The MP for the West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly constituency of St Ives, Andrew George has today welcomed the steps that Liberal Democrats in Government have taken to give hard working families a fairer deal and called on his colleagues to go even further.

Mr George noted that Liberal Democrats in Government have already made crucial progress towards a fairer and more liberal Britain by:

• Making sure that more than 800,000 people on low wages no longer pay income tax on their earnings with that figure set to reach 1.1 million by May 2012.

• Giving 23 million working people a £200 tax cut.

• Ensuring that in April 2012 every worker will be given a further income tax cut of £130.

• Targeted an extra £7 billion that can be raised by clamping down on tax avoidance.

• Taxing banks an extra £2.5 billion every year.

• Putting up Capital Gains Tax so that it will raise £925 million a year by 2015.

Mr George also welcomed a speech made by Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP last which in which he made clear that ahead of the 2012 Budget (scheduled for Wednesday 21st March) Liberal Democrats in Government would be arguing for greater and faster tax cuts to help hard working families who are currently feeling the economic squeeze.

Commenting Mr George said:

“Everyone knows that times are tough. Budgets are being constrained and money is tight from a national to a household level. However, I am proud that in Government Liberal Democrats are working hard to ease the strain on millions of hard working families whilst making sure that those with the deepest pockets pay their fair share.”

Commenting in advance of the summit by representatives of the Royal Colleges to decide a position on the Government’s Health & Social Care Bill, a Government supporting Health Select Committee member who voted against the Bill, Andrew George MP called for decisive action:

Mr George said:

“I welcomed the clear conclusions of both the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwifery last week on the Bill.

“I hope others will join them in sending a strong message to Government, and to urge Ministers to honourably withdraw their disruptive and destructive plans – even at this late stage.

“Some argue that the Bill can be improved with changes when it comes back to the Lords next week. However, for the Bill to be worth passing it would have to be changed so radically it would be unrecognisable.

“If all the Lords do is to make the Bill less bad then I’m afraid that won’t be good enough.”

Liberal Democrats on Cornwall Council have welcomed the announcement by the Conservative-led authority that it will not be cutting bus routes which are relied on by local residents to get to work, college and to see friends and family. The Council had threatened that it would be cutting the support given to subsidised routes and that more than a quarter of supported routes would disappear in the next two months.

“We are delighted that the Conservatives have performed a u-turn and have guaranteed the future of the current bus network for the next two years,” said Cllr Jeremy Rowe, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Cornwall Council. “But we are concerned that there is no certainty for the network beyond the next election and no plan for how the network can be expanded.”

“This u-turn has only come about because of the huge opposition from local communities and the campaign led by Cornwall Liberal Democrats. We highlighted the damage that the original proposal would do to local communities and the unfair criteria by which the potential cuts were selected.”

“But the fact that the Conservatives could have considered such a massive cut to the bus network shows that their priorities are all wrong. They simply do not understand that buses are essential for people to get to work or to college, to see family and friends or even to get to hospital. They are out of touch with the needs of the people of Cornwall.”

“Cornwall Liberal Democrats would guarantee that we won’t cut any supported local bus routes in Cornwall and we will be working with local communities to identify how to expand the network. Cornwall Council has a great vision for better local transport, but the current administration seems determined to ignore that vision. We need a vision for the future that means residents can plan beyond another crisis in two years time.”

The MP who chairs the national Grocery Market Action Group (GMAG) Andrew George, has today used a debate in the House of Commons to again call on the Government to ‘waste no more time’ creating a supermarket watchdog to protect the interests of consumers and suppliers.

During the debate Mr George highlighted that the Competition Commission’s original report had been published in 2000 and that in April 2008 their second report had warned that practices by the big supermarkets were transferring ‘excessive risk and unexpected costs’ to suppliers and that if action was taken these practices would ‘have an adverse effect on investment and innovation in the supply chain, and ultimately on consumers’. Mr George noted that new rules governing fair business practices in the supply chain were introduced in February 2010 but said that unless the Government act to create the watchdog there was no one in place to ensure the new rules are enforced.

Mr George went on to note that at the last general election all three main parties had pledged to act to create the watchdog and that an inquiry by the Business, Innovation, and Skills Select Committee published in October 2011 had also urged Ministers to legislate as necessary.

Mr George said:

“The call for a supermarket watchdog has cross-party support. The previous government failed to act but the Coalition Government has no excuse for any further delay.

“Some of the large supermarkets still object. But, if they have nothing to hide then they have nothing to fear.

“Each and every day of delay risks the supermarket watchdog being introduced a day too late for those food producers who are already going out of business as a direct result of the market distorting power wielded by the large supermarkets.”

Mr George has led the campaign for the creation of a supermarket watchdog since 2000. The GMAG includes in its membership the National Farmers’ Union, the National Farmers’ Union of Scotland, the British Independent Fruit Growers Association, Friends of the Earth, ActionAid, Traidcraft, the Association of Convenience Stores and others.

Commenting on news at the weekend that MPs on the Health Select Committee would publish a stinging rebuke to the Health Secretary in his plans for the reform of the NHS, Health Select Committee member, Andrew George, said:

“The Select Committee report on public expenditure will be coming out on Tuesday morning. I will not pre-empt that. This is the Committee’s second inquiry into health service expenditure plans. We are keen to see if the Government reforms help or hinder attempts to achieve the efficiency gain which the previous Government set for it – £20 billion savings by 2014.

