last week Stuart Bell claimed he lived in boro full time since 1981 - now it's only 3 times a weekSir Stuart said the Gazette had never said it left messages on the answer phone but it was picked up by other media with one headline claiming that the local MP had not returned 100 calls.
what the people would like to know is -
which week ---- did Stuart Bell stay in Middlesbrough for 3 days
"I live in my constituency and have lived here for 30 years. I spend three days a week here and am able to see constituents who have a real need to see me quickly by appointment.
MP Sir Stuart Bell setting the record straight
by Sandy McKenzie, Evening Gazette
Sep 23 2011
MIDDLESBROUGH MP Sir Stuart Bell intends to continue to be the town’s MP until the next General Election.
And he says he doubts if there are many MPs who spend more time in their constituency than he does.
Sir Stuart was giving a detailed response to recent Evening Gazette articles over his performance as Middlesbrough’s MP.
Among the issues dealt with by the MP were:
The Gazette made 100 calls to Sir Stuart’s published telephone number during weekday office hours in May, June and July, as reported inset, and no person ever answered.
Sir Stuart said 159 outside calls were received by his Parliamentary office in May, there were 471 in June and 168 in July.
The House of Commons telephone system provided that if the number was engaged a call was automatically passed to answer phone. An engaged tone did not ring.
“There is constant heavy traffic on our telephone lines and thus many calls pass to answer phone. The paradox is the busier the office the more likely a constituent is to be invited to leave his name and number on the answer phone.”
Sir Stuart said the Gazette had never said it left messages on the answer phone but it was picked up by other media with one headline claiming that the local MP had not returned 100 calls.
He said a second telephone number was used in the office to communicate on behalf of constituents with Government departments and local agencies.
“Many calls are intricate and a great deal of time is spent on these. It is common sense that being busy on one line does not enable one to answer calls on another - hence the request to leave a name and number which, of course, constituents willingly do,” said the MP.
On the issue of surgeries Sir Stuart said he had made it plain through several General Elections that he did not have open surgeries.
He had been attacked twice, which was an unpleasant enough experience, and he was aware such attacks endangered assistants with him as well as other constituents at the surgery.
One MP attacked with a samurai sword was badly wounded but his assistant was killed. An MP was killed in his surgery in Northern Ireland and an MP was recently stabbed and a person was charged with attempted murder.
“However the reasons I do not have surgeries is not fear of my own safety but that they are not productive.
"I live in my constituency and have lived here for 30 years. I spend three days a week here and am able to see constituents who have a real need to see me quickly by appointment.
"Constituents with problems have no difficulty in getting hold of me either by telephone or email and there is a constant inter-relationship between me as the MP and the constituent.
“There are three full-time case workers employed, in addition to my own involvement.”
Sir Stuart said the fact he had regularly been attacked by opponents at General Elections for not having open surgeries had not prevented his constituents voting him back in on six occasions.
“I am now on my seventh mandate and will fulfil that mandate in accordance with the vote of the electorate.
Sir Stuart said he had not faced any Labour Party probe.
He had written to Ed Milliband, the Labour Party leader, following the party’s statement that Mr Miliband and the party expected the highest standards from Labour representatives and it was totally unacceptable if the public could not reach their MP.
Sir Stuart said he immediately wrote to Ed Miliband saying: “It is, of course, entirely inaccurate to state that I am not available to my constituents. I meet my constituents by appointment and we have a staff of three available to respond to any queries or requests.
"I fully endorse your office statement that Labour MPs should be available at all times and I can confirm that in my 28 years as MP for Middlesbrough this has been the case and will continue to be so.”
He said he had been happy to talk to Labour Chief Whip, Rosie Winterton, and “put straight the entirely erroneous stories that were now appearing in the national media”.
On particular cases reported by the Evening Gazette Sir Stuart said that Phil Carey, of the Kensington Friendly Collecting Society - who the Evening Gazette reported as saying that he had written to the MP and left telephone messages without success asking for assistance over concerns on new Government legislation - said the matter was already being handled by another MP in the area (Tom Blenkinsop).
“Since the matter had been well handled by one MP in the area it did not require a second to go over the same ground.
