http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articlearchive.php Recent Press Articles from Vincent Cable en-GB Vincent Cable http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2009 Vincent Cable 2009-01-07T06:48+00:00 United Kingdom http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000159/fuel_bills.html Many people's domestic fuel bills, for heating and cooking, will rise to over £1000 a year following the big price increases just announced by British Gas and EDF, the electricity company. This may not seem a big problem in August but when the winter cold starts to bite a lot of elderly people, especially, will worry about how to keep warm. The cost is especially worrying for metered customers who are also generally less well off but pay more than direct debit customers. 2008-08-04T00:00+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000157/petrol_prices.html With petrol prices going through the roof, it is important that there is an attractive public transport alternative. For most local residents, that means commuting by train. 2008-07-07T00:00+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000158/fuel_protests.html Soaring fuel prices worry many people especially those in remote and rural areas but also local people who cannot easily get around on public transport. Some analysts think that the oil price could rise much further. 2008-06-09T00:00+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000156/human_fertilisation_and_embryology_bill_2.html This week parliament enjoyed a rare excursion into voting free from party lines and whips. The subject was the Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Unusually the Chamber was full to listen to the arguments. Like many MPs I struggled to understand the complex bioscience involved but we had to reach a decision. 2008-05-28T09:52+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000155/human_fertilisation_and_embryology_bill.html This week the Commons receives the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. I worry abut the level of ignorance. Very few MPs have studied science to degree level. I am one that has, but my degree, before switching to economics, was in physical science and I have only limited understanding of modern biological sciences with which the legislation deals. 2008-05-12T00:00+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000154/abolition_of_the_10p_tax_rate.html I don't normally receive much local mail about tax issues. But I have been deluged with angry letters about the end of the 10p rate. Ironically, most people benefited from the budget because of the 2p cut in income tax. But it was the losers who noticed. And most of the losers are not well off. 2008-04-28T00:00+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000153/norman_jackson_vc__a_memorial_planned.html Following the public interest in the remarkable personal history of Norman Jackson, VC, a former resident of Hampton Hill, there are now plans afoot to give him a permanent memorial. Vincent Cable, MP, has been in correspondence with the council, St James Church Hampton Hill, the Hampton Hill Association and veteran's groups like the RAF Association. The council is proposing a commemorative plaque on a house close to where he lived (the original house has been demolished) and there is also a suggestion of a commemoration at St James Church. 2008-04-17T00:00+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000152/local_policing.html A local policing issue illustrates the dilemmas of balancing law and order against traditional British freedoms. 2008-04-11T00:00+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000151/cousins.html Many longstanding Twickenham residents - I include myself - have shopped at Cousins the greengrocer for decades. With the butchers next door (now Wishbone), the bakers and the fish shop it has created a traditional shopping centre with fresh food and varied outlets. Yet both the greengrocer and the butcher are now threatened with eviction - within days - by their landlord. 2008-03-27T00:00+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000150/the_budget.html The budget last week was my fifth shadowing the Chancellor. It was unquestionably the gloomiest, and also the worst delivered: evasive, tedious, full of padding. 2008-03-14T00:00+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000149/post_office_closure_responses.html I am receiving an enormous response to letters I sent out informing residents of planned post office closures in Teddington Broad Street; Cambridge Park and Staines Road, Twickenham. 2008-03-03T00:00+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000148/post_office_closures.html This week the Post Office formally announces many branch closures. There will be three in my constituency - Broad Street, Teddington; Staines Road, Twickenham; Cambridge Park. Following six earlier closures in the last five years we shall have lost half the network over that period. Compared with some areas, however, we have escaped quite lightly. 2008-02-15T00:00+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000147/care_home_charges.html I have had several, angry, local residents coming to see me in recent weeks concerned about the costs of caring for elderly relatives in residential homes. They have found that it costs them over £800 a week: over £40,000 a year. Even if their parent is not well off and survives on a state pension, they, have to pay the full whack and have to sell of the parental home to do so. By contrast, some residents who do not have property to fall back on are fully paid for. 2008-01-21T14:54+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000146/caring_for_carers.html Last weekend I was invited to participate in the 10th anniversary celebration of the Homelink project at St Augustine's church in Whitton. Homelink provides day respite care for the elderly and disabled, enabling carers to have time to themselves. 2007-07-09T13:47+00:00 http://www.vincentcable.org.uk/articles/000145/reforming_the_tax_system.html Over the last week I have been trying to come up with answers to one of the biggest injustices in the tax system : that middle class and low income families pay growing amounts of tax while the 'super rich' pay almost no tax. 2007-06-25T11:06+00:00