Upcoming parliamentary recess cited as reason for cancellation
Tomorrow’s parliamentary debate over DEFRA’s funding of British Waterways (BW) has been cancelled.
The debate on the “impact of grant reduction on the work of BW” was tabled by various MPs concerned at DEFRA’s recent grant cuts to the UK’s waterways authorities.
But last night, the decision was taken to postpone all of Wednesday’s debates in light of Parliament’s upcoming recess.
John Fletcher, chairman of the Inland Waterways Association, said: “This is a huge disappointment, however the campaigning by all waterway users against the funding cuts is building momentum. In the next session of Parliament we hope the speaker will give preference to those whose debates have been cancelled; IWA have been contacted by many MPs who want to speak out about the potentially devastating impact of the funding cuts on their constituency’s waterways.”
Parliament will resume on 15 November.
For all the latest on the DEFRA cuts, and the campaign to save the waterways, see December’s MBM, out 16 November.
