
Ex-postman and Corby MP sponsors bill to ban low letterboxes
Although many letterboxes are at waist height, a good number are still at the bottom of the door.The Communication Workers Union (CWU) started a campaign to raise the levels of letterboxes way back in 1958.The British Standards Agency agreed that they should not be installed close to the ground, but this was never enshrined into building standards law.Barron, who was elected to the Northamptonshire seat last year, said: "As a former postal worker and as someone who represented Corby and East Northamptonshire postal workers for over a decade, I'm co-sponsoring a 10-minute rule bill that will go before Parliament with an aim for a UK-wide ban on the installation of ground-level letterboxes in all new builds and front door replacements."He wants to make the installation height dimensions in the relevant British standard mandatory.
The standard states that letterboxes must be installed between 70cm (2ft 4in) and 170cm (5ft 7in) from the delivery floor level, except in special cases such as historic buildings.Mr Barron said: "The reasons why this is so important is due to the cumulative physical strain induced by constant bending right down to floor level while out on delivery and also the increased risk of dog bites through the letterbox when it is at ground level."The CWU said a delegation from the union had met the current minister of state for housing and planning in March to discuss the issue.A union spokesperson said: "It was a positive meeting and this conversation is currently ongoing."The 10-minute rule procedure allows MPs to put the case for a bill to become law in a speech lasting no more than 10 minutes.
Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Scotsman
2 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Edinburgh transport convener bidding to be Labour candidate at next year's Scottish Parliament elections
Edinburgh council's Labour transport convener Stephen Jenkinson is bidding to stand for election to the Scottish Parliament. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... And he will be up against Lothian list MSP Foysol Choudhury in the battle to become the male candidate for either Edinburgh Northern or Edinburgh South Western in next year's Holyrood elections. Under the party's system to achieve gender balance, the two seats have been twinned. Together, the local parties will vote to select one man and one woman - and whoever gets the most votes chooses which seat they stand in. Stephen Jenkinson and Foysol Choudhury will go head to head | collage Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There is a shortlist of two men and two women. Cllr Jenkinson and Mr Choudhury will go head to head for the male nomination. Cllr Jenkinson took over as the Capital's transport convener a year ago, replacing Scott Arthur who won Edinburgh South West for Labour at the general election, helped by Cllr Jenkinson who acted as his election agent. Mr Choudhury was elected as a Lothian Labour MSP at the last Scottish Parliament elections in 2021. And the contest to be the female candidate is between local activist Rebecca Bell and Catriona Munro, who stood in the recent Fountainbridge / Craiglockhart council by-election, coming top in first preferences but narrowly losing to the Lib Dems when votes were redistributed. The selection process is due to be completed in the week beginning August 11.


The Guardian
3 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Cabinet ministers and third of MPs call on Starmer to recognise state of Palestine
Keir Starmer is under intense pressure from his most senior cabinet ministers and more than a third of MPs to move faster on recognising a Palestinian state in response to Israel withholding aid to starving civilians in Gaza. Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, and Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, are understood to be among ministers who believe the government should take the lead on Palestinian statehood alongside France. The prime minister is facing a growing clamour to take action amid the international outcry over Israel's actions, with charities saying that cases of severe malnutrition among children under five in Gaza City have tripled in the last two weeks. The UK, France and Germany said on Friday afternoon that the Gaza 'humanitarian catastrophe must end now' and called on Israel to 'immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid'. 'Withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable,' they said in a joint statement. Starmer said after a call with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, that the 'continued captivity of hostages, the starvation and denial of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, the increasing violence from extremist settler groups, and Israel's disproportionate military escalation in Gaza are all indefensible'. He said he was 'unequivocal' in his support of recognising a Palestinian state but said 'it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis'. 'This is the way to ensure it is a tool of maximum utility to improve the lives of those who are suffering – which of course, will always be our ultimate goal.' The statement came as Donald Trump flew into Scotland for a four-day visit to his golf resorts. Macron upped the pressure on Starmer this week by announcing that France would recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly in September. Starmer is due to meet the US president on Monday. Trump on Friday dismissed Macron's move by saying it 'doesn't carry weight' and is 'not going to change anything'. The UK government's policy is that it will formally acknowledge Palestine as part of a peace process, but only in conjunction with other western countries and 'at the point of maximum impact'. Cooper and Rayner are among more than half a dozen cabinet ministers who are pressing for urgent action. The Guardian revealed this week that Wes Streeting, the health secretary, Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, and Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, have all pushed for recognition of Palestine at recent cabinet meetings. Ian Murray, the Scotland secretary, and Jo Stevens, the Wales secretary, have also brought up the issue in cabinet, according to a cabinet source. Murray and Stevens declined to comment. Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, is also said to have called for action, and Lammy is said by colleagues to be pushing Downing Street to take a stronger stance. A government source said it was increasingly 'everybody versus No 10'. 'Too many people in No 10 just see this as a 'left' issue and actually don't get how widespread public anger is,' a Labour source said. Rayner issued a warning last month by saying that the West needed to avoid repeating past mistakes when it came to Gaza. Addressing a service at St Paul's Cathedral to mark the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, where more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed by Serbian forces in 1995, she said: 'The West took too long to act in the 1990s and we should have acted sooner. Now we must learn the lessons of history and the consequences of inaction.' On Friday 221 MPs from nine political parties across the Commons signed a letter to Lammy calling for British recognition of Palestine to be announced next week at a UN conference in New York. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion 'Whilst we appreciate the UK does not have it in its power to bring about a free and independent Palestine, UK recognition would have a significant impact due to our historic connections and our membership on the UN security council,' the MPs wrote. 'British recognition of Palestine would be particularly powerful given its role as the author of the Balfour Declaration and the former Mandatory Power in Palestine. Since 1980 we have backed a two-state solution. Such a recognition would give that position substance as well as living up to a historic responsibility we have to the people under that Mandate.' The letter's signatories included several Labour select committee chairs including Emily Thornberry of foreign affairs, Sarah Champion of international development and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi of defence. Other signatories included Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, Green party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, the SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn and Conservative MPs Kit Malthouse and Edward Leigh. The true number of backbench Labour MPs who support recognition is even higher. Several told the Guardian that they were in favour the move but did not put their names to the letter. 'We need to do more. Israel is committing terrible war crimes,' one Labour MP said. Nearly 60 Labour MPs signed a similar letter to Lammy earlier this month. The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said that cases of severe malnutrition among children under five at its Gaza City clinic have tripled in the last two weeks and the UN World Food Programme said nearly a third of people in Gaza were not eating for days, with the hunger crisis had reached 'new and astonishing levels of desperation'. Israel said it would allow foreign countries to resume aid drops into Gaza from Friday. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, accused the international community of sticking its head in the sand as Palestinians starved in Gaza, lambasting what he called a 'lack of humanity'. 'This is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is a moral crisis that challenges the global conscience. We will continue to speak out at every opportunity,' he said on Friday.


Telegraph
3 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Starmer is in the rough. Could Cameron get him out?
US President Donald Trump is in Scotland to visit his golf courses and meet Sir Keir Starmer, despite the fact that our PM does not play golf. Perhaps David Cameron can help? The former Conservative prime minister teamed up with former Irish prime minister Enda Kenny in the Pro-Am Senior Open at Sunningdale with three-time golf major winner Padraig Harrington – and won. 'I am doing my bit for Anglo-Irish relations,' Cameron tells me, describing Kenny, 74, as 'a canny golfer – like Trump.' Cameron, 58, famously played golf with Barack Obama when the former US president visited the UK in 2016. Both have improved their handicaps since then. 'When I played Obama he was a 14 and I was a 21 – I've made it to 15 but he's gone all the way to six.' There is life after politics, at least on the golf course. Barry's friends Labour MP Barry Gardiner has proved to be an unlikely hit with GB News viewers due to his regular appearances on the channel. He tells me that so far he has been sent 'one tie, a key ring and a bottle opener' in the post from viewers, and even one proposal of marriage. He accepted the first three, and declined the fourth, which must be a relief to Mrs Gardiner, a noted poet. Gyles's toothpaste An update from the bathroom of Gyles Brandreth. 'I regard my bathroom mirror as my enemy, not my friend,' the 77-year-old TV presenter tells The Oldie magazine. 'That's why I tend not to have the lights full-on when I'm brushing my teeth. And that's why the other night I squeezed Voltarol instead of toothpaste on to my toothbrush. I know I must be getting older. I couldn't tell the difference.' Ministers' latitude It's a big festival weekend, not least the thousands who are attending Latitude in Suffolk. I hear one group of Labour ministers are hiring a house nearby so they can get to listen to the music and sleep in a comfortable bed each night. For the few, not the many. Brandon's healthy approach Actress Glynis Barber, 69, has an enthusiastic interest in wellbeing and anti-ageing; her actor husband Michael Brandon, 80, doesn't. The pair co-starred in 1980s cop TV series Dempsey & Makepeace. Barber says: 'He literally has no interest whatsoever. However, he has the benefit of living with me. So I have foisted organic food on him. I read boring articles on the benefits of a certain supplement or the latest findings of what fat does to the body. [But] he just glazes over, tries to listen and then literally falls asleep.' Arise Lord Norris? Former Conservative minister Steven Norris has led a 'frankly ridiculous life', his son Harry declared in an affectionate speech at a dinner to celebrate his father's 80th birthday this week. 'Not many people can say they've been shot at beside President Carter, taken the late Queen on her first Thames Clipper ride or been kissed by both Yasser Arafat and Hugh Grant,' said Harry. Norris Snr, who was also Tory candidate for London mayor in 2000 and 2004, has inexplicably never been rewarded with a peerage. He responded to Harry's speech by inviting his friends to his 90th birthday party in 10 years' time. Ozzy and Tony