Letter from Parliament

I was delighted to read about the recent 'Rochdale Grand Prix' - it was a great event although Councillor Keith Swift told me he got soaked. I hope that we will see many more of this type of sporting event in our town. It was good to see the football club getting their first point of the season last weekend. I know Steve Parkin and the team are working incredibly hard and I am delighted to support them again this year with my advertising hoarding.

After many years David Kilpatrick has stood down as Chairman of Rochdale. I know that the club would not be here now were it not for his and others hard work. I look forward to working with the new Chairman, Chris Dunphy.

Last Friday, Sir Menzies Campbell MP came to Rochdale. One of the people he met was Sajid Suleman from Mellor Street. Sajid is campaigning for a new Six Form College in Rochdale. Sir Menzies was impressed with him as Sajid, who is about to go and study law at Kings College, London next month questioned him on Party Policy. Maybe a politician of the future? A remarkable young lady is Atifa Shah, the Rochdale MYP. She does my job in the Youth Parliament and impressed all by speaking to Sir Ming on behalf of the young people of the Borough.

One of my jobs as MP is speak on Transport Issues and I met with PC Gary Beardall and Acting Inspector Dave Parker from the British Transport Police. They do an excellent job and I was keen to join them on their Rochdale 'beat'. Their policing of transport interchanges got me thinking about my return from East Africa.

Like many people, I was caught up in the increased security measures introduced at our airports following the terrorist threat to blow up planes to the USA.

I rushed to get to Terminal 1 knowing that the gate would close at 4.45pm for a 5.15pm flight. Terminal 1 was a sea of humanity, there were huge delays as passengers removed shoes and everything else went through the scanner. I got on the plane at 4.50pm but it was 6.00pm before we left.

Is any of this necessary? It may make us feel safer but is it effective? Meeting Gary and Dave, I asked them about a bag that was left on the concourse when I arrived at Piccadilly. They told me that the station had only been closed twice in the last four years. They had assessed the danger posed by this bag and carried out a risk assessment. It was out in the open, had no suspicious attachments and looked what it was – a bag.

I believe there are lessons that can be learned from the BTP. Policing at our airports is at the moment fragmented and left to our regional police forces. GMP at Manchester Airport, the Met at Heathrow Airport and Gatwick and West Yorkshire at Leeds/Bradford.

At our mainline stations – Euston, Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester Piccadilly - the BTP are responsible. If intelligence led policing is to be the effective way of dealing with the terrorist threat then it makes sense that one police force; the BTP is responsible for all our major transport interchanges. The chaos of the last few weeks was neither effective nor necessary. There are better ways and Ministers need to give these proposals serious consideration. Otherwise will we have to see the chaos of the last few weeks at our airports with every threat?