MORECAMBE MP Geraldine Smith received urgent treatment at the RLI last week. The MP was keen to praise hard pressed staff at the hospital.

Miss Smith was attending a meeting for volunteers in Lancaster when she found she was unable to breathe.

She immediately left the meeting and struggled through to the casualty department of the RLI where she received "first class treatment."

The MP, now in good health, downplayed the severity of her respiratory condition caused by flu, a chest infection and overwork. But she wished to praise the staff working at the height of the flu bug crisis. She said: "I'm sure they had no idea I was an MP. I was just this gasping woman who needed help. Of course you have to wait for a while but it wasn't too long. They gave me an ECG (a heart monitoring device) and a chest X-ray. They put me at ease and gave me good advice.

"I know they were short staffed and had other problems and I think it's good to give an illustration of how well they coped there in the circumstances."

THE MP dismissed suggestions that a warship could be used as a floating prison in Morecambe Bay as 'nonsense' this week.

Another local paper picked up on suggestions made in national newspapers that the government were considering housing up to 1,500 prisoners on HMS Invincible in Morecambe Bay.

But Miss Smith said she'd made enquiries to the Home Office and been assured that the idea was a none starter.

She has been contacted by several worried constituents who were already considering a campaign to stop the floating prison. She commented: "I spoke to Paul Boateng at the Home Office and he assured me that there was no way this was going to happen."

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