'Cash for access' scandal: Jack Straw called MPs in previous sting 'stupid for being suckered in' | The Independent 'Cash for access' scandal: Jack Straw called MPs in previous sting 'stupid for being suckered in' He and Sir Malcolm Rifkind have denied any wrongdoing after meetings with fake company Monday 23 February 2015 08:52 BST Click to follow Indy Politics According to reports, the UK Labour Party has suspended Jack Straw, left, and Sir Malcolm Rifkind, right, over corruption allegations in a 'cash for access' scandal Getty Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw have dismissed allegations of wrongdoing in a new “cash for access” scandal involving the two former foreign secretaries. Both MPs were filmed appearing to offer to use their positions to benefit a fictitious a Hong Kong-based communications agency called PMR for thousands of pounds in an undercover report by the Daily Telegraph and Channel 4’s Dispatches. Radio 4’s Today programme played Mr Straw a clip of him speaking about a previous “cash for access” row in 2010, when he lambasted fellow Labour MPs caught in another sting.

He said they demonstrated “stupidity” by “allowing themselves to be suckered in a sting like this”. Dispatches also carried out the almost identical undercover report where MPs met with journalists claiming to represent an American lobbying company. “(It) does indeed bring the Parliamentary Labour Party as well as Parliament into disrepute,” he added. “(MPs appear to be) more interested in making money than properly representing their constituents.” Jack straw was also filmed in the sting (Channel 4 Dispatches / Telegraph) Mr Straw did not comment on his former statements but repeatedly emphasised that the meeting he had with undercover reporters related to possible work after he leaves Parliament in May and not while he is still an MP. “I very much regret the fact that I ever saw these people,” he said. Read more 2010: Sting ruins Labour MPs' peerage chances “Yes, I’m interested in earning money but what I’m more interested in is doing things that will engage my brain.” Mr Straw, who has been the Labour MP for Blackburn since 1979, has held positions including Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Leader of the House of Commons and Justice Secretary.

He told Radio 4 he was “scrupulous” in observing all Parliamentary rules but had referred himself to the Commissioner for Standards “because of the way this appears” Sir Malcolm also appeared on Today, dismissing the allegations as “unfounded” and vowing to fight them “with all my strength”. The senior Conservative, who chairs the parliamentary committee which oversees Britain's intelligence agencies, allegedly claimed that he could arrange “useful access” to every British ambassador in the world because of his status. He repeated his refusal to stand down on Today, adding: “None of the matters are remotely to do with intelligence or security.” A Labour Party spokesperson said: “We have seen the disturbing allegations against Jack Straw in the Daily Telegraph. The chief whip has spoken to Jack Straw. "He has agreed to refer himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and in the meantime he has agreed the best course of action is to suspend himself from the parliamentary Labour Party." In pictures: Not-so virtuous MPs In pictures: Not-so virtuous MPs 1/17 Lord Hanningfield Lord Hanningfield claimed more than £3,000 in a month by regularly 'clocking in' to the House of Lords to claim his £300 daily attendance allowance.

The former Conservative leader of Essex Council was also convicted in May 2011 for fiddling his expenses. PA 2/17 Denis MacShane The disgraced former Labour minister was jailed for six months at the Old Bailey in July 2013 after admitting making bogus expense claims amounting to nearly £13,000. PA 3/17 Maria Miller Although she was cleared of making false expenses claims, Maria Miller was ordered to pay back £5,000 in overclaimed taxpayer-funded expenses on her second home. Mrs Miller’s apology in the Commons lasting just over half a minute was widely viewed as grudging and perfunctory. She resigned over the row in April. Getty Images 4/17 Eric Joyce Falkirk MP Eric Joyce was fined £1,500 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in March after admitting abusive behaviour at the city’s airport. Mr Joyce repeatedly hurled insults at baggage handlers, and abused a black police officer during the incident in May 2012. He has said he will now “reflect” on whether to continue at Westminster until the election next year.

Getty 5/17 Mark Harper Immigration minister Mark Harper resigned after it emerged his cleaner was working in the country illegally. Mr Harper quit after he discovered his cleaner, whom he employed at his London flat for seven years, did not have indefinite leave to remain in the UK. 6/17 Lord Rennard The former chief executive of the Liberal Democrats faced allegations of sexual harassing several women, claims he denies. He was suspended after refusing to bow to calls from Mr Clegg to apologise to the women. Tom Pilston 7/17 Mark Menzies Former Conservative MP Mark Menzies resigned as a ministerial aide following allegations made by a Brazilian rent boy in March. The MP for Fylde in Lancashire resigned his position as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) amid allegations which appeared in a tabloid newspaper, some of which he strenuously denied. 8/17 Nadhim Zahawi Nadhim Zahawi apologised in March for charging the taxpayer £5,822 to heat his stables.

It later emerged that he had claimed 31p on his expenses for paperclips, 53p for a holepunch, 63p for ballpoint pens and 89p for a stapler. Getty 9/17 Liam Fox Former Defence Secretary Liam Fox resigned in 2011 over his working relationship with his friend Adam Werritty, which saw the Tory MP ordered to repay £3,000 of expenses for allowing Mr Werritty to live rent-free at his taxpayer-funded second home for a year. Mr Fox faced further embarrassment when it was revealed successfully claimed 3p of taxpayers’ cash for a car journey of fewer than 100 metres. 10/17 Aidan Burley The ex-Tory MP for Cannock Chase was photographed at a Nazi-themed stag party in 2011. He admitted there had been 'clearly inappropriate behaviour’ by some of the other guests at the party in a French ski resort after the Mail on Sunday published photographs of Mr Burley at the event, where revellers allegedly made Nazi chants and toasted the Third Reich.

11/17 Jeremy Hunt Mr Hunt admitted to sending a congratulatory text message to News Corp executive James Murdoch just hours before the minister was asked to oversee the firm's bid for BSkyB. Although Downing Street insisted that Mr Hunt had acted properly during the takeover, a Labour MP accused him in the house of deliberately misleading Parliament about his contact with News Corp over the takeover. Getty Images 12/17 Brian Binley The Tory MP for Northampton South, allegedly told a local businessmen ‘we are all totally corrupt’ talking about politicians at a drinks party during a taxpayer-funded trip to Malta. Getty Images 13/17 Tim Yeo Stood down as the chairman of the influential Energy and Climate Change committee in June 2013 amid allegations he was prepared to use his position to help business clients. Getty Images 14/17 Chris Huhne The former Energy Secretary was jailed for eight months in March 2013 for swapping penalty speeding points with ex-wife Vicky Pryce in an offence that the court heard had struck at the heart of the criminal justice system.

Getty Images 15/17 Patrick Mercer Patrick Mercer resigned the Tory whip in May last year after he was filmed by the BBC's 'Panorama' apparently agreeing to lobby on behalf of Fiji for a pro-Fijian cross-party committee. Rex Features 16/17 Michael Martin Former Labour party MP Michael Martin became the first Commons Speaker to be forced out of office for more than 300 years following criticism of his handling of the MPs’ expenses scandal of 2009. 17/17 Jacqui Smith Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith stood down in the cabinet reshuffle amid a flurry of controversy after the MPs expenses scandal revealed her husband Richard Timney, who also ran her constituency office, had watched two pay-per-view adult movies which had then, unknown to her, been subject to a claim for reimbursement. The ‘porn scandal’ not only saw the former Labour MP Ms Smith, who was the first female Home Secretary, eventually resign but also saw her lose her parliamentary seat in May 2010. A Downing Street source said Sir Malcolm has also referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. He is expected to meet with the Tory Chief Whip later today.

