Letter from Parliament - Jim Dobbin MP

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Jim Dobbin MP

It was announced recently that two Police Authorities were considering off-loading aspects of policing out to the private sector. The Secretary of State for defence is putting the Ministry of Defence’s business services, including personnel, pay role, finance, security, vetting and accountancy in the hands of a private organisation called Serco. That risks putting profit before the frontline and is a frightening move. We should not therefore be surprised when the same happens in the National Health Service. The Lib-Dems in the Lords have given in and now support the Bill as does Clegg and even more shockingly, Shirley Williams.

Thank goodness the health professionals are still against the Bill. David Cameron repeatedly promised no more top-down re-organisations in the NHS. This was agreed by the Coalition Government. The NHS Bill is the biggest top-down re-organisation in NHS history and is three times larger than the Bill that created the NHS in 1948! David Cameron promised no more hospital closures. He has reneged on that as well. He promised to keep down NHS waiting times which had substantially reduced under Labour. The number of patients waiting more than 18 weeks for operations is up 13% and hundreds more have had to wait for over a year. David Cameron promised he would cut bureaucracy in the NHS. According to the Royal College of GPs the reorganisation moves the NHS from having 163 statutory bodies up to 521. He is creating a more complex bureaucratic NHS which would paralyse the system. David Cameron promised to increase the number of mid-wives by 3000. The Government have told the Royal college of Midwives that his promise will now not be met. David Cameron promised to cut the deficit not the NHS. So far 3500 Nurses have been cut since the election. Locally, over 1000 NHS staff are going from the Pennine Acute Trust. That is six broken promises in the NHS alone. The bill is about to become law when it returns to the House of Commons. I shall vote to drop the Bill and against the Government destruction of the NHS. That is why I took part in the NHS rally organised by Unison in Albert Square in Manchester and in London recently. This Bill will cost the tax payer billions.
If that is not bad enough, a tax bombshell is about to hit working families when the Welfare Reform bill, which is now law, is enacted. A couple, with children, on the minimum wage and working 16 hours per week will be £728 per year better off by not working unless their hours increase to 24 per week. At a time when unemployment is at an all time high and work is difficult to get, that target will be impossible to reach. The message will be, better to be on benefits than in work. How daft can this coalition get?

I write this article before the Budget on the 21 March and without knowing what it contains. I shall comment next time. However, I hope he has reduced Fuel Duty and VAT from 20% which adds to family poverty.

I recently attended two church services at All-saints and Martyrs in Middleton and St. Michael’s, Bamford, to celebrate women’s International Day of Prayer. The theme was around Malaysia and improving the political situation in that country. There were representatives from around the different denominations in both Middleton and Bamford area. I enjoyed meeting constituents in two very happy and prayerful gatherings.

The event at Heywood Cricket Club, where I was able to present a cheque from Sport England for £50,000 was a pleasure. As I have often said, our sports clubs contribute such a lot to our communities, especially our young people and Heywood Cricket club fully deserved this investment in their facilities. We will have the Budget and the Queens’ Speech will follow. I hope the coalition Government will soon give us something to be happy about!