David MacLean

I was delighted to see this EDM submitted about David MacLean, the MP for Penrith and the Border. Mr MacLean suffers from multiple sclerosis and, while I don’t think I agree with any of his politics, for newspapers to attack him for using his MP’s allowance legitimately to allow him to effectively represent his constituents is pretty low. The text of the EDM is

That this House salutes the bravery with which the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border has for several years defied the onset of multiple sclerosis so crippling that a less determined person would have been confined to a wheelchair long ago; endorses the decision of the House of Commons Department of Finance and Administration to approve his purchase of an outdoor vehicle, from the appropriate Parliamentary allowance, to enable him to negotiate the largest rural constituency in England; and accordingly condemns the journalists and broadcasters who sensationalised this story for playing down, and in some cases not even mentioning, the devastating effects of his illness and his refusal to give in to it.

It is telling that the list of signatories covers the spectrum from John McDonnell to Andrew Rosindell.

xD.