PAULA CRAIG, THE LONDON MARATHON AND SPINAL RESEARCH

Early day motion 1245, tabled 7 May 2002 by Sue Doughty (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 115 members.

That this House congratulates the athlete Paula Craig on her extraordinary achievement of competing in the London Marathon as a wheelchair user less than a year after her traumatic accident that left her with a spinal cord injury; recognises the fundamental and total change in the lives of people who suffer paralysis as a result of spinal cord injury and the importance of the work of spinal charities, such as the international Spinal Research Trust, a recognised world leader in this area of medical research that has made substantial progress in the development of techniques to repair spinal injuries and will soon move towards clinical trials; notes that the Trust is totally reliant on voluntary funding which severely limits its rate of progress; and calls on Her Majesty's Government to acknowledge the improvements to the lifestyle of spinal injury victims and the reduction of dependency, with substantial savings to the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions, that could be achieved by giving consideration to the provision of direct funding for this valuable work.

Signatures by party: Labour 58, Liberal Democrat 31, Conservative 10, Scottish National Party 4, UUP 4, Plaid Cymru 3, DUP 2, Labour/Co-operative 2, Independent 1.