David Ruffley

POLICE insisted last night there was 'no evidence' to suggest booze-fuelled crime had risen since the introduction of extended drinking hours a year ago today.

The comment came after a Suffolk MP expressed concern that the controversial licensing laws were having a 'devastating' effect on the rate of alcohol-related disorder.

The new laws came into force at midnight a year ago and gave premises up and down the country the right to apply to their local authority to sell alcohol for longer - and in some cases around the clock.

A RURAL watchdog last night warned building 500,000 new homes in the East of England will place huge pressure on the environment and 'carve up the countryside'.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has collected more than 1,200 signatures on a petition against the plans.

And a further 800 people have written messages to Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), opposing the move.

ST EDMUND'S day was a typically English affair yesterday for a truly English saint.

The rain poured and the trains broke down, but a petition calling for St Edmund's reinstatement as the nation's patron saint was delivered to 10 Downing Street with aplomb.

The EADT and St Edmund champion Mark Murphy, from BBC Radio Suffolk, along with Bury St Edmunds MP David Ruffley, made their way to the Capital to deliver a petition in support of the ancient saint.

Mr Ruffley said: 'It has been a great pleasure and an honour to be involved in the St Edmund campaign.

SCHOOL funding levels in Suffolk are amongst the lowest in the land, sparking claims that the county's children are being 'short-changed'.

Spending per pupil will be £3,591.24 in the next financial year, placing Suffolk bottom in the east of England school funding league.

It means each Suffolk pupil will have nearly £300 less spent on their education than the national average.

Neighbouring counties all fare better, with Essex funding amounting to £3,752.36 per pupil, Norfolk getting £3,648.44 per pupil and Cambridgeshire getting £3,622.90 per pupil.

MORE than 3,600 NHS staff were physically attacked or abused in the eastern region in just one year - sparking calls for harsher punishments for those responsible.

New figures reveal 2,508 staff were physically assaulted in the former Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire Strategic Health Authority area in 2005/2006. This compares with a 2,343 the previous year - a jump of 7%.

And experts fear the numbers may be far higher because many staff don't report incidents.

In Essex during the same period the number of attacks fell from 1,286 to 1,142.

THE rising tide of vandalism eroding people's quality of life in many parts of Suffolk can be revealed today.

In the last nine years, the amount of criminal damage has risen in Suffolk at nearly twice the national rate - with more than 13,000 cases reported to police last year alone.

Last night, community leaders said while such vandalism may seem like low-level crime to many, it was blighting people's daily lives - denting the pride they have in their home towns and villages.

A SUFFOLK MP has offset all the carbon emissions he has generated from driving 10,000 miles on constituency business by making a payment to an environmental charity

David Ruffley, Conservative MP for Bury St Edmunds, has received the backing of local Tory officers who have agreed to offset all business miles accrued by its employees.

ALCOHOL-related emergency admissions to hospitals in Suffolk have risen dramatically in the last ten years, it can be revealed today.

Government figures have revealed that hospitals within the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Strategic Health Authority (SHA) have treated thousands more people in accident and emergency units since 1997.

During 1997-98 2,501 people were admitted to A&E in the region compared to 4,600 people during 2005-06.

ALCOHOL related hospital admissions at one Suffolk emergency unit have shot up by 126% in the last ten years, it has been revealed.

The shocking figures for West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds - taken since 1997 - compare to an average 84% increase across the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire area.

David Ruffley, MP for Bury, who has obtained the figures, said the general increase was bad enough but he was appalled by the local rise, which he insisted strengthened the case for retaining the accident and emergency department at the hospital.

AN MP is calling for action on domestic violence after shock figures revealed that convictions in Suffolk have gone up by more than 50 per cent in the past year - the second-highest conviction rate in the country.

David Ruffley MP released new House of Commons figures which reveal that between 2005 and 2006 the number of convictions for domestic violence in Suffolk rocketed by 52 per cent.

The figures showed that in 2005 there were 428 convictions for domestic violence in Suffolk, increasing to 652 in 2006.