Letter from Parliament - Simon Danczuk MP

The ongoing horse meat scandal continues to cause disquiet and raise serious ethical questions, but it should also act as an important reminder as to why the Rochdale Co-operative movement was started.

Go back a few hundred years and adulterating food for profit was just as big a scandal. Working people then, as of now, were ripped off by people cutting food with all kinds of stuff, even including white lead in flour, to increase profit margins.

The first Co-Op store opened in Toad Lane, Rochdale in 1844 as a direct result of this injustice and sought to make sure that foodstuffs sold to working people were both nutritious and fairly priced.

Fast forward to 2013 and working people are still being ripped off, with major companies passing off cheap horse meat as beef. The lessons today are the same as back in 1844. To make sure that food is safe to eat we shouldn’t accept being ripped off and we need to look towards safer alternatives.

People can learn all about the birthplace of the modern Co-operative movement at the Pioneers Museum in Rochdale and I’d certainly recommend a visit. I’d also recommend you pop next door to the Baum Pub, which has just been crowned the best pub in the country by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

There’s something special about a great community pub, and I’d defy anyone not to enjoy the welcoming, old world atmosphere of the Baum. It’s a great place to spend a few hours on a cold winter’s night.

I’m pleased to see in the last week testing has begun on the Metrolink line between Shaw and Rochdale. People from Milnrow, Newhey and the Cray estate will welcome news that trams are imminent because they’ve had to endure real transport problems for some time. Let’s hope the testing period will be mercifully brief and Metrolink will be up and running soon.

Next week the Council finalises its budget for the year ahead. The Government has slashed Rochdale’s settlement and spending is going to be very tight. Ministers have also warned that if Rochdale raises Council tax by more than two per cent we’ll be clobbered next year. With this in mind, and bearing in mind there is no appetite for a rise in Rochdale, it’s my view that we should take the additional money on offer from Government to freeze council tax and spare local people the pain of another increase.