Margaret Moran MP
Labour MP for Luton South

Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent out a message to celebrate the Jewish New Year.

Dear Friend,
At this special time in the Jewish calendar, it gives me great pleasure to extend my warmest greetings to the Jewish Community in the UK.

British Jewry has a long and proud tradition, and in the year ahead I hope you continue to grow, and continue to make such a valued contribution.

This year, and every year, may all your prayers be answered and may your new year be peaceful, successful and joyful. I wish you and your families Shanah Tovah.
With best wishes,

Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP

The Government confirmed today that a total of £21.9 billion will be invested into school buildings across England over the next three years, a move that has been welcomed by Margaret.

The announcement has come at a time when over 180 new or refurbished schools will be opening this term around England – the highest number for 30 years, all down to increased investment in education. After decades of neglect and under-investment, schools are being transformed for the 21st Century – putting an end to crumbling buildings and freezing roofs.

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Margaret’s hard fought campaign to battle unused wasted land in Luton was promoted further when she urged the Council to speed up their regeneration plans or sell the land to a Regional Social Landlord (RSL) to build affordable homes.

A derelict pub and another vacant site in Round Green were the target of Margaret’s campaigning to the Council; they are an eyesore in the community and have been empty for years. Margaret has contacted the Council to act on these wasted sites now.

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Margaret is enraged by Post Office Ltd’s decision to close Post Offices in Luton South.

Margaret  was angry to hear the news that all four Post Offices in Luton South will be closed after a hard fought campaign. Ms Moran, who rallied behind the branches and residents, arranged public meetings to ensure residents voices were heard to try and save the earmarked branches.

Working with the Council, Ms Moran’s campaign highlighted that there was a need locally for many of the branches and she discovered that the criteria being used to assess certain branches viability was out of date and did not represent current trends and demographics.

Margaret said:

“It is devastating news for many residents across the town to hear that their local Post Office will be closing down. I have fought hard to keep all the branches open and I believe that the decision is wholly unfair and unjustifiable.

“At a meeting I organised it became clear that Post Office representatives had wholly outdated information on which to base their proposals. The idea of our vital services being shut down due to false information is atrocious. I worked very hard with the council and postmasters to get the facts right.

“I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the campaign – attending meetings, signing petitions, writing letters.

“This is not the end of the matter. Labour Luton Council and I will be demanding a meeting with Post Office Counters Ltd, to review this atricious bungling decision. I believe it will cause chaos in the Arndale Post Office which will simply not have the capacity to deal with the increased work load and it will be our older residents who will suffer most. I shall be telling Post Office Counters this.”

Margaret also challenged the Conservative Party as to why they had mislead the public into believing they would keep the Post Offices open and why she has not received a reply to her letter to them on this issue.

She has written to the local Tory Party asking them the following four questions:

• Why have you masqueraded that to stop the review will keep post offices open when it plainly will not and, indeed, will spell the death of the whole network?
• Why, have you neglected to inform those who you have been speaking to in Luton South of your party’s own stance in Parliament? Is this just another example of the self-serving means that many have come to expect from the Conservative Party?
• Why has your party said that you will keep post offices open when prior to 1997 you were responsible for 3,500 post offices closed under the previous Tory government between 1979 to 1997 – The largest number of post office closures?
• Why, when your party has failed to match Labour’s commitment to subsidise the Post Office network by £150m a year, do you maintain that you will only shut “unprofitable” branches when only around 4,000 of the current 14,000 plus branches are commercially viable? Without this subsidy thousands more branches would be under threat.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent out a message to celebrate Ramadan, a the holy month in the Muslim calendar.

The Prime Minister said that “Ramadan teaches patience and humility and reminds us of our shared humility and obligations to others. Ramadan’s message of compassion and social justice spreads beyond Muslim communities; it speaks of shared values that unite us all.”

Ramadan Mubarak.

Read The Prime Minister’s full letter (pdf).

Primary care services in Luton received a huge boost with confirmation that an additional two GP practices will be opened in Farley Hill and Marsh Farm in December 2009. This, in addition to the Kingsway Scheme, will in total provide an extra 26,000 places for residents in Luton South, a massive 15% increase. The new practices will all have appointments available early mornings, evenings and Saturdays.

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Margaret Moran has today welcomed the Government’s announcement that stamp-duty will be suspended on homes bought for under £175 000 for a period of 12 months- making half of all houses exempt from stamp duty.

Today’s stamp duty suspension came as part of a £1 Billion Homeowners Support Package, which will offer 10 000 people the chance to get on the housing ladder by extending shared-equity schemes. The Government has also announced that they will support thousands of families struggling to pay their mortgages or who are facing repossession.

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As the government announces over 4 million employees are covered by the skills pledge, Margaret is campaigning for every local employer to sign up. The Skills Pledge is a voluntary, public commitment by the leadership of a company or organisation to support their employees in improving their skills and gaining qualifications which are relevant to their job, up to the equivalent of 5 GCSEs. (more…)

Margaret Moran MP has welcomed the announcement from Government ministers on Thursday that the East of England’s economy will receive a £10 million boost as part of a package of measures assist the region during the current economic situation.

The global credit crunch and the worldwide surge in food and fuel costs have impacted on every country in the world and every region of the UK.

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Luton South MP, Margaret Moran, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir met with Kashmiri representatives, Professor Nazir A Shawal, Hassan Ul Banar, Cllr Raja Saleem, Cllr Riaz Butt, Cllr Ayub Choudhury, Professor Zafar Khan, Raja Rauf Khan, Raja Yaqub Khan, Tahir Malik, Khwaja Kabir, to discuss and highlight the current situation in Indian occupied Kashmir.

Margaret said:

“The recent deaths of 20 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir appear to have originated from the mismanagement of a peaceful demonstration. The use of force against unarmed protestors must be utterly condemned.

“Political parties and groups leading the protests must make every attempt to end the dispute peacefully. The Indian government must order troops and police to refrain from using lethal force against non-violent protesters in Jammu and Kashmir unless absolutely necessary to protect life. The Indian Government must also provide immediate relief to the families of the victims and those who were injured in the incident.

“There must be an impartial investigation is held into the causes of the shooting of civilians and the Indian Government must hold their law enforcement officials to account for their use of force. We reiterate our call for India to allow human rights organisations into the area to assist.

“It is essential that there is an end to unnecessary curfews and that access to full medical facilities and essential drugs are restored and long with freedom of the media. It is significant that this is the largest protests on Kashmir and should not go unnoticed by the wider world.”

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