Coastal View & Moor News Issue 29 November - December 2012
Your Voice In Parliament Tom Blenkinsop MP
Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Bedroom Tax
decisions the Tory Liberal Democrat coalition government has made. In April 2013 thousands of families will have their housing benefit reduced by up to £80 a month in a new Bedroom Tax. When I’m out in the constituency
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meeting with residents and asking them about their concerns this is one issue that is becoming more prevalent. The coalition government has
said that if you are classed as ‘of working age’ and you have an empty bedroom in your house you will lose 14% of the rent value and 25% if you have two or more spare bedrooms. This will see some people having to fi nd over £1000 extra a year just to stay in their homes. Some of the most dubious
decisions made by Tory Minister Ian Duncan Smith are what’s classed as an unused bedroom. Children under 10 are expected to share a room and children up to 16 are expected to share a room with a same sex sibling. So if a family of four lives in a three bedroom house they can still be charged an extra £44 a month even if there are actually no unoccupied bedrooms. Locally this will affect hundreds of families,
one of the many people to contact me one of them is Alison from Coulby Newham. Alison has been a tenant of the same housing association for nearly two decades. Alison single handed brought up her twin boys in her current house; they are now both
Alison with photos of her twins sons who are serving in the army
18 and are serving as soldiers in the British Army.
Alison said: “The government has made
no concessions and have totally disregarded personal circumstances. “If the government forces these changes when my sons return home after defending our country and serving its people they will not have a bed to sleep in at their family home. “I have spoken to my housing offi cer about moving to a smaller one bedroom property, only to be told that they do not have enough one bedroom properties to meet the needs of everyone.” The problem Alison is facing is shared
by people right across the constituency and the country; people have contacted me about the tax from all over East Cleveland. In Loftus couples who are nearly at
retirement age, whose children have left home and found work are scared that they will lose the home that they brought up their family in just years before retirement. In Guisborough there have been families with disabled family members whose houses have been altered to meet their needs. Bathrooms have been changed, entrances have been made more accessible and lots of smaller alterations have been made. But the bedroom tax means they will have to move to smaller homes and the alterations will have to be made and paid for again. These changes are on top of the government’s latest changes to council tax benefi t that will lead to some of the least well of families paying £300 more council tax, the most vulnerable in our society are getting hit again.
Alison and Tom
the abolishment of the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, also known as the Green Howards. The Green Howards recruits widely across
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Teesside and date back to 1688 and veterans have served in numerous confl icts including both World Wars, the Gulf War, Bosnia and Afghanistan. They were also home to war veteran Stan Hollis, the sole recipient of a Victoria Cross from D-Day. The petition so far has reached almost 500 signatures.
his month I want to talk about one of the worst
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Tom backs calls for beer tax review
beer taxes. Tom said: “Pubs and many businesses are struggling at the moment - we have had zero growth in the last year in our economy and the longest double dip recession since the Second World War. “The VAT rise increased the price of a pint in a
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pub by 5p - whilst increasing the price of a can of beer in a supermarket by less than 2p. This has hit pubs hard - and by hitting pubs harder
om Blenkinsop MP recently voted in parliament to back calls for a review of
than supermarkets risks hitting the pub trade even harder than duty increases. “Labour is calling for a temporary and emergency
cut in VAT back to 17.5% until the economy is growing strongly again - easing the squeeze on families and getting the economy moving again. “This would cut the price of beer in a pub by
over 5p - a review of the impact of beer duty on the economy and jobs in the pub trade would clearly need to examine the impact of VAT as well as it amounts to half of the total tax paid on beer in pubs.”
‘No razor, just funds’ as local MP joins in ‘Movember’
alongside thousands of men across the country that grow a moustache for the entire month of November to raise awareness of men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and testicular cancer. The annual ‘Movember’ campaign in the UK supports the work of Prostate Cancer UK, the Institute of Cancer Research and Movember’s own awareness and education programme. Tom said: “This year is the fi rst time I have taken part in the campaign so I will be interested to see
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om Blenkinsop is locking away the shaving foam and taking part in ‘Movember’
how it eventually ends up. It has been a long time since I’ve grown anything more than a day’s stubble so I’ll have to make sure I don’t go into autopilot one morning and shave off any growth! “The reason I’m taking part in the campaign is
to fi rstly, help raise awareness of prostate cancer and testicular cancer and secondly, to raise funds for research and to assist survivors.” Tom started the challenge on the 1st of November.
To fi nd out how he is doing follow him on twitter at @tomblenkinsop, or make a contribution to Movember at
http://mobro.co/tomblenkinsopmp
Green Howards Petition handed in
arliers this month Tom handed in his petition to Parliament against
Tom said: “The reason I launched this petition
was to highlight to the Coalition Government the strength of feeling that Teesside has for the Green Howards. The online petition also demonstrated how far and wide the Green Howards have an impact on. “I hope the Government listen to the concerns of
my constituents over this issue and reconsider their decision but I fear they will plough on regardless of the strength of feeling and at the very least we must ensure the dedication and bravery of our troops is recognised and that means ensuring that there is a job available for them.”
Contact Tom
Please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions or concerns. I aim to reply to all enquiries as quickly as I can.
Write: Tom Blenkinsop MP, Harry Tout House, 8 Wilson St. Guisborough TS14 6NA. email:
info@tomblenkinsop.com Phone 01287 610878 Fax 01287 631894. Twitter:
http://twitter.com/tomblenkinsop
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