In response to the question, Leader of the House of Commons, Sir George Young noted that new provisions in the Localism Act, which came into force in November, placed a new duty on Local Authorities to co-ordinate the effective handling of waste to meet the needs of their communities.

David Mowat is backing the residents of Saxon Park, Sankey Bridges and the surrounding Area in fighting the licence extension. A petition has been launched at http://alog.org.uk/

David Mowat said:

"Last week, I attended a public meeting at which nearly 70 of my constituents were protesting about the 15-year licence extension to Arpley, which will take no waste from Warrington after 2013 but a great deal of waste from surrounding cities. We need a wider debate about regional landfill policy, because cities such as Liverpool and Manchester should be encouraged to look after their own waste and not send it to Warrington.

"I am going to continue to raise this matter in Parliament because Warrington shouldn't be suffering because of failures elsewhere."

In a Question to the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, Mr Mowat noted that 50% of the FA's funds currently goes back into the professional game, whilst many non-league clubs are struggling for financial survival. Replying for the Government, Sports Minister Hugh Robertson MP indicated that this may be something the Government will seek to address in the coming months.

David Mowat was one of a group of local businessman who helped to save Warrington Town from administration in 2007 and he remains a director at the club.

David Mowat said:

"Each year, the Football Association raises a surplus of about £100 million, mostly from the England football team. By convention, 50% of that money goes to the professional game, where it is not needed, and not to the community and grass-roots game, where it is badly needed. Clubs like Warrington Town badly need the money. The FA needs to address this issue urgently."

2nd February 2012

Mowat welcomes Police.uk website upgrade

David Mowat, MP for Warrington South, this week welcomed the upgrade to the website police.uk introduced on 30 January 2012. These improvements give the public an even more detailed picture of crime and anti-social behaviour in Warrington.

The website now includes incidents of crime and antisocial behaviour recorded at all train stations and railway networks. Soon incidents occurring at or near significant local sites like shopping areas, nightclubs, parks, airports, universities, car parks and hospitals will be added too.

In addition, the website now has more specific detail on the precise location of incidents – while still protecting anonymity. From May this year police.uk will also show the action taken by the police or the justice outcome after a crime.

Commenting, David Mowat said:

"Last year, some people said that police.uk was just a gimmick, but the great british public has proved them wrong. In the year since its launch the website has received an astonishing 453 million hits and this upgrade will make even more detail available. People in Warrington will be able to see just how hard the police are working and it will give them the confidence to approach the police if they are concerned about crime.

'The fact is that people want to know about crime in their local area and they want to know what action has been taken to deal with it. I'm pleased the Home Office is listening to this demand for even more information ahead of the election this November of our Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire.'

1. In a "United" Kingdom, the quality of public services should surely depend on the need of the individual region, not on its tax base. Nobody seriously argues that Kensington should have better services than Hackney or that Cheshire should have better services than Warrington simply because they have a larger tax base. Failure to link funding to need will, over time, create the sort of tensions that have been fuelling the independence debate from South of the border. Indeed for a self-proclaimed "progressive" party like the SNP to make this case is pretty strange.
2. Labour's botched devolution settlement has resulted in a Government in Scotland with no tax raising powers but plenty of tax spending authority. The result has been the emergence of a Scottish political class who have become used to spending money without having to face the consequences. Scottish politicians can take credit for better public services while refusing to acknowledge the "oil bonanza" which continues to be spent in Scotland. The Scotland Bill goes some way towards addressing this issue, but we need to go much further. The Treasury's unwillingness to devolve greater tax raising powers needs to be challenged to enable us to move to a more stable model. Scottish politicians should look to the Scottish electorate for money. This will increase their accountability and give an incentive to spend efficiently, not just to spend more.

Finally, what does all this mean for the referendum? The issue to be decided is far larger than mere pounds and pence. But money matters too: in financial terms, an independent Scotland would be betting that oil revenues will remain stable or increase over time so as to mitigate the effect of losing Barnett. That is quite a tough judgement to make. Either way it is time that both sides start dealing in facts not peddling assertions.