The MPs will feature in Politicians For Hire – A Channel 4 Dispatches programme airing tonight at 8pm. Why I’m standing down from Parliament: Jack Straw, MP for Blackburn - Telegraph General election 2015 Why I’m standing down from Parliament: Jack Straw, MP for Blackburn I still get shouted at on the tube and called a war criminal - but I have to take the responsibility of Iraq Jack Straw is standing down after 36 years in Parliament Photo: GEOFF PUGH FOR THE TELEGRAPH By Rosa Prince , Online Political Editor 3:30PM GMT 13 Feb 2015 The Telegraph is speaking to MPs who are standing down at the general election in May. Jack Straw, 68, has been Labour MP for Blackburn since 1979. Polls open in Secs How did you end up in Parliament? “Coming from a strong Labour family, [I got] the politics bug when I was 13 at the 1955 election, reading one of the leaflets I was having to deliver in the rain and thinking I’d rather be doing what the chap on the leaflet was doing, which was to become the Labour MP for what is now Epping Forest.

Related Articles Why I’m standing down from Parliament: Andrew Miller 20 Feb 2015 “It’s a bit like youngsters wanting to play soccer for England. Given my background, a council maisonette in Essex … the prospect I could go on from there to [Parliament] was really rather distant. But I really wanted to be a Member of Parliament. I had this romantic idea.” How did you feel on first becoming an MP? “Fantastically excited. All of a sudden I was a Member of Parliament. There was a hell of a wow factor for that. “I’d been here before [as an adviser], so I knew my way around. Making a maiden speech was a big deal. And in those days the whole focus of this place was on the chamber, because there weren’t any select committees. It was terrific. My mum was in seventh heaven.” Best of times: “I think the best of times was the period between ‘94 and 2001 on the Home Affairs [brief]. We worked like stink on that programme. We did an astonishing amount of work.

We were very well prepared.” Worst of Times “As the party was collapsing with the formation of the SDP in late January ‘81, a few months after that I got this terrible infection which knocked out my ear. And I got very, very seriously depressed because there was a worry the other ear would go. And it seemed to become an allegory for the state of the Labour Party. “The other acutely bad moment was in October 1995 when I screwed up in a debate with [Home Secretary] Michael Howard. Almost everybody forgot that about it straight away … but I remembered it. I wasn’t properly prepared. But the chronic period was in ‘81. It was terrible. The poison that was around inside the party was awful.” Why are you leaving? “It’s a five year Parliament that made me decide. This election’s going to be in 2015, I’ll be touching 69, then I’ll be 74 by the following election. OK, there are plenty of other people who do stay on in their 70s but I can do other things, including spending more time with my family.” What are your thoughts for future MPs?

“My advice is enjoy it, it’s the best job in the world. It’s an astonishing privilege to be a Member of Parliament. Don’t keep looking over your shoulder. Get on with the job.” Jack Straw speaking in 2012: "Miliband will win 2015 election" Jack Straw: the full story With a mother and grandfather who were strongly involved in the Labour Party, politics was “infused” through Jack Straw’s family. He first became active at the age of eight, taking numbers on polling day, and joined the party in 1960 having decided at the age of 13 that he wanted to be an MP. He achieved his ambition in less than 20 years, first serving a political apprenticeship as president of the National Union of Students. “I worked for the NUS for three years altogether after I left university, which was a fantastic education," he says.

“I hit it lucky because it was the late ‘60s and the British establishment and older generation were in a high state of neurosis about what what to do about the younger generation, which of course included people who liked the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, to some extent drugs, certainly sex, and then revolting students. “I was very high profile. It’s extraordinary, sometimes I would be one of the main items on the 9 O’Clock News as it then was [so] I’ve been well-known since I’ve been a student.” Barbara Castle: the Labour Margaret Thatcher Mr Straw moved to London and studied for his Bar exams. In 1972, and still involved with the Labour Party, he became in rapid succession a councillor on Islington Council, where he served alongside an Alderman called Ted Castle, husband of the legendary Labour Cabinet minister Barbara Castle, and deputy leader of the Inner London Education Authority. Two years later, he tool the first step fulfilling his childhood ambition, putting his name forward for selection for the safe Conservative seat of Tonbridge and Malling. “I fancied a dry run,” he says.

“A Labour candidate was not going to win Tonbridge and Malling but I thought it would be interesting, basically, to find out if I wanted to be in politics.” Mr Straw came in a respectable third, 18 votes behind the Liberal candidate, and two days later Alderman Castle asked him in for a chat. He ended up working for Mrs Castle for two years, in a post now known as a Special Advisers - or SpAd. “I was flattered [but] I couldn’t make up my mind. It was a hung Parliament, minority government. No one knew how long it was going to last, the country was in chaos. “I thought, it had taken a long time to get this far, with my career at the bar, the practice was doing OK. “I finally went to see my head of chambers, a lovely old guy who was a Conservative MP. I put my dilemma to him and he said: ‘In 20 years time if you had the choice would you rather be on the High Court bench or in the British cabinet?’ And I heard myself say, ‘Well, in the British cabinet.’ “It was great working for [Mrs Castle].

Like Margaret Thatcher she could be very flirtatious, spent a lot of time on her appearance. She could turn on the charm with men. But underneath that was steel.” After Mrs Castle’s departure from the Cabinet, Mr Straw went to work for Peter Shore, the Environment Secretary, while casting around for a seat of his own. Blackburn - and an MP When Mrs Castle decided to stand down, Mr Straw was the obvious choice to replace her in her citadel of Blackburn. After a “quiet election,” Mr Straw walked into Parliament as an MP for the first time at the age of 32. With his SpAd background, Mr Straw found it easy to settle in, and was unbothered by the all night sittings at a time where nearly half of debates ran past midnight. Divorced and newly remarried but without children at that stage, the pace of Parliament suited him. He said: “I started to go up through the ranks pretty quickly. I’d done alright in the House... I’d made quite a good name for myself, so I was appointed to the junior front bench within 18 months.

“One of the things that has enabled me to be successful as a minister was the fact that the fulfilment of my direct ambition was becoming a Member of Parliament. “Some people will say ‘That’s fine for Jack to say, he’s been on the front bench for 30 years’. But I always saw this as my political home, so when I was a minister I was always here, even when I was Foreign Secretary. “I like the place. I think that it’s of critical importance if you are a minister that you stay in touch with your colleagues and don’t get up yourself.” Personal crisis; an allegory for the troubled Labour Party After a happy first two years, things went suddenly and rapidly down hill when Mr Straw suffered a devastating blow to his physical and mental health during a particularly troubled time for the Labour Party. The SDP was threatening to take over as the mainstream left of centre force in British politics and although Mr Straw never wavered in his support for Labour, he found the defection of close friends difficult to stomach. “Eighty-one was a kind of crisis period for me personally as well as for the party,” he says.

