NEW LEEDS MP WELCOMES POVERTY LOBBY TO PARLIAMENT

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 20th May 2005

Just a few days into the new Parliament, Greg Mulholland, the new Member of Parliament for Leeds North West has warmly received his first lobby in Westminster. Greg met with constituents during the mass lobby of Parliament organised by CAFOD on Wednesday May 18th. The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) lobby, which included over a thousand nuns, monks and others from all over England and Wales, congregated in the Great Hall in the Palace of Westminster to lobby MPs and the Government as part of the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign.

As a past volunteer for CAFOD, Greg attended the mass lobby of Parliament in 2002 campaigning for FairTrade and other development priorities, before he was elected as a Member of Parliament. Commenting, Greg said:

"The last time I was in Parliament with CAFOD, I came to help lobby MPs. Now I'm the one being lobbied, which will take a bit of getting use to!

"Having campaigned and fought for FairTrade and other development priorities for many years, it's an enormous pleasure to be able to meet so many of my constituents who share these concerns.

"It's also an enormous responsibility and I pledge to do all I can as the MP for Leeds North West to support CAFOD and the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign."