Letter from Parliament – Jim Dobbin MP

Jim Dobbin MP

I agree with the sentiments expressed by Tahir Mahmood on behalf of the Rochdale Mosques. I am also aware of the positive good work by Councillor Farooq Ahmed and Councillor Aftab Hussain in their local community. All three should be congratulated for their efforts to support community cohesion across the borough.

There are around 13 million people living in poverty in Britain today for the first time ever- the majority of those are in working families. David Cameron says his economic plan is working and people are better off. It just proves how out of touch he is. In the past, when the economy grew, most people were better off. Not true anymore. Today people are facing a cost of living crisis, they are working harder, for longer, for less, year after year. Of course there are some, a privileged few, who are better off but you have to earn over £150,000 per year to join this elite. The recent employment statistics show that real wages have fallen by over £1,600 since the general election, yet the Tories have tried to claim that things are getting better. Their highly selective figures do not even include the impact of things like cuts to tax credits and child benefits which have hit working families hard, not to mention the dire impact of the bedroom tax. The government is leading Britain in a race to the bottom with low wages and fewer rights at work.

Local people tell me how concerned they are about unemployment, particularly long term unemployment and how it impacts on our social security system. We can only tackle the rising cost of social security and earn our way out of a cost of living crisis by ensuring the system is fair and sustainable for everyone and by returning to greater investment in basic skills for all. That is why I support Ed Milibands’ ‘One Nation’ theme- a plan designed to pull the different factions across the country together.

I was lucky enough to attend the Mayor of Rochdale’s Fund Raising in the Town Hall recently. The theme was Robert Burns and I was asked to recite the ‘Selkirk Grace’ by Burns. It was a superb event and I enjoyed it immensely.