Today's meeting was a continuation of a meeting a few month ago which had three main items on the agenda: same sex marriage, welfare reform and housing.
Last time SSM took up most of the time, so on this occasion we began with welfare reform, followed by housing.
The benefit cap and the so-called bedroom tax will both impact on local residents. Help and advice is available, not least through our MP, and Simon offered to email out some briefing sheets.
Housing remains a crucial issue in the constituency. There is an acute shortage of housing, especially affordable housing. Simon's constituency has the second highest proportion of social housing in the country. In parts of the area, not least St James parish, huge housing developments are piling the pressure on the infrastructure (1500 new flats have been announced in St James parish in the last two months) and further exascerbating the shortage of school places. Meanwhile at the top end of the market foreign investors are buying up new properties as a form of long-term investment and are driving up prices for everyone.
For many Christians the greatest concern arising from the same sex marriage bill derives from its attempt to redefine the institution of marriage. If marriage is, as the wedding service affirms, 'a gift of God in creation...a holy mystery in which a man and woman become one flesh' can it be turned into something else by even such an august body as the Lords and Commons assembled at Westminster?
A sovereign Parliament may well claim the right, but should it try?
I don't think so.
Next week various amendments to the bill will be considered and after that we must see what the House of Lords makes of it.
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