There has been much talk of opinion polls and the potential of a hung parliament in recent days.  There has also, for the first time in years, been discussion about Labour, led by Gordon brown, leading the country beyond the Summer.

Regular readers of this blog will know I never really get very excited about opinion polls.  The people of Eltham will, eventually, have their say and that is the only opinion poll I will take notice of.  But what recent polls do help to do is remind people of the very real choice they face: more of the same tired, discredited, deceitful, incompetent, self-serving bunch led by Gordon Brown.  Or a fresh new government led by a team full of ambition for the people of this country, ready to get our economy moving again by cutting red tape and taxes; a government prepared to tackle immigration and reduce it to levels not seen since the 1990s; an administration ready to put police back on the streets, to fix our schools, to fix our broken society and to safeguard frontline services including the NHS.

Our country needs a change in direction.  We need that change urgently.  I believe people are fed up and angry with Labour and with politicians generally.  It's my hope that I can play a part in restoring our political system and our country.  It won't be easy, but it starts here in Eltham.  It's time for change.  Soon, it will be time to vote for change.  It can't come soon enough.

The Housing Minister who recently visited Eltham in an attempt to spread false accusations about Conservative housing policy has today revealed his true feelings about the record number of people repoesssed in the last year.  In a media interview he said that for some people it "can be the best option".

Tell that to the 46,000 people reposessed in 2009, a 14 year high.  I bet they were really grateful to the lenders who took their homes off them.

I try to stay in touch with local constituents through a variety of means - regular reports delivered through their letter box (at no charge to the tax payer), knocking on their door to have a chat, surveys mailed directly, emails, this website - and calling residents at home.  On this occasion I was fortunate to have a big team of volunteers to assist me, but usually it's more likely to be me sitting at home in an arm chair going through lists of numbers of people I have spoken to in the past to see whether the problems they told me about have been resolved.

With the Shadow Minister Lord Hunt, I was delighted to hear the concerns of local traders who have been deeply affected by the great recession.  Our local High Street has suffered terribly and the failure of local and national government to do more to help, means many local firms will never recover.  At the Tudor Barn, local traders heard Conservative plans to help fix the broken economy.

With the support of Eltham South activists, a petition will be presented to Greenwich Council calling for new safety measures to be implemented in Court Road.  Current measures do not seem to have reduced the number of accidents, many of which seem to be caused by speeding.

I had the great pleasure of meeting the Irish Ambassador at his Embassy this week, and was briefed on some of the significant issues that concern our two countries.  Many people living in and around this constituency have direct links with Ireland and it was extremely kind of the Ambassador, Bobby McDonagh and his colleagues, to spare so much of their time.  I hope to remain in touch with him and his team in the future and to further strengthen the relationship between our two communities.

Labour MPs have just voted themselves another 12 days away from the Chamber.  And yes, it was only Labour MPs who voted for it (see here), including our own Eltham MP.  Conservatives and Liberal Democrats voted against it - preferring to hold the government to account and try to restore some trust in our broken political system.

At a time when we're still mired in recession and unemployment has climbed yet again in London, can they really justify another 12 days away from Parliament?  

In a Parliamentary debate, MPs called for restrictions on free local newspapers produced by local authorities at taxpayers' expense.  Greenwich Council distributes Greenwich Time, at a cost of over half a million pounds to local residents, and even claims it is an award winning publication - which is probably would be in any propaganda competition.  It is said that all content is 'checked' by the Council Leader Chris Roberts and it is virtually unheard of for anyone but Labour politicians to feature in print.  So I was delighted that the government is to refer the matter to independent investigation.  For too long this rag has been used to propagate Labour political spin while commercially run newspapers and magazines such as SE9, are struggling with falling advertising revenues and readership.  I am pleased that the Conservative Shadow Minister Caroline Spelman indicated her concern before Christmas on just this point.  I look forward to the end of this one sided insult to journalism and saving local taxpayers a significant sum of cash.

See the report in Newsshopper here