Hexham General Hospital - tops at maternity

The Hexham Courant published my letter publicly thanking Hexham General Hospital's maternity unit for the wonderful care they provided my wife last year when our baby daughter was born. We have nicknamed HGH the "Hexham Hilton" - it was so nice we didn't want to leave! Thanks again to Annie and all the other great staff there.

I would be lapsing in my political duties if I didn't point out that it was a Labour government which delivered HGH to Tynedale. Can the Tories or the LibDems point to a similar local achievement? I don't think so.

Politics - a family business?

Today's edition of The Journal published my letter politely asking Hexham's Tory MP to disclose whether he employs any family members, and if he does, to disclose what they do, how much they get paid, and whether they work full or part-time. It is high time the cobwebs are blown away from Parliament, which needs to to be treated like any other public sector entity spending millions of pounds of taxpayers money - with absolute transparency and accountability.

For the avoidance of doubt, I don't see anything necessarily wrong with an MP employing his or her spouse or partner - professional politics is a hard business, often tough on marriages. What is crucial is that voters are allowed to know what goes on so they can make up their own mind on the issues raised by MPs employing family members at the taxpayer's expense.

Unlike Gordon Brown, David Cameron does not intend to order his backbench MPs to disclose their employment of family members. Since I am confident Hexham's MP has nothing to hide on this issue, surely it's right for him to disclose these matters voluntarily.

Welcome

Welcome to the blog of Antoine Tinnion - the Labour Party's Parliamentary Spokesman for the Hexham constituency - the second biggest constituency by size in England.

The point of the blog is to set out my views on the major issues facing people living in the Hexham constituency and the North East on a reasonably regular basis. Hopefully you will have time to browse my postings from time to time, and will add your comments when you have something to say. Nobody -- certainly not me -- has a monopoly of insight or wisdom, so I strongly encourage anyone reading the blog to post their thoughts and observations so I can learn along the way.