Bob Russell

Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell was a member of a team of eight MPs from the House of Commons who won the annual Shrove Tuesday Parliamentary Pancake Race organised by the Rehab Group which promotes the importance of rehabilitation and support for those with a range of disabilities.

There is a Rehab centre in Colchester - TBG Learning at 27 Southway. They provide a range of learning programmes for people wishing to gain basic skills to enter employment as well as those in employment wishing to up-skill or re-skill to progress their careers.

A cut in the size of the Army has again been criticised in the House of Commons by Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell.

Speaking during Defence Questions, Sir Bob repeated his previous criticisms about the decision to reduce the size of the Army which he said would in due course by no bigger than it was at the time of the Boer War more than 110 years ago.

It was a rare weekend away from Colchester for Town MP Sir Bob Russell - he was in mid-Wales where he was the guest speaker at the Annual Weekend School of the Lloyd George Society named in honour of Britain's last Liberal Prime Minister, Welshman Lloyd George who was an MP for Carnarvon Boroughs for 55 years until 1945.

With the eyes of the world on the major clashes in Syria, Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell told the House of Commons this afternoon that it was important that the plight of Palestinians living in territory occupied by Israel should not be overlooked.

Sir Bob - a passionate supporter of the rights of Palestinians - pointed out that Israel was operating in defiance of United Nations Resolutions and International Law.

The Government has been urged by Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell to intervene on the threat to 700 Peacocks department stores - including one in Colchester - which are facing the threat of closure.

He made the request during Business Questions in the House of Commons.

Sir Bob pointed out that the Royal Bank of Scotland had been saved by billions of pounds of taxpayers money, with the saving of thousands of jobs for RBS employees, but the publicly-owned bank was now refusing to help Peacocks for which it is the main lender. He said that 10,000 Peacocks jobs were at risk as a result of the RBS pushing Peacocks to the brink of Administration.

Colchester MP, Sir Bob Russell, has told the House of Commons that some of the soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade who have been deployed to Afghanistan will miss out on the Jubilee Medal to commemorate The Queen's Diamond Jubilee because they have not been in the Army for five years which is the minimum to qualify for the Medal.

A bottle of whisky signed by the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition has raised £435 towards a target of £10,000 by pupils of Colchester County High School for Girls to build a school in Uganda for 100 children orphaned in civil conflict.

The auction was organised by Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell after he heard about the fund-raising appeal.

In the final Parliamentary debate of 2011, Colchester MP Bob Russell spoke in support of 30,000 Bedouin Arabs who in the coming weeks face being uprooted from their traditional land in Israel and forced into townships.

He accused Israel of being in breach of international law and the UN Declaration of Rights for Indigenous People.