Affordable Housing. | 3 comments (3 topical)
