Letter from Parliament - Jim Dobbin MP

Jim Dobbin MP

My expenses claims are available for scrutiny. The sooner this process is regulated and clarified the better for all concerned, especially for the democratic system and Parliament.

It is hard to believe it’s been ten years since Labour introduced the national minimum wage here in the UK and it’s easy to forget just how groundbreaking its introduction was. Today the National Minimum Wage is a fundamental feature of the UK’s employment landscape and its one that this government has worked hard to protect.

One only has to look back at the salary of many employees before the minimum wage was introduced to measure its success.
For the first time, employees were providing a national minimum floor guaranteeing an acceptable income for every household. And 10 years on, 950,000 to 1 million workers still stand to benefit from the uprating of the minimum wage.
That is why we have intensified our efforts in cracking down on those who look to exploit the system and from October using tips to make up workers’ national minimum wage will be outlawed. This will ensure a fair and level playing field for employers and boost consumer confidence in the use of tips. When you leave a tip after a meal or a haircut you expect it to go to the staff on top of their pay, not to be put through the payroll to make up the minimum wage. People leave tips in good faith and they have the right to know those tips are being used for the purpose they were given.

The Conservative Party, including David Cameron, fought tooth and nail against the minimum wage. Now this week a group of Tories are trying to unpick the minimum wage by allowing employees to opt out of it. Labour will ensure these moves are defeated.

The national minimum wage as I see it is an essential part of the UK’s employment framework. It is a standard that protects the rights of this country’s world respected workforce without whom the UK will not succeed in the upturn. The government will also be working towards greater transparency and clarity for consumers through a new industry code of best practice.

This week I was told about a major new package of measures to crack down on dodgy landlords. It will give protection to tenants living in private rented properties. The bits that caught my eye were, a new national register of every private landlord in England to protect both vulnerable tenants and good landlords. Landlords will need to include their registration number on all tenancy agreements and could be removed from the register for persistently failing to carry out essential repairs or not protecting tenants’ deposits.

There will be an improved complaints and compensation procedure where for the first time the Government will set up a system whereby tenants are able to complain officially about sub standard landlords. If the complaint is upheld the landlord will be removed from the register. It is not right that tenants through no fault of their own can be forced to leave their homes at a moment’s notice if their landlord is repossessed and the Government wants to change the law to give these tenants a minimum of two months’ notice if they have to leave their home.

On Friday 1 May I visited St Cuthbert’s RC High School where my wife Pat taught for many years and where all my children were educated. I took the Year 7 Assembly which I enjoyed doing, and spent some time with the new Head Dr Chris Meehan.
St Cuthbert’s has always enjoyed a strong reputation as an educational establishment and I look forward to continuing my special relationship with the school.

The next morning I had my Heywood surgery in the Civic Centre and in the evening Pat and I attended the Catenian Dinner in the Town Hall to celebrate their 1000th meeting. New President John Walsh gave an entertaining address and it was a relaxing and enjoyable evening.

On Monday we drove up to Arnside where I launched the Morecambe Bay Walk to raise funds for the charity Right to Life with Archbishop Patrick Kelly of Liverpool who led the walkers across the bay like Moses leading the Israelites across the Red Sea. The weather conditions were atrocious and it was almost cancelled but the brave band of supporters did not let it stop them and they raised a good sum in sponsorship for a very worthy cause.

On Tuesday I attended and spoke at a rally of the Rail and Maritime Union and later I joined MPs from across Greater Manchester to present a petition at No 10 in support of the Christie Hospital Campaign to return £6million lost by the Icelandic Bank.

On Friday 8 May I joined Paul Rowen MP at an assembly presented by the pupils at St Vincent’s RC Primary who focused on the importance of encouraging reading skills across the world. They did a superb job and it was good to see Head teacher Eamonn Scott and his staff who do a brilliant job. My four children all attended St Vincent’s many years ago when Ron Eyckens was Headteacher.

I had my usual surgery in the Middleton Arena and then launched a police open day at Middleton Technology College attended by local community activists organised by Inspector Gary Hall. It’s good to see an open dialogue between police and community.

I then had to dash up to Langley for the opening of Trufford Park Bowling facility. The park was looking impressive and is a credit to the local committee.

We then travelled to London on Sunday 10 May to begin another traumatic week.