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Cleveland Smugglers

EDM number 1677 in 1993-94, proposed by Frank Cook on 27/10/1994.

That this House notes with acute concern the predicted impact of the Treasury's fundamental expenditure review on the counter contraband staff of Customs and Excise in Cleveland should its proposals be implemented fully; notes with alarm that these proposals would create a single administrative district covering an area from the Scottish border down to the south bank of the Humber on the East coast and the Furness peninsula on the West, that its base would be located in Leeds, that this area will be 'policed' 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by a mere 70 staff, this being a reduction of 95 on the current complement and that none of the 70 will be base-located between the Humber and the Tyne, so leaving Tees and Hartlepool, the fourth busiest port in the country badly under-manned and wide-open to activities of the felon; notes that the 2.0 tonnes of cannabis recently impounded at Falmouth was probably destined for Hartlepool and that the 1.8 tonnes lost off Sandsend last month engaged staff not only from Teesport but from the Tyne, Newcastle Aiport and Workington; regrets that senior management in the Customs and Excise Service seem unwilling or unable to resist these unreasonable proposals; and therefore calls upon Her Majesty's Government to think again as a matter of urgency before exposing the North East coast to the unhindered attention of smugglers and drug traffickers.

This motion has been signed by a total of 23 MPs.

MPDateConstituencyPartyType
Frank Cook27/10/1994Stockton NorthProposed
Peter Mandelson27/10/1994HartlepoolSigned
Bill Etherington27/10/1994Sunderland NorthSigned
Harry Barnes28/10/1994North East DerbyshireSigned
Stuart Bell28/10/1994MiddlesbroughSigned
Michael Connarty31/10/1994Falkirk EastSigned
James Wray31/10/1994Glasgow ProvanSigned
John Cummings31/10/1994EasingtonSigned
Eric Clarke31/10/1994MidlothianSigned
Alan Meale31/10/1994MansfieldSigned
Eddie Loyden31/10/1994Liverpool, GarstonSigned
Barry Jones31/10/1994Alyn & DeesideSigned
Jimmy Hood31/10/1994ClydesdaleSigned
Bridget Prentice31/10/1994Lewisham EastSigned
Terry Lewis01/11/1994WorsleySigned
David Clelland01/11/1994Tyne BridgeSigned
John Evans01/11/1994St Helens NorthSigned
Tommy Graham01/11/1994Renfrew West and InverclydeSigned
Jack Thompson01/11/1994WansbeckSigned
Peter Hardy02/11/1994WentworthSigned
Bill Michie02/11/1994Sheffield, HeeleySigned
Alan Milburn02/11/1994DarlingtonSigned
Mike Hall02/11/1994Warrington SouthSigned

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