Chris Huhne

EASTLEIGH MP TO GIVE KEYNOTE SPEECHES IN BIRMINGHAM

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne will give two key speeches at the Liberal Democrats’ spring conference in Birmingham at which the party’s election campaign will be launched.

On Saturday morning, Mr Huhne will introduce the debate calling for an end to the detention of children in immigration centres. “This is a scandal” he says. “Other civilised countries have succeeded in running more effective immigration control without inhumanely locking up children. This practice must end”.

On Sunday morning, Mr Huhne will deliver a keynote conference speech on reforms to clean up politics and make it fairer. One of the four key themes of the election campaign, political reform will abolish the safe seats and jobs for life that were the root cause of the MP‘s expenses scandal.

“A third of the MPs in the House of Commons sit for areas that have never changed party hands since the second world war. No wonder MPs who have jobs for life are more likely to fiddle their expenses, delay responding to constituents and take advantage.

“We need fair votes that count wherever you live so that the voter can choose not just the party but also the person. Under our system, three to five MP constituencies would give every voter the choice of who to represent them” said Mr Huhne.

Notes to editors:

1.The Saturday debate on child detention in immigration centres begins at 9.25am.

2.Chris Huhne’s keynote speech on Sunday begins at 10.40am.