“With my background, I’d worked really, really hard to get here, I’d had plenty of false starts in my life, including my first marriage, and I just thought oh God, so close and yet so far. “You used to see people in the tearoom on a Thursday night, and say goodbye to them - ‘See you Monday’ - and on Monday morning you’d turn on the radio and they’d defected. They came within a whisker of forming the second biggest party.” Mr Straw defied the opinion polls to hold his seat in 1983 and returned to the long slog of Opposition, a time he says was made bearable mainly because he began to get satisfaction both professionally and in his private life. “I was lucky because I was advancing up the greasy pole - even though one felt the pole being pulled down into a swamp. “Our children were young [and] at the time I was pretty thankful that although I was on the front bench and from ‘87 in the shadow cabinet, the responsibilities were much less. “The hours strangely … meant I could see the children in the morning, and quite often go home and then come back in the evening.

So I used to take them to school, I did the doctors, the school assemblies.” The dissatisfaction returned however in 1992, after yet another election loss. Mr Straw came close to standing down, and was talked around by an old school friend who pointed out that he never knew what might be what around the corner. Things can only get better What turned out to be around Mr Straw’s corner following the sudden and shockingly unexpected death of John Smith, the party’s new leader, was promotion to the role of shadow home secretary. By then, two men who had come in at the election after him, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, were making waves in the party. But Mr Straw insists he was not envious that it was they who were considered the obvious choice for the top two jobs. “After the ‘92 election really I thought I was going to chuck it in,” he says. “By that stage I was 45. I just thought cripes I’ve given up the best years of my life to the party, maybe it’s time to go back to the Bar or go do something else, maybe this simply ain’t going to work for me. “John Smith dying was extraordinary.

The night before we’d been at this fundraiser for this party where John Smith had said all he wanted was the chance to serve. “I think he, as he did many nights, overindulged. And died. He was only 56, no age at all. “Having then this pure chance of a change in leadership and Tony Blair becoming leader completely changed my prospects. “What I felt about Tony and Gordon was obviously that they were extremely talented. But also that, it was more obvious with Gordon, both of them were hungry for the job, and you have to be really hungry to get the job. And for a variety of reasons I wasn’t that hungry. “I didn’t really harbour that much of an ambition. I harboured an ambition to be in the Cabinet obviously, but not to be Leader. I don’t think I felt a sense of envy of them [Blair and Brown] because at that stage I wasn’t certain I could have done the job of Leader of the Opposition. “I always had this inner idea that if someone came along to me and said you can be Prime Minister, Mr Straw, all you have to do is sign this form, that I could have done the job OK.

I wasn’t certain I would be able to do in real life what you need to do to get there which is to be Leader of the Opposition, which is far and away the worst job in British politics. “I was never particularly close to Gordon. I had much greater fellow-feeling with Tony. “Tony asked me to be his campaign manager, partly because I’d not been particularly identified with him until then. I kept out of camps. I was Labour rather than being this camp or that camp. “I was never directly associated as a Blairite or a Brownite, although I was closer to Tony; I tried to be my own man.” Home Office The following seven years were Mr Straw’s most rewarding time in politics, as, continuing Mr Blair’s mantra of “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime,” he saw off what he describes as the “pseudo-Left” view of law and order policies. With a good three years to figure out what he wanted to do, when he got into Government in 1997 he had the satisfaction of implementing his entire agenda before he was promoted to the Foreign Office in 2001. “That period was I think intellectually the most stimulating period I’ve ever spent in politics,” he says.

“For me it was intellectual liberation, we were able to talk about things that we hadn’t been able to talk about for years. “The Labour Party had been hobbled by this pseudo-Left stuff about you have to be nice to offenders. [But] It does affect poor people, it affected us in our block, so push off.” 'Suddenly there were armed police in the garden' Although he had expected to be made Home Secretary, he and his family were given a rude awakening to the full repercussions of what that meant on election night 1997 when “suddenly there were armed police in the garden”. Those guards would remain with the family for the next 13 years - a period which would involve highs and lows for his wife, Alice, and their two children, William and Charlotte. One of the highs for the children was being taken along by their father when he was formally appointed to the post. “I went in the front door - you’re kept hanging around in the lobbies of Downing Street, pushed in little rooms as other people were dealt with.

“Then when [I saw] Tony, he said ‘I’m going to make you Home Secretary,’ I said ‘Thank you very much.’ “He came out into that lobby and there were William and Charlotte and he said: ‘I’ve made your Dad Home Secretary.’ “[Charlotte] was 14, poor kid. It was a lot to cope with. [She] was at an inner London comprehensive school … and just like that Dad’s in an armoured vehicle with two large detectives and there are two big policemen with guns outside our house.” As Home Secretary, Mr Straw introduced “shed-loads of legislation on the ying and the yang side,” by which he means those laws welcome to the pseudo-Left, such as the Human Rights Act and Freedom of Information Act, and those which were suitably “tough on crime,” including tackling anti-social behaviour and youth justice reform. He is proud of getting the Terrorism Act onto the statute books before 9/11, of the Ripa law (the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) and the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. By 2001, after Labour’s second election victory, he was looking forward to pastures new. And was completely shocked by what proved to be around the corner.

Foreign Secretary? Oh f*** “I was ready to go. It was a fantastic job, being in the Home Office, but it was a very big job. “I thought that I was going to take [John] Prescott’s job, to do planning, local government, transport and so on. “And then when I got in to see Tony finally on election day in 2001 he said ... ‘I’m making you Foreign Secretary.’ I said ‘Oh f***.’ “ Ironically given what was just around the corner, Mr Straw found his first few months in office “terribly quiet”. When 9/11 happened he was in his office chatting to Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, about a deployment of troops to Macedonia. Within two years he had approved the dispatch of troops to Afghanistan and, in a controversy that continues to this day, Iraq. “By that stage I’d been in the shadow cabinet for 10 years, I’d been in Cabinet for over four,” he says. “You’d been tested. Not obviously on the same scale but in the Home Office there had been crises, there had always been crises, and so you get on with it. “The troop deployment to Afghanistan at that stage was a limited one.

Strangely the environment appeared fairly benign, initially. “The major deployment, where we suffered really serious loss of life, came in ‘05, ‘06 in the south in Helmand, but at that stage it was limited. And it was a pretty straightforward decision to make to send the troops into Afghanistan. “There was no issue of legality. It was a war of necessity. Iraq was infinitely more difficult because it was a war of choice.” Iraq: 'People still shout at me on the Tube sometimes' As Foreign Secretary, it was Mr Straw’s role to present legislation approving the decision to go to war to a reluctant House of Commons. He fought hard to get United Nations approval, and even in early 2003 hoped that war could be avoided. When the time came to decide whether Britain should join America in a unilateral invasion, he was fully aware of the weight of the responsibility which rested on his shoulders. “It was by far and away the most important decision I have ever taken,” he says, made even more agonising by the fact that his wife and children opposed the war.

Although he failed to win over much of the country, he was at the time genuinely convinced that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, a belief he now concedes was incorrect. As he awaits the verdict of the Chilcot Inquiry into his role in the drama that was the decision to go to war in Iraq, he is philosophical about the likelihood that he will be blamed, and knows he is still a hate figure to some. “I made the decision I made which was to support the war, and I have to take the responsibilities which flow from that,” he says. “I think it’s pathetic to see people wringing their hands and pretending they weren’t there. Either you are there or you’re not. “If you make a decision of that magnitude and the consequences were as adverse as they have been, you have to accept your responsibility; nothing else to do. “The question which I sometimes face is: if you knew then what you know now, would you have made the same decision? Well no, of course I wouldn’t, but that’s true of a myriad of decisions. “You don’t have that luxury when you’re a decision-maker. You make decisions looking forward not back.

