Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Skills – in the House of Commons at 10:30 am on 27 October 2005.
Jim Cousins
Labour, Newcastle upon Tyne Central
10:30,
27 October 2005
May I raise with my right hon. Friend another problem? These VAT rules mean that there is a strong bias in favour of new construction, rather than the improvement and conversion of existing buildings. That is why Newcastle's Liberal Democrats, when they asked the Government for a city academy, decided to close a perfectly good large school in my Constituency with the largest ethnic minority student intake in the city. Does she recognise that precisely this difficulty will apply to foundation schools and to future trust schools?
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent