Davies offers tribute to MP Meacher

Chris Davies

FORMER Oldham Liberal Democrat MP Chris Davies has paid tribute to the late Michael Meacher.

Chris Davies was MP for the former Oldham parliamentary seat of Littleborough and Saddleworth from 1995-7, then a North-West Euro-MP until last year.

The Greenfield resident, who is chairman of the North-West Liberal Democrats, worked in parallel with Mr Meacher for some of this time.

He said: “Michael and I were politically far apart, except when it came to environmental matters.

“There is no doubt in my mind that he was at his best when he served as an environment minister under Tony Blair. We shared the same agenda over the problem of global warming, and sometimes spoke on the same platform at conferences.

“But as someone who still runs on the hills and moorland around Oldham I reserve special thanks to him in particular for his success in introducing Right of Access legislation.”