Letter from Parliament - Jim Dobbin

Want to buy this photo?

Jim Dobbin MP

The Budget cut announcements on 20 October will have been made before this article is published. I can only assume that if the shambolic decision on child benefit and the student fees statement are anything to go by we are in for some frightening medicine. The Lib Dems of course have abandoned their principles on Trident, turned their backs on their pledge to students and have reversed all they said about the economic recovery. It is the quickest transformation of principle ever seen in politics. All for the sake of power.

The coalition government as its first act took £6.2billion out of public services directly at odds with the Lib Dem pledge during the election campaign. Rochdale Council will be making £50 million pounds worth of cuts by April. The global economy has been manipulated by the banks and financial markets in an unregulated way and that’s what needs to be changed. The austerity policies about to be introduced will adversely affect children, families and the elderly. Prepare yourselves for huge job losses and public service cuts. Every service, police, fire, doctors, nurses and the voluntary sector will be severely affected when the economy is struggling. This is entirely the wrong time for such swingeing cuts.

I was pleased to be present at the opening of the Heywood Sports and Leisure Village and the new Sixth form college by the Duke of Gloucester on 13 October. Both projects were funded by the last Labour Government and add to the huge package of investment that will be a lasting legacy for children and families throughout the constituency. I recognise the massive effort by many local people to make all this possible. This is the real big society at work. Not the dream world that David Cameron lives in.

I attended an enjoyable evening at All Saints church in Middleton on Friday 8 October and was entertained by local volunteers from the Langley Community Centres of Desmesne and Burnside. Pride Media and the Langley Theatre Group were there in support. Congratulations to all those who received certificates of recognition. It was expertly hosted by Father Philip and Robin Parker and demonstrated why these centre facilities budgets need to be protected. That of course applies to all community centres across the borough.