John Healey MP, Minister of State for Housing and Planning at the Department of Communities and Local Government visited the Dee Park Re-generation Project in Tilehurst today at the invitation of local MP Martin Salter.

Members of Parliament chose to celebrate the New Year in a variety of different ways upon their return to Westminster last week. The Conservatives, in their much-vaunted “election launch”, issued a series of posters bearing the image of a slender looking Mr Cameron attempting to look like a serious statesman which, some uncharitable members of the media suggested, had been enhanced by a team of airbrushers. The spindoctors behind it could have done with airbrushing the message rather than the image, especially on the NHS, when it was the same David Cameron who wrote the last Conservative manifesto which would have made hospital patients pay for up to half the cost of their operations unless they were rich enough to go private!

On Friday 15th January at 10am Martin Salter, Labour MP for Reading West, will be presenting Year 7 pupils at Denefield School with Ordnance Survey Maps of the Reading and Wokingham area. The initiative, in partnership with Natural England, is aimed at developing the understanding of children to their local geography and landscapes in order to encourage them to pursue more outdoor activities and hobbies.

Schools in Reading and in the Whitley area in particular were singled out for praise in the Commons today by Reading West MP Martin Salter in response to a Ministerial statement by Sadiq Khan MP on the severe weather conditions and their impact on public services. Mr Salter highlighted the efforts of the staff, parents, and governors at Geoffrey Field Junior and other Whitley schools, who spent the weekend clearing ice and snow in preparation for opening this morning. This was in contrast to some of the schools in the West Berkshire of his constituency which still remain closed.

Reading West MP Martin Salter was among dozen of Labour MPs who publicly condemned the call by the former Chief Whip, Geoff Hoon, and former Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, for a Leadership Ballot in the Parliamentary Labour Party, just a few months ahead of this years’ General Election.