View From The House - 14th February 2002

Reprinted From The Lichfield Mercury

The news of Princess Margaret's death came suddenly on Saturday morning. Perhaps not quite as shocking as Diana's death: Princess Margaret had been unwell for some time. But nevertheless, completely unexpected at this time. And whilst it must be devastating for Margaret's sister and children, imagine how her mother must feel. The Windsors may be our Royal Family, but they have had their fair share of tragedy over the years and it makes them stronger for all that. Our hearts go out to them.

Meanwhile, it has been a particularly interesting couple of weeks in the House of Commons culminating with the Conservatives cheering the Home Secretary while he - and the transport secretary, Stephen Byers - were booed and heckled by their own side. And then, of course, there has been the whole discussion on MMR vaccine.

MMR first. The combined Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine is effective and there is no evidence that it causes any side effects. The problem the Conservative Shadow Health Minister - a general practitioner himself - has identified is that only about 85% of babies are now being vaccinated with MMR. And this is a very real worry. Because if the percentage gets any lower, there will be sufficient numbers of unvaccinated children to allow an epidemic to spread amongst the population.

I understand that very senior medical advisors to the Government have advised the Health Secretary to allow a single vaccination for each of the three diseases. The single vaccine has its disadvantages. Because a time gap is required between each injection, the child is left exposed for a longer period than the MMR vaccine single jab. Also, some parents may not bring the child back for the full course of injections. Nevertheless, this has to be better than the present state of affairs where 15% or so of children are not being injected at all. And that is the worry. And that is why Dr Liam Fox MP has been arguing that parents should be allowed the choice. I endorse the Prime Minister's plea to inject children with the single jab. But if parents ignore this, they should be allowed the choice. The Government should not be allowed to dictate policy in this way.

On other medical matters, I had an interesting chat the other day with Richard Taylor. He is a former Consultant in General Medicine at Kidderminster and is now the Independent Member of Parliament for Wyre Forest. (You may recall he defeated a sitting Labour Minister over the proposed closure of local hospitals). He tells me that certain cancer drugs are now not available in our area because they are "too expensive". Whether it is hospital care or availability of drugs, why should Lichfield and Burntwood lose out? This is another cause I will be taking up shortly with the Health Secretary once I have the full details.

So poor old Government Ministers are being booed by their own side. I have to confess that my mischievous nature finds this all rather amusing. Though in the longer term, it is a worrying trend.

At long last, the Home Secretary has finally decided to get a grip on immigration. He has adopted tough new rules, which the Conservatives have been pressing for over some time; and if immigrants wish to become British citizens, they will be expected to be capable of speaking some English and know a little about our way of life. Fair enough? Well, the glum faces and criticism of Labour back benchers suggested otherwise.