Tory cuts that could cost our county dear...

The Tories who control the historic City of Lincoln have come up with the not-so-bright idea to save a few bob by shutting down the excellent tourism info centres.

One of them is the ideally placed heritage building - the beautifully restored former NatWest bank - on the cobbled square between the Castle and the Cathedral. And the other is on the prime site at the Cornhill on the main pedestrianised High Street.

Whenever I've been in either of the centres, they've been packed with people seeking infomation to assist their stay in our county, with helpful staff ready to sell the delights of Lincolnshire.

Lincoln - and the rest of the county - has a great deal to offer tourists - the finest Cathedral in the country for a start. But being slightly off the map, the city has always had to fight hard with places like York for its fair slice of the tourist cake.

Tourist information centres encourage those who do make it to the City to stay a while longer, perhaps discover a few more attractions on offer in Lincolnshire, and hopefully spend a few more quid to support the local economy.

Not surprisingly, a ring-round by the Lincs Echo reveals that other English cathedral cities think Lincoln's gone bonkers (or at least a bit daft) to do away with its tourist offices...

Meanwhile Lincolnshire's neighbour Rutland is preparing for an upturn in tourism this year as more people are expected to holiday in UK rather than venture abroad.

Sounds to me - and a lot of other people - that the people who run Lincoln need to rethink before they kill the goose that lays the golden eggs...

Irony of Alan Duncan's civil partnership...

Ironic that the first MP to take advantage of Labour's progressive civil partnership laws is a Conservative elected in 2001 on a manifesto which promised to keep Tory homophobic Section 28 legislation firmly in place.

I congratulate Alan Duncan, MP for Rutland on his news revealed on the website of my local paper, the Stamford Mercury.

It is unlikely that such historic and progressive laws to allow civil partnerships would ever have been passed by a Government of Mr Duncan's party - and certainly not under David Cameron's leadership.

As recently as 2003, Cameron himself voted against scrapping Section 28 which stigmatised homosexuals.

It was introduced in the Thatcher Government by Michael Howard - who went on to become the Tory Leader before David Cameron.

And when Labour advocated abolishing Section 28, Cameron attacked the Blair Government which he claimed was "obsessed with a fringe agenda".

In fairness to Alan Duncan, he has in the past paid tribute to Labour's record on equality.

I'm pleased that Mr Duncan felt able to 'come out' a couple of years ago and publicly declare his homosexuality.

The Civil Partnership laws have brought joy to thousands of same-sex couples who have made their decision to share their lives, their home, their finances and the care of their children or older relatives.

Yet until a couple of years ago, their relationships were invisible in the eyes of the law.

Labour's civil partnership laws were a historic step in giving respect and dignity to lesbians and gay men in Britain and built on Labour's record of equalising the age of consent, outlawing discrimination in the workplace on the grounds of sexual orientation, securing protection from homophobic hate crimes...and abolishing Section 28.

I'm delighted that so many people are benefitting from Labour's legislation - including Tory MPs!