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                           <title><![CDATA[John backs Living Wage campaign]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John is backing Labour leadership candidate Ed Miliband's campaign for a Living Wage. Last week, Ed wrote to leading business leaders, calling on them to adopt a Living Wage. John said, "It's wrong that some of our leading companies can have chief executives who rake in millions, while a security guard still isn't guaranteed a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. It's the sort of injustice that Labour would fight against every day under Ed Miliband, in opposition and in government." "The minimum wage will always be a legal floor -- but Ed knows we should be campaigning...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Thu, 05 Aug 2010 03:56:22</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA["Where do the Tories expect our children to play" asks John]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John Denham has hit out at the decision made by the Government and the City Council to suspend the play area programme in Southampton. He said, "This will disadvantage the city's children for no good reason. The money was there and there was no reason to cut it. Where do the Tories expect our children to play? Not only will our children suffer in the long run, but other young people will be hurt this year. Many of the city's new play parks, funded by Labour, have been constructed by young people who have got jobs though the Future Jobs...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:43:18</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[John slams council over Art Asia exclusion]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John has slammed the decision of Southampton&rsquo;s Conservative Council to exclude Art Asia from the proposed new Arts Centre. John said, "Coming just a few days after the fantastically successful Mela Festival, attended by 25,000 people, I find it extraordinary that Southampton&rsquo;s Conservative Council have now decided to exclude Art Asia from the new Arts Centre. &ldquo;Before the election, I was asked by the City Council to lobby Labour ministers for support for the scheme. Part of the City Council&rsquo;s case was that Art Asia would be a key part of the Arts Centre. I successfully persuaded Andy Burnham to...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:19:14</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Labour set the standard for HMO managment]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[While Southampton City Council drags its heels on tackling the unplanned spread of HMOs Oxford&rsquo;s Labour council has set the national standard for dealing with bad landlords and poorly managed properties. A team of Labour activists from Southampton, including MPs John Denham and Alan Whitehead, will be visiting Oxford tomorrow to learn from the council&rsquo;s example. The Labour team will meet with local MP Andrew Smith, City Executive Member for housing Joe McManners and council officers as well as visiting an area badly affected by HMOs. Oxford&rsquo;s Labour City Council enthusiastically supported John Denham&rsquo;s moves to being HMOs under planning...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:17:16</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Centenary Quays]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John Denham has welcomed work officially starting on the &pound;500m Centenary Quay housing development in Woolston; but is reminding people that the project is only underway due to investment from the Labour Government. John said, &ldquo;Investing money in the construction industry to make sure projects like Centenary Quays went ahead was at the core of Labour&rsquo;s strategy for keeping Southampton&rsquo;s economy going during the recession. This investment kept builders in jobs as well as making sure city families have the housing they need. It&rsquo;s good to see the foundation stone is being laid, but Eric Pickles needs to recognise that...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:14:40</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Johh demands answers on Thornhill's New Deal]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John is challenging Government ministers to provide a straight answer on whether or not funding for Thornhill&rsquo;s New Deal will be scrapped. Thornhill has been benefiting from the second round of the New Deal for Communities regeneration scheme which is scheduled to be completed in Spring next year. However, it is widely suspected that the Coalition Government plans to cut funding to the scheme, forcing it to end this October, six months ahead of schedule. At Community and Local Government Questions last week Labour MP Shabana Mahmood directly asked whether the Government was planning to cut the New Deal for...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:09:26</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Bitterne Walk in Centre is too important to close]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John has reacted to Southampton City Primary Care Trust&rsquo;s announcement of discussions on future provision of unscheduled care in Southampton and of Bitterne Walk in Centre in particular. John said, "Bitterne Walk in Centre was one of the first walk-in centres in the country &ndash; a real pioneer. It&rsquo;s popular with patients, an important local service and part of the community. If it isn&rsquo;t currently meeting its purposes then its role should be developed in line with experience and patients&rsquo; wishes so that the healthcare challenges we face in Southampton can be properly met. It would be a real shame...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:06:21</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA["Stop unfair treatment of local buisinesses", says John]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John has hit out at the Coalition Government&rsquo;s decision to hinder business start-ups in Southampton. Whilst new businesses starting in Bournemouth or other parts of Dorset will not have to pay National Insurance contributions on their employees firms in Southampton are being denied this assistance.  John said, "Unemployment in Southampton is higher than in Dorset, so why are new businesses in the city being disadvantaged by the Tory-Lib Dem Government in this way? It is not clear that a National Insurance Holiday is the best way to encourage new businesses, but, as long as this is part of the...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:03:34</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[What does "we're all in it together" mean?]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John recentlyI led a debate in Parliament on the unfairness of the Coalition Government's cuts &ndash; condemning the Lib Dems for supporting cuts they argued against during the election and pointing to the unfairness of the hardest pressed communities being hit the hardest. As an example of that unfairness he commented&hellip; &ldquo;Let us take two boroughs next door to each other in the same conurbation. One is 15th in the deprivation index; the other 178th. One has 27,000 people on housing benefit; the other has 13,000. One has 11,000 unemployed people; the other has 8,000. One has an average weekly...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:56:30</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Protecting tenants' rights]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John has called on the Government to retain the measures brought in by Labour to protect tenants in Southampton from dodgy and absentee landlords. He has warned that plans from the Coalition Government risk damaging the standard of private homes and the quality of life in their communities. In the past few weeks the Government has announced it will sweep away key regulations introduced by the Labour Government to protect private tenants. These include a national register of landlords set up to allow tenants to make basic checks on their prospective landlords, and enable Southampton City Council to enforce letting...