“It may be I should have written to Phil to tell him,” said Sir Stuart.
On the issue of his non attendance at a hustings meeting during the last General Election campaign Sir Stuart said he declined the invitation to attend because as the sitting MP he did not offer a public platform to his electoral opponents. He had declined every offer of a hustings since 1983.
“As a matter of politeness I pointed out I had a meeting in London of the Church Commissioners that day and my records show I attended two meetings on April 22 and 29 as part of my constitutional duties as Second Church estates Commissioner,” he said.
On George O’Neill, the assistant to former Stockton North MP Frank Cook, saying his office had to deal with calls from Middlesbrough residents who had tried to reach Sir Stuart without success Sir Stuart said there was a protocol that one MP did not handle the constituent matters of another. Where there was a query it was passed over to the MP in writing or by telephone.
“In all the years I have known George O’Neill - and I saw him regularly at Middlesbrough home matches - he never raised this issue or said that any of my constituents had been in touch. Had he done so they would have been promptly dealt with.
Regarding a constituency office Sir Stuart said he had had one in the town since becoming an MP.
It was in his home and had cost the taxpayer nothing other than a telephone and facsimile and photocopy and computer expenses.
On the subject of his website Sir Stuart said he would be happy to rectify the website to reflect the 14% unemployment in Middlesbrough and to add about the work done by himself, Middlesbrough’s mayor and Nick Brown, when Minister for the North-east, to bring a call centre and 500 jobs to the town against stiff Welsh opposition.
He would also add his role with others to bring an Enterprise Zone, and with it hundreds of jobs, to Teesside.
On the Evening Gazette’s invitation to local MPs to answer questions Sir Stuart said he declined to answer questions through the columns of the Evening Gazette on the grounds that questions were put to him constantly and directly by constituents on all the major matters of our time.
He says he answered 60 within two days on phone hacking and News International and over a similar period 50 questions on the NHS.
“I have indicated I am prepared to write an article every five weeks, along with the other local MPs, on both local and national issues and would invite the Gazette to take this up in the interests of its readers,” said Sir Stuart.
Regarding criticism that he does not stand up on the floor of the Commons and refer to Middlesbrough he said that last time he did so was when he waved a copy of Vision - produced by the Gazette and its sister newspaper The Journal - and was promptly reprimanded by the Deputy Speaker for a breach of Parliamentarty protocol.
“The editor of the Evening Gazette, however, was so pleased he sent a copy of Hansard to the newspaper’s proprietors in London.
“I would prefer to work behind the scenes with Government departments and other agencies and the Mayor of Middlesbrough - as in the case of Enterprise Zones and in the lock-out of Teesside workers on a Hull building site.”
On the proposed constituency boundary changes Sir Stuart said the configuration of Teesside seats would not be finally known until 2013.
“Having been elected for five years through to 2015 it is my full intention to fulfil the mandate of my constituents and to complete my term of office. I shall continue to serve my constituents in the Borough and to play a part on the national scene as an MP is expected to do.
“I have lived among my constituents for the past 30 years and know and understand them. I doubt if there are many MPs who spend more time in their constituency than I do, spending three days a week, not only living but spending my Parlaimentary recess here but for short holidays,” said Sir Stuart.
He said a myth had been carefully cultivated that he lived in Paris, notwithstanding that he had lived in Middlesbrough for 30 years.
None of the allegations about the MP living in Paris were reported in the Evening Gazette.
“I lived and worked in Paris from 1961 through to 1977, when I returned home to enter politics. I lived in Newcastle from 1977 through to 1981 when my wife and I moved to Middlesbrough.
“We have no home or abode in France - our only home is our constituency home. Our London apartment is rented.”
Sir Stuart concluded by saying there were major problems ahead for the Borough.
The council was committed to 20% cuts over the next four years to fulfil the orders of central Government with redundancies likely to go beyond voluntary to compulsory, with services closing down, with an NHS, a police service and a fire brigade that needed defending, and with Middlesbrough seeking city status.
“I do not propose to be distracted from these major matters of our time. The interests of my constituents should continue to be defended,” added the MP.
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