Letter from Parliament – Jim Dobbin MP

Jim Dobbin MP

15/06/09

This has been an extremely traumatic week in the House of Commons.

The expected leadership challenge to Gordon Brown, much hyped by the tabloid press, fizzled out like a damp squib.

The Parliamentary Labour Party meeting on Monday night was packed. The small group of anti-Brown M.P.’s were unable to present a suitable challenger.

Those who resigned as ministers were nowhere to be seen.

The Prime Minister delivered a powerful speech and has since set about concentrating on steering the country through the economic downturn with his new cabinet.

The Prime Minister made it clear that he expected M.P.’s to support a new system of democratic change that must be totally transparent but would enable members to provide their constituents with an efficient, professional support service, and that it was essential to support the link between Westminster and constituencies.

He called for a unity of purpose that would focus on improving public services and provide a wide vision for future policies

The Prime Minister has had to deal with a number of difficult issues since he took over. The serious floods and foot and mouth outbreak, the London bomb, the Global financial downturn and G20 chairmanship were all handled well and he did demonstrate strong leadership on each of these issues.

We shall never agree across the parties about what went wrong at the European elections other than to accept that the main parties lost out to the smaller extreme parties. It is rather sad that the BNP gained two seats.

I hope that is rectified in future elections. We must never allow their extreme policies to become normalised in British politics. My efforts will continue to go into supporting improvements in health, education, the environment, law and order, and security.

We will probably also see some far reaching constitutional changes designed to improve and strengthen the democratic system involving more involvement and participation by the general public.

As I said earlier, the economy has to be the main focus of attention, and we are now seeing some interesting signs of recovery. The recent forecasts by economic experts, including the office for national statistics, are suggesting that manufacturing in some areas are showing signs of recovery.

It has also been said that Alistair Darlings economic growth projection could be achieved faster than first thought. The recession should bottom out in the autumn but it would be foolish to become over confident and complacent.

But the signs are promising. The Government have taken steps to protect as many jobs as possible, to invest in apprenticeships and protect mortgages whenever possible.

It is a pity the other parties failed to support the economic measures taken by the Government, and the lead the Prime Minister has given across the globe.

It was lovely to have Billy and Lynne Sheerin visit the House of Commons on Wednesday 3rd June. Billy has recently retired and celebrated with a visit to the Capital. Billy is one of Castleton’s well known community activists who put a great deal of time into local issues.

It was a pleasure to have them both inside Westminster and let them experience Prime Ministers Question Time. I wish them both a long and active retirement.

On the morning of the 4th of June I met staff from Dawson Holdings print distributors, based on the Phoenix Industrial site Green Lane to discuss some imminent difficulties. I need now to co-ordinate fellow MPs across the North West to see if we can offer them some support.

This visit was followed by another visit from constituents Jane and John Williams on Monday 8th June.

Jane and John from Norden are long time acquaintances and it was great to have them in the Commons.This has been a week for constituency visits as John, Celia and David Maloney came to attend Prime Ministers Question Time. Celia is an ex-teacher colleague of my wife Pat.

Back in the Constituency on Friday 12th I visited Mr. Sutcliffe Head Teacher at Woodlands Primary School, where I saw the great progress that is being made there. Tracy Liddell – Partnership Manager – explained the Extended School Programme and the school’s impact as a community resource, and it certainly is impressive.

I then visited Edenfield Rd Co-Op Pharmacy at Cutgate.

I am a Co-op MP and heard from senior management about on-going community pharmacy concerns which I will look into. I then had several meetings with the Council’s Chief Executive and Chief Officers, for routine briefings.

Following a busy surgery in Middleton Arena I supported summer fairs at All Saints Church Wood St Middleton, St Michaels Church Bamford and St Mary, Birch in Hopwood Church. All three fairs were busy, it was a beautiful Saturday and people obviously enjoyed the events.

I am on the Finance Bill for the next few weeks so my time is taken up two full days each week on the Bill Committee. We shall see what this week brings in Westminster.