Parliament

MANY people form their view of what Parliament is like based on Prime Minister's Question Time but apart from that half-hour what goes on is serious, but often dull.

Every Bill after being debated goes to a Bill Committee where they are considered in detail and when it's a subject as dry as the accounting procedures of local councils, important though it is, is not something to get the adrenaline flowing. During the last week I've attended four sessions, with six more to come on the Local Audit & Accountability Bill. At one point a group of students arrived and stayed for 20 minutes. The same person was speaking for the whole time, not electrifying but it showed the grind of the process.

I have written before about what a pleasure it is to meet constituents who visit Westminster.

A couple of weeks ago I met Abigail Heywood, a Franklin College student who had been invited to become a Leader in the National Citizens Service (NCS) and attend a reception in the Houses of Parliament.

When Abigail wrote to me she said she went on NCS with Grimsby Town FC – a life changing social programme. She helped with maintenance and made up 'veg boxes', cleared a waste area in Cleethorpes, ran a sports and crafts workshop at Nunsthorpe School and helped out at the Firemens' Fete. It was a pleasure to meet her. Full details of the scheme are at https://www.gov.uk/government/get-involved/take-part/national-citizen- service

If any reader would like to take a Westminster tour all that is necessary is to contact your MP's office.

Despite the Election being 18 months away the rhythm of politics is now entering its pre-election phase.

The fixed-term Parliaments Act means we now know the date of the Election (May 7, 2015). It's interesting that the Labour Party has started to make some policy announcements. For the opposition party this is difficult – do you wait or show your hand early on? What's interesting is that Labour acknowledged there will be difficult spending decisions but still refuse to apologise for the mess they left behind.

The main announcement was the energy price freeze. The natural inclination is to take it; but would you if it meant higher increases before and after? And what if the freeze is introduced when prices are falling? The allegation is that the "Big 6" are manipulating the market. All of us may be inclined to that view but before any government can act they must have evidence. The Energy Bill gives Ofgem greater powers to investigate.

Out on Patrol

Many of you will have read last Monday’s Telegraph report of my night out on patrol in Cleethorpes with the Humberside Police Commissioner, Matthew Grove, the police and our magnificent ‘Street Angels.’

The role of Police Commissioner was the subject of much debate when the legislation was passing through Parliament a couple of years ago but most of the commissioners are settling into their roles and providing both real accountability and developing links with the local communities throughout the Force area. I can see their role extending over coming years perhaps incorporating responsibility for the other emergency services.

After last week when the three Police Federation officers appeared before Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee to be questioned about their part in the downfall of former Cabinet Minister, Andrew Mitchell who can doubt that the police must be democratically accountable.

But I digress; the officers I meet as I go about the constituency are dedicated to serving the public and we owe them our thanks and appreciation. Certainly those I saw in action on the streets of Cleethorpes were able to diffuse some rather tense encounters using a mix of humour, firmness and authority.

Turning to the ‘Street Angels:’ they are a dedicated group of individuals who give up many of their Saturday nights to walk the streets until 2.30 a.m. keeping an eye out for anyone in distress or perhaps a little worse for drink. Organised by Churches Together in North East Lincolnshire they are people of faith who are genuinely concerned about their local community.

Similar groups operate in towns and cities up and down the country. They are admirable in every way.     

As well as the police there was a representative from the Fire and Rescue Service and North East Lincolnshire Council. All of these people on the streets at vast expense to the taxpayer so that people can, in some cases, drink too much.

I’m no killjoy nor do I want to do anything to harm the night-time economy since lots of local people work in the clubs and bars and I supported the introduction of 24 hour licensing in the hope that it would bring about a culture change but, like other north European nations such as Germany and Holland we seem unable to adopt the drinking habits of the more southern European countries and perhaps that means we need to restore a little more regulation.

One culture change that does seem to have taken place is that many of our younger people seem to go out with the intention of getting drunk, something that was very much less prevalent until more recent years. The availability of cheap alcohol from supermarkets seems to be the reason. In years gone by people went to the pub and moved onto a club around 11 o’clock where they were able to enjoy themselves until around 2 a.m.

I’m opposed to minimum unit pricing because it penalises the responsible drinker who wants to enjoy a few beers a bottle of wine at home but I do think there is a case for preventing the supermarkets from selling booze at below cost. Perhaps this coupled with returning to a slightly more regulated system of licensing hours might mean we make life a little less fraught for the taxi operators we spoke to, the police, the staff at A & E, the staff at the Takeaways and as I mentioned earlier ease the burden on the taxpayer. What do you think? Please let me know at martin.vickers.mp@parliament.uk

One rather surreal moment occurred around midnight when we decided to have a bite to eat. On our travels around Cleethorpes we were accompanied by Adrian Gill the feature writer and restaurant critic for the Sunday Times who writes under the name of A.A. Gill. As we took our place in Valentinos Italian restaurant in the Market Place I mused on how often a London restaurant critic turns up unannounced at a Cleethorpes eatery. My pizza was first-rate; will we ever know what Adrian thought of his steak? Check out the Sunday Times for the next few weeks, that’s if it wasn’t in yesterday.