Norman Baker's home page

Norman's record

Norman Baker has been an effective campaigner for our area for 15 years on local and national issues.

Some of Norman's recent local achievements

Some of Norman's recent national achievements

News

8th Feb: Norman is today celebrating, after the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced that it is to change the location of its public inquiry into South East Water's Water Resource Management Plan, which includes the controversial proposed reservoir near Ringmer in his constituency. More.

5th Feb: Norman has today unveiled the Lib Dem General Election pledge to add an additional 56 bobbies on the beat in Sussex. The announcement comes as part of a national pledge by the Lib Dems, announced yesterday by the Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg MP, and the Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne MP, to put an additional 3,000 police on the streets of the UK as part of the launch of the Lib Dems' Safer Streets - More and Better Police paper. More.

5th Feb: Norman has pledged his support to Campaign for Real Ale's Beer Drinkers and Pub Goers Charter after attending the Westminster launch of the Charter last Wednesday, 3 February. The Charter calls on politicians, amongst other things, to support the 15 million regular pub goers in the UK and champion local pubs. More.

5th Feb: East Sussex County Council's plans for a controversial and unpopular landfill scheme were yesterday slammed on the floor of the Commons by Lewes MP Norman Baker. Mr Baker challenged the government to discourage East Sussex County Council from going ahead with the scheme, which has been met with significant local opposition. More.

1st Feb: Norman has today criticised the government's policy of fining parents whose children fail to attend school in East Sussex after figures unveiled in a Parliamentary Question asked by the Lib Dem MP revealed that the number of school days missed due to truancy in the Lewes constituency has increased by an astonishing 314% since 1997. More.

26th Jan: Norman will tomorrow visit the site of a controversial proposed reservoir in Ringmer. Norman will be visiting farmer Bob Peters at 11am on Friday to see first-hand how residents and farmers in Ringmer will be affected by the plans. Plashett Park Farm will be flooded as part of South East Water's plans to construct a £150m water resource in the region. The plans, which have been bitterly opposed by both residents and environmental groups, are due to be scrutinised at a planning inquiry in May. More.

26th Jan: Norman has today condemned large retailers, such as Boots, Tesco, TX Maxx and Asda for employing firms to seek huge sums of compensation from individuals, including many minors, for shoplifting, and taking the decision for penalties out of the hands of the courts. Norman's condemnation comes after being contacted by the Citizens Advice Bureau and provided with their Report: "Unreasonable Demands?: Threatened civil recovery against those accused of shoplifting or employee theft". The Report highlights the practice of civil recovery, a law in place to deal with major shoplifting rings, which is being exploited by the firms to impose large costs on individuals, over and above the penalty imposed by the courts or the police. More.

27th Jan: Norman appeared on the floor of the Commons yesterday to encourage the government to spend less public money on Civil Service spin doctors, and more on improving services to help people in Sussex. In a question to Cabinet Office Minister Dawn Butler (full text here, under "Government Information Service"), Norman Baker criticised the amount of money spent on the Government Communications Network, the body of Civil Servants which is responsible for co-ordinating media and internal communication across government. More.

27th Jan: Norman has today condemned the lack of co-ordination between Network Rail and the Highways Agency which is threatening to create chaos on public transport between Brighton and Lewes over the weekend. Last weekend, the Highways Agency closed the eastbound lane of the A27, resulting in severe disruption to Brighton and Hove bus services between the two towns. The bus company has only just been informed that similar works are going to take place over the coming weekend. However, users of public transport will be concerned to know that Network Rail have also scheduled maintenance works to the train line between Brighton and Lewes for Sunday, leaving many without a reliable way to get from one town to another. More.

26th Jan: Norman has today slammed the government for creating the creeping criminalisation of Britain, after the Lib Dems revealed that Labour has created almost 4,300 new criminal offences since coming to power in 1997. More.

26th Jan: Norman has criticised proposals unveiled in the government's draft Animal Health Bill which would see livestock farmers in Sussex and across the country pay half the cost of preparing for animal disease outbreaks. More.

21st Jan: Norman Baker MP, Jason Sugarman and Hratche Koundarjian have set aside political differences to call on local people to back the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) for Haiti. With as many as 200,000 feared dead and millions in need of medical and aid assistance, each of the candidates have pledged to donate a substantial amount and are urging people to give what they can. People wanting to donate to the DEC Haiti appeal can call 0370 60 60 900 or make a donation online at www.dec.org.uk or by Texting "GIVE" to 70077 to donate £5 to the DEC for the Haiti earthquake appeal, or by going in to any high street bank or post office quoting Freepay 1449. More.

19th Jan: Norman has joined a campaign to protect the natural environment throughout the Lewes area and across the country by signing the Letter to the Future, a major new campaign run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). The letter calls for better investment in nature by politicians, urging them to consider our natural as well as our financial future when making decisions about how to tackle the country's pressing economic problems. More.

19th Jan: Norman has welcomed assurances by the Post Office that they will change their future policy when temporary closures take place, as was the case when the Lewes Branch closed on the 2nd of January, leaving many customers without any information, bar a closure notice, or, of course, due to the closures, anywhere else to go. After Norman's intervention, the Post Office has stated that in future they will provide a customer contact number, and the locations of alternative branches. More.

18th Jan: Norman has met a delegation of pupils from Chailey School at the House of Commons, where he was able to answer a number of questions relating to his role as an MP both in Sussex and Westminster, after the pupils had completed a tour of the House. During the question and answer session, the pupils raised a number of ongoing local issues, such as the proposed land raise near Newick, and suggestions of a number of additional houses in Wivelsfield. More.

