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Hospital bosses should "stop believing their own propaganda"12 Oct 2018Eric has entered the row about ward closures at Cumbrian hospitals. Following the closure of the Aspen ward at the Cumberland Infirmary, Eric said the true motive was cutting because of the trust's £185 million deficit. |
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Where have all the Cop Shops gone?30 Aug 2017A wave of closures of police stations in Cumbria has attracted Eric's criticism. He argues that if there was a need for a police station in the first place, there would have to be good reasons for its removal, and he suspects that in these cases, this is not the case. |
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Eric hits out at Hunters15 May 2017Eric is strongly critical of Tory moves to bring back fox hunting. The Prime Minister has promised another vote on the issue, in an attempt to reverse the move by the Labour government a decade or more ago. |
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It's all to play for29 Apr 2017Eric is optimistic about the General election in June, despite current polling results. He says he feels the tide is turning and interventions like that of Boris Johnson with personal insults do not help the Tory cause. |
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Concern over Pirelli expansion24 Feb 2017Eric has welcomed plans by Pirelli to expand its Carlisle factory. The move should secure 4000 jobs in the city, but Eric still has concerns over the Brexit effect. |
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Chilcot highlights unintended consequences7 Jul 2016Eric has commented on the Chilcot report into Iraq. The former MP, who voted against military action against Saddam, said there was no plan for the aftermath and said caution was needed because of unknown consequences. |
Freeman of the City of Carlisle22 Mar 2016Eric has been honoured by being made a Freeman of the City in the council chamber of Carlisle Civic Centre. This is in recognition of his having "rendered eminent services to our area" and of being a "person of distinction". |
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Eric opts to remain15 Mar 2016Eric has come down firmly on the Remain side in the EU debate. He cites the economic costs to the UK and Carlisle in particular with its high manufacturing base, and also thinks that the EU has contributed to 70 years without major conflict in Europe. |
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City Council to honour Eric12 Nov 2015Eric is one of four men to be honoured by Carlisle City Council. Council leader Colin Glover proposed that Eric, along with Cllr Mike Mitchelson, Judge Paul Batty QC and Canon Michael Roan should receive the freedom of the city, and this was passed unanimously by the council at a special meeting. |
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Barred by Nestle20 Jul 2015After unsuccessful attempts to become a trustee of Nestle's pension scheme, Eric now believes the firm blocked his applications. It was known he was opposed to the closing of the current scheme, which the company has now said it intend to do, and Eric believes he was blacklisted and prevented from becoming a voice among the trustees to keep the present schema running. |
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Hunting pledge a 'cynical ploy'15 Jul 2015Eric has welcomed the government's retreat over fox hunting. The Prime Minister has postponed the vote on relaxing the fox hunting law when it became obvious he would lose the vote in the Commons. |
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Call to end health trust secrecy31 May 2015Eric has said that the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust (NCUH) must be more open about its plans. This follows speculation that Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven could be separated because the Northumbria Healthcare Foundation NHS Trust only wants Cumberland Infirmary. |
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Eric is have a go hero30 Dec 2014Eric went to Edinburgh to celebrate his wedding anniversary and became a have-a-go hero! Seeing a security guard having trouble in a tussle with a shoplifter in M&S on Princes Street, Eric went straight in and put the man in an arm lock until he calmed down. |
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State pub scheme trail gets grant21 Aug 2014The Carlisle City Business Group has obtained a £10,000 grant form the Heritage Lottery Fund to set up a State Management trail, website and oral history, a project that was always close to Eric's heart. The project was launched in may with a four day exhibition of artefacts connected with the scheme, under which the state ran Carlisle's pubs from the first world war right up to 1973, and the group hope to obtain £100,000 later to create exhibitions in sixteen pubs that used to be part of the scheme. |
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HS2 'negative'24 Mar 2014Eric has expressed fears that High Speed Rail will have a negative effect on Cumbria He was speaking at a recent meeting addressed by Nigel Harris, managing editor of Rail Magazine, a leading transport commentator. |
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Action needed on parking problems at hospital29 Jan 2014Eric has raised the thorny issue of parking at Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary. Now a shadow governor for the hospitals trust, he brought this up at a recent meeting at the hospital. |
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WCML not HS225 Oct 2013Speaking recently at a railway conference held at Carlisle by the Cumbrian Railways Association, Eric said people in the north had been sold a lie and that high speed rail to the north would never be built. A one time fervent supporter of HS2 stopping at Carlisle, he now thinks the money would be better spent on the West Coast Main Line and other rail links because the high price tag of HS2 to Scotland is too prohibitive for it to happen. |
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Tribute to Joe Hendry3 Jun 2013Along with many others who knew and worked with Joe Hendry, Eric has paid tribute to the Carlisle City Council leader who died on 30 May. Others included Labour leader Ed Miliband, MPs of both Labour and Conservative parties as well as local councillors. |
Gala dinner for Eric2 May 2013Eric's achievements as MP for Carlisle for twenty-three years are to be recognised at a Gala dinner organised in his honour. Local band Sneaky Finch will play and there will be an art auction of work by Pontefract painter Brian Lewis, Conrad Atkinson and local artists in aid of Carlisle Key, Macmillan Cancer Support, and the Emma Gyles Bursary Fund. |
