After the 2015 General Election Philip Davies still retains his seat for the Shipley Constituency. This was a disappointment for me as am not a big fan of Davies. Some people may ask why I’m not a big fan of Philip Davies here are a few reasons why:

1). Since becoming an MP Philip Davies has had many controversial moments. His most recent moment was in October when he spoke for 93 minutes on the Hospital Parking bill, a private member’s bill that was brought forward by Labours Julie Cooper. The bill set out a proposed exemption to hospital parking charges for carers. Davies, deployed a tactic called filibustering, this is where MPs speak for so long that a vote is delayed or prevented in the house. He spoke about his opposition to the bill for more than an hour and a half.

During National Carers week in 2015 Philip Davies pledged that he would support carers in parliament, but by filibustering this bill Davies went against the pledge that he had made.

When he was asked why he chose to speak for 93 minutes he responded with, “When I first got elected to Parliament my mentor was Eric Forth and he really was the past master of talking out bills on a Friday. He did it for fun and he was brilliant at it. After he died I vowed I would do the same kind of work.”

So in essence he’s saying he blocked a bill for “fun.” Should an MP abuse their power by blocking a bill for fun? No. We elect our MPs to represent us not to block bills as a way of having a bit of fun.

2). Davies has also recently spoke out against the Homes Bill, the aim of which was to ensure landlords made their properties fit for human habitation. This bill was important to Davies because as well as being an MP Philip Davies is coincidentally also a landlord. He said “Landlords appear to be an easy target for the Left in this country” and continued to say that “A proposed law that would require landlords to make homes fit for human habitation would be an unnecessary regulatory burden.”

3). Over the next two years Bradford council will face a cut of 60 million in addition to the 170 million already taken out of its budget. This is because this is because parliament voted to cut funding to local authorities. Philip Davies was one of the MPs that voted to cut funding to local authorities. This funding cut means Bradford council along with other councils will struggle to provide the necessary and essential services needed throughout the community.

These are just a few reasons I’m not a fan of my MP, Philip Davies, and as a new member of the Labour Party I will do everything I can, along with other Shipley Constituency Labour party members, to help Labour win Shipley in 2020. Phillip Davies’ slogan is “your interest, not self interest”, but Davies’ record shows that it’s all about “his” interest and not the people of Shipley’s interests.

Mathew Ward, Baildon Branch