“What I sought to do in my evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry was to try to explain why I came to the decisions I came to in what were circumstances of very great uncertainty about the future. “The deceiver was Saddam Hussein. Obviously the whole prism through which Iraq is seen would have been completely different had a great onslaught of WMD been found, but anyway it wasn’t to be. Jack Straw, former MP, Blackburn - TheyWorkForYou TheyWorkForYou Generally voted for replacing Trident with a new nuclear weapons system Show votes Generally voted against reducing central government funding of local government Show votes Almost always voted against an equal number of electors per parliamentary constituency Show votes Almost always voted against increasing the rate of VAT Show votes Almost always voted for paying higher benefits over longer periods for those unable to work due to illness or disability Show votes Generally voted against fewer MPs in the House of Commons Show votes We have lots more plain English analysis of Jack Straw’s voting record on issues like health, welfare, taxation and more. Visit Jack Straw’s full vote analysis page for more. Recent appearances Elections for Positions in the House: Backbench Business — Valedictory Debate 26 Mar 2015 It is a pleasure to see the right hon.

Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Sir John Stanley) in his place. I first stood for Parliament in February 1974; I was able to discover that there were 14,000 socialists in Tonbridge and Malling, but unfortunately they were 10,000 fewer than the number of Conservatives who voted for the right hon. Gentleman. I took his and his constituents’ advice... Oral Answers to Questions — Business, Innovation and Skills: Today’s Business of the House 26 Mar 2015 The Leader of the House must know that there is always a reason for taking urgent action without giving notice to the Opposition. I hope he will acknowledge that the reasons in this case are partisan—[Interruption.] Mr Speaker will confirm this—it is a matter of public record: I did not support Mr Speaker in the election in 2009. I nominated the right hon. Member for North West...

Former Labour MP for Blackburn Entered the House of Commons on 3 May 1979 — General election Left the House of Commons on 30 March 2015 — General election Other offices held in the past Chair, House of Commons Governance Committee (10 Sep 2014 to 17 Dec 2014) Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice (12 May 2010 to 8 Oct 2010) Shadow Deputy Prime Minister (12 May 2010 to 25 Sep 2010) The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (28 Jun 2007 to 6 May 2010) Member, Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission (2 Jun 2007 to 6 May 2010) Chair, Modernisation of the House of Commons Committee (17 May 2006 to 26 Jul 2007) Member, Modernisation of the House of Commons Committee (15 May 2006 to 17 May 2006) Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal (5 May 

2006 to 28 Jun 2007) Member, Members Estimate Committee (29 Jan 2004 to 28 Jun 2007) Foreign Secretary (8 Jun 2001 to 5 May 2006) The Secretary of State for the Home Department (2 May 1997 to 8 Jun 2001) Shadow Secretary of State (Home Office) (21 Jul 1994 to 1 May 1997) Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee (1 Jul 1994 to 1 Jul 1995) Shadow Secretary of State (Environment) (9 Apr 1992 to 28 Jul 1994) Shadow Secretary of State for Education (11 Jun 1987 to 9 Apr 1992) Shadow Spokesperson (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (1 Jun 1983 to 1 Jun 1987) Shadow Spokesperson (Treasury) (1 Jun 1980 to 1 Jun 1983) Previous MPs in this constituency Kate Hollern Numerology Please

 note that numbers do not measure quality.

Also, representatives may do other things not currently covered by this site. Has spoken in 37 debates in the last year — above average amongst MPs. See all Jack Straw’s speeches Has received answers to 0 written questions in the last year — well below average amongst MPs. Replied within 2 or 3 weeks to a high number of messages sent via WriteToThem.com during 2014, according to constituents. Has voted in 56.50% of votes in this Parliament with this affiliation — well below average amongst MPs. (From Public Whip) People have made 144 annotations on this MP’s speeches — well above average amongst MPs. This MP’s speeches, in Hansard, are readable by an average 19–20 year old, going by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score. 85 people are tracking this MP Has used three-word alliterative phrases (e.g. "she sells seashells") 4376 times in debates — well above average amongst MPs. Last updated: 30 Mar 2015. 2. Remunerated employment, office, profession etc Payments from News International Supply Co Ltd.

Address: Cygnet Park, 200 Serpentine Way, Peterborough PE7 8FD: 10 September 2014 , received £500 from News Corp (formerly News International) for article for The Times on 14 August 2014 . Hours: 4 hrs. (Registered 15 September 2014) Payments from Specialist Speakers, 18 Waxwell Lane, Harrow, London, HA5 3EN, UK Received 14 November 2014 , £3,000 in respect of a conference organised by, and held at, Fuller Research Group, T/A Acumen Fieldwork Ltd (3 Canal Street, The Village, Manchester M1 3HE) on 16 October 2014 . Hours: 10 hrs. (Registered 21 November 2014) Consultant to ED & F MAN Holdings Ltd; commodity traders, advising the group and its senior executives on the international and national environment in which it operates and on other specific matters.

Address: Cottons Centre, Hays Lane, London SE1 2QE (£55,001-£60,000). Payment received on a quarterly basis. 3 April 2014 , received £15,000 consultancy fee for the quarter 1 January 2014 to 31 March 2014 . Hours: approx 50 hrs. (Registered 8 April 2014) 11 July 2014 , received £15,000 consultancy fee for the quarter 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 . Hours: 30 hrs. (Registered 14 July 2014) 19 November 2014, received £15,000 consultancy fee for the quarter 1 July 2014 to 30 September 2014. Hours: 30 hrs. (Registered 2 December 2014 ) 8 February 2015 , received £15,000 consultancy fee for the period 1 October to 3 December 2014.

Hours: 30 hrs approx. (Registered 24 February 2015) Received 30 April 2014, £137.25 from Cambridge University Press , Shaftesbury Road Cambridge CB2 8BS in respect of royalties from the sales of the Hamlyn Lectures 2012. No additional hours. (Registered 12 May 2014 ) Payments received from the London Speaker Bureau, of Elsinore House, 77 Fulham Palace Road, W6 8JA: 18 March 2014, received £10,000 as fee for speaking at Dialogue Series on Nigeria’s Democracy at Government House, Port Harcourt, Nigeria event on 11 March 2014. The payer was: Mario and Stevens, Yasuha Plaza, Adetokunbo, Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja, Nigeria . Mario and Stevens also paid for London Heathrow /Abuja return flights and transport to and from Heathrow; £5,250 in total.

I also spent one night (11 March) in State Government Guest House, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, estimated value £200, and one night (12 March) paid for by a nonregistrable source. Hours: 4 days including travel. (Registered 2 April 2014) 11 April 2014, received £4,600.87 as fee for speaking at the "Turkish Davos", Uladag, Bursa, Turkey, 20-22 March 2014, plus (for my wife and me) return flights from Heathrow to Istanbul at a total cost of £1,734 and accommodation and transfers estimated at £600 in total. Payer was Dogan Burda Dergi Yayincilik ve Pazarlama A.S, Kuştepe Mahallesi, Mecidiyeköy Yolu Caddesi, No: 12 Trump Towers Kule 2 Kat: 24 Şişli-Istanbul. Hours: 2.5 days, including travel.

