JUSTICE Secretary Kenneth Clarke has thrown his weight behind the Mail's Safer Burton campaign.

The senior cabinet member told the House of Commons he wished the people of Burton every success in trying to 'reduce the scourge of knife crime'.

Burton MP Andrew Griffiths, who raised the issue during a debate after pledging his own support for the campaign, asked the Lord Chancellor what steps he was taking to increase prison tariffs for people sentenced for carrying knives.

by ROB SMYTH

NEW figures have revealed that the MPs who serve Burton, South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire were good value for money in the first half of 2011.

The data has been collated on a website which details and analyses how efficient parliamentarians’ voting has been and how much each vote has cost when measured against the MP’s total expense.

by JOSHUA TAYLOR

COMPENSATION claims made by crooks who injure themselves while committing crimes must be stopped, Burton’s MP has claimed.

The rise of ‘no win-no fee’ lawyers has seen criminals make claims against the Government for injuries sustained while committing offences or while in prison.

Every year offenders claim around £5 million from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has now pledged to make sure this money is directed towards victims of crime rather than offenders.

by JOSH TAYLOR

APPRENTICESHIPS in Burton have nearly doubled in recent years, new figures have shown.

There were 960 youngsters serving apprenticeships in Burton and surrounding areas during 2010-11.

This rose sharply from 540 during 2009- 10 — signalling a surge of 76 per cent.

The increase was hailed by the town's MP as he unveiled the figures in a House of Commons debate on apprenticeships.

Tory backbencher Andrew Griffiths told fellow MPs: "The number of apprenticeships in my constituency has increased from 540 to 960.

By ADRIAN JENKINS

BURTON has united in opposition to health chiefs’ proposals to close the town’s inpatient psychiatric unit, the Margaret Stanhope Centre.

This week, the facility’s future was thrust under the national spotlight during a parliamentary debate held by Burton MP Andrew Griffiths.

Chief reporter ADRIAN JENKINS charts the cut and thrust of a fascinating 30 minutes on the floor of the House of Commons.

IT was 10.01pm when Burton MP Andrew Griffiths stood to address the chamber about the Margaret Stanhope Centre.

by JOHN CROSSLEY

BURTON’S MP has called for action over the ‘spiralling cost’ of petrol.

Conservative Andrew Griffiths spoke in the House of Commons yesterday in a debate about how fuel prices could be driven down.

Mr Griffiths was among 116 MPs from different parties to sign the motion backing a debate on fuel prices, which also attracted 110,000 signatures in an online petition.

He said that industry and businesses in Burton had been ‘massively’ hit by recent hikes in fuel prices, and pointed the finger at supermarkets for holding a ‘monopoly’ on the marketplace.

by KATIE BOWLER
THE arrival of hundreds of new jobs to Burton has been welcomed by the town’s MP.

Up to 200 new jobs will be up for grabs after a planning application for a major extension to Coopers Square shopping centre was granted on Monday.

The £25 million project will create 11 two-storey shops, a major department store and a rooftop car park.

Rumours are circulating that the department store will be Debenhams, but officials have refused to confirm anything until ‘contracts were finalised’.

An announcement about the department store is due at the end of the week.

A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE businesswoman has thrown her weight behind a Burton jobs fair which will have 400 vacancies on offer.

Rangemore resident Hilary Devey, the founder and owner of leading pallet distribution company Pall-Ex, described the event, due to be held on Friday, September 30, at Burton Albion’s Pirelli Stadium, as a ‘great opportunity for those seeking employment’.

The new star of BBC’s Dragons’ Den programme said: “The Burton Jobs Fair should provide a great opportunity for those seeking employment, with the chance to meet company representatives face-to-face.

UNIVERSITY is not the only route to success, Burton’s MP has said.

Burton Tory MP Andrew GriffithsWith youngsters across Burton and South Derbyshire picking up record GCSE results on Thursday many are now considering their options for the future.

A worrying statistic published earlier this week revealed nearly one in five young people classed as not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Burton MP Andrew Griffiths, who did not study at university, said youngsters should think about the non-traditional ways which can help them on the road to success.

DIGGER giant JCB has boosted plans to hold a jobs fair by agreeing to be the event’s main sponsor.

Sir Anthony Bamford’s multi-national company pledged its backing for the event, scheduled to be held on Friday, September 30, at the Pirelli Stadium, after an approach from Uttoxeter MP and lead organiser Andrew Griffiths.

A TORY MP says he has no sympathy for the ‘idiots’ sent to prison for looting and rioting.

Conservative Andrew Griffiths, who represents Burton and Uttoxeter, said that the public supported tough justice on those involved in disorder.

As the clean-up continues following last week’s unrest which saw rioting and looting hit towns and cities across England, two men from Warrington have been jailed for four years for inciting rioting on Facebook — even though the disorder never subsequently happened.

Concerns have been raised that sentences for convicted rioters were too severe.

BURTON’S Tory MP has said he ‘will campaign strongly’ to save a psychiatric centre if moves are made to axe it.

Andrew Griffiths warned he would fight for the Margaret Stanhope Centre, on the Outwoods site of Burton’s Queen’s Hospital, in a letter to the health chief overseeing a consultation on the unit’s future.

He told Andrew Donald, director of commissioning at South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust, that his fears for the centre had grown following reports in the Mail.

THE Great British Beer Festival has been officially opened by Burton’s MP.

Andrew Griffiths opened the festival, organised by the Campaign for Real Ale CAMRA), before an audience of 3,500 people at London’s Earls Court.

Other Burton connections to the event — which is expected to be attended by an estimated 75,000 people this week — include an ale wagon laid on by Burton’s National Brewery Centre.

Mr Griffiths, who serves as chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group, said: “It was a real honour to have been asked to open the festival.

BURTON’S Tower Brewery has opened its doors to the town’s MP to show off life inside a micro-brewery.

Andrew Griffiths, who chairs a parliamentary group which stands up for the brewing industry, said: “Tower Brewery is a classic example of a brilliant microbrewery providing interesting and quality beer, and thriving as a result.

“It is great to see a building of historic brewing importance in Burton returned to its original use as a provider of great beer.”

Andrew has published two versions of his Annual Report - one for Uttoxeter and the north of the constituency, and one for Burton and the south of the constituency - setting out some of the things that he has been doing since he was elected Member of Parliament for Burton and Uttoxeter.

Uttoxeter edition

AN MP has launched a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/HandBenThe2012Torch) to campaign for the chairman of Burton Albion to carry the Olympic torch during the London 2012 flame relay.

Burton Tory Andrew Griffiths believes Brewers chairman Ben Robinson is uniquely qualified for the honour and has started the social network initiative to marshal support for his candidacy.

POLITICAL leaders have met with a campaign group calling for a weight restriction on a major Burton route to see for themselves how bad traffic levels are.

Shobnall Traffic Action Group (STAG) said it was ‘delighted’ with the positive outcome of the meeting held yesterday.

Civic officials who attended the gathering included Burton MP Andrew Griffiths, leader of East Staffordshire Borough Council Richard Grosvenor, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for highways Mike Maryon, head of highways management James Bailey and Richard Rayson, the community highways liaison manager.

BURTON’S MP has called on his fellow parliamentarians to get behind the bar of their local in a bid to understand the pressures faced by people working in the pub industry.

Andrew Griffiths revealed to the Mail that he would be pulling pints at a Burton pub in the near future, but said his aim at the moment was to get as many other MPs to join him.

He said: “Politicians make decisions that have an effect on the pub and industry and its future.

BURTON’S MP has called for a change in the law to allow the owners of dogs who attack people on private land to be criminally prosecuted.

Andrew Griffiths spoke out about the problem during a parliamentary debate on dangerous dogs.

He used the example of eight-year-old Gypsy Prescott, from Stapenhill, whose ear was partially severed when her head had to be prised out of an Alsatian’s mouth earlier this year.

Despite the horrific nature of the incident, police and the RSPCA were powerless to take action against the animal’s owner as it happened on private property.

A TRAILBLAZING drug and alcohol treatment centre in Burton is to be used as an example for the Government’s new strategy to tackle booze-related illness.

Burton Addiction Centre founder Noreen Oliver and town MP Andrew Griffiths have been highlighting the good work done by the centre in a meeting with junior health minister Anne Milton.

The meeting was held in the week the Mail revealed alcohol-related admissions at Burton’s Queen’s Hospital had rocketed by more than 800 per cent in five years.

A CYCLIST has been killed after a collision involving a lorry on the A50 near Hatton.

Derbyshire police are appealing for witnesses to the incident which happened on the A50 westbound carriageway at around 8pm last Thursday.

The collision involved a white Mercedes lorry and a cyclist. The cyclist, a 47-yearold man from Staffordshire, died at the scene.

A spokesman for Derbyshire police said: “We can confirm that a 47-year-old man from Staffordshire has died following an incident involving a bike and a lorry on the A50 near Hatton.

Burton’s MP Andrew Griffiths has welcomed BT’s announcement that Burton upon Trent’s telephone exchange will be upgraded to allow super-fast broadband connections by the end of next year, following his campaign for better internet services in the town.

The new fibre-optic connections will allow for speeds of 40Mb/s and will means that internet users with a fibre connection will be able to take advantage of much faster download and upload speeds for things like watching online video, sharing high resolution photos and exchanging large files.

Welcoming the news, Andrew Griffiths said:

A CAMPAIGN group calling for a weight restriction on a major Burton road has revealed how it intends to step up its fight.

Shobnall Traffic Action Group (STAG) drew up the plan at its latest committee meeting when deciding what actions to take next in its bid to crack down on lorries using the B5017 Shobnall Road, Forest Road and Henhurst Hill as a shortcut to Burton business parks.

STAG is calling for a 7.5-tonne weight limit restriction on the B5017 due to concerns about noise, damage to cars and the safety of pedestrians and local schoolchildren.

SCORES of jobs could be created in Burton if top-secret plans to build a multi-million pound warehouse complex are granted.

The secret location in the town is one of a number of sites being considered for the mammoth development.

Simarco, the £22 million-per-year logistics company behind the plans, wants to build a new warehouse and distribution hub in the Midlands.

The firm has announced that it is considering a site in Burton and is at an advanced stage of negotiations.