Bristol MP calls for Treasury to keep hands off Joan’s cash – Bristol24-7

A Bristol MP has called for the Treasury to keep its hands off the £520,000 estate bequeathed by a Bristol woman to the government of the day.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreed to give up the donation from Joan Edwards who wanted it to go to the government of the day, following criticism that they had accepted the money for party political purposes.

Nick Clegg ordered his party to hand over £100,000 to the Treasury and minutes later the Conservatives followed suit by relinquishing their £420,000 gift.

Ms Edwards, a former nurse who died last year aged 90, had asked for the cash to be given to “whichever government is in office at the date of my death for the government in their absolute discretion to use as they may think fit”.

Both parties initially insisted early on Wednesday morning that it was up to the executors of the will to make a decision.

But less than an hour later, they had decided to give up the donations after MPs on all sides rounded on the coalition parties.

Friends of Joan Lilian Edwards, who was born in Bristol in 1921 and lived in Fishponds, said she had never appeared to show an interest in politics and would have wanted the government to do something good with her money.

Following the decision by the Tories and Liberal Democrats, the Labour MP for Bristol East called for at least part of the money to go towards helping health services in the area in which she lived.

Kerry McCarthy also said greed blinded the parties to the questions that should have been asked when the money was bequeathed.

“It seems to me utterly inconceivable that a bequest to ‘the Government of the day’ could be interpreted as a donation to the Tories and Lib Dems to spend on electioneering,” she said.

“I can only assume that greed blinded them to the questions that should have been asked. At a time when people’s confidence in political parties has been sorely tested, what kind of message does it send out that those running our country think that the savings of someone who led a modest, decent life, devoted to public service, should be spent on shoring up their own political futures?

“Joan’s trust in “the Government of the day” has been cruelly abused.

“Joan was obviously a very private person and would no doubt be horrified by all this attention, but now that her legacy is in the public domain, I think that rather than it just being swallowed up in the Treasury coffers, it would be a decent gesture to use at least part of her legacy to fund something close to her heart, such as the excellent new birth centre down the road at Cossham hospital, training for nurses at nearby UWE or replacing some of the 681 nurses that North Bristol trust has lost since 2010.”