Letter from Parliament - Tony Lloyd

Tony Lloyd

I started off the week with a regular meeting I attend with Nick Brown (Labour’s Chief Whip) to discuss the week’s business. I then met with Kier Starmer (Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union) to discuss Brexit – how it will affect the UK, as well as the best solution for Northern Ireland. Theresa May then delivered another statement on Brexit – again, there has been very little progress on these negotiations.

In my role as Shadow Secretary of State to Northern Ireland, I addressed The British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA), which opened in London on Monday. BIPA brings together politicians from Dáil (Irish Parliament), Stormont (Northern Ireland Parliament) and Westminster. This event gave me the opportunity to update members on Labour’s stance on the stalled talks on Northern Ireland governance, as well as Labour’s policy on Brexit.

The weekly Shadow Cabinet Meeting was then held, the key topic of discussion being Philip Hammond’s Budget on Monday.

I then attended a campaign for continued solar power investment. The Government has proposed not only ending the Feed-In Tariff, a subsidy for electricity generation, but has also proposed ending the ‘export tariff’ for new installations. The export tariff is a fair market payment for clean power exported to the grid from solar homes and buildings. If the plans go through, this will leave householders, schools, churches and other public buildings undertaking new solar projects as the only generators not paid to put valuable clean energy into our electricity system. We need more investment in green energy from the government – not more cuts.

A ten-minute rule bill was put forward by Diana Johnson MP regarding women’s rights to abortion, which has been designed to bring up-to-date the law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Inevitably, this is a controversial issue.

An All Party Parliamentary Group meeting was held to discuss Britain’s pubs. Statistics currently show that around 3 pubs per day are closing their doors due to huge pressures on the industry. One of these factors is the government’s business rates increases (as well as Beer Duty and VAT), resulting in one in every three pounds spent in a pub going back in tax.

Considering this, I have written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, demanding that he consider business rates relief in his budget this week (as opposed to the planned increases). In a town like Rochdale, a loss of a pub can affect the cohesion of a community and that is why I find it incredibly important to support businesses that can help build a vibrant town centre that people want to see.

I attended a session held by the Faces and Voices of Recovery; a charity made up of individuals in recovery, their friends and families and Community Recovery Organisations. They have implemented a UK Recovery Declaration of Rights, this is a statement of the principle that all people have a right to recover from addiction to alcohol & other drugs. As a country, we do not invest enough money to help combat addiction. We need to act to build communities of recovery that will support people and their families needing help and to end discrimination in this area.

On Wednesday, much of my time was spent in the House of Commons Chamber, putting through a bill which will provide the Northern Ireland Secretary of State and civil servants more legal clarity to make decisions to keep Northern Ireland running and support its citizens effectively in the absence of the Stormont government.

I then travelled to Northern Ireland to meet with various groups, including the Ulster Farmers’ Union and representatives of the sea fishing industry in County Down. Then, I attended the Northern Ireland Confederation of British Industries annual lunch meeting.

At the weekend I visited Trinity Church in Littleborough to watch the Sound of Music – a wonderful performance. All the children and young people who put this together were spectacular.

Prior the forthcoming budget, myself and fellow Greater Manchester MPs spoke to the BBC regarding the vital need for the government to invest more money into our schools and colleges. Since 2010, there has been an 8% cut in funding and we have demanded that the Chancellor urgently address this funding crisis, to ensure that our schools and teachers receive the funding they deserve, in order to deliver the best possible education for our children.

Finally, I attended a ‘Listening to Refugees and Asylum Seekers’ event at St Chad’s Church in Rochdale. This was a welcome opportunity to hear from those who have come to Rochdale and surrounding communities from various parts of the world, who had to make the difficult choice of leaving their homes behind, due to fears of deprivation, and even death. Hearing real life stories direct from refugees really allows us to see the people behind the label and truly understand their troubles.