Letter from Parliament - Jim Dobbin MP

Jim Dobbin MP

Budget day was an opportunity for Chancellor George Osborne to introduce Plan B.
He failed and opted for more of the same. His strategy has been to give more cash to the wealthy. The more you earn the better off you will be.

People like David Cameron, George Osborne and Nick Clegg failed to deny in the budget debate that they would benefit to the tune of £100,000 when their tax is reduced from 50p to 45p.

Even the announcement on support for house building would probably help wealthy home owners to purchase second or third homes.

The Government back benches cheered when he announced 1p off a pint of beer. It was laughable that they saw this as a triumph.

On budget day the P.C.S. trade union went on strike. They are the public service civil services union and have suffered huge job losses, frozen pay levels, privatisation and increased workloads right across departments.

The government seems to forget that these are the very employees who ensure their policies are followed.

As a member of a trade union for over 50 years, and as a strong supporter of the trade union movement, I spent some time with them on their picket line, outside of the House of Commons, in solidarity.

There was a demonstration against Trident by C.N.D. to highlight a spend of over £100 billion in upgrading the nuclear weapon. This money would be better spent on health, housing, education and care of the elderly.

I am seeing the effect of the Coalition policies for families and children across the constituency. There was a public meeting at the Desmene Community Centre last week about the appalling bedroom tax, which I unfortunately was unable to attend because of parliamentary duties.

I was one of fifty MPs who voted against the job-seekers (Back to Work Scheme) Bill 2012/13. This Bill would mean that jobcentres would be able to force unemployed people to take unpaid work in factories and supermarkets. Employers would be able to pay workers nothing.

This month we will witness the beginning of the break-up of the Welfare State. Beveridge was a Liberal who advocated the welfare system and here we see the Liberal Democrats with the Tories smashing it to destruction. How disgraceful is that?

It’s interesting that the two new religious leaders, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, educated at Eton and a former high flying business man, criticising the government's anti-poverty strategy and our new Pope Francis, focusing on eradicating poverty across the globe. Politicians of all parties would do well to follow their lead.

It is ten years since the beginning of the Iraq war. I voted against it at the time because it did not have international backing and time has proven that decision was correct. Many who supported the war are now saying so as well.

I was able to show my support for the former Royal Regiment of Fusiliers who had provided a Guard of Honour outside 10 Downing Street. It was a privilege to be able to highlight the part played by the Lancaster Fusiliers in various wars, many of whom are constituents. This was to remind Ministers of the regiment's historic past.

Last week I attended, for a short time, a conference organised by Rochdale Borough’s Social Enterprise and Co-operative Forum. The theme of the conference was Community Energy, a very timely subject at the moment. As we see from our recently reduced access to imported gas. The Co-operative movement is the perfect forum for discussing joint community action to push towards local energy initiatives. Watch this space!