Letter from Parliament - Jim Dobbin MP

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Jim Dobbin MP

As the global economic crisis continues across the USA and the Eurozone there is an obvious lack of leadership towards a solution.  David Cameron and George Osborne preach austerity and don’t seem able to understand that global austerity is exactly the wrong advice to give.  The simple solution is growth through employment, people in work and spending.  The banks need to restore their credibility by supporting a financial stimulus programme aimed at creating jobs.  Unless this happens we will be in danger of a double dip recession.  We could however see a major U turn announced in the full glare of the Tory Party conference in Manchester.  This article will appear at the end of the conference.  I hope for the sake of the country this U turn takes place.

The Health and Social Care Bill is heading for the House of Lords where a number of prominent Lib Dem Peers led by Shirley Williams will oppose aspects of the Bill as it is presently drafted.  If the Bill goes through without any change we will soon be witnessing the destruction of the NHS as we know it, replaced by a market led, credit card based Health provision as in America.  Education is being broken up in similar fashion with the new elite Grammar schools and Free schools, some of which are private schools sucking resources from the state sector.  Teachers of course will not need to be qualified in the new free school model.

I attended the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool for 3 days.  I must say I found the development in Liverpool amazing especially the area around the Albert docks where the Convention Centre is based.  The weather was great which helped.

 I was in the centre for Ed Miliband’s speech and thought he performed well as he prepares for the next election in 2015. He is doing the right thing by gradually developing his political strategy in a deliberate attempt to help change society.  He made it clear he is supporting the banks who are helping small businesses in an ethical way but was firm in pronouncing that regulation was required to control those maverick businesses who are assert stripping for a fast buck.  It was great to see the large numbers of women and young people who were there as delegates. The coalition Government have certainly politicised these two groups.  In the meantime I continue to work around the constituency as usual during this recess for party conferences.  I shall return to the issue of Boundary Changes in my next article.