Letter from Parliament - Jim Dobbin MP

Jim Dobbin MP

It’s Party Conference time again and as usual it was the Lib Dems first, Labour second and Tories third. I write this article in advance of the Labour Party conference in Manchester. It will certainly be an interesting week in Manchester following the inappropriate outbursts from some of my colleagues, who would do better to fire their bullets at the opposition than feed the media with disloyal quotes, especially during a period of sustained economic turmoil in global financial circles that require the focussed attention of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. They should put up or shut up in my view.

In the meantime, politicians' concentration must be on the global economic problems and we must hope that the UK economy is solid enough for survival and recovery.

Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, dropped a clanger when he revealed that he thought the state pension was £30 per week. How out of touch can one be? The Lib Dem change of policy to cut taxes and take £20billion out of Health, Education and other public services would put local services in danger of massive cuts.

Locally, the decision of the Lib Dem cabinet to become bailiffs on behalf of a private utility and evict tenants for non-payment of water rates is in my opinion illegal. I am unaware of any other council that has taken that decision. I don’t think the courts would endorse such a move and it has to be condemned as an attack on families in poverty.

David Cameron has said little on the global economic situation, a wise move because he knows he would not be able to prevent it. When the financial markets settle, governments across the world will need to co-operate after some reflection and consider better regulation of the banks, insurance companies and building societies to prevent this problem happening again.

On Friday 12 September I visited the Heritage exhibition in Middleton. Long St Methodist Church, an Edgar Wood gem, is always worth a visit and illustrates the genius of Middleton’s own architect son. The Parish Church is another beautiful, historic building, with many links to early Christian leaders in this area, including Thomas Langley and St Cuthbert and other Lindisfarne Saints.

In the evening, Pat and I were guests at the Heywood Heroes celebration with Kerri-Ann Payne the Olympic silver medalist and her boyfriend, David Carry, also an Olympic swimmer. Congratulations to the Heroes, Edwin Dyson, Sheila Hill and Jasmine Dale for their contributions to Heywood. They thoroughly deserved their awards.

On Saturday along with the Mayor we wished good luck to Harry Aldritt who runs the European Scout Hut on Long Street as he set off on his walk across the Pennine Way to raise funds for the British Heart foundation.

In the evening I spoke at the 25th anniversary party of the Rochdale Labour Party HQ to remind members of a few memories on the landing at Oldham Road over the last 25 years.

I joined church members at Manchester Cathedral on Sunday evening for the installation of Reverend Canon Cherry Vannas the new Archdeacon of Rochdale. It was a packed service with beautiful music.

On Wednesday evening I was joined by Councillor Colin Lambert for a briefing at Rochdale Police Station from Chief Superintendent Peter Mason on structural changes to be introduced across my constituency which will improve policing for local communities. Police performance is improving since the introduction of neighbourhood policing with burglaries down and arrests up for possession of drugs.

I visited Pendlecroft, an Amber Housing Association care home in Hindhill St Heywood. Gareth Jones, scheme manager, and Margaret Williams, care manager, had organised an open day. It was good to see the Fire, Police and Health Services and Support Services from the Council exhibiting and taking part in this successful event. Father Paul Daly, Parish Priest from St Joseph’s next door, called in and we discussed a few issues.

I then went to the Connections Trust in Drake Street, Rochdale to see this very successful, support project for young people. John Kay, President of Rochdale Rotary Club and an old friend, was present as the Rotary provides substantial support for these young people. A number of them received richly deserved awards for achievement in different aspects of their lives.