From Bernard B

Thursday, 27 February 2020

"Craig Whittaker voted against X" comes up every now and again. When you look at the actual voting, in this case, you see that the vote was on an opposition amendment criticising the government's record and the vote simply split on party lines.

What else was going to happen? You might want to argue that this means Craig Whittaker is against Social Care but more likely it means he's not stupid enough to vote for an amendment that criticises his own team.

From Arla R

Thursday, 27 February 2020

His "They work for you" website voting record is here

And right at the top it says he voted against gay rights.  Kind of says it all for the MP representing Hebden Bridge, eh?

It's worth a read through, and sadly confirms, and even worsens, what many of us already think of him.

From Peter Lazenby

Thursday, 5 March 2020

Calder Valley Conservative MP Craig Whittaker has voted in Parliament against a Labour call for an independent review into how the Government handled the flooding crisis in the valley caused last month by Storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge.

On Wednesday, March 4, Luke Pollard, Labour's Shadow Environment Secretary, proposed a Commons motion which congratulated the emergency services and volunteers for their work. The motion also called for the review to examine the Government's response to the floods and "the adequacy of funding provided for flood defences and prevention, difficulties facing homes and businesses with getting insurance and what lessons need to be learnt in light of the climate emergency and the increased likelihood of flooding in the future."

But an amendment proposed by Environment Secretary George Eustice deleted the call for a review.

Mr Whittaker said during the debate, "In light of the fact that places such as the Calder Valley have had three 100-year floods in the last seven and a half years, does the hon. Member not think that another review would only cost more money and waste more time? We need action. We already have this information. We know exactly what happened in the floods. We had four times the monthly average rainfall in 24 hours.

Mr Pollard replied, "I agree we need action, but it was action we did not get during the floods. It was action we required from the Prime Minister to call a Cobra meeting that we did not get. It was action to unlock the necessary funding that we did not get. I agree we need action and hope he will support this motion so that we get a lessons learned review that helps Ministers to make better decisions next time and get the action he desperately wants.

"I say to every Tory MP whose communities are under water and who votes against this modest ask that I wish them well on their return to their flooded communities. I wish them well in explaining why a review into the lessons learned will not be happening and why they voted against it. I wish them well in explaining to the people whose homes and businesses were flooded why they are denying them a voice. I wish them well in that, because they have the chance today to vote for such an independent review, and for those flooded communities, that will be a very modest ask as they scrub their floors to clean up the sewage that has come through the pipes, as they repair their homes and as they work out how to restore the stock in their businesses that have been so damaged. For them, this is a modest ask, and it is something that should be supported by everyone in this House.

In another contribution Mr Whittaker said that getting access to funds allocated for flood relief was "like pulling hens' teeth."

Mr Whittaker voted for the Government amendment which was carried by 328 votes to 227, and the motion calling for a review of the Government's performance during and after the recent floods fell.

From Mark H

Sunday, 24 May 2020

Credit, for once, where it's due....

Our MP was one of those who found a bit of backbone and called on Johnson to get rid of Cummings.

Maybe we could all contact Craig and ask him to quit the party claiming to be governing the country?

...and maybe someone who voted for Johnson in the leadership election could come on here to explain how they think it's going?