Christmas Adjournment

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak in this Christmas Adjournment debate. I extend warm Christmas wishes to you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to the staff and officers of the House, and to all Members of the House of Commons of all political parties. This is a wonderful time of year for all people to celebrate Christmas and to uphold the Christian traditions of our country. As hon. Members will know, I am proud and honoured to be the Member of Parliament for the Essex market town of Romford. I was born and bred there, and I am pleased now to be its representative here in the House of Commons. The people of Romford have a great deal of common sense. They are hardworking and patriotic and believe in the values of this country, as I do. In Romford we are part of the London borough of Havering, which is part of Greater London. We do not particularly like being lumped in with Greater London—we want to be part of Essex and uphold our traditional roots. Unfortunately, we are now under the reign of Ken Livingstone, who takes rather a lot of money out of the pockets of the people of Romford and spends it everywhere but in my constituency, so that we subsidise Greater London. I hope that when we consider the Greater London Authority Bill next year, Ministers will consider the position of outer London boroughs and a fairer deal will be given to places such as Romford, which subsidise inner London.