(Registered 14 April 2014) Received 17 February 2014 , £150 from the BBC New Broadcasting House London W1 , fee for appearance on Any Questions, Altrincham, Cheshire on 7 February 2014. Hours: 10 hrs including preparation and travel. (Registered 14 May 2014) 15 May 2014, received £7,773.13 in respect of a speaking engagement on 8 May 2014, at a conference on "Sustainable Futures" in Lisbon organised by Impressa Publishing, (IMPRESA Sociedade Gestora de Participações Sociais, SA of Paço de Arcos, Oeiras Municipality, Portugal), and in addition, £46.40 for London travel and £84.97 for dinner in Lisbon. The costs of accommodation, approx £315, and return flights at £1,011 were paid directly by the organisers. Hours: 44 hrs including preparation and travel.

(Registered 1 July 2014) 1 July 2014, received £7,000 in respect of speaking engagements on 30 June 2014 for the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs , of 11, Boulevard de la Tour Maubourg, 75007 Paris, and, in addition, £675.08 for return travel from London to Paris and incidental costs. The costs of accommodation estimated at £2,492 were paid direct. Hours: 48 hrs. (Registered 1 July 2014) Received 20 October 2014, £5,000 in respect of a speech to a conference organised by the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (St Michaels House, 1 George Yard, London EC3V 9DH) held at 155 Bishopsgate, EC1, on 7 October 2014. Hours: 6 hrs.

(Registered 21 November 2014) Payment from ComRes , (CommunicationResearch Ltd, Covenham House, Downside Bridge Road, Cobham Surrey KT11 3EP), for opinion survey: 22 August 2014, £90 paid direct to local charity. Hours: 30 mins. (Registered 15 September 2014) Received 30 September 2014, £270.00 from Telegraph Media Group Ltd, 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0DT in respect of an article in the Daily Telegraph on 24 September 2014. Hours: 4 hrs. (Registered 6 October 2014) Payments from Associated Newspapers, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT: 24 December 2014, received £1,000 in respect of an article for the Daily Mail published on 28 November 2014. Hours: 4 hrs.

(Registered 22 January 2015 ) 24 December 2014, received £1,000 in respect of an article for the Daily Mail submitted on 1 December 2014, yet to be published. Hours: 5 hrs. (Registered 22 January 2015) From 12 November 2014, member of the Advisory Council of the Eurasian Council on Foreign Affairs Ltd, 20-22 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4JS, which is a forum for discussion of Central Asia ’s relationship with the European Union. Remuneration: £12,500 plus VAT a year for an expected commitment of 40 hours. (£10,001-£15,000) (Registered 26 January 2015) 6. Overseas visitsÂ Â Â Â Name of donor: Akfen Holding Address of donor: Koza Sok No: 22 GOP , Ankara, Turkey .

Amount of donation (or estimate of the probable value): flights from Bursa to Ankara and back to Istanbul, with a value of £6,753.30 Destination of visit: Ankara, Turkey Date of visit: 22 March 2014 Purpose of visit: to meet a senior member of the Turkish government (Registered 28 April 2014) Labour MP Jack Straw to resign at 2015 election | Politics | The Guardian Jack Straw Labour MP Jack Straw to resign at 2015 election British foreign secretary in runup to Iraq war to stand down after acknowledging he 'can't go on forever as an MP' Jack Straw was first elected in 1979 and has stood in his constituency of Blackburn in eight general elections. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Friday 25 October 2013 14.30 EDT First published on Friday 25 October 2013 14.30 EDT Close This article is 3 years old The former Labour cabinet minister Jack Straw is to stand down as an MP at the next election.

Straw, who was foreign secretary in the run-up to the Iraq war and a member of the cabinet throughout the 1997-2010 Labour government, announced his decision at a meeting of his Blackburn constituency Labour party on Friday evening. Straw, who will be nearly 69 at the next election, has been MP for Blackburn since 1979 and has fought eight general elections there. He told the Guardian he had to acknowledge that, if he stood again, he would have to count on continuing good health for the next seven years. He did not want to represent a constituency such as Blackburn at anything other than full tilt, and it might have tempted providence to stand again in 2015. Straw served as home secretary, foreign secretary, leader of the house and justice secretary under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He has been an active backbencher since Labour's defeat and has recently been sharply critical of the Guardian for publishing the US spying leaks of the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Although he was more cautious about the invasion of Iraq than Blair, and formed successful personal alliances with US secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, he has never pretended he went as far as telling Blair not to go ahead with the invasion. In his revealing autobiography, Last Man Standing, he describes the decision as "the most difficult and momentous I've ever made". He still defends it "on the basis of the information that was available at the time". Straw was probably the leading advocate of MPs being given a vote before the war, a legacy that stuck when David Cameron recalled the Commons for a vote on military action over President Bashar al-Assad's use of chemical weapons in Syria. He will also be remembered for introducing the Human Rights Act, setting up the Macpherson inquiry into police racism, and being one of the many cabinet ministers who tried and failed to reform the Lords. It is likely he will be offered a peerage. He is also, by his own account, a survivor and administrator as much as a visionary. Explaining his decision to stand down, Straw said: "My love affair with this town [Blackburn] is not going to end on 7 May 2015, nor is my connection with it.

But there were three issues I had to face. "First, that I couldn't go on forever as the town's MP. "Second, that whether I stood down in 2015, or in 2020, or whenever, it would be a terrible wrench. "Third, that whilst I am as certain as anyone can be that I'd have the energy to continue at the pace necessary for three or four years, I couldn't guarantee that I could keep going at that pace right into my mid-70s. To take that risk would be profoundly unfair on the electors of Blackburn, on this party, and on Alice [Perkins, his wife] and my family. "Luck does play a significant part in anyone's fortunes, and, as I have said, I have been very lucky. So, to put this another way, I did not want to push my luck, to tempt providence." On Friday He praised the Labour leader,: "As recent weeks have brought home to the public, in Ed Miliband we have a leader who has the ability, the determination, and the character to take this country to a better, and much fairer place than under this government".

He said Miliband had changed the political weather with his conference speech, but warned the party against complacency. "Gaining support at the ballot box is not fundamentally about transactions, but trust; about managing to persuade voters that their values and ours, their hopes and ours, are the same." Will Straw: 'I don't want special treatment. I want to prove myself' | Politics | The Guardian Labour Will Straw: 'I don't want special treatment. I want to prove myself' He has gone from tabloid sting victim to Oxford student union president to standing for MP in his father's neighbouring constituency. But the Labour hopeful insists there is much more to him than 'Jack Straw's son' Will Straw out campaigning for council elections in Waterfoot, Lancashire, part of the Rossendale and Darwen constituency he will contest in 2015. Photograph: Christopher Thomond Sunday 4 May 2014 09.45 EDT First published on Sunday 4 May 2014 09.45 EDT Share on Messenger Close Given Will Straw's first, traumatic appearance in the spotlight, you could forgive him if he wanted to spend the rest of his life in the shadows.

