Kingston Courts Saved!

8.4.03

Davey celebrates "victory for law and order"

In the House of Commons today, the Government announced that Kingston's Magistrates' Courts would not be closed, following a two year fight led by Kingston and Surbiton's Liberal Democrat MP Edward Davey with local campaigners.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Department, Yvette Cooper MP, made the announcement in Oral Questions on the floor of the Commons today. Edward Davey MP was in the Commons Chamber to hear Kingston's fabulous news and warmly congratulated the Minister for the decision. Speaking afterwards, he said:

"This is a victory for law and order and a victory for local justice.

"If Kingston had lost our courts, people would have wasted time travelling - not least our local police. In my meetings with the Minister I argued we faced losing the time of 2 officers a week, when we are still fighting for more police.

"This has been one of the toughest campaigns I've been involved with. At times, I despaired about our chances, so I'm chuffed to bits Kingston has won through.

"I would like to pay real tribute to everyone who's been involved with this campaign - it's been a real community effort. There have been so many, but Ian Rathjen, Chair of the local magistrates, deserves special thanks, as do our local newspapers who have played an invaluable role. The Kingston upon Thames Society were magnificent too.

"I would also like to express my personal thanks to my Liberal Democrat colleague, Councillor Roger Hayes. As Leader of the Council, he put the full weight of the Royal Borough behind this. We could not have won without the Council's recent work."