John Prescott to visit Rochdale

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at Rochdale Town Hall in 2004

Britain’s longest serving Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott MP, is to visit Rochdale tomorrow (Wednesday 16 July) after he accepted an invitation from Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Simon Danczuk, to come and meet party members.

He added that he would be using the opportunity to discuss a piece of legislation due to come into force later this year, which Mr Prescott has supported, that aims to give greater rights to many workers in Rochdale.

Mr Danczuk said: “I am delighted that John has agreed to come and meet our members and share his wealth of experience. As an MP for 38-years, he is one of the longest standing members in the House of Commons and has been a hugely influential figure in the Labour Party.

“I know that he has taken a keen interest in the agency workers’ agreement and I am looking forward to discussing how this will help people in Rochdale.”

With British employment law currently failing to protect more than 1.4million temporary workers, the new legislation hopes to ensure that agency workers are given the same employment rights as permanent staff after 12 weeks.

Mr Danczuk continued: “This will put an end to the unfair situation where agency workers can be paid a lot less for doing the same job as permanent staff.”

One of Rochdale's Labour members in particular is looking forward to reacquainting himself with the Hull East MP.

Former councillor Tom Stott was one of the Labour stewards who jumped in to protect the Deputy Prime Minister during the controversial punch-throwing incident in 2001 when John Prescott was attacked by a protestor in North Wales.

“It was a scary time for all and Tom gets nervous even now when he sees an egg!” explained Mr Danczuk. “I’m sure he’s looking forward to meeting John again and swapping notes on the incident.”