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Eric takes up hospital role19 Mar 2013They say you can't keep a good man down, and Eric's return to public prominence (did he ever leave?) as a Hospital Governor for Carlisle demonstrates this. As Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust takes over the operation of North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, a Council of Governors has been elected by members of the public who are trust members. |
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Save the Rose and Crown18 Jan 2013Plans to demolish the Rose and Crown in Upperby have been slammed by Eric. He says the building was part of Carlisle's historic state management scheme and is worth preserving by converting to other uses. |
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Kingmoor site inadequate for prison15 Jan 2013Amid speculation that Carlisle might be the location for a planned new 'super prison', Eric has said that he thinks the site is too small. Eric lobbied hard to get a prison for the Kingmoor site when he was MP, but it came to nothing, and he now feels that the same site doesn't have the capacity for a super prison. |
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Coalition crisis lifts Labour11 Aug 2012The coalition row over Lords reform has increased Labour's chances of retaking the Carlisle seat at the next election. Eric argues that in the tit for tat war between Cameron and Clegg, the LibDems have threatened to sink planned boundary changes which would add more Tory voters to Carlisle. |
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Lonsdale fight over6 Aug 2012Ravaged by fire, vandals and the weather, the Lonsdale will now probably be demolished. Eric, who actively backed the campaign to save the building as an arts centre, says that now demolition is the only answer. |
West Walls plan collapses31 Jul 2012A plan to improve West Walls seems has fallen. Eric has backed the plan since he mooted it in 2008 in order to capitalise on the city's history and make it a more attractive tourist destination. |
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Backing for female MP25 May 2012Eric has given a cautious welcome to Labour's plans for a woman MP for Carlisle. This follows a ruling by a sub-committee of Labour's national executive that the Labour candidate to fight the next parliamentary election for Carlisle will be chosen from an all-women shortlist. |
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Memories of Ted Short11 May 2012Eric has paid tribute to Cumbrian born Lord Glenamara of Glenridding (Ted Short) who has died aged 99. The former Deputy Prime Minister played a part in bringing part of the University of Northumbria to Carlisle which led many years later for the University of Cumbria. |
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Welcome for Sainsbury's store17 Mar 2012Eric has welcomed the building of a new Sainsbury's and the 450 jobs it will bring. He lives opposite the site of the new store and says it will reinvigorate an area of the town that still feels the effects of the floods. |
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Eric defends PFI scheme for hospital6 Jan 2012Eric has defended the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) agreement which enabled Carlisle to have a much needed new hospital. But he is critical of the maintenance costs under the scheme, labelling them a disgrace. |
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Go west!24 Oct 2011Eric is backing an expansion of the Carlisle constituency to the west. The Boundary Commission have proposed Carlisle constituency expand north and east to include Longtown and Brampton but Eric says a westward expansion would make more sense and has given evidence this week at the Commission's public meeting in Carlisle. |
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'First duty of state is to protect citizens'10 Aug 2011Eric has called for tough measures to curb the rioting in England. This comes as thirty local police officers have gone to London to back up the Metropolitan Police and another thirty helped out in Manchester. |
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High speed trains should stop in Carlisle25 Jun 2011The plans for a high speed rail line has raised again the issue of it stopping in Carlisle. Eric has always said there was no economic sense for the trains not to stop and he spoke out in the Commons about this when he was the city's MP. |
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Eric steps in for TAs24 Jun 2011Eric has spoken out for those most affected by Cumbria County Council's single status pay review. Teaching Assistants could lose thousands in pay and some have contacted Eric for help. |
Residents resist call to up Anchor20 May 2011Eric is helping the elderly residents of flats owned by Anchor housing who have been told to move. Anchor say the flats are too expensive to upgrade, but the residents, all in their seventies or eighties, want to stay put in their eight flats at Edenvale House, at Marlborough Gardens in Stanwix. |
Eric hits out at 'grossly unfair' insurance24 Jan 2011Eric has blasted insurance companies that have hiked their premiums in Carlisle since the floods. Speaking on the BBC's "Inside Out" programme, he said that Carlisle was now a low risk area and the insurance companies should be told by the government that this is not acceptable. |
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Bridge tribute to flood hero26 Jun 2010Eric has paid tribute to a former Environment Agency manager who was instrumental in the city's flood defence scheme. The South Vale Bridge over the Caldew between Denton Holme and Bousteads Grassing has been renamed in honour of Kim Nicholson, who died of cancer in 2007. |
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'Horror' at Tory plans to slash NWDA13 May 2010Eric has said he is horrified at the thought of the North West Development Agency being broken up. He compared the Conservative plans to replace it with small local agencies based on councils to the Carlisle Renaissance, Eric said the idea is horrifying. Eric was praised by Ged Caig who represents council workers for the GMB. Mr Caig said that after the floods, businesses, especially McVitie's, were thinking of pulling out of Carlisle, but Eric intervened and got the NWDA to help out with over £1M and saved 1200 Carlisle jobs. |
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