Letter from Parliament - Jim Dobbin MP

Want to buy this photo?

Jim Dobbin MP

Tax rises and spending cuts which go too far and too fast have choked off the recovery, pushed up prices and seen unemployment soar–especially youth unemployment.

The Government’s reckless plan has backfired on the deficit too. More people are out of work claiming benefits rather than paying taxes. This means that the Government won’t now balance the books by 2015. They are set to borrow £158 Billion more than planned so that they can pay for economic failures and a larger benefits bill.

If Labour were in government now we’d be making very different choices. We would not be cutting spending and raising taxes as far and as fast and we would be putting jobs first. Labour is calling on the Government to change course and adopt Labour’s five point plan for job’s, including a tax on banker’s bonuses to fund 100,000 jobs for young people and a temporary VAT cut to help people struggling with rising prices and kick start the economy. Getting people back to work is the best way to get the deficit down. Out of touch Ministers need to wake up to the jobs crisis and loss of living crisis. David Cameron, George Osborne and Nick Clegg should listen to the independent I.M.F, change course and get a plan for jobs and growth that will get the deficit down in a fairer, better way.

The Government had three defeats in the Lords recently, including one on incapacity benefits and one on child benefit. I hope the Government accepts these defeats when the Welfare Bill returns to the Commons.

The Government’s bedroom tax will force an estimated 2,134 low income households in Heywood and Middleton to pay an extra £502 every year, simply to stay in their home. This will happen to social housing tenants if they under occupy their properties. An amendment in the Lords was voted on to stop this unfair tax. The Government should accept this sensible proposal. However, when the Welfare Bill returns to the Commons in February, I hope the 29 Millionaires who make up a substantial part of the Government ruling body will support the less better off. More and more privatisation policies are creeping stealthily into the Health and Social Care Bill. One example is the Private Patient Income Cap which was included in legislation that established Foundation Hospital Trusts. I voted against these Trusts. The cap was included to limit the number of private patients. A change in the N.H.S. Bill would abolish this cap and increase the number of private patients given priority over N.H.S patients. This is surely wrong. It is the same old Tories. Private before everyone else, rich before poor, wealth before poverty.

I enjoyed an afternoon at Ewood Park, Blackburn, with the Showman’s Guild from the North West. The Guild represents Fairground Businesses that provide entertainment in our towns at certain events and times. They offer a good service and bring some fun to the area. I hosted a medical discussion breakfast on Pneumonia and Vaccination to protect babies who are threatened with infection. It reminded me of my time in the N.H.S in the Royal Oldham Hospital.

I attended one surgery in Desmene Community Centre where Mal McColl and Christine Abbott and staff do a fantastic job. I then had a busy surgery on the Saturday in Middleton Shopping Centre. It’s back into the real world after the Xmas and New Year Break.