On the 25th October several of our members together with NPC Wales members and various Trade Union Officials travelled to London to lobby their M.P.s on the subject of the woefully inadequate State Pension. The excursion was funded by NPC Wales.
Our contingent joined the party at Malpas Fire Station at the crack of dawn, and, following a trouble free journey arrived in Parliament Square about 10.30am.
Following a short demonstration we went in procession to the Methodist Central Hall (which is quite impressive) to attend a series of meetings at which various M.P.s and Trade Union Officials addressed us at length. These meetings ended at approximately 2pm and it is fair to say M.P.s and Trade Union Officials alike were united in their condemnation of the present Government in respect of pensions.
We then proceeded to the Houses of Parliament. Here our well laid plans me a few obstacles. We had (That is the NARF members) a prearranged appointment with Mr David Davies, the M.P. for Monmouthshire. The remainder of our party had not even received a reply from their M.P.s.
The security staff and police were less than helpful to us but Margaret Smeed managed to Contact Mt Davies by mobile phone and he took action to meet her. This however separated her from the rest of the delegation.
We eventually gained access to the Hall but Margaret was nowhere to be seen, and, as the time to return to our transport approached, we were rather concerned.
She was probably the most successful lobbyist of the day, not only had she had a one-to-one discussion with Mr Davies, who was very sympathetic to our cause, but she had tea on the Terrace and been given every opportunity to plead our case and been treated with the utmost civility and courtesy.
All in all, I feel the day can be counted as a positive experience and even if nothing changes at least we have had our say.
David Davies M.P.