Steve Brine has written to a senior Minister as Naomi House petition clears 7,000 and enters final few days.
Steve Brine, prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Winchester has written to the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party as an online petition to the Prime Minister in support of Naomi House draws to a close.
Mr Brine begun the petition in November when it emerged the hospice, which is based in Sutton Scotney, had £5.7m deposited in the failed Iceland bank Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander. Furious efforts, in parliament and outside, have taken place since to secure an indication from Government as to what support is available before vital services are affected. Naomi House announced before Christmas they are being forced to withdraw their much relied upon Hospice at Home (outreach) service for local families as a result of the crisis.
More than 7,000 people * have signed Mr Brine’s online petition, which closes on Monday 12 January 2009 after which time the Prime Minister must write to all signatories explaining the Government’s position.
The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and leader of the House of Commons, Harriet Harman MP, said in Winchester last year during an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions programme “we will not leave (charities) on their own”. Steve Brine has now written to Mrs Harman to seek clarification on those remarks and invite her to sign the petition before it closes to the public.
He said; “Along with many local people I was pleased and relieved to hear Harriet Harman’s reassurances when she visited Winchester for the Any Questions programme last year. Since that time, I as well as MPs from all sides have sought to clarify what she meant but the response from Government has been disappointing and non-committal to say the least.
"As the petition closes I hope Ministers will recognise that more than 7,000 local people have expressed a clear desire for Ministers to help Naomi House before services at the hospice are affected even further and the local NHS is left struggling to fill the gap. That is why I have now written to Harriet Harman, to seek her support for our campaign and to try one more time to get to the bottom of what she meant when she gave that very clear undertaking on her visit to Winchester."
* 7,630 at 9th January 2009
The petition (with a full list of signatures and latest totals) can be found at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/CharityHelp/