MP columns

Mark Field, Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster, discusses the economy in his latest column for the chronicle.

"Last month's Autumn statement was, for three reasons, met with supreme indifference by the large corporations and banks of my constituency.

So Westminster Council has confirmed that the closure of the Jubilee Sports Centre in Queen's Park will go ahead, despite widespread opposition from across north/west Westminster.

We will get a new and probably very good sports and leisure centre just outside the borough boundary in Brent and I understand the support for this development, especially from those closer to the Moberly centre, and among potential users who point to upgraded facilities.

Last week, a number of Britain's leading charities working with disabled people warned that the massive cost-cutting exercise scything through the welfare state appeared to be stoking up levels of abuse against them.

The government's focus on alleged fraud and over-claiming has caused an increase in resentment and abuse directed at disabled people, as they find themselves being labelled as scroungers.

Scope, a charity for people with learning disabilities, said polling showed that two thirds of disabled people had experienced 'recent hostility or taunts'- a level that had risen 40%.

This week, the government's business minister, Vince Cable, announced to parliament that the coalition government will rapidly move towards legislating to give shareholders control over the 'excess of capitalism' and clamp down on the 'rewards for failure.'

Perhaps more than any other, my own constituency, the Cities of London and Westminster, benefited from the recent economic boom which came before the credit crunch.

Yet I had noticed long before the crisis a growing sense of despair and resentment among hard working Londoners.

Some years seem to pass without drama, others pack in every kind of turbulence. 2011 has been a bumper year, although its blessings have been mixed ones.

From the heady Arab spring to the slaughter on the streets of Syria, people have shown again their courage and demand for democracy, yet found their hopes thwarted or at least delayed.

At home this has been the year when the public service cuts really started to bite.

Mark Field, Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster, here revisits the deficit plans in his monthly column for the Westminster Chronicle.

It was not supposed to be like this. Only twelve months ago we were assured that the government's spending plans for the entire parliament had been conclusively settled.

Karen Buck, Labour MP for Westminster North, here discusses the economic situation in her monthly column for the Westminster Chronicle.

So now we know how bleak the economic situation is, as latest figures show unemployment rising by 129,000 to 2.62 million in the three months to September, and as youth unemployment also rose above a million, to a record high.

Mark Field, Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster, here discusses the protesters at St Paul's Cathedral in his monthly column for the Westminster Chronicle.

The campsite developed in the shadow of the glorious St Paul's Cathedral is causing an almighty headache both for the City Corporation and, particularly, the Church.

Karen Buck, Labour MP for Westminster North, here discusses the introduction of free schools in her monthly column for the Westminster Chronicle.

The latest addition to the academy schools programme in Westminster, ARK Atwood Primary Academy, celebrated 'Founder's Day' this week with a mosaic and a school song.

Mark Field, Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster, here discusses the caring for the future of the Royal Parks in his monthly column for the Westminster Chronicle.

At the end of the summer the government announced that Crown ownership of the Royal Parks will be maintained but that a new Royal Parks Board is being created to provide a voice for the Mayor and for London in how the Parks are managed.