Back in December 1997, young William, the 17-year-old son of the then home secretary, Jack Straw, fell victim to a nasty sting by the Daily Mirror . The tabloid paid two of his friends £2,000 each to set up a meeting in a London pub, where an undercover reporter plied them with drinks and persuaded him to buy her £10 of cannabis. The resulting headline – "Cabinet minister son sells drugs to Mirror" – landed Straw a police caution which still causes him problems today. If he wants to go to the US to visit his Texan in-laws, like Nigella Lawson he requires a letter of special dispensation from the embassy to be let past the border. Sixteen years on, it still smarts. "It was a horrible experience realising that one of your friends had essentially betrayed you," says the 33-year-old, who insists he hasn't smoked weed in at least six years, probably longer. "It made me wary of trusting people, which is a sad thing for a 17-year-old to deal with.

But I think it's probably a good lesson for life, that you're really clear what people's motivations are before sharing too much with them." However painful the experience, it has not deterred Straw, now an associate director at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), from seeking a role in public life. In September he was selected as the Labour candidate for next year's general election in the Lancashire seat of Rossendale and Darwen, next door to the Blackburn constituency his father has served since before Will was born. Being an MP, he said solemnly in a cafe in the Rossendale valley last week, "is a noble profession, even if some people let it down from time to time and give it a bad name". On Saturday, Straws senior and junior appeared together for the first time in the son's long parliamentary campaign when they held an open-air meeting in Rawtenstall. The election is still a year away and already he cheerfully admits to being "a bit irritated" by constant questions about his dad. So why campaign together?

Essentially, it seems, because it would be "more weird" to pretend he wasn't his father's offspring – and also because Jack Straw knows everybody in east Lancashire and has honed his vote-gathering technique to perfection after more than three decades standing on a soapbox outside Marks & Spencer in Blackburn town centre most weekends. ‘The Mr Darcy of student politics’: Will Straw, then president of the Oxford student union, on a protest against top-up fees in 2002. Photograph: Stephen Hird/Reuters The resemblance between father and son is obvious: the same deliberate, classless way of speaking with an unplaceable accent; the impeccable manners; the New Labour. Straw the younger is probably better looking, with sandy dark blonde hair and light hazel eyes which earned him a special mention in a Guardian article back in 2002 , when he was president of the Oxford student union. The piece compared him to Mr Darcy after he had been photographed at a march against top-up fees: "hair glistening with rain, parka clinging damply to his manly frame and behind him a soggy banner asking "What's worth more?

Education or war?" Laura Barton described him as "true political totty … ever so slightly unkempt and tousle-haired." Reminded of the article, Straw blushes. Today, married with a seven-month-old baby son, he possesses wholesome good looks of the sort which probably prompt old ladies to describe him as "such a lovely boy". He turns up for our interview wearing a cagoule and driving a Rover hatchback. Ask him about charges of nepotism in his selection, and Straw has a well-rehearsed answer: "What I would say about the nepotism thing is that in all walks of life, whether it's the police, doctors or going into the family law firm, there are examples of children following their parents' footsteps. That's also been true in parliament going back many generations – there are actually now many fewer than there were in the past." Will Straw has fared better than other sons of New Labour ministers. David Prescott, pictured with father John, failed to be selected as a prospective MP last year.

Photograph: Tony Kyriacou/Rex Features It's worth noting that Straw has fared better than the sons of others who sat on the frontbench with his dad: David Prescott, son of the former deputy leader John Prescott, last year failed to be selected in Greenwich and Woolwich and, despite persistent rumours, Euan Blair has yet to publicly put himself forward for a Westminster seat. "I'm not looking for special treatment," insists Straw. "The people of Rossendale and Darwen can decide if they want me to be their MP or not. That's their prerogative." He adds: "Actually, I followed in my mum's footsteps for the first half of my career as a civil servant. I don't want anyone to vote for me or against me because of the surname." And anyway, he says, "I was selected for a marginal seat, not a safe seat, in an open contest by the local members here." Since 2010 the constituency has been held by a young Tory, Jake Berry. A famous surname alone will not overturn his 4,493 majority.

A number of local Labour members insist Straw was not parachuted in by the national executive but was a popular choice already well known after spending many weekends of his childhood in the area – "some of our members have known him since he was a bairn," says one councillor, Andy McNae, who eventually lost out to Straw in a head-to-head race. "It was not a stitch-up." Educated at a London state school, Straw studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford and won a Fulbright to study economic policy at Columbia University in New York. He then worked at the Treasury before a stint at the Centre for Democratic Progress thinktank in the US helping with Barack Obama's first election campaign, eventually ending up a policy wonk at the IPPR. He talks passionately about the devastating effect the economic crisis and the cuts have had on the towns of east Lancashire. But what does he know about suffering on minimum wage having spent his whole career in the cosseted bubble of politics and thinktanks? Jack Straw campaigns in his Blackburn constituency in 2005. One councillor said local Labour members have known Will Straw ‘since he was a bairn’ because of childhood weekends in the area.

Photograph: Christopher Thomond "Well," he says, "there's nothing like going out on the doorstep night after night, weekend after weekend to get a sense of what their issues are. And through the visits to children's centres to factories you get a real sense of what people's concerns are." And anyway, he does have some real life experience: "All the way when I was a sixth-former and at university I had jobs working in a warehouse, packing boxes, working in an accounts department of car showrooms, working in a psychiatric unit. So I have done jobs, more as holiday jobs, that have given me a real understanding of the issues facing people not just in managerial jobs and the struggles people face in their day-to-day lives." Asked who his political idol is, he initially plumps for Nelson Mandela, before saying that among the living, he "really admires what Tony Blair and Gordon Brown did in their first term". Given the widespread disdain for both men among the party grassroots, it's a bold choice – he could have gone for someone easy, like Alan Johnson. He's also proud of his dad.

Despite clashing over the Iraq war, Straw talks fondly of "the tremendous things he was doing in Blackburn, but also on gay rights, relations with Turkey and Iran when he was foreign secretary, the youth justice stuff he did as home secretary." Last month Straw ended up in the press for the wrong reasons once again, coming under fire for posing for a picture with a potential constituent whose face was blacked up : one of the Britannia Coconut Dancers of Bacup, a 158-year-old troupe of Lancastrian clog dancers who perform every Easter with blackened faces purporting to represent the town's mining past. Straw said he has been "overwhelmed" by the supportive messages he has received from locals as a result. "But," he adds, "what I've also tried to do is reach out to some of the people from the black and Asian community, the minority ethnic community, who felt very offended by it – not from here, I've not had anybody from Rossendale from any background objecting." He concedes that he wouldn't black up himself. "But I don't have mining heritage".

The controversy brought back memories of the fuss his dad caused when he admitted to asking Muslim constituents to take off their veils when they met him for private meetings, calling the niqab "such a visible statement of separation and of difference". Though of course Straw the younger would rather we stopped the comparisons altogether. "What I want to do is prove myself and the thing I have to contend with is that often I will be described as Jack Straw's son, which is fair enough – it's a fact. But I also want to establish myself in my own right and show people what I can do." The son of the former Labour home secretary has been selected as Labour candidate for the Lancashire constituency next door to his dad's Published: 2 Sep 2013 Blackburn Labour Party – Fighting for Labour in Blackburn, Lancashire We must elect a Labour Leader who wants to win. I’m supporting Andy Burnham in the Leadership election. He’s been around long enough to have experienced senior office in a Labour Government but at the same time he’s young enough to understand the fact that the Labour Party must reach out more to all of our potential supporters – our core and those on the margins – if we are to stand a chance of coming back from the wilderness of opposition.