“For my own part, I make no apology for having challenged the Government over its proposed health reforms. I voted against the Bill because I believe it is unrealistic to expect the NHS to deliver the biggest financial challenge in its history at the same time as it endures the biggest upheaval since it was created.

“The House of Lords will be considering the next stages of the Bill in the coming weeks. Unless the Bill can offer something to enhance the NHS, simply amending the Bill to make it less bad than it was before is no good reason to allow it to become Law.

“If this is about saving the reputation of the Government or it’s Ministers; if the Government sees this as some kind of political virility test – to put victory above the public interest – then I seriously fear the consequences for our NHS.”

West Cornwall MP, Andrew George, welcomed the announcement today of the creation of a Marine Energy Park across the South West. Much of the activity will concentrate on plans already in place for West Cornwall – the Wave Hub and Falmouth.

The Minister of State in the Department for Energy and Climate Change – Greg Barker MP – will announce the plans at the launch meeting of the South West Marine Energy Park (SWMEP) at the offices of Burges Salmon in Bristol at 10.30 am today, Monday 23rd January 2012.

Mr George had championed the creation of the Wave Hub when MP for Hayle and has led the campaign for parity of funding with Scotland; which met with success last autumn.

Mr George said, “Marine renewables will be an important driver in the future Cornish economy. This announcement is a welcome boost. It is important to have secured an even playing field for wave energy in Cornwall and to put right the financial bias towards marine energy projects in Scotland.

“I have long argued that Cornwall must position itself as the Green Peninsula within the UK – at the cutting edge of innovation and research. This announcement will assist and give the economy the welcome boost it needs and deserves.

“Perhaps, in the next couple of decades, Cornwall could prepare the ground for it to become self-sufficient in renewable energy.”

Commenting at the weekend after meeting hospital officials regarding plans to establish an Enhanced Urgent Care Service at West Cornwall Hospital, local MP, Andrew George, said:

“This is a welcome step in the right direction. It doesn’t give local campaigners all that they have asked for. So the champagne will have to be kept on ice a little longer.

“Above all, patient safety has to be paramount and that clearly underpins these proposals. Creating a better understanding regarding the use of junior doctors from the medical wards to provide cover at night for the casualty service and the co-operative working of a GP Urgent Care Centre working for five hours every afternoon, the prospect of creating a stable environment will be a boon to the nurses who are the backbone of the casualty service at West Cornwall Hospital.

“We need to get the balance right, especially within the medium term plan which will be put together by the Hospitals Trust in the coming months. Of course it could be dangerous to bring the majority of emergencies to West Cornwall Hospital. But, it would be equally dangerous to put all of the Trust’s eggs in one basket at Treliske, and to see West Cornwall bypassed. It is very risky to have just one major trauma centre in a long thin peninsula like Cornwall; especially for those communities which are most cut off – i.e. in the west.

“It is important that the pilot confirms that we need to establish plans for a clinically safe balance for the management of urgent care and emergencies between West Cornwall Hospital and Treliske”

Andrew George MP is drawing the attention of local primary schools to the national ‘Make IT Happy’ competition.

For the sixth year, Parliament has launched an Information Technology competition for schools and this year its theme is Make IT Healthy.

Schools are challenged to show how they use IT to contribute to a healthier lifestyle for students, the school community and the wider community.

Twelve winning schools from across the UK will be awarded £1,200 each. The winners will also be invited to attend an awards ceremony to be held at the Houses of Parliament in London in June 2012.

Penpol Primary School in Hayle won second place in the UK competition in 2008 and was a regional winner last year.

Make IT Happy is a national technology challenge for primary schools and has been organised by the Parliamentary Internet, Communications and Technology Forum in partnership with e-skills UK.

The competition recognises and rewards the work primary schools do with IT, and particularly how they use it to make a positive impact on their own and others’ lives.

Mr George said: “I hope that local primary schools will consider getting involved with this initiative. It’s a great way for schools to make a positive impact on their own and others’ lives, while at the same time enhancing their knowledge of IT.”

The closing date for entries is April 8, 2012.

Commenting on the announced intention of the departure of Stephen Otter, Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, the MP for West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Andrew George, said:

“He has a good record which he should be justly proud. However, we need someone like Stephen to stay in post for what many fear could be a very disruptive period during which the most challenging efficiency gains and cost savings will have to be achieved. What we need is stability and certainty, not the disruption of experimenting with a new management gimmick – which is what the creation of elected Police Commissioners would be.

Local MP, Andrew George, thanked comedian/celebrity Stephen Fry for his kind words and appreciation in his Tweet following their lunchtime meeting in the House of Commons yesterday.

Messrs George and Fry have shared interests on a number of matters which were discussed over a private lunch. Some of these will be followed through in public.

Amongst these issues is a shared view that Britain can help out its old friend, Greece, with a proud and considerate gesture – return the Parthenon Marbles.

Mr George said: “It was kind of Stephen Fry to publish his thoughts following our enjoyable meeting. I’d forgotten that he is a significant social networker!”