What Are The Odds?

When did a Minister last resign during, and because of, a Budget? Yet Tracey Crouch did precisely that today. 

Fixed-odds betting terminals are a very recent innovation, so it is rubbish that the betting shops would go bust without them. Instead of delaying even a very modest "crackdown" on them by two years as part of some dodgy deal, they should simply be banned outright.

We also need the empowerment of local authorities to limit the number of gambling venues, the use of that power, an end to gambling on television, an end to the advertising of gambling other than at venues such as casinos and betting shops, a ban on gambling with credit cards, and the writing into the Statute Law of the rules introduced earlier this year by the Competitions and Markets Authority against the sharp practices of the gambling industry.

Another hung Parliament is coming, and our people need to hold the balance of power in it. Please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. That address accepts PayPal. Very many thanks.