There’s much talk of the need for a principalled socialist, and a return to our roots but in my view we don’t need to appoint a person who just says the things we’re wanting to here, we need to appoint a person who will be a credible leader and a credible potential Prime Minister, ensuring that the UK remains a heavyweight force in world politics and world economics. I’m sorry but Jeremy Corbyn just does not do that. The Labour Party​ must look to elect a Leader who we all believe will want to win a General Election. At the end of the day we are not a pressure group or a lobbying organisation, we are a political party which seeks to represent the public and put into practice its beliefs. It may not seem inspirational to want to compromise on some of our beliefs but what we achieved between 1997 and 2010 shows that when we compromise we can make great gains for our people. I for one could not knock on doors asking people to vote Labour if I knew full well that we had no intention of trying to form a Government. It’s just deceitful.

These people who prefer ideology to actual elected power are clearly well off enough not to be impacted by Tory policies that are throwing hundreds of thousands of families and children into hardship and poverty. It’s our duty as Labour members to do anything we can to put a stop to that as soon as possible. If you’re voting in the Labour Leadership election in the next few weeks, please think carefully about the long term impact of your vote – it’s probably the most important vote you’ll cast in a generation, perhaps in your life. It could even decide whether the Labour Party has or does not have a long term future in British politics. If like me, you believe that Labour should have a long term future please vote Burnham. Kate Hollern welcomes Labour’s Manifesto for women Today Labour is launching its manifesto for women – setting out how Labour will enable women to fulfil their potential, as part of a plan to raise living standards for working families. Kate Hollern, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Blackburn said it will have real impact on families in Blackburn.

She said, for example, that it sets out a new commitment to help grandparents who want to be more involved in caring for their grandchildren, recognising that parents are increasingly relying on other family members to help them juggle work and childcare. More than half of all mothers rely on grandparents for childcare when they first go back to work after maternity leave, while two-thirds of grandparents with grandchildren aged under-16 provide some childcare. Kate Hollern also welcomed other aspects of Labour’s women’s manifesto which includes measures to tackle low pay, address the gender pay gap and gives a commitment to extend free childcare from 15 to 25 hours a week for working parents of three and four-year-olds. She added: “These measures will make a real difference to the lives of local women and their families and will help tackle the unfairness of the past five years that has seen the average family £1100 worse off due to the austerity policies of the present Tory led Government.” Kate Hollern attacks non-doms bankrolling Tory campaign It has become clear that the Tories’ reliance on a reported £16 million from non-domicile donors shows why the Tories won’t back Labour’s plans to abolish non-dom status.

The Tories are the political wing of the tax avoidance industry. Kate Hollern, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Blackburn has pointed to the thousands of pounds the Tories are spending on their local election campaigns that have been funded by city bankers and financial speculators, many who have non dom status in order to avoid paying taxes in the UK. Kate Hollern commented “The Tories have failed dismally on tax avoidance. The tax gap is up, loopholes that benefit hedge funds remain open and now non-doms are being protected from paying their fair share of taxes”. In addition, she said: “Closing down the non-domicile loop-hole is the right thing to do. It’s important that people who live here and enjoy the benefits of our country make their fair contribution like the rest of us. As usual the Tories are putting the interests of a privileged few at the top, protecting their tax breaks, ahead of the interests of hard working people, who are worse off and paying more in tax under David Cameron.” The nightmare of the Tory Budget plans Following the Budget announcements Labour has prepared anew analysis of Tory spending plans which takes into account their planned welfare reductions and promised tax cuts.

This shows that in the next three years the Tories are planning cuts to vital public services in communities like Blackburnwhich are deeper than any year of the last parliament. As a result over the next three years cuts to public services will be almost twice the level of the last three years. The people of Britain and the citizens of Blackburn need a better plan. Labour will get the deficit down in a more sensible and balanced way. And we have a fully-funded plan to save our NHS and transform it for the future. Labour’s plan means 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more GPs and cancer tests guaranteed within one week. And we’ll pay for it by closing tax loopholes and a mansion tax on properties worth over £2 million. After five years of David Cameron, our health service is going backwards. Our NHS just can’t afford these extreme and risky Tory cuts. And after their broken promises on the NHS in this Parliament nobody will trust what the Tories say about the NHS. There is a better way – the Labour way – that’s an approach that stands up for the many and not just the few. Labour’s plan to cut tuition fees – five things you need to know: 1.

Raising tuition fees to £9,000 has been bad for students and bad for taxpayers The decision by the Tories and Lib Dems to increase tuition fees to £9,000 means that the average student will now graduate with £44,000 of debt. That’s bad for them, because they have tens of thousands of pounds of debt hanging over them for decades – but it’s bad for the taxpayer too, because almost three quarters of students will never pay their loan back in full, and the cost of writing it off has to be met by the Government. In fact, government forecasts show that the current student fee system is set to add £281 billion to the national debt by 2030-31. 2. Labour’s plan will be fairer to students and taxpayers Cutting tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000 will reduce average graduate debt by nearly £9,000. And because our plan is fully funded, it means £40 billion less government debt by 2030-31, or over £10 billion less government debt over the next Parliament.

We will also help students from lower and middle-income families by increasing student grants by £400, so that the full grant goes up from around £3,400 to around £3,800. More than half of students will benefit. We will pay for the grant increase by asking the highest earning graduates to pay more: increasing the interest rate on the loan from 3 to 4 per cent for those earning over £41,000. This will make the overall system of repayment fairer, but all students will be better off overall as a result of our plan – with less debt, and less to repay. 3. Students who are currently in their first year at university will benefit from Labour’s plan We will cut fees to £6,000 from September 2016. That means that students who are now in their first year at university will see their fees capped at £6,000 in their third year. Students who start university this autumn will see their fees capped at £6,000 from their second year onwards. And students who start in 2016 will see their fees capped at £6,000 from the start. 4.

Universities will not lose out Our plan is fully funded, so we will increase the teaching grant universities receive by the same amount that their fee income from English students falls – around £2.7 billion. 5. Labour’s plan is fully funded by restricting Pension Tax Relief for those on the highest incomes At the moment, people with incomes over £150,000 get tax relief on pension contributions at a rate of 45 per cent – more than twice that of basic rate taxpayers. This means that although they are only the top 1 per cent of taxpayers, they receive 7 per cent of all Pension Tax Relief. So we will make the system fairer by restricting Pension Tax Relief by £2.9 billion for those on the highest incomes. We will reduce the rate of relief for those with incomes of over £150,000 to 20 per cent – the same as basic rate taxpayers. And we will reduce the annual and lifetime allowances to cap the amount that people can put into their pensions tax free: £30,000 a year, or £1 million across a lifetime. This is far more than most people can ever afford to put into their pension pots.

