On 14 October Tony Lloyd attended the Bridging the Gap Graduation ceremony and presented the Outstanding Student of the Year Award. He is pictured here with award winners Ryan Tagger and Louise Evans.

The Bridging the Gap programme is organised by ADS, the leading regional charity specialising in alcohol and drug services across the region.

Tony Lloyd said, ‘The award winners are local heroes who have turned their lives around from alcohol addiction to helping other people and returning to the world of work. Each of the students present at the ceremony had genuinely inspirational and unique stories.’

Disabled people in the North West, along with their families and friends, took to the streets in Manchester to protest against Government cuts to disability benefits and services on 22 October 2011. Their message to the government was clear: stop these cuts.

Following the event Tony Lloyd said, ‘A huge number of angry people turned up to protest against these benefits cuts. We should protect those who are vulnerable which is why these cuts are particularly cruel.’

That Israel has the right to defend itself goes rightly unquestioned by the overwhelming majority of people in Britain. That Israel takes the right to collectively punish all Palestinians in Gaza cannot be. Even the words ‘collective punishment’ disguise the cynical dehumanisation of those trapped in what is now the world’s biggest prison camp.

From our media it is easy to see Israel gallantly defending itself against attack from Islamic extremists drawn from the Bin Laden textbook who deserve only harsh response. The reality is different – brutally so.

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A busy week started last Sunday with a speech at the TUC Rally Against the Cuts on the opening day of the Tory Conference in Manchester. Monday morning leafleting outside Deansgate Station against closure of a large number of railway booking offices, bad for the traveller and less safe too. Next I flew to Mozambique to take part in a seminar on strengthening the role of Parliament in that young democracy. Finally the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe conference on EU enlargement and the “frozen conflict” between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Tony is pictured along with local Labour teams outside the centre, protesting against the planned closure of this well used clinic.

Tony said, ‘Cutting health services to a community with some of the poorest health in the city is shocking. When Ancoats Hospital closed this community was given assurances about replacement facilities and we’re fighting to make sure that NHS Manchester honours the promises made.’

Tony is pictured here taking part in the TUC march and rally in Manchester last week. Tony said, ‘People here today are angry they want David Cameron to think again on the cuts that are putting people out of work and causing so much damage to our communities’.

Over 30,000 people took part in the march which coincided with the start of the Tory party conference.

Tony is pictured at Deansgate Station as part of the TSSA led Save Our Stations and Ticket Offices Campaign.

Parliament heard passionate pleas for the Palestinians to be granted recognition as a state and admission to the United Nations as MPs prepared for the conference season. Almost 100 MPs of all parties have now signed a Commons motion calling on the UK to back the Palestinian state and polls show that 71% of UK voters believe Palestine should be recognised as a state.

Middle East minister Alistair Burt told MPs at a special one-hour debate that the Government still has not made up its mind how to vote – saying it depended on the exact wording of the Palestinian motion which is expected to be tabled next week. The Palestinians can apply to the UN General Assembly for recognition as a state, giving them the right to attend UN meetings and join UN organisations, or they can apply to the UN Security Council for full membership.

This week former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw backed the Commons motion tabled by Labour’s Ann Clwyd calling for Palestinian admission to the UN. In a letter to MPs he said:

“I did this because of the urgency of making it clear both to the Government and to my constituents how important it is that we, as a country, make the right decision on this.

“I’m as firm as anyone about Israel’s rights to security, as a sovereign state. We all understand the fears that Israelis have for their security, but it will not enhance their security to deny the right of self-determination permanently to the Palestinians. The World Bank, the UN, the EU and the IMF have all assessed the progress of the Palestinian Authority and judged it to be ready for statehood.”

Picture below are: (in the front row, left to right) Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru), Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour), Jeremy Corbyn (Labour), Cathy Jamieson (Labour), Bob Russell (Liberal Democrat(, Joan Ruddock (Labour), Sir Gerald Kaufman (Labour), (back row) AlexCunningham (Labour), Lisa Nandy (Labour), Ian Mearns (Labour), Virendra Sharma (Labour), Tony Lloyd (Labour), Andy Slaughter (Labour), Nia Griffith (Labour), Alan Whitehead (Labour, (middle row) Lyn Brown (Labour), Ann Clwyd (Labour), Jim Sheridan (Labour), (seated) Ann Begg (Labour).

Tony Lloyd MP has attended an event at the House of Commons organised by The Royal British Legion to highlight the importance of supporting bereaved Armed Forces families. At the event Tony was told about the Legion’s work to improve the welfare of the Armed Forces family in the local area.

Andrew Meek, the Legion’s Regional Manager for the North of England said, “Many people don’t realise that we spend nearly £1.4 million a week on helping both the serving and the ex-Service communities, including their families. The Legion is currently celebrating its 90th Anniversary Year, and campaigning for the Armed Forces family is as important to us now as it was in 1921.”