18th Jan: Norman has urged the government to do more to assist elderly people after new figures unveiled by the Lib Dems revealed that more than 2,000 pensioners in the Lewes constituency will miss out on Cold Weather Payments. The weekly payments of £25 have been triggered by the severe weather which has hit the South East over the past couple of weeks. People on low incomes who receive a qualifying benefit, such as Pension Credit, are able to claim for the Payments when temperatures drop below zero degrees Celsius for seven consecutive days. More.

18th Jan: Norman has called upon the government to act after unveiling figures which show that there has been a 40% increase in convictions for drugs offences in Sussex since 2000. In 2000, there were 818 convictions for drugs offences across Sussex, but by 2007, this had increased to 1,147. There was a similar increase in the number of individuals against whom a case was brought for drugs offences, from 1,009 in 2000 to 1,317 in 2007 - a rise of over 30%. More.

15th Jan: Norman has today backed plans introduced by the Lib Dems to create a statutory duty of care which will guarantee access to health services and financial support for veterans in Sussex and across the UK. The provisions are contained in a Veterans Welfare Bill, introduced today by the Lib Dems in Parliament. The introduction of the Bill has been prompted by concerns that because of a lack of co-ordination and information, too many veterans end up with inadequate support and access to public services once they leave the armed forces. More.

15th Jan: Norman has attacked the government for failing to provide sufficient funding for probation services in Sussex. The number of probation staff employed in the area has remained static since 2004, meaning that there are now fewer members of staff per offender than in previous years. More.

9th Jan: Norman has warmly welcomed the formal announcement today from Energy Minister Philip Hunt that a major investment in offshore wind in the Channel close to Newhaven has received the go-ahead, and that the contract for delivering this has now been let to E.On Climate and Renewables UK. More.

9th Jan: Norman appeared on the floor of the Commons yesterday to criticise East Sussex County Council's failure to grit pavements in the Lewes constituency, which has resulted in a large increase in hospital admissions across the area as people attempt to cope with the treacherous conditions. More.

6th Jan: Norman has today written to the Highways Agency, calling for a full safety risk assessment of farming traffic entering the A27 from the junctions at Glynde, Firle, and Ripe Lane. Norman has taken this action after meeting with local farmers to discuss their concerns about various issues. More.

6th Jan: Norman appeared on the floor of the Commons yesterday in a successful bid for an investigation into the recent suicide of inmate Tony Couchman at Lewes Prison. More.

5th Jan: Norman led a parliamentary debate today in which he called for tax rules to be changed so that UK-based millionaires, who claim to live elsewhere, pay their full share. More.

5th Jan: Norman has today welcomed the news that Newhaven Town station has been re-accredited under the Department for Transport's "Secure Stations" scheme, and congratulated Southern on recent improvements to the station. More.

3rd Jan: Norman has has today warned constituents not to get caught short while waiting at Polegate Train Station due to the lack of toilet facilities. More.

17th Dec: Norman has slammed top bankers' decision to abolish cheques in the UK by 2018. The decision was made this week despite the fact that 54% of UK adults wrote a cheque in the past year, giving rise to fears that thousands of people in the Lewes constituency and elsewhere will be inconvenienced by the move. More.

16th Dec: Norman has called on the government to do more to help pensioners throughout East Sussex as figures unveiled by the MP revealed that spending on sheltered housing has decreased substantially over the past five years. More.

4th Dec: Norman has called for action to reduce class sizes in Lewes constituency after new figures unveiled by the MP showed that the Tory-run East Sussex County Council have failed to reduce school class sizes in the constituency, which are no lower now than they were in 1998. More.

3rd Dec: Norman says Plumpton could soon be benefiting from an hourly service in both directions following a top-level meeting between him and Southern's managing director Chris Burchell. More.

2nd Dec: Norman this week met Southern's managing director Chris Burchell, who has indicated he is aiming to find extra carriages to relieve congestion on overcrowded trains running from London to Lewes, Polegate and Eastbourne in the evening peak. More.

1st Dec: Norman took on the government on the floor of the Commons this afternoon to demand that the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War holds Tony Blair to account for his role in leading Britain towards the war. More.

1st Dec: Norman has today signed a Parliamentary Motion calling on banks and building societies to refund the unfair and disproportionate bank charges which have left many Sussex residents out of pocket. More.

27th Nov: Norman calls for action in Sussex as drink driving re-offenders increase by 58%. More.

20th Nov: Norman has called for government action as figures unveiled by the Lib Dems show that reported cases of domestic violence in Sussex have increased by more than 10% in the past year. More.

20th Nov: Norman launches the OurNewhaven 2010 calendar on the steps of Lewes District Council offices in Fort Road, Newhaven. The office building was previously the old fire station, prior to moving to Meeching Road. More.

5th Nov: Norman has called on the government to act after figures unveiled by the Lib Dems showed that in the past ten years, just one in twenty-five cases in which an recorded allegation of rape has been recorded in Sussex have resulted in a conviction. More.

30th Oct: Norman has criticised the government for letting down Sussex farmers after it was revealed that the Rural Payments Agency, which is responsible for delivering subsidies to farmers on behalf of the government, lost tapes containing more than 100,000 UK farmers' details. More.

28th Oct: Norman has today put forward >the following motion in Parliament: "That this House calls for any hon. Member who is either convicted of a criminal offence in respect to their expense claims or found by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to have claimed expenses fraudulently or to have purposely misrepresented information to personally benefit from expenses to be forced to step down from their position with immediate effect.... More.

29th Oct: Norman has presented Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis was a shopping list of demands to improve the railway service to his constituency, in an hour-long one-to-one meeting with the Minister yesterday at the Department for Transport headquarters in London.. More.