MPs quiz editors in hate crime inquiry
Newspaper editors are to be questioned by MPs as part of an inquiry into hate crime.
Daily Express Editor-in-Chief Gary Jones and Lloyd Embley of Trinity Mirror will appear before the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday. They will be questioned on whether there is an issue with treatment of minority groups in the print media and the adequacy of the Editors’ Code in protecting minority groups. A VETERAN Sheffield MP undergoing treatment for cancer says he is ‘fully back in action’ after making his return to the House of Commons.
Clive Betts, the Labour MP for Sheffield South East who has been in politics for more than 40 years, took a leave of absence from meetings and Parliamentary business in March to receive a stem cell transplant, but was back in the Commons chamber for the first time on Wednesday asking questions on transport.
Mr Betts, 68, was told he had multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, last August, and has been given chemotherapy at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. He had never had a day off sick before his diagnosis.
He said he was ‘feeling very positive’ after his transplant. “I’m making very good progress, that’s what the doctors seem to think.
“I’m not saying I feel 100 per cent, but I’m in the 90s, I think. And when I say 90-odd per cent, that’s still doing more than a full day’s work.”
His illness was detected early when he had a routine blood test after changing GPs.
The MP has been ‘back all week’ on select committee duties – he chairs the local government and communities panel – and has been working in his Sheffield office in Barker’s Pool.
“I’m back really working full time now.”
He said he saw ‘no reason at all’ to take further time off and was ‘fully back in action’.
He added: “They will do further tests and things in a few weeks time to see how the treatment has gone and things.
“My medication is at the minimum level now.”
On Wednesday, he raised a question in the Commons about the prospect of new trains for the Midland Main Lane.
Secretary of State Chris Grayling had promised modern bimodal units for the Sheffield to London route by 2022, but Minister Jo Johnson could only say the trains were in use on the Great Western line, which “misses the point completely”, Mr Betts said.
“We still have a massive gap in terms of what is available and what is needed for the Midland Main Line.”
On Thursday, he updated the Commons on a report his committee’s report on the private rented sector, which focused on issues such as the quality of accommodation, the balance of power between tenants and landlords, the legislative framework and enforcement.