I'M back into Parliament with a bang this week after a great Christmas break with my family. Last week I listened to Gordon Brown's new year message with a lot of concern.

The image he is trying to portray is of a Prime Minister willing to take tough decisions in the long-term interests of the country. I understand the need for the Prime Minister to show decisive leadership.

In fact before Christmas I was publicly calling for him to cut out any spin, get a grip on the basic administration of government and start addressing the serious issues facing our community such as the low pay and poverty faced by many families, pensioners and children, the lack of decent housing, the improvement of our public services and the need for radical action to tackle climate change.

Instead of taking the tough decisions needed to address these issues the policies announced by the Prime Minister so far since his new year's statement are heavy on spin and just consistently take the easy way out.

Let's take a few examples.

Nobody can now ignore the threat to our planet from global warming. All the evidence points to aviation being a major contributor to climate change. The tough decision needed from Gordon Brown was to restrict aviation growth and to launch a massive investment programme in a sustainable transport system. Instead he fails his first test on this issue and has come out in favour of expanding Heathrow.

On energy we now know that because of failures to plan for the long term by previous Governments we are facing a potential energy crisis. What is needed is a long-term programme to develop renewable energy such as wind, wave and solar power, linked to energy saving measures such as insulation and combined heat and power. Instead Gordon Brown takes the easy way out by giving in to the nuclear power lobby and is backing the construction of more nuclear power stations, despite their heavy cost and the long-term dangers of nuclear waste pollution.

On public services it is now generally understood that if we want effective public services we need to ensure that the people who provide these services are properly and fairly rewarded.

It clearly is going to be another campaigning new year.