Kate Hollern: Labour’s plan to reform the banking sector Labour has today published its plans to reform the banking sector so that it better supports growing businesses, economic growth and rising living standards in areas like Blackburn who have suffered from lack of investment under the present Coalition Government and a banking sector uninterested in helping businesses and often caught ripping off consumers Too often in recent years our banks have fallen far short of the standards expected of them. After so many scandals we need major reforms and long-term cultural change to restore trust and ensure our banks start working for consumers and businesses again. We need much more action than this government has been prepared to take. So Labour has produced a banking reform paper which sets out how it will change rules on bonuses, increase competition and get more lending to small and medium-sized businesses. Labour will also extend to at least ten years the period bank bonuses can be clawed back in cases of misconduct. As has been seen in recent days, wrongdoing can take years to uncover. The current proposals to claw back bonuses announced by the present Government are too weak and do not cover a long enough period of time. Labour will ensure people involved in misbehaviour and misconduct would have to give back their bonuses for at least a decade after they have been paid out.

And Labour will establish a proper British Investment Bank to help growing businesses get the funding they need to expand and create jobs. Because it’s only when working people and businesses succeed that Britain succeeds too. Reforming the banking sector is another example of Labour being prepared to stand up against strong interest groups; many who bank roll the Tories and have benefited from huge tax cuts for the well off. Labour will stick up for many not the few. Tory A&E crisis is proof they can’t be trusted with the NHS For anyone who has recently attended the Accident and Emergency Department at Royal Blackburn it will come as no surprise that new figures published today show that A&Es in England have now missed the Government’s A&E target for 80 weeks in a row. Despite this terrible state of affairs there is still no sign of a plan from David Cameron & his ministers that they will turn things around any time soon. In Blackburn, as elsewhere, patients are waiting too long for ambulances and too long to be seen in A&E. Sadly, this Government’s focus is not on patient care but on PR , with hospitals seemingly under intense pressure to downplay problems for political and reputational reasons.

Less we forget, Ministers caused this crisis by making it harder to see a GP and cutting home care from vulnerable people. Their failure to act now is leaving thousands of patients exposed to too much risk. The Tory A&E crisis is proof they can’t be trusted with the NHS. On the other hand, Labour’s 10-year plan for the NHS is a blueprint to raise standards of care and ensure the health service is sustainable in the 21st century. Labour will invest an extra £2.5 billion for more nurses, doctors, care workers and midwives, guarantee that you will not have to wait more than a week for a cancer test or 48 hours for a GP appointment, and repeal David Cameron’s NHS changes that put private profit before patient care. When I met Andy Burnham, Shadow Health Minister recently he explained how Labour has set out a new plan for Britain’s future, a plan that works for ordinary families, rewarding the hard work they do and saving the NHS they rely on. Andy explained that the Tories can’t build a better future for working people because they stand up only for a privileged few. With the NHS going backwards and a recovery which works just for a few, working people can’t afford five more years of David Cameron.

We also know that you can’t trust Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. They broke their promises after the last election and have been too weak to stand up to the Tories providing them with cover to introduce an expensive top down reorganisation and bringing in legislation that will open the NHS up to private US companies hell bent on making a quick buck And less we forget UKIP can’t stand for working people: they’re more Tory than the Tories, a party made up of Tory people, promoting Tory policies, bankrolled by Tory donors. Their ideas of an insurance system similar to that used in the US would signal the end of universal healthcare based on need and compassion. The only Party that will protect the NHS and get A&E waiting times down is Labour. Blackburn faring poorly in North/ South divide under the Tories To confirm what we have been saying for months now, two statistical reports published this week on the North/South divide show how badly Blackburn is faring after nearly five years under a Tory led Government. Whilst London and the South East are seeing improvement this is not the case in Blackburn that is failing to share in the economic recovery seen elsewhere.

The Centre for Cities says for every 12 jobs created since 2004, in southern cities, only one was created in cities elsewhere. The report also shows that Blackburn is in the bottom ten for employment, 61st out of 64 for the lowest employment rate at just 63.4 per cent in 2012/2013, down 2.1 per cent on the previous 12 months. The Centre for Cities report does contain a glimmer of hope in that business start-up’s in Blackburn, when compared with other city areas, has improved of late and we are in the top five when it comes to innovation (as measured by the number of new patents registered). However, these improvements have been achieved despite us have one of the lowest growth in the number of house start-ups and being in the bottom two city areas when it comes to superfast broadband. A separate report by economic analysts The Lankelly Chase Foundation is also disappointing as it reveals Blackburn with Darwen borough has the 16th highest proportion of residents suffering multiple disadvantage and deprivation.

It comes as no surprise that 25% of the 25 local authorities reporting the highest level of problems caused by a combination of homelessness, substance abuse and contact with the criminal justice system, high levels of poverty and social isolation, and mental health problems are in the North West. This region has suffered the most since 2010 when the Tory led coalition Government withdrew support for areas like Blackburn where deprivation and poverty is at its most acute. The Lankelly Chase Foundation calls “for far-reaching changes and a co-ordinated approach” to address multiple disadvantage from government, local authorities and the voluntary sector; a plea unlikely to be heeded by David Cameron and George Osborne whose record show they are only interested in looking after the City chums and vested interests such as the Power Companies and the Media. The situation so starkly revealed by these reports has been worsened as a result of the Tory Governments policies. For the Tories to introduce austerity in the way they have done by imposing deep and lasting cuts which impact unfairly on northern cities like Blackburn is nothing short of a disgrace.

George Osborne’s decision to wait until the four year in office before making his so called Northern Power House Speech was clear evidence of the Tories being out of touch and also a sign of their panic as the General Election approaches. On the other hand a Labour Government will cut the deficit by building a strong economic foundation and by balancing the books. It has pledged to fundamentally address the North/South divide by moving resources out of London and boosting decentralised funding to the tune of £30 billion. Such an approach will go some way to addressing the unfairness that is hindering the economic success for Blackburn and why it is vital we elect a Labour Government in May. Kate Hollern:Standing up for Britain’s young people The future of the country depends on young people and the outcome of the General Election in May will determine what kind of future young people have. This Government has betrayed young people, lied to them and let them down but Labour is determined that the next generation does better than the last. That is why the Labour Party and Ed Milliband have launched a conversation with young people about what their priorities are for the next government. “Shape your future” gives young people up and down the country the opportunity to talk about Labour’s Young Britain manifesto.

The General Election comes down to a choice about which Government runs the country and who they run it for. We need to ask whether we want a country which works for all young people, or just the few at the top in our society. Your future job, your education, your home, your future depend on who wins this election. A Labour government would tax the bank bonuses and put our young people back to work. It would guarantee a job for young people who have been out of work for a year or more. It will improve the quality of work available for young people by raising the minimum wage and supporting a Living Wage. It’s also not just about work but about education. Labour believes a country can only succeed when opportunities are for all of our young people. That’s why the educational priority for the next Labour government will be apprenticeships and a revolution in vocational education. A Labour government will make sure that as many young people leaving school are able to do apprenticeships as currently go to university. But we also want to do more for students heading to university, who leave at the end burdened down with debt. And unlike Nick Clegg and the Liberals we will keep our promises.

This election will also decide how easy it will be for the next generation to find a home of their own to rent or to buy. For the first time, Labour will give those renting the security that they need. And Labour will stop letting agents charging tenants, saving young people as much as £500 when they rent. In addition, a Labour government will also stop housing developers hoarding land, and force them to build 200,000 homes a year. Elections are about choices and in so far as young people are concerned only Labour has thought long and hard how a future Government needs to focus on the needs of the next generation.

Question: Which parliamentary constituency does Jack Straw represent?
Answer: Blackburn