JACK Straw has hosted his final advice surgeries before standing down as Blackburn’s MP ahead of the general election in May.

The long-serving MP was presented with a cake by volunteers at Ivy Street Community Centre, where he has held meetings over the past 30 years.

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Mr Straw, first elected in 1979, replacing Barbara Castle, held his final surgery at Bangor Street Community Centre on Saturday after starting the tradition in the 1980s.

The former home and foreign secretaries, said: “Holding these advice surgeries is one of the most important roles of an MP and I insisted that I still held them every two weeks when I was in government. The Home Office used to get very annoyed with me and the Foreign Office would have to schedule trips abroad around me coming to Blackburn for them.

“My team and I deal with 1,300 active cases a year and the one major thing that has changed over the years is that the meetings have got busier.

“The busiest it has ever been was the first one after the 1997 general election when I became home secretary. I thought that there was a wedding inside because there were so many cars outside.

“You never know what you were going to hear during these meetings and they are incredibly important. For someone to know that a person at a senior level has heard about their problem and is doing their best to sort it out is an important thing for a constituent.”

Christine Connell, 66, a manager at Ivy Street, said: “He has been wonderful over the years with us and is very easy to get on with. He has helped us a lot and it will be sad when he steps down. He’s part of the team.”

Christine Donnelly, 70, of Brokenstone Road, said: “I’m his longest running case as he has been working with me on it for more than 15 years.

“It all started when there was 60,000 tons of rubbish dumped near my house and he has been fighting for me and my family ever since. He said he would fight to the bitter end and he has kept his word.”