2009 News

Helen Whately supports local Tamils' campaign for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka 12th May 2009

Today Helen Whately met Tamil representatives in the House of Commons to increase the pressure on the Government to take action on the crisis in Sri Lanka.
The meeting was hosted by Lee Scott MP who is a vocal campaigner for the rights of Tamils and has called repeatedly for the Government to take action. Helen was joined by by local Tamil residents Kris Saravana and Nathan Kumar, President of the British Tamil Forum.

Helen Whately is supporting Tamil calls for ; 1/ A UN-monitored ceasefire 2/ Access to the conflict zone and refugee camps for UN representatives, aid agencies and journalists 3/ Recognition of the basic human rights of Tamils by the Sri Lankan government and respect for the Geneva convention.

Helen wants to see the British Government move from rhetoric to action to put real pressure on the Sri Lankan government. She recognises the complexity of the situation in Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers' reputation as a terrorist organisation, but is concerned about the thousands of Tamil civilians caught up in this conflict.
The Sri Lankan Government has denied the reports of genocide and blames the Tamils for the humanitarian crisis, but while they will not give monitors or journalists proper access there is no evidence to support their denials. On the other hand, many of the several thousand Tamils living in the Kingston area speak of relatives and friends who have died or disappeared, of atrocities in the camps, of children being separated from their parents and of desperate shortages of medicines, food and water.

Helen also visited the Tamil protest in Parliament Square. Helen Whately said “The reports coming from the conflict zone and camps are horrific. I am not condoning the Tamil Tigers' history of terrorism, but there is a risk that in future Tamils will be known as the victims of genocide. We must not let Sri Lanka become another Rwanda. This is a matter of life and death for the many relatives and friends of local Tamils who are in Sri Lanka. ”

Mayor Boris and Conservative MEPs and Candidates visit Surbiton 2nd June 2009
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, visited Surbiton on Tuesday. He was in town to
support Conservative MEPs and MEP Candidates standing in the European
 Elections on Thursday 4th June. His visit was hosted by Helen Whately,
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate. He was accompanied by Syed Kamal MEP
 and MEP Candidates Marina Yannakoudakis, JP Floru, Alison Sproule, Warwick
 Lightfoot and Graham Postles.

While in Surbiton Boris dropped in to several local shops and cafes as well as
buying a second hand book in Oxfam. He gathered a crowd of supporters as he
walked down Victoria Road and was frequently stopped by shoppers asking for
 photos with him. He took the opportunity to ask shopkeepers if they were being
affected by the recession and respond to questions from residents. Answering
questions about local train services, Boris confirmed that he is continuing to put
pressure on the Government and South West Trains on rezoning Kingston &
Surbiton stations and expects us to have PAYG Oyster by the end of the year.
He wrote to Lord Adonis, the Railways Minister, about this just last week.

Helen Whately said; "It's great to have Boris visit us again in Surbiton. As usual,
he was keen to talk to as many people as possible and had to be dragged away
by his team to get onto their next appointment. The focus of the visit was the EU
elections, but several people took the chance to ask him questions about local
issues. I'm in regular contact with him about transport particularly rezoning and
Oyster cards. The good news is that we should have full Oyster Card service in
Kingston & Surbiton stations by the end of the year. The bad news is that neither
South West Trains nor the Government has taken any action on rezoning yet, but
we will not give up".

Conservatives Win in Kingston Upon Thames paving the way for change at the General Election 7th June 2009
Conservatives had a successful day at the polls in Kingston on Thursday, taking the largest share of the Borough’s vote. Hard working local MEP Syed Kamal, who lives in Berrylands, was re-elected, along with Charles Tannock MEP and new candidate Marina Yannakoudakis. Ms Yannakoudakis has replaced another local resident, John Bowis MEP, who retired at this election.

The local Conservative campaign received the backing of parliamentary candidate Helen Whately, London Mayor Boris Johnson and the Conservative Front Bench represented by Greg Clarke MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Boris and Greg Clarke MP both visited the borough last week.
Helen Whately, MP candidate, said “It has been a pleasure to campaign alongside Syed Kamal, who is a truly local MEP living just down the road from me in Berrylands. I’m sad to see John Bowis retire and sure I speak for many residents in thanking him for his hard work for us”.

“These results send a clear message to Gordon Brown that it’s time for him to go. Despite this, I suspect he will cling on to power. The only way we will get him out is at a General Election. Since 1997 this area has voted for a Lib Dem MP, but now people know that if we keep voting Lib Dem, we’ll be stuck with Brown. The Conservative results in these European elections show people here are ready to vote Conservative for change”.