§ Mr. Harry Barnes (Derbyshire, North-East)On Wednesday, thousands of people came here from Derbyshire to lobby against the education cuts, exercising their democratic right to lobby. They handed in petitions and gave me other material; for example, yesterday I sent 800 letters to the Secretary of State for Education about the education cuts.
There are 13,207 signatures on the petition. Some of them lap over into the constituency of Bolsover, because North-East Derbyshire district covers part of that constituency. However, there must be at least 12,000 signatures from my constituency, representing well over 15 per cent. of the constituency population.
The petition reads:
To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The humble Petition of the residents of Derbyshire sheweth thatGovernment policies threaten standards of education in all Derbyshire schools and that this can only lead to increased class sizes, fewer text books and other resources; plus teacher and staff support redundancies. These policies will also seriously and adversely affect education opportunities of existing and future pupils. We support the campaign to call upon the Secretary of State to address this matter urgently.Wherefore your petitioners pray that your Honourable House will urge the Prime Minister and his Government not to impede this Petition.And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.The petition is signed by Steven O'Brien of 68 Springvale road, Danesmoor and the other petitioners whom I mentioned earlier.
§ To lie upon the Table.