David Ruffley

David Ruffley MP's website DavidRuffleyMP.com has been nominated as a finalist in the British Computer Society MP Website Awards 2007 which take place today.

Awards are given to the best MP websites in three categories:

Design

Engagement

Accessibility

There is also an award for the website selected as overall winner.

Only 35 MPs, of the 646 in the House of Commons, have had their website nominated for an award.

David Ruffley MP will be welcoming home the Royal Anglian Regiment and receiving a personal briefing on their tour of duty on Friday 16 November at their Regimental Headquarters in Bury St Edmunds.

David said:

'I have the privilege of being Member of Parliament for our part of Suffolk which includes the Royal Anglian Regiment's Regimental Headquarters in Bury St Edmunds, the RAF Regiment and the 1st Royal Tank Regiment based at Honington, and 3 Army Air Corps at Wattisham.

David Ruffley MP has today announced that he will be calling a summit meeting in the New Year to discuss the future of the Christmas lights in Bury St Edmunds.

As it currently stands the lights are the responsibility of Bury St Edmunds Town Council. However, they have stated that 2007 is the last year in which they will take sole responsibility for running the lights and, unless someone comes forward to take over before 29 February 2008, the town's lights will be sold off to the highest bidder.

David Ruffley MP will be personally visiting the Animal Health Divisional Office in Bury St Edmunds on Friday 16 November at 3pm to ensure that promises he received in the House of Commons, from the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, have been delivered.

David will also be addressing a public meeting in Redgrave at 5.30pm to report back to local residents.

David Ruffley MP has today called on the people of Bury St Edmunds to line the streets on Friday 23 November for the homecoming of the Royal Anglian Regiment.

The Royal Anglians will be exercising the Freedom of the Borough in a parade through the town between 12.15 and 12.35pm. The route the parade will take will be:

Angel Hill, Crown Street, Churchgate Street, Guildhall Street, Abbeygate Street and back to Angel Hill.

David Ruffley MP has launched a new initiative to provide much needed changing facilities for football teams at Chilton Fields in Stowmarket.

David's practical idea of asking large housebuilding companies who have an interest in Stowmarket- Crest Nicholson, Bovis Homes, Bellway Homes, Laurence Homes, Persimmon Homes and Maitland Homes- to sponsor a portacabin type temporary building which can be fitted out as football changing rooms, is a practical approach to the present stalemate.

David Ruffley has today expressed his concern that Bury St Edmunds is suffering from a lack of integrated planning and is not benefiting from the focused strategic planning that other towns in Suffolk have received.

David is backed by the nationally-respected, independent Audit Commission which has recently published its Corporate Assessment Report of Suffolk County Council. In the Sustainable Communities and Transport section of the Report (paragraph 80) it states:

David Ruffley MP will be personally manning a stall with local Councillors in Stowmarket on Saturday 10 November collecting signatures for his petition to save the sub-post offices in his constituency.

David will have a stall outside Woolworths in Stowmarket town centre between 9am and 1pm.

In addition David has written to all the Sub-Postmasters in his constituency outlining the threat that the Post Office's Network Change Programme poses to sub-post offices.

David Ruffley MP has today voiced his outrage at Government plans to raid school budgets, and deduct 5 per cent of any surplus every year for the next three years.

This would mean an estimated £228 million in cash will be grabbed back, an average of £10,000 per school in Suffolk.

David has today written to all the schools in his constituency alerting them to this tax on prudent schools and asked how it will impact on their plans for the future.

David said:

David Ruffley MP has today spoken of his delight at the fact that the Government has backed down on the decision to raid school budgets, deducting 5 per cent of any surplus every year for the next three years, following lobbying from David and other Conservative MPs.

David said:

'This Government is a complete shambles.