Letter from Parliament - Liz McInnes MP

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Liz McInnes MP

An interesting couple of weeks in the constituency and in Parliament.

I attended a really interesting question and answer session in Heywood, organised by Rochdale Youth Services and with young people from across the borough in attendance. I and the rest of the panel were asked some really searching questions about policing, litter, votes at 16 and public transport, to name but a few.

I was so impressed by the confidence and intelligence of the audience and think that we should be proud that we have young people who want to improve life in the borough for everybody.

On a similar note, I also met with pupils from Cardinal Langley School, the theme of the meeting being women and girl's safety. We had a wide ranging discussion and every student had a valuable contribution to make. We talked about safety when out and about and also about keeping safe in our digital age. There was a strong emphasis on taking individual responsibility for personal safety but also the students talked about how they had tried to help others who were vulnerable.

This meeting will feed into a national report which we (the Labour Party) are preparing. It was a pleasure to meet such an intelligent and articulate group.

I also attended 'Let's get together Heywood', a family fun day organised by our local police. Despite the terrible weather, the event was well attended and everybody was enjoying the various activities from bouncy castles to penalty shoot outs with the Manchester United Foundation.

I enjoyed an evening at St Gabriel's RC School in Castleton, watching a brilliant performance of Jack and the Beanstalk. Councillor Billy Sheerin, who produced the show, describes it as a 'Village Pantomime', which means that anyone who wants to take part, can do. It was great to see people of all ages joining in and obviously having a really good time in the process, and I look forward to next year's production, which I'm sure Billy is already writing.

In Parliament I've continued to speak up for Heywood and Middleton. During a debate last week on whether MPs should have second jobs as directors and consultants, I spoke about how being an MP was a full time job and no one should have the time to do a second job.

Additionally, I discussed how 40% of workers in Heywood & Middleton do not even get paid the living wage, a shocking statistic which I will continue to work hard with my colleagues to address.

I also spoke on a proposal to tax banker's bonuses in order to fund a job guarantee scheme for young unemployed people. Although this proposal was lost, it is important that we have these debates and that the growing inequality in our society is reversed. Study after study shows that more equal societies are happier, healthier and better functioning societies and I will continue to work to try to reverse the current trend of the rich getting richer whilst the poor get poorer.

The next fortnight is a busy one and I will write in two weeks with more news.