My last column for the Leigh Observer:
Brexit never seems to be far from the headlines especially because of the devious machinations of some of our senior politicians, especially in the unelected and increasingly out of touch House of Lords.
The EU Withdrawal Bill, which has just finished one of its stages in the House of Lords, is designed to ensure that all our current laws, including those from the EU, continue to apply following our leaving the EU. Unfortunately, the Lords have decided to use it to try and undermine Brexit.
The Lords are demanding that any trade agreement with the EU should be brought back to Parliament for approval where they will have many opportunities to bog it down and delay our independence. They also want another referendum on the deal which is straight out of the EU play book - when a country makes a decision not approved by the EU then they get told to go away and get it ‘right’ next time.
Unfortunately, Jeremy Corbyn is showing no leadership on the EU, has not set out a clear vision for Brexit and seems to be content with letting his chums in the Lords wreck Brexit. Lord Kinnock and Lord Mandelson, both receiving EU pensions, have been in the thick of thwarting Brexit so it looks increasingly necessary to radically reform the Lords.
Just when you thought that Labours attempt to undermine Brexit couldn’t get any worse they then demand and have a vote in Parliament requiring that we hand over all the British negotiating documents to the EU. This would give a massive negotiating advantage to the EU but Labour are not demanding the equivalent information from the EU so whose side are they on?
I voted to have a referendum, respect the decision of the British people and will do all I can to ensure that we have an honest Brexit.
Press censorship can be done in many ways and would have a terribly damaging effect on our democracy. It can be used to silence journalists and newspapers so that the powerful and corrupt are never held to account.
We can look at countries and cultures around the world and see what kind of oppressive government people have when there is no check on power. We only have to look at Turkey, Russia and China to see the corruption allowed to fester without a free press but we nearly took a step closer to silencing our press just last week.
Labour wanted to force the press to be regulated by a government approved organisation. This regulator would, over time, undermine the freedom of the press and effectively force them to stop challenging the rich and powerful.
Even worse, Labour want your local newspaper to pick up all legal costs whether they are in the right or wrong. Just imagine, a newspaper uncovering scandalous behaviour by a powerful man but then get dragged through the courts, be found right but then being bankrupt because they still have to pay all the costs.
What is it about Labour and the Lords being so out of touch, trying to stitch up everything in their own interests and not servicing the people?
Labour’s Lord Smith has now decided to step down as leader of Wigan Council having served the interests of Wigan for many years.
As the Member of Parliament representing Atherton, I wish him well but also want to reflect on the local situation. Wigan has indeed been served well by Lord Smith but only to the detriment of my constituents as investment has been kept in the centre at the expense of other parts of the borough.
To show how bad it is, the lack of investment in Atherton meant that Wigan Council would not even put Atherton forward for Mayor of Greater Manchester’s “Town Centre Challenge” because too much work was needed. This isn’t about a few years of underfunding, it is about decades of Wigan and its Labour leadership looking after themselves and forgetting everyone else.
We should have hoped that the “Town Centre Challenge“ would have been designed to help towns like Atherton as the mayor used to represent the town but I suppose Andy Burnham, like Lord Smith, has other priorities.