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:35:08</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Labour build coalition against the "VAT bombshell"]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[Southampton&rsquo;s Labour MPs - John Denham and Alan Whitehead - have written to Liberal Democrats councillors across Hampshire urging them to oppose the Coalition Government&rsquo;s plan to raise VAT to 20%. The letter criticises the Lib Dem leadership for u-turning on their support of the Tories&rsquo; plan to increase VAT and invites local Liberal Democrats to join Labour&rsquo;s campaign against the VAT rise, and, if they feel strongly, join the Labour Party. John Denham said, &ldquo;Lots of Liberal Democrat voters are disappointed that Nick Clegg chose to put power before principles and join the Tories in coalition, and I&rsquo;m sure...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:31:40</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Building Schools for the Future scrapped by coalition government]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John has reacted angrily to yesterday's announcement that Southampton's Building Schools for the Future programme has been entirely scrapped by the coalition government. John said, "This announcement has broken David Cameron's promise to Southampton and betrayed our children. The whole reorganisation of secondary schools in eastern Southampton depended on this in investment in Chamberlayne Park, Sholing, St George's and Bitterne Park. It now it means that thousands of children will be denied the modern schools they were promised, and our teachers denied the best teaching facilities. It is unbearable act of betrayal. &ldquo;During the election David Cameron was reported by...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:38:57</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[John Demands answers on Building Schools for the Future]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John Denham recently completed his tour of schools hoping to benefit from Building Schools for the Future funding in Southampton Itchen. Since the election John has been visiting head teachers and campaigning at the gates of city primary schools to gather support for a guarantee from the coalition government that Southampton&rsquo;s Building Schools for the Future programme will go ahead. Southampton&rsquo;s &pound;85million grant to rebuild five secondary schools was signed off by the Labour Government before the recent General Election. However, a review of BSF was announced on 18th May but no decision has yet been announced. In a Common&rsquo;s...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Fri, 02 Jul 2010 03:42:35</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Victory in asbestos campaign]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[Southampton Itchen MP has been successful in his campaign for justice for asbestos victims as the new Justice Minister confirms to him that the new government will not over-turn a scheme of compensation for pleural plaques announced by the Labour Government earlier this year. The scheme will provide one off payments of &pound;5,000 to individuals who have begun, but not resolved, a legal claim for compensation for pleural plaques at the time of the Hose of Lords ruling in 2007. John said, "I have been campaigning on behalf of victims of asbestos for years, and I know Labour&rsquo;s Pleural Plaques...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:10:52</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[John refuses to let hospital food case go cold]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John Denham visited Southampton General Hospital today amid ongoing concerns about the standard of food being served to patients. John visited the hospital earlier in the year after a number of constituents contacted him with concerns about the quality and reliability of food being served by new catering company Medirest. John was served samples of the food and admitted that while the quality of the food wasn&rsquo;t bad, the issue was that meals was not being served on time, meaning that patients weren&rsquo;t getting food that was the same standard of that served to him. A plan for improving standards...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:40:12</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[John joins library protest]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John joined library staff and users at a protest agianst the Tory council's policy of replacing experienced staff with volunteers on Monday. John thinks replacing paid staff will reduce the quality of service in local libraries. John said, &ldquo;This is about the future of our city; our ability to get young people interested in reading, both now and in the years to come. We all accept tough decisions and efficiency savings have to be made. But the Tories are making a choice to cut the things that matter most to the local community, while protecting their own pet projects. They&rsquo;ve...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:45:32</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Labour MPs back Southampton Shopmobility]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[Shopmobility electric and manual wheelchairs and powered scooters to people with limited mobility, enabling them to get out and about in the city centre. The scheme is under-threat due to the Conservative-led council&rsquo;s proposal to cut its funding. John said: &ldquo;Since it was revealed that the council was planning to cut funding to Shopmobility I&rsquo;ve been inundated with letters and emails from constituents concerned that if Shopmobility wasn&rsquo;t around they&rsquo;d be left unable to get out and about in the city centre, meaning their quality of life would be seriously affected. For this reason I&rsquo;m urging the council to reconsider...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:42:40</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Scale of job losses for young people revealed]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[New research by Southampton&rsquo;s Labour MPs has revealed the potentially devastating impact on Southampton of the government&rsquo;s cuts to help young people into work. New projections suggest that hundreds of new jobs for young people in Hampshire will now not be funded, and over 900 further jobs are under threat as a direct result of the Coalition Government&rsquo;s choice of cuts. On taking office, the Liberal-Tory government announced it was scrapping Labour&rsquo;s Young Person&rsquo;s Guarantee of a place in education, training or a job for every young person after 6 months of unemployment. The Tories have also announced they will...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:40:09</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA["Thank you" says Labour's John Denham]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[Labour&rsquo;s John Denham has been re-elected for Southampton Itchen in a close contest with the Conservatives.  John said, &ldquo;During the campaign we talked to over 7,000 voters. You told us Labour had done good things, like SureStart, better schools and health services, cutting crime, and more support for families. I&rsquo;m proud of all the things Labour has delivered for Southampton.&rdquo;  &ldquo;But you also told us there&rsquo;s a lot to do, like building more homes for families and first time buyers; getting a better deal for hard-working families; enforcing fair but tough rules on benefits and controlling immigration....]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Thu, 27 May 2010 02:23:14</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Arts Centre Bid]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[John has urged the Arts Council to support the City Council&rsquo;s bid for a new Arts Centre on the site of the former Tyrrell &amp; Green Department Store. Mr Denham has intervened after it was revealed that the Arts Council had delayed a decision pending further talks with the City Council. John said:, "Before Easter it was widely believed that the Arts Council was planning to reject this important project. I lobbied Culture, Media &amp; Sports Minister, Ben Bradshaw, to ask the Arts Council to have another look at the project. This is now happening and it gives a glimmer...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 19 May 2010 11:00:38</pubDate>
                           
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