Letter from Parliament

The Liberal Democrat led Rochdale Council will soon reveal its budget for 2001-2005. Having received a generous government grant this year we can surely expect our support services to be maintained at least at present levels and our council tax to be around inflation.  However I hear rumours of swingeing cuts in social service provision of adult care and other local services which is particularly worrying.  The government is moving towards 3 year budget allocations to allow local services to plan over a longer time period, a sensible move that should have been considered earlier.  

There has been much debate about the United Nations report on young people across the USA and Europe.  Much of the government’s recent legislation on eradication of poverty may improve things but the involvement of local community leaders with education, health, faith groups, police and the voluntary sector to try and engage these young people is essential.  It’s better to work together than to work in isolation.  Youth problems are a major part of my constituency casework and I will continue to seek solutions to this serious issue. Family life has changed over two or three generations and the structure of families is much more flexible. My personal view is that we need more community support and cohesion for families and for schools.

It was good of Patricia Hewitt the Secretary of State for Health to telephone those MPs who are affected by proposed change to maternity and paediatric changes about her decision to hold an Independent Review.  In her letter to me she states that she had taken this decision based on the earliest request for a review from Salford City council.  Lets hope that consideration is given to providing these essential services north of the M62.  I shall continue to pressurise ministers to influence the outcome. 

I welcome the proposal to look at sixth form provision but until I see the final plan and know how it affects my constituents, I reserve my position.

I congratulate John Pierce as new chairman of the newly merged Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust.  I hope that the Board appointments are representative of the previous two Trust areas and that the investment decisions by the new Board are fairly allocated.  John and I worked very closely when he was Chief Executive of Rochdale council and I was Council Leader.  I look forward to continuing that good working relationship.

In my last article I mentioned that I was due to visit Washington DC as Chairman of the National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast.   We met congressmen and women from all US political parties during a visit to Capitol Hill.  This was an opportunity to invite some of them to join the UK Prayer breakfast in Westminster on 19 June this year.  The breakfast took place in the Washington Hilton Hotel that had been specially built many years ago for this event.  The room held 3000 delegates and the President and Mrs Bush, Hillary Clinton, Condaleeza Rice and many other senior US politicians were present.  The event was a real experience and coincided with the start of the Democratic convention in the same hotel.  I will remember the sheer scale of the breakfast and the new friends we met, both political and non-political.

On returning to the UK I was despatched immediately to Brussels to represent the European Select Committee on a debate in the European Parliament, where I spoke on 3 occasions, twice on pensions and once on energy policy.  Both were short contributions which are the norm in these debates.

On Wednesday 7 February I met a lobby on occupational pensions at lunch time in the House of Commons.  I have a number of pensioners, including Maurice Jones, who are campaigning hard to achieve justice on their loss of pensions.

On returning to the constituency this weekend I note that congestion charges are on the agenda.  I shall oppose this imposition on the people of Heywood and Middleton who will benefit not one iota from Metrolink.  There needs to be a full debate on road pricing, including much improved public transport systems.  The entire proposal needs looked at again.

The suggestion to rename the Queen Elizabeth School is perverse and needs to be re-thought.  I shall take this issue to the highest level if it is pursued.  I think this is a daft idea.  Whose decision is it anyway?

I was invited via the Heywood Advertiser to be interviewed by a young student, Connor Barrett from St Joseph’s RC High School in Heywood.  Connor has certainly done his homework on the proposals for Fairfield Hospital.  Jeremy Paxman could learn a few tricks from this young man.  It’s good to see young people like Connor involved in serious local and national debates.

I met Vicki Davenport Chief Executive of the New Heart for Heywood for a briefing session on progress, then on to the Town Hall for a meeting with Borough’s MPs, Chief Executive and council leaders. In the evening I had my Constituency AGM.  The decision on my re-selection now goes to the National Labour Party for ratification.

On Saturday 10 February I attended the 80th birthday celebration at lunch time in the Old Boar’s Head in Middleton for my predecessor, Jim Callaghan.  This was a surprise party arranged by the Constituency Labour Party.  It was good to see so many old Labour stalwarts turn out to show their affection for the man who represented them for 23 years.  Jim was in fine form and enjoyed reminiscing about old times.  Pat and I then joined the Mayor Jean Hornby and her consort Barrie at the Mayor’s charity Ball in the Town Hall.  Jean who is a North Heywood councillor is doing a wonderful job as Mayor across the whole borough. The position of Mayor means that the incumbent has an extremely busy programme for 12 months full of engagements.  The convention in Parliament is that the Speaker is unopposed for re-selection and I feel strongly that this should apply to the Mayor in local election years.

This would have to be an agreement across the political parties but it is worth consideration.

I return to London on Sunday 